Merpeople

Brief Overview

Merpeople are one of the most intelligent aquatic species in the Mystical Realm. They are the most likely of the water-folk to have relationships with land-dwellers.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Merpeople have two arms with webbed hands and torsos connecting to long, scaled tails. They have gills along their ribcages, but can also breathe above water. Merpeople also have dorsal fins along their spine. They do not have eyelids. Merpeople have holes in the place of ears. Depth dwelling merpeople have large eyes and slits in the place of a nose. Merpeople also have very sharp teeth.

Genetics and Reproduction

Merpeople are able to reproduce with selkies, elves, faeries, daemons, angels, and gods. Males have two penises, much like sharks, while females have a slit. Merpeople reproduce through sex, like the other species mentioned above. All merpeople give birth to their offspring live, not with eggs.
The gestation period is roughly six months.

Growth Rate & Stages

Merpeople remain infants for half a year. Toddler and childhood lasts for two years. Adolescence lasts for three to five years. Infants do not have sex and develop genitals in adolescence. This partially depends on their nutrition levels, the temperature of the water, and the pheromones that are activated within them. Adulthood takes up a majority of the merpeople's lifespan, lasting about a hundred years and seniority lasts for two.

Ecology and Habitats

Merpeople can only live in water. Locayan merpeople cannot survive in saltwater and Shanayic merpeople cannot survive in freshwater.

Shelters

Merpeople tend to make their homes in the crags and caves of sea rocks. They do not build shelters, but find naturally occurring ones. Some merpeople, however, are nomadic and swim in pods, finding any place to sleep before continuing to move on.

Hunting

Merpeople are adept hunters. They hunt in pods, surrounding their prey. Typically they do not hunt alone, though they can as long as their prey is small and less predatory than a shark. They use spears, nets, and their hands.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Merpeople are mostly carnivorous and require high amounts of protein. They mostly eat fish and eels, but will also eat sea urchins, sharks, dolphins, and on rare occasions whale. Merpeople do not eat only meat, but plants are harder for them to digest.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Merpeople live in pods. Each pod has a pair of alphas that make the decisions for that pod. However, it is not uncommon to find lone merpeople without a pod.

Facial characteristics

Surface-dwellers

Surface dwelling merpeople have similar facial characteristics as elves and humans, minus the ears.

Depth-dwellers

Depth dwelling merpeople have large, bulbous eyes. They also have slits in place of a nose. They also have no hair and ridges on the top of their heads.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Most merpeople live in the Cobalt Loch, but others live in the deep oceans as well.

Average Intelligence

Merpeople have the same average intelligence as humans.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Merpeople use echolocation in dark areas and deep water. They have very low magickal prowess.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Merpeople surnames tend to be related to the sky, as they believe that their serpent ancestors are fallen dragons.

Major Organizations

There are two major groups of merpeople, both with subclasses. There are Locayan and Shanayic merpeople. Locayans live in the Cobalt Loch and Shanayic merpeople live in the oceans. Both groups have the subclasses of surface-dwellers and depth-dwellers.

Beauty Ideals

Surface-dwellers

Surface merpeople consider long hair to be very aesthetically pleasing, as well as copious amounts of jewelry.

Gender Ideals

Men are considered the hunters of the pod while women are weaponsmiths.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

The language of the merpeople is Merridian. There are two main dialects, Locayan and Shanayic.

Common Dress Code

Merpeople typically do not wear clothing. Some will wear jewelry made from shells, pearls, bones, gold, silver, and stones. Warriors will wear scarce armor when fighting. The armor is typically metal chainmail.

History

Merpeople are descended from the great sea serpents Gloris and Shanus. Shanus birthed the Shanayic (shah-nay-ick) merpeople and Gloris birthed the Locayans (low-kay-en).

Common Myths and Legends

Merpeople are descended from the great sea serpents and hold the belief that these serpents used to be dragons that lost their wings and landed in the water.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Merpeople tend not to communicate with land-dwellers, as they see them as a threat and too different from themselves. Most smaller water-folk are hunted and eaten. Some merpeople domesticate sharks and have them as pets or raise them for food. Merpeople stay away from kelpies, as the kelpies will kill them as well as land-dwellers. Merpeople communicate the most with selkies and mating with selkies is fairly common. Only surface-dwellers will mate with elves or faeries, and very rarely with daemons, gods, and angels.

Origin/Ancestry

Serpents

Lifespan

110 years

Average Length

5'6"-5'11"

Average Physique

Merpeople tend to be very lean and muscular do to their mode of transportation, which is swimming. Their arms tend to be weaker and gangly, as they are not used when swimming.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Merpeople tend to have green or blue tinted skin. Some also have markings a shade or two darker than their tails that run from the lower half of the torso to the tail. Other markings can only be seen in the dark. Each merperson has a unique marking.