Common Mermaid
Abyssal
Don't Believe the Stories

BIOLOGY

Physiology

The Common Mermaid is similar to the classic depiction in old sailor's tales - a human woman's body on top of a long tail that calls to mind a fish. While this is generally true from the outset, the upper torso has some notable differences from the common stories. These differences include very sharp teeth, eyes of either green or yellow color with slit pupil, prominent pointed ears, and gills on the sides of her chest. The Mermaid's hair is usually a natural shade, though blue or white hair are also quite common. The tower body has a prominent webbed fin on the back, and ends in a spade-like dual fin similar to a dolphin's, despite the aquatic nature of the Mermaid. Mermaids are aquatic and cannot breathe on land, though they do have a strange organ that allows speech in air despite this.

Intelligence

Despite a common reputation as clueless waifs who will fall for a hardworking human man at sight, Mermaids are overall as intelligent as the average human, and have a keen predator instinct due to their status as carnivores, being able to coordinate attacks on both large prey such as sharks and on human terrestrial Monster interlopers into aquatic territories. Sometimes, a Mermaid may even be aware of the reputation they've gained in Stelen and use it to lure sailors to their deaths. Overall, their intelligence is what one would expect from a race that has become almost the analogue to humanity in the Oraldic Sea.

Diet

Mermaids are carnivorous and certainly will not be interested in any fresh vegetables or cakes you plan to bring on a sea journey in hopes of wooing one. They primarily feed on schoolfish, but will also often feed on the insides of crustaceans and larger prey such as sharks, humans, and even whales if they get the chance. Because they live underwater, they generally show little interest in cooked or dried food, even when scavenging from human wrecks where there are plenty.

Habitat

The Common Mermaid most often lives closer to coasts than their deep-dwelling sisters, especially in coral reefs due to the ease of fidning food in such places and toxic weapons with which to arm themselves. In addition to reefs however, they are prone to living inside coastal coves so long as they are deep and aquatic enough, as they provide ample defenses from invaders both land and sea.

Reproduction

Common Mermaids mate with each other, often producing several dozens of translucent, fragile eggs from which young Mermaids will eventually hatch. Mermaid societies will keep these eggs safe in protective areas such as caves or in the shadow of a massive coral growth in order to avoid sea predators from eating them, but it's often difficult to impossible to ensure that all such eggs are saved. Even after hatching, the children must be protected due to their small and weak natures, and as a result are only able to move about the sea once they are teenagers, hence why there are little to no reports of child Mermaids.

SOCIOLOGY

Community

Common Mermaids are extremely common in coastal regions of the Oraldic Sea, and as such are one of the go to Monsters to be used in an army by an aspiring Monster Lord, specifically suited to undersea warfare due to their tails and how they cannot breath on land. Their communities are extremely common on coasts and contribute to the difficulty of smaller human ships to survive journeying the sea outside safe areas. Because of their aquatic nature, they do not interact with the coasts themselves as much as their fellow common Abyssals, the Sahagin, do, and instead are primarily limited to interactions with those at sea such as swimmers and boats. Communities often vary by culture, and they are commonly found working for or enslaved by Blue Dragons, Ibodei, and Morgens.

Technology

Common Mermaids, despite their advanced minds in comparison to many Mermaids, are quite lacking technologically due to their status as purely aquatic beings, and thus their ability to fashion technology is hampered severely by the total absence of fire. While Sahagin can loot humans and forge their own weapons on the surface, and Deep Ones and Pelagic Mermaids can use volcanic vents to craft basalt and metal, Common Mermaids are comparatively limited to weapons and buildings made of coral. This has lead them to figure out how to use the toxic properties of coral, sea anemones, jellyfish, and more to their advantage, it overall is lacking in the face of most of their immediate rivals, and their greatest fortresses are made from naturally occurring structures.

Theology

Because of how common they are and their tendency to come to serve greater forces, Common Mermaid religion is extremely varied regionally, with different cultures worshiping Leviathan, Pangaea, Tiamat, Morrigan, Mon, and the Outsider. Overall the most common is Pangaea due to how their distance from the sea limits their worship of Leviathan, and as such they have greater respect for elemental forces in general rather than the goddess of all oceans. Despite this, the influence of Leviathite faith still overall affects their culture, and contributes to how Mon is least worshiped, mirroring the tendency for Abyssals to worship her in Mon's place, believing her to be mightier than Mon and master of a realm neither Mon nor Stel can touch, due to how humans cannot naturally live underwater and there are no completely aquatic True Demons.

Diplomacy

Common Mermaid diplomacy with humans is nearly nonexistent, due to how they see humans are strange foreign creatures intruding on their land, and overall are likely to immediately assume hostility from any human. In the cases they don't, they still demand they're given their space and that humans do not interfere, and never in recorded history has there been an alliance between Mermaids and Humans. When it comes to diplomacy with other Monsters, it is more varied and while they will treat terrestrial Monsters similarly to how they treat humans, they are more likely to try and broker peace, alliances, or even joining Monster civilizations, with exceptions given to the Sahagin due to their cruel and rapacious nature.

Hostility

Mermaids are largely hostile to Humans due to seeing them as foreign interlopers, and will either flee the presence of a human or attack them, depending. For some god forsaken reason human legends exist that say Mermaids are "pure" Monsters who will wed virtuous sailors, but this is a complete fantasy likely inspired by the temptations of Sirens and the mental trickery of Merrows. To other Monsters, it largely depends, but they treat terrestrial Monsters much the same as they treat humans, and are almost always hostile to Sahagin due to the Sahagin's tendency to raid them due to their comparative weakness.

HUNTING

Range

Common Mermaids, like all Mermaids, can only be found in the Oraldic Sea, the sea which separates the western half of the Old World from the New World, and are not present to any degree in the Velmadi Sea which separates its eastern half from the New World. They are most common around pronounced coasts and as such are most common in the Messeni Sea, the land surrounding the Oekmir isles, and the westmost regions of Stelen. They are also reasonable common in the regions surrounding Kosos as well.

Magic

Common Mermaid access to magic is similar to that of humans, with some having great magical potentials and others having almost none. Those who do become mages will almost always be either Water or Nature Mages (usually focused around coral rather than plants), both reasonably deadly inside a completely aquatic environment. Rarely, especially among assassins, they will pursue the path of Air Magic, a school with a reputation similar to death magic among Mermaids due to their aquatic nature. Sorcerers will often focus on Elementalism, though Common Mermaid Necromancers do exist due to how it can make use of leftover human corpses.

Combat

In battle with a Human currently underwater, they will generally attempt to keep them underwater in order for them to drown, as most Abyssals do. From now on I will mostly assume that if you are fighting such things, you have used Elfen Pearls in order to temporarily develop the ability to breathe underwater. Mermaids have an innate speed and mobility advantage over humans due to their tails and being unencumbered comparatively, and as such they will often use circle tactics together to disorient and confuse their targets, combined with hit and run tactics. They often use toxic weaponry, especially if they come from a coral reef.

Strengths

Fast moving, unencumbered compared to many other Abyssals.

Weaknesses

Completely aquatic, no access to metalworking, often unarmored.

Final Summary

When in battle with a Common Mermaid, always make sure to avoid being outnumbered, and maintain vigilance and a cool head when facing them, as their standard tactics work best when their enemy is panicked or otherwise in a state of disarray. Aim for their soft parts and use weapons with a long reach, and avoid being hit with toxic weapons unless one has access to a healer of some kind or injection-ready antidotes.