Note: This is a playable race that is currently being developed further, refined and expanded upon to provide an even better experience. Check back often and watch for announcements regarding updates. If you have questions ask an admin or mentor for help.
Merfolk of Emory Haven
The world has no doubt been fascinated with merfolk - folklore has painted them anywhere from benevolent protectors of the sea and all its inhabitants, warning of danger and misfortune, to monstrous creatures bent on revenge and with a taste for human flesh. They are generally depicted as having the upper body of a human, and the lower half of a fish or other sea creature, though looks can vary wildly between each individual mer - some merfolk can even change the colour of their scales as a biological response, and some may even be bioluminescent.
The social structure of merfolk takes the form of one large tribe (no matter the distance between each mer), with smaller sects consisting of familial bonded mer or those who have formed a close-knit group. These sects vary in name, and have been called gossips (pertaining to the lighter shallow-water mermaids, most often), pods, etc. However, there are exceptions to this rule; some merfolk (especially darker mercreatures, or those who live in deeper water or more secluded places) live their lives alone or even in pairs. Smaller groups of mer may not have clear leaders, and work in tandem to achieve their goals - merfolk are excellent team players, due to their cultural link.
They are depicted as vain and vindictive, when it benefits them, though this isn’t necessarily true, despite being supernaturally beautiful creatures of any gender and generally concerned with their looks and beauty. They can be prideful, and it is not unusual for a merfolk to be flustered over keeping up appearances.
Having been left alone to their own devices, merfolk now contend with humans for their food supply and their waters - with their habitat being overfished and polluted, their way of life is falling apart. Thus some merfolk harbour a vindictiveness toward humans that is deeply ingrained over centuries of this destruction. Some refuse to even associate with them, in stark contrast to those mer who help the lost and hurt.
Their thirst for knowledge eventually led them to adapt to being on land, forming the ability to shed their scales for a pair of legs (albeit clumsy at first, and better with use) to blend in with those who walked the land. Many merfolk have adapted to live a double life - one leg on land and a fin in the water, living and working in Emory Haven before slipping back into the water when their day is done or they need to feel the kiss of the sea on their scales again.
The social structure of merfolk takes the form of one large tribe (no matter the distance between each mer), with smaller sects consisting of familial bonded mer or those who have formed a close-knit group. These sects vary in name, and have been called gossips (pertaining to the lighter shallow-water mermaids, most often), pods, etc. However, there are exceptions to this rule; some merfolk (especially darker mercreatures, or those who live in deeper water or more secluded places) live their lives alone or even in pairs. Smaller groups of mer may not have clear leaders, and work in tandem to achieve their goals - merfolk are excellent team players, due to their cultural link.
They are depicted as vain and vindictive, when it benefits them, though this isn’t necessarily true, despite being supernaturally beautiful creatures of any gender and generally concerned with their looks and beauty. They can be prideful, and it is not unusual for a merfolk to be flustered over keeping up appearances.
Having been left alone to their own devices, merfolk now contend with humans for their food supply and their waters - with their habitat being overfished and polluted, their way of life is falling apart. Thus some merfolk harbour a vindictiveness toward humans that is deeply ingrained over centuries of this destruction. Some refuse to even associate with them, in stark contrast to those mer who help the lost and hurt.
Their thirst for knowledge eventually led them to adapt to being on land, forming the ability to shed their scales for a pair of legs (albeit clumsy at first, and better with use) to blend in with those who walked the land. Many merfolk have adapted to live a double life - one leg on land and a fin in the water, living and working in Emory Haven before slipping back into the water when their day is done or they need to feel the kiss of the sea on their scales again.
Strengths and skills seen in Merfok
- Siren's Song: Most notable with sirens, all merfolk (with some exceptions, which is the player's choice) have an alluring song specific to each mer that draws others in, often described as the song with which they used to sink the ships of men and drown them in the sea. Other merfolk merely find this song indescribably pleasant, but to others' ears, it is a song so enchanting that they are compelled to surrender themselves to the mer whose voice bewitched them, often being lured into the sea or to do the merfolk's bidding for a short amount of time. This requires OOC permission, and must be stated in the post.
- Crafting: With nimble fingers, deft hands and an eye for beauty, merfolk are excellent craftsmen, possessing the ability to take everyday, mundane objects and turning them into something profound and enchanting. They are skilled at making weaponry and jewelry, and some excel at creating special clothing or ritual items. The objects created have a strange pull to them - just as the sea calls to the mer who made them.
- Physical strength: Living in the water for the majority of one's life will have certain effects on the body - a merfolk's muscles are strong, their bones light but durable; they are made to swim against and withstand the strongest currents and the most vicious undertow, and are gifted with great strength and agility on land as a result. However, most mer tend to forget their own strength and can make a mess of things if they let their anger get to them, or if they aren't careful.
- Cultural telepathy: Merfolk are able to communicate telepathically with others of their kind, though mostly through shared feelings and projected mental imagery. If words are used, they tend to be simple commands, enough to get their point across.
- Empathic: Despite being depicted as vain or shallow in many legends, merfolk can be extremely empathetic to other people, having honed this with their own kind, in order to detect danger and pass on cultural knowledge and feeling. They are able to easily sense when something is wrong or "off", be it with another person or just the air around them.
Weaknesses and restrictions found in merfolk
- Waterfolk: Merfolk are almost entirely dependant upon the water; they cannot spend very long out on dry land. Most mer can last roughly a week or so out of water, as long as their diet includes copious amounts of seafood and water to help regulate the moisture in their bodies. However, some mer may have trouble staying out of the water for even shorter amounts of time, depending on their bodies and how they fare in the open air. Harsh sunlight tends to make this worse; if out for too long, the mer in question will begin to dehydrate, with their health rapidly failing after the first symptoms manifest. Severe thirst, dry mouth and eyes, sleepiness, intense headaches and dizziness are rapid onset, with their skin forming small, scale-like lesions. This can also progress into hysteria and mental deterioration, if left unchecked and the warning signs their bodies give them go unheeded, and eventually, death. A mer experiencing dehydration symptoms must return to the water right away.
- Origins: Merfolk, regardless of type, keep a small trinket of the sea or body of water they originated from (or wherever their home "shoal" is - it must be a body of water that they have a particular attachment to) on their person at all times. A small vial of sand or seawater, a shell, a fish scale, a piece of dried plant - anything that connects them with their home while out of water. If the trinket is found and taken away, that mer will be forced to grant a favour to the person who took it. However, their trinket is often well hidden, and once the favour is granted, the person who stole the trinket is honour-bound to return it, lest they incite the wrath of that particular merfolk.
- Cultural link: All merfolk have a deep cultural link that spans generations upon generations, ingrained deep within their blood and soul. Regardless of whether a mer is lone or part of a pod, if another merfolk is in trouble, they experience a great need to help them, forsaking their vanity to pull the other out of danger - The death of a merfolk is felt in their culture like the great ripple in the ocean - starting out small, but eventually affecting them all. Because of this, merfolk often risk their lives to protect own their kind, willingly putting themselves in danger's way. Merfolk are often drawn to each other in ways that other creatures can't fathom, like a pull deep in their bones that beckons to them like the sea; they feel a deep sadness when separated from their own kind, and if not in close proximity to another mer at least once a week, they begin to experience depression, anxiety and may turn destructive tendencies inward on themselves. Legends speak of merfolk who have lost their minds in their lonesome, becoming cautionary tales for those after them.
- Temperature Extremes: Because of their conditioning beneath the water, depending upon where they originate from, merfolk are either exceedingly susceptible to extreme heat, or extreme cold. Tropical merfolk will often nearly freeze to death in the cold, having to bundle up moreso than any human might - and northern merfolk, especially those near the arctic circle, must be extremely careful in the summer lest they suffer a heat stroke or dehydration, even in mildly warm weather. Mer created or born between the two extremes are susceptible to both ends of the temperature spectrum, though not nearly as terrible as those who were born otherwise.
- Pollution & Poison: Merfolk, though able to sniff out poison in food or water, are highly susceptible to it on the other side of the same coin, because of the way they filter water and nutrients through their bodies. Mer are more likely to get extremely sick from poisoned or polluted water or food of any type, often experiencing debilitating muscle aches, headaches, dizziness, vomiting and more severe symptoms such as neurological and nerve damage, depending upon the severity of the pollution or poison involved, and the length of time the mer was in contact with it for. Once submerged in a clean water source, however, like any sick person the mer will gradually be nursed back to health by the sea, if the poisons have not caused irreversible damage.