AN: There is a flash back to rape in chapter 1. It is a rape scene that makes me a bit uncomfortable, even though I myself occasionally enjoy a bit of non-con fiction. This rape scene however is not supposed to be enjoyed. It is trauma that my protagonist is going to spend time trying to overcome. You have been warned.
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Excerpts from a field guide on non-human people:
Merfolk; Common name Mermaids
Appearance
Merfolk in general have a tail that makes up two thirds of their body length. With a fin that is shaped like that of a beta but positioned like a whale's. Males, called mermen, have the longer fins while those of mermaids and merlings are shorter. Their upper bodies are outwardly very similar to those of humans. Their dentition most resembles that of a feline or ursine, excepting their human-like but still sharp incisors. At the end of their fingers are semi-retractable claws, those possessed by mermen being more robust and harder, while mermaids have thinner, sharper claws.
Coastal merfolk are bilaterally pigmented, with one color for the posterior fins/scales and another for those on the anterior. The delineation between the colors is sharp, with little to no overlap. The further from the coast the population is, the hazier the delineation between the colors. Deep water dwelling merfolk are most often mottled, with colors mixed together across their bodies. However they come together, these two colors can be almost any imaginable. The anterior color is most often the lighter color. Their hair is two toned. It starts off typical of human coloration, but once a strand goes past the shoulders it changes to match the most prevalent scale color. Their skin and eyes also closely match what is typical of a human. A well established pod will be quite homogenous, with little variation of looks among individuals. Most of what variety can be observed will be with regards to shading.
Biology
Merfolk can (barring accidents or illness, which are many due to their lack of technology) live up to 300 years. Mermaids however only go gravid once every 5 years. Once a mermaid's eldest daughter reaches maturity she herself will cease reproduction, although she will begin her reproductive cycle once more if her lineage is ended by any means.
Mermaids that have nesting areas and warm enough waters can lay up to 20 eggs. Although this is quite rare, similar to a human woman having healthy quadruplets. The freshly laid eggs are about the size of a house cat's head, spherical, pearlescent, gelatinous, and slightly translucent. Without access to nesting areas and or with waters too chilly to lay eggs the mermaid fry will develop internally. The colder the water, the longer the gestation, the fewer the fry.
Merfolk eggs take 3 months to incubate in any viable environs. Thusly, for those mermaids who cannot lay eggs to develop externally, the minimum gestation length is 3 months. Their freshly hatched young are called fry. A fry's body plan is somewhere between a beta and a whale calf. Scale color is present from birth, and follows the same colorings as the adults around them.
Over the next 6 months the fry will grow and morph until their humanlike upper body is properly developed, in a similar manner to a tadpole growing limbs as it turns into a frog. At around 6 months old they will shed the scales on their upper body and start growing hair on their head. Once their scales are shed they start being called merlings.
For the first 18 years of their lives merlings are completely genderless. At 18, this changes rapidly Within the span of 1-3 months (depending on how well fed they are) the merlings experience a rapid puberty, becoming sexually dimorphic. However, it will be a further 2 years after the development of secondary sexual characteristics before mermaids are able to go gravid. By contrast, mermen are able to father children immediately after they have finished puberty.
Merfolk are mammals considering that mermaids do lactate via functional mammary glands. Despite this, they have little in common with non-magical aquatic mammals. Their internal temperature is warmer than fish or aquatic reptiles, but notably lower than any other land or sea mammal.
Within a merfolk's lungs is a slimy, viscous substance. Through unknown processes, this substance allows for underwater respiration. knowledge of this substance and its purpose has been obtained from a number of sailors whose lives were saved by having this unpleasant substance regurgitated into their lungs. Astonishingly, this allowed them to breathe water as easily as air despite being human. Unfortunately for many a curious alchemist, this substance turns into inactive foam when outside a body, and rapidly dries when exposed to air.
Society
Finding out about merfolk society has proven more challenging than learning about their biology. This in and of itself is a bit telling about their society. They have no reservations about their bodies, and will freely discuss or even display how babies are made, as well as how they hunt. They show no hesitation to explain how old they can get and how advanced age affects them, amongst other things. But such questions as, "Why is she in charge?" "How do you raise your children?" "How do you get along with other pods?" "What are your ceremonies like and what purpose do they serve?" These and more all seem taboo. Thus this section is derived mostly from observation of the merfolk and interviews with those who live and work around them.
The merfolk live in groups called a Pod. Each pod has several schools of merlings. They seem to be a matriarchal society. The mermen always listen to and do what the weaker gender tells them to do. And there almost always seems to be an older mermaid in charge. This is in stark contrast to how human society works.
Merfolk do not name their offspring initially, instead using descriptive nicknames. However, all adult merfolk possess a gendered name, though I am thus far unable to determine when these are given.
Mermen are extremely gentle with mermaids. However their protectiveness oddly enough seems reserved almost exclusively for merlings. It's to the extent that mermen will herd the merlings and fry away and leave the mermaids behind to face a threat that would be better off faced by the mermen.
Coastal merfolk and deep sea merfolk raise their merlings differently. The coastal mermen make and maintain nests in the shallows. This is where his spouse will deposit fertile eggs, barring poor circumstances requiring internal incubation. Mermen also utilize this nest as a home for existing progeny, living there with their fry/merlings for the first 18 months of their lives. Over this time the mermaid will provide food for her spouse and offspring. Coastal mermaids are rarely observed nursing, and when they are it's usually their spouse at their chest instead of their child. After 18 months they will spend their nights sleeping in caves or kelp forests and their days in the shallows until the merlings are roughly 5. It is presumed that the father hunts at night during this time. Deep sea mermaids stay together in tight nit groups, nursing their own and each other's young until their own merlings are about 18 months old. Deep sea mermen provision the maids during this time. After this period, deep merlings practically live in their father's hair until they are roughly 5.
Around their fifth year merlings start forming or joining schools of up to 20. All the merlings in a school seem close together in age. This school will break up when the majority of individuals have gone through puberty. This is also when their parents are also getting ready to have more children.
The mermen taking a less active role in fighting monsters and enemies seems to have driven species wide death rates up even more than their lack of weapons and tools would lead one to expect. Thus it stands to reason their lives would revolve around raising the next generation.
Chapter 1
A merman, so like many others this time of year, coiled up around a depression in the coral, guarding his nest of eggs. Unlike the others he was uncomfortably close to shore and extremely isolated from any nearby nesting mermen. Not even fathers teaching their young merlings how to hunt amongst the coral were within sight, nor were they close enough to hear if he was in trouble. Which, in this desolate sickly patch of coral he was.
Mermaids were supposed to bring their mates food while they guarded. If nothing else they should visit a few times a day and offer their breast. But his mate had not appeared before him even once. Not once since the day nearly four weeks prior, when she had laid his eggs and departed.
