#merfolk lore

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

I had this fun idea that merfolk could display breeding season/wooing colours when they feel special feelings, like feeling flustered or flirty towards another person. Flirting has never been easier!

...I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not exactly like that! It’s an act somewhere between blushing and purposely showing off to someone you are interested in, controllable to an extent but also a very emotional reaction.

[aurelim]

additional merfolk lore

hey everyone! It’s been a while, but I hope that nobody forgot me while I was gone lol. I’ve been in the background writing ATOL (something finally awoke within me that gave me the motivation to write) and Swapped.

Anyways, I just wanted to address a few things about the merfolk that weren’t mentioned in the game. Some of these were answered by asks a long time ago so I’m sorry if I sound repetitive. I don’t know if I will add this but this is just some extra information about them!

First and foremost: the relationship between humans and the merfolk go back centuries. Humans, for the most part, are unaware of the merfolk—contrary to the popular belief among the merfolk. Many don’t even live near the shore or are out fishing to notice their presence in the waters. The merfolk, on the hand, are all-too-well-aware of the dangers of humans, and have thus tried to avoid them while simultaneously killing them off (for the obvious reason of collecting energy). There are a lot of complicated feelings but the general consensus among the merfolk is that humans harm their environment, and therefore are evil.

Second: the merfolk do not know how to read or write. There are no books, pen or paper that could last long in the water, and even if there were the merfolk have no idea how to use them. They are taught by their parents on how to swim, speak, and sing, which is all they can go off of since learning is limited. There are no schools that teach the younger merfolk as most live independently and away from others.

Third: the merfolk do not need to use the “bathroom”. Not only is there no such thing in the ocean, but they simply have no urge to go. Everything they absorb and even consume (take seaweed, for example) is converted into energy within them and replenishes their body.

Fourth: the merfolk speak their own language, Mermian, but when speaking to humans of any nation it will come back to the humans in their own language. If a human speaks English and a Merfolk speaks to them, it comes out as English. However, how the language barrier works is that a Merfolk must have their focus, attention, or even their eyes on the human and must be directly talking to them. If they aren’t focused on the human before them or looking away distantly when speaking, their words will come out in the merfolk language.

Fifth: there’s no such thing as an underwater seawitch like The Little Mermaid. In fact, there is a very specific way if a Merfolk were to hypothetically become a human…and it’s not by just going to the shore and willing themselves to become a human.

Finally: the merfolk cannot have “sex” in the human sense, neither for pleasure nor for reproduction. It’s not like there’s retractable reproductive organs coming out of their scales. They already get stimulation and pleasure when receiving energy.

In order to reproduce, the two parents have to generate a large portion of energy out of their bodies in order to form a medium-sized egg. Not roe-sized, but slightly bigger than a American Condor egg and rounded. The mothers will guard the egg for nine months, providing it with sufficient energy to help it develop, before eventually it breaks out of the egg into a little merbaby. It’s near to impossible that twins or even more than two babies can be born at the same time, but occasionally within the egg the embryo could split, resulting in identical twins or triplets. While it sounds easy to have children, it really takes a lot out of the parents. Sometimes they die due to exhaustion of the energy supply to the point where it’s hard to regain it all back quickly enough. Not to mention that the eggs are susceptible to creatures like sharks and are incredibly fragile. They can die if not provided enough energy, knocked over and broken, complications in the egg, etc.

[theartloca]

Can mers of different species interbreed? How do the children turn out?

I don't think it's physically possible in my universe. I guess some merfolk from the same family could interbreed but their offspring would end up being sterile or something like that (?)

They might form particular communities/shoals composed of different types of merfolk or even fall in love regardless of the species tho (p≧w≦q)

[monstersholygrail]

If a siren boyfriend tried to have you swim with him would you do it??? Or would you be to scared of going under the water or him accidentally luring you to sleep with this voice?? Because like my biggest concern is the teeth 😭 -🐳

Of course I’d do it! How could I deny such a cute little guy. He just wants to swim with me I’m sure there would be no repercussions 😀

But actually in the beginning when meeting Siren bf I’d wear ear plugs. We don’t know each other or trust each other yet so of course we’re gonna be wary and take precautions.

The longer we meet up on the shore though, the more Siren bf would start to get hurt by the plugs. Acting as proof that I don’t trust him.

It would be a big show of faith to finally take them out and to hear his voice without anything possibly blocking it. His voice would certainly be the most beautiful and alluring thing I’ve ever heard.

When the time finally does come for him to suggest taking me for a swim, I’d imagine we’ve been doing this long enough so that I wouldn’t even hesitate. Thinking it’s just a little date and he wouldn’t hurt me.

Of course, I’d be right. Siren bf would take every safety measure to ensure I’d be alright. I’d imagine he wouldn’t even talk to me underwater in fear of what it would do. Instead using clicks or gestures to talk to me. Not like I could talk back any other way right? So it would work great!

If he did want more underwater, I’ve imagined him bringing a merman along with him to kiss me. He’d absolutely hate it, seethe with jealousy, and kiss the daylights out of me after. But a merman’s kiss grants human the ability to breathe underwater so it would be worth it. He’d take extra good care of me on those days.

Eventually he’d move his cave to a one with above water access. That way he can keep me with him and we’d no longer have to be a part.

[ghost-bxrd]

“It came from the depths. The water was churning- we thought it was the whales. Just whales. They like coming through these parts, sometimes, you know? Real fuckin’ annoying, those things. But we didn’t— We thought it must be a new pod, coming through. Drawn by our catch. That live mer… its blood must have drawn… it, out…oh, god, those eyes—

We thought it was whales. When we realized it was one single tail… it was too late. [REDACTED] told us not to- stupid, fuck, we all thought ‘what do the dead know’? Idiot got killed jumping into that thing’s tank. Good riddance, ‘s what we all thought. Freed that thing and got eaten. Natural selection, if you’d asked us. Ain’t we ever dumb enough to, no, we’d been careful-

[audio corrupted, three minutes of missing log, irreparable]

— its teeth-…

Oh, god… what have we done? What have we awoken?”

— audio log transcript, sole survivor of the [REDACTED] expedition

File note: Survivor admitted to psychiatric facility, acute distress symptoms persisting, survivor claims “it is still watching, waiting”, transfer to inland facility recommended, hydro- and thalassophobia diagnosed, further diagnostics pending

[monsoon-of-art]

music is very important in merfolk culture, in some cases it can even be used to perform magic!

im unsure whether or not Ingo is a good singer. But he's a loud singer. and this was definitely a shock

[princescar]

Wow, I love this scene in DRS!! <- (guy who misses Yasuke Matsuda)

you get all 3 versions bc idk how to feel about the coloring. Design from @freshyow

[lawvno]

I don’t care if this isn’t lore accurate— half mermaid tav!!🐟

[izelthewashbear]

Lurker of the lake is out!!!

Hypno discovers a strange crature living in a lake of the outskirts of the new Hermit lands. Despite both of them coming from different worlds, they quickly find a common language. Their friendship pushes them both to change and trust each other in the face of a threat looming over the Hermits.

Merjevin was created for Hermitcraft Monster Mash - a collab project combining Hermits and monsters together, just in time for Halloween. Aside from meeting a ton of talented artists, I had a chance to create and get to love this little guy.

Please go read the fandic if you can! I worked really hard on it and I've been told it's a really good read! Especially if you're like me and you miss some fandom content about the less popular Hermits like Jevin and Hypno

As a bonus, here are some doodles that helped with the creation of Merjevin! I hope this isn't the last time you guys get to see him

[pathesis]

Nightmares am I right gang?

[n1ght0f-nyx]

24. do they have any creative hobbies? (art, writing, music, etc)

pert'ah (orc oc)- Pert'ah has always loved the way weaving connects his hands to his mind. It’s meditative and allows him to create something lasting. He takes pride in the intricate patterns he can craft, which often tell stories of his ancestors or express his emotions.

ezra (werewolf oc)- Ezra loves the soft, soothing sounds of the guitar, and it’s a way for him to express his feelings without needing words. He keeps his music private, only playing when he’s alone or with you

kai (merman oc)- Kai enjoys gathering interesting shells and rocks from the seabed. They remind him of special places in his territory, and he likes gifting them to you as part of his courtship rituals. he also has a fascination with human things and explores wrecks out of curiosity. Sometimes, he finds trinkets or shiny objects he thinks you might like.

benny (harpy oc)- Benny loves scavenging and collecting little human-made objects like buttons, coins, shiny rocks, or old jewelry, He’s fascinated by human craftsmanship and loves imagining what these items might mean in human 'culture'.

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Technically, every time I refer to Ahti, the little fellow in my profile picture, as Ahti II, I'm actually being somewhat incorrect. Ahti as I always draw him should really be called just Ahti, or Ahti Saarelainen, when we're being fancy. Otherwise I would be blowing his cover! But, let's slow down a bit.

I've yet to lay down Ahti's backstory in proper detail yet. As I've mentioned a few times before, he is a prince! The Baltic Sea is home to a merfolk kingdom named Osmeri, and Ahti II is the next in line for the throne. Osmeri royals have a tradition that spans at least a few centuries, where the young heir(s) must momentarily leave the life of royalty behind and live as "commoners" in another land. The official reason is to keep the royals in touch with how things work for average people and get them to socialise and familiarise themselves with everyday people, another reason might be to give the teenaged heirs one final vacation... and now it's the twins' Ahti II and Hienohelma's turn!

Ahti and his sister need to hide their true identity lest they end up in danger, of course. They go by the surname Saarelainen and live with their grandparents in southwest Finland. The native language of Osmeri, Surish, has an accent that sounds very much like a Swedish one to Finnish ears, so most people assume Ahti is a Swedish-speaking Finn, which is a minority group inside Finland (most live along the coast). He hides his merman tail most of the time so really, he's just some teenage boy. You don't tend to assume that the guy who sort of looks like the crown prince of another damn country is actually that crown prince in a silly disguise.

Here's Ahti in his two modes, as a helpful guide:

[evergreen-femme]

current ttrpg character i really wanna play is a merfolk knight with like coral armor and a lot of flowing transparent fabric to give her a jellyfish theme, using a trident and small shield (dex build obviously). she was born in a monastery for wizards and their supporters (religion and arcane magic are strongly linked in the merfolk society) and raised to be a ‘librarian knight,’ traveling the world to search for magical secrets and lore to bring back to the underwater monastery. her involvement in whatever the plot ended up being would start as her pilgrimage to earn her place as a proper knight or whatever

[tiefling-chaos]

[midnightfire830]

I noticed there was a green strap like thing on your merman version of cuphead? (The lion fish!) may I ask what that is? :0

Experimenting with some quick and easy background ideas and explaining a little bit on merfolk fashion styles.

Thanks so much for the ask!!

[ghost-bxrd]

— last image captured by drone315 seconds before disaster, image recovered by accessing sunken servers via diving team, incident referenced: Odyssey’s Sinking, access file J16T for further information, section: confirmed incidents

“-obviously the radar’s hung up. There’s no rock field in the area big enough to-

Did you hear that?

… No, I don’t know.

It sounded like we might have hit something. Go look… then turn on the lights. Jesus, it’s like we’re short on tech or something…

Huh? What do you mean the anchor’s gone? How can it be gone-?

Shit! Turn on the lights! Hurry! The radar’s going crazy!

Wh- No it’s not whales you dumbass! Now turn on the goddamn lights! Maybe we can see what’s out there with-

Oh holy mother of- are you seeing this? The hell is that thing? No it’s not a squid- where the fuck did you get your degree, Harold? Squid don’t have scales. Start the drone, we need to get an idea of how large it is. This is phenomenal. I’m estimating a good twenty meters with that scale size. We could be looking at an undiscovered species of sea snake here, if we bring this back to the- ha! Got it! Drone’s up and about! Harold, tell Jess to flip the beamers up to a hundred. Maybe we can spot the thing’s head—

Hold on, hey, Ed, are you seeing this-?

Oh- oh my god. Oh, Jesus Christ, oh fuck, no, fuck- Everyone, abandon ship! Get off the ship! Get off the ship right now! I repeat, get off-!”

— Voyage Data Recorder, audio transcript, recovered from ship wrecked remains of “The Oddyssey”, time stamp: 01:32, no survivors

File Notes:

Second notable incident with Subject J16T (category class: Leviathan) responsible. For first notable incident, access file: [REDACTED] Research Facility