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pandoramusicbox · 2 years

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Fish people

Sea kin, theres three kinds of fish people in my setting, mermaids (called mers), finfolk (also called neptonians or neps), and sirens. The main difference between the three species is body shape or more accurately the way they move. mermaids move like dolphins, sirens move like snakes/eals or fish, and finfolk possess legs like a person so they can walk and often use a mix of swimming styles including swimming like a seal, like a person, floating, and swimming like a frog. All of them can be bioluminescent and many of them have some ability to change color all. The three species (technically in taxonomy the same family) live a long time anywhere from 350 years to 600 years

-they also don’t stop growing. so some of the oldest members of the species can get massive they don’t grow at the same rather through their life

so theres that, but because they don’t stop growing, they a bit like trees, have good years they grow more than bad year where they grow less, some species grow at faster average rates than others.

-hhhmmm I wonder how that works for hybrids. ill have to think about that. because instead of growing every year they might just grow every few years or so. would probably depend on the hybrid too. ill cover that particular can of worms at some other date.

Meanwhile I should cover the hair issue---

-Some of the fish people have hair, and as someone who has had long hair and swam, I can tell you it creates drag. That is a bit of an issue for things that live in the water. So for these fishies the hair actually has another use. For one thing its rather different then human hair in texture and structure. its usually black or brown in color. the hairs themselves are sort of hollow and can fill up and be drained of water really quickly. when the hair is exposed to water it has an interesting property of being able to slightly change texture. sort of like an octopus's skin but not as dramatic. another interesting property of the sea folk's hair is its ability to change color. the hair can change to blueish- greenish hair tone or sometimes even a more reddish color. this ability is actually very useful for the sea folk who use ambush as their main form of hunting. using their “hair” as camouflage generally making it look like sea weed. theirs ability to change the hairs texture is nonexistent when their hair is dry but the color-changing property is still there. other seafolk with other hunting methods tend to not have hair, and instead are a much more streamlined body. they dont really have body hair either, made clear by a lack of eyebrows. (though they do have short eyelashes)

the normally dark hair color is rather important to the seafolk because most cases where they naturally have lighter or diffrent hair colors can affect tier ability to use their hair as camouflage, famously blond or white hair is a rather detrimental mutation that prevents the ability to change hair color. the current empress of the Neptonian empire is blond, the mutation is relatively rare still in modern times but at least within the Neptonian empire it is not as detrimental due to strong social networks and not needing to be the sole primary hunter in a family. other examples of nonfunctioning mutations of their hair is for the merrow; a fin folk who live just off the coast of Ralunjas, in a place called the red kelp forest. where their hair has more reddish to maroon-ish pink coloration, though some of them have functional brown hair, their adaptation for that specific environment makes it difficult for them to live outside of that environment. the other major group of sea-folk with strange hair mutations are the sjofru of the northern sea and the ice pass. their hair has none of the camouflage qualities so is generally lighter and thinner than what it is for others, their hair often has colors ranging in the blues, grays and greens to soft reds and oranges that tappers out to a near transparent color at the tips. unlike their warmer sea cousins who use the hair for camouflage the tips of the sjofru hair is covered in tiny poison filled stingers, essentially they have jellyfish tendrils for hair. the potency of the venom depends on family.

-The humanoid appearance of the sea-folk is only skin deep and even then, its barely skin deep as demonstrated by their hair. The first thing that separates them from humans is the fact that they have a hexapedal body plan verses a humans quadrupedal body plan. then theres the whole bioluminescence thing. they generally have a few patches of this bioluminescent skin when they do have it. some sea kin depending on species can have other features like antenie or exess fins or scales or other things.

All regular sea folk have these hexapedal body plans though on some species it is more obvious than on others. the fin folk are usually the most easy to the the six limed body as they have their primary arms, secondary arms (usually just called their fins) and their legs, for sirens and mermaids their “ legs” are internal and generally not easy to see but they do have them.

-Sea folk nails are sharp and claw like, and their teeth are sharp too. most species have at least two rows of teeth. Some larger species have three rows. The only species with a singular row tends to be some fresh water ones, but they still usually have some indication of their second row of teeth. Like sharks if they loose a tooth a new one from the back row just moves up to take its place.

They have webbed hands. and for the neps their feet are long and webbed too. some deep sea species that rarely need to use their hands have more fin like hand. that work better as paddels. the webbing is not all the same either. sometimes it is skin that is elongated and stretched between the diddgets, other-times it is a filament mesh of keratin, other times it is a thin mucus producing membrane. for most species getting the membrane torn is not too painful but is rather avoided non the less and the webbing will grow back in some capacity.

They are all amphibious, able to breath both air and water, though it’s not the most pleasent experience to move between the two substance. As they have to force all of the previous substance out of them, like coughing out all the excess water, with some practice they can do this change in a few seconds as opposed to a few minutes for one who is not accustomed to the change. they are also capable of “holding their breath” for either substance as well. They can have gills in either one or two place. The most common place it right along the neck or where the ribs are located, but some less common but still possible places are, right along the face such as the cheeks, right below/in the armpit area, or the collar bone area. Speaking of collar bones. they dont have them, or at least not in the same way humans do, like most sea mammals they lack them. instead they might have a more flexible cartilage matrix that has a simmular function when they are on land. they also have a bit of an odd structure to their rib cage, they are able to sort of temporarily "collaps" their sternum enabling them to more or less squeeze through spaces they can fit their head through.

The sea folk are able to move between fresh and salt water unlike most regular fish and sea life, but they rarely do this as the transition, especially if it is a fast transition, this can make them very sick. they are also able to temporarily “close up” their gills when they are on land, some species are capable of this for their nosterals as well, and most species have a second eyelid that they close when in water to protect the eye.

the absurd length of their feet makes it difficult to move around swiftly on land when walking. so for fin folk they tend to walk on their tippy toes and can do so quite easily, but when they stand they go down on a flat foot. unlike humans they can stay up on their tippy toes for extended periods of time. some finfolk species often have shorter feet then their other relatives, these are generally the species who spend more time on land, like the kappa who are primarily river dwelling fin folk, other fresh water fin folk also have shorter fins. though they are not the most agile on land they are quite fast in water, the average sea folk usually have their top speeds somewhere in this range. -finfolk: 20-30 mph ( 32.2- 48.3 kph) - mers: 31- 37 mph ( 49.9- 59.4 kph) -sirens: 35- 45 mph ( 56.3- 72.4 kph)

- Sea kin can reach great depths. most surface water can regular reach depths of 6600 ft (2000 m), while species more adept for deeper water can comfortably make it to 15000 ft (4500m) while mysterious deep sea sea kin can reach depths of 19685 ft (6000 m). though they can reach these depths they can be in trouble if they try to leave those deep pressures once they have reached them. most deep presures are easier for older and larger individuals to reach and individuals with deeper blood colors. - speaking of blood color i nearly forgot one of the most important differences between humans and sea kin, and one of the main things that diffurenturates them from other kins, their blood color. For one thing each individual of any of those species can have one of three blood colors. the first and most common blood color is red but not the same kind of red as human blood. the red seakin blood is a darker almost maroon or burgandy color. second color is a purple, a very reddish purple like wine, plum or mulberry. the rarest and final color is pink a richer dark pink, like magenta or royal fusia. each blood color results in some slight differences, the main most notable one is lifespan and apparent durability other than that not too much. as blood color is more important socially among the sea folk.

-They have an ability to create a strange calcium mixture that the use as a glue or cement. this is not an ability possessed by every species or even individuals among species. they do use this ability to create safe nesting grounds for themselves. some species like the kappa have adapted this ability for other pourposes. this is an ability that seems to be shared with a strange sea kin called shell people. one of the downsides of this is the need to eat excess calcium for this sticky mixture, but they do that by eating seashells and bones from whale falls and such. the substance is soft and malmble for the first minute it is created, exhibiting some properties of a non-newtonian fluids, but if produced right it quickly hardens to a solid regardless of being under water or in the air. it hardens more quickly when exposed to air. -Singing, all of sea kin are known by land dwelling people for having haunting voices able to resonate great distances. and that is true even the worst of their singers can be louder and sound more haunting than any human. this is in part due to a general cultural value of singing as a courting ritual, but also due to having a hollow cavity somewhere in their chest they use to create these higher resonances, this is sort of like whale song. at a smaller scale. they also poses more complex vocal cords. They are only able to produse sound with air. some species can come up for air once in a decade and store and reuse the air for sound, but most of their close corders communication is done through a sigh language. so this is a condensed and hopefully understandable description of the primary seakin.

TLDR; Sea Kin and the three sister species of mermaids, finfolk and sirens are rather human looking but the recemblence is not skin deep, they have diffrent hair, blood colors, and skeletal structures. they are good at singing a lot like whales and they can swim fast. main difference between the three spesies is how they swim, like a dolphin, like a shark or like a frog.

#worldbuilding #worldbuildingculture #mermaid #fish person #fish people #siren #fantasy biology #finfolk #fantasy creature #fantasy kingdom #fantasy empire #river mermaid #gills #webbed hands #webbed feet #mermaid tail

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pandoramusicbox · 1 year

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Neptonian rulers

the Neptonian empire is old and has had a number of rulers throughout the milleniums. in part due to the extrodinairly long life spans of even the regular sea folk, not to mention the pink blooded that are the traditional rulers of sea folk have nearly doubled the length of their lifespans. name of emperor/emperress, length of reign (date of reign) -other notable information.

1. Neptunia, (v453-v432) 21 years- the empress who united the seven sea kingdoms to form the empire.

2. Paio (v432-v93) 339- suspects to have been the empress who's blood made the imperial crown and rumored too have made the sword jiné as well.

> the year of chatastrophy. The sudden death of the previous empress threatened to cause the empire collapse back into the five kingdoms as no one took over the throne. and a civil war threatened to break out.

3. Talia (v91-v1) 90 a notable empress for being the first violet blooded empress and was the granddaughter of neptunia, she reunified the empire and got two more nation states to join.

4. Delphine, (0-215) - the empress that established the Delphine calendar, the modern calendar used by the Neptonian empire

5. Oceanus (215-699) 484 years- expanded the size of the empire. Is also known for having a harem of six different pods, { one pod has between 3-10 individuals in them on average, and most people only have one or rarely two pods they stay with}

6. Bay (700-1388) 688 years- a half dragon half neptonian that had the longest reign in history

7. Seatulin [aka lil] (1389-1470) 89 years- standardized the writing system (previously been four different systems) and established higher learning institutions and built the first colosseums. Had a son who was the Astoria of Capricorn.

8. Biny (1470-1684) 224 years- transitioned from a male emperor to an empress during her reign. Established an alliance with several siren kingdoms and established several new cities.

9. Anglerfish (1685-1750) 66 years- is known for her successful and very prominent campaign of privateering, created a froth relationship between the the islands of Thero and Thera as well as the kingdoms of Gargoraqin continent. Was eventually caught privateering a ship with her pod and was executed by a king of Thera.

10. Philipia (1751-1840) 90 years- she established the current capital for the empire daughter of anglerfish, she had to creat safety nets and hiding places for her subjects to not be terrorized by the land people.

11.Bo (1841-2286) 446 years- a very religious emperor who introduced the ayasi faith as the state religion, though it didn’t stick as the state religion the ayasi faith is commonly practiced in the empire.

12. Minnou (2287-2309) 23 years- brought two mermaid kingdoms into the empire, one through Marriage and one through force. Undid the ayasi fate as the state religion.

13. Conwhani (2309-2331) 22 years, depicted with a great pair of horns as she had vicker blood in her, sought to establish a precisen of tolerance for hybrids with the empire, under her time the economy with the land people flourished

14. Eal (2331-2721) 390 years transitioned empire to and emperial republic, and established voting for representatives for the congress and the collation.

15. Posidon (2721-2857) 136 years- first mermaid emperor, student of astronomy and alchemy and had many places of learning built as well as having hand in the making of the architecture that allows for their modern cities with accessibility for creatures of all shapes and sizes.

16. Merrow (2857-2906) 49 years, reformed rather draconian law system to be less in corporal punishment

17. Cari (2907-3014) 108 years - switched the capital to nessrosa ( means water roses)

18. Crab (3015-3088) 74 years - emperess who established about half the laws on the books

19. Dawnturtal (3088-3492) 404 years- won the throne through a javelin throwing contest. Was a lover of nature and created the first emperial ecosystem parks. So nature could be enjoyed by all their citizens, now and in the future. Expanded voting rights. Fought and won a war against a few United sea gorgon hives.

20. Scillia (3493-3750) 258 years- mermaid who reorganized the military and military service

21.Hipocampi (3751-4229) 479 years- a mermaid empress who established extensive healthcare and public works systems throughout the empire

22. Cybircma (4230-4263) 34 years a rare sea witch. Won the throne through a game of wits.

23. Phillia (4264-4377) 114 years- the emperor who established the lily codes, a set of codes of conduct on several things, proper ediquet, how nobles should treat non-nobles [like people], how to properly introduce their culture to conquered lands and the proper way to do some traditions in court. Several of these things where already established but written down in the lily codes, that are still kept up to date to this day.

24. Shark (4378-4627) 250 years - empress that conquered the iles of heaven waters as part of the neptonian empire

25. Hydra (4628-4639) 12 years- empress that negotiated for the union of 13 additional sea kingdoms to join the empire

26. Sonrax (4640-4738) 99 years - created hundreds of amphitheaters, learning squares and libraries, also responsible for a narsin siren genocide

27. Oaraiora (4739-4796)158 years- switched the capital back to phillhimestarn (means moon princess mist)

28. Thnami (4796-4875) 79 years - conquerer gargoraqi waters for the empire and established seaside colonies

29. Serina (4876-5045)169 years- a rare neptonian duelo, who’s alternate self was a red blooded mermaid. Started to grow insane by the end of her reign due to paranoia. Lots of deaths.

30. Orka (5045-5114)69 years- lead a violent revolution against previous empress, died in a violent revelotion by the people to install next emperor

31. Fil (5114-5243) 129 years -outlawed slavery within the neptonian empire boarders, and created a process for removing empresses and emperors less violently

32. Darb (5244-5293) 49 years- tried to unify traditions and religious practices failed missably. Though some of the court songs and rituals they established have stuck around. Also fought a war with some thero heroes.

33. Elumiga (5294-5355) 61 years a violet blood who took over after her sister died to the Theron heroes. Negotiated peace and a treaty that the empire could only go so far into Theron and Theran waters.

34. Clam (5355-5541) 186 years - made a guarantee of civil rights for all neptonian citizens

35. Kimopheia (5543-5857) 314 years known to have turned into a demon at the end of their reign as they tried to extend their life to live forever. Also imposed unfair laws against mermaids but not sirens or finfolk, ignoring ruling’s established by clam the previous empress

36. Perigenia (5857-5921) 64 years- saw the eastern mermaid kingdoms leave the empire

37. Borsesis (5921-5933) 12 years - killed hiers to the throne, was seceded by her cousin. Violently.

38. nemorin (5934-6248) 314 years - violently conquered eastern mermaids, cousin to Borsesis

39. nemora (6248-6381) 133 years- daughter of the conqueror nemorin, was a tyrant who killed of any potential heirs to the throne

40. Nautelus, 64 years but ongoing (6381-current year 6445 ) - the current reigning empress, she fought in the mermaid revolution and was part of an organization known as the nypon-rose

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