General Description
The Merfolk are a rather secretive race who generally keep themselves to themselves. They generally resemble Elves, much like other High Folk races, but with fins in place of their earlobes with gills behind them and scales across their shoulders and back which vary in colour from individual to individual. Their eyes have four eyelids - the second pair are translucent, under the first and close vertically - which can be somewhat disconcerting to those not used to it, and the function of which is to protect their eyes when underwater while still allowing them to see. Their most notable trait, however, is that they have a fish tail in place of their legs, which can in adults turn into a pair of humanoid legs at will, allowing this usually aquatic race to come onto land on occasion.
Language
Mer as a language is nearly impossible to translate and even harder to learn, being made up as it is as a series of subtle clicks and whistling noises. Many Merfolk however also know Elven or Sylvan, and a few of them even know Common. Their voices are often a pleasure to the ear. Merfolk, especially the females, have extremely powerful and beautiful singing voices, and ones living in places outside of the Merfolk Kingdom often end up as singers of some description due to this.
Culture
The Merfolk are talented jewellers as race but tend not to wear clothes for practicality reasons, though they do wear shells to protect their modesty. They are noted to be highly totemic though, having much reverence for items with magical properties, and that tridents are considered a weapon of great symbolic importance to them to an extent where nearly all of them know how to use one. These three-pronged polearms are unique to Merfolk culture as other races find them clunky and impractical to use. The Merfolk however have developed a unique fighting style using them that makes use of their singular anatomy to make advantage of the weapon's size and weight. It is also known that music is very important to their culture.
Made for the Water
Merfolk are the fastest swimmers of any sapient race, able to easily overtake even a Catfolk running on land when in their tailed aquatic form. Their tails are powerful enough to propel them up to 10ft from the water up into the air, giving them a prime throwing angle for their tridents. However their unparalleled aquatic ability comes at a price. While they can survive on land they must remain near water, otherwise they will rapidly become dehydrated and then die of suffocation as their lungs require moisture to function.
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