Merfolk

Merfolk dwell in offshore shallows and reefs. They have well-developed fins and powerful tails, and while unable to walk ashore or compete with the ferocious Sahuagin in the deeps, they are the masters of the upper waters. They have a highly-structured society, but their kingdoms are relatively small, chiefdom-level affairs, focused on survival against the threat of the deep-dwellers; sahuagin, Kua-toa and aberrations like deep scions. They see themselves as the front line against these threats, and feel that their contribution is discounted by the ‘champions of the sea;’ the sea elves and Tritons who treat them like bumpkins and simpletons. They worship a range of ‘shore gods’, many of whom are also worshiped as sea gods by surface cultures.

Merfolk and Identity

Merfolk have a highly-structured and gendered society, with gender being determined by a combination of biological sex and ‘elaboration’, the size and complexity of the fin and tail structure. Individuals are either male, female or non-binary, and either streamlined, flared or fanned, with separate pronouns for each of the nine combinations. Some among the merfolk connect elaboration to an individuals inheritance from the original oceanic races, but since few – even among the tritons and sea elves – remember the original races, there is little real proof of or value in such theories.
Male merfolk tend to be seen as practical ‘doers’ and immediate problem-solvers, non-binary as process- and planning-oriented thinkers, and female as high-level thinkers and spiritual visionaries. Streamlined merfolk are associated with labour, flared with military, political and diplomatic work, and fanned with leadership, ceremony and policy.