Naiad

Water Fae

ECOLOGY & HABITAT

Lakes, rivers, and large streams are where naiads make their homes. They share territory with water nymphs, however, unlike their cousins they cannot spend extended periods of time out of water without life threatening consequences. They thrive on kelp, algea and small fish.

ANATOMY & MORPHOLOGY

Naiads look similar to small humans with scales over the majority of their body. The scales darken as the progress down the body. They have gills along their ribs for breathing underwater, where they spend the majority of their time.

BIOLOGICAL CYCLE

Naiads are born live in a special underwater cave designed to keep them safe from predators while they are helpless. As they mature they become adventurous exploring the rivers and waterways of their homelands. Upon reaching maturity they choose a place to settle down, this sometimes means travelling overland until they find waterways that have not become crowded by their kind. Those who choose to do so run the risk not making it to their destination as they need to spend at least half their time within the flowy confines of water. There are some which decide to settle in swamps and marshes since these rarely have a large community of naiads. Once they have settled down they begin searching out a mate. They would prefer to mate with their own kind but many have had to settle for other races or ethnicities of fae.

BIOLOGICAL TRAITS

Naiads come in many shapes, sizes, and colours. That is their scales do not conform to any particular colour or pattern.
Those naiads who make their home in Lake Veristo and the nearby waterways are blessed with a spectacular scale design. This is due to the waters from Abhainn Bhogha and their magical properties. This particular ethnicity of naiads have learned to use the magic of the water and their own magic in conjunction to create rippling colours in their scale patterns. These patterns are hypnotic and the naiads use them to escape from fishermen and other threats.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Naiads prefer to live in family units. They usually limit this to ten as many more than that can be detrimental to the fragile ecosystems of their waterways. This means that when the family unit is close to ten the new young adults will strike out to begin their own family unit.

HISTORY

The naiads have a dark history as they were nearly irradicated during the Unending War when the waterways of the world dried up except for a few rivers and streams. Not all were habitable for the naiads either being to shallow or clogged with debris and sulfurous. They were some of the first to cross over to the The Fae Wilds. When the waterways of Corrigenda became habitable again they returned to the outer lands as they have been called. Naiads cannot survive in the oceans due to the salt content of the water and the Sirens who have a particular dislike for them.

COMMON ETIQUETTE

For the naiads common etiquette is to respect the waterways of others, seeking permission to cross and accepting the hospitality of those living there. The offering of hospitality to travellers is highly respected and expected. This is because at one point everyone needs to pass through the territories of others. This is also to ensure that the young have a chance to meet potential mates.

DRESS CODE

For the naiads the height of fashion is their scale patterns, in other words naiads completely shun clothing.

COMMON CUSTOMS AND OBSERVED TRADITIONS

Offering hospitality is a common thing among naiads. This is to help those who may be travelling across country in search of a place to settle. There have stories of naiads who died near the edge of a waterway because they couldn't make it to the water in time.

TABOOS

Turning away a traveller is a taboo in naiad culture. They believe their numbers are too low to risk the loss of even one to the land.

INTERSPECIES RELATIONS

Like all of their Fae cousins naiads are capable of breeding with any of the sapient species of Corrigenda. This is a rarity since they prefer to keep to their own kind since the other species cannot understand why they naiads cannot live outside of the waterways.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS

There are a number of legends regarding naiads who moved onto the land to be with their mates. Many of these legends have unhappy endings for the naiad, but there are one or two that have happy endings in where the mated pair have lived long and happy lives until the landliver passed from old age.
The primary myth related to the naiads is that of The Crossing.

Culture

Birth & Baptismal Rites

When a young naiad is born the family unit comes together to celebrate the new life with stories and gifts.

Coming of Age Rites

When a naiad turns one hundred, their family throws a feast in their honour. During this feast the names and territories of those known to the older generation are passed to the new adult before he/she sets out on their journey. No gifts are given during this event because the one who is coming of age would need to carry them on the journey, thus slowing them down if htey needed to travel cross country.

Funerary and Memorial customs

Once a naiad has left the family unit they are considered to have died if the family hasn't heard word from them within the year and each anniversary until they have gotten the news they found a place to settle down. This means that on the anniversary of their leaving the family gathers to recall the lost one's life with stories of their youth.

Corrigenda    Fae    Fae Wildlands      Fae      Naiad

AVERAGE HEIGHT

Naiads are small water fae averaging from three to four feet tall.

AVERAGE WEIGHT

Naiads have the ability to adjust their weight for bouyancy. The usually weigh about seventy to ninety pounds (soaking wet).

FACIAL CHARACTERISTICS AND FEATURES

The characterisctics most commonly noted for naiads is the scale patterns which end just below the cheek bones. The scales on the face of a naiad cover the same area as a beard excluding moustache would on a human male.
The facial scales of female naiads range in colour from a light pink to a powder blue.
Male naiad facial scales are more vibrant from bright reds, yellows, and oranges to brilliant cerulean blue.

PERCEPTION & SENSORY / EXTRASENSORY CAPABILITIES

It has been rumoured that naiads can tell whether water is safe just by the way it smells. In fact if you run across a naiad while travelling it is almost a guarantee the water the live in is safe to drink.
Naiads have the ability to sense they abundance of life within their waterways. This helps to determine how many family units can live within a lake or river.

GROWTH RATE & STAGES

From birth to the age of about fifty they are juveniles, once they turn fifty they advance to adolescence at which point they begin exploring farther abroad but still remain in the waterways of their birth. When they turn one hundred they progress to young adult. it is at this point where they begin their search for a place to settle down and a mate.
Once they have found a mate and a place to call their own they are unlikely to travel far for the rest of their lives. Naiads can live up to nine hundred years. Unfortunately their average life span is only six hundred fifty three years, this is because of the hazards associated with the search for a place to settle down.

Encompassed species

• Fae

Related Locations

• Lake Veristo