Mako Pod

The **Mako Pod** is a pod of Southern mermen and mermaids located in the Coral Sea surrounding Mako Island. Their source of magic is the Moon Pool at the heart of the island. After Zac Blakely's bravery saved the entire Mako Pod from perishing, mermen were welcomed back into the pod, ending the thousand-years-old traditions against mermen once and for all.

The current head of the Mermaid Council in the Mako Pod, as of **TBA**, was elected to be Veridia, and other elders of the Council were elected to be two unnamed mermaids.

The Mako Pod speaks English lanquage as their native language fluently with an Australian accent.

## Description

Like all pods, the Mako Pod has a Mermaid Council that are in charge of governing and a Mermaid School where hatchlings learn how to use their powers properly and use Moon Rings.

### Rules

Despite every pod have it own set of rules, the ones in the Mako Pod are the following:

* It is forbidden to reveal themselves, to associate with or to fall in love with land people. (it is unknown if this extended to other non-human beings)
* It is forbidden to cast the Legs Spell, whether by the Full Moon or by using a moonstone.
* It is forbidden to let human go through metamorphosis in a Moon Pool.
* It is forbidden to let land people come onto Mako Island during a Full Moon.
* It is forbidden to swim too close the shore or where they could be seen.
* It is forbidden to Sirens to sing their Enchanted Songs.
* It is forbidden to a merperson to walk on Mako Island during a Full Moon.
* 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)

Centuries ago, the Enchantment Song was allowed in the Mako Pod, however, in the present day it is strictly forbidden.

If a member breaks one of the rules in the Mako 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.

## History

A pod consisting of over a hundred Southern mermaids and mermen took refuge on the reef of Mako Island since ancient times. They established their residence on the island's large, shark-infested reefs and still rules over Mako, and used the island's Moon Pool for their rituals, which granted its members their magical powers over water and the weather.

Eons ago, around the 11th Century, before men lived in cities, a pod of mermen rose up out of that of Mako, carrying the Trident before them. Their strength and their power was horrendous and destructive. They eventually seized the island from the Mako Pod. Finally, they were overcome by an army of mermaids drawn from all the five oceans. They seized the Trident and hid it in an undisclosed underwater cave with Zac's ancestor's help and commanded that it never be unlocked again. 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.

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 became a merman. 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. Some of the pod members were sent to look for new homes for the pod as they couldn't live in the open ocean.

When Mimmi, Ondina, and Sirena made the Merman Chamber unable to be activated again, the members returned to Mako Island.

The Mako Pod was nearly destroyed by a merman named Erik, who was in possession of the former Trident's source (its central moonstone) when he attempted to drain the Moon Water from the Moon Pool, 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.

When the Water Dragon awoke from its slumber and went to Mako Island in its search for mermaids, the Mako Pod was warned and placed in nearby caves to keep them out of harm's way.

## Known Members

* Aquata
* Evie McLaren (formerly)
* Lyla
* Mimmi
* Nixie
* Ondina
* Rita Santos
* Sirena
* Veridia
* Zac Blakely
* Dozens of unnamed mermen (formerly)

### Hatchlings

* Dozens of unnamed mermen hatchlings (formerly)
* Amaris
* Ava
* Jewel
* Naia
* Neptina

## Trivia

* According to Nixie, there are over a hundred mermaids in the Mako Pod.
	+ According to Veridia in *The Way of the Dragon*, there are more than one hundred and fifty initiated mermaids in the Mako Pod, which means there are more of them, including hatchlings.
* The Mako Pod was the first to accept a merman be one of its member in at least 1000 years after the war between mermaids and mermen. It was also the first pod in history known to accept a human-turned mermaid as one of its members, although she later is forced to abandon her pod as a result of becoming a human being once again.
* Southern merpeople from the South Pacific, such as of the Mako Pod, are infected after physical contact with snow and will develop Snow Rash.
* Rikki Chadwick once mentions her two best-friends, Emma and Cleo to Ondina, a mermaid native from the Mako Pod. She affirms that Rikki is a mermaid from Mako just like her, and the latter mentions how both her friends may be interested in meeting Ondina's native pod someday.
* Its unknown where the pod was when Rikki, Emma and Cleo ended up on Mako and transformed; given their strict believe in keeping metamorphosis from happening. The trio never ran into them despite all their swimming between Mako and the town.