Merfolk

True to the stories, merfolk take the form of humanoid, elf like shapes, albeit witha fish tail where the legs should be. Their entire bodies are often covered with fine scales, as well as halving webbed hands and fin like appendages over their bodies, and a set of gills on their neck or torso. As a survival mechanism, a merfolk brought onto land will undergo a magical transformation, their fish like tails splitting into a pair of humanoid legs to walk around on. These legs persist until the merfolk's lower half is entirely submerged in water, at which point the legs revert back into a tail. Any injuries applied to the tail carry over into the legs, and vice versa. This transformation is entirely reflexive, and requires extreme discipline from a merfolk to resist.   Aside from those core traits, merfolk are an extremely unique and varied species, with countless suspecies across the ocean with traits of almost every boney fish species alive. From the halfling sized sardine merflok to the large and powerful tuna merfolk. Each merfolk has similar capabilities and and features to the species they take after, including size (although the discrepancy in size is less pronounced than in actual fish).

Merfolk live in various regions throughout the ocean but are most commonly found in shallow waters near islands or underwater mountains, where life and nutrients are pleasant. The most common places to find merfolk are coral reefs, where they guide the growth of coral to form small houses for families to live in. Over time a coral reef is transformed into an abundant neighbourhood with all manner of subspecies of merfolk and other marine life living peacefully together. Examples of shallow water merfolk include clownfish, flatfish, seahorses, and the diminuitive goby.   A few merfolk traverse the open ocean as nomads. The open sea is a very different place than the shallows, with bounds of trackless open blue space with only currents to serve as landmarks. These merfolk get by via hunting the rare fish, dolphins and seabirds that can be found out in the open. These merfolk are much more tribalistic and survival focussed, rather than the orderly society of shallow water merfolk, as they are at the highest risk of run-ins with slaver ships, sahuagin, sea serpents and other such dangers. The deep sea leaves very little in the way of shelter, so deep sea merfolk spend much of their lives on the move, using pieces of flotsam for rest. Some deep-sea merfolk are able to form a mystical bond with some whales and are able to construct mobile homes atop the whales as a mobile home. Some deep-sea merfolk even make their homes inside of a whale. Deep-sea merfolk are often distrusted by shallow watrer merfolk due to their predatory lifestyles and lack of structured society. Examples of deep-sea merfolk include swordfish, tuna, herring and barracuda.   Found scrounging for scraps on the sea floor, in the crushing blackness of the continental shelf, lurk the abyssal merfolk. These merfolk lurk in the cold depths just above the trenches and abyssal zones of the sea, the eternally twilit realms between the shallows and the demonic realms of the Abyss. Growung up so close to the portions of the ocean ruled by demons causes them and other life in the area to take on strange, alien forms. Abyssal merfolk have fiendish traits, such as long teeth, wide red eyes and bioluminescent bodies. Abyssal merfolk are much more solitary than other merfolk, and actively avoid other lifeforms that aren't food and steer well clear of demons especially. They can live almost their whole life without speaking to another soul, with the exception of an event known as a Whalefall - when a large creature such as a whale or sea dragon dies and their corpse sinks to the bottom of the ocean, becoming a bountiful feast for countless lifeforms. During this time abyssal merfolk band together and defend the whalefall from marauding demons whilst other deep sea life feasts on it. This requires very little verbal communication, being an instinctive attitude. Abyssal merfolk are much more primitive than other merfolk, most of them being unable to speak at all unless they are raised by other types of merfolk.

Sensory abilities vary fairly wildly across merkind, but most at the very least have very keen eyesight in order to see through the gloom of the dark abyss. Most merfolk also have a natural feel for the water around them, able to detect nearby ocean currents and even predict storms.

Surface Dwellers

By and large, most merfolk regard all surface folk with a mixture of both fear and disdain. They consider surface dwellers evil due to the attempts by slavers to capture merfolk and other marine peoples, with the problem becoming so severe at times that entire subspecies of merfolk have had to abandon ancestral homes to dwell, trapped, within Ernath Alus. But at the same time, they also consider land dwellers to be rather stupid and ignorant. This is due to the fact that many slavers don't believe merfolk exist, despite catching them reasonably regularly, mistaking their two-legged land walking form for a different aquatic species entirely, which surface dwellers call 'triton'. To most merfolk's minds, such a mistake is obvious, although many merfolk still fear capture, lest the slavers accidentally discover the secret of merfolk transformation.

Some merfolk that venture to the world above are also shocked to hear that surface dwellers by and large don't really believe in demons or the occult, nor the threat they pose, a ludicrous idea since all merfolk grow up hearing about various demonic incursions on the ocean floor and fight to contain the spread.  

Sahuagin

The merfolk have had a turbulent relationship with their cousins, the sharklike sahuagin since time immemorial. Sahuagin are carnivorous and extremely predatory, requiring large quantities of meat to survive. This naturally means that the many marine animals that merfolk tend to and care for are the perfect target, causing sahuagin bands to raid merfolk settlements frequently. Sahuagin are not picky eaters either, meaning any merfolk they kill get added to the meal list.   The fervour and bloodlust of the sahuagin make them something of a bogeyman to young merfolk, as the idea of being eaten alive by shark people can give pause to even the mightiest warriors. The relationship between the two species is not dissimilar to the relationship between humans and orcs. Although if you were to ask who is the human and who is the orc, each side would give tell you that the other was the orc. In reality, it's more of a Sparta-Athens relationship. The sahuagin see themselves as an enlightened, civilised race with a strong philosophy of strength and practical skills over 'softer' skills that the merfolk value such as literature and the arts. The only thing that can reconcile the two species briefly is their shared hatred for demonkind.

Merrow

Merrow are merfolk deserters that switch sides and joined the abyssal demons, mutating as a result. Given the endless nature of combat against the demons, some merfolk come to the conclusion that they are fighting a losing battle, and that eventually, demons would rule all the seas. This deep sense of hopelessness actually has a word in merfolk society. It is known as 'Morbid Fever'.    Faced with this realisation, merfolk abandon their homes and travel to the abyssal zone, where they pledge loyalty to the Demon Princes. The Demon Princes, delighting in the corruption of fair species and eager for more bodies to assist in their takeover, gleefully accept the offer and mutate the merfolk into a twisted form incapable of feeling pain or despair ever again.   Merfolk society does not like to talk about merrow. If a merfolk with Morbid Fever leaves their family, their community will simply act as if that merfolk had died, and are strictly forbidden from discussing their fate. Merrow are killed on sight by merfolk, who are under strict instructions to not think about the person they used to be.   Most merrow are surprisingly not abyssal merfolk, but rather shallow water merfolk that are more used to comfortable lives. Abyssal merfolk are surprisingly resistant to Morbid Fever due to their naturally gloomy and rough life. In a world of pure darkness, any light at all shines like a star. Abyssal merfolk also have to content with demons up close the most, and their hatred for them runs so deep that no amount of despair could drive them to a demon's side.

Demons

 

Storm Giants