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>>38277831
"Hell, you could even just do a story of a social group of abyssal mermaids who value their most prized possession as the blessed artifact that drifted down through the murk from the lighted shores above...

A basic magic item that produces food once a day. The spoon you put in a bowl to make gruel. Something so common and easy for a wizard to make on the surface, but of immense importance to them. The spoon breaks one day, or is swallowed up by a boiling vent?

Time to go to the surface to get another one.

And then the realization that the surface world is FULL of food. And stuff that isn't food but is also important? A hard introduction to a world beyond the next meal. Weird two-legged things that talk about honor or royal lineage and other weird concepts."

"Imagine being the first poor sod to get to know one of the deep mermaid explorers. She seems friendly enough, albeit naive and awkward. She appears grateful for the parasol you gave her to protect her skin. Sometimes— rarely, briefly— you feel like the two of you have something in common, even if it's a sentiment as basic as sadness over the loss of a friend or the satisfaction of an interesting conversation. Abandoning this literal fish out of water seems somehow heartless.

But she hails from a hellish nightmare world you can scarcely imagine, and she looks the part. She represents a civilization of unknown power with unknown motives. She's unpredictable; you can barely read her expression and you can't tell what she's thinking. And you've seen her swallow an entire cow past a mouth full of needle-sharp, backwards-pointing teeth into a stomach more elastic than you thought anything could ever be.

You know, in the back of your mind, that she could eat you alive if she wanted to, and you probably wouldn't see it coming.

Do you trust her, /tg/?"

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>>38277831
And the stuff for the PC race worked out so far

stats: -2 cha (people tend to react poorly to weird slimy things with way too many teeth), +2 str, +4 con (built to handle immense pressure in the deep sea)
Other things: penalty to movement speed, running and jumping (serpentine lower body is not very good for moving on land). Not sure about how large penalty.
Abilities: able to breathe underwater and handle high water pressure. Glowing lure can be used to hypnotise prey (can cast charm person/monster as spell-like ability). Bite attack which, if it hits, gives bonus to attempt to swallow target. Can use swallow whole on targets up to one size category larger than self (so up to large size).

Other possible ideas: racial feats to increase effectiveness of swallow whole. Taking minor damage in direct sunlight due to skin burning easily.

No idea what level adjustment this should have.

>>38277845
With all my life and dick.

>>38277845
I'd trust her more with a ring of acid resistance

...How would she take someone getting an items specifically so she can't digest them?

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Another part of the last thread, about how humans could terrify abyssal creatures:

"You know, although this doesn't quite fit for a game, I rather like the idea of abyssal creatures finding surface life incredibly enduring and fast moving. Consider what we can easily quantify based off of real world data: normal human movement and endurance, for example. While humans are far from fast in comparison to other land creatures, humans are almost definitely faster on land than an abyssal creature, especially in any sort of difficult terrain, even more so if it has some sort of verticality. Even assuming that they can move on land at any appreciable rate, they aren't exactly designed for going fast in that setting. Endurance would also be another big difference, given that even a regular human is evolved from an endurance hunter, and abyssal creatures primarily drift around until prey or predators show up, from what I remember. For any surface expedition by abyssal creatures, some sort of ranged combatant that uses the terrain, ambushes, tracking, and stealth in a manner that they don't know of could be a true horrific monsters for them. Hell, bows are probably something that those that haven't been to the surface have never seen before, given their effectiveness underwater.

Imagine slithering after the creature that killed two of your companions before you could blink, only to see it flicker in between some of those weird tall green and brown things that fell over, over giant rocks, and over all just being more agile that one should ever be able to be without water. This happens again the second that all of you let your guard down, as more of you fall before you even register its presence once more. This happens again, and again, and again, as you get more run down and tired from the unceasing attacks, until only a few make it back to the water and safety, almost ready to collapse from fatigue."

>>38278483
Depends on whether she cares about that person's opinion.

Although all that ring would do is delay the digestive process while the ring itself was dissolved.

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I think there's actually a lot to work with here, story-wise.

You could write about the mysterious surface beings with brass heads and three glass eyes, and their equally mysterious contrivances which drift down from above; about the perilous journey of abyssal explorers as they venture into the bright, heavy world of the land in search of a new magic spoon; about the fisherman's son who finds a girl who glows at night and can't see red— maybe a friend from another world, maybe a calculating monster from the depths; about a creature who's far from home, who's disturbed by trees and wonders whether clouds get hungry; about the time those eyes, adapted to find the faintest glimmer of prey in the endless black of the abyss, first beheld the stars.

Also that time she ate a cow. And some other things.

>>38278753
>Although all that ring would do is delay the digestive process while the ring itself was dissolved.
I'm pretty certain it doesn't work like that

>>38278817
> Did I get the angle right
> all my kek

>>38278829
In a world with magical critters, the abyssal creatures will probably be able to digest magic.

>>38278877
Perhaps, though it's unlikely given there aren't really many monsters that can do that

>>38277845
>>38277831
>>38278064
>>38278535
>>38278817
Why does it have hair?

>>38279079
Because horror mermaid

>>38279079
Because in a world of ambush predators that kill you before you can react, only a mane of stinging jellyfish type poison hairs can convince them to spit you out, after jumping you in the blink of an eye.

Eyes/other sensors defend front, stinging hairs defend back.

The surface worlder lopped towards her like a two legged scuttle-shrimp, long spindly legs moving far too fast for something so large. Unlike her favorite food however the creature didn't have an exoskeleton coating it, just a strange pinkish tan hide. Hiding just below the surface of the ocean water on the shore Urt-goul opened her eyes slightly more and tried to get a better look, despite the blinding light coming from the great Angler that must live in the air ocean alongside the fluffy fish. It seemed to a have some sort of soft shell around its torso and lower appendages, with only a hard shell around the ends of its lower appendages. Perhaps it was wearing wrapped kelp and the shells of smaller animals to keep itself warm and unharmed from sharp rocks? Poking her head out of the water for a moment for further observation without the interference of her home substance, she noticed a small patch of a very thin substance growing put of its head. Perhaps the surface worlder wasn't as different as she thought, after all it did have hair like her. Urt-goul softly flicked her tail worked her way towards to beach, resting on the soft sand. The High-Priestesses had promised her a way to breathe outside of the water for next time she visited, Urt-goul cursed the slow progress they were making. She wanted to explore this new world now, go onto the surface and practice moving around. Not while the surface worlder was here though, it's unnatural movement and strange gait was making her nervous to say the least. Slowly pushing her head further out of the water for a better look she noticed a new look pass over the surface worlder ' s face as he looked in her direction. The thing quickly changed direction and began to head towards her an almost unbelievable rate and she quickly panicked. Turning around she flailed her tail and quickly propelled herself away from the shore and the strange thing behind her back to the deep where she was safe

>>38278877
Magic tends to be intangible. Unless a creature can't power its own magic abilities and specifically needs to get it from other critters like a frog getting its poison from ants, its not something anything would need to digest.

Also, unless the stomach acid is ridiculously stronger than what they'd need for dissolving sea critters, whoever they swallow is likely to suffocate long before the acid kills them or melts their jewelry.

>>38279930
Ugh, I only just noticed how much I used quickly near the end there, fuck. Please ignore that, I'm on my phone

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>>38279206

>>38279984
Don't let it get you down. I'm enjoying your writefaggotry too much.

>>38278535
>humans could terrify abyssal creatures
I imagine that the practice of murderhoboing would confuse the hell out of them.

"Wait, you mean you kill things just for the experience of killing things? You don't even eat them? What is wrong with you surface people?"

>>38279930
>back to the deep where she was safe
>Implying anything is safe in the Abyss.

>>38280042
Fuck it then,

A few Great Angler cycles later Urt-goul found herself back on the beach, this time with a small bone talisman around her neck. Inscribed upon it was a number of different symbols, none of which she could read. According to the great Magh-Dul it was an amulet of 'water breathing' and would change whatever she inhaled into water. It was time to practice locomotion on the surface, for days now she had tied rocks to herself and tried to figure out how she could do this. Pushing herself out of the water and onto the beach was relatively easy, the lack of water was less of a problem than she expected, perhaps the incredibly light pressure up here was giving her an advantage over the heavier weight of everything. Now fully out of the water, and very thankful the amulet worked, she began to work on moving. Slowly slithering her tail into an S shape and rhythmically pushing herself forward Urt-goul felt like a strange sea snake, but it was working. Next came the harder part. Using her arms to help she pushed her torso I to a vertical position, granting her a commanding veiw of the surface after a few moments of balancing. Further past the soft sand she saw fields of giant coral coated in green round things, all growing out of of a carpet of kelp a few centimeters high. Not yet ready to venture that far Urt-goul spent a good while slithering up and down the beach, occasionally falling flat on her face at first, but soon improving vastly. By now the Great Angler had begun to dip low in the above ocean, it was time to head home. Just as she reached halfway to the shore she heard a piercing cry from behind her. It was much louder than she was used to and Urt-goul panicked once again at the thought of surface worlders. She slithered with renewed vigor, glancing over he shoulder to see the same surface worlder as before loping towards her at an incredible rate. It reached her right as she slipped back into the water, just slipping away from it

>>38280458
Spying the surface worlder on the beach Urt-goul braced herself, today was the day she'd make contact. She had observed it for many days now, and was equipped with the newest creation of the High-Priestesses. She was told it would let her understand and speak to it. Slowly raising herself out of the water it turned to face her, now simply raising it's arms to show itself as harmless and waiting for her to approach. It seemed to have learned chasing her was counter productive. "H-h-hello?" It said, "I mean you no harm, can you understand me?". Truly the Priestesses knew what they were doing. "Yess, I undersstand you" Urt-goul replied as she slithered up to it. "What's your name?" It asked, "Urt-goul, what is yours?". It responded and said it was named Joenas while she circled it slowly and memorized every detail. The soft shell was indeed not part of it, and neither was the shells on It's feet. "Why do you wear thiss ssoft shell around you? Ssurely it offerss no protection" she asked, voicing her curiosity. It stammered out "Because o-our customs demand it, concealment of certain body parts is considered the norm", it was visibly unnerved and having difficulty explaining the strange social concepts it considered normal. Strangely enough as she circled it, the strange thing tried to do everything it could not to look at her chest. "Iss the chesst one of thesse placess?" She asked, as a diplomat it would be good not to cause offense. It nodded It's head, "Especially for females, less so for males like me". What an odd custom she thought, but at least she knew the surface dwellers had genders like her home did. Next she began poking him softly, feeling his hide in different places and his reaction to it. Aside from a few places he did not seem to mind much. "I will return later, meet me here in 2 Great Angler cycless with ssoft sshellss for me" Urt-goul explained, slowly making her way back into the deep while Joenas watched dumbfounded.

>>38280869
Last one for the night, I'm falling asleep. If the thread is alive tomorrow/a new thread on the same topic I'll continue as best I can. Good night all

>>38280869
>>38280892
Liking it so far sleep well and hoping for more

>>38280892
I liked it, looking forward to more

>>38279079
The one I drew has hair because I originally wanted to draw her with tentacles/cilia in place of hair, but couldn't get it to look right. She's a mermaid, so she has a humanoid upper body even though that doesn't really make a lot of sense biologically. Same reason she has breasts but no nipples.

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>>38278064
The feats in question were two feats that each boost the size limit of things you can swallow by one (so the first one lets you swallow up to huge creatures, the second up to colossal), and also feats for increasing the damage swallowed target takes and the DC to escape being swallowed (dunno about exact numbers. Maybe double the damage and the difficulty?). Possibly another feat that gives you a "flash digestion" ability allows you once per day remove incapacitation from eating something big (only works once the thing swallowed has died. This is an utility ability there so that when she eats something big the party doesn't have to wait for days or weeks before she can move again). No idea about the levels the feats should be obtained at, or costs. The idea with the feats being to let you do a character build that can use swallow whole as more than just a gimmic.

Also, thinking of doing some writefagging, both about some lore for the race, and a short story about our abyssal horrorgirl and her human companion. maybe about the time she ate that cow.

It had been a few days now since I met my new companion, and I still was not quite sure what to think about the whole thing. She seemed amiable enough, if clueless on local customs, but her appearance was very unsettling. The lower half of her body was serpentine like that of a giant snake or eel, and her skin was smooth and slimy. Her upper body was more humanoid, and recognizably female, but the appearance seemed largely superficial. The most unsettling part, however was her face, with its large unblinking eyes and an enormously wide mouth filled with sharp teeth. Still, I had always been told not to judge a book by the cover, and I could hardly leave a girl, strange and alien as this one might be, to fend off for herself in a world she clearly didn't understand.

After leaving the town, our trip had proceeded mostly smoothly. At one point we were set upon by a small group of highwaymen, but they ran off after taking a look at my companion and her threatening to eat them f they did not leave us alone. At the time I assumed she was bluffing, but now I'm not so sure.
We spent the time chatting, with her asking all sorts of questions, most of which I would have considered utterly inane coming from anything else. Things like whether clouds get hungry, or what all the tall brown and green things around us were. Apparently they don't have trees where she came from. I wondered just what kind of place she called home, considering her ignorance of things any human would consider obvious. No doubt I would be equally lost and confused if our roles were reversed.

>>38284270
At the evening of our third day on the road, I noted that we were running out of food. I must have misjudged the time it would take us to reach the next town and not packed enough. By myself I could probably have made the trip in a few days, but her slithering gait was considerably slower than my walking speed.
“Hey”, I said, turning towards her. “Are you getting hungry as well?”
“Yess”, she replied. “Been two weekss ssince I had proper meal”
Two weeks? That seemed to me like an awfully long time. I had been sharing my bread and dried fish with her, but apparently that didn't count as a proper meal to her. Luckily I could see a small farmhouse up ahead. Maybe the owner could sell us some supplies. I bade my companion to wait in the nearby bushes while I went to talk to the owner of the house. No need to unnecessary freak the poor fellow out with the presence of a sharp-toothed sea-creature girl.
I walked out of the forest towards the house. It was a small wooden cottage with a turnip patch and a small enclosure containing a single cow. Knocking on the door, I was answered by an old man with a short white beard, wearing a worn out shirt and overalls.
“Excuse me mister”, I started. “I'm sorry to disturb you, but me and my friend are travelers and would need some supplies. If you have any food to sell us, we would gladly pay for it.”
“Travelers, eh? You know, I used to walk the land too in my youth, before settling down here. I'll see if I have anything to sell you, lad.”
He closed the door and after a short time returned carrying a small sack of turnips.
“It's not much, but this should help you a bit. I'll trade 'em for a few pieces of...What the...” The old man's voice trailed off as he stared towards something behind me. Turning around, I too saw what had caught his attention

Bump for more deep sea horrorgirls.

>>38284883
Despite telling my new friend to remain hidden, she had emerged from the bushes and was now standing in the corner of the cow's enclosure. The glowing orb on her head and patches on her skin were pulsing in a strange manner. The glow seemed to attract the animal's attention, as instead of running away from the strange new creature, it was slowly walking towards her. Upon reaching her it stood there for a moment, seemingly transfixed by the strange glowing light, and then...
Well, to be honest, despite seeing it with my own eyes I can still hardly believe it, and find it even more difficult to put to words. Opening her jaws to an impossible degree, she engulfed the cow's head. Then, grabbing hold on the animal she started to push herself forward, her jaws unhinging to accommodate it. The old man turned white from terror and ran screaming off into the forest. I'd have run too, but for some reason I found myself unable to move, my attention wholly drawn to the morbid spectacle going on before me. Slowly but surely the cow was disappearing down her throat, her stomach stretching grotesquely to fit the animal in.
I have no idea how much time passed, but eventually even the hind legs disappeared into her maw. Rubbing her bulging belly, which seemed to dwarf her own bulk, she let out a content sigh and made an expression I think was supposed to be a smile.
“Deliciouss!” she exclaimed, seemingly not noticing my expression of terror and bafflement. “Belly'ss too full to move now, let'ss resst here for night.”
I sheepishly nodded and stumbled to where I had left our belonging.

>>38284911
That night I could barely get any sleep. I lay on my bedroll staring at her, laying on her back fast asleep, occasionally rubbing her enormously distended stomach. I had no idea anything could stretch like that. Her stomach kept making loud gurgling noises and I tried my best not to think of what was happening to the poor animal she swallowed. Was it still alive while it was being digested? I found myself imagining what that must feel like, and shuddered at the thought. That cow was probably twice her size, and she gulped it down like it was nothing. If she wanted to, she could swallow me alive with no effort at all, and probably still have room for dessert.
“Well”, I though to myself. “If she could easily eat me but hasn't, then she probably doesn't consider me food”.
Just in case, though, I made a note to keep plenty of food at hand from now on, an if possible get my hands on some kind of enchanted item that would allow me to survive being digested.

>>38284925
>Was it still alive while it was being digested?
Suffocated to death pretty much immediately, and that's if she wasn't smart enough to bite something important-looking with those pointy teeth of hers (you don't really want to swallow prey alive if you can help it - it might have sharp bits to stab you with)

>>38285368
Yeah, I figure it either suffocated while being swallowed, or she bit it in the throat. Having a live cow trashing inside you would do a number on your internal organs. The guy in the story, however, was too freaked out by "holy fuck, did she just swallow a COW!?" to think about the logistics of swallowing a cow.

Relevant

http://youtu.be/jXn4eqKvT8I

Posting my version of background for the abyssal mermaid race before I have to go. Hopefully this thread is still around when I get back.

Appearance: like merfolk in surface waters, abyssal mermaids have a humanoid upper body and a fish like lower body. That is where the similarities cease, though. Abyssal mermaids have a slimy skin that is usually black, red or greenish in colour. Their tails are usually long and serpentine, and they have glowing photophores running along their sides. The most notable difference, however, is the face. Abyssal mermaids have large unblinking eyes and extremely wide mouths filled with needle-like backwards-pointing teeth. Males are radically different from females, being non-sapient and in size and appearance closer to a regular fish.

Society: Abyssal mermaids have no organized society as such. They typically live in small groups that band together for mutal survival. Such groups are commonly led by a priestess, who offers prayers to the abyssal gods for good hunting luck and avoidance of predators. Abyssal mermaids have little actual culture, as the abyss is too unforgiving place to allow wasting of energy for frivolous activities such as creating art. Because of the scarcity of resources they place great importance to making efficient use of what they have. Needlessly wasting food or other resources is considered one of the most serious crimes in their society. However, they are not entirely without interests to matters beyond immediate survival.

Biology: Abyssal mermaids are often thought to be a female only race, but this is not quite true. They are actually a race with extreme sexual dimorphism. The males are non-sentient and much smaller than females. They have short lifespans and die shortly after mating. Some sages believe that the male actually merges bodily with the female during mating.

>>38285699

Due to the scarcity of food in the abyss, abyssal mermaids have devoloped abilities to ensure they will not waste the opportunity if something edible presents itself. They can digest nearly anything organic, and their unhinging jaws and elastic stomachs allows them to eat prey bigger than themselves. A group of abyssal mermaids working together can hunt even large sea monsters. However, rather than active hunting they prefer to use their bioluminence to lure potential prey animals to them. Their glowing lures have an ability to temporarily daze or entrance other creatures, giving them an opportunity to catch them by suprise, or flee if the creature is too large or dangerous to eat.

>>38281417
>>38281470
I'm back, kudos to whoever wrote the other stuff though. I'm going to by tapping away throughout the day. Thanks for the support

>>38285494
I like how the guy is like "ok, boss left the room, time to sex up with the weird fishgirl!". Methinks the protocol is actually less about two people having to be present and more about not leaving the horny idiot unsupervised.

Also, any bards reading? This is why you don't stick your dick in the abyssal horrorterror.

>>38285494
The Bard Fucks it up again

>>38278064
>Straight up calling it monster girl
>Using Deviantart tier shit
>Not even bothering to hide your blatent waifu fagging
>instead of using actual female monsters its just gona be quirky gay ass MG that just have slight touches of the monster their based off of
>All this cutesy artwork missing the point
Of abyssals

4/10, above a "excuse me sir" thread, but not above your average quest

>All this Vore

Shit It's Lillium v.2

>>38285825
Urt-goul found the strange creature in the exact same place she had left it, it's small eyes looking back and forth for her. Moving forth from the ocean Joenas slowly walked towards her, holding another soft shell in his arms. It was called a 'vest' and it chafed against her skin annoyingly, but customs must be respected. The small conversation that followed was entirely directed by her, the nervous man in front of her blabbering out panicked responses desperately and as quick as he could. The customs and traditions of the surface worlders in actuality were closer to her own than she thought, but after an hour of questioning it was time to return home. "Why are you leaving? When should I return?" The man asked. Urt-goul turned around and replied "The Great Angler'ss light hurtss my sskin if I sstay too long", but before she could reply the strange man told her to stay there and quickly ran off back into the strange coral reef. Against her better judgment Urt-goul decided to stay, despite the intense heat bearing down on her. A little while later the strange surface worlder returned, carrying what appeared to be a long stick with a broad canopy made of more soft shell above it. "What iss that?" Urt-goul asked carefully, wary of any tricks he might pull. "It's a parasol, it'll keep you put of the sun" he explained. An ingenious solution, but one for another cycle. "Good idea, but I musst leave now anyway. I will be back next cycle" Urt-goul replied, slowly slithering back into the water vest and all. "N - no, those aren't supposed to get wet" she heard him mutter as she left. Urt-goul ignored him though, the High-Priestesses would enjoy looking over it for a while. Tomorrow maybe she would venture into the strange coral reef past the soft sand. Perhaps see where Joenas lived

>>38286028
If you have some ideas for improvement, I'll gladly hear them out.
>>38286166
Eh, can't really talk about UNDERWATER VORE HELL without bringing up vore. For what's it worth, the vore is more incudental than the central concept.

>>38285909
No, it's why you always bring appropriate protection, even if all you can do is have a contengent resurrection ready

>>38286166
Tbh I still don't think Lilium is a bad concept in itself. Both redeemed demons and a possibly nefarious god that is tricking people to worship her are concepts that can be interesting.

However, everybody took the assfat jokes seriously and turned her into a "vore-goddess".

>>38284925
Continued, with something that passes as character devolopment.
I did eventually manage to get some sleep, and next morning I woke to remember that in the confusion last evening I had completely forgotten to eat. Though witnessing her devour that cow had caused me to lose my appetite anyway. I picked up the sac of turnips still laying by the cottage door, and went inside to look for something to cook them with. I managed to find a pot and a few wooden bowls, and used the farmer's fireplace to cook some turnip stew for myself. The smell of my cooking must have awoken my companion as she soon from the doorway. Her stomach, though still massive, had already shrunken to the point where she could move, albeit with difficulty, and its contents must've started to lose their solidity seeing how she was able to squeeze herself through the door.
“Um...You want some?” I said nervously, holding a bowl of stew.
“Yess. Thank you” she replied as she set herself on the opposite side of the small kitchen table.
I tried not to stare at her stomach. I had no idea whether it was considered rude or not, but the whole thing just seemed somewhat obscene.
”So, um, about last night” I started, trying to start some kind of conversation to get my mind off things.
”Yess?” she answered while swallowing her bowl of stew (I had not thought to mention that people usually do not eat the bowl along with the stew).
”How the hell did you do that anyway?”
”Do what?” she cocked her head to the side, in what I assume was a gesture indicating confusion.
”You know, with the cow.”
”Ssurely you know how to eat”
”Well, yes. But that's not how people, hell, anything normally eats!”
”It iss perfectly normal at home” she replied. Just what kind of place did she come from anyway?

>>38288730
”Could you tell me about your home? It sounds very...different from what I'm used to”
”Well, it iss dark and cold, with very little food. Or anything”
”That sounds like a pretty dredful place”
”Oh, it iss not sso bad. It iss not bright or dry, and you can sswim insstead of sslithering”
”So, um, if you don't mind me asking, how often do you need to eat like that, anyway?”
”At home, large meal like thiss iss enough for ssveral monthss. Up here, probably lesss, ssince more energy iss needed for moving”
She paused to look at her stomach, patting it with her webbed hand.
”But having full belly feelss good, sso I would like to eat more often, if it iss possible”
”I'll...I'll See what I can do” I said while gathering my bowl and utensils.

”Oh, and one more thing” I said as I got up from the table.
”What you did was, well, it was very rude. You aren't supposed to eat other peoples lifestock”
”I do not undersstand. Lifesstock?”
”That cow belonged to the farmer. He was probably raising it to get milk, or to eat it himself at some point”
”Owning animalss...Your sssurfacer wayss are very sstrange ssometimes. But I am ssorry. I did now know animal belonged to farmer”
”Well, just don't do it again”

>>38288743
I thought about leaving a note on the table to explain the situation, but could not thing what I would even write on it. ”Sorry we ate your cow”? I decided to just leave any extra money I had with me. It wasn't enough to repay for the cow, but would hopefully show him that we did not intent him harm. After cleaning the pot and putting out the fire I took the turnip sack and headed out of the door.
”We better hurry up,” I said ”before the old man returns with a company of town guards, or a whole order of paladins.”
”What iss paladin? Can I eat it?”
”No! Paladins are champions of good and justice. And, um, also completely inedible”
”I undersstand” she said while slowly slithering after me. ”Let uss continue”
”And next time,” she said, making an expression that I think was intended to be a smile ”I assk farmer if I can eat his cow”

So we continued on our way. Out speed was further reduced untill she finished digetsing her meal, and I had no idea how long that would take, but at least I would have plenty of time to think just how to deal with me new friend, and hopefully teach her enough human customs that something like this would not happen again.

No farming? It could be worth keeping small numbers of scavengers, that eat things you can't.

>>38288802
With the abyss being so big and empty, I figure you probably can't afford to leave edible animals lying around and not eat them immediately. It might be weeks before you find something else you can eat, and you're probably moving around a lot so you'd either have to carry them with you (which takes energy), or hope that you can retrun to the same spot and somebody or something else hasn't eaten them.

Animal husbandry only really became a thing in human society once we had permanent settlements. Hunter-gatherers didn't raise lifestock.

>>38288756
Curious as to how she'd react to a city

>>38289809
I'm not entirely sure myself, though I figure she's unused to crowded places.
I don't think I'm going to be writing anything more, though. I'm not a very good writer, nor do I have an idea for a full story. I just wanted to do a short story where she eats the cow, and the decided to follow it with some more actual dialogue between the characters (and a few stupid jokes). I don't really know how the story would continue from that point on.

>>38278064
>>38283815
Anybody got a comment on the stats? Tbh I haven't played DnD in years, so I'm really bad at coming up with reasonable numbers.

>>38278817
Wouldn't she need something like a welding mask to protect her eyes?

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>>38290066
Something like these might be an elegant solution. Sunglasses were in use by the Inuit and similar super-northern peoples to avoid snowblindness (IE, snow reflecting so much light that they cooked the insides of your eyeballs after too long exposure)

>>38278535
Reading that again hammers home how bows, crossbows, throwing weapons, and the like would probably terrify them. None of those work particularly well in water, so any combat knowledge they have is likely concentrated on CQC. A situation in which one can strike at you without any retaliation being possible before disappearing is terrifying, as even greater numbers can do nothing to save you in that case.

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A few friends have mine have taken a liking to this design. Reason enough for me to keep drawing her, will be trying for a clothed version once I figure out what to go for. Be back once I do that.

>>38290269
>file name
Is horrorwaifu better?
Vorewaifu?
Also while it makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint, given she's suposed to be a mermaid (though a horrormermaid) her breasts are a little nonexistent

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>>38283815
If she did get feats to increase the size limit of swallow whole all the way to colossal, her stomach would quickly go from big to "ridiculously gigantic". I couldn't visualize it so I used part of the picture I did yesterday and doubled the belly size for every increase in size category (since a creature that could swallow one huge creature could also swallow two large, four medium etc.). If anything, the huge and colossal sizes here are actually too small, and they're already pretty damn ridiculous.

Though there is an actual deep sea fish that can potentially swallow things four times larger than itself (equivalent to huge for a medium sized creature in terms of size categories).

>>38290097
Inuit sunglasses are rad as fuck. I'd want a pair. If they were made out of metal or plastic instead of wood or whalebone, they'd look like something you'd wear in an 80s cyberpunk setting.

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>>38290850
>mfw mermaid gets a sneak attack and eats the dragon in the first round of combat

>>38291360
>it's a green dragon

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>>38291360
>mfw when she's still hungry afterwards

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I think I'm done for the day. Need to finish up other stuff instead of making variants

>vorebait

>>38292036
Since when do you post on /tg/? I cant get enough of your stuff on tumblr

>>38292141
I've been on /tg/ for years, I just don't often see topics that interest me for drawing instead of just discussing.

I do have to say even though I appreciate the kink potential of the idea, I would rather see more discussion on actual setting details/story concepts/biological gribblies and monsters that didn't read like someone was writing them with one hand under the table, y'know? There's a difference between writing something with fetishistic undertones/kink potential and writing something because it's hot.

Like anons posted ideas both for the creatures being from a sub-realm of the Plane of Water that brushed against The Far Realm. What other manner of monsters could that result in?

What kind of enemies do these social abyss-maids have in the dark depths? What resources do they gather? Do they make raids on more stationary groups centered around vents and tubeworms? Are there any large creatures in the depths they wager precious calories on actually trying to kill and share the meat of? What hunts them? What do they fear?

>>38292141
Link?

>>38292036
I like the melting speechbubble with "moo". It's a nice touch.

>>38290850
There is actually a size category beyond colossal (known simply as colossal+), but that would probably be difficult to fit in that picture. Also it's less of a proper size category and more of a general term for anything bigger than colossal, whether it's somewhat larger than a great wyrm, or a several miles long.

>>38279930
>>38280458
>>38280869
>>38284270
>>38284883
>>38284911
>>38284925
>>38286350
>>38288730
>>38288743
>>38288756
Someone mind posting these in a less wall-of-texty sort of fashion?

>>38292224
>Like anons posted ideas both for the creatures being from a sub-realm of the Plane of Water that brushed against The Far Realm. What other manner of monsters could that result in?
Probably a literal Horrible Underwater Vore Dimension. Pretty much everything people fear about the ocean, given physical form.

>>38292225
grindavikbydaylight.tumblr.com

>>38278535
How would they make it to the surface without dying?

>Decompression sickness

>>38291831
>Party member jokes about if she wants dessert
>She says not to worry about it, she found some
>Prince party was sent to rescue nowhere to be found

>>38292224
On phone at work, will post thoughts on question in a few hours if this thread is still hear

>>38290424
Actually, breasts would make sense, assuming that they have a small number of offspring that need to be fed after birth. The larvae probably just clamp down and don't let go of the nipple until weaning, at which point they release and start hunting.

>>38292401
>>Decompression sickness
Is due to dissolved gasses (chiefly nitrogen) in the bloodstream. Having gills, this would not be an issue. However, whether they could survive at low pressures depends on how their bodies are adapted for high-pressure conditions. The two chief issues would be protein folding (molecules do not interact in the same way at high pressures) and mechanical counterpressure (this is dependant on physiology and not a dealbreaker).
Other more easily manageable issues are temperature and light levels. Temperature is easy, light levels are a problem because most deep-sea fish do not have pigments, or those that are pigmented have not evolved pigments that protect against intense ultraviolet.
Abyssal fish would sunburn internally.

>>38292496
>protein
Shit, brainfart. The issue is not with the proteins themselves, but the enzymes that do the folding.

>>38292224
If they retain any kind of similarity with their siring species then they would be largely solitary hunters with a parasitic mate that attaches to them. Odds are socially they'd be very detached, self-serving, and extremely selfish. Cannibalism would probably exist, and due to their size they'd have to consume a massive amount of calories and use their slow burning digestive system to keep them going until they required to feed again. They'd probably collect the bones of whales and other scraps that fall to the ocean floor for weapons, tools, ect. They'd likely hunt anything they could catch, other mer-people (assuming there are others and evolution would say that there is since they have to eat so much). I suppose that it'd be possible that there would be a hunnic horde of sorts, a group of decent size figuring out that working together would result in better chances of getting food but I doubt it would be very cohesive. They'd likely be backstabbers, cheats, and eat each other in order to grow in status in their band.

>>38292496
>>38292518
However, there are creatures that regular dive between the surface and the beep ocean (though usually not all the way down to the Abyss). Cuvier's beaked whale has recordedly ranged from the surface to over 2km down, so going from 4/6km from the surface is not totally outside the realms of plausibility.

Maybe have an Abyssal mermaid treat visiting the surface like a deep dive. Something that must be prepared for, and cannot be sustained indefinitely.

>>38292565
At the very least, ritual cannibalism is going to be their default funerary rite.

>>38292496
The pressure adaption is probably best handwaved by fantasy biology, as it's rather difficult to come up with any realistic solution.

I like the idea suggested that she carries a parasol to keep herself out of direct sunlight. It just seems cute. They PC race proposal also had taking damage from direct sunlight (not vampire-style "busts into flames in sunlight" damage, but minor damage to represent getting badly sunburned) as one of the potential drawbacks.

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>>38292609
>beep ocean

>>38292637
Well since they'd sustain internal burns due to their skin being unable to keep UV light out they would probably have to dress like the Bedouins in the desert. Lots and lots of white clothes that cover a majority of the body to keep as much of the suns rays from affecting them. That coupled with the neat sunglasses idea posted above they'd look a bit like Sand People from Starwars.

>>38292727
Or they'd wear body paint.

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>>38292727

>>38292749
Thats even cooler. My love for Middle Eastern fashion and tattoos are taking over.

>>38292565
Some kind of society is generally expected of sapient beings, as there is little reason for a completely solitary creatures to develop human level intelligence (then again, octopuses are very smart and completely solitary). Having an intelligence that is developed not from the need to handle complex group hierarchies and coordination but purely to be better at hunting would be interesting (that's pretty much how octopuses work), and probably utterly alien.

I can also see them living in small groups, banding together to be able to more effectively take out large sea monsters and things.

I suppose it would depend on what kind of role one intends for them to have. Is the abyssal horrogirl able to sympathise and form friendship with other beings, or does she see everything else as either food or threat?

>>38292621
Definitely. Wasting anything in the abyss would be just foolish.

>>38292565
Hence why the first ones to develop some equivalent of farming or pastoralism would be a big deal.

Along with the first ones to develop the necessary magic to ascend to the surface without dying. Imagine how long they could survive off of a relative handful of herring grabbed from a shoal.

>>38292727
I'd say just give her sunlight vulnerability and have her take a bit of subdual (and eventually lethal) damage if she's out too long.

>>38292727
Why would they have a standard surface dress? Also picking apart why going to the surface would be a bad idea is starting to get a bit to realism heavy for an impossible horrorfishgirl race to me.

>>38293041
>Also picking apart why going to the surface would be a bad idea is starting to get a bit to realism heavy for an impossible horrorfishgirl race to me.
"It's magic, I don;t gotta explain shit" makes for incredibly boring worldbuilding. It's a lot more interesting to consider things at least semi-realistically and think of plausible reasons. Even if they don't hold up when you do the math, it at least makes for a more cohesive whole.

>>38292847
>society
>>38292897
>some equivalent of farming
Deep Sea Gigantism + Siphonophores (and other organisms that cluster and conjoin into a single creature) = giant floating 'mats' that capture Marine Snow. This concentrates nutrients into small area, and provides a 'landmass'/gathering point around which a community can form.

>>38293041
Unless we're just slapping 'its magic I dont need to explain shit' on it then some sort of protection would be needed. This is just extrapolation after all, not empirical fact. Im not saying going to the surface is a bad idea, it'd just be something that would require some kind of planning or they'd be all over the surface eating whatever they could.

>>38293175
>Deep Sea Gigantism + Siphonophores
Or alternatively, some supersized version of Deepstaria enigmatica. Or both, gives two different 'climates'/'environments' for different communities to form in.

>>38293041
The real issue with going to the surface is that the abyssal mermaids and the photic zone merfolk probably don't get along very well.

Especially because of the cases when they get along too well. Figure that they're interfertile, then imagine the stories of photic merman atrophying into nothing but a set of gonads after having sex with an abyssal mermaid, or of a photic mermaid being bitten by something in the deep and becoming pregnant with a half-abyssal afterwards.

Now imagine that any pre-existing surface world knowledge of the abyssals will come from the photics.

>>38292844
>>38292844
They could use something like an oil based paint that doesn't wash off easily to cover themselves when going to the surface. Maybe something "extruded" from a specialized tubeworm or something.

>>38293277
Or cephalopod ink.

>>38292847
If they evolved like Octopuses then they'd be so alien to what humanity is it'd result in a very interesting sentient creature. They'd probably be as inquisitive as octopuses, skiddish, flight or flight reactions for most situations, and no real way to form lasting bonds. Everything would be a possible threat or prey equally.

Though small tribal bands would work too, with each group roving around working together to eat since groups tend to survive well together. Though as >>38292897 points out, the first creation of farming or husbandry would have huge impacts, likely resulting in oligarchies or feudal societies.

What do you think first contact with humanity or other surface races would be like?

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>>38293189
Some kind of reverse diving suit?

>>38293189
>>38293175
I think a compromise of SOME reason for them not being able to casually venture up/why they haven't tried going up to the surface is necessary, but going 1 for 1 science on the why would be un-fun.

Would the reason still be wholly internal? Are there bands of merfolk who view it as a duty to keep the "Lightless Horrors" from venturing upwards, an enforced exile of sorts? Do they fall victim to predators of the lower lighted bands of the oceans, so much quicker than life they were used to, able to see so much farther? Trying to outrun a speeding shark might be difficult for the calorie-starved Maids of the Abyss

>>38293189
Could also be that they've never considered that there is anything but the abyss.

I remember that in some fantasy game there was a race that was orinally created as slaves and soldiers by their masters, but then overthrew them and wiped out pretty much all other races on the continent. But they were very short on imagination, so the idea that anything existed on the other side of the ocean simply never occurred to them, so they just chilled on their own continent. It was stated that if somebody from the "main" continent would sail there, it would pretty much trigger the end of the world.

>>38293268
They'd really be the things of nightmares. I can only imagine how surface dwellers would react with stories of monsters in the deep and actual proof that can back them up.

>>38293268
Just because you have sex with an abyssal merwoman doesn't necessarily mean your genes actually recognize her chemical signals to begin atrophy and attachment.

Unless you're of her species, of course.

>>38293424
Hell, even if you're interfertile, that might not even guarantee it.

Might just mean she gets to have sex without having some fugly dangly thing stuck to her forever.

Might actually be advantageous, since she no longer has to expend resources supporting what's left of the male, a potentially critical issue in the resource-starved deeps.

>>38293424
It only has to happen once or twice for stories to spread.

Heck, it doesn't even have to happen at all. IRL people have believed all sorts of crazy shit throughout the ages without any evidence to back up their beliefs.

>>38293351
>>38293371
That's a more interesting approach to the why for world building. Somewhat of a Dark Elf/ Elf dichotomy that results in enforced exile, a 'wall' of sorts to keep them away with sentries posted. Or they really dont think there is anything above them, and happily stay in the depths.

>>38293371
But that raises the question of what happens if someone goes down. Or what if they're like other sentient species with the desire to explore and wind up venturing upwards.

>>38293501
Hell, it could be that the true horrors of the deep, things with real knowledge of the surface world and malevolent intent, might be banished/kept at bay with the Abyssal Merfolk caught as collateral damage

>>38293538
>might be banished/kept at bay with the Abyssal Merfolk caught as collateral damage
>12,000 years ago: Fire the spell! Don't worry about us, the world is more important!
>Today: There's something up there?

>>38293501
Think of the impact the Columbian exchange had. That’s what the revelation of the surface world would do to abyssal societies.

>>38293538
Not even necessarily malevolent intent, so much as hunger and an inability to comprehend surface worlders as more than just an odd and tasty species of copepod.

>>38293501
Pressure changes as you ascend might also be deadly to them. A number of types of abyssal creatures die of decompression long before the light or the air kills them.

That's an easy way to define a "wall that's not actually a wall", that has some basis in physics.

The bends, man, the fukken bends....

>>38292496


Just curious, how would having lungs prevent them from getting fucked up? From what I understand the extreme change in pressure can turn deep sea creatures inside out. I also read somewhere that the lower pressure and higher temperature can melt the lipids in their cell membranes.

>Wikipedia
>Northwest European Lophius spp. are listed by the ICES as "outside safe biological limits".[21] Additionally, anglerfish are known to occasionally rise to the surface during El Niño, leaving large groups of dead anglerfish floating on surface.[21]

http://nature.ca/explore/di-ef/dsfe_e.cfm

I guess those without bladders and whatnot might have an easier time making it up to the surface. Still, I have a feeling that deep sea fish can get fucked up by some form of barotrauma.

>>38293538
Even better. Could result in a grudge against the surface and their photic cousins. This would also give them things to hunt/ be hunted by. The nature of the deep things their stuck down there with could influence how their society formed, making them more cohesive in order to defend against whatever else was down there.

>>38293175
>>38293189
>>38293268
I'm not advocating it's magic I don't have to explain shit, I'm just saying that "there is a unicorn in the garden" is a lot less SoD breaking than "there is a unicorn in the garden and here's a detailed history of its evolution, reasons why they are considered mythical creatures, and a detailed look at the chemistry behind all their supernatural and physics breaking abilities"

Explain things yes, but given the premise a too detailed explanation is not necessarily a good thing

>>38293611
Well I think we're still trying to keep away the nitty gritty realism since they are magical fish people that can swallow massive things.

>>38293674
Well, it doesn't have to be well understood by the people in-setting. It just has to be a "SOMETHING MAKES US GO BANG IF WE GO TOO HIGH" taboo.

You can base things on somewhat realistic things, even in an unrealistic setting, when it happens to mesh well. Gives it a little solidity, just for spice.

>>38293670
The reason for a more detailed explanation is that it can suggest things about other parts of their biology, culture, history and so forth that you wouldn't think of if you didn't question why the unicorn in your garden is a unicorn and not an emaciated rhinoceros.

Go look up the bat-people threads we had a few years back for an example.

>>38293700
Could keep the "Oh shit we'll pop" thing, but perhaps have ways to go around it that wouldn't be explored by such a utilitarian people?

Maybe spending long enough at higher elevations is all it takes to let them adapt, but it hurts like hell! There's no point in trying. Especially with them being spooked by idiots who just start swimming up until they die.

>>38293617
>From what I understand the extreme change in pressure can turn deep sea creatures inside out
Exaggeration. If that particular species has a gas-filled swim bladder, it can inflate and asphyxiate the fish as it ascends. Without the gas filled bladder (e.g. oil-based bouyancy compensation like in shark livers).
>Still, I have a feeling that deep sea fish can get fucked up by some form of barotrauma.
Yes, they would. Hence all the discussion on what adaptations they may have to survive.
>>38293670
> I'm just saying that "there is a unicorn in the garden" is a lot less SoD breaking than "there is a unicorn in the garden and here's a detailed history of its evolution, reasons why they are considered mythical creatures, and a detailed look at the chemistry behind all their supernatural and physics breaking abilities"
I'm not advocating the latter either. But just throwing shit at the wall because it sounds cool doesn't work well for creating something that holds together well. If you take real-world inspirations, extrapolate from them (even beyond the realms of feasibility), then strip out the psuedoscience-rambling explanations, then you have something that intuitively 'makes sense' even without the explicit explanation.

>>38293700
Hell, they might even consider the pressure change to be the hand of an angry deity, punishing them for transgressing.

After all, watching your friend start twisting and contorting uncontrollably as their body comes unraveled, hearing them flip out as their brain short-circuits from the gas exchange going haywire, would be one HELL of a religious experience for anyone who watched it, and any survivors.

Literally an invisible force that reaches within you and fucks your shit.

A GOD IS IT.

>but it's not even intelligent. such humor.

>>38293424
I say let it happen if only because it adds to the creepiness factor

>>38293742
It makes sense that it's not an absolute barrier, eventually. But like your analogy suggests, the first one to ascend successfully is going to need to be very clever, very tough, and very driven, because it's basically their equivalent of climbing Mount Everest, straight into the Death Zone where for us there's no air, but for them there's no pressure (relatively).

But for the narrative's sake, it will of course be *possible*. They might spend a year in Sea-Hospital afterwards (just like early explorers often did), but that's to be expected. You gotta earn your glory after all.

I think it depends on what exactly is their role in the setting.

Do we want the abyssal horrors to be trapped in the depths? In that case, the pressure barrier offers an easy solution to why that is so.

Do we want them to interract with the surface world (like the stories posted of one exploring the surface)? Probably better to handwave things than going into extensive detail on how they can survive barotrauma.

I prefer the idea that they are able to journey to the surface, but it's difficult (acclimating to pressure differences, just the sheer effor from swimming up from several kilometer depth). If they're stuck to the abyss they can't really interact with anything else in the setting, and if it's too easy to make the trip then why haven't they all moved out of the horrible vore dimension?

>>38293853
I think the best way is to wave away the barotrauma with a bit of psuedo-science and magic just for the sake of it. A lot of the smatterings that have been tossed up above can be coalesced into some sort of explanation and magic away the rest. But it would have to be something physical or cultural restricting them from a mass migration upwards.

>>38293825
>>38293853
>An Abyssal Merfolk finding an amulet of regeneration that drifted down through the currents, seeing how it sealed the wounds in their webbed fingers from a prior hunt
>Decides to use it to survive the ravages of swimming up
>Making a torturous ascent, body ripping apart and being re-knit by the amulet, eyes popping and slowly regrowing as they blindly swim up and up until
>The water is, almost imperceptibly to their healing eyes
>Blue

>>38293853
What about gods? If magic is prevalent and its a DnD setting, gods have as much influence on things as magic does. What kind of god would they worship, or would they worship some terror that lives even lower than them.

>>38293923
I kinda like that.

>Behold, the future Prophet of the Light Lands

>>38293965
It's the abyss, so probably Cthulhu or some kind of horrible vore god (you think they get non-horrible gods there? This is the abyss! Everything is horrible down there!).

>>38293853
>Do we want them to interract with the surface world (like the stories posted of one exploring the surface)? Probably better to handwave things than going into extensive detail on how they c
This is the main reason why I am against things like the pressure or sunlight problems, I am assuming there's at least one individual who is spending a lot of time on the surface like in the bit of story we have above, not to mention from a world building point of view what is the point of making a race like this if there's no way for the main characters/PCs to interact with it?

I say have the reasons why they don't typically go to the surface be cultural or social, not physiological

>>38294014
Rather than wave the issues away, a simple 'this is why they dont die' would be in order. Equipment, or magic if all else fails, would help add character to the race.

>>38293965
Several. Hunting, hiding, warmth, birth, death...

Emptiness would be a more unique contribution to the usual divine portfolios.

Sound and taste would be what they define them by more than sight, I think. By taste I don’t necessarily mean the flavor of their flesh (although that might be the case for some of them) but the chemical traces they leave in the water.

>>38294014
It might also just be so difficult that very few would dare to make the trip. Food is very scarce down there, so you can't waste any energy on frivolous activity. Even if they've heard tales of an upper world with limitless amounts of food and less horrible monsters, most would either dismis it as tall tales or conclude that the risk of dying during the journey is too high. I'd imagine that most abyssal mermaids would be quite conservative and concerned more with daily survival.

>>38294101
And I don't think that would make A good narrative, though I do agree there should be problems they shouldn't be lethal or crippling

>>38293965
Whales, definitely. In the form of both the carcasses that fall from above and the terrifyingly large and swift predators that dive into the abyss to hunt.

>>38294137
Also, their experiences with deep-diving predators would be terrifying. They might see the Light Above as a place of limitless food, but they'd also see it as the home of countless things that eat that food and that would happily eat any abyssals they could catch.

>>38294196
That'd be interesting. I think with an environment so oppressive and dangerous they'd be polytheistic too, with some aspect representing their every day horrors.

>>38294122
Atheist perhaps. Or Nihilists of sorts? Seems odd that there'd be a culture that has no faith in anything other than the abyss itself.

>>38294330
You could go off of something inspired by Gnosticism (If I remember it's basic tenent correctly).

"The world was made by a deity who pretends to be benevolent, but is in fact the prison warden. There is a better world outside it."

For a fantasy setting it makes more sense that instead of going with the realistic portrayal of the deep sea (which is full of creatures that are scary looking but small and very weak and lethargic), we'd go with a more fantastic version (it's full of creatures that are scary looking but big and dangerous. Giant krakens and sea monsters and stuff). Thus our mermaids would use Aquaman-logic (Aquaman has super powers because he can survive in the deep sea, so he has to be strong enough not to be crushed by pressure) rather than realistic deep sea biology logic.

I like the abyssal horrorterrorgirls as frighteningly powerful creatures compared to surfacers, but living in an enviroment filled with tons of horrible monsters, many of which are far more horrifying. They're kept from entering the surface in large numbers by the reasons stated in >>38294137 (difficulty in making the trip and a culture that disdains taking unnecessary risks). If they ever would decide to start migrating to surface in large numbers (unlikely given they probably don't have communities of at most a dozen or so individuals, and limited contact between other communities), it would be big trouble.

>>38293316
Dat hole in the thumb though

Some variant of Stoicism might work well for them, maybe extending their ethics to encompass a very pragmatic view on lifecycles (given they;re used to everything eating everything else by almost sheer luck).

>>38294357
This takes things down a rather boring route. "Powerful guys from a hell dimensions" doesn't have anything unique to it, and reduces the entire concept down to essentially 'aquaticvore demons'.
Taking inspiration of real creatures, and pushing the bounds of plausibility for inspiration rather than throwing out everything and going "it's magic" makes for far more interesting worldbuilding, and a more believable and interesting race.

>>38294357
I like the idea of the Fantasy Abyss being a deathworld-tier place filled with abominations each more horrifying than the last. Colossa monsters that dwarf whales, giant squids that can drag entire ships down to a watery grave etc. The abyssal mermaids eat for breakfast (probably literally) things that would give seasoned sailors nightmares, and are in turn preyed on by even more horrying things. If they were ever to rise on the surface en masse (and given how stupidly huge the abyss is, even if it's mostly empty, they would potentially outnumber surface races), it would be pretty much an apocalyptic scenario.
Could serve as a campaign hook. Some powerful abyssal warlord is uniting the mermaids to rise up and devour the surfacers, and somebody has to stop her. Maybe another faction of the mermaids wants to pursue a more peaceful relation with surfacers, and are willing to help them travel to the depths and find the warlord.

>>38294895
I think that mixed with a meritocracy would establish social order, assuming they move past roving bands of merfolk that eat and survive.

Making them the BBEGs would be pretty good too if straying from a PC race. >>38294957 had a pretty good premise to use them, but I cant shake the feeling that its lost potential since its been done to death. There are more than enough monstrously powerful beasts and demons hell bent on despoiling and ravaging in worlds as it is. It all goes back to the big question of how they fit in the narrative. Either an enigmatic alien race of rarely seen merfolk that have a penitent for eating big and live in the hellish of places, or a big doomsday horde.

>>38294957
Well, given the fact that it's been established that coming up here is insanely dangerous for them, the fact that they're appearing at all is a plot hook in and of itself.

Just what the hell is going on down there? Could be any number of things...

>>38294957
You could always go the Tyranid speculation route - the warlord is really fleeing something even worse and the PCs have to go and shut down the portal to Cthulhuworld.

>>38295058
To avoid "all consuming hell horde", perhaps they could be struck by overwhelming curiosity once they find out about the surface? It's hard to marshal the gluttonous merfolk into an army when they keep getting lost in investigating the petals of a flower or staring at a painting for hours. Their attention span must be absolutely extraordinary, considering how empty the abyss is and how long they can go without food or moving.

Considering their apparent aptitude for devouring things whole, are their teeth just used for weapons? It doesn't seem to me that they'd be needed for the tearing that most carnivores do.

>>38294957
I honestly doubt they'd be able to form a horde, unless a horde is like 50 of them, they're just too spread out in too empty of an area

>>38295166
More so just to grab thing and keep food from pulling themselves loose

>>38295168
Yeah. The Abyssal Ocean is absolutely ENORMOUS. It's honestly the closest to space you have on earth. It's inhospitable, there's barely anything in it except for a few places where there's shit tons of stuff (The vents).

Anything native to that region trying to gather up the merfolk would be hard pressed due to just FINDING enough of them, first off, then the worry about "how do I feed them" and not because they eat a lot overall, but because there's barely anything TO eat, and then stopping them from eating each other if they weren't already in social groups with each other

Anyone trying to get the Deep-Merfolk to serve as an army would be tearing their hair out

>>38295100
Now that is interesting. Seeing how they'd integrate into society would be another good route to take that.

>>38295081
Even in history we've seen societies moving into areas they normally wouldnt, ie. The Ostrogoths and Visigoths, since they were fleeing the Huns. This could flesh out the reason they're there and another arc to build upon. This could introduce possible PCs if someone so chose to play one.

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>>38295081

>>38295238
Forgot Double Hell below Cthuluworld

>>38295212
Seems to me like that'd actually mean that the abyssalfolk would be fairly concentrated, both for defense, and to keep their population stable.

Doesn't do your species much good when the average potential mating pair is separated by five hundred miles of predator filled water. Being too spread out leads to massive inbreeding, when breeding happens at all.

Drifting your genetic material is all well and good for surface dwellers where the currents and waves are strong, but deep ocean currents are harder to manage, since they're either very powerful and fast flowing, which dilutes your material over a vast volume, or they're very slow, so they don't go anywhere.

Makes a lot more sense that they'd cluster near to the vents, both for food, heat, raw materials for civilization, and as a natural congregating point in an otherwise featureless vastness.

>>38295166
Actual deep sea fish tend to have those creepy needle-like teeth to helpt grab onto prety and keep them from getting out (the teeth can often bend backwards to allow the prey to pass into their stomach). The black swallower atleast uses its backwards-facing hook-like teeth to grab onto the prey as it "walks" its jaws from the prey's head towards the tail.

>>38295316
I'd think that there would be an 'oasis in the desert' kind of pattern with their people. There would be some permanence around the vents, but due to their nature they'd still continue to roam around the ocean in bands. This would give basis for trade, genetic spread, as well as communities.

>>38295189
Ah, so like a pitcher plant's inward hairs?
>>38295332
>uses its backwards-facing hook-like teeth to grab onto the prey as it "walks" its jaws from the prey's head towards the tail.
That sounds really neat. Are there any videos, or is the information just from other evidence?

>>38295316
Problem is that even the relatively resource-rich areas would not be able to support a large population (individual vent fields also tend to be rather transitory, often lasting for a few centuries before they die off and a new one forms). The whole "thing" about the abyss, and the reason why most life there has evolved into such bizarre and nightmarish forms, is the constant scarcity of resources. Finding a mate is a big problem, which is why in nearly all deep sea fish, the male exists pretty much purely to find a female to mate with. He doesn't eat but has a very good sense of smell, so he can track the female from miles away. After mating they usually die, or in the case of the anglerfish they merge with the female.

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>>38295238
Revised

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>>38295414
I haven't seen a video. I think it's just based on speculation. This is the fish in question, btw. It's known for being able to eat ridiculously large things (proportionally). This one tried to eat a fish four time bigger than itself, which seems to have been too much.

That is not dead which can eternal lie..but what lies sleeping is vulnerable for all the little fishes in the deep ocean. Even as its dreams inspire terror in tiny mortals across the surface world, the denizens of the deep see the sleeping god for what it is - meat, holy meat, sacred meat. They have tasted its flesh, and found it to their liking.

They build their oasis around geothermal vents, small, sacred flames in the black. They cannot farm the surface, but they can raid it, grabbing great sea creatures and a few unfortunate surface ships and pulling them down to be crushed and eaten. But their cities? Their cities are the corpses of gods; the oldest picked clean to the bones and half abandoned, the younger still asleep, still weakly screaming its psionic cry, only dimly aware that it has become the home of an undersea empire, and its flesh their sustenance.

>>38295542
Now thats an interesting premise. They live in the corpses of Old Gods, feeding on their flesh, hollowing them out into homes, raiding when it suits them, and using the corpses as homes. Doubles as a place of worship, seeing their god equal to their home and what lets them cling to life.

>>38295495
Suddenly that picture of the mermaid ballooned to ten times its size doesn't seem so outlandish. I can dig it.

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Dragons weren't enough, you vore freaks had to go and corrupt mermaids, too? The fuck's wrong with you!

>>38295897
It's not about the vore, well not mostly, it's about the horrorfish from the horrible vore dimension

Aren't these basically Deep Ones anyway? Now to exploit them for manganese nodule mining.

As an aside, most abyssal creatures have extremely brittle bones due to poor diet/nutrition. A non-abyssal creature could break an abyssal in half in a fight.

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>>38295897
>>38295926
>>38295542
The original thread (which was good) was about using the deep sea abyss as a fantasy setting. Horrible mermaids became an object of fixation for...reasons...but the basic premise (come up with cool shit in an alien environment) is still fine.

Also, the best possible response to *most* of the Fantastic Abyss is pic related. But sometimes, if you want to fight monsters - it helps to have monsters on your side.

>>38295542
>Deep sea mermaids living inside corpse of the Old Gods

That's a cool concept. I might steal it as it actually fit for the background for a campaign setting I'm making. Lovecraftian horros that used to rule the world when the stars were right are a thing in the setting (a pretty important one too, as the main villanous faction is one that is trying to bring them back). I've though about including mermaids based on deep sea fish long before this thread, and connect them somehow to said eldritch horrors, since said horrors are heavily based on abyssal life. Now I know how just how to do it.

>>38295897
Eh, everything else gets scary as fuck the deeper you go. Why should mermaids be excepted?

>>38295897
Good god, when did /tg/ become so fucking sensitive to everything.

Go bitch about stuff somewhere else.

>>38296021
Actually, they tend to have very soft, not brittle, bones. But yeah, deep sea animals tend to have little muscle and very soft gelatinous flesh due to most of them being pure ambush predators and not being able to waste energy moving around unnecessary (some species, like viperfish are capable of active predation, although they too prefer to ambus their prey).

Though we're more concerned with the fantasy version, where the horrible sea monsters are actually horrible instead of small enough to fit on the palm of you hand and/or fragile enough to fall apart in a stiff breeze.

This thread is getting a little off topic.

Now that we have thoroughly hashed out the idea of Abyssal Mermaids, what about their environment exactly. Its an Abyss yes but what do you think could also be down there? Ancient Ruins to dead gods? Hundreds of wrecks of unfortunate ships? How about the other denizens of the deep?

>>38295926
>it's not about the vore, it's about the vore dimension
Take your magical realm- sorry, magical DIMENSION elsewhere.

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>>38295826
I've done one picture based directly on that fish. It, along with the gulper eel is pretty much the posterboy (or girl? In most deep sea fish the adult male doesn't actually eat) for why we're calling the deep sea "underwater vore dimension".

>>38296270
Or you could get out of this thread and stop choosing to get aggravated over it. It's not even about the vore fetishism anyways, so just gtfo.

>>38296252
Best not to engage in anything other than discussion. Don't try to defend it, just share neat ideas and let that be the defense it already is.

Ships floating down to the very bottom might be one source of information about the surface world fragmented even further than anything Ariel ever got. Perhaps the rubbery-shelled giant isopods swarm over wrecks whenever they can, secreting off what they find to try and figure out mechanisms and lore of the lands above. If you want to know (and be misinformed) about the lighted lands, find the scuttling bastards and give them at least half a fish.

>>38296270
>consuming things to survive, in a way analogous to actual living things is somehow Magical Realm

>acknowledging the realities of a place where you might only eat once a month, at best

>you don't even know what Magical Realm is, do you, newfag?

0/10, learn to troll better. Or grow a pair. Like the Angler-Women do.

>>38296384
Oh sweet jesus, I had forgotten about giant isopods. Aren't they really common, like the abyssal version of a cockroach?

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>>38296270
You miss the point. Since the first abyssal thred last week, It's become a running joke to call the deep sea "horrible vore dimension" (or other variant like "underwater vore hell") . Because, well, that's what it is.

Seriously, everything down there seems to have specifically evolved
a) to be as nightmarish looking as possible
b) to swallow whole things several times their size

So blame nature for having a vore fetish.

>>38296422
I don't know about that, but I do know they have a goddamn marsupial pouch where they keep their young until they're just like (tinier) versions of their mom

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>>38296422
Basically. They're bottom feeders that eat scraps and scuttle about.

>>38296021
>Aren't these basically Deep Ones anyway?
They could very easily become 'Deep Ones with big jaws', hence the pushback towards a more reality-inspired creature (because seriously, look at what actually lives down there. There's more than enough inspiration for terrifying shit without cribbing from other media) rather than a generic aquatic demon.

...huh. For something that mentioned swallowing whole, this thread actually has less vore-sounding stuff in its writefagging than I'd expect.

>>38296544
Right; even to the extent that we're giving fantastic flourishes (making them strong and powerful rather than weak and brittle, etc), we're using reality to inspire different ideas and strategy.

I think the general theme we're going for is that life is scarce and dangerous down here. It's dark and empty most of the time, so you have to pay close attention to what's immediately around you - but you can't see very well, and each step forward is just more blackness, in every direction. It's a struggle just to move, because of the oppressive weight of the ocean bearing down on you. Food is feast or famine; no seasons, not much like crops, but random carcasses (or non-random, but dangerous and expensive raids) create feeding frenzies where denizens of the deep gorge themselves and then slink away to hide, and way for the next one.

Communities of deep maidens live solitary existences, spread out over the deep to maximize their chances of finding such a feast before anyone else does, or organize for raids on the surface. If they find a whale carcass or leviathan's shed skin, they signal using their bio-luminescent skin to bring the rest of their tribe in, and take turns defending each other and feeding on the morsel.

Shit, I just thought of a thing you could base an abyssal campaign on: Watership Down. The only question is whether you play the deepmaids fleeing the destruction of their home or the neighbors they're setting up next to.

>>38297240
Here on /tg/ we have some tact with our magical realms.

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>>38297418
Well, unless we're talking about spelunking.

>>38297240
Because though things *can* be fetishy, they don't *have* to be, despite what trolls pretending to have the moral high ground think, in between spouting "MAGICAL REALM" and "MARY SUE" like a ten year old that's discovered Le Reddit Epik Meems for the first time.

It's almost like once upon a time, /tg/ liked the act of creation more than shitting on things to make one's e-peen feel better for a moment.

>>38297571
Lies and slander, we've always stroked our e-peen while shitting on people and whatever they liked. This is 4chan, after all.

What about sonar?

>>38298311
What about it? Its a primarily mammalian trait save for for some kinds of birds so It probably wouldnt show itself here. Even in the abyss we dont see any sign of echolocation.

>>38298906
Any particular reason, though? At a bare minimum I'd think that better ears would be a common thing underwater. Not just for hearing, but also as a way of sensing changes in water pressure.

And then there's stuff like electrosensing, or seeing into the infrared, or a better sense of smell/taste...

>>38299322
Believe it or not but sight is still really big down there. They have ultra light sensitive eyes and look for the luminescence of prey animals. Prey animals are also drawn closer to baiting luminescence like that which the Angler Fish uses. Otherwise its smell and sensing changes in the water pressure to hunt. So sonar isnt used by anything other than the deep diving whales. The deeper down you go, the less the fish move due to lack of food. So the deepest dwellers just sit and wait for food to come to them, not relying on anything else other than their lures.

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I still like the idea of them having to wear pressure suits on the outside, it's like a human in space only the pressure difference is much, much worse. Things that live down there mostly turn into disgusting blobs when brought up. Giant isopods are like, one of the only things I can think of that can live just fine on the bottom and in normal water.
Pic related.

>>38299508
Poor seapig. If you want to go the way of realism, you could argue that due to their nature of being merfolk, they should have some similarities with other, higher swimming merfolk, which could translate to the same kind of resistance to pressure as some whales. But then again its magic fish people, so you need to decide where in the setting they'd play into, technology levels, ect.

>>38299508
Yeah, in all honestly I find the scientific and technological challenges faced by the abyssal mermaids fascinating.

You're an abyssal mermaid. What can you know about the surface world? Presume that you're not completely restricted to the hadal zone and handwave the barotrauma a bit— that particular problem is difficult to overcome even with modern-day human technology.

You know that it gets warmer and brighter as you head upwards.

You know that day/night cycles exist, because the daily vertical migrations of marine creatures are tightly linked to them. You don't necessarily know much about day and night, though, depending on how far up you can go.

You know that gravity exists, even though you don't really experience it, because you can observe whalefalls, marine snow, shipwrecks, and other things. It takes a stroke of genius to realize that gravity affects water too, but once you know that, you have a basic concept of pressure.

You can tell that gasses exist, because you've seen bubbles from decomposing fish and other things. The discovery that the upper world contains a vast, all-encompassing layer of bubblestuff would come as a mind-blowing epiphany. Thereafter, land would be an intuitive concept— it's where sediment meets air— but an empirical mystery, because nobody can get onto it.

What sort of speculation would they have about life on land? Well, the abyssal mermaid scientists might consider the wildly varying temperatures, relatively intense light and heat, and lack of buoyant support, concluding that the surface was a harsh and desolate place supporting little life. Diver suits would only reinforce this conclusion— obviously, surfacers need their glass eyes and metal exoskeletons to support themselves and retain water. Shipwrecks might become puzzling enigmas, as some investigators claim they contradict the notion of a sparsely populated surface.

(con't)

>>38299580
Stone Age tech, with occasional higher-end salvage that fell from the surface. Possibly some sort of dartguns for ranged weapons. Also use of biomaterials; shells, bone, ink, bacteria colonies of various kinds...

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Sketched an idea because I fucking love space suits.

You could do with something that wasn't bulky like a ADS or an EVA spacesuit. Assuming they can live at atmospheric pressure uncomfortably, they'd probably just need something to stay at a comfortable but not crushing deep sea pressure. It wouldn't be super bulky, it doesn't need to protect against cosmic radiation and micrometeorites. Just light radiation, so you'd probably want a dark glass helmet as well. My idea here would be full of water, but if mermaids are fine in air then it could just be air pressurized on the surface to make it easier to get in and out of.

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I spent a little while thinking about how they might get onto land. Handwave the barotrauma, again— maybe their priestesses have developed magical pressure wards that mitigate the worst of it. What could the abyssals build to explore the shoreline?

I started from the vague assumption that they could use some form of (magic?) biotechnology, a common trope regarding undersea species. Mentally, I wound up giving them bulbous engineered shells with four pairs of thick, gelatinous legs as bioengineered vehicles to ride around in. Photophore patches could allow for communication between shells as flashes of blue light.

Being adapted for the deep sea, the explorers would logically emerge at night, when it's cooler and darker. Maybe their constructs climb ponderously out of the surf onto a rocky shore during a rainy night, keeping four legs on the ground at any given time to retain their balance, pulsing blue lights to one another to coordinate their movements.

And then a human from a nearby harbor town sees them and everybody flips the fuck out.

(Of course a recurring character or protagonist would need a less cumbersome way of getting around on land, but I can't give up that last image.)

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>>38301226
>>38301245

Besides the bullshit "Protection from the surface" kind of spells, I could see them using specially bred/made crustaceans and/or other sea life to be "surface vehicles."

Heck you already have these things in D&D 3.5, can't remember their stats but they can fit like a dozen guys inside them.

Make them look like spider crabs and do a sort of "war of the worlds" theme with them when they come on land, freaking villagers out as these gigantic crabs stride over them

>>38301226
>>38301245
Interesting, but I don't really think they fit the idea, for a fantasy setting at least, it would fit fine in a more scifi setting.
Plus from a game perspective it'd probably completely nullify their two special attacks


Though I'm not really fond of the idea they need tech or magic to survive on land, survive comfortably yes, I think they should by default be able to survive by being fantasy deepseahorror tough

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>>38301499
Sort of related: in our traveller campaign, we have a homebrew alien species we refer to as Giant Douchebag Crabs. Like pic related, with the personality of an arrogant chinese mainlander, and they communicate by hambone.

If it's a D&D world they could also just have a reverse Apparatus of Kwalish. Or hell, make the Apparatus originate with them for surface excursions, and repurposed by surface races.

>>38301572
>how do I kill this
Boiling water and handheld vises. Just make sure to have lots of melted butter ready.

>>38301529
If pressure and light sensitivity aren't that big, for going on the surface areas of the world, have them just wear huge goggles/sunglasses to cover their eyes from the bright sun, plus some sort of alchemical no dissovable paste for their skin.

Also with the swallow hole thing, armor or clothes that encompass their whole body is pretty much out, they could wear something over their arms, hats, and stuff covering their lower tails and backs, and that's it. Necklaces would be a death warrant.

>>38301572
yeah something like that would be neat, also this can pretty much be used for any aquatic race.

It just occurs to me, how would they build these things?

>>38301713
Stick shit together with horrible eel glue.

>>38301934
Comb jelly glue, more likely.

>>38301934
Not quite what I meant, though that's my fault, I mean if they're so spread out and there is so little down there, how would they have the resources or skills to build something like those things?

>>38302131
Well, you get the idea anyway.
There's tons of SUPER STICKY shit in the ocean. Some of which is weaponized to prevent breathing.

>>38302160
Setpieces.
Maybe there's a bunch of them living in the remnants of a dead leviathan/whale.

I mean, in real life, entire ecosystems spring up around sunken whales.

>>38302163
Fucking hagfish.

>>38277831
>>38277845
Damnit, abyss mermaids.
You've got so much in the hips department.

>>38285368
Generally the teeth on such animals aren't for biting. Rather they are recurred to prevent the prey from backing out while being swallowed. They're like parking lot spikes.

I had a thought.
The standard way to get rid of the average Artifact of Doom quickly and cheaply is to dump it into the deep ocean. Seal it in a block of concrete or lead if you're feeling fancy. Demonic swords, immortal sorcerers, omniscient mirrors, chuck it in the sea.
Therefore, the abyssal mermaids are sitting on thousands of years of powerful magical artifacts (and probably general magical toxic waste dumping, as well).
So, what would they do with them? Use them to cultivate thaumotrophic ecosystems for harvesting? Hold the surface world hostage for food and metal tools? Use them as tokens of rank and power? Dump them into the great volcanic vents for the Mohorovicic dwellers to deal with?

>>38303348
Just sort of, you know, have them around.
I don't know any practical example you would be aware of, but have you ever been at someone's house where the owner likes machetes?

In my house we get about four or five machetes a year for five dollars each, because the other ones have dissapeared some-fucking-where, and it's gotten to the point where you find a machete wherever the hell you deign to look, and we use them for pretty much any task we need doing that requires smashing/cutting/an object for leverage/poking something/ etc.

It's like that, but with cursed swords.

>>38303348
Use the shinny things for mirrors, use the glowy ones for lamps, ect

>>38303548
>>38303577
>>38303348
Basically, they just have piles of evil shit around and use them as doorstops and whatever.

This has about the consequences you expect, as shit is MAD SCARY AND WEIRD down there.

>>38303702
It helps that all the evil artifacts are scared shitless.

>>38304496
>I just wanted to usher in a new age of darkness - oh god she just swallowed something twice her size
>what is that horrific writhing mass why is it a mile long
Anything that gets out alive now has a trauma about darkness and things swallowing

>>38277831
Has anyone brought up the idea that the surface is equally terrifying to them as the abyss is to us?

>>38305123
There was >>38295437's map of the deep

Somehow I think it's sort of cute

>>38304496
Sentient evil artifacts that want out would be a good explanation for how/why the mermaids first started making trips to the surface.

They've got persuasion skills to make them think going up is a good idea, knowledge of the surface to help them prepare, anything that has to be dumped instead of destroyed is probably powerful enough to protect their saviors from surface predators, and they wouldn't want to risk their usual evil bullshit until they were safely out of the ocean.

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>>38301226
Take a look at the old Soviet high-altitiude pressure suits. Those inflatable tubes are not for G-force compensation, but are what 'pressurise' the suit. When deflated, the suit is a slug fit, but when they inflate they stretch against the fabric and provide mechanical counterpressure to the wearer.
A similar suit would allow an Abyssal mermaid to wear it underwater, and slowly tighten it as they approach the surface. It would also be selectively loosened to allow them to accommodate larger meals.
As long as exposure to low pressures is just highly uncomfortable and unhealthy rather than instantly comically fatal, removing the helmet to eat (or to talk for short periods more personally) would be fine.

>>38305969
I think I liked it better when they were simply trying to find another magic spoon

>>38305969
That's gonna be a bad first impression.
>alien-looking monster from the deep emerges onto the shore wielding the legendary cursed lich blade from 1000 years ago

>>38306906
>sword immediately leaps from their hand onto a bird and flies away
>they look depressed a while

>>38306875
This remains my favorite plot for them by a wide margin.

The spoon itself, by virtue of providing food on a regular schedule wherever you happen to be, could potentially revolutionize their society. To abyssal eyes it doesn't produce much food, and the stuff it creates looks more like sediment than nutriment, but you can eat it and that's what counts.

I think I've got an outline of a story in which the the last survivor of the first deep mermaid expedition to the land, sent in search of new spoons to prevent their nascent civilization from collapsing, winds up as a carnival sideshow exhibit and is rescued by a failed sailor; character development and wacky hijinx ensue as the pair embarks on a quest for enchanted cutlery and a little self-respect. The authorities slowly realize the deep mermaids were smarter than anybody thought and subsequently panic at the idea that they might develop an advanced civilization, and it's up to Failure Sailor and the Horrorgirl Heroine to save the day before they can enact their plan to end the presumed oceanic threat.

I am never going to write this, because the dialogue keeps getting sillier and sillier. Also I haven't written a line of fiction in fifteen years.

>>38300789
>>38301245
This is excellent worldbuilding material right here, really addresses the whole 'dry land being as alien to them as the abyss is to us' angle. How mermaid society deals with the conceptual nature of dry earth would be really interesting.

On another note, how do you think larger abyssal societies would be structured? I'm not entirely sure they would give up the habit of eating something several times their own body weight if they took up basic husbandry/agriculture. They could get their start by herding large bottom feeders feeding on marine snow, and being forced to eat one only once every few weeks or so because of how long it takes to breed them. From there they could organize into larger, more complex societies than simply scavenging groups of about a dozen or so.

So what would such a society be like? How would it be structured formed and what kind of beliefs and practices would it have?

>>38307233
Due to the need to wait for food to grow big enough while staring at it and desperately hungry, some sort of asceticism would be appropriate.

>>38306906
>high priest of a prolific death cult suddenly commands them to stop killing and start fish farms
>authorities that fought them are baffled
>turns out an abyssal mermaid found their long-lost sacred dagger
>she's demanding a ridiculous quantity of fish for it

>>38307308
>asceticism
Pretty much this

Abyssal Sentients, knowing only the harshness of nature, will most likely be very patient, methodical and efficient. If they would construct weapons or materials, integrity will most likely be the primary concern, seeing as raw materials are scarce. Similarly, the Abyssals themselves will value old aged and wise Abyssals, rather than strong or charismatic Abyssals, since they know even the strongest creatures in the Abyss are but prey to the deeper, more sinister beings.

Their society will probably reflect this. I dont image kingdoms, towns or even tribes among Abyssal Mermaids. Most likely, it will be lone Mermaids with a particular territory. Maybe a sector of territories would defer to a Wise One, or Old Matriarch, but I dont see any form of serious mingling.

>>38306875
>Horrible deep sea horro emerges from the depths. All she wants is to find a new magic spoon.

Yes, this is my favourite idea as well.
Would be funny if she gets roped into PC hijinks and fighting the Dark Lord of Evil, and all the time she doesn't give a damn about saving the world or whatever, and just wants to get the damn spoon and go home.

Especially if she could've just bought one from the first magic shop but never thought about it (it's a magic item that creates food from nothing. From her point of view that is a thing of immense power, far more impressive, and therefore likely rarer than any magic sword or artefact of doom).

>>38290850
If we're going with the exagerrated fantasy version of the abyss, which is populated entirely by horrible monsters all trying to eat eachother (actually, that would be indistinquishable from the non-fantasy version. The prime difference is that in the fantasy version said horrible monsters are much bigger), then having the abyssal horrorgirl being able to swallow a colossal sea monster would be entirely keeping in with the theme of turning all the worst traits of deep sea fish to eleven.

Plus, I find if funny if a bunch of sailors are telling horror stories of the monsters from the deep, and she responds with
"Oh, I've seen one of those. It was delicious".

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We need more Mermaid write faggotry..

>>38307132
>I am never going to write this, because the dialogue keeps getting sillier and sillier.
Nothing wrong with being silly. The whole concept is probably better suite for a more comedic story anyway.
>He's a sailor who can't sail to save his life
>She's a horrible underwater monster that can swallow a man whole
>Together, the fight crime! Or something

>>38294957
But that is nothing like the deep sea, the deep sea is like a wasteland were nothing but good luck and efficiency keeps you alive. Whale carcass drifts down? Whole ecosystems explode. It I think should be a more mad max or fallout type place.

>>38309205
I'd play Abyssal Mad Max

>>38309205
Mad max Mermaids would be cool as shit.

If any culture developed it would probably be like the fremen from Dune. Small nomadic and conservative family bands. To make it so that larger populations can exist, perhaps some make migrations up and down the vertical column hunting the species that sink deeper during the day to avoid your typical predators like sharks and kraken. You could have two general cultures, a transient migratory group that follows things like squid schools, picking them off when they sink a little to low and another that builds small society outpost around sunken ruins, vents, ships, and mystical beast carcasses. Vent dwellers farm stuff like bacterial slime and tube-worms.

Dating if you had two sentiant sexes would probably be a very different affair than upperdwellers. Anyone of the opposite gender is rare and a child could be a death sentence for everyone you know. Do you have enough food?

>>38305123
I've been trying to by mentioning that their only direct contact with living things from the surface would be relatively enormous, fast and durable predators diving down to feed.

>>38309451
Something like a sperm whale would be terrifying. A giant fast moving beast just explodes down from the heavens moving with speed not seen in the abyss and can scream with such fury it causes physical injury. You probably don't even realize it is noise, your insides just hurt from the wall of sound.

>>38309417
Males were already decided to be nonsapient and merged with the female after mating, the horror stories about it happening to males of different species are PROBABLY not true

>>38309498
The abyssal death god is probably a whale, with a sperm whale as the aspect associated with violent death and a whale carcass as the aspect associated with non-violent death.

>>38309205
Yeah, conforming the fantasy idea of the deep sea as a place filled with horrible sea monsters with reality of it being such a barren place that even relatively small animals have trouble finding food doesn't really work when you think about it.

Personally I'd be willing to handwave it, and make the fantasy abyss both an extremely barren and resource-poor place and filled with colossal sea monsters, even if it makes no scientific sense, because having horrible monsters living in the deep sea just feels "right" thematically.

>>38309498
A spermwhale, or an equivalent creature, would pretty much be the equivalent of the dragon or tarrasque. They're huge, and one of the few creatures capable of regularly crossing the pressure barrier to descend to the depths in their hunt for giant squids.

Hm. Sapient spermwhales waging war againt giant squids? Giant squid are clearly servants of some eldritch god (remember, Cthlhu does not look like an octopus; cephalopods look like him).

>>38295100
>>38295168
I like the idea of some abyssal warlord managing to unit an enormour horde of nearly 50 mermaids in order to launch an invasion to the surface, only to have her plans ruined by a combination of seriously misjudging the scale of things (even if they are stronger than the average surfacer, 50 individuals on surface are less "unstoppable horde" and more "roving band") and due to her "army" getting distracted and wandering of to do other things that don't involve vaging war on the surfacers (there's plenty of food on the surface. Enough that can get some without needing to fight the guys who vastly outnumber you and have ranged weapons. And there's a ton of other weird things there too).

>>38309632
>Personally I'd be willing to handwave it, and make the fantasy abyss both an extremely barren and resource-poor place and filled with colossal sea monsters, even if it makes no scientific sense, because having horrible monsters living in the deep sea just feels "right" thematically.


The realm of giant beast could be just above them, further incentive to not go up.
Abyssals cling to the bottom mud to avoid the demonic beast that scour the up of all things smaller and wage eternal war with each other.

>>38309816
So, essentially we'd have (going from surface down)

"Normal" ocean, home to fish, whales and other typical things you expect to see in the ocean.
The Depths, home to the various mythical sea monsters. Probably real life equivalent of the "twlight zone" of the oceans.
The Abyss, mostly empty and resource poor place, which also contains horrible monsters, but much smaller ones.
Possibly Cthulhuworld in the deepest, blackest trenches?

The sea monsters usually fight each other, but occasionally rise to surface or dive into the abyss to hunt. Corpses of dead monsters would probably be very important for the abyssal society, representing not only an enormous source of food, but also shelter and equipment (weapons fashioned from their teeth and bones, and stuff). Sometimes they might even hunt the monsters, but usually the reaction to one descending down to the Abyss is the same as the average surfacer's reaction to a dragon attacking; you run (or swim) away or hide.

>>38309943
>Possibly Cthulhuworld in the deepest, blackest trenches?

On an unrelated note, I prefer my native language's world for submarine trenches. It literally translates to "deep sea graves". That sounds like a place where the corpses of the Old Gods, dead but still dreaming, lay waiting for the stars to be right so that they may live once more and reclaim the world.

Bonus points for most of them being named "grave of X", where X is usually the location (ie. "grave of Marianas"). You could just replace the place name with the name of whatever eldrich horror is buried there.

long ago I was thinking about running a PIrate game.

This thread might give me ideas for the BBEG

>>38309998
What word do you guys use?

I like the idea of Laundry FIles about a treaty forbidding humans go below 2000 meters.

>>38309536
I need this setting in my life

Xenophyovores! Look em up. They're 20 cm amoebas that live on the sea floor.

>>38309943
Exactly

>>38309998
Your language sounds fucking awesome.

>>38309536
Whale carcass would probably be like snake skins, rebirth and reincarnation.

>>38309943
I think that works, too crowded with monsters and the abyss wouldn't seem lonely and desperate enough. For the most part you should be fearing other creepy things that lurk in the inky darkness waiting for you to bumble just a little too close or tricking you into their maws, with the occasional fear of giant leviathan screaming in from the light above and destroying your whole world.

>>38310860
What other sentient races would exist in these bands? I saw above that someone said giant Isopods and that sounds pretty cool. Make them untrustworthy and nuisances since they're just giant roaches. Anything else other than Abyssal Merfolk and Isopods?

>>38295542
wow.

Living and eating isnide a sleeping God|

wow

>>38312144
It's better if it's something the PC has heard of; maybe a mythic monster that their god banished at the beginning of the world, maybe a half brother or sister to the deity the PC worships or their archenemy. Maybe it IS the sleeping god the cultists (or the PCs) worship.

"...so, have you heard of Gruumsh?"
"Yes. Goes well with a side of eel eggs."

>>38311559
Mantis shrimp. Some form of cephalopod. Killer whales. Manatees that farm seagrass. Photic zone merfolk. Maybe some undersea version of eusocial insects. Aboleths.

>>38311559
I liked the idea mentioned earlier that the isopods, being scavengers, would be the ones to loot any cool stuff from shipwrecks and such, which they hoard and trade them with other inhabitants of the abyss for food. Of course they'd probably completely misunderstand the purpose of most items they find, but some of the things could still be useful.

Squid (or vampire squid)) people would also fit. You could actually just adopt the actual evolutionary history of vampire squids for background of the race (millions of years ago, they used to live even in surface waters, but then modern squids and octopuses appearred and took over. Now the only surviving members of the family live in the abyss where normal squids and octopuses can't survive).

And if we're talking specifically DnD, as the resident craapy deep sea guys the Ableths should also make an appearance (also because Aboleths are hella cool. They got racial memories extending almost back to the creation of the world. They remember first gods appearing).

What about the ixitxachitl?

>>38314054
>ixitxachitl
That'd be interesting to add. But they would probably interact with photic merfolk as opposed to the abyssal ones.

Any idea how their names may be? Im not too familiar with any culture that would be 1 to 1 analogous to draw inspiration from.

>>38313253
>Mantis shrimp.
Tropical surface-dweller
>Some form of cephalopod.
Vampyroteuthis Infernalis.
>Killer whales.
Sperm Whales and a few others (e.g. Cuvier's beaked whale) dive to hunt. Killer whales hunty at the surface.
>Manatees
Again, surface dwellers.
>Maybe some undersea version of eusocial insects
Siphonophores, colonies of animals that appear to be a large single creature.

>>38314702
Well, yes. I thought the implication was that we were looking for species to fill in the non-abyss parts of the ocean.

For an abyssal megabeast, how about some sort of vast cnidarian or ctenophore? One that can develop a sort of personality over time a la the Sarlacc from Star Wars, by way of incorporating the minds and memories of the things it eats?

>>38314929
Always a bigger fish...

>>38314627
Since they would live in small groups and have little need to keep records, I doubt they would have family names (proper family names are pretty recent even in European culture). A name would be there just for differentiating individuals, instead of tracing lineage. As such, they might be named after some recognizeable feature or deed. Perhaps earning new names over time. Probably they'd initially just be known as "child of [mother's name]", and get a proper name when they're old enough.
Their names could also be completely different from what people consider names, instead being a specific serie of flashes from their photophores or something.

>>38316233
Makes sense to me, although there'd probably also be a sound component to the language. Photophores only come into play once you're reasonably sure you're not just putting up a "dinner is served" sign.

Trust in general would be a huge deal in the abyss, given the degree to which traps and lures are used to snare prey.

>>38316869
Probably would tie into their xenophobia and insular lifestyles. If you arent immediate tribes members then I can imagine they'd either eat you immediately or hide. They'd probably be really shady and liars.

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I was looking for something else, and when I found this my first thought was for this thread...

>>38317409
Bretty spooky. Though thats what they'd actually look like rather that cute grills that live deep down.

Just had another thought. One of the most terrifying monsters of the deep would be one that used the corpses of its victims as a lure. If you've seen the movie '9', you'll know what sort of thing I'm talking about.

>>38317788
If they could readily go up the pressure layers then thats pretty feasible. They would be pretty smart.

>>38317558
I'd rather them look both creepy and cute

>>38317969
>>38317558
those ones are pretty cute, though.

>>38292323
http://pastebin.com/SB4ck849

One thing that would probably have a big effect on the culture of the abyssal mermaids is the extremely predatory nature of the abyssal ecosystem. On surface hunters usually go after herbivores, but in the abyss, everything is both prey and predator for everything else. The mermaids are preyed on by other abyssal horrors, but also prey on the very same horrors themselves. Depending on circumstances and luck, an encounter with between a mermaid and an abyssal monster will end up with the mermaid dying horribly, or getting a very full belly.

>>38318535
Absolutely. Thats why the would have to live in a set of tribes or bands for safety. This would also have them seeing everything they encounter as both food and threat. Interactions on the surface world or other photic merfolk would be quite interesting since they think so differently from us.

>>38314010
I like the idea of an octopus sub-species

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>>38277831
Did somebody say horrorterror girl?

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>>38292036

All these ideas are so nice, I think I'm going to take them all in case my Rogue Trader PCs ever decide to go to a water planet. If anyone is interested I'll post my 40kifying of them later.

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>relatively large
>thick, beefy tentacles
>jellyfish populations can explode

These things could be used as livestock, or they could be scaled up and become the big smashy ogres of the sea.

Another thing about at least some of the abyssal life: it's old as hell. As in, deep sea vents are a good candidate for the first place life appeared on the planet. In a fantasy setting, you might have some sort of colonial organism that actually remembers the moment of abiogenesis.

>>38320404
Please do.

Although 40K isn't a very interesting setting for this, because the Imperium actually would boil off the planet's oceans if necessary in order to kill any sapient xenos they found there.

>>38321226
Not if the Inquisition finds out that the xeno Abyssal Mermaids can consume the souls of daemons and warp entities without being corrupted, and the process, in fact, destroys the soul, barring the entity from ressurecting

>>38321226
I ran into that as well, but now I have a planet in my setting nailed down for them I can get around it.

It was settled by people back in the Dark Age of Technology, who use the greater technology to adapt partially, evolution doing the rest over the millennia. Late in the great crusade more humans showed up and settled in the shallow ocean, but were promptly forgotten about when the Horus Heresy kicked off. 400 years ago when a Waagh nearby fell apart (already established ingame) some remnants landed on this planet and forced the later colonists into the Abyss and to forge ties with the Abyssals to fight the continuing Ork presence off. Fast forward some stalemate time to let all 3 three factions get used to it and we have a wonderful place for Rogue Traders to stumble upon

>>38321336
While interesting and and keeping in the theme of abyssal horrors from the deep, somehow that rubs me the wrong way.

I don't even play 40k, I'm just really confused

>>38309763
sooo... Squid Girl the RPG?

>>38321490
I'd play it

>>38321490
She is kind of an abomination when you stop and think about her biology.

>>38317409
>I was looking for something else
you don't need to lie we won't judge you

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>>38321490
>>38321680
You're just jelly your puke doesn't tase good like hers.

>>38321730
I'm not jealous I just want to make out with her

>>38321353
here we go, remember its adapted for my game so your millage may vary

History/Background: It is unknown whether this species is in fact abhuman and not xenos, but the only working theory that has been pieced together by their human counterparts is as follows and is based upon the large and ancient metal structures the resemble old human starships and buildings that are now abandoned metal shells. When the planet was first settled in the Dark Age of technology the inhabitants directly modified themselves to be like this, the reasons why range from hiding from enemy’s among the stars to a simple want to be this way. Isolated and alone they fully developed into the current form and culture we see today. Later during the Emperor’s Great Crusade new settlers arrived and lived in the higher levels of ocean, relative isolation and the breaking out of the Horus Heresy prevented them from ever being recorded in the great annuls of planetary records and after their first landing never saw support from the Imperium again. Forced to abandon their ships the new colonists scavenged them for all of their parts and set up permanent residence in higher levels of the ocean. Nearer the present day, approximately 400 years ago, parts of the remains of Waagh Smashtooth landed and began to wage war against the long isolated colonists. Forced back by the warlike nature of the Orks and their complete lack of preparation for a fight the colonists were slowly forced deeper down and out of their homes. It is here deep in the ocean they learned the rumours of something living deep in the Abyss’ were not false, quickly forgeding strong ties due to the common enemy assaulting them from above. Currently the remains of the more human population live in dug out or natural caves, using large submarine craft and their crafted pressure armour to survive in the deep while setting up deep-water farms and raiding the Ork invaders above alongside the Abyssals.

>>38322066
Physiology/Appearance: Abyssals have a humanoid upper body and a fish like lower body. That is where the similarities to the old sailor’s tales from pre-history cease, though. Abyssals have a slimy, leathery skin that is devoid of color and slightly transparent in nature, allowing their veins, arteries and even some internal organs or bones to be seen through their incredibly pale skin. Their tails are usually long and serpentine and can reach up to 4 meters long in the case of those that manage to survive. The most notable difference, however, is the face. Abyssals have large unblinking eyes and extremely wide mouths filled with needle-like backwards-pointing teeth to shred flesh and swallow struggling prey. They are able to unhinge their jaw at will, and often will in order to swallow something many times what they seem capable of. Their tongue is a long and muscled tendril topped with a large hooked spike that is used to spear prey and drag it into their mouth for consumption. Motion of this tongue is almost faster than the eye can see, but retracting it is much slower. This rarely matters however as the harpoon like nature of the tongue means very little prey escapes once it has been stabbed. Even to those used to seeing them and interacting it is very difficult to tell the difference between males and females through physiology and instead rely on cultural or subtle behavioral cues they have picked up over many years, even with instruction newcomers have no chance of correctly identifying between the two. Learning by experience and trial and error is the only way to ever be sure. In the deep abyss life is also full of constant scarcity, the concept of saving food for later is impossible for them to understand. They have a compulsive need to eat all food in front of them they find impossible to resist, and their digestive system is incredibly efficient to match.

>>38322084
Technology/Culture: Although just as intelligent as baseline humans, Abyssals are pragmatic and their tools very rarely are more complex than tools carved from the bones of large animals. Their culture is matriarchal in nature, with males very rarely rising above laborers. Large societies have only begun to develop with the growth of human deep-water farms, but even then they are rarely larger than a small village or town. These settlements are anything but what humans expect though, and are more like a large tribe of wanderers who hang out in a certain area rather than any organized society. Names are often unimportant or disregarded, only used when someone does something important or special. Their language is complex and made of several components that make it impossible for machines or regular humans to understand. For the purposes of communicating with humans they use a simplified version of sign language for the most part, although a select few Abyssals practice speaking Gothic by bobbing their head out of the water to speak before ducking back down.

>>38322108
Combat/Tactics: The Abyssals very rarely fight in pitched battles, and even then only with the support of their human allies. They prefer ambush predation to hunt when not fed by humans, very usually swallowing other animal’s whole. When battling with the Orks humans will often set up long gun lines and pick apart Ork forces with small Harpoon firing weapons. When the Orks inevitably reach human lines Abyssals will often ambush them to engage in melee combat while humans move back to support them from range. Their long piercing tongues and teeth prove to be excellent weapons for dismembering Orks when combined with the quickness they move while underwater. This is one of the few times you will see an Abyssal move quickly, and even then only because of the guaranteed source of food defeated foes represent. Wise to the danger of explosives and knives, Abyysals will take care to kill and carefully dismember their foes before gorging themselves in a grand feast.

>>38322142
Just to explain a few things. I changed their appearance and sexual characteristics to make them better fit as an abhuman and so I dont need to explain how I got this from a thread about monstergirls, and the orks are a pre-existing faction with an affinity for underwater and the surgery required to implant re-breathers. Good luck to anyone that wants this, my style of GM notes is a little odd sometimes

Thread is archived and autosaging. Time to bail out before it sinks into 4chan's own abyss.

>>38322304
Maybe they'll be another, you never know. This one seemed rather popular and long lived

>>38322386
I'd be up for that

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So would you find more agrarian societies around things like hot water vents and brine lakes?