Because Mermay is a fun time to celebrate all things aquatic, I’m gonna spotlight some of my already existing verses as well as show off some new ones I’ve made!
Mer Headcanons
Rachel - 🦾
Siren Verse - 🦈
Sea Naga Verse - 💦
Ichthyocentaur Verse - 🐬
Pirate Verse - 🏴☠️
Howard - 🤑
Collector Verse - ✨
Siren Verse - 🦈
Ichthyocentaur Verse - 🐬
Serena - 💋
Siren Verse - 🦈
Ichthyocentaur Verse - 🐬
Nathan - 🦿
Mer Verse - 🦈
Marine Biologist Verse - 🥽
For the month of May, all threads featuring these verses or other muses’ aquatic verses will be prioritized.
Current Mer!Themed Threads:
Friendly reminder that you don’t have to prioritize these if you don’t feel like it, I’m just saying I’ll be very excited if you do respond to these. But please don’t feel obligated or pressured.
@ask-rk900 - [a brand new discovery] - {Marine Biologist!Nathan} + {Mer!Nines}
@generic-connor - [catch of the day] (NSFW) - Rachel + {Fishy Mer!Connor}
@the-wonder-wall - [ensnared at sea] (NSFW) - Rachel + {Mer!Cassandra}
@the-mind-of-xelyn - [is it nature or how we’re nurtured?] - {Aquarium Siren!Rachel} + Simon
@shotdownbutstillalive - [we look the same but bleed different colours] (NSFW) - {Lake Siren!Rachel} + {Android Mer!Sixty}
@the-wonder-wall - [as black as the night] (NSFW) - {Sea Naga!Rachel} + {Mer!Willow}
@the-mind-of-xelyn, @the-wonder-wall, @shotdownbutstillalive - [mating frenzy] (NSFW) - Rachel & {Collector!Howard} + {Mer!Markus} & {Mer!Alma} + {Mer!Willow}, {Mer!Wyatt, & {Mer!Kelli} + {Android Mer!Sixty}
@loosecannon-justice - [a flame in the deep] (NSFW) - Rachel + {Mer!Colin}
@generic-connor - [too intelligent for captivity] - {Marine Biologist!Nathan} + {Fluffy Mer!Connor}
@the-mind-of-xelyn - [come with me and never leave me] (NSFW) - {Siren!Howard} + {Homeless Human!Simon}
@the-wonder-wall - [environmentally friendly] (NSFW) - Rachel + {Mer!Zlat}
@lieutenantgivesnoshits - [stranded at sea] - {Siren!Rachel} + {Mer!Hank}
@thethreefaes - [more than a mermaid] - {Icthyocentaur!Rachel} + {Merrow!Lyra}
Brain go brrrrr, so have some merfolk headcanons I’m getting down.
Mer
Mer exist all over the world in many different varieties.
There are so many different variants that imitate so many different sea creatures that the variety is endless.
Most are carnivorous, but not exclusively.
They can exist in both freshwater and saltwater even amongst the same species.
There are many different species and subspecies of mer all with their own unique needs, behaviours, and environments.
The much rarer mer are more isolated and difficult to come by and they’re considered an endangered species because of how fragile their ecosystems are and how much some depends on them.
While mer most often seek members of the same species to build their groups with, not all mer do.
Some mer are solitary and only seek other mer during the breeding season, typically in the spring though not exclusively.
Said solitary species of mer are the most commonly seen and also most commonly feared due to rumours of humans disappearing in waters where they make their habitats.
However, it is not a rumour.
While it’s not very common, some mer see humans and other species of creatures as resources to use. Some see them as food or as amiable cohabitors and even as breeding partners.
Mer young are called ‘pups’ and need to be taken care of for six months before they are considered mature. When they hatch, their size is dependent on their species as species that lay more eggs per clutch hatch into smaller pups. Regardless, they can grow to incredible size within the six months of their maturity cycle.
Clutches can range from 2 - 20 pups depending on the species.
Mer pups need to be supervised by a parent in that timeframe, otherwise they will not be able to fend for themselves and will likely either starve or become easy prey items.
Most species of mer don’t actually require much more than food and a water basin for them to live in to survive during the first few months, but once they become much larger, they will need more food and a larger habitat.
Androids
CyberLife, along with creating animal androids, have actually also created androids modeled after fantasy creatures.
Including merfolk.
These android merfolk attractions are not very common, but they are designed more to be like the fantasy image of merfolk that’s most often seen in pop culture.
The traditional iridescent vertical fishtails and top half of a human sort of look.
They behave and are programmed to be exactly like the pop-culture fantasy they are modeled after. Thus, they are designed to be alluring and beautiful and enticing.
However, in essence, they are just like any other android. And just like any other android, they too, are susceptible to becoming deviant under the right circumstances.
They are not overly common and are only sought out as attractions by certain organizations such as SeaWorld, infamous for its mistreatment of their orcas. They actually specialize in having animal androids due to said controversy.
Other non aquatic-centric attractions, such as hotels and casinos and other high-end attractions also seek out such androids and have them on display as attractions for shows.
Ichthyocentaurs
If mers were rare and varied all around the world, ichthyocentaurs are even more so.
There is such a wide variety among them, yet even fewer numbers and sightings.
Mostly because the vast majority of them try and stay away from human contact while mers do seek it out purposefully on a semifrequent basis.
Almost all ichthyocentaurs are omnivorous in some capacity, reducing their need to come in contact with humans by a considerable amount.
Unlike mers, ichthyocentaurs are rarely solitary, preferring to move in pods. Not all of them are familially based, but a lone ichthyocentaur is not common.
Ichthyocentaurs seek out mates during the breeding seasons just like mers do.
They typically only produce one foal per mating, though on occasion, twins have been known to be produced from matings. However, the parent(s) can only support one foal. They will often abandon the one they think will have less chance of survival.
Unlike mers, foals take several years to reach adult maturity and the amount depends on the species. It can take between 5 - 20 years depending on the species and even the sex of the individual.
NSFW
Mers
Among many species of mer, though some may vary, females cannot produce their own eggs.
It is actually the males that not only carry the eggs but also fertilize them at the same time thanks to their duel hemipenes. One deposits the eggs inside the female and the other fertilizes them.
However, male mer can and do reproduce with members of other species, even humans. It is not required for the host to be the same member of their species.
Because of this, there have been incidents of humans being pulled from the sea and disappearing. A very common method is for these mer to drown their victims temporarily, drag them to shore, and revive them whilst impregnating them.
Mer males can impregnate male humans as well, but it’s extremely rare as they don’t make good incubators and would likely kill their eggs before they even hatch. If it happens, it’s an extremely desperate last resort. Male humans are more likely to die by being hunted as a prey item.
They always carry eggs, but they are only viable for deposition during the breeding season, otherwise they cannot hatch and will likely die.
Their eggs are very much like fish eggs, essentially being deposited with their own individual wombs that sap nutrients away from the host, making them crave foods such as fish, red meat, and eggs. The more eggs a species typically deposits within a clutch the smaller the eggs are and the smaller the pups are when they hatch.
They can only deposit one clutch at a time and typically have between 15 - 20 clutches that are viable throughout their lives. Some species can have upwards to 40 or even 60 in some.
Once deposited, it can take between a week and two weeks for the young to start hatching. Ordinarily, when among other mer, eggs would simply hatch out into the water. However it’s much more difficult to do if their chosen mate is not a mer or even aquatic at all.
Many humans who emerge from such ordeals simply empty the pups into a lake or body of water, never to be seen again. Unfortunately said pups typically perish within a day or two of being released due to the lack of a proper parental figure to raise them.
Ichthyocentaurs
Unlike mers, ichthyocentaurs do not lay eggs.
They give live birth.
The good thing about this is that most females do not need another member of their own species in order to copulate.
Ichthyocentaurs can successfully mate with humans regardless of the equipment involved.
Their genitalia is more like their centaur part rather than their mer part, so oviposition is not a factor or an issue.
However, this means that male ichthyocentaurs must be very careful with a human mate, as their penises are much bigger and can damage their partners and even potentially kill them in the process.
It’s very rare for a human to survive the birthing process, but even those that do need a very long recovery period and can potentially die afterwards.
Female ichthyotaurs have better luck with human partners.
When it comes to each other, males can be very aggressive during the breeding season, fighting other males in order to copulate with a female and even with her to successfully mount her.
Sometimes the males can even breed the females to death.
Though, very disturbingly, this has no affect on whether the sperm takes and the males will often keep the female’s corpse until the young is born
Do your ichthyocentaurs have lobster claw horns on their head? Or other horns?
Didn’t give them to Rachel or Serena, but I might stick them on Howard to give him more of that sort of ‘mythical creature’ vibe whereas Rachel just kinda looks like an ordinary sea creature despite the fantastical creature inspo and Serena’s just...meant to be uncanny.
Not on purpose. While she doesn’t really get jealous, there is the smallest sharp prick in her chest. But she keeps that shit to herself and supports her friends and loved ones no matter what. She would honestly rather die than let her jealousy leak out and affect her relationships.
✿ Refuse someone’s kindness or affection
Most of the time, no. She’s generally a very affectionate, patient, and kind person and is typically the one who initiates it. But if something has happened and she’s been hurt by someone, she’ll need some time away on her own before she’ll accept anything from them and if it comes across as hollow and selfish, then she will reject it.
☢ Kill someone close to them for the greater good
I was hoping someone would ask this.
Because the thing is...she would. She wouldn’t want to. She would do absolutely everything in her power not to. It is the last thing in the world she would ever want to live with doing. But if there is no other choice and no other way out and if either they or someone holding them captive was so dangerous and was causing so much harm to people that the only way to stop them was to either kill or allow them to kill someone close to her...she would do it.
And it would haunt her for the rest of her life.
It would destroy her.
Siren!Rachel
♛ Hurt someone out of jealousy
She more just gets really clingy and sad. Like, she would never hurt someone out of jealousy, but she might make them feel kinda guilty. Not on purpose, but she’s been alone for pretty much her whole life and once she has friends, she tends to get really attached to them really quickly. Even more so if she finds a mate. So she’ll more do the whole ‘you don’t want me anymore...?’ sorta thing. But this is nothing some soft reassurance can’t cure. She’s just lonely and insecure and doesn’t really know better.
✿ Refuse someone’s kindness or affection
Never. She cherishes her friendships that she gains and would never take their affections or kindnesses for granted. This does make her a bit naïve and too trusting and forgiving for her own good, but she doesn’t really know better. All she knows is that she wants her friends to stay.
☢ Kill someone close to them for the greater good
She would literally rather die.
Sea Naga!Rachel
♛ Hurt someone out of jealousy
Oh, definitely. She doesn’t really attach herself much to someone emotionally. But when she does, she can definitely have a selfish streak. If that person seems to prefer someone else’s company to hers, she’ll be rather irritable towards her chosen partner and will do just about everything to keep them to herself. And if they somehow separate from her, she’ll probably end up hurting the person getting more of her partner’s attention.
✿ Refuse someone’s kindness or affection
She wouldn’t...refuse it, exactly. She would more just be confused by it. Not that she’s particularly soft or anything, she would just be baffled as to why anyone would show her kindness. It’s neither a negative or positive feeling, it’s just confusing as shit.
☢ Kill someone close to them for the greater good
She doesn’t really...care about a greater good. She just exists in a state of self-indulgence. That being said, if someone did manage to get close to her, she would never want them dead. She might hurt them if they do something that genuinely angers or pisses her off, but she would never kill them.
Ichthyocentaur!Rachel
♛ Hurt someone out of jealousy
No. She would never hurt someone out of jealousy, but she doesn’t get as clingy as Siren!Rachel probably would. Maybe a little dejected, but she would let her partner or friend do whatever they’d like. She would just sort of sit on the sidelines and wait for them to come back and give her attention. She’s already shy and tends to keep her distance, but once she actually makes a connection with someone, she’ll be around them more, but she won’t really hold onto them if they’d rather maintain their distance. She’d feel too shy to say anything.
✿ Refuse someone’s kindness or affection
She’s already hesitant to approach people as is, so she would be hesitant to accept anything from anyone. But if someone she knows and it decently familiar shows her kindness and affection, she would accept it reluctantly.
☢ Kill someone close to them for the greater good
She would probably run away rather than have to make the choice. She doesn’t really have a concept of ‘greater good’ and more just is concerned about immediate self-preservation. She’s not really a fighter or a hunter, so she would probably run away first. If someone close to her died because of this, it would probably upset and devastate her for a good while.
Pirate!Rachel
♛ Hurt someone out of jealousy
She definitely has a bit more of a jealous streak, but she wouldn’t do anything to someone else out of jealousy. After all, she earned her position as captain not by being a spiteful bitch but genuinely gaining the camaraderie of the crew and then culling down the former captain that inspired mutiny and skullduggery within the crew. She’s become quite the diplomat growing up with the scurvy crew, so she’d know how to communicate with her partner how she feels and if she trusts them, so long as they’re honest and she knows they aren’t afraid of being honest, her jealousy isn’t something to worry about. In fact, she finds something kind of attractive about a partner who likes making her pay attention to them. It’s kinda hot to her. At least, so long as her partner knows that’s what they’re doing.
✿ Refuse someone’s kindness or affection
While she’s figuring or sussing someone out, yeah, probably. Despite how tightly knit she is with her own crew, even she has a healthy amount of skepticism towards them and takes things offered to her with the utmost caution. With someone she doesn’t know too well, that increases by tenfold. But once she’s absolutely sure about someone, she actually enjoys it, not that she’ll let it show in front of her crew. She may be about fun and adventure and revelry and camaraderie, but she doesn’t let them think she’s soft.
☢ Kill someone close to them for the greater good
The most ‘greater good’ she really cares about is her crew and her ship. Maybe even some of the towns she’s stopped at that she really likes and is on good terms with. With her history and her having to usurp the previous captain, she would not hesitate to take someone out if someone she’s invested her resources and trust in became a threat. She would put them down in an instant and make an example of what happens when you abuse her trust and her generosity.
Putting the rest of these under a cut because this post is already long and it’s gonna be even longer.
Vanilla!Howard/Collector!Howard
♛ Hurt someone out of jealousy
Most definitely. And he would do it in a really sneaky and underhanded way. This man is really good at manipulation and getting right to the emotional wound that will sting the most to ward someone away from his object of obsession affection, including gaslighting.
✿ Refuse someone’s kindness or affection
I wouldn’t say he would refuse someone’s kindness. Affection, definitely. He’s not really an affectionate or intimate person, but he won’t refuse kindnesses shown to him. But accepting them means absolutely nothing to him.
☢ Kill someone close to them for the greater good
He does not care about a ‘greater good’ nor does he really consider anyone ‘close’ to him, but there are no lengths he won’t sink to to further his own goals.
Siren!Howard
♛ Hurt someone out of jealousy
Oh, yes. He most certainly would. If his catch somehow has someone else that would either be looking for them or they somehow manage to escape to, Howard will not hesitate to make sure his catch knows that they’re his and that that’s not changing. Though, he might not just hurt or kill the other. He might just be tempted on capturing them, too, and depositing his brood in them, too, and force his initial catch to watch. Just to make a point.
You and everything you have is his.
✿ Refuse someone’s kindness or affection
He doesn’t really care about either of these things. That being said, if his catch was doing kindnesses and being affectionate towards him, even if it was against their will or out of fear, he won’t refuse it. He takes great pleasure from it and it boosts his ego.
☢ Kill someone close to them for the greater good
Once again, he does not give a shit about a ‘greater good’ or even has a ‘greater good’ to care about. He operates entirely out of self-interest. However, if someone were to harm (at least from his perspective) his catch, he wouldn’t hesitate to put them down.
Ichthyocentaur!Howard
♛ Hurt someone out of jealousy
He will stomp them to death with his hooves. Nobody touches or even goes near his catch.
✿ Refuse someone’s kindness or affection
When he puts on the whole ‘charming steed’ act, he definitely won’t. But once he’s caught his victim, anybody else who tries will promptly be met with violence.
☢ Kill someone close to them for the greater good
More or less the same answer as Siren!Howard, but it’s less ‘I won’t let you harm my mate’ and more ‘don’t fucking touch them or I will reduce your bodies to piles of flattened gore.”
Vanilla!Serena
♛ Hurt someone out of jealousy
Under ordinary circumstances, she won’t get close enough to someone to feel jealousy. But if she does, she will probably punish them in some way. She doesn’t know how to handle her emotions very well, especially in a relationship and she doesn’t know how to express them in a healthy or productive way.
✿ Refuse someone’s kindness or affection
Oh, all the fucking time. She might pretend to for the sake of keeping her act up long enough for her to trap her victim, but she does not give a shit or want it. Well, okay, secretly she does but she’s not gonna make that known. That being said, if she does end up getting close to someone, she will do so. Very very very reluctantly and hesitantly and with a decent amount of convincing, but she will do it.
☢ Kill someone close to them for the greater good
Technically speaking, she’s convinced herself that all her killings are ‘for the greater good.’ Even though she’s operating entirely on selfish interests, she does believe all in all that what she’s doing is ‘for the greater good.’ She doesn’t want to let anyone get close to her, but if she does, she would really only do it if she was convinced they were somehow different. If they prove her wrong, she won’t hesitate to sentence them to the same fate as her other victims.
Siren!Serena/Ichthyocentaur!Serena
♛ Hurt someone out of jealousy
She can’t be jealous over something she has no interest in having. She only cares about one thing and that’s killing and devouring people.
✿ Refuse someone’s kindness or affection
No, but only because she’s trying to lure them into their watery doom.
☢ Kill someone close to them for the greater good
There’s no such thing as ‘close to’ or ‘greater good.’ She just kills and eats people.
Vanilla!Nathan/Marine Biologist!Nathan
♛ Hurt someone out of jealousy
Nathan doesn’t get jealous. At all. So, no chance of harm coming to someone if he did. And even if he did, he would never want to hurt anyone regardless.
✿ Refuse someone’s kindness or affection
Not on purpose. A lot of the time, he gets so enraptured in something that he forgets to acknowledge some things, but he does really appreciate the kindnesses and gifts people show him. Y’know, once he makes close connections outside of his scientific pursuits.
☢ Kill someone close to them for the greater good
No. Not under any circumstances.
Mer!Nathan
♛ Hurt someone out of jealousy
Nathan is absolutely fascinated by humans. So if he discovered one was equally fascinated with him, he would be ecstatic! So if they were to spend more time away from him with someone else, he might get a little possessive and jealous, but he would never want to hurt anybody.
✿ Refuse someone’s kindness or affection
He might be a little averse to affection, at least until he gets close with someone, but any positive and kind attention given to him from humans is accepted. It allows him to be closer and understand them better.
☢ Kill someone close to them for the greater good
The closest thing to ‘greater good’ to him would be a threat to someone he cared about. If he saw that they were in immediate danger, he would absolutely kill someone to protect them.
In case you don’t know what that is, they’re basically what would happen if you took centaurs and mers and shoved them together.
Rachel
Rather than the deer appearance of her cervitaur verse, her front half takes the appearance of a Chincoteague Pony.
But rather than the shark-like appearance of her siren verse, she instead takes the appearance of a Dall’s Porpoise for her back half.
Just like both her siren and cervitaur verses, she’s incredibly sweet and friendly.
However, she’s incredibly shy and doesn’t typically seek out the company of humans.
She might come close if they don’t seem dangerous, but overall, she’s much more cautious towards them.
While her cervitaur verse is an herbivore and her siren verse is a carnivore, her ichthyotaur verse is an omnivore.
Therefore, hunting is not as much of a necessity as it would be as a siren.
Howard
Howard takes the appearance of a shire horse from the front and a sperm whale from the back.
Needless to say he is very big.
Honest to god, he is a sight to behold if you see him emerge from the water.
He takes very good care of himself physically and is a very prime specimen.
But do not let his charming proud nature lure you into a false sense of security.
He is a violent god of the sea and he takes whatever he demands. He strikes fear into the hearts of man and will do so with perverse glee.
If he approaches humans, it’s for one reason and one reason alone. It’s to make them his mate.
He prefers humans to his own kind in this manner. Much less hassle to deal with.
However, he does not care about the bastard children he leaves behind or if his victims perish as a result. He takes as he pleases.
However...should he become genuinely enamoured by someone, it is already too late. Even if you return his feelings, if you do not accept your place as the queen of his kingdom and the bearer of his children, he will whisk you away never to be seen again.
He will take you to an underwater kingdom where you can miraculously breathe and you cannot die.
Though this will cease to be a blessing once he has you in his magnificent castle. For this will forever be your prison at the mercy of a violent and savage god who only sees you as his.
Serena
I’m not making an android version for this because not only am I too lazy to do that, but I feel like ichthyocentaurs are too niche for CyberLife to think of doing.
But Serena’s a very different beast than the other two.
Because not only is she still a siren, she’s also a kelpie.
A very interesting lineage and story is behind her, but suffice to say, this is a creature that is out to kill and drag her victims into the deep.
A carnivore, unlike the other two, who hungers for humans.
And like her kelpie nature, she will happily charm victims into taking a ride on her before she drags them into the deep and devours them while drowning them.
And like her siren nature, she will sing sailors and other seafarers to their doom before feasting on them, too.
Made some changes to Howard’s icthyocentaur verse because I got some curious anons and my brain decided ‘let’s see just how much worse we can make this bastard.’
