What Are Your Merfolk Doing Today 2.0

The Dawn and Dusk of the Sea Witches

My two evil sea witches are on a divergent path. One is finding the light again while the other is diving deeper into darkness. One has love in his life and the other sacrificed all hope for love to pursue his own ambitions.

Damion lost his glowing pink eyes. They haven't changed back to the sea green they were before.

Caleb definitely noticed the change in his husband, and I think he's happy that Damion is starting to go back to how he was when they first met.

Camilo, on the other fin, is diving deeper into the darkness after catching the wrong Blue Tail Guardian. His eyes are more sunken-in and his human form can no longer hide his shark teeth.

Merfolk in my story are born from the expression of love and song. Caleb and Damion Vatore ended up a bit lovestruck, and after exchanging a Charmer's Lullaby, they now have a son. 

Lucien Vatore is a newly born merling. He has Caleb's tail and takes after Damion a bit. Lucien definitely didn't inherit Damion's Darkness, but he will give Damion a reason to swim toward the light again.

When I originally did the random generation for their child they had a son. It might not be until the third generation that I can start randomly generating the children again. Been trying to stick to what was to some extent.

That's it for the teaser so far. I'm debating on how the story will progress. Right now, Camilo has the Orange Tail Guardian and caught the wrong Blue Tail Merman. I am debating on whether or not he will continue to pursue the Blue Tail Guardian, Alex Zalrian, hunt down Anas, the Green Tail Guardian, or maybe seek out the Red and Yellow Tail Guardians. There's always a possibility that he might disrupt the peace for Damion, the Purple Tail Guardian. Chapter 4 will lead into a crossroads so there is a lot to think about.

I wanted to show off a couple of my CAS creations for merfolk. There are more CAS creations I want to share, but for now, I want to share representations of my stories Reef Merfolk, the benevolent variant, alongside a representation of my Deep-Sea Merfolk, the Malevolent Variant. 

The Reef Merfolk

Uses CC from Spinning Plumbob, These merfolk have extremely simple designs and use the lease amount of accessories and apparel. In relation to Merfolk lore and mythology, they are your typical handsome/beautiful merfolk that are most likely to help humans. In my story, they are the merfolk that are most likely encountered in shallower waters and prefer to live near reefs. Humans blame them for the harm caused by Deep Sea Merfolk because they are the merfolk humans are more likely to encounter. It would be incredibly unusual for any Reef Merfolk to actively try to harm humans.

The Deep-Sea Merfolk

Uses CC from Spinning Plumbob and Serinion. These merfolk have more fish-like qualities, fins along their back and arms, sharp teeth, and webbed hands with claws. When they get older, their eyes have a glow to them and scales form along their face. These are the merfolk that actively harm humans, but are rarely seen by humans because they spend a lot of time in the dark depths of the sea and underwater caves. They often disappear into the depths before humans notice them. Consequently, Reef Merfolk near the surface take the blame for the harm they cause humans.

Bonus: Merfolk from Disney's Atlantica

A random mermaid I created, Prince Eric as a merman, Gabriella and Urchin from the TV Series, and Stevie from Ariel's Beginning. I wanted to focus on merfolk that are more unknown. Some examples of inspiration were: a "what if" scenario, a Disney Merman that appears as a side character, and the merboy that disappears from Ariel's story outside of the tv series. Gabriella was also a side character from the TV series that disappeared from Ariel's Story as well. Since Ariel and many of the mermaids from the Little Mermaid tend to be more well known and get more screen time in the movies and tv show, I excluded them.

While doing bug tests, I saw Lir trying to act like a human. So, I wanted to test the Revelation Hex Sea Witch spell on him.

He turned back into a merling, but I did learn that he didn't lose his shirt when he transformed. It could possibly be the result of child merfolk not having a merform like teens and up do. Still, it was a nice detail.

Still not a fan of things clipping through the tail.

One of the attributes of merfolk that appears very frequently in lore is their attractive appearance. Mermen tend to be handsome, and Mermaids tend to be Beautiful.

There are instances of merfolk appearing more ugly and monstrous though.

An idea that flickered in my mind was to do a separate save where I would see how many generations it takes to get rid of exaggerated and strange genetics in a mer. 

I’m thinking this could be a fun save that wouldn’t conform to my story. The mer that turns out looking the most beautiful/handsome would be added to my story save later.

 also looking for an excuse to play with infants.

Any thoughts? How should I handle the genetics? Like, should I allow myself to change their hair or not?

For this, if anyone is interested in following these updates, I’d like to sorta let others suggest things.

I found a new pose player that works with Spinning Plumbob's Expanded Mermaid Mod.

Dylan Zalrian

I can definitely imagine Dylan aloft with admiration of his own tail. He's always been a bit of an air head. I remember when Zeph habitually hacked into the Landgrab Bank Accounts and etc. I saw Dylan walk in on his twin hacking with a plate of food completely unphased by what he saw. Was kinda funny, but it convinced me that Dylan really isn't the most observant mer.

Zephyr Zalrian

I definitely imagine that Zephyr has some eye-roll moments with his twin around.

Like, I imagine him thinking: 'Not again.'

The two of them are super close, and I've never had them separated for very long. If I'm being honest, I don't think they would ever want to be separated.

I also played around with a couple more poses for a later chapter. I might end up redoing a scene or adding to a chapter I have planned.

Alex showing his brothers he lost his voice.

Dylan's expression: 'Oh no.'

Zephyr's Expression: 'You didn't do what I think you did?'

Dylan's Expression: 'He did. This isn't good.'

Zephyr goes into planning mode. I definitely imagine he would pick up on his twin and start thinking about what to do.

And as soon as Zeph has his plan figured out, I can definitely see the twins being in complete sync. Naturally, Zeph's plan might involve a bit of mischief.

The Little Merman Arc: Chapter 1: The Shadow of the Sea Witches

The Little Merman Arc: Chapter 2: Swimming to Zalia Grottos

Currently working on transferring Chapter 3 so I can begin the newest chapter. Chapter 2 has had more significant updates after transferring it to my story thread here. I recommend reading it again if you already did.

The Little Merman Arc: Chapter 3: Life's Full of Tough Choices

The final chapter has been transferred from the EA Help Forums. Tonight I will begin working on Chapter 4.

From Simmireen  and The Serenade of Shadows

I found poses that I could use to help Alex express himself despite being mute. I'm undecided if he will get his voice back. The most important thing to consider for the story is that Alex can go on land because he gave up his voice and getting it back would also cause him to lose his ability to take human form.

Until Alex is ready to give up being on land, he's going to remain without his voice, but I still want him to be able to express himself and display his thoughts.

Sorry, I think I'm hitting an image limit. This could be a bit of a concern.

Anyways, here are the other expressions I found for Alex.

Poses by Whimsyalien

I'm still pose hunting. I'm trying to find poses used for human sims that can be used for merfolk. The problem I've noticed with merfolk is that not all poses for humans are incompatible with merfolk, but the poses that are usually have a weird effect on the tail. I was able to find some things close to what I was looking for, but I couldn't find something that fit perfectly. With some help, I might've found ways to make things work better. Depending on if it solves the problems I noticed, I'll share a link to that mod.

Main issues:

1. The fins clip through the sims.
2. Sim hands clip through the tail.
3. The tails bend funny.
4. Poses make sims stand on the water.

So the hunt continues.

I also want to find a wider representation of situations.