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:: ABOUT MERFOLK ::
Is it true that merfolk and their undersea realms
actually exist, or are these only rumors spun to elaborate myths? Sailors have told stories throughout all history. My father has claimed to
have even seen one! One thing remains true. The sea continues to hold many mysteries new and old!
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DEFINITION
A marine creature with the head and upper body of a beautiful young maiden and with the lower body of a fish. She can be found in seas and lakes, or lying on a rock and combing her hair with one hand while holding a mirror in the other. Mermaids sometimes foretell the future and are often accompanied by seals.
According to myth, they lure sailors by singing and with lovely music. They live in a kingdom on the bottom of the sea, and it is here they take their prisoners to. From this story, the fear amongst the sailor grew and they thought that seeing a mermaid would cause bad luck: it could predict death by drowning.
The belief in mermaids is not limited to a few countries, but there are tales from all over the world (in India, for instance, there are the Apsara, beautiful water nymphs). However, most of those tales were told by sailors who "saw" them on their long journeys. The idea of mermaids and mermen, the male equivalent, could be based on creatures from Greek and Babylonian mythology: Sirens and Tritons of the Greeks, and the fish gods, who were half human and half fish, from the Babylonians.
"Mermaid." Encyclopedia Mythica. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/mermaid.html
[Accessed February 20, 2010.]
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Merfolk are sentient creatures, although not high in intelligence. They are humanoid above the waist, merging into a strong fish-tail below. Their hair comes in a wide range of naturally occurring oceanic colours; black, dark green through pale green, turquoise, blue, lavender, white, and silver. Merfolk are said to come in male (mermen) female (mermaids) and neuter genders (mer) although only the females appear in public; that is, above water in view of other races. Thus most legends and sailors’ tales speak only of mermaids. The "Legend of Echra" tells of one possible origin of the merfolk; a human female who was cast down into the sea for daring to love the Sun.
Their spoken name for themself is Baovveche; their spoken language, Mermish, is simplistic, heavily aspirated and used only above water. It is technically a pidgin - a combination of two languages, mostly coastal human dialects mixed with Mersong. Below the water they communicate in a series of whistles, fluting sounds, sub- and super-sonic pulses which humans cannot hear. Elves, however, have managed to hear and even translate a few words of Mersong. It is thought that whales, dolpholk, and other large fish may also hear and comprehend this language.
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