Nereids

Example Female Names: Ianthe, Brizo, Danu

Example Male Names: Nymal, Naiad, Trion

Nereid names are simple and phonetic, favoring softer “th” sounds and ‘ph’, ‘ch’ alongside with similar ‘shh’ and ‘ff’ sounds. Vowels are used quite often to give names a song-like quality. Nereid children are given at birth a name that is known only to them and their immediate familial relations or trusted family friends. This name is usually phonetically smooth, often possessing two syllables.   Surnames are generally unused, save for any Nereid of royal blood. These people have the same last name, related to Kummlakina in some way. That surname is: Melitheis.

This is not the only name they receive, as when they become conscious enough to speak and convey themselves as a toddler, they profess to the outside world the name they have chosen to be known as. This name is usually longer than the prior, though just as phonetically pleasing to pronounce.   Example Male Names: Delphin, Asraih, Muirgen   Example Female Names: Asherah, Sinaan, Tethys

Nereids generally have the same culture as a Ae Il’ha with a few differences. The iridescent scales that cover Nereid bodies are well sought after by Oreads or Snowinds or adventures from Gaia and as such is sought by any who managed to enter the Summer Court. A long line of infants stolen by humans to be unfortunately harvested for their soft, bejeweled scales forced the Nereid to conceal any and all youth beneath a certain growth stage. Older Nereids are not safe from this either and Nereids that have lost scales are ridiculed and insulted for it. This is due to losing a piece of them that makes them a whole art piece. Thus, Nereids would rather die than lose their scales or give them up. They intensely hide any detail of the underwater nests filled with vulnerable youth, or the palace beneath the waves at all with any other race unless they have become involved with a Nereid.   Nereids are people who extremely value scholars and artisans, dedicated to bringing out the ultimate of the arts. Paintings, music, carvings, poetry, cooking, gem cutting, storytelling, plays, dancing and other depictions of the impermanence of life carved into the experience of their audience is a highly valued vocation. Each Nereid is raised from birth into an art profession. As such, few take up the path of the trident. Any Nereid who devotes their whole life to violence will be sourly looked upon and so many trained to fight still partake in some sort of art.   Nereids are known to be more than a little imposing, and prone to snobbery. Each family in a community select an eldest that joins the community’s council. From this council, greater decisions regarding their waters are made.   In the Old World, Nereids are usually treated like noble Ae Il’ha despite their objections to be granted higher power than them. They constantly wish for the highest authority within Ae Il’ha lands. Almost all of them demand rights that allow them to do as they please without consequences, even commit heinous crimes, and if they are threatened in any way, the authority to summon the military to deal with the offending party. Generally an annoyance but kept and accepted due to the works of art they create. In terms of the pecking order, Nereids believe it goes as such, Ae Il’ha with no last name, Ae Il’ha with a last name, Nereids with no last name, and finally Nereids with the last name Melitheis at the top. Nereids refer to those of lower social status as “lower”; even Ae Il’ha kings and queens are lowly peasants in their eyes and are expected to bow to their whims.   Nereids that come from the Summer Court currently bring with them news of the desert that now remains there. Any still living in the dry regions ration water and trade it akin to currency.   All Nereids speak Fey Speak and Common.

Religion

Nereids are split in their worship of Dirgodog or the arts themselves. Many argue that worshipping a being limits the scope of their artistic abilities while some distinctly believe that by worshipping him they receive inspiration for more "dark" artistic expression. To which the other side replies that those ideas are not their own and therefore plagiarism, a crime punishable by death. Beyond this eternal debate, however, Nereids have come to form a relationship with the sea within which they must return to procreate. Those who worship Dirgodog often sacrifice well prepared seafood meals or just the corpses of dead sea creatures.

Family

Though no surname is taken up by any family save for those of royal blood, each Nereid youth knows their family line as a descriptive title. Families are comprised of a bonded pair of life partners and their surrounding relatives, alongside children that come of the union. As children are both precious and seen as safe beneath the waves, the little ones become fiercely physically independent at an early age, rarely seeing their parents or much of their families until they reach their 6th age. At which time, the bond of relatives grows and develops without much hindrance of the delayed beginning, Nereid minds maturing slower than the rapid pace of their bodies.

Food

Almost exclusively living underwater they are inclined to a diet of fresh raw fish and shellfish of all kinds. Seafood dishes created by Nereid chefs are said to be the greatest in known existence, and the skills of the chefs are on another level. Their diet is supplemented by aquatic and land faring greens from the Spring Court.   Nereids never supplement their diet with meat caught upon the land, finding more gamey tastes a taint on their taste buds. Beyond this, fruits, vegetables and grains found upon land are certainly accepted and enjoyed as a supplemental part of their diet. Especially sweets, in which all Nereids share an unapologetic sweet tooth.

Nereids are similar to their Ae Il’ha cousins in clothing, wearing very loose-fitting clothing or few articles of clothing at all. This is due to restrictive clothing possibly limiting the function of the delicate gills upon their necks, or the sealed gill-scars that line their ribs with sensitive nerve endings. They wear sleek silken fabrics when dwelling mostly upon the land, and other sheer textiles that are lightweight and kind on the scales. When within their watery home, Nereids wear as little fabric as possible so as to streamline themselves.

Accessories

Nereids hold art far above anything else in their life. They are fond of gems and jewels, some of the more stunning kinds only found within the Summer Court. Their drooping ears are often pierced several times and linked together with chains of pearls or opals.   These people are often draped in the spoils of their undersea homes. Bits of shells polished to fine gleaming mirrors and pearls on strings, glistening opals or treasures lost by other fey in past wars. Monogamous pairing will oft be seen wearing jewelry or trinkets of a matching set, declaring them loyal to one another. These matching sets will have upon them a symbol of a triquetra, for longevity of the match and the loyalty between them while also honoring their ideals of the creation of the world.

The absolute focus of Nereid society and life, art is collected and created at an astonishingly fast rate by these fey creatures. The arts they collect range from ones they buy to those they steal from other courts. They never discriminate in receiving or creating artworks or books. Paintings, music, carvings, poetry, cooking, jewelry, pottery, wood, storytelling, plays, dancing or any other medium is seen as desirable and constantly in demand. Those who choose to lavish their bodies with tattoos and piercings are seen as a living embodiment of the belief that art marks the passage of time, and as such makes the artist immortal in the eyes of the beholder of their creation.

Creation Story

From the deepest chasm of the rocky ocean floor, the young God plucked the most vibrant of sea glass to catch their eye. Breathing deep of the ancient magic bestowed to them by the maker, the god filled the glass to the brim with the joy of laughter. They held the glistening find up to the eye of the maker, to the breaking dawn of the very first day. So pleased was the great Drake, he granted the creation life. As the first rays of his gaze sprung into the glass, planting a seed of life deep within. So beautiful was this life, the young god took it upon themself to split the glass into shards. Tiny to their hand, each pulsed with life that was yet to be. Though each unguarded. So forth they pulled the sand from the very coast they had found the essence, crafting an array of Nereids. Each glittered in eye and hair with their origin, a flame of dawn preserved within their core. They carry a deep almost biological hatred for beings of Unseelie Courts.