Merfolk

Survivors of Survivors

While there are sporadic communities that have been established most remain in hiding. The once vast population of known merfolk that lived along Prosperity Bay  have been dwindled down to a small community caverns of no greater than a few thousands. The most well know is the settlement of Resilience established to the south of Zamarrid  While rumors circulate that there are many surviving Merfolk that traveled deeper into the bay and live there, The Recorded Truth has sourced from the Merfolk, Art Samaras from Resilience that this is explicitly false as a merfolk can go up to three days without breathing surface air but a merfolk doing so will suffer several health consequences similar to that starvation during that time as the innate magic in their bodies starts to consume itself. This is one of many false rumors The Recorded Truth is doing its best to correct that surround the Merfolk.
Considered under the protection of The Magus, yet the merfolk of Resilience have generally maintained detached separation from the city. The majority of surviving merfolk are in second generation after the initial slaughter in their population in Prosperity Bay, many of the merfolk have stories of how their parents lost their home caverns and the night terrors that followed. The Merfolk have had to adapt many of their old rituals and traditions to their new home and while the Resilience has maintained a mostly isolationist policy thought it is still remains the most open source of information about the Merfolk.

Naming Traditions

Unisex names

Art, Wave, Pearl, Tide, Carve, Coral, Etching, Forge, Sowing

Family names

Onasis, Adamo, Doukas, Drakos, Alexiou, Kiko

Culture

Culture and cultural heritage

Family Trees

The family tree of a Merfolk is a large piece of interconnected driftwood pieces tied together by boiled leather usually held by the Matriarch or Patriarch of a family in the den of their home and is passed down to the eldest child after their death. When a new marriage union is made, a carved piece of driftwood will be added to the tree and as new members join already existing unions, and more details into the carving. As the communities have been dispersed as they had to flee their home caverns without them. Most that remain in Resilience are only branch-lings that were snapped when fleeing or started a new, but the largest intact family tree that can be found is held by The Recorded Truth Headquarters in the Eternal Forest which at its longest point 8 feet long and at its highest is 10 feet high.

Common Dress code

Merfolk Attire consists of primarily boiled leathers and distinct shells that placed in either a pattern or carved with familial Iconography that have different meaning. A common attire pieces is the pearl necklace that can have one to three large pearls depending on the number of members of their marriage union which stops no greater than four.

Funerary and Memorial customs

The Lost's Shrine

Located at the back of the central cavern,iIs a memorial shrine. Standing at 6 foot tall is a set of stone shelf steppes which is lit by small aquariums of bio-luminescent corals that are sparsed around pieces of their lost homes as they fled. While unique to each individual the most common items are pieces old clothing shells, children's toys, the traditional marriage pearl necklaces, carved stone dinner plates, and a few wooden pieces of a carved family trees from families that were lost during their escapes. It's a common practice to visit the shire and meditate throughout the year, but most commonly on the day your family left their home cavern or also Shallow's Day which is a memorial day of The Battle of Tides, a battle that was a crushing loss of the Merfolk with the Imperium.

Common Myths and Legends

Children of the Sahagin

The merfolk claim a direct lineage with the ancient Sahagin who's ruins are scattered across the world, The families of merfolk can sometimes hold a stone carving texts that tells ancient stories of the Sahagin as direct ties to their ancestors. Due to Sahagin depictions being fish-like in nature it is commonly accepted belief. Therefore some also believe that the merfolk language is the key to unlocking a direct translation to ancient Sahagin texts. It is an unfortunate sad truth that many of the species records and histories have been lost or are being secretly held by Imperium scholars.

Ideals

Courtship Ideals

Merfolk Marriage Union

A merfolk can be married to up to three different individuals, the number three is said to be tied to the three merfolk hearts and how each has a different rhythm. Because of this, marriage partners are sometimes called a Syncopate (which means complimentary rhythm) but wife, husband or partners is used without offense. A married Merfolk will wear a one to three pearls around their necks to show they are married and how many partners they have, It traditional practice to reach out to a married Merfolk's partner to ask if they can court them before making serious moves, It's also considered bad form to bring the topic of the courting to said request. That said it is a recent practice to wear a three pearled necklace when married to less than three merfolk to symbolize they are not interested in a larger relationship.

Related Locations

• Prosperity Bay