Hey y'all! Author here :D
Don't worry, I'm not abandoning this thing, I know that's what a lot of people think when they see this kind of chapter title. Nothing like that.
One of the comments I've seen inspired me to draw some stuff, and I managed to finish what I was working on for the past day or two. With those drawings, comes a little background chapter! This will mainly just be tidbits of information about the world of merfolk, and explaining the lore of George's side that I've kept buried in my head up until now. So if you don't care about that then you can skip right past it I suppose :/
If you ARE however interested, keep reading! I'm hoping this chapter will explain things in a bit more detail and clear up any possible confusion, because it's a lot easier to write full on descriptions when your aren't restricted by the limitations of a plot.
I'll most likely be editing this chapter several times to include more as things go on, so if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, whether in this chapter or any other! I'll be happy to answer, and if I don't get to you then it means my wattpad notifs have probably decided to go splat.
Without further ado, let's get into it!
Disclaimer: Nothing shown in this chapter is accurate to true merfolk myth, and was created entirely by my imagination. Do not take any of it to be factual.
Mer History
Every culture has stories. Stories told by parents to scare their children into brushing their teeth; stories passed among friends about the haunted shipwreck 50 tails over. But this story, this is the story all mer children are told from the beginning.
Long, long ago, before mer or humans ever existed, the Sun and the Moon were equals. The earth existed, and the sisters were tasked by the gods in creating life. Upon agreement, they each drew their own creatures. The land for the Sun, and the water for the Moon.
The Moon started, and made her fish. From the fish, the Sun made reptiles: lizards, snakes. From the snakes, the Moon made eels, and sharks, and rays.
This continued, and the two built a world together, one by one, in harmony.
But it didn't last long.
The Sun was greedy, and betrayed her own sister. It wasn't long before the Moon had discovered the Sun had made creatures that the two hadn't agreed upon. Creatures that took over what they wanted; creatures that were hungry for the knowledge of everything; creatures..that weren't supposed to exist.
The Sun had made humans.
At first it did little. They were land-walkers, and so they stayed on land. But it wasn't long before they began to crave the knowledge of the sea, too.
As the humans invaded the oceans, lakes, rivers, the Moon's power diminished. The magic of the water was weak, and so was she.
The Moon begged her sister to stop them, to help her, but the Sun only wanted more.
The Moon grew weaker and weaker, each passing day only a sentence of punishment she did not deserve. She was forced to watch as her creatures were slaughtered and killed; she could do nothing.
The Moon had almost given up, when hope appeared.
A solar eclipse.
Happening only once in a century, this would be the Moon's only chance in nearly one hundred years.
She bided her time, quieting her complaints to the Sun, calming her children of the sea for just a bit longer, and saving up her strength.
When the time was right, the Moon pulled all the magic she could from herself, and used it to harness the power of the Sun. With everything she could muster, she pushed back the land and brought up the oceans; they would be bigger, stronger, mightier than they had been before.
The last of the magic went into one final thing: merfolk. Drawing inspiration from the very creatures she loathed, she gathered dolphins of all kinds (for they happened to be her favorite of all her creations, no matter how much she denied it) and gave them arms. She gave them hair, and she gave them scales. She gave them claws, and lungs and gills, and ears...
And she gave them each a heart.
Then the eclipse was finished.
The Sun was angry with her sister, but she could do nothing now that the two were separate once again.
Knowing of her sister's traitorous ways, the Moon now knew what to expect of the Sun. And so, she could prepare. She could defend herself. Her children.
The Moon did everything in her power from that point forward to stay away from the Sun. One of those things meant staying away from Solar Eclipses as much as possible.
So once every five hundred years, the Moon meets the Sun again, and the Moon connects with her people, uniting their magic to protect the oceans again.
Of course that's not what the history books teach. The history books say that merpeople evolved from dolphins and sharks alike, just as humans evolved from the monkeys.
The history books say that the eclipse happens once every five hundred years, and always has.
The history books say that there is no magic in the moon.
Mer Anatomy
Don't y'all dare ask what you're thinking of.
Ayy, time to show off 😎
Keep in mind that I have absolutely no knowledge on how to draw male anatomy, much less fictional creatures, so don't judge >:D
• Cycloid scales grow with age. When damaged or missing, new ones grow in their place, though the process can take a month or two without any help.
• Placoid scales grow between each other when needed. When damaged or missing, new scales grow in their place, and the process can take a few weeks.
• Fins can be found in many shapes, and vary among species.
• Tails can vary in length, but are typically between 4 and 6 feet.
I was planning to draw the shark-descended mer too, but I got lazy once I finished the extra fun and scale types so I was like nahhh I'll go come up with a frickin merfolk legend now. (BTW that was so fun to write like oml I loved it)
Also can I say- how AMAZING that font is? It makes it all look so professional, like one of those actual anatomy diagrams. I'm so glad I found that font
Okay onto more stuff now
Mer Culture
Disclaimer: All of the following is based on southern mer culture, and George's current knowledge in the book. Any other merfolk cultures will not be shown here as of now. This may be changed in the future.
More items may be added to this list at any time.
• Merfolk greet each other by tugging on their pectoral fins (humans can do this by tugging on the bottom of their shirt). This sign can also be shown as a symbol of gratitude and/or sincerety.
• Bowing one's head is a universal symbol of trust and submission.
• Merfolk typically live in pods between 30 and 100 mer, though this can vary. Many smaller pods are in groups of 5 to 10, and consist of close friends and family only. There have been official recorded pods of over 300, though it is rare.
• Most mer wear skirts made of sea silk, kelp, or other materials, as it is considered inappropriate to show to many scales.
• The merfolk measurement system is known in leagues, tails, and scales. One league is about 18,000 tails; one tail is about 10 scales.
• Merfolk will eat many types of fish, the most common being tuna, cod, salmon, trout, and sardines. Other common fish include swordfish, herring, bass, pike, carp, and more. Diets can change depending on pod location.
• Mer law is dictated by the council, a group of 50 merfolk from various pods who come together every year to discuss important matters. Any laws passed are communicated across the oceans every few years, though many pods choose not to follow them. Although illegal, there is no proper form of enforcement, meaning it is up to pod leaders to enforce them.
• Pods are typically split into 3 roles. Warriors, caretakers, and elders.
- Upon turning of age, mer are supposed to choose between being a warrior or a caretaker.
- Per tradition, mer who are looking to be hunters or warriors in the future are taught English during their schooling. Some pods have chosen to ignore this tradition, as it is no longer useful. Warriors are the mer who gather food for the pod, and in extreme circumstances, fight for the pod. They will swim out in small groups a few times a week to hunt.
- Caretakers are the mer who take care of the pod, teach younger mer, and more. They are known to be the people who keep the pod together.
- Elders are the most experienced members of the pod who choose to take up a leadership role. Many are still caretakers while Elders, though warriors who become Elders typically retire with old age.
- Parents and older members aren't required to work, though can if they choose.
- Mer can choose to study for other professions, though there aren't many. A few examples would be biologists and dedicated healers, diplomats who travel from pod to pod, and scouts who find new places to migrate to, communicate about local pods, and more.
Merman George hehe
Shiny tail 👀
OKAY so, I think that's all for now, but as I said this will probably be updated as time goes on. Now, for some other stuff :D
Would y'all rather have Karlnap late and hinted at in this book, or basically nothing in this book but its own sequel?
Also, I had this whole idea for a new book based on maze runner (never even read it myself but I know the concept). Basically instead of maze runners, it's 'portal runners' (name tbd). Dream is one of these portal runners, who travels through the nether to explore and gather it's resources. GNF, Sapnap, and BBH are all part of some hidden civilization in the nether. In attempts to stop overworld people from destroying their home, they send hunters to kill portal runners. All 3 of them are these 'hunters' (also name tbd). Still debating whether or not it should be a dnf, so if it is Dream would meet George, and if not then he'd meet Sap. Anyhoo I'm still so stuck on whether or not to start/write it cause I don't wanna neglect one or the other >:D
–––––
Date: 07/08/21
I had fun with this lol, been meaning to write it for a bit but never felt like I had enough information to make a full chapter. Thanks y'all for sticking with this for so long, and hopefully with this chapter we'll get to 10k within a few days :) we're so close, it's frickin absurd. I'm so glad anybody has even any kind of interest in this thing, so take this as an early thank you. I love reading your comments, seeing my notifs blow up overnight with 50 new votes, etc. It's amazing :)
Y'all really want justice for that tuna, huh?