Overview
"Merfolk" is a collective term for all aquatic humanoids created directly by the goddess of the seas, Anashta. Anashta's creations are varied in their appearances and traditions. A central location for Merfolk to congregate is the Citadel of Ten Thousand Pearls, located close to the Veil in the center of Ilisara's seas.
Mermaids
Mermaids were Anashta’s second attempt to combine her domains into the perfect creature. Unlike sirens, they are not immortal, although their lifespans range from hundreds to thousands of years. Mermaids have very long memories. They are friendly, beautiful, and curious, regarded with much affection and adoration by the mortal races. Mermaids are a sign of good luck.
Appearance-wise, mermaids have long fish-like tails that come in every color of the rainbow. Their hair and skin ranges from purple to blue to green. They wear no clothes. Mermaids view their bodies as Anashta’s gift that should be adorned and not covered. Shell jewelry, seaweed necklaces, and bioluminescent body paint is a common sight among mermaids.
Mermaids are strictly nomadic creatures. They never stay in one place for long. Pods of mermaids cycle clockwise around the ocean and lay eggs at their breeding grounds before moving on. Newborn mermaids have an internal biological drive that pushes them to migrate clockwise, where a migrating pod of mermaids will likely pick them up. There is little or no concept of individual family or relationship bonds in mermaid pods. Only the community matters.
Mermaids often celebrate with undersea revels. They are a light-hearted, pleasant people with a penchant for slowing down and enjoying life. Singing, dancing, and magical feats are common sights at revels.
A mermaid’s kiss grants immunity to the discomfort of saltwater, pressure in the ocean depths, and allows water breathing.
Sirens
Sirens were created by Anashta as the supreme combination of her domains: love and the sea. They are a passionate, primal race. As Anashta’s “first draft”, sirens were made with a single flaw: they cannot have male children. Cross-breeding with mermaids is their only way to reproduce and it does not create pure Sirens. As a result, the population of Sirens dwindles every century.
Sirens feed on sailors and enjoy the taste of flesh. They are more violent, vicious, and quick to anger than their mermaid counterparts. As they age, they grow larger and larger. Some have been known to reach lengths of eighty feet from head to tip of fin. Anashta did not discriminate when she made sirens. Some have the lower half of a jellyfish, an octopus, a shark, a killer whale, or even an eel.
Most Sirens live in the deepest depths of the ocean in caves. The surface of the ocean is their a hunting ground.
Selkies
Selkies are created when a young girl or boy drowns, and Anashta’s lingering magic provides them a new attempt at life. Not all drowned children will receive this gift. It is random and rare. Children who receive it will surface with a fur cloak that serves as their second skin. The cloak can turn them into a seal.
Some selkies will surface far from the place they drowned, having lost all memory of their homes; others will find their way back to their parents and express a new love for the sea. It all depends on the individual.
Selkies’ cloaks are precious to them, and they feel naked without it. If it is taken from them they suffer from psychological damage. The cloak allows them to turn into seals in the water. Selkies are seldom seen without their cloaks, and their hands are usually webbed. Selkies are usually blessed with gills that function both in and out of water.
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