Oceans and Seas

The Merfolk have developed small villages in the coastal regions and larger cities in the depths. They harvest large amounts of sea life and other raw materials that they use for tools and residences and live in close tandem with the land. They trade these materials and artworks for refined goods made on the surface and act as scouts and guardians for sea-faring ships in exchange for money.

There are typically very few outsiders within the settlements of the merfolk, simply because of the difficulty most species have with breathing underwater. Consequently, these cities have the air of legend to people of the surface, and rumors abound of cities of coral and pearls, filled with the gold and treasures of every ship lost at sea.

To accommodate the few outsiders that do come to visit merfolk cities, many of the cities have dive pods and dry rooms, hollow structures that allow air-breathing visitors to stay comfortably and descend to the city depths, although only in a restricted space.

Above the deep cities of merfolk, there are numerous small islands scattered among the waves, these are isolated spots, but some have been taken over as shipping depots, transit stations or criminal hideaways. These islands are also places that are home to rare creatures, isolated by their distance.

Merfolk

The Merfolk are the major culture of the oceans and seas. They constructed huge cities under the waves, incorporating a mix of natural and scavenged materials in their construction, and using underwater creatures as pets and beasts of burden, Sharks and other trained hunters patrol the waters around merfolk cities and giant crabs, giant sea horses, and even dragon turtles are trained as mounts or draft animals.

Most merfolk of the ocean deeps rarely interact with the people of the surface, it’s simply too difficult for the people of the surface to travel underwater, and it’s too difficult for the finned deep merfolk to travel on land. Instead, most merfolk work with the coastal merfolk erectus as intermediaries. Sometimes surface people do visit, sailing out to the wide buoy platforms and using the merfolk’s diving bells to be carried down to the city’s depths.

The merfolk erectus live by the coasts of the oceans and seas, they’re amphibious and live to the sides of the merfolk culture, moving between the shores and the seas with equal ease. Traditionally they’ve slotted themselves into roles as traders and diplomats.

Merfolk cities tend to have small populations of other underwater people, some kuo-toa or merrow move to these cities, they are closely watched but allowed so long as they do not disturb the peace.