Deep in the waters of the Great Sea, at least three intelligent races – merpeople, marine sorceresses and nereids – thrive together forming an advanced yet peaceful civilization. This society is separate from that of the vodyanoy and the two sometimes clash against each other.
History[]
Although the origins of the three races are shrouded in mystery, they certainly track back centuries before the arrival of Nordlings in the 8th century, as the merpeople and nereids were already found in the sea.[1]
The appearance of the nature-loving Aen Seidhe had a significant impact on the Great Sea races, who based their melodic language on the elven Elder Speech.[2] They fought humans on occasion but by the 1250s began to shun from contact with the surface-dwellers.[2]
Society[]
Structure of the society[]
A nereid relaxing
The underwater society and culture are said to be less developed than those of the land dwellers, suggesting a kind of anarchist community.[3] The merepeople seem to be the most prominent race,[2] while the nereids guard the sea from threats.[3] They appear to have liberal views when it comes to homosexual or non-monogamous relationships, at least amongst the merfolk.[2]
The role analogous to Nordling and Nilfgaardian magic users is occupied by so-called sea witches, the fucusyas. These marine sorceresses are highly esteemed by other inhabitants of the sea and are reportedly more skilled than human mages in terms of mutating or transforming living creatures: they can change a human into mereperson or otherwise without effort which would occur when a human mage similarly attempted the procedure.[2]
Military[]
The inhabitants of the Great Sea seem to rarely use weapons and rely on the help of sharks, dolphins, hippocampi and gargantuan krakens in battle.[2] Tritons are often trained to use tridents in combat.[3] Their most common enemy are vodyanoy, but sometimes they clash with humans when dh'oine damage the sea and its creatures too much.[2]