Many places on Eidon are still unexplored but no place more so than the deep seas, though it is known for a long time that there are likely plenty of beings hiding down there as evidenced by the sea salamanders and the Tolteca and a slew of myths and legends which have yet to be proven right or wrong. One such myths that often comes up in conversation between sailors is one that tells of merfolk (not to be confused with the Mer, the coastal lizard tribes.) or also known as mermaids, but since the source of these tales is usually the drunk ramblings of a sailor it is difficult to take them seriously. Still there are plenty of accounts of strange lights sptted far below the waves and sailors who had gone overboard miraculously being saved from drowning and found alive stranded on tiny islands with next to no resources to survive and claiming they were being given food and supplies by one or more of these mermaids. Some who were saved from drowning claim to only remember a shadow circling them before taking them back to the surface and those who have clearly seen a mermaid all describe them differently so it is unsure what they hey actually look like, but the common description is a fish like tail with a human like upper body but more often a more monstrous description is given of them having shark like teeth and an armored lobster like outer shell. Given the state some of the bodies were found in it does not seem unlikely either of these descriptions would be very far from the truth, but it may be just as likely that another sea creature just got to the body first.

The best lead currently into unraveling the mystery is that of a sailor who wishes to remain anonymous, explaining how he managed to survive on an empty sand bank for years, helped by two mermaids who would bring him food and supplies to build a shelter. Perhaps one day a copy of his journal will be made public but as he recounts he would find tools and reclaimed timber supposedly washed up on the island along with fresh fish. Believeing it all too convenient he would start to notice shapes in the water every time something would wash up, and one day he managed to trap one in the shallows and discovered his mysterious benefactors were a pair of mermaids, matching much of the known descriptions and adding some new details as well as he was able to closely observe and interact with them during his time on that island. According to his observations the lobster like description was the most accurate as they had a tough plater outer shell, and a finned tail, generally a deep blue color with maroon colorations on their body and fins and eyes the color of silver. He claimed that over time these mermaids learned to speak with him and he managed to learn more about them and their people amongst things.
Aparently these mermaids call themselves Marianas and claimed to be of a race that closely resembled humans once, called Ehlven. If this is true then we may have a clue about one of the lost ancient races of whom we had only discovered a few clues of them ever existing, but the university of Artis does not seem eager to find the Marianas due to how dangerous the seas are in the area they are suspected to live. The journal also mentiones that the Marianas could partially shapeshift allowing them to easier move on land by growing legs and they would sometimes spend the night in his shelter talking about eachother's homes. According to what they told him the Marianas live in cities far below the surface, which matches up with the reports of mysterious lights spotted at night, and they also mentioned several other merfolk who they either traded with or were at war with among them the sea salamanders and the Tolteca.

When he was eventually found by a passing ship he was almost reluctant to leave but he was still glad to be able to return home again. However accordign to the captain of the ship that found him he almost refused to leave untill the next day wishing to spend one last night on that stretch of sand that had been home for so long, but eventually relented after retreating to his cabin for a time to carve some strange symbols on the wall and leaving a map marking his home town as if leaving some kind of message. In his journal he would explain that he left a farewell message for the two that saved him and that he hoped that maybe one day they could visit his homeland instead. It is uknown if he ever saw them again but every once in a while he would row out to a secluded bay where he had built a copy of the shelter he had build on the island and spend a few days there aparently alone the whole time.


Made in Hero Forge
Characters/setting belong to me  Chakat_Blackwater