Now, before I get into the Hallowedspell rules to Sirens, lets look at legend. Unfortunately, these facts I gleaned from research all over the internet and from books, and no, I'm sorry I don't have the sources cited. Just know this is stuff gathered....
Random (Historical) Mermaid Facts
Mermaid/siren
legends are a worldwide phenomenon. This probably has to the do with the fact
that two thirds of the world is covered with water, and anciently, oceangoing
was a lonely and dangerous venture. Mermaids have inhabited freshwater and
saltwater and are often seen as beautiful, frequently friendly, but also
incredibly dangerous.
The first
recorded mermaid is the Syrian goddess Atargatis, who apparently had fallen in love with a mortal
and then accidentally killed him. In her misery she flung herself into the sea,
hoping to become a fish, but merely became half-fish. Since then there have
been found several other half fish-half human folk. Not all of them are the
same, but most have similar qualities.
It is important
to note that sirens of Greek mythology are not in fact fish women at
all. They were actually half-woman half-bird, daughters of the river god
Achelous. They were cursed into their present forms as punishment for not
saving Persephone from Hades. Since that time, as recorded in the Odyssey, they
have used their beautiful voices to enchant sailors so they could drown them
and eat them. But because the Europeans who adopted Greek myths into their
legends did not have so many bird-women in their legends, sirens later were
depicted as mermaids rather than like harpies.
Mermaid legends
around the world
Atargatis—the Syrian goddess, assumed by some to be the predecessor to Aphrodite.
Ben-varry—a fish tailed
woman, usually benevolent, from the Isle of Man.
Ceasg—(pronounced
kask or kee-ask) Scottish mermaid which is half-grilse (salmon)
half-woman. If you catch one, she has the power to grant 3 wishes in exchange
for her release. They inhabit lakes and waterways. It is not known if men that
are taken by them are drowned or just taken away as mates. Male offspring with
humans end up becoming excellent sailors.
Havfrue—Scandanavian
mermaid—which means it has long golden hair that it loves to comb. They live
both in freshwater and sea water. She is a bad omen, not only to fishermen but
also of storms. Temperamental, they also could foretell the future. Their men
have black or green hair, are rarely seen, but are often helpful to humans.
Lampeqinuwok—of the Native
American Maliseet are water sprites, some with fish tails and some without. If
anyone steals their magical garments, they become their servants/wives. They
are able to create a large feast from a small morsel of food.
Lorelei—a water
spirit that lives in the Rhine who is known to tempt men with song to crash men
on the rocks. The Lorelei rock on the Rhine is named after her.
Melusine—a medieval
twin-tailed mermaid. Such as the one on the Starbucks coffee logo.
Merrow—Irish
mermaid. Both males and females have long fish tails and they have a history of
intermarrying with humans. The women are famously beautiful, but the men are
weird looking. They are green skinned and have red eyes, and supposedly pig
ears.
Merrymaid—what the
Cornish call mermaids. Described as
capricious, they sometimes save sailors, and sometimes help them drown.
Nereids, which are
Greek female sea nymphs, and Tritons, which are male fish men, named
after Poseidon’s son, Triton.
Ningyo—Japanese
human-headed fish. It is said their tears become pearls, and to eating their
flesh can give you immortality. Sighting a ningyo is an omen of pending war.
Oannes—Babylonian
merman that predates Atargatis by several thousand years. He is usually
depicted as having a bearded head with a crown and a body like a man, but from
the waist downwards he has the shape of a fish covered with scales and a tail,
according to C.J.S. Thompson in his book “The Mystery and Lore of Monsters”.
Paakinwat—know as
waterbabies by Western Native American tribes, such as the Shoshone and the
Paiute. They inhabit springs, ponds and streams. They sometimes have fish tails
but most look like human babies and are omens of death.
Rhine Maidens—From Germany, mentioned Wagner’s operas Der
Ring des Nibelungen, water sprites like the Lorelei. Nixies who live in the
Danube and are seen as benevolent.
Sabawaelnu—known as the Halfway People—of the Native
American Mi’kmaq, are half-fish half-human. The have power over storms.
Selkie—Celtic, from
Orkney, are seal people who can take off their skins and walk on land. The
males are famous for seeking affairs with women, unmarried and married alike.
Their children with human have webbed fingers.
Suvannamacch—Hindu mermaid
princess described in the Ramayana who attempted to deter Hanuman from helping
Rama save Sita. She is the daughter of
the demon Ravana.
Vatea—Polynesian
goddess that was half human, half porpoise. Some legends say that humans in
fact were once mermaids and mermen.
Historical Mermaid
Sightings
There is a
story about a mermaid in the 1600’s that made it into Holland through a dike
and got injured in the process. Story has it, she stayed there in a nearby lake
and was nursed back to health. She learned Dutch, and became a productive
citizen, including converting to Catholicism.
Sailors long
at sea are the most famous for sighing mermaids. Even Christopher Columbus’s
crew claimed to have spotted mermaids though said they weren’t as beautiful as
painted. Some claim his sailors were drunk and took manatees as mermaids.
Captain John
Smith of the famous Pocahontas legend said he saw a mermaid. He said she had
long green hair and a short nose, and well-formed ears that were also described
as too long (which to me is a paradox). And, of course, the idiot said he
started to fall in love despite the fact that her hair was green.
Henry Hudson
recorded a mermaid sighting near Russia. Two of his crew members had spotted it
then called for everyone to see. He said it had the tail of a dolphin and was
speckled like a mackerel.
In 1943, during
WWII, Japanese soldiers claimed to have seen mermaids on the shores Indonesia. They
said the mermaid was pinkish with spikes along its head and a mouth like a
carp.
Some
Zimbabwe construction workers claimed to have been harassed by mermaids when they
attempted to put in water pumps for the construction of a dam. Because of this
the workers refused to return to the dam projects. ;)
In Kiryat
Yam, Israel there is a one million reward for the person who can find
conclusive footage capturing a real mermaid, because apparently there are
numerous mermaid sightings there.
Mermaid Hoaxes
The most famous mermaid hoax was done by P.T. Barnum who famously said,
“There’s a sucker born every minute.” In the 1840’s he put on display what was
known as the “Feejee Mermaid”. People paid 50 cents hoping to see a long limbed
fish-tailed beauty. But what they got to see was a pieced together, dried up
corpse made up of a monkey head, torso, and arms and a fish bottom. At the
time, it fooled many.
Modern day Mermaids:
There are several mermaid performance
groups around the world. In Florida there are women who moonlight on weekends
as mermaids called the Weeki Wachee Mermaids. It’s a paid job where they
perform synchronized swimming and other water shows.
Here are more mermaid performance artists if
you are interested: http://www.mermaidtales.net/
Custom made mermaid tails can be
purchased.
On the net, mermaid tails can be found for
sale, from simple flippers in swimsuit cloth at about $30, to silicone tales
custom made for about $3,000. A sample:
http://www.finfunmermaid.com/
https://themertailor.com/silicone-mermaid-tail
There are more sites than this. Google it.
Now....
In the Hallowedspell universe
"Sirens" are a breed of merfolk that live in the Mediterranean Sea, vain and often mischievous. Usually only the women surface to mess with sailors, though occasionally the men have been known to surface, travel European beaches to tempt women into affairs. Some traits of Hallowedspell sirens:
- Not really out to kill humans, but more not caring if humans die during their ‘fun’.
- Their voices can influence members of the opposite sex.
- They do have webbed hands and feet, can be scaly but most often just wet.
- They have gills for breathing underwater.
- They can influence water, and if angered, they can drown a person on dry land by bringing water into their victim.
- Their origins are hazy. Some SRA hunters consider them actually to be a breed of demon though others assume they are water elves.
So, just for the record.
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