Manataion

Deity

Mother Sea

The Teachings of Mother Sea

Mother Sea teaches how she keeps the world alive, how her ocean is the life blood of the planet. She teaches that her children are the merfolk, how they are her voice and her hands within the world.

She teaches to be kind to those less fortunate. To take people under your wing for guidance, and love.

Mother Sea Description:

The merfolk say that she resembles a beautiful woman. She takes on a humanoid form only in dreams. Her true form is the sea itself.

Daily Life

The Merfolk worship at a personal shrine within their home. They offer prayers and give thanks to mother sea, they pray by singing.

Merfolk tend to their coral shrines and keep them clean, they traditionally place a shell or pearl or anything pretty from the sea at the base of the shrine on their birthday as thanks for their life to Mother Sea.

The Shrines are also used for family deaths, First year ages, birthdays, and Marriages. These shrines are important to them all through their lives.

Women are required to wear any type of clothing to cover up their chest. Mother sea’s chosen always covered her chest. (The first queen of the coral empire) Because of this everyone believes it is Mother Sea’s will that women should cover their chests, and only their mates can sea them bear.

Merfolk breach the surface of the water, sit upon rocks, or go into special coral singing rooms just above the waves of the water to sing to their mother sea. Whenever there's a birth, a death, or they come of age, they will sing in thanks to Mother Sea. They sing on other occasions as well, like just for fun, or for practice and so on. This is also why ships go down as well. The merfolk are not purposely singing to draw people to their doom, their singing to their mother sea, and ships hear their voices and are enchanted by them and follow them until they no longer hear them or shipwreck.

Professions

Current Readers:

Once a merfolk has the sign of a Current Reader they will begin their training at the age of 10. They will be taught the ancient history and uses of Current Readers. Once chosen as a current reader they must forever be a current reader, however they can still choose a minor profession should they wish.

As they grow they are taught the traditions of their people and how to listen to Mother Sea and interpret her signs, and warnings.

Other merfolk who are born with different signs cannot become a current reader. This is a gift you must be born with.

Master Current Readers or assistant Current Readers will wear ceremonial leather, scale armor. clothing. This clothing has special pearls and beads attached to a jellyfish tentigale. These are attached to their chest clothing and loops over their shoulder and attach to their shoulder blade armor, these sway in the water current. They will have a belt with all kinds of items and instruments attached to it that helps them do their jobs such as, listening to the sea, reading signs and reading the currents and finding a child's sign. This is to represent their sacred station.

Current Readers use their talents to keep in contact with Mother Sea. They listen to her and let the other merfolk know. They tend and create Coral shrines, only they are able to create coral shrines.

They tend to the waters of the whole merfolk kingdom, studying and making sure the environment is well. They have special small coral buildings, somewhat far from the coral reefs. These places are sacred and only they can enter them. They use these places to listen to the currents and to meditate. Current Readers also meditate and do their work near the shore lines and near the surface of the water. They have these special buildings near shores and will meditate on the sands of the coral cities as well.

They gather information from aquatic animals and birds. Their best animals that they comune with regularly are whales, dolphins, and seagulls.

There is an important distinction though between the Current Readers and the Tide Singers.

Current readers perform rituals in silence and put all the ingredients and do all the physical work while Tide singers do the speaking and singing.

While Current Readers speak and meditate to the animals and to Mother Sea they don't sing to them or speak to Mother Sea.

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Current Readers can start a family and do what they can just like any other person. They are treated with respect but not special treatment unless on duty.

Current Readers are also trained healers. As they need this skill to heal and create healing remedies on wounded creatures or races they come across.

Both current Readers and Tide Singers are trained to fight alongside any animal they come across that is willing to help them.

Tide Singers:

Trained to sing to animals, coral, for battle, and for Mother Sea.

Once a merfolk has the sign of a tide singer they will begin their training at the age of 10.

They will be taught the ancient history and uses of tide singing. Now just because a merfolk learns tide singing as their gift and sign from Mother Sea, does not mean that it has to be their profession.

Once they know how to tide sing and are above basic level they have two paths they can go down. They can either go down the path of expert level of tide singer and make it their primary profession or a side profession. The second path is they just have above basic level of tide singing and decide to do something else completely but always have the tide singing skill.

Other merfolk can't try to become a tide singer, tide singers are chosen by Mother sea to commun directly to her with their voices.

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Master tide singers or assistant tide singers will wear a ceremonial blue scale clothing with long blue ribbons attached to the arms. This is to represent their station, profession, and level of skill in the craft.

Tide Singers are trained to use their voices in many different ways. They can use their voices to speak with animals, to charm them and persuade them. They trained to use their voices to sing to Mother sea, Tide singers use their skills for weddings, death rituals, and so on.

They are also trained to use their singing in warfare and combat. They can use their voices to great effect against non-merfolk. Such as tricking the mind, or having a greater influence on the minds of non-merfolk than the average mer.

Architecture

Shrines: 

Shrines can range from being the size of a window to as tall as a person. Generally a shrine is made out of coral and made to look like an arch. Beneath the coral arch is a statue of mother sea.

These shrines are prayed to daily. They sing to her as their way of praying. They place pearls, shells or anything pretty from the sea under the shrine whenever something major happens in their life. Such as a family death, their birthday, or getting married.

Funeral Shrines: 

These shrines are built like plateaus right next to currents. They have 5 pillars of coral with a circular ceiling topping the pillars. Underneath the structure is a pedestal to lay the dead upon. Attached to the pillars are tapestries of mother sea made from polished translucent scales.

Temple of Mother Sea: 

These temples are located on one of the floors of the great coral cities. It's where tide singers and current readers are trained. These great temples are where many merfolk gather to learn of mother sea, to hear about what the tide singers and current readers will teach about her.

Mythology

It’s believed that Mother Sea chose the first empress and her line to rule over all the other merfolk. Struna the first empress layed down many rules that her line must follow if they are to rule justly.

Mother sea helped her Chosen to unite all the coral merfolk under one banner and helped them to start their worship of mother sea once more instead of worshiping war.

Belief

They believe that when they die they are taken into Mother Sea’s realm. Where they will live happily forever with her to watch over them.

Within their culture women have a more dominant role than men in a way. Women are the political leaders, and Spiritual leaders. Men are the leaders of warfare, they are the soldiers and hunters. They protect the treasures of the sea, their women. Note men are not treated as lesser because their men, women are just the political leaders of their society.

It's forbidden to make a shrine above water.

They believe that all merfolk are born with one of 10 gifts from Mother Sea. (Sea birth ritual for more info in the race of merfolk.)

They believe their magical gifts are a blessing given to them by Mother Sea. (See merfolk magic. In magic systems.)