Super Specific Mer Prompt rant

18+ First thing's first, the character(s) I would RP would either be Dave or Davesprite, as mermen. I would generally prefer shipping, NSFW is cool. There are several potential plots we could do near the bottom of this prompt, please check them out!

WARNING: VERY LONG, mainly worldbuilding stuff

TW for some albeism in the worldbuilding because life unda da sea is not kind nor accommodating.

Alrighty, so I really, REALLY want some merstuck. Like, super bad. But I can never find any merstuck prompts that appeal to me, and posting a prompt regularly doesn't yield the kind of results I really want. This is due to the fact that I am excruciatingly picky about my merfolk headcanons, and if the person I'm rping with goes against those, I just. Don't have fun at all. And most prompts/responders to my prompts go wildly against what I like, so... here we are.

I don't really expect that anyone is actually going to take me up on this since I leave so little wiggle room, but you know what? I'm just gonna ramble about the world of merpeople in my head and hope for the best. So I guess this could mainly be considered a worldbuilding prompt. This is probably gonna get really long. Go ahead and connect if you're interested in actually rping with me!


So number one, above all things, I can't stand Little Mermaid-esque merpeople. Life is not better unda da sea, no seashell bras and underwater palaces and princesses, and merpeople are way more than just a human with a pretty fish tail.

I like my merpeople scary. More scales than human-like skin. It'd be faster to say what parts WOULDN'T be covered in scales: most of the face, the front of the torso, neck, and shoulders, and the groin. Everything else is covered in scales- the entire back, the entire arms up to the elbow, the back of the arms and shoulders and neck, the ears, and the tails. Some merfolk even have scales in patterns on their faces. They generally are carnivorous, and have mouthfuls of sharp teeth, and clawwed fingertips. They have rough tongues (kinda like a big cat's) in order to more easily clean flesh from bones. The sclera of their eyes are black instead of white, and they are sensitive to light(more sensitive the deeper into the sea you find them- deep sea merfolk are terrifying). They have multiple fins besides the one on the end of their tail. There are usually fins on their backs and arms and hips, fin-like ears, and usually fins on the underside and/or topside of their tail. Merfolk have large sets of gills set on the sides of their torso, at the bottom of their ribs, filtering water out of their lungs. When they go to the surface and breath air, the first breath is generally pretty strong, a spasm in their lungs/diaphragm helping to push the remaining water from their inflating lungs.

Life is hard under the sea. There are no kings and queens and princesses and princes of the sea, covered in jewelery and pretty things. The oceans are too vast to be ruled. There is very little communication; no paper, no writing, no electronics. There is no metalsmithing, no glasswork, no jeweling. There are very, very few crafts available under the sea, due to everything being covered in water(thus a lack of flame) and limited resources. Crafts would be made from seaweed and kelp, coral, shells, rocks, the remains of animals, and whatever else can be found. Any kind of jewelery or textiles or fancy human crafts would be found in sunken ships, remnants from human culture, and usually tarnished or ruined, though likely still collected and coveted by merfolk who have no way of making these things themselves. the crafts they do make out of the previously mentioned materials, such as ropes or string made from kelp/seaweed, simple weapons, some adornments such as necklaces or headdresses, and especially tools.

Communication would all very oral and verbal, and in regards to distance, very slow. If a message needs to be sent to a different location, a swiftswimming messenger would have to seek out the recipient in the ocean, hoping not to get lost or eaten or to starve. long-distance communication is thus difficult and rare.

Culture would be carried out by oral tradition. Stories, song, dance, and even acting. The traditions would vary between regions, though different groups in the same area generally have similar stories- though over generations, differences can crop up due to different retellings and interpretations. And as culture can vary across regions and groups, different merfolk societies may have different moral values.

Merfolk have their own languages, and there are as many languages and dialects as there are regional differences and cultures, just like with humans. Depending on the setting of the rp, some merfolk may be able to speak human languages from contact with humans, but the majority would not.

Society itself would be very simple. There will still be regional variances, but I'm mainly going to talk about the society that my characters would belong to. Merfolk prefer to live in groups (usually anywhere between 30-100 individuals, though some schools may have more or less), usually referred to as schools (yes, like fish), since its easier to survive that way. You're more likely to catch fish and avoid predators in a group- merfolk are not at the top of the food chain (sharks are bigger and hungrier). This is where the ableism comes in, though- merfolk are generally judged based on how useful to their community they can be. If there is nothing a merperson can do to help carry the school (due to disabilities or age etc), such as by hunting or fighting or being a source of knowledge or helping care for youngsters or crafting tools and whatnot, then they may be seen as dead weight and a waste of resources. Depending on the school, these merfolk may be cast out to preserve resources. They generally don't survive long and it's really sad. This is most common in schools with scarce resources where everything counts- schools that are more comfortable may not care as much or at all!

Most schools do have a form of leadership, and for my characters' school at least, and most of the schools in their region, this is in the form of two leaders. One could be referred to as the War Leader, who directs hunts for food, trains up-and-coming hunters and warriors, and leads skirmishes against other schools over territory and resources. The war leader is usually decided by whomever is considered the best for the job, usually the most skilled hunter and/or warrior. This is sometimes decided by vote, though sometimes its decided by a brute force coup. Though sometimes the best warrior/hunter isn't the best war leader, and sometimes someone who is less skilled at actually hunting or fighting may be the best bet for directing others and creating tactics.

The other leader would be an elder, who is the wisest member of the school and is the best suited to make decisions for the school, and handling non-violent diplomatic issues with other schools. The elder also often is an expert on oral traditions, but this is not always the case- some may be experts on culture and history and bad at actually dictating rules for the school and handling diplomatic issues, and vice versa. The elder becoming the leader of the tribe is generally decided by the previous elder, though it can sometimes be decided by the school as a whole in a vote.

Some schools, of course, may have leadership more resembling a monarchy, with leadership remaining within a single family regardless of skill. There could be other variances as well, including additional leaders in a council, or only one leader, etc.

I originally wanted merfolk society to be generally matriarchal, but that was when i still thought of merfolk as being a more binarist society. Time to talk gender and sex!

I like to think that most, if not all, of merfolk are sequential hermaphrodites like some species of fish. What that means, basically, is that merfolk can change their sex at will, though it can take some time for them to shift from one sex to another. Some merfolk can be what humans would consider cisgender men or cisgender women, though many prefer to be somewhere else on the sex spectrum. Usually merfolk just settle with the genitals and secondary sex characteristics (such as breasts or no breasts) that they feel most comfortable with and stay there. If they decide to reproduce and their current setup is incompatible with reproduction, they can temporarily change to whatever viable part of the spectrum they and their partner feel most comfortable with in order to make babies, and then change back afterwards. This has led to a lack of a concept of gender in merfolk society. As a result most mer languages have a singular pronoun similar to they, which is mainly only used before a name is known. once a name is known, pronouns are generally disregarded for either the merpersons name. This can of course lead to confusion if a merperson is learning a language like english.

Romance and sexuality is just as varied with merfolk as it is with humans. Some fall in love with one person and only one person, some prefer to stay single for whatever reason, some are polyamorous and love multiple others, some love no one but like to have multiple partners for sex, etc. In attraction, some merfolk can prefer certain types of genitals or secondary sex characteristics (such as breasts) or body shapes/presentations (such as what humans would consider masculine vs feminine). Just like with humans, some can like all, some can have preferences, some exclusively only like certain genitals/presentations, and some are asexual and/or aromantic. Many merfolk are cautious about one person having too many sexual partnerships where both partners are able to reproduce together, due to the risk of narrowing the gene pool of a school(s) with too many children with at least one shared parent. Outside of that risk, poly relationships aren't normally frowned upon (though like with all things, there can be regional cultural differences with different values on relationships)

Generally, reproduction is a cross between that of a mammal's and a fish's. First off- genitals. They're generally like humans', save for the important difference that they are usually internal. All genitals would be held within a watertight slit, which upon arousal will open and in the case of a vagina, practically blossom into the vulva and labia and clitoris. A dick will simply slide out. On the topic of the sequential hermaphroditism, the genitals shift and change within the safety of that sheath. Two merpeople will do the penis-in-vagina diddly do, and the one with the uterus will carry the developing egg. Pregnancies are generally short due to the vulnerability of a pregnant merperson, and after several weeks, the egg is laid. The parent(s) will then look after it as it develops for the next several months on its own. Like a fish's, the eggs are usually translucent, with the developing merbaby visible inside.

There are regional differences in sex and reproduction as well, as some will have something more akin to that of a seahorse (the egg-producer laying egg(s) within a sac in the sperm-producer, who fertilizes the egg(s) within that sac and later lays the egg) or regular fish (egg is laid by one person, egg is then manually fertilized by the other).

After development, the lil merbaby wriggles out of the egg. They can technically swim on their own, but are not very good at steering, and are generally closely looked after. Merfolk can and do lactate, and most who lay eggs then choose to grow breasts to feed their child. It's not required, though, as there are usually other merfolk who are happy to play wetnurse, as schools are very communal in child-rearing. There are usually several lactating merfolk that feed more than just their own child; feeding the children who were orphaned or do not have a lactating parent, either in addition to their own child or after having lost their child. Some wetnurses may allow themselves to keep lactating as long as possible (this can last years!) and use that as their way to provide for their community, by keeping children that cannot yet eat fish fed.

Territory is very important to merpeople, as access to places free of predators and abundant with prey can be scarce. The size of a school can be both a blessing and a curse. A small school is easier to feed, but very difficult to defend against larger, stronger schools wanting the smaller school's hunting ground. On the flipside, a large school can take the territory of other schools for their hunting grounds and safe places, but the size of the school requires more and more of these territories. A balance must be had. Sometimes, schools that are too large can disperse into multiple smaller schools, and schools that are too small can join into a moderately sized school.

Most schools are also generally nomadic, as after staying in the same hunting grounds for too long, they can deplete the populations of prey fish. And so these schools will move along with the seasons, usually only staying in one location for a month or two, so that the fish can repopulate. They usually have set locations they return to each year, though this can change due to territory disputes.

Territory wars can be brutal, if the elders and war leaders between the school cannot find a diplomatic solution. Though sometimes these solutions, if between a smaller and much larger school, can boil down to "get out or we will kill all of you, this is your only warning". Some schools forego that step entirely and outright attack other schools. In these attacks, if eggs are found during a raid, they will either be destroyed, preventing the growth of the victim school, or stolen and adopted out to the larger school and promoting its own growth. Egg theft is especially common, as it creates more genetic diversity in a school that may be mostly family. Though another solution to that problem is merfolk defecting from one school to another, either from disagreements with their home school, or because of an inter-school romance, and in some cases, a result of diplomacy (a "give us some of your people and we will spare you" sort of thing; can sometimes result in an arranged marriage type deal).


With all this merfolk biology and sociology in mind, it's time to talk SETTINGS! I am down to RP my characters with either humans or other merfolk. The relationship between merfolk and humans can vary:

Merfolk and humans can be unaware of each other, or merfolk aware of humans and not the other way around. This can be applied to any time period, even a modern setting.

Humans can be aware of merfolk in and time period. This can go a few different ways. Humans can be bastards and enjoy capturing and enslaving merfolk for entertainment. Humans and merfolk can not give a shit about each other, sometimes being amicable and even trading with each other. Or Humans can be great and have a mutually beneficial relationship with merfolk, starting at discovery of merfolk and expanding with trade and communication.

For the first type of setting, things would be obvious- my character would be distrusting or hateful towards humans. Sometimes I'm greatly in the mood for some angsty stuff, and have my character as having previously been captured by humans and luckily managing to escape, or being sold. I would be down for this plot.

I would also be down with no angst, and my character simply meeting yours and they hit it off and learn about each other. of course, I'm also down for both our characters being merfolk.

I'm gonna talk some specifics about my characters here now. Please note that I like to headcanon my Striders as latino, and both Dave and Davis have brown skin, very, very dark freckles, and rust-red hair.

Dave has mainly red scales, though the underside of his tail is pink. He's based off of a Flame Snapper:
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m571/fishwrecked10/flamesnapper.jpg
http://www.fishingbuddy.com.sg/imagelib/gallery/Frame%20Snapper%20-%20AG%20Tang.JPG

He also has an ovular pattern of scales around his eyes (hint hint the pattern is shaped like the outline of aviator shades WOW creative). Dave prefers to be what humans would consider a cis man.

Dave would be generally fairly aggressive, wanting desperately to live up to the reputation as a hunter and warrior of his Bro before him. But he struggles internally, because truthfully, he'd rather participate in oral traditions, especially storytelling and song. If you'd rather RP as a human, depending on the setting, Dave can be captured and in the process meet yours, or by some freak accident, wind up lost or beached and found by your character. If he's a survivor of human capture, Dave would be even MORE aggressive and have anger issues, and generally be violent out of fear.

Davis (merman Davesprite) has more variances depending on setting. He looks mostly similar to Dave (including the ovular pattern around the eyes, who would be his twin (sometimes multiples can come from the same egg). However, Davis would have orange scales, slightly darker skin, orange eyes, and much larger fins- including two additional winglike fins on his back. It's suspected that they must've had some flying fish ancestry showing itself now in Davis. The reason Dave and Davis look different is likely because, despite having identical genes, for some reason during development, one of them might've had some genes switch on or off, causing the appearance difference. Davis prefers to appear masculine like Dave, but he does not like having a penis. His genitals are more similar to a vagina, with an inch-long clitoris.

I started drawing a picture of merDave and merDavis, though it's only a WIP right now; only Dave has been drawn, it's lineart, the scales won't be visible until it's colored, but it might help you get a picture on what exactly I'm talking about in regards to appearance!
http://i.imgur.com/fnL8k4x.png?1

Davis wants nothing more than to be a great hunter and warrior like Dave and their Bro, though he experiences some difficulty due to his large fins slowing him down. Usually, he ends up doing crafts or participating in oral traditions (it's funny because he and Dave want each others' job). If their school isn't doing too well food-wise, Davis may be looked down upon as a hungry mouth to feed that isn't catching his own.

If Davis was a past escapee of human capture, Davis would come away from it with extreme anxiety. He would not be able to be touched by anyone, though especially my masculine-presenting people, due to the human sailors that manhandled him during his childhood capture mainly being men. He often has panic attacks that requires him to find someplace to hide if he cannot locate his brother(s) or a very close friend to help soothe him. This causes a lot of issues with his productivity in the school, predictably.

Either way, a plotline I'd usually use for him would be him getting fed up and swimming off on his own to catch a big fish or a bunch of fish on his own to prove himself capable and strong, usually ending up with him getting injured/lost/beached/etc.

Both Dave and Davis can be used in a plot where they're capture by humans and sold, possibly to your character. Your character could also be a mermaid rights activist or something on the other hand, trying to rescue, nurse back to health, and free captured merfolk.

They could also remain in the sea, and your character can be another merperson, either from the same school or a different one.


Another plot I've been sitting on is a fantastical boarding school AU. Lemme 'splain. In a setting where Humans and Merfolk happily get along, after a long while of learning each other, merfolk have been teaching their own human languages, and humans have been teaching each other about merfolk and mer languages. Some schools in some reagions could even offer mer language courses, usually in the most local version of the mer language.

In an effort to learn more about surface culture, the leaders of some schools talk at length with diplomats from various Human countries, and it's decided that a bunch of schools will send a few of their kids to go learn on the surface amongst humans their age.

This would probably be done with specialized wheelchairs(I don't feel like going into how those might work, maybe we can work it out later if you want to), and likely be in a boarding school setting- we can decide on a time period if you want. The merperson would probably sleep in a great big tank in their room. My character (Dave or Davis) would like be assigned a 'buddy' (your character, possibly top of their class in their mer language course???) to help them around the school and possibly act as a translator. A student diplomat basically. They could be roomies even.

I'm super down with just about any characters, but it'd be cool if you ran any characters or ideas by me first just in case I forgot something that repulses me. (I've actually found myself growing oddly fond of Amporas in my roleplays.) I'm also okay with sfw, shipping, nsfw, con and non/dubcon, and a plethora of kinks.

!--Right now I am preferring male characters, and that the relationship between characters at least starts out antagonistic(hostile mer from another school, human trying to capture mer, etc). I am also preferring RPing as merman Davis rather than Dave.--!

Okay so that's all my thoughts and ideas. It's all really super specific and I doubt anyone is gonna actually want to do this with me... but there it is! Go ahead and ask questions, or suggest ideas! :D
(Please roleplay with me)