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Merkind: Scions of the Sea, Children of the Depth, Fishfaces (derogatory)

Merkind is in a curious position in the world - they are a godless race that was and is allied to the favoured races, and the two surviving mer Saints were adopted by Avelue of the Victors, thus allowing the merkind to retain their divine magic. This is because Luatha, the god of the depths who created the merkind was Avelue’s twin brother, and was an ally to the Victors. His death at the hands of Arzan was what sparked the final Godwars, the ultimate casus belli, that stirred the rest of the Victors to deal with their rivals forever.

Avelue couldn’t bear the thought of the merkind being without a divine sponsor, so she’d adopted them as her own. Now, the mer are in the position similar to humans - they don’t have a god, but have some favour and are accepted by the other civilized races. They are frequently seen, outside of the sea - the depths hold many secrets, but so does the land. This inquisitive nature was what Luatha beloved, and means the mer get +2 to Intelligence, and obviously the ability to breathe and freely move underwater.

Culture: The mer live in underwater kingdoms, frequently along the coasts of major orcish nations. They trade in the bounty of the sea - beautiful coral and pearls they farm in the sea floor farms, as well as in edible seaweed that forms a staple of their diet. The mer often ask to have coastal embassies where they can mingle freely with the landbound races, and sometimes a mer wizard invites the favoured races to behold the beauty of their cities - the mer civilization suffered the least in the godwars, and so they’re often thousand years old, with untouched records of ancient past laying in the vast libraries of nacre scrolls.

Merkind has an individualistic streak, each approaches the pursuit of knowledge on their own, though they’re expected to contribute their research to the libraries, so the further generations would benefit from their wisdom. Their colleages of magic reach the same level the dwarven universities do, but they’re even harder for other races to be admitted to - not because of the strict requirements, but because other races can’t breathe underwater.

Appearance: Merkind have perhaps the biggest variation of sizes and shapes of all civilized races. While they’re commonly sharing height and general build of elves, they can be as tall as orcs, or slightly taller than goblins. Their skintone is also very varied, their fine, vibrantly colored scales shine with every color, from black to white, with every hue of rainbow in between. Some of them have tails, but most have just a long, dorsal fin that starts above their shoulderblades and reaches past their waist. Their eyes are universally large, protected by transparent eyelids when they’re on land, though they too have many vibrant colors to them.

Adventurers: The mer pursue secrets, and the best place to pursue secrets is the uncharted territory that is the land. A group could use a mer in a capacity of an expert on unusual lore, or as an magician, and they pull their weight even outside of the coastal areas.

#merkind #viri writes #dnd