Lore on Mermaids w/in the Redactedverse
Please note, none of this is canon and this is a fan created magical race
Mermaids, also referred to as merfolk and children of the sea within their own culture, are a sea faring magical race attributed to the sovereign of transmutation, Oto'Enid. There are several subtypes of merfolk with various native habitats, but they are not endemic to any one region.
Description
Mermaids have been noted to measure between 1.5 and 18.3 metres (5 and 60 ft) from head to end of fin depending on the subtype in various records.
The coloration varies between sexes with the male sex being more colorful than the female sex though it is quite common for there to be a third sex which is neither and operates on a spectrum that Dr. Tama Seuava and her team are currently researching. Researchers have also observed that of the merfolk encountered, they bear a much larger coverage of gills than past mythology would suggest, existing not only on the necks, but also along much of the torso. It is theorised that this is a result of needing to adapt for a higher consumption rate of oxygen for the size and structure of an aquatic creature.
History
Mermaids are a joint creation by the sovereigns Oto'Enid, and A'Xerahn which resulted from Oto'Enid's experimentation with ancient sea life entirely by accident. Oto'Enid had been quite taken with the potential for transmutation and change with the creatures of the sea, especially with certain species' capability to change sex at will. He'd created several species of sea monsters that haunt much of humanity's mythology across the space of time, Scylla having been a notable favorite of his in the Grecian islands and coastlines.
Mermaids came about as he had finished with his experimentation on humans that would later become known as selkies (or seal shifters) in what would become modern day Ireland. He wanted to create something entirely new and found that he was able to fuse the scaled aquatic form of a fish with the limbed and core bearing form of a human in a more permanent way. Originally mermaids were truly monstrous in appearance, more closely resembling their fish brethren, but he soon found that many of them desired to feed on humans in the same way that A'Xerahn's vampires did. And what was a loving father to do except find a way to help them lure their prey in. So he consulted A'Xerahn on how to make them more alluring, and they modified the existing structure of the mermaids to mimic a humanoid form and worked with Fel'Ees to give them the ability to cast illusory charms.*
Many of Oto'Enid's aquatic creations and experiments were hunted to extinction over the years as had nearly happened with selkies and a few breeds of kelpies. Mermaids nearly became one of that number during the Golden Age of Piracy (1650-1730), and many pods took to living in the deep ocean as Oto'Enid had equipped them with the magical capacity to change the structure of their bodies as needed depending on the environment while some went into hiding in more secluded oceanic spaces, others even taking to the rivers to avoid capture.
At the formation of the Ruling Council officially, though there had been attempts to reach out to as many magical races as possible to gather and allow in the convention that formed the rules and norms of a hidden magical society, the merfolk opted to remain unknown and undiscovered for their own safety and have continued to remain ungoverned by the Department, forming their own society.
Though with recent years and the rapidly changing climate, some pods have been forced into closer proximity with human settlements in coastal areas which has begun to cause a conflict of interests as the merfolk still need to eat, and humans being humans will often act stupidly and get drawn in and fed on as they are easier and heartier prey than what fish they might find nearby.
*Much of this is pieced together from various accounts given by d(a)emons willing to partake in the research of this forgotten species so I cannot promise full accuracy. Some d(a)emons really like to fuck with people.
Behavior
There is little known about the social behavior of the merfolk beyond a tendency to feed on humans and what appears to be a largely matriarchal society.
Life Cycle
Not enough credible information is available at this time to support any concrete life cycle of the merfolk though one account as given by a sailor who claims to have met one and spoken at length with them states as follows:
"...[T]he creature says it was born a fish, and slowly gained thoughts alongside its siblings until one day when it had enough thoughts to know that it wanted it was able to speak and change its form as it pleased." Correspondence between Dustin "Crippled" Thorne and unnamed sister
This has lead many to believe that they operate on a similar life cycle to humans where upon hitting adolescence, they gain a core as any other shifter does and are able to shift and change at will. There have been accounts of supposedly the same merfolk being spotted across centuries, so they appear to exceed the typical lifespan of a human.*
*citation needed