Merpeople

### Distinction

* Are physically similar to humans only with a fish tail in place of legs and endowed with Merpeople Powers

The **Merpeople**, also known as **Water Spirits** in ancient tales, are legendary creatures with fish tails from the waist-down, whereas their upper half resembles that of a human. They are also known as the legends of which go back more than 3,000 years ago.

## Story

### Main Canon

In ancient times, the first Moon Pool located at the heart of Mako Island became the magical source of hundreds of Southern mermaids and mermen who took refuge and came to live on its reef. Mermaids also started carving the Moon Rings out of blue moonstones found in the caves where Moon Pools are located and use them for healing what potions cannot, enhance the natural world for camouflage, grant them human form, and amplify their inherent magical powers.

Because of the entire merkind race being granted their magical abilities and the capacity of amplifying them hundreds of times, the mermaids across the seas honor the Full Moon in a ceremony since then due to being magically gifted with extraordinary powers by Moon Pools since ancient times. Only mermaids who graduate Mermaid School in their respective pods, given a Moon Ring, and are initiated in their pod can join their pod in the sea and attend the ceremony.

Eons later, during the Shang Dynasty, a Chinese Mermaid of the Eastern Pod fell in love with a land boy. Another pod heard of this and punished the mermaid and her pod by casting a spell to turn the land boy into a Water Dragon, capable of permanently stripping a merperson of their magic and transforming them into a human being, and of killing merpeople. The Chinese mermaid used the Jiao Long Bracelet to undo the spell on her lover and return him to his human form.

Eons later, around the 11th Century A.C., an army of mermen carried the Trident in battle and behaved in a destructive manner and seized the Mako Island from the Mako Pod. During this time, an unnamed merman (that was Zac's ancestor) built a chamber on the island with the intention of siphoning the island's Moon Pool's Moon Water, thus the life of every mermaid of the Mako Pod. The merman who built the chamber fell in love with a mermaid and decided not to activate it, and instead found ways to invoke peace and stop the war once and for all. Since only a member of that merman's bloodline could activate the chamber, no other merman had been able to use it since then, and it became a lost ruin.

Eventually, mermaids from each of the five oceans defeated the Merman Pod by drawing on the powers of the oceans and locked the trident away in the Trident Cave with one of the kinder mermen's help. After this, mermen pods were disbanded, and from then on all mermen were to be abandoned by their mothers to be raised on land in human foster families with the use of the Legs Spell. The island returned then to the ownership of the Mako Pod after the war had been won. At some point, Nerissa's ancestors moved to the Northern Hemisphere and became members of the Northern Pod. However, there were some cases where merman hatchlings remained with family and some where they are raised by foster parents. Unlike the “human” world, the mermaid world is a matriarchy - female led - so mermen do not have the same power they do in the human world.

The merman who built a Merman Chamber and his mermaid lover then became a royal line of merpeople who ruled the seas and ensured peace between mermen and mermaids after ending the previous war between them. At some point, a royal line of merpeople had died out.

In early 1700s, a young Irish mermaid named Eva used her abilities to save those around her from a comet that was later named after her. Once her work was done, she disappeared, never to be seen again.

In the 1950s, humans Louise Chatham and her friends Julia and Gracie visited Mako Island on the night of a full moon. They entered the Moon Pool under the moon's light and were transformed into mermaids. Soon after, Gracie's lover Max Hamilton learned of their secret. The three of them would experience various hardships as a result, including Julia revealing her secret to the human Karl, who attempted to expose them to the rest of the world. Later, Gracie grew increasingly frustrated with the challenges being a mermaid brought and longed to be human again; at some point in 1957, the Moon of Fifty Years occurred, and she entered Mako's Moon Pool, permanently removing her magic and reverting her to a human state once more. Soon after, she would leave behind Max, Louise, and Julia forever.

Around the 1990s, the powerful Northern mermaid Nerissa had two children: Mimmi, a mermaid, and Zac, a merman. An equally powerful mermaid named Aurora threatened the Northern Pod and later redirected her threat to the Eastern Pod. Fearing for their safety, Nerissa travelled to Australia where she left the older Mimmi with the Mako Pod, where she performed the Tailless Spell to lock infant Zac's powers away and left him in the care of the human Blakely family. She then joined the Eastern Pod and fought alongside them for an unspecified amount of time. Nerissa eventually confronted Aurora alone, and during the battle, Aurora overpowered her and turned Nerissa into a Water Dragon. She forced her to destroy the Eastern Pod by stripping its members' tails and magical powers, turning them permanently into human beings. Seeing no way to defeat the dragon, its remaining members (including a child Weilan and her elderly grandmother) were forced to flee to the mainland of China, and eventually the pod split. After this, Aurora put Nerissa into a deep sleep that would last for the next few decades.

In the late 90s, a nine years old Isabella Hartley enter in the Irish Moon Pool and was transformed into a mermaid, this granted her powers over water like Gelidkinesis and Substanciakinesis. She later found a crystal at the bottom of the Pool, and wore it ever since.

In 2006, humans Cleo Sertori, Emma Gilbert and her new friend Rikki Chadwick get stuck on Mako Island on the night of a full moon. They entered the Moon Pool by the land entrance, when all three of them entered the water, the full moon became aligned with the pool and they were transformed into mermaids, each gifted with one individual power over water with Cleo gaining the power of Hydrokinesis, Emma gaining the power of Hydro-Cryokinesis, and Rikki gaining the power of Hydro-Thermokinesis. Soon after, Lewis McCartney learned of their secret, following by Zane Bennett who was onto them after he almost drown. Few months later, they gave up temporarily their powers by being in the Moon Pool under the Lunar Eclipse and successfully managed to deceive Dr. Linda Denman and her team and get them off their trail after they discovered that they are mermaids, and wanted to exploit their abilities for scientific research and fame. After several months, in 2007, on another full moon, all three girls accidentally get moonstruck. Under its spell, they swim to Mako Island. The Moon Pool enhances their powers due to the Moon of Weather Magic and gives them combined control over the weather, while Cleo gains the power of Aerokinesis, Emma gains the power of full-fledged Cryokinesis, and Rikki gains the power of Pyrokinesis and Electrokinesis.

Few months later, Charlotte Watsford intentionally became a mermaid after becoming aware of her grandmother's past, and as she was alone at the time of her transformation, she received all merpeople powers. However, Charlotte's life as a mermaid didn't last long and during a fight with Emma, Cleo, and Rikki a month later, she was deprived of her tail and her powers were taken by the Moon of Fifty Years, in the same way as her grandmother Gracie.

In 2008, Isabella Hartley arrives at the Gold Coast when Emma Gilbert left with her family to travel around the world. After meeting Cleo, Rikki, and Lewis, they quickly became friends. However, they had to face a Water Tentacle that was originally believed as an enemy, but later, they discover it only wanted to warn them that the Comet Eva was in its way towards Earth, and its destiny was in the mermaids' hands. Bella discovers what the comet was named after, a mermaid named Eva who created the original Tower of Light that could stop it again. However, Sophie Benjamin, Will's sister, Ryan Tate, a geologist, and Zane Bennett were trying to become wealthy by stealing the crystals from the moon pool. The Moon Pool of Mako Island is destroyed, but despite its destruction, the Mako Pod, Cleo, Emma and Rikki (with the exception of Bella, who was transformed in another Moon Pool located at the Irish coast) survives it. Cleo, Rikki, and Bella re-create the Tower of Light and repels the Comet Eva. Between 2009 and 2012, the Moon Pool in Mako Island becomes active and completely repaired, with its magic totally functional again.

By 2013, a pod consisting of over a hundred Southern mermaids lived in the waters of Mako Island. When Sirena, Lyla and Nixie are charged with guarding the Moon Pool during the Full Moon Ceremony, a boy named Zac Blakely fell into the pool by accident and restored his merman self. When the pod found out what happened, they blamed the girls for breaking the rule and cast them out while the rest of the pod fled to the South Pacific where they joined another pod. To correct the problem, the girls broke the rule of using a Moon Ring to go on land, and later the one that forbade singing the Enchantment Song. They then encountered Rita Santos, a mermaid of the pod who had long since found new life on land and asked her to complete their training. In the end, Rita deemed them worthy of having Moon Rings.

With Zac Blakely being a merman, after he returns the Trident to the chamber he becomes a temporary member of the little pod formed by Sirena, Nixie, and Lyla. While Rita doesn't share their adventures, she is considered part of their pod due to her involvement with the girls in guidance and training.

Despite Zac's heroic feats in destroying the Trident, Mako's Mermaid Council still thinks him is an enemy, and not even Sirena could change the minds of two mermaids of the Mako Pod, Ondina, and Mimmi, Zac's sister. Lyla and Nixie leave Mako with the rest of the pod searching for a new home, as all of their efforts in trying to remove Zac's powers failed. Sirena is welcomed back into the pod, however, three months later, unbeknownst to its Mermaid Council, Ondina and Mimmi obtain legs for the first time, and the latter concoct a potion that amplifies the Full Moon to fifty, thus exactly creating the bottled effects of the Moon of Fifty Years to deprive Zac of his powers permanently during the latter's seventh Full Moon since regaining his merman self. However, as Zac was never human, the potion doesn't work and instead of him losing his tail, it was Evie, his girlfriend, that was, unintentionally to her, transformed into a mermaid by going after him.

The Canadian Mermaid was recorded by two humans singing the Northern Pod Enchantment Song, and the video was soon after posted online, then removed later the same day. Sirena saw it and was enchanted and sang it to David before Mimmi and Ondina sang the Counter-version song which broke the enchantment.

After Erik, a Southern merman arrives in the town, the Trident stone was still functional, and he activates the Merman Chamber after the stone takes away Zac's powers. Erik wanted to drain the magical Moon Water from the Moon Pool, thus the life of every mermaid of the Mako Pod, with the exception of Evie, since she was, by then, a human-turned mermaid and by unknown reasons completely immune, ultimately stripping the Mako Pod's source of magic. Fortunately, they were saved by Zac Blakely, another merman who was recognized by the entire Mako Pod as a hero.

On the same night, Nerissa, still a Water Dragon, began experiencing dreams of her now grown-up children, Zac and Mimmi. These dreams awoke her from her slumber, and the first thing she saw upon awakening was Weilan. Afraid of the dragon, Weilan fled from China to Australia the following month, and Nerissa followed, sensing and wanting to see her children.

Zac and his girlfriend Evie were followed by Nerissa to the Moon Pool in Mako Island the following month, where the latter is deprived of her tail and abilities by the Water Dragon's cold fire. One month later, Mako's Mermaid Council creates a powerful storm using their Moon Rings in the same place in an attempt to defeat the Water Dragon, while Mimmi uses the Jiao Long Bracelet to break Aurora's spell and set Nerissa free before she could be killed. On the following day, Weilan gets her own Moon Ring from Veridia as a parting gift, and Weilan decides to return to Shanghai to restart the Eastern Pod, and Ondina decides to go with her. It is unknown if she succeeded in rebuilding the pod, and if mermen were allowed to rejoin the pod.

## Pods

There are pods of hundred of mermaids and formerly mermen worldwide, while the Mako Pod consisting of over a hundred. On full moon nights, mermaids all around the world honor the moon with a ceremony. According to Ondina, the Northern Pod knows the best spells and potions. In each pod, there's a Mermaid Council, with Veridia as the Head in the Mako Pod. They make the laws and rules for the pod to follow.

Some of these are:

* It is forbidden to Sirens sing their enchanted songs (exclusive only in the Mako Pod, as it is unknown if other pods allow mermaids to use their ability).
* It is forbidden to reveal themselves, to associate with or to fall in love with land people (it is unknown if this extends to other non-human beings).
* It is forbidden to cast the Legs Spell, whether by the Full Moon or by using a Moon Ring.
* It is forbidden to let human beings go through metamorphosis in a Moon Pool.
* It is forbidden to swim too close the shore or where they could be seen.
* It is forbidden to reveal their powers to humans.
* When a merman hatchling was born, a newborn was to be given up to foster human families on land with the use of a forbidden Legs Spell. (abolished in the Mako Pod)

If a member broke one of the rules of the pod, their Mermaid Council will strictly punish the merperson by permanently banishing him/her, and he or she will be forced to live without their pod. Despite this, a Mermaid Council had the power to lift a merperson's banishment, welcoming them again.

Mermaids of the pods use the Full Moon as a source of magic and power. They create Moon Rings out of blue moonstone to help increase their magic and can use them to accomplish many complex feats and spells, as the rings can heal injuries but can also cause destruction.

Hatchlings go through training to be worthy of these rings. Mermaid School teaches them to use their powers correctly and to be sensible in the difficult choices made through mermaid life.

## Trivia

* It is unknown if merpeople native from the sea are immune to the Full Moon's special events on a Moon Pool, like the temporary twelve-hours Lunar Eclipse or the dangerous power-stripping Moon of Fifty Years, but they're most likely not.
* The dangerous reputation of the Northern Pod may have been inspired by the legends of dangerous, wicked mermaids which are most common in the Northern Hemisphere.
* Just like in the legends, mermaids native to the sea have a slight streak of vanity and often comb their hair with seashells.
* Merpeople native to the sea tend to be given names with meanings that relate to water in some way (such as Rita), including literal translations to "water" (such as Aquata), or relating to mythological figures related to it such as deities (such as Neptina) and spirits (such as Nixie and Ondina). They may also be named after celestial or weather phenomenon (such as Aurora), pretty things (such as Jewel), or colors associated with the sea (such as Veridia).
* Since natural mermaids avoid being seen by humans, they dive fully clothed into the water; former humans like Cleo, Rikki, Emma, Bella, and Evie prefer to wear swimsuits so they can enjoy the beach in private before swimming.
* It's unknown how transformation would affect pregnancies; which would be even hard on former human mermaids, if the mermaids don't have similar internal biology.
* Due to not being active with the pod due to their banishment, Eastern mermen made it out unharmed and survived the disbandment of the Eastern Pod.
* According to early concept art for *Mako: Island of Secrets*, mermen were originally going to remain bipedal like humans, with legs covered in scales and large webbed feet to act as flukes instead of the singular cetacean-like tails mermaids have. The style of scales seen in the concept art also have them resemble reptiles more than fish, unlike mermaids.