Questions tagged [merfolk]
For questions about aquatic creatures traditionally resembling humans but with a fish tail instead of legs, or any sort of water-dwelling humanoid.
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Would merpeople be able to survive in relatively still water?
So merfolk are obviously fantasy creatures, and their biology depends entirely on the designs of the writer. For my merfolk, I am leaning less into the accuracy territory, and simply looking for ...
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Would merfolk need beds?
The merfolk are fully marine creatures with a mix of human and piscine traits. The culture in question is demersal, and constructs cities and towns upon the sea-floor. The merfolk all have a finned ...
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Would Merfolk Cheapen Sea-Silk?
Sea silk is an expensive textile derived from the byssus of pen shells. While it is evidently quite hard for land-dwellers to obtain, it seems uncertain if the same would be true with marine beings
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Is it possible for merfolk to speak underwater?
So I had a story idea for an underwater merfolk kingdom, and I wanted to give them gills and lungs so they could breathe above water as well. I was just wondering if anyone knew if it would be ...
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Would merfolk gain any real advantage from mounts (and beasts of burden)?
In writing my merfolk centric fantasy novel, I've largely ignored any creatures of burden used within their society. Animals of burden were very important in the growth of human civilization, and the ...
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What gene could have a mutation that makes humans have blubber?
In my world, there are three species from the Homo genus that make together a clade named the aquatic humans: Homo maritimus, Homo corpulentus, and Homo gigas (the names respectively mean "marine ...
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What are the advantages and disadvantages an underwater civilization has over a terrestial one?
In my world, mankind isn't the only intelligent species around. Merfolk are present in all of the oceans. The Merfolks look like a cross between humans and dugongs. The Merfolk also have long hair ...
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Would merfolk have pale skin?
Quite simply question. In my story I am depicting merfolk as having lighter skin than even Caucasian people, contrasting to my human society which bears resemblance skin tone wise to Hispanics.
I've ...
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Anatomically Correct Merfolk [closed]
The classic merfolk are creatures of simple form: Above the hips, they are human, but below they have the body of a fish. This anatomy seems typical enough, if you don't think about it, but it quickly ...
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Why would a language lack gendered given names? [closed]
Most real life human languages only have gendered given names (they can only be female or male).
In my world, there is a species of Euarchontoglires from the Homo genus named merfolk (their scientific ...
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Feasibility of body armour for mer-people [closed]
I have seen a number of posts on this site about the difficulties of technological advancements for those who dwell beneath the surface of the sea, and this is colouring my treatment of mer-people in ...
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Anatomically Correct Avatea [closed]
Avatea is a deity of Cook Islands Mythology. They display a mixture of human and piscine traits:
They have two heads, the left one like a fish and the right one like a man. Their body is half fish and ...
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How do you gag a fish-person without tape?
The fish-people are hybrids of fish and humans: They have bodies akin to standard teleost fish, such as carp or salmon, with a face, brain, and throat like a human. While it would be quite easy to ...
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Anatomically Correct Oannes [closed]
The Oannes is a being from Mesopotamian Mythology. It is a hybrid of a human and fish, with a unique anatomy
They are are humanoid in posture, with a body, tail, and head like a fish, and the arms and ...
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How would people muzzle a siren? What would it look like? [closed]
My sirens have mostly humanoid upper halves, and since it's the Victorian era, surgically altering their vocal cords isn't really an option. These are pets for very bold people, but very dangerous if ...
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Merfolk Beauty Products (part 1: makeup)
What could an underwater civilization use to produce makeup and cosmetics? Considering that:
The merfolk's tech level is the same as ours (they have fire and metallurgy thanks to magic)
Makeup ...
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Plausibility of Cheek Gills
Merfolk gills, when not set into the chest, can be placed within the cheeks
Specifically, they are found above the angle of the mandible, near the back of the jaw-region. They are structured like in ...
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Plausibility of Ear Fins
Many depictions of merfolk show the ears as a set of ray-bearing fins, resembling the pectoral fins of fish
However, this doesn't make much sense from an anatomical perspective; the pectoral fin is ...
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How would reverse merfolk navigate on land?
A reverse merfolk is a creature with the head and chest of a fish with the legs and lower parts of a human. While they would be able to walk around by their legs, they may have issues with their ...
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Would mermaid be able to leap higher out of water with a Fosbury flop?
In a high jump sport on land, athletes would adopt Fosbury flop technique to cross over a bar. This bar is the indicator of how high an individual can jump with reference to the ground, so I wonder ...
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Could this gill system realistically develop?
Often, aquatic humanoids and other species are depicted with a set of shark-like gills in the side of their chest. Specifically, the gills and gill arches would replace the lungs and ribcage under the ...
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Would merfolk kept in captivity suffer from lack of oxygen?
In my story, in the midst of a human-merfolk war, merfolk are captured by humans, and are periodically de-scaled (they grow back) to sell their colorful scales as jewelry.
In these farms, the merfolk ...
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underwater calendar for merfolk?
In the world I'm creating, I have merfolk who have human-level intelligence, live in pods/tribes of 10-50 (but are connected to each other and trade and exchange information frequently). Most worship ...
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What materials would merfolk use to craft armor?
What materials in the environment could merpeople use to make armor? The merpeople live in the mediterranean sea and have contact and trade with humans who could provide resources and craft the armor ...
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What is a realistic psychological response to magic? [closed]
So I think about this a lot based on seeing things like clichés or unrealistic reactions - how would someone actually react to magic?
In some media, the character is in unbelievable denial - you've ...
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How would an underwater city be structured? [closed]
Let's say there is an underwater civilization of merpeople. They were able to develop medieval technology (approximately, since an underwater civilization would develop differently than an above water ...
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How would humanity fight against a neolithic aquatic race
In the early 1950s an aquatic race called merfolk for simplicity sake was discovered. But they weren't friendly in order to scare them off the crew that discovered them fired off a warning shot which ...
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Could these mermaids have side-fins?
The mermaids are a species of ape that are adapted for the sea. One of these adaptations is that the legs are fused into a single finned 'tail', as in sea-lions. However, I'd also like them to have a ...
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Most effective gill design for a humanoid?
In the distant past, Water was a world much like Earth--but all of its continents have been eroded away, such that its surface is entirely covered in, well... water.
While many of Water's ancient ...
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Would merpeople contract diseases from land?
In working on the merpeople for my story - very basic, classic merpeople - they are humans underwater with fish tails. I've questioned whether they would contract diseases. It seems that they would in ...
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What are the faceless mermaids like on the inside? [closed]
The faceless mermaids have 2 eyes, on the back of their shoulders. They also have an upwards-facing beak in their chest, which is used to eat. Their head has no eyes or mouth, but does have a nose ...
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How could these sirens move on land?
The siren is an amphibious humanoid. They are mostly like humans apart from the limbs: Their arms are large and flipper-like, being used to swim underwater. Their leg is short, and they always have ...
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What is the most vertebrate way a mermaid's bone structure could develop in an embryo?
The mermaids are human down to the knees. Their thighs are fused together as in sirenomelia, to form a single structure. However below the knees they have a fish-like tail with vertebrae and the other ...
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What is the function of this limb system? [closed]
The Globadob is a strange fish with a strange anatomy. Most notably is its lower half, which features a structure that is not seen in any other animal
This structure is composed of a ring of legs, ...
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How can I make my underwater crops more aquatic in nature?
In my fantasy novel, I'm writing about a society of merfolk. They're well developed and have city states, but they don't have very good farming practices. As part of the story focuses on this, I am ...
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Could you build a depth charge in the early 1800s?
My novel taking place in an early 1800s setting (circa 1800 - 1850) has a human versus merfolk war. It started with disputes over fishing resources, but now has escalated, for the merfolk, to a fight ...
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Could merfolk cook without air by using electrical heating?
Basically title.
You can't light a fire to cook your food because everything's all wet and there's no air you see. But can you take some raw meat, apply an electric eel to it for 20 minutes, turning ...
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How would WW2-level navy deal with my "merfolk"?
The abovementioned fictional race aren't exactly merpeople from fantasy, but I call them like that just for the sake of convenience. Rather, they're semi-aquatic humanoids, who are really good at ...
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How do you tie up a mermaid?
How could you restrain a mermaid's tail with rope so that they couldn't swim away? Let's say that the tail is like a fish, and is roughly the size of a pair of human legs
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How can I improve my pressure based magic system?
My fantasy world Treyidal tentatively has a pressure based magic system. This started as an outgrowth of the inability of my merfolk to do a whole lot, and this is my hopeful solution to construction, ...
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What infrastructure would be needed to "farm" merfolk scales?
In the world of my story, merfolk have been captured by humans to serve the cruel purpose of providing their colorful scales to make jewelry, chandeliers, etc, with their colorful scales. I'm not ...
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Could a creature swim using an organic dress?
Could a creature swim through water (faster than the average human) using a fin that wraps around the body like a dress or skirt? Specifically, the fin would surround the rear end in a circle, with a ...
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How would merfolk sustainably magically grow coral?
This question is a modified version of my earlier question, where I will clarify some of my worldbuilding.
In my world, merpeople are capable of manipulating coral by making it grow at a faster rate ...
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What headwear could a triton wear?
The tritons are a species of aquatic animal with a rather unique appearance. Their head is human-like, apart from the following:
They have equine ears, that are positioned at around eyebrow level
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How could a triton be ridden?
The tritons are a species of aquatic animal with a rather unique appearance. Their upper body is mostly humanoid, apart from the following features:
They have equine ears, that are positioned at ...
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What material could merfolk use to make rope?
I have a fantasy world with merfolk in it who have their own underwater civilization. While they are capable of trading and obtaining material from humans I want to figure out how much technology they ...
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What method of waste disposal would be the most practical for merfolk?
While worldbuilding my merfolk society I've been thinking about what method of waste disposal they would use. I've come up with a few ones that I will describe, and ask how practical they are, and if ...
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Could merfolk create pottery and other vessels for storage?
I've got a fantasy setting set in a world based on the ancient near east ca 500 B.C. In it there are merfolk who have contact and trade with local humans.
The merfolk are physically more similar to ...
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What kind of house would merfolk build?
In my fantasy setting there is a species of merfolk who live in the ocean. They have hands with human level of dexterity and can live completely underwater.
I would want to ask a question about what ...
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What Would Be The Advantages Or Disadvantages Of Merfolk Having Extra Fins?
I've always liked the idea of merfolk having extra fins(by this I mean fins like the dorsal and pectoral ones and not the main tail fins). After seeing this article about how fish use their many types ...
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