World Building Part 2

In honor of Disney's latest soulless cash gra…I mean live action remake, Let's talk about Mermaids. Specifically those found in my Fantasy world of Shael.

Shael is the setting for my eventual Epic Fantasy titled Shadow Empire. It is a world corrupted by catastrophic over use of magic where Skin Diamonds float on the winds and Seals are terrifying monsters out to consume the flesh of all they survey.

One of the sentient species populating Shael is the Mer and when I set out to build their lore I dove into previous real world mermaid mythology and stories and social media conversations around them. I routinely found people discussing Mermaids as creatures that were half fish and half human, live in the ocean, the usual. There's also a whole world of weird Romance stories out their (thanks Disney).

Not satisfied with the status quo (because nothing living in Shael is ever completely normal) I considered alternatives. First, why do Mer have to be half fish? Mammals make up a significant portion of Sea Life after all. Then of course they couldn't live in the Ocean because the events of the Arcanoclysm left the oceans a monster filled nightmare.

The Mer in Shael live in the massive rivers that split the continent (think the Amazon, then make it a lot bigger and deeper), having been driven from their homes by the Arcanoclysm. Here they have created small settlements in the depths and have begun to flourish again. These Mer are half human and half sea mammal ( a lot of their lower body biology is based on Amazonian river dolphins) and are in near constant conflict with Human merchant ships, which they routinely harass and sink.

The Mer use a complex systems of beads and string to form writing (based on Quipu from the real world) and keep records. They are a story telling people and most of their stories center on the evils heaped upon the world by the corrupt land dwelling peoples. They speak of a grand lost civilization under the sea and the terrible monsters that destroyed it.

The Mer have mostly grey and brownish skin tones (to match their rivers environment) and can see exceptionally well under water. Many learn to speak at least the Human languages and some few have been known to occasionally learn to respect a select few humans. Sometimes they will also make deals with wealthy merchants where by the merchant effectively pays for safe passage.

I hope you enjoyed a little look into some of the World building I'm doing on future projects. Now for that promised peak into my upcoming story Agent:

It was time to shed her face. Over the past six hundred years it became easier to shed the effluvia of a target when the time came. The first had been like shedding a life. She'd lived as part of a family, spent time as someone else, and it had been hard to leave behind what she'd never had. In the end she'd left the bodies of that family behind with the face. Now these families, the people she replaced, they were nothing. As it should be.

The owner of the next face lay restrained on the bed, hands bound behind her back and those bonds tied by a long strap to the headboard to keep her from squirming free of the bed. She was youthful and wore a simple sleeping shift. Her eyes were wide with fear and the room stank of it. At least she'd stopped struggling and screaming. No one was coming.

Xai smiled and returned to final notes on the face she was about to shed, running fingers through the thick bob of course hair on the back of her head. She'd not miss the extra care this hair required, it was different from the simple hair she was about to take. Such differences didn't exist in her people.

The skin color too was different, dark brown as opposed to her own tan ‘white’ tones. This was hardly the first personal with different skin ans hair she'd chosen, but such stints inspired reflection. She removed the various pens holding the hair in place, each sharp enough to pierce Human flesh, and quietly set them on the end table next to her.

Xai finally turned her attention to the next face she was to wear.