Mer Species.
Female term: Mermaid
Male term: Mergent
Omnivores: Mer eat both plant and fish. They do not eat creatures that have a sense of sentience however. Such as dolphins, whales, and most sea monsters.
Coupling: Mer do not perform physical acts as a human may. The ultimate act of intimacy between two Mer involves embracing each other so that their hearts are pressed together. They synchronize their breathing and heartbeats to match the other. By obtaining this physical unison the Mer experience a euphoria that comes from being simply close and in tune with their partner.
Reproduction: Mer reproduce in the same manner as as fish. The female lay's anywhere from one to two dozen palm sized eggs. The male fertilizes them, after which the pair of Mer carefully hide the eggs in small holes or by burying them deep in the sand beneath coral reefs. The Mer couple then move on and leave the eggs to hatch in their own time. Mer eggs take a total of five years to mature and hatch. During this time the helpless eggs often fall prey to all manner of predators. Should a lucky egg manage to hatch, the hatchling Mer is no larger the a adult sea bass. The miniature Mer survives on base instincts alone for the first few months of it's life.
Memory Legacy: As a Mer ages, it begins to gain knowledge directly related to it's gender's Line. A Mergent will gain memories and knowledge in accordance to his father, and his grandfather. The longer a Mer manages to survive, the more knowledge he gains. This means of gaining knowledge is greatly unreliable, as the life span of the predecessor up to the point of laying the egg's determines just how much knowledge is relayed to the young. A Mer who lives longer, provides more knowledge to their eggs. A Mer that has not learned something themselves can not pass it along to their offspring. In such a way many of the Mer's history and culture has been lost, yet at the same time the potential of discovery of important historical information is held within each Mer.
Siren Song: Perhaps the most famous of all Mer qualities. The Siren Song is a melody meant to reach across the dark abyss of the sea. It's purpose is to reach the ears of a Mergent and lead him to the waiting Mermaid. Sadly this song has a very potent effect on human males. A Human male whose ears fall prey to this melody often becomes overwhelmed with the same urge to seek out the Mermaid while she sings, leading to many deaths, thus giving the Mermaid a legacy of death dealing temptresses of the waves. As a Mermaid ages, she gains greater control of her Song through practice. She can, granted with time, learn to control the lure of her song. Thus avoiding unintentional human deaths.
Serpents Song: The male version of the Siren Song, a Mergents Serpent Song grants him the ability to call Sea Snakes and charm them. Though the latter is not always necessary, as some Sea Snakes look favorably upon Mer and at times willingly forge pacts of friendship with them. As a Mergent grows older his Song grows more potent and powerful, granting him the ability to charm older snakes and sea serpents. The duration of his charming is directly connected to the Mergents age and skill.
Inherit Magic All Mer possess a meager amount of magic from birth.
Gift of Tongues All Mer possess the ability to communicate with any species that has a verbal language of their own. This requires some manner of sentience and self awareness on the part of the creature. For example, a Mer would not be able to communicate with a sea gull or a guppy due to their low level of intelligence. However in the case of a sea serpent, dolphin, or whale the Mer would be able to speak to them in a mimicking of their own language. The Gift of Tongues is more a intelligence based skill, as it requires the Mer to listen to the speech in use for him or her to pick it up. Coupled with the Memory Legacy, the Gift of Tongues is a very rapidly learned skill. This allows a Mer to learn a language seemingly instantly or overnight.
Human Form Once a Mer reach's puberty, he or she will gain a lesser form of magic that will allow them to split their fin into a pair of legs. The transformation is painless, if not a little uncomfortable and creepy (What ARE the purpose of toes after all?). Once a Mer splits their tail, a single scale remains covering the spot where a humans belly button would be. It should be noted that on a transformed Mer, there is no bellybutton, only smooth skin. This scale is of great importance, for it is the physical representation of a Mer's tail. So long as the Mer still holds possession of this scale, they are capable of resuming their Mer form. Should the Mer lose possession of this scale, they become trapped in their human guise. The Mer's Scale, once it is removed from their belly, has a wire that forms and twists into a setting for the scale in the same color as their hair. Often a Mer wears the scale about their neck like a pendant, though on some occasions a Mer has been known to wear the scale in a headband or about their wrist like a bracelet.The Lord of Atlantis was rumored to wear his Scale under a eye patch to cover his blinded left eye. ~ In addition, it should be noted that even in it's human form, a Mer can still breath underwater.
Civilization There is a legend. More like a lost legacy of the Mer. If a Mer grows old enough to remember, the Legacy of Atlantis is revealed to him or her. A fallen city that Mer once called Home, Atlantis has long since been destroyed and it's ruins lay undisturbed in some secret location at the bottom of the seas. Atlantis once was a Mer created island. A city that floated, supported by forgotten magic. Mer and human walked the coral forged streets and enjoyed a peaceful co-existence. However, the eruption of a human war brought bloodshed to the streets of Atlantis. The Mer found themselves trapped in a war not of their making. The Lord of Atlantis, the oldest of all Mer, refused to take sides in this war and attempted to create a neutral zone of peace. His attempts of diplomacy and nonpartisan desision was met with assassination. The result of this assassination led to both human sides blaming each other for the underhanded attack. The Mer became a broken race, at last taking sides they joined the humans they believed were the innocents in the war. The Mer used their Song's to benefit the humans in their fight. Mermaids coaxed sailors into the waters to drown. Mergents charmed Sea serpents and snakes to attack the human vessels and feast upon the flesh of the humans. It has been a guilty burden that many Lines bare, believing that they were the ones who enticed Sea Serpents to partake of human flesh, thus giving them a taste for the soft meat. By the end of the war, Atlantis was destroyed and sank beneath the waves, merely another casualty of war. The Mer were scattered and few in numbers. In order to avoid ever being drawn into another human conflict, it was decided among the survivors to never raise Atlantis. The Mer accepted their penance for their part in the war, and became nomads, so as to avoid ever being drawn into another human war ever again.
Combat Mer's are not peaceful fluttery creatures. Nor are they violent warmongers. In the sea a Mer is used to the violence that comes in terms of predator and prey. They are aware that if they do not protect themselves they can easily become the meal of a irate sea serpent or shark. Most Mer rely on their powerful tail's to inflict devastating blows to their opponents. Mergents have powerful upper bodies that enable them to land a punch like a sledgehammer on their foes. Mermaids have been known to fit poisoned teeth to their fingernails in order to slice the thick skin of many undersea predators. When it comes to actual weapon usage, Mer's have favored the use of short spears, as they are easier to wield in water then nearly any other weapon.
Common Legends With the disappearance of Mer's, many truths have faded and many fables have risen up to take their place. The following are lists of common mythos' concerning Mer's and their truths.
Mer's are all Female False. Mermaids are more common then Mergents. Roughly one in every six eggs laid is male. Due to this low ration, and the equally low survival rate of Mer eggs, Mergents are on the low end of extinction percentile.
If you eat a Mer's flesh you will become Immortal False. Due to a Mer's extended life span (Spanning well into the thousands), immortality is often attributed to their species. Eating a Mer's flesh will grant no more immortality then eating that of an elf.
Mermaids are lusty temptresses who only desire to drown sailors False. This rumor is bourne of two different misleading facts. Stemming back to the era of the fall of Atlantis, when mermaids willingly used their Songs to drown sailors. This, coupled with the unintentionally luring of sailors when seeking a Mergent, leads to many attributing mermaids with being flesh devouring demons. The Lusty part of the rumor is due to the extreme loneliness that a lone Mermaid often feels. It is not uncommon for a lone Mermaid to seek some form of comfort from a human male in her desperation to find companionship.
Mer's guard fabulous treasures False/True While a Mer does not necessarily 'guard' treasure, a Mer may come across the location of many sunken ships during their travels. While gold and gems hold value to humans Mer often do not recognize the value of these objects, and as such do not recognize them as 'treasure'.
It you steal a Mer's tail they become your slave. False. Stealing a Mer's Scale can result in some very one sided bargaining of course. The holder of the Scale can request anything from the hapless Mer, but this does not mean the Mer has no choice but to obey. A Mer may become violent and attack the thief, or they may simply choose to suffer a life as a human rather then bend knee to the whims of a thief.
A Mer that loses it's tail becomes Human permantly True. This little known truth is a dangerouse consequence to a Mer loseing their Scale. Should a Mer spend too much time as a Human, they begin to lose their innate magical powers, and in time they will forget their lives as a Mer. It all becomes as a faded dream to the Mer. They begin to age as a Human does, and will eventually die as a human, believing their faded memories as a Mer are nothing more then daydreams.
Mer's can command Sea Monsters False/True. Mergent's possess the ability to charm Sea Snakes, and as they grow older, Sea Serpents and Leviathans. However, they can only control a few at a time.
Mer's possess ancient knowledge of magic. False/True A Mer gains ancient knowledge as they grow older. Some of this knowledge can prove very useful to a human. Such as the knowledge of old time magical techniques or the locations of tomes that may reveal lost knowledge. However, not ever Mer holds the same knowledge in their Line, and not all Mer have lived long enough to have learned these things.
Possessing a Mer brings good Luck False/True Mer's could be seen as the lucky rabbit foot of the Sea. Not necessarily real luck bringers, but they are undeniably useful when a sea serpent decides to try and make a snack of ones crew. Sea serpents and snakes are hesitant to cross a Mer or anger one, particularly a Mergent.
Mer's can produce exotic magical plants True. Mer's, as they explore the sea, come across many unique plants that can only be found deep in the depths of the sea. Many of these plants possess innate magical traits that can be used by those skilled with such magic. Other plants are simply very tasty or nutritious.
A Mer's tears turn into diamonds or pearls True. However, there are very specific requirements that must be met for this mystical transformation. First, it is not every tear shed that becomes magically transformed. It is only the first tear shed that becomes the gemstone. The Tear in question must be shed due to personal sorrow or guilt. Tears shed in pain or anger do not change. A Tear that is shed while in the sea turns into a perfectly round pearl of sparkling beauty. A Tear that is shed in the air crystalizes into a drip shaped diamond of high quality. These magically changed tears are testiment to the Sorrow of the Mer and are often collected in small clam shells and worn about the waist or neck.