The Finfolk

The Finfolk, also known as the Arragousset, are a race of Faerie merfolk native to the Mor Marv

Basic Information

Anatomy

Both finmen and finwives are generally the size and basic shape of humans, possessing two arms, eyes and ears. Finmen have two legs, covered in scales, while finwives either have a fish-like tail or scale-covered legs, depending on their age and if they have drained their glamour. The hands of both genders end in long sharp claws and their mouths are full of sharp pointed teeth in their natural forms.

Genetics and Reproduction

Finfolk can breed with each other or their unlucky human captives, generally producing numerous children.

Growth Rate & Stages

Finfolk hatch from broods of eggs and grow quickly, similar to the development cycle of frogs. The nature of their parentage does not appear to matter as the end results are the same. Upon retreat maturity, they leave to establish their own lairs or violently kill their parents and take over the lair of their birth. Finwives begin life with mermaid-like tails, using their glamour to appear as beautiful mermaids. As their glamour runs out, they become uglier and uglier, their tails splitting painfully into two legs. A finwife can replenish her glamour draining the lifeforce from her spouse, but must do so before losing her tail. These glamour-less finfolk are called finwife hags and are generally seen as the lowest in their society. As such, Finwives are often obsessed with finding mates as soon as possible and by any means necessary. As they near this loss of glamour, they become increasingly violent, aggressive and erratic.

Ecology and Habitats

Finfolk reside primarily in two places within Faerie. In the winter, they inhabit the underwater wonderland of Finfolkaheem, full of crystal palaces, lit by brilliantly coloured phosphorescent sea-plants in lush gardens and luminescent sea-life. The colours of the city shift with the currents, its unnatural beauty in stark contrast to the nature of its inhabitants. In the summer, they reside on the fog-shrouded island of Hildaland, a forbidding, half-submerged outcropping of razor-sharp cliffs and flooded caves, from which raids are launched. When raiding, finmen men travel in ships, surrounded by finwives traveling by their own power.

Dietary Needs and Habits

The typical Finfolk diet consists largely of fish, seabirds, and other aquatic animals, usually consumed raw. They also have been known to devour one another or their human spouses, once the victim is drained of mana or produces a brood of eggs.

Biological Cycle

Finfolk use their glamour to strengthen their magical power or appear beautiful, but lack the necessary magical connection to draw from leylines or other sources. Instead, they must drain it from their unfortunate spouses, human or finfolk. Without it, they age rapidly, physically aging the equivalent of 7 years in 1 year.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Status is determined by the size of a Finfolk's silver hoard. They will occasionally attempt to steal from each other to increase their own holdings, usually ending in the death of one of them. There is very little social cohesion among the Finfolk and most operate alone outside of the occasional raid.

Domestication

Occasionally, an unlucky slaver will mistake a glamoured Finfolk for a selkie or Marie-Morgane. Subsequently the glamour is lost and their true hideous forms are revealed or they begin to devour their "master's" household. These have led to a false assumption that the Marie-Morgane share this nature.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Some attempts to make use of parts of the Finfolk have been made, but only one has been successful. Finfolk tears are a deadly poison, capable of killing a mortal or even a sidhe in gruesome agony.

Facial characteristics

In their true forms, Finfolk have milky-white eyes that bulge out of their bloated, fishlike faces, grey skin hanging loose off of their faces or stretched in unnatural directions. Their ears are mangled messes of webbing and cartilage and their mouths are full of rows of sharp teeth.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Native the the Faerie waters of the Far North, Finfolk can be found in any body of salt water, including the Abyss. However, they rarely travel that deep, sticking to the Rim and the Shallows, as they constantly search for human spouses and silver to steal. The Marie-Morgane have greatly reduced their numbers from the Mor Bihan and Ys-Beneath-The-Waves, but they are common everywhere else, both in Faerie and Bedouar.

Average Intelligence

Clever, but stupid, Finfolk are capable of elaborate disguises and crafty plans, but little else. They possess only the most basic of language and have no writing system. Complex invention is a foreign concept to them and they are incapable of long-lasting cooperation.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Finfolk possess exceptionally strong vision and hearing underwater, but are at a disadvantage out of the water.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

The Finfolk abduct Humans as mates, but this is more out of preference than necessity, as Finfolk loathe each other's company and feel that humans are a "fresher" source of magical power.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Finfolk rarely bother with names, preferring short and basic descriptors if forced to use them.

Beauty Ideals

The ideal finwife (in her glamoured form) appears as a beautiful woman with long blonde hair and perfect, pale skin. There is no variation in this among the Finwives, leading to them possessing an eerie, identical appearance. Those not under their spell who have encountered multiple glamoured finwives describe it as deeply unsettling, an uncanny wrongness permeating their expressions and mannerisms.

Gender Ideals

Finmen value wealth above all else, and status is determined by their horde of silver. Finwives obsess over their beauty, spending vast amounts of mana to maintain their glamour. In a partner, the value youth and virility, but both genders generally treat their spouse with the same cruel detached abuse.

Courtship Ideals

Literally none. Victims are unceremoniously and forcefully captured and imprisoned in an underwater lair.

Relationship Ideals

The Finfolk assume that their spouse exists only to serve them as servants, offsping-makers, magical power stores and occasionally, food. The species of their spouse does not matter and the experience is horrific for the victim. Finfolk "couples" are always heterosexual.

Average Technological Level

Negligible, relying on stolen objects and weapons. The one exception is their magical ships, capable of traveling underwater as well as on the surface and crossing any body of water in 7 strokes, making them faster than even the great ships of the Tuatha de Danaan.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

The Finfolk speak a badly corrupted version of Gaelic, making no attempt to learn the language of their captive husbands and wives.

Common Etiquette Rules

None.

Common Dress Code

When the Finfolk wear clothing it rarely amounts to much more than tattered rags. Their glamour can make it appear more luxurious than it is. The one exception is silver jewelry, which they covet.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

The culture of the finfolk is centered around maintaining their glamour and acquiring spouses and silver. They have little interest in anything else.

Common Taboos

Socially, very little is forbidden among the finfolk, who casually participate in murder, theft, rape and cannibalism. However, they are under several ere-hud: Silver - Finfolk are obsessed with silver, to the point they will abandon chasing a potential captive to collect the metal. This is largely due to greed, but is reinforced with a minor ere=hud. The Exalted Sun - A powerful saint placed a strong curse on the Finfolk, causing them to shrink away from the holy symbol the the Southern Church, the Exalted Sun. This symbol is often painted on the bottom of fishing ships, protecting them from attack. However, the same symbol may attract the wrath of the Marie-Morgane, who have no love for the Church that attempts to exterminate them. Iron - Like most fae, Cold Iron is deadly to the magical finfolk Glamour - Finfolk gluttonously use glamour to maintain the illusion of beauty, but cannot naturally replenish it, instead draining it from other lifeforms with whom they form a spousal contract.

History

The Finfolk have been found on Beduoar since the Tearing of the Great Veil, but are presumably much older than that. They do not record their own history, but other races, mostly the Cecaelia and more recently the Marie-Morgane, track their exploits, which remain largely unchanged since they began.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

The Formoriians - The Formoriians often use the finfolk for amphibious attacks on the Tuatha de Danaan or human settlements, offering them rewards of silver and prisoners. This relationship is purely mercenary, and the two groups have little contact elsewhere. Finfolk occasionally make port at Tevenn Du. The Sidhe - The Sidhe have no direct relationship with the Finfolk, regarding them with a mix of contempt and disinterest. Humanity - Humanity lives in fear of the Finfolk and actively guards against them. Humans are often captured as spouses to the Finfolk and human settlements are raided. Other Merfolk The Marie-Morgane - The mermaids of Ys-Beneath-The-Waves despise the finfolk and kill any they encounter, finding them to be cannibalistic barbarians and a threat to their kind. They find the abduction of humans by the Finfolk abhorrent to the Courtship, an important cultural touchstone of the species, as well as being a form of slavery, which they revile. Furthermore, the finwives often confuse humans, making them even more hostile to the Marie-Morgane than they already are. The finwives are jealous of the Marie-Morgane's ageless beauty, and attack them on sight. The Marie-Morgane's Ere-hud protects them from having to endure becoming the wives of Finmen, as any attempt to mate leads to the Finman dissolving into foam. The Selkies - The peaceful Selkies live in fear of the Finfolk and will go to great lengths to avoid them. If caught, they are taken as spouses or eaten. However, unlike humans, if they can recover their sealskin, they have a chance at escape. The Cecaelia - Occasionally a finfolk attempts to attack an Edgewatcher. They do not live to regret it.

Lifespan

The lifespan of a finfolk varies greatly depending on success of acquiring a mate (and therefore a source of mana for their glamour. With a constant source of glamour, Finfolk can live indefinitely, although their violent lifestyle often cuts this short.

Conservation Status

The Finfolk are incredibly numerous, having no natural predators and a high rate of reproduction. Able to isolate themselves in Faerie, the races of Bedouar have a difficult time in significantly reducing their numbers.

Average Physique

The Finfolk are the physically strongest of the merfolk, with the exception of the Storm-Maids.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

In their true forms, Finfolk are vile shades of greenish grey, sickly yellows and pale, mottled browns. They do possess markings and patterns on their scales.