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Species Spotlight: the Mer

The mer, or occasionally merpeople, are people with the upper bodies of humans and the lower bodies of aquatic animals. Though their upper halves appear mostly human, merpeople have fins on many joints, and their hair is actually very fine fins overlaying each other. Most have pointed teeth. Their body temperature is considerably lower than most other species, and many vital parts of their body are covered in a layer of translucent scales. 

There are many subspecies of mer depending on their biome of origin. They will look like other aquatic creatures from that specific ecosystem. Mer can talk to and understand all fully aquatic animals. Amphibians are a little sketchy. (Some frogs have WILD dialects.)

Merpeople can shift their tails into human legs. Even when shifted they retain their fins and scales, and most are a little slimy. Mer lifespans vary depending on the exact subspecies of mer, from a hundred years to four hundred in longer-lived subspecies.

Weaknesses

All mer must be fully submersed in their native water (freshwater or saltwater) at least once a week or risk dehydration and subsequent death.

Description 

Mer appear in their natural form as a mixture between a human and one specific marine animal. Normally mer appear to be similar to fish, however, there are also mer based on whales, sharks, sea snakes, dolphins, and many other aquatic creatures. 

While it is broadly true that mer have the top halves of humans and the bottom halves of marine creatures, many mer have scales, fins, webbing, and other marine adaptations on their nominally human halves.

Apocryphae is coming to JCINK Premium June 13th, 2023. Join the Discord for more information.

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SETTING: Havenpoint

Apocryphae is set in the city of Havenpoint in the year 2543, in what is modern-day Monterey Bay, USA, on the traditional and presently unceded lands of the Rumsen Ohlone people.

Havenpoint is one of the thirteen great cities remaining in the world, a shining beacon of magitech with all the trimmings of a large city. An intersection of ley lines -- the natural veins of magic that run through the earth -- sits underneath the bay, offering more ambient magical energy that can be used to power large-scale magitech, such as the defenses of the city. 

Havenpoint is a city based around water. The city sprang up around the Presidio of Monterey, which was easily defensible, and after years, the city expanded out into the water. 

Another reason for the city’s expansion into water was the inclusion of the bay’s pod of mer, who needed shelter from the wild magic ravaging their waters. Now, Havenpoint’s buildings extend fully into the ocean, with canals for transit just as common as streets. The presence of water breathing spells means that many citizens move between underwater and above water several times per day without problem.

Apocryphae is coming to JCINK premium June 13th, 2023. Join us on Discord for more info.

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APOCRYPHAE

modern fantasy with a post apocalyptic twist

IN THE BEGINNING, the supernatural walk among us in secret. The world is as we know it.

And then the war comes.

And then the bombs fall.

And the world is never the same.

FIVE HUNDRED YEARS LATER, something new has emerged from the ruins of the old world.

A blended culture of magic and technology has risen, with the supernatural and the nonmagical living side by side in fortified cities, the population working together to survive monstrosities spawned by combined nuclear and magical cataclysms.

But harmony can only last so long, or run so deep. Crime syndicates run entire districts, fueled by blood magic and drugs made even more potent through psionics. Each day and night brings a new assault on the city’s defenses from the monsters beyond its doors, and radical factions clamor for power.

And in the midst of it all, the fae — who shut their doors during the nuclear armageddon — return to discover an Earth ripe with magic and conflict, and a fresh population of nonmagical humans desperately in need of power, none of whom have known the consequences of a deal with the fae.

NOW, tensions rise and danger lurks on the horizon. This time, we may not be so lucky.

Apocryphae is coming to JCINK Premium June 13th, 2023. Join us in Discord for more info.