Merfolk

Merfolk have long bodies ending in a dorsal fin at the tail. They lack legs, but possess sizable arms with webbed claws. Contrary to older image portrayal, they retain little human appearance and arguably hold equal parts in common with that of a dolphin. They have short-snouted and round-tipped faces that would swim better than a human's, with a webbed ear flap. Males are said to have a more rigid and defined jawline, with a more squared snout, with a crest or large fin on top of their head, and are thought to swim less. Their teeth are sharp, and their diet mostly consists of sealife. Smaller fins work along the hips, there's a dorsal fin along the back between shoulder blades. Males are thought to have a unique set of appendages at the sides some ways lower than their arms, that appear like small rigid tentacles. It is thought to be used in grappling to hold either large prey (even hunting sharks), or even their own females for mating.   They shed their scales every so often, not always as a growing thing, but sometimes as an extra protection. Males tend to more often have darker, harsher scales, sometimes even having small studs or spikes along the cheeks, and forearms. Females often have more vibrant and brighter hues, as well as a large color pallet of coral, peach, blue, green, and even rare violet and albino colors. Gills exist along the sides of their throats, but mermaids especially have developed a system of air lungs, even if it is weaker than land dwellers and often needs rest. As dried scales also get damaged, they will suffocate over long exposure to land without salt water, and there have been rumors and fables of those dying to containment in freshwater lakes. Merfolk are often slender in the warm seasons and water, but tend to bulk up in colder times where the water can sometimes get frigid. These changes are not domestically seen as a wealth nor beauty thing like it is across land dwellers, and is more as a survival technique or sign of travel or sea migration. However it is said akin to the Taur, some hunted mermaid for the Minotaur trade are adversely effected and over-fed out of season, though this is less prominent than it is for the Taur and even Sfixian as the merfolk are harder to catch even if a few practically throw themselves at the trade ships with curiosity.

Mermaids / Syruns are most closely classified as monotremes, and therefore have a reproductive system functioning through eggs and milk secretion, but not quite the same development as full mammals. Similar to the Ank'shii, their "belly-button" is actually the cloaca, and directly deposits sperm to the infertile eggs once a male's insertion is made. They are pregnant for eight months, and tend to lay a clutch of typically six eggs that often the male will guard and sort once they are laid. That, or they are laid closer to the coast or shores if they are of halfling inception. Pure merfolk eggs take another two months to then hatch, and are then assigned to a "mother" who may or may not have actually laid them - depending on whatever the male chooses as a 'milk' giver. Milk excretions are made to often be carried across by the water itself as a cloud, feeding potentially the whole clutch worth of offspring for their initial months of early development. Females are more prominent in hatching than males, and perhaps a good thing as males often kill some others in their regions.   Oddly, a male will want to breed more in the winter times (likely to help pass body heat, and for birth to happen in warmer times), but females are more active and tempting to make halflings more in the summer. Some are only eager to breed a halfling onto land that can be taught to bring back stolen goods. If enticing a male landdweller without shapeshifting, they will sometimes copulate in the water, and throw the once consenting person into a fit of drowning and rape, leading to what is often a cautionary tale against accepting gifts or allure of the syrun. However not all are as nefarious, with some only comitted to the exchange on land, while in older times the drowning was only an ignorant misunderstanding that land-dwellers could breath in both places (like they could).

Though often Merfolk are known to be the exploiting ones in myths and tales, they have had a bit of that karma directed back onto them. Like all those caught up in the Taur trade, there was some exploitation to be had. They were put on the same menu as tuna and salmon when it came to those that ate them, with all land dwellers having tried them at some point. Uniquely the Reketta actually didn't prize them the most as food, but rather late orc trades had a strong affinity for that, while the Reketta actually found them to be more useful for their blubber, as it warmed them on cold sea voyages, or were good for later mountain travels. Other less marketable uses included some difficult but beautiful preservation of scale hides, or stealing from mermaid ruins or their limited unique artisan works.

~ To Be Written~

Merfolk are odd about their senses, given that most forged a culture in water. Their hearing is acute to picking up both sounds, but also sonar travels and vibrations. Their scales are vastly sensitive to some textures, but less so to others, often less able to detect soft from sharp. They have highly sensitive noses, and an instinctual taste towards sugars and meat, but understand taste itself much less and don't ingest liquid diets beyond blood and water. They possess a certain level of psionic power, and seem to be 'aura-readers', as well as having at least some partial ability to warp water, air, and sometimes light, with a few experts having light manipulation down as a tactic used to their language in darker water depths. To land species, this seems more like they're faintly psychic and masters of pioneering illusion-based spells, with some truth occasionally showing with the right individuals. Their common language is partially told in odd clicks, squeaks, and squeals, with pitches and tones that on land can produce odd "songs" that often draw attention. Though since at least 200csp, they've found a decent voice for speaking most land languages as well, if with odd noises occasionally making for a distinct dialect.