Animal Class: Marine Mammal
Diet: Omnivorous
Highly intelligent creatures, they evolved from a common ancestor that they share with Humans. They are capable of the exact same things that Humans are capable of, but Merpeople tend to be more open minded when it comes to certain things.
Despite being Mammals, they can breathe and even talk underwater.( They are also able to breathe out of water) They can create large and strong air bubbles around the heads of their friends/ allies that allow them to breathe and talk underwater. It is also possible for Merpeople to transmit the ability to breathe underwater to another creature. In order for this to happen, a very strong bond ( usually romantic) has to exist between a Merperson and the other creature and they have to have a long kiss underwater in order for the other creature to gain that ability.
Contrary to popular belief, Merpeople and Sirens are completely different creatures and Sirens are more aggressive and animalistic than Merpeople.
Merpeople tend to mate for life and it is very common for them to mate with other creatures. ( Humans, Werewolves, Vampires, Minotaurs, Centaurs, Etc.) ( Same-Sex couples are just as common among Merpeople as they are among Humans)
Live in many oceans and seas across the world and many tribes have moved into freshwater, but they refuse to live in certain water habitats. ( A couple examples of places that they refuse to live in are the Bering Sea and the Dead Sea) The ones that live in the Arctic and Antarctic regions of the world tend to be more paler and look more animalistic ( often causing them to be confused with Sirens) than other Merpeople, but they have the same intelligence levels as the other Merpeople.
Can live for hundreds of years, but once they reach adulthood it can take many decades for them to show any signs of aging. ( When a Merperson has a mate that doesn't have the long lifespan that they have, that long Merperson lifespan can apparently be passed to the creature by the same method that allows them to breathe underwater)
When they want to come on land, they drink a very common special serum using the materials from different underwater things. The serum allows their tails to painlessly transform into the legs and lower body of a human and the effects of this serum can last from a few hours to a few days before they have to either return to the water or take some more of the serum. ( Using this serum is also what allows them to be able to mate with many other different species)
According to rumors, there is a supposed subspecies of Merpeople that exist at the dark bottoms of the world's oceans and they are way more primitive and animalistic than the normal species. ( The rumors also say that those creatures are not Sirens which is what most Scientists think that they are)
Extra Fun Fact: Since Merpeople usually mate with many different creatures, Merpeople hybrid creatures are a common sight across the globe. ( Merperson/Human, Merperson/ Born or Bitten Werewolf, Merperson/ Vampire, Merperson/ Minotaur, Etc.)