Species Descriptions
The Myrleon
The Myrleon species has the closest resemblance to the first, "classic" mermaids, with completely human upper bodies, and fish-tailed lower halves.
Features: Their ears, teeth, skin tones, and hair colours are all human-like, with the exception of their eyes, which can be any colour.
Tails: The tails of the Myrleon can be any colour, and they generally don't have any fins, especially not large ones or dorsal fins.
Measurements: The Myrleon, like the other two species, is rather similar to human height from the hips up, it's their tails that sets them apart from the other species. From their hips down, not including the fluke, they're 4-6ft long.
Figures: Myrleon figures, compared to the other two, are rather balanced and in the middle. A little stronger than a Solean, and a little faster than a Kothes, but slower than a Solean and weaker than a Kothes.
Powers: The Myrleon powers are able to move water and bend it to their will, the ability to hide among humans by making their bodies appear human, and better senses than humans in the water.
The Solean
The Solean are the next-closest living relative to their original ancestors, with human-like upper bodies and fish-tailed bottom halves, but with vibrant colors and some other additions.
Features: Their ears are pointed, with carnivore-like pointed teeth, and skin, hair, and eyes coming in a range, normally in bright colours, dulled or dark colours being rarer, however, their colours are always non-human.
Tails: The tails of the Solean can be in any colour, and generally they have fins on the sides, but rarely dorsal fins.
Measurements: The Solean, like the other two species, is rather similar to human height from the hips up, it's their tails that sets them apart from the other species. Their tails are smaller than the others, generally at only 3-5ft from the hips down, not including the fluke.
Figures: The figures of the Solean are slim and built for moving quickly with maneuverability in mind. They're quick and agile, not generally made for distance at speed or strength, they're made for short bursts of speed.
Powers: The Solean powers are the ability to move water to their will, the ability to go semi-translucent (not invisible, but their bodies become semi-see through so they can hide among coral), and better senses than humans in the water.
The Kothes
Some believe the Kothes are merfolk crossed with sirens long ago, living in the dark, being mean and aggressive on mass, but with a somewhat similar build to the other two.
Features: The ears of the Kothes are either pointed or finned, with their teeth all sharp like a piranha, sharp nails and webbed fingers + other webbing sometimes. Their hair and skin are generally dark colours, brighter or light colours rarer among their species. Their eyes, however, can be any colour.
Tails: The tails of the Kothes are generally dark colours, and are long, strong and powerful. They often have fins and dorsal fins on their tails and spines.
Measurements: The Kothes, like the other two species, is rather similar to human height from the hips up, it's their tails that sets them apart from the other species. The tails of the Kothes, from their hips down, not including the fluke, are 6-10ft.
Figures: The figures of the Kothes are not built for speed. They're not exactly slow, but the other two species are very, very likely to outrun a Kothes if it came down to a chase. They're strong, stronger than the other two physically.
Powers: The Kothes have the ability to move water to their will, the ability to make the water solid while under their control, and have better senses than the other two species.
Needed Universal Knowledge
Habitat
The Myrleon's lived close to the shore of a human-inhabited land, living among seagrass, animals and making little huts underground to rest in if they desired it.
The Solean's lived in a reef nearby, often having communication with their Myrleon cousins.
Now, the two of them live only a little ways away from the edges of a trench in the depths of the ocean, doing their best to get by and create a new life for themselves. Their camps are directly next to each other, and, while somewhat self-sustaining, their leaders are also working together. The area they're on is the "Abyssal Plain".
The Kothes live inside this trench, using pre-existing caves and caverns and making new ones. Every family/person has their own cave to live in that they can decorate how they see fit, and training and meetings etc. are held in caverns.
The beginning of this trench is a little higher than normal, at 5,000m, and it stretches all the day down to a depth of 10,000m. The Kothes live in the 6,000-7,000 area, space being taken up by large caverns for meetings, trainings, and other communal things, as well as homes large enough for families. If humans ever explore their trench, as humans are growing more and more curious about the ocean, there is a long tunnel at around 9,000m that the Kothes have dug out over time.
This tunnel is long and only big enough to fit two adult Kothes side-by-side, but ends in a large, dug-out cavern that's more than big enough for the whole clan, and it gets expanded as their population grows.
Language
The three merfolk have different languages, but also a common language between the three of them. (Please "Talk normally like this" when speaking the common tongue, but do something like "Bolding" the text or "Underlining" the text when talking their native tongue, or somehow specify what you're doing.
The Myrleon language is gentle and soft sounding, kind on the ears, and those outside the language often feel as if they're being nice, even when they're not.
The Solean language is quick and flowy, each word seemingly perfectly paired with the next word to make a continuous sentence.
The Kothes language is brutal and harsh-sounding, filled with consonants. It makes them sound angry and aggressive, even when they aren't being so.
Every kind of merfolk also has animal-like sounds (hisses, growls, etc) at their disposal. Among the Myrleon, this is generally seen as only used in times of annoyance, or highly disrespectful. The Solean mainly use hisses, growling at the height of their anger. Meanwhile the Kothes are known for being animalistic, snarls coming to their tongues as easily as words.
Lifespan
Each species has their own lifespan, however, two things remain the same. For the first 20 years of their lives, they are growing until they stop aging, in which case they appear about 20 years old until they begin to deteriorate. For the last 20 years of their life, the merfolk take a very severe and quick downturn, the aging their bodies had stopped catching up to them all at once until they die.
The Myrleon live for about 200 years.
The Solean live for about 150 years.
The Kothes live for about 500 years.
Other Appearance Facts
Most merfolk have bioluminescent markings on their body. They are born with these markings, and although they may change a bit over time, they don't change completely. Some don't have them at all, others have lots of them.
Solean merfolk are the famous for having the brightest markings, and Kothes were thought by the other species to not have them for a while, until they found out their darker cousins simply cover them when leaving the trench.
All merfolk have the ability to dim them at will for periods of time, but they cannot remove the glow completely.
And yes, they do have gills, as they're breathing underwater.
Offspring
All merfolk have offspring. In this RP, they produce live young (like sharks do), and raise those young for however long they need. They can have the same amount of children that humans can, but the higher the number, the lesser the chance.
Merfolk can reproduce as soon as they stop aging, and can continue to until they die. However, in the last 20 years of their life, the birth runs a much higher risk of costing them their life.
Sub-Offspring - Crossbreeds
Crossbreeds between the species are rare due to all the complications involved, and the parents and child get cast out when crossbreeds occur. These complications may cause the female parent to die if the baby is larger than their own species, grow infertile, or for the baby to die or be infertile.
(Yes, I know these may not be realistic, but it would make sense for crossbreeds to have a chance of happening and this is meant to make it harder.)
For all crossbreed pairings, I will be rolling a dice/doing the random number gen. Make sure to message me about doing this stuff. Thanks guys.
Male Kothes x Female Solean | 95% Female Infertility Rate 98% Female Fatality Rate | 90% Infant Infertility Rate 80% Infant Fatality Rate | Kothes Genes More Prominent Max 350Yr Lifespan |
Male Kothes x Female Myrleon | 95% Female Infertility Rate 70% Female Fatality Rate | 90% Infant Infertility Rate 90% Infant Fatality Rate | Kothes Genes More Prominent Max 400Yr Lifespan |
Male Solean x Female Kothes | 95% Female Infertility Rate | 90% Infant Infertility Rate 80% Infant Fatality Rate | Kothes Genes More Prominent Max 300Yr Lifespan |
Male Solean x Female Myrleon | 95% Female Infertility Rate | 60% Infant Infertility Rate 50% Infant Fatality Rate | Myrleon Genes More Prominent Max 160Yr Lifespan |
Male Myrleon x Female Solean | 95% Female Infertility Rate 95% Female Fatality Rate | 60% Infant Infertility Rate 50% Infant Fatality Rate | Myrleon Genes More Prominent Max 170Yr Lifespan |
Male Myrleon x Female Kothes | 95% Infertility Rate | 90% Infant Infertility Rate 90% Infant Fatality Rate | Kothes Genes More Prominent Max 400Yr Lifespan |
Weapons + Humans
The merfolk don't have weapons like guns, harpoons, or anything like that. Most of their weapons are spears or spear-like objects, or their natural weapons for close combat (teeth and claws), however only Kothes have training specifically in battle, other tribes only have hunters.
The humans are modern humans, with, yes, a very real chance of following the merfolk if they find them and further endangering the Kothes.