Common in the deep and rare in the daylight, merfolk are the hidden heirs of old sea-born bloodlines. They can walk among surface folk in leg form, return to the water by choice, and keep their heritage concealed until the tide is right. To meet one is to meet a traveler between worlds, equal parts diplomat, hunter, scout, and secret-keeper.

Merfolk are graceful humanoids descended from mermaids, adapted for lives that alternate between sea and shore. In their leg form, they resemble slender folk with bright eyes, fluid posture, and hair that often drifts as if still in water. In tail form, their legs fuse into a strong fishlike tail, and their skin shifts to a light shade of blue, a change many families consider as natural as breathing. They breathe both air and water with equal ease, and this dual life has given them a reputation for vanishing into one world while standing in the other. Their hands are dexterous, their feet narrow and well-suited to wet stone, and their voices carry an almost musical clarity.

Merfolk culture balances concealment with hospitality. Many communities are organized around kin-clans that share food, songs, and watch duties, with status earned through service, seamanship, and memory rather than wealth alone. Storytelling is central to daily life, especially stories that encode currents, hazards, and historical betrayals. Because many merfolk can live ashore when needed, they often maintain double lives, one public and one protected. Their festivals are tied to tides and moon phases, and the most respected guests are those who can keep a secret without being asked to swear one.

Merfolk faith tends toward reverence for tides, moon cycles, deep places, and ancestral memory. Many worship or honor sea deities, guardian spirits, or local currents rather than distant cosmic law. Their outlook is usually pragmatic and communal, which often pulls them toward neutrality, though their strongest traditions reward compassion, reciprocity, and defense of the vulnerable. A merfolk who breaks faith is usually thought to have abandoned balance, not simply custom.

Merfolk homelands are usually built where reef, kelp forest, and current meet. Their cities favor arches of coral, woven sea-grass walls, and buoyant stone linked by channels wide enough for swimmers and narrow enough to discourage predators. In shallows and along coasts, they often maintain hidden tide houses disguised as wrecks, boathouses, or caves. Their architecture values curves, water flow, and acoustics, with chambers shaped to carry voice and song cleanly through the blue.

Merfolk usually treat outsiders with careful courtesy. Surface folk are often seen as powerful, short-lived neighbors who must be handled with tact, while other aquatic peoples may be welcomed as allies or watched as rivals, depending on old reef borders and resource disputes. They prefer negotiated trust over open conflict, but they are capable of fierce loyalty and quiet vendettas. To those who respect boundaries, they are generous hosts. To those who poison waters, dredge sacred beds, or pry into hidden coves, they become patient and relentless adversaries.