Merfolk

Aquatic humanoids with the torsos of humans and the tails of fish, merfolk build societies beneath the waves that few land-dwellers ever encounter. Most merfolk keep to the shallows, where light still filters through the water to mark the passage of time. Others, braver or stranger than their coastal cousins, venture into the ocean’s lightless depths.

Far-Flung Kingdoms. Merfolk kingdoms span the globe, and their citizens are as varied in culture and appearance as other humanoids. Their skin can be as many colors as a tropical fish.

Although they sometimes salvage metal from shipwrecks, merfolk rarely use metal in their clothing, jewelry, or tools. Instead, they clothe themselves in seaweed, fish scales, and shells, and use bones, carved coral, and sand-glass for tools. Similarly, they have little use for the writing implements of land-dwellers, relying instead on a capacious oral tradition that extends farther back than most written histories.