Merfolk

[bewpy]

Just post stuff about these watery creatures to help give the people roleplaying as mermaids/mermen something to base their character off of.

 

[Alpha]

Info? where?

 

[bewpy]

Uh, you post stuff about what mermaids do in movies, books, etc. I thought it was a good idea, but if you don't like it then delete the thread.

 

[Alpha]

Ohhhh I though YOU were going to post info, my bad

 

[Danie_D]

I'll do my best to help, just a moment.

 

[Danie_D]

Mermaids:

Personality traits (a lot of contradictions!):​

• • Jealousy
  • Vengefulness
  • Innocence
  • Gentleness and kindness
  • Loneliness
  • Curiosity
  • Friendliness
  • Passion
  • Deception
  • Vanity

Physical traits:​

• • Human/Fish halves (of varying percentages) or octopus halves (for Cecaelia)
  • Long hair (generally)
  • Etc.

Typical actions/habits:​

• • Drowning sailors
  • Singing
  • Using singing to drown sailors (crashing ships into rocks)
  • Alternatively, saving sailors from drowning
  • Collecting human artifacts
  • Lounging on rocks/shores
  • Playing in the waves
  • Inhabiting/visiting lakes via rivers

Edit:​

Items used in Apparel:​

• • Shells
  • Seaweed
  • Starfish
  • Coral
  • Bones, perhaps?
  • Sunken treasures

That's all I have so far, I hope it helped!

 

[Alpha]

Shells for clothing?

 

[Danie_D]

Shells for clothing?

Ooh, I probably should add something about that.

 

[Gaby]

well, there's two different sorts of creatures that are similar to mermaids. I don't know about true mermaids, but I know a bit about sirens and selkies.

sirens, from greek myth, have been described both as pretty women with fish tails (so essentially mermaids), and ugly bird-like hags with nice singing voices (so essentially harpies). despite the contradictions on what they look like, it's generally agreed that they have beautiful singing voices which they use to maliciously lure sailors to sharp rocks and basically drown them. if you hear their song, you become obsessed with finding the source of the voices, until you reach the island and either drown, or get eaten by the sirens.
one famous hero (I forget the name) had plugged the ears of everyone on the crew, except him, because he wanted to hear the voices. the hero had himself tied up so he didn't jump into the water and told everyone to ignore his orders until the voices stopped. it worked. Pretty much the only way to hear a siren's voice and live.

Selkies are from irish myth (I think), and I don't know as much about them as sirens. what I do know is that they have the lower half of a seal, and have the ability to turn into a human. when they shapeshift, they leave behind a seal coat, which they must be wearing in order to regain their true form. one can steal this coat and leave the selkie landlocked indefinitely.
when a selkie falls in love with a human... something happens. I forget. someone google selkies!

I know nothing about true mermaids, other then that they appear to be a more sympathetic version of sirens. :/

 

[bewpy]

We treat mermaids and sirens as sort of the same, only with a different name

 

[Gaby]

figured as such. they're really similar.
still wanna see a harpy-like siren.
and someone get selkie info!