Marfod
Pronunciation: MAHR-fohd. Grammatically, it is singular, plural, and collective.Created by Entra alongside the Ochae’nafod and Dra’nafod, the Marfod were incarnated with the souls of Nereid, or sea Nymphs. Due to their water affinity, both Nereids and Marfod are aligned with Maris as well as Entra.
Location and Abodes
The Marfod inhabit the warmer oceans of Aserra, found usually where there is a rich variety of plant and animal life. They don’t really have homes, but keep their meager belongings in caches in rocks or coral. To sleep, they often find a comfortable hidden area in forests of kelp, caves, or coral reefs. They cannot survive outside of the water for more than an hour or so, but sometimes they may visit the surface briefly.
Appearance and Garb
Marfod have a similar beauty to their other Nafod cousins, but their bodies and skin have evolved to better suit their aquatic environment. They still have a humanoid form with two legs, though their fingers and toes are webbed. They have fin-like ridges along their forearms and sides of their legs, and gills on along the ribcage. Their skin is usually a greenish or bluish shade, but they can change their skin color at a whim for camouflage. They have slender, lithe bodies, as well as the usual long, tapered ears of most elemental races. Their hair color ranges through shades of blue to green, but their eyes can be blue, green, gold, orange, or violet. Marfod wear little to no clothes. When they are clothed, it is often little more than a kelp sash or other adornments.
Lifespan and Reproduction
Marfod are incredibly long-lived, often living for thousands of years. Like other elemental races, they do not appear to age after the age of twenty-five. They age at the same rate as humans until the age of twenty-five, at which point apparent aging ceases, though they may eventually take on a more ageless appearance. Apparent aging continues several decades before their eventual death.
Female Marfod have the longest periods between reproductive cycles of all of Aserra’s races, only being fertile for one year out of every hundred. Women are very deliberate about child-bearing, and but individuals differ in their interest for childbearing. Some women may seek to bear a child once every century, while others are content with just one or two throughout the course of their lives. Considering the long periods between fertility, siblings rarely know each other.
The Marfod are a solitary race, and prefer to live on their own. From time to time, they may seek companionship with other Marfod or Mariel, and are pleasant to others they meet, but they do not stay in the presence of others for very long. Romances are limited to brief affairs that are quickly abandoned. If a woman wishes to bear a child, her male partner will remain with her only so long as it takes to confirm a successful pregnancy.
The Marfod are a predominantly female race, with females outnumbering males ten to one. Males are often drifters, while females maintain territories. Men will take a mate when they can, but if no Marfod women will have them, they will indulge in companionship with Mariel. Bisexuality in both genders is also quite common, but it never interferes with reproduction (ie; a male who indulges in the companionship of other males will not turn down a female who wishes to have his child). With the high female population, Marfod women will sometimes have short affairs with women or men they come across to sate sexual desires. Men who cross paths with other men also will readily take each other as temporary lovers. Though solitary, they are also rather lustful... but they don’t always care to see that person the next morning.
Diet, Agriculture, and Hunting
Marfod gather a variety of raw foods from the ocean, plant or animal.
Religion
The Marfod follow Entra and Maris equally, and because of this, Maris has adopted them as one of her races and granted them Water Elementalism. Entra has not limited their Life Elementalism because of this split faith. The Marfod serve their goddesses through stewardship of the seas, and spiritual communion.
Magic and Abilities
The Marfod are powerful elementalists with command of Water and Life Elementalism. With their long lives, they often master both forms of magic. Telepathy and precognition are also common abilities amongst them.
Their shape-shifting is limited to camouflage, and is much like the camouflage abilities of the octopus. To hide, they can change the color and texture of their skin to match their surroundings.
Personality
Calm, wise, and passive, the Marfod are typically pleasant company. However, one should not expect to make a lifelong friend of a Marfod. They do not care for the companionship of others for extended periods of time and much prefer their solitude in the long run. They do have a dark side, though. In their duties to Entra and Maris, they can be cruel to sailors that threaten their area of ocean either by overfishing, whaling, or otherwise disrupting the native life. Marfod may sink ships and drown men if they provoke their wrath.
Relations
The only other race they really have interactions with is the Mariel, with whom they are on good terms with. Otherwise, the only other race they have much contact with is humans, whom they are rarely fond of. Humans throw waste into the ocean, devastate sea life populations, and damage coral reefs with their vessels, but are often completely oblivious to the damage they do. Marfod do their best to discourage human passage in certain areas.
Play-ability
Marfod can only be played in ocean based RPs, and should be limited due to their low population and potential power.
