Sirenae

### Features and Traits

Mermaid tail (in seawater); quickly growing hair; golden eyes; sharp, shark-like teeth

### Abilities

sleep-inducing song; other magical songs (on a learned basis); transformation; memory "lock" and "deletion."

*The masses do not see the Sirens. They do not hear songs in the air. Blind, deaf, stooping, they pull at their oars in the hold of the earth. But the more select, the captains, harken to a Siren within them... and royally squander their lives with her.*

 --Nikos Kazantzakis

**Sirenae** (singular, Siren, and colloquially known plurally as Sirens) are the closest existing thing to the common mythology of mermaids. Beautiful and entrancing, with fish-like tails instead of legs, they are the cause of many moden myths. However, almost every story gets at least something wrong, usually in regards to their moral codes. Rather than being purely good or purely evil, the sirenae are a naturally curious and possessive race that runs, on average, chaotic neutral.

## Lore

> *“Perhaps they came from a Rift deep within the sea. Perhaps they were always there, their bodies adrift in the foam and surf; or lurking inside every curling wave, with hungry eyes and mouths open, songs spilling from their lips as sure as any cobra’s venom.*
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> *The distinction between a mermaid and a siren is simple; a siren may walk among the people of the land, charming and alive and unaging like the roaring oceans from whence they came. In the water, they surrender their legs for beautiful, elegant tails; with shimmering scales as iridescent as a butterfly’s wings, shimmering and splendid.*
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> *On land, they lure their victims to the water’s edge, and pulled them deep into the abyss; for what, no one knows for certain. Perhaps for food, though a siren will refuse any food offered to her, as most myths claim that sirens will live only until the day they fail to hypnotize someone with their song.*
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> *But most likely it is for sport. The sirenae see humans only as playthings, disposable toys; this view is also extended to a variety of inhumans as well. They are heartless, undying things; it is lucky, then, that there are so few remaining in the world, and those that we know of are trapped behind soundproof, glass walls to be studied for the rest of their lives--or ours.”*
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> --excerpt from an unknown researcher’s journal, found in a waterlogged case dating back to the early 1900’s.
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## Physiology and Psychology

Sirens are hand-crafted by the goddesses Erzsebet and Cadelen based on the mortal girlfriends and love interests they have, usually as a way of immortalizing them. The goddesses spend days recreating each detail of their lover, with the only variances being in eye color (sirens have gold eyes), teeth (sirens have sharklike teeth), and the ability to turn legs into a tail. When their love for a particular lover is great, the goddesses have been known to create Sirens as multiples. These twins or triplets are always identical. Upon the completion of a Siren or group of Sirens, the goddesses set her into the water or land nearby water, fully mature, and often nearby others of her kind. There, she often joins up with the sorority or pod of other Sirens, though occasionally one might attempt to make it on her own. However, beginning in this manner is rare, as Sirens are as physically fragile as humans, and often quite naive about the world around them at the point of their "birth."

The most prominent magical feature of a Siren is her capability for transformation.When exposed to salt water, their legs revert to tails. Freshwater or rainwater doesn’t inspire this reaction; a siren has no control over this transition, as their body naturally reacts and adapts to a ‘wet’ environment--through which they need to be very agile and fast--and a ‘dry’ environment--where a tail would be inconvenient in securing a source of water. Simply coming into contact with tears or sweat won’t make them half fish again, however; it takes quite a bit of saltwater.While they don’t need to eat, they do need to drink a lot of water, and are essentially useless and vulnerable if dehydrated. A siren can’t die from heatstroke, but extreme heat leaves them invalid and easily attacked by more adaptable species.

Despite not having a physical need to eat, they adore sweets.

* Sirenae can hypnotize and charm those that listen to their songs, but only if a siren manipulates their voices to certain octaves and pitches. What can lure a dog is different than what can lure a human, and what can lure a human is VERY different from what can lure an inhuman. A siren must know what their target is and isn't susceptible to in order to properly bespell them with their songs.

	+ Siren songs don’t enslave a target to do the siren’s bidding; quite the opposite. Siren songs inspire lethargy and sleepiness; in old times this led to ships inevitably crashing into rocks and seamen dying due to simply not having the energy or desire to save themselves.
	+ With practice, however, an accomplished siren can use her song to inspire others into action, or even to heal one’s wounds; much like a cat’s purring can incentivize healing.
	+ Sirenae can mimic any voice they are intimately familiar with, and even sounds from various land animals like a cat’s purr, or a bird’s song.
* Sirenae are curious to a fault, and one can become quite the hoarder, amassing huge stockpiles of shiny ‘treasures’. This practice died out of course as soon as the internet was a Thing, but sirenae still have an irresistible urge to collect anything unusual.

	+ They are territorial over these possessions to the point of fighting, though rarely is blood actually drawn.
* Though they are capable of living a long, long, LONG time they only remember things that inspire their interest. A siren alive in the 1700’s and surviving until the present day will likely only remember the last thirty or so years; they tend to forget information as soon as it becomes irrelevant or boring.

	+ Their physical fragility has ensured a trend of tragically short lifespans. Sirenae trapped in fishing nets, or caught in the middle of an oil spill, or some other (un)natural disaster can perish quickly. This has made their population scarce even in coastal regions, and no siren has ever been spotted or noted in a landlocked region.
* Sirenae congregate to each other on instinct. A siren will always know if the person they are speaking to is another siren; their ears are finely tuned to be able to pick up on vocal cadences. Sirenae never forget a voice.

	+ Even if the siren is a total stranger, they are treated like a sibling. Sirenae are social creatures and quickly form ‘sororities’ if there are enough of them in the same area.

## **Siren Racial Moves**

Fish Out of Water

When coming into contact with saltwater, a siren has no choice but to transform into their finned form. Similarly, drying off will trigger the transition back into legs. There is no way to stop this from occurring. While in a finned form, the siren is able to breathe underwater.

Lullaby for the Gods

Provided that a siren knows what will affect the target, they can weave a song that can lure said target and cause lethargy and sleepiness. With practice, the range of things the siren's song can do can be expanded.