. The serpent’s eyes widen as it beholds glowing Alinua. Then it whips around, quickly zooming away, towards the depths of the ocean.
. An algae-toned mermaid peeks out from behind a ridge, looking through daylight goggles — goggles with slits in them to let in just a little light. Her darker green hair is in a braid, fins on her back and long tail, gills on the sides of her neck and lower torso. A bag is slung around her body.
. “No WAY,” the mermaid breathes, staring at Alinua.
I forgot it was Friday lol, that’s why this is so late
Fish generally take into water through their mouths, and all their gills are for discharge, but this is a fantasy world, and mermaids in it aren’t even descended from fish!
Maybe since they’re descended from land-dwellers, the same muscles that allow us to breathe are what move water in and out of their Oxygen exchange. Ooh, maybe their lungs-turned-gills are chambered like a heart?
Oh, these mermaids aren’t descended from land dwellers either! In fact, they’re not descended from anything. They were created by The Twins. Red has stated that, while evolution does exist in Aurora, life hasn’t been around long enough for anything but elemental adaptation to have a noticeable effect. So different species of, say, mammal aren’t even related in this world – they just share certain ‘design features’. This means that the mermaids breathing mechanism could function any way at all!
(to AsTheLightFades)
Technically, evolution is a logical extension of any universe, fictional or not, with DNA-based-or-analogous reproduction (mutations -> beneficial traits).
But yeah, in fantasy terms a few thousand years is a fairly long time. In evolutionary ones, the beak of that particular bird will get a millimeter or two longer. (i.e. the blink of an eye). And Aurora is not that old…
The merfolk is wearing something akin to snow blindness goggles. Which makes sense given what Erin said. If the sekrai and merfolk mainly live in the epipelagic zones or deeper, surface waters and the surfac at large would be far too bright for their comfort. And, given this storm was during the daytime, goggles make sense.
In this instance, snow-goggles and eclipse-glasses both fit pretty well — they’re all ways of blocking out excess light to prevent eye damage. However, the slits are far more reminiscent of snow-goggles.
“yoooooooooo duuuuuuuuuuuude that’s so COOOOOOOOOOL”
heck of a first impression that merfolk is making. You know. From what little we can see from this page.
Alinua did say she wanted to see some merfolk, didn’t she?
And snek did NOT like that flash. If the suspicion that it is a Collector-made chimera is correct, that’s going to be some really interesting information when it gets back to its maker. If the Collector can gather reports from its chimera. Which… I don’t know if she could?
Thank you alt-text, I’m now imagining the eventual Alinua waking up scene to be a 1-to-1 copy of Marlin waking up on Crush’s back in Finding Nemo.
Still on the fence whether Nessie was scared off because of the bright light or if it sensed something in Ali. I was thinking the former last page, but seeing Alinua’s glowing silhouette in the chimera’s eyes makes me think it could be the latter. Though I doubt it’ll work a second time; V.D. was similarly spooked when he met Alinua, but he got over it.
Those glasses Ariel is wearing remind me of snow goggles, the ones Inuit people wear to prevent snow blindness. Is this an equivalent invention for deep water dwellers to get close to the surface without harming their sensitive eyes? Makes sense.
Also, looking at her bag reminds me that Erin’s bag of holding is still unaccounted for; maybe she can help find it in the wreckage.
Prediction for next week: The mermaid will move in to save Alinua. I get the distinct impression that chimera is no-one’s friend, and if Alinua scared it off here, the mermaid may think Alinua has the power to deal with it permanently.
Also I wonder, if Alinua always wanted to meet a mermaid, maybe this mermaid has always wanted to meet an elf. You never know.
“WAY” is in all caps. With just five letters to work from, your brain might be doing weird things with it, after so many weeks without Aurora speech bubbles.
I don’t notice the difference, but I’m not great at spotting those kinds of subtleties. It could be that Red decided to tweak it for non-story reasons, or it could represent something like vocalizations sounding slightly different underwater (that would be my first guess, as opposed to a totally different language).
This chapter, the panel borders/gutters are entirely black, rather than white with black outlines. I wonder if that’s a permanent change, or if it’s just to emphasise the mood?
Hey, you’re right, the gutters have been solid black since the beginning of the chapter. I suppose it could be a mood thing, but in light of Red’s recent Volume 1 publication, it could also be something meant to make her life easier in the future.
@Galadare The outer boarders show white space bit inner boarder is just a thick black line. It could be a sign there is less ‘space’ between inner boarders or under greater pressure, pressing harder against each inner boarder area than a ‘normal’ page. Just a thought.
“yo wassup lil green glowing dude the way you scared off that wicked fish was mega awesome brah”
– this guy probably (who for some reason has the same voice as that one high turtle from Finding Nemo)
I am curious how the collector will react when she finds out what Allinua is. I can see Allinua trying to use her position as life’s vessel to convince the collector not to go through with her plans, which would be unlikely to work, but interesting to see.
I gotta say, the MOOD on this page and the current chapter in general is immaculate, and I’m psyched for more spooky, ethereal, and/or murky underwater art going forward—and whatever else Siren’s Call has in store! Red’s Merfolk design is also neat, it doesn’t need to be something outlandish; there are very good reasons that these types of Merfolk look the way they do in stories today…so are the ocean-adapted humans the only ones who use bioluminescence? I think I need the different water-dwelling demographics in Aurora explained to me. Which will probably happen soon, whether it’s in the comic itself or in this comment section. But it definitely won’t be on Aurora’s social media pages because I’m avoiding that technology like the Plague.
Since I have already caught that plague, I’ll try my best to recall everything I can (and maybe even provide sources for some of them? Who knows?)
• The only sea-dwelling ‘people’ that we are aware of so far are the Sekrai and the Mermaids
• Sekrai are extremely Water-adapted humans, who were artificially created following the discovery of Water’s truename, when their city sunk beneath the waves. One of the mages who discovered the truename in question somehow accelerated the process of elemental adaptation that would normally require many generations of intense Water energy exposure.
• They can breath underwater and (i think) on land too, but cannot survive permanently out of the water (their skin dries up and they are unusually succupetable to many forms of elemental corruption). There are some half human- half sekrai, though.
• Mermaids are a Younger Race (a species of people created by The Twins after the combined creation of Ancients, Elves and Humans. As such, they cannot do magic (as none of the younger races possess soul channels) nor can they interbreed with the Elder Races.
• Mermaids cannot breath air at all, although Merferin can (and very unusual form of shifter ferin that can change between a mermaid and a human).
• As with other Younger Races, mermaids do not have the same concepts of gender as the Elder Races. All Mermaids read as vaguely female to the Elder Races and, as they do not object to this, they all would use she/they. Merferin, however, read as male when in human form, so would likely use he/they in that form.
• The deep sea ones are often bioluminescent! https://comicaurora.tumblr.com/post/690396628804370432/are-the-deep-sea-merfolk-bioluminescent-like-the
• I believe that Red has said something along the lines of ‘they get bigger and weirder the deeper you go.
• Many Mermaids practise piracy. In fact, they’ve gotten rather good at it! (I’ll see myself out)
Omigosh thank you so much this community is so helpful! So wait, Younger Races can’t “do magic?” Huh. I’m sure they’d beg to differ with those “privileged Aseran pedants” because Lacrimas can be used by anyone and are very magical. The Ancients built their whole society around lacrimas after all! Should I capitalize the word “lacrima?” If Merferin can change between Mermaid and Human forms, are they an exception to the rule of Elder and Younger Races not being able to interbreed? And finally, did the Merfolk or the Sekrai come first?
• So wait, Younger Races can’t “do magic?”
• Well, it would be more accurate to say that they can’t channel elemental energy, or be a mage, which is mostly what they call ‘magic’ within this world. Remember Dainix’s conversation with Falst where he says that he can’t do magic, because it all comes from within, and there is no channeling involved? There’s things in this world that we would call magic, but that *they* don’t. For example, Mountain Men are an elusive younger race who have an ability that Red has said to probably be related to Water and Stone, where they can bend stone beneath their hands like it is soft, but that it involves no channeling — it’s an internal trait.
• (Bonus fun fact: during a recent search for info about elemental corruption, i found that apparently anyone can control elemental energy to a degree once it is inside their soul barrier (for example if a Life mage forced it past in an attempt to make a chimera), even if they’re not a mage. This is because mages are characterised by soul channels, a feature only a few members of the Elder Races have, but anyone can control the energy if it is past that barrier! They might not know how, though)
• Should I capitalize the word “lacrima?”
I wouldn’t think so — it’s not a proper noun, which are ones that need capitalisation. I’m still figuring out which words i think I should capitalise, myself!
• are they [mer-ferin] an exception to the rule of Elder and Younger Races not being able to interbreed?
• At first I had quite a horrible jumpscare and was prepared to have to reply with ‘do you think that you get cat ferin when a human and a cat…???’ before realising you said nothing of the sort xD Unfortunately not, the still aren’t humans, they’re just shaped like them. I get the feeling that Ferin more look like their animal (or human, in this case) than contain anything of them. Think of the Elder Races as closely related species/subspecies, and each of the Younger Races as completely different things! They look a bit different from humans, too — they “resemble humans, but retain their natural jewel-like hair and eye color and a faint pearlescent sheen to their skin”.
• did the Merfolk or the Sekrai come first?
• Merfolk! I don’t know the exact chronology, but I think— Okay, wait, actually nope. My curiosity (or The Plague, take your pick) got the better of me and I went to look. Merfolk have been around ~about~ 3000 years (life of this planet is around 6000 years old), while the Sekrai were created about 2000 years ago. There Sekrais’ transition to water was terrifyingly abrupt for them, and the Merfolk actually helped them to adapt to their new environment!
I have yet more questions, answer at your leisure (please don’t feel obligated) 1) can different Younger Races have kids with each other? 2) if Mermaids all read as feminine (whatever that means) to the Elder Races, how exactly does their own view of gender work, in their own terms, if they even have a concept of gender? 3) and how do Mermaids reproduce to begin with? 4) how long do Mermaids and Sekrai live? Not to mention Elves since Alinua is here. 5) …Jewel…HAIR??? *What* jewel hair!? 6) are there any people with lacrimas built into their bodies in Aurora, and if so, how does that play into the whole magic vs not-technically-magic thing? 7) mages do seem to have a difference in ability and are in a very particular spiritual predicament, but to what extent is their connection to and experience of the world different from someone who uses, like, a lacrima wand? And finally 8) to what degree are mages prioritized over lacrima-users and certain Younger Races with weird powers? Are privileged Aseran pedants a problem? (Crucibles are their own beast, so unless there are other similar conditions, let’s not rope poor Dainix into this discussion.)
Oh I found more: 9) what does it even mean that Merferin “look feminine” in Mer-form, and “look masculine” in human form? Particularly for human form; couldn’t they just wear a dress if they wanted? What people read other people as is connected to, but decidedly different from how someone *presents.* Do Merferin automatically start presenting differently when they shift, or do people just impose the gender binary onto their bodies? Am I overthinking this!? 10) do the Elder Races have a third gender category? 11) do the Ancients, Elves, and Humans have different views of gender from each other, or are they too close together for that to have occurred? Although I guess there’s tons and tons of cultures within humanity and Elf…anity, so that might render this question moot. And I feel I should clear up some terminology if we’re going to have this kind of discussion. In biology, especially marine biology because the ocean is weird, a hermaphrodite is an organism whose sex is not binary—this being a species-wide thing. There are sequential hermaphrodites, which switch between clearly defined sexes either back and forth or linearly, and there are simultaneous hermaphrodites, which are at once female and male, in terms of biological sex. But you can’t refer to a real life human person using that term because it’s both biologically inaccurate, and a slur against intersex folks. Although some Victorian sicko probably used it against enbies and people who just don’t conform in general to the gender binary. BUT! In speculative fiction, a species of people could very well be biologically hermaphroditic, and there wouldn’t be any problems there. Whether this applies to anyone in Aurora would be something that someone else would have to inform me on—and anyone else who’s in the dark. If anyone has any more nuance and understanding they think should be added, please speak up! I don’t want to be accidentally offensive.
@Purple Mage Ok, I don’t know the answer to all of these, whether because no one’s asked Red or because I’ve missed/forgotten it. Unfortunately, I don’t have a tumblr account myself so cannot ask her! I have a growing list of things to ask when I get round to it. Also, I tend to approach non-comic info from the perspective that it IS canon, but could change if Red wants it to, as opposed to the more ironclad comic-canon.
1) No, the Younger Races can’t have kids with each other, being as unrelated to each other as to the Elder Races. Theoretically, though, the twins could make a set of younger races that are ‘related’ like the Elder Races are, but that’s not the case with any currently known ones.
2) I’m pretty sure that they don’t really have a concept of gender. By them being read as feminine, I’m just parroting Red, but I assume that it means that their appearance lines up with female humans rather than male humans, on average.
3) I think that they have 2 sexes (and individuals that fall somewhere between), like humans — they just have no sexual dimorphism (difference in appearance based on sex) As for the mechanics of their reproduction, I’m not sure.
4) I don’t know how long they live, but Sekrai probably have lifespans similiar to humans. I’m pretty sure that Red has said that elves live longer than humans when their life is peaceful, but in times of stress and pressure, they generally have a shorter life expectancy. Alinua is a wildcard — she’s Life’s vessel.
5) I think this just means colourful hair, possible translucent or iridescent. There are the crystal-caste though, a race of Stone-adapted humans with jewel-like hair and eyes, that may or may not be actual jewels! (Tess does have actual metal skin, after all)
6) I don’t know, sorry. Doctor Jolen’s spell eater did have lacrimas embedded in it to store the elemental energy it absorbed, but it was a chimera and therefore not something that any animal should be, let alone a person (it’s pretty unethical).
7) Mages are more at risk of elemental corruption, as small bits of elemental energy can become stuck inside their soul barrier while channeling. They can also sometimes sense elemental energy. I only vaguely remember the ask about this, so I can’t really give any more details, but I think it can be a bit overwhelming sometimes, if there’s a lot of it? Lacrima users do not have any of this, it is more like using a tool or machine, with programming.
8) Lacrima users require a) a Lacrima and b) a way to charge it. This makes them less efficient and reliable than mages, but they are also more accessible, as anyone can use a Lacrima with enough knowledge and practise. As to how much they are prioritised, it depends on the city or area. In Asera, lots of social status it related to being a mage, but it varies. Most Younger Races do not mingle much with the Elder Races, being quite rare and elusive, so they do not apply to this much!
9) As said above, they have no concept of gender, and so the genders people assume do not really matter to them, and are largely based on physical appearance (looking at Auroran outfits, they don’t really gatekeep clothing styles according to gender anyway!).
10) Yes they do! It varies with region from non-binary, to not interested in relationships, to a symbolic role for priests (for example)!
11) Probably the same, but since the Ancients are all but gone now, we can’t really know for them.
My take would be that hermaphrodite would be acceptable in that context, as intersex is ‘between sexes’, which wouldn’t really apply to a creature with both naturally. In fact, their equivalent might be only having one! But I’m not intersex myself, so I wouldn’t want to make a final judgement. Luckily, it doesn’t currently matter, as it doesn’t apply to any younger races!
I’m glad I could help out! 😀
Thanks for clarifying those! I hope that adoption in Aurora is normalized and not made artificially difficult in Aurora, for the sake of couples (or more) who are entirely different species…that is something that I didn’t expect to say in my lifetime. I also wonder how much of this stuff isn’t necessarily common knowledge for some Aurorans (even if it is, Alinua might not know it considering her decade of abject self-isolation). I have two more questions and then we should probably both abandon this thread and stop commenting on this particular page 😅 1) do Ferin only exist among the Elder Races, or does every single race have a Ferin population, or is it somewhere in between? 2) are there shapeshifters in Aurora other than Shifter Ferin, gods, and the Collector?
You’re welcome!
• Adoption is probably pretty normalised. We know that Alinua was adopted and, since non cis/het people and relationships are fully accepted and normalised within this world, there would be many couples for whom it would be harder that usual, if possible at all, to have biological children, who might adopt.
• The people of this world won’t know everything about merfolk that we do, if only because of the difficulty inherent to any interaction. From the things I’ve said, scholars would definitely know that, for example, the creation of the Sekrai and that merfolk are older than that, but don’t know, say, about shifter merfolk (Red has said that it’s often regarded as something of a folk myth, but that noones asked the mermaids).
1) Ferin were created by an unknown mage a while ago (a millennium, apparently), and so any Younger Races newer than that couldn’t have Ferin anyway. The vast majority of Ferin, the only known exception being merfolk, were created within humans and, rarely, elves. Therefore, only their descendants are ferin!
2) Yes! Sort of! Some Life-adapted populations of humans/elves have octopus-esque abilities. Not full shifting, but they can change the colour and sometimes texture of their skin.
Oh and I wanted to briefly mention that Alinua’s silhouette in the eye(s) of Snalinua (the sea serpent) is positioned in imitation of having a mermaid tail…I know I’m being irrational but I really worry over the possibility of Ali getting stuck underwater…
the question this chapter is “do we fight the snake”
anyone wanna take bets now before we get important lore moments?
my bet is on “snake fighting does happen despite alinua”
I’m so excited for this next part of the story, I was hoping Alinua would get to meet a mermaid and it’s finally happening.
I remember Red saying on tumblr that merpeople were extremely light sensitive and didn’t usually come near the surface because of this so that’s probably why this one seems to be wearing sunglasses, so that’s a neat detail.
THE ALT-TEXT SHOULDN’T HAVE SAID THAT! I’m 100% reading all the mermaids lines in a California surfer accent in my head now, I don’t make the rules sorry!
If she does, that will be so cool! Changing shape, while technically possible with Life magic (see chimeras) has to be done slowly and with very small changes, to prevent damage to the soul (the soul of a creature is strongly tied to their body, and can be damaged if the body changes shape). If the changes are to big or fast, it can greatly damage a creatures soul or even mind (again, see chimeras). If Alinua can do it, that would be so cool! And it would show the massive extent of the power she has from Life.
Hm. Why would an underwater species like the merfolk have hair? Wouldn’t it just create unnecessary drag? The sekrai, I can imagine them having hair pinned to their heads or in braids like this merfolk here or shaving it, but the merfolk were designed for the underwater environment and, I think, probably wouldn’t have long, flowy hair like this? Maybe it naturally grows no longer than a couple centimeters, giving them natural buzz cuts? Or just. Naturally bald.
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: this mermaid does not speak with a california surfer accent, but she COULD
Image source: way
tumblr text: there’s something fishy going on here
BlueSky Text: whoa dude
Image source is just, “Way”? asdfsdf Red, you are so silly!
Because the image source is the filename of this page on Red’s computer.
I wonder if she like… renames files before posting or somehow has which page is which memorized.
. The serpent’s eyes widen as it beholds glowing Alinua. Then it whips around, quickly zooming away, towards the depths of the ocean.
. An algae-toned mermaid peeks out from behind a ridge, looking through daylight goggles — goggles with slits in them to let in just a little light. Her darker green hair is in a braid, fins on her back and long tail, gills on the sides of her neck and lower torso. A bag is slung around her body.
. “No WAY,” the mermaid breathes, staring at Alinua.
I forgot it was Friday lol, that’s why this is so late
Her prayers of seeing mermaids are answered! I mean, in a kind of monkey’s paw way, but her hopes!
I guess Alinua is about to have her wish granted.
Also, does that mermaid have gills on her neck AND her upper body? That is pretty cool
Maybe the ones on her neck are for intake while the ones on her waist are for discharge?
Fish generally take into water through their mouths, and all their gills are for discharge, but this is a fantasy world, and mermaids in it aren’t even descended from fish!
Maybe since they’re descended from land-dwellers, the same muscles that allow us to breathe are what move water in and out of their Oxygen exchange. Ooh, maybe their lungs-turned-gills are chambered like a heart?
The fish humans are a different thing from mermaids. They were made seadwellers
Oh, these mermaids aren’t descended from land dwellers either! In fact, they’re not descended from anything. They were created by The Twins. Red has stated that, while evolution does exist in Aurora, life hasn’t been around long enough for anything but elemental adaptation to have a noticeable effect. So different species of, say, mammal aren’t even related in this world – they just share certain ‘design features’. This means that the mermaids breathing mechanism could function any way at all!
(to AsTheLightFades)
Technically, evolution is a logical extension of any universe, fictional or not, with DNA-based-or-analogous reproduction (mutations -> beneficial traits).
But yeah, in fantasy terms a few thousand years is a fairly long time. In evolutionary ones, the beak of that particular bird will get a millimeter or two longer. (i.e. the blink of an eye). And Aurora is not that old…
Perhaps the lower gills are used for propulsion, like a Squid or Octopus.
The merfolk is wearing something akin to snow blindness goggles. Which makes sense given what Erin said. If the sekrai and merfolk mainly live in the epipelagic zones or deeper, surface waters and the surfac at large would be far too bright for their comfort. And, given this storm was during the daytime, goggles make sense.
Oh, cool. I thought they were like Eclipse Goggles.
In this instance, snow-goggles and eclipse-glasses both fit pretty well — they’re all ways of blocking out excess light to prevent eye damage. However, the slits are far more reminiscent of snow-goggles.
Oh that explains it! Dunno how I missed this comment earlier
The mermaid’s goggles also mean that Erin was flat-out wrong about meetings with Merfolk not happening at daytime. Hubris strikes again!
He said its rare, not that it never happens.
Perhaps the merfolk do DMV similar to fish and other creatures in our world. Migrating up at night and down during the day to avoid predators
When I first saw Panel 2, for one sec I thought it was shooting eye-lasers at her.
Neat goggles!
Reminds me of inuit snow goggles
Pretty cool, though I wonder what they’d need eye protection like that for that deep underwater
I think it’s protection against bright lights near (or at) the surface. Since they’re used to deep, dark waters.
“yoooooooooo duuuuuuuuuuuude that’s so COOOOOOOOOOL”
heck of a first impression that merfolk is making. You know. From what little we can see from this page.
Alinua did say she wanted to see some merfolk, didn’t she?
And snek did NOT like that flash. If the suspicion that it is a Collector-made chimera is correct, that’s going to be some really interesting information when it gets back to its maker. If the Collector can gather reports from its chimera. Which… I don’t know if she could?
Thank you alt-text, I’m now imagining the eventual Alinua waking up scene to be a 1-to-1 copy of Marlin waking up on Crush’s back in Finding Nemo.
Still on the fence whether Nessie was scared off because of the bright light or if it sensed something in Ali. I was thinking the former last page, but seeing Alinua’s glowing silhouette in the chimera’s eyes makes me think it could be the latter. Though I doubt it’ll work a second time; V.D. was similarly spooked when he met Alinua, but he got over it.
Those glasses Ariel is wearing remind me of snow goggles, the ones Inuit people wear to prevent snow blindness. Is this an equivalent invention for deep water dwellers to get close to the surface without harming their sensitive eyes? Makes sense.
Also, looking at her bag reminds me that Erin’s bag of holding is still unaccounted for; maybe she can help find it in the wreckage.
Prediction for next week: The mermaid will move in to save Alinua. I get the distinct impression that chimera is no-one’s friend, and if Alinua scared it off here, the mermaid may think Alinua has the power to deal with it permanently.
Also I wonder, if Alinua always wanted to meet a mermaid, maybe this mermaid has always wanted to meet an elf. You never know.
Is it just me, or does the speech bubble font look different? Maybe I’m just going crazy
The letters are the exact same, but they’re closer together.
Please let me post this comment.
No yeah I agree it looks different
No, it’s different. Probably means a different language.
Wait… elves are Wind and Water aligned, and Wind is the element of communication, do you think Elves have natural language aptitude?
Sorry, elves are Wind and Lightning aligned, not Water. Still, would elves be natural linguists?
I think I’m going crazy too… but I’ve checked the letters multiple times and they look pretty much the same. :/
“WAY” is in all caps. With just five letters to work from, your brain might be doing weird things with it, after so many weeks without Aurora speech bubbles.
Red says that the fonts the same but the kennings different!
Yep. I was wrong. I’ll admit.
I don’t notice the difference, but I’m not great at spotting those kinds of subtleties. It could be that Red decided to tweak it for non-story reasons, or it could represent something like vocalizations sounding slightly different underwater (that would be my first guess, as opposed to a totally different language).
This chapter, the panel borders/gutters are entirely black, rather than white with black outlines. I wonder if that’s a permanent change, or if it’s just to emphasise the mood?
I will say that the page borders have not changed for me. So maybe it’s an issue with the webpage updating?
Hey, you’re right, the gutters have been solid black since the beginning of the chapter. I suppose it could be a mood thing, but in light of Red’s recent Volume 1 publication, it could also be something meant to make her life easier in the future.
@Galadare The outer boarders show white space bit inner boarder is just a thick black line. It could be a sign there is less ‘space’ between inner boarders or under greater pressure, pressing harder against each inner boarder area than a ‘normal’ page. Just a thought.
“yo wassup lil green glowing dude the way you scared off that wicked fish was mega awesome brah”
– this guy probably (who for some reason has the same voice as that one high turtle from Finding Nemo)
You mean Crush? He’s supposed to be a surfer, not necessarily high
He’s probably also high, though
I am curious how the collector will react when she finds out what Allinua is. I can see Allinua trying to use her position as life’s vessel to convince the collector not to go through with her plans, which would be unlikely to work, but interesting to see.
I gotta say, the MOOD on this page and the current chapter in general is immaculate, and I’m psyched for more spooky, ethereal, and/or murky underwater art going forward—and whatever else Siren’s Call has in store! Red’s Merfolk design is also neat, it doesn’t need to be something outlandish; there are very good reasons that these types of Merfolk look the way they do in stories today…so are the ocean-adapted humans the only ones who use bioluminescence? I think I need the different water-dwelling demographics in Aurora explained to me. Which will probably happen soon, whether it’s in the comic itself or in this comment section. But it definitely won’t be on Aurora’s social media pages because I’m avoiding that technology like the Plague.
Since I have already caught that plague, I’ll try my best to recall everything I can (and maybe even provide sources for some of them? Who knows?)
• The only sea-dwelling ‘people’ that we are aware of so far are the Sekrai and the Mermaids
• Sekrai are extremely Water-adapted humans, who were artificially created following the discovery of Water’s truename, when their city sunk beneath the waves. One of the mages who discovered the truename in question somehow accelerated the process of elemental adaptation that would normally require many generations of intense Water energy exposure.
• They can breath underwater and (i think) on land too, but cannot survive permanently out of the water (their skin dries up and they are unusually succupetable to many forms of elemental corruption). There are some half human- half sekrai, though.
• Mermaids are a Younger Race (a species of people created by The Twins after the combined creation of Ancients, Elves and Humans. As such, they cannot do magic (as none of the younger races possess soul channels) nor can they interbreed with the Elder Races.
• Mermaids cannot breath air at all, although Merferin can (and very unusual form of shifter ferin that can change between a mermaid and a human).
• As with other Younger Races, mermaids do not have the same concepts of gender as the Elder Races. All Mermaids read as vaguely female to the Elder Races and, as they do not object to this, they all would use she/they. Merferin, however, read as male when in human form, so would likely use he/they in that form.
• The deep sea ones are often bioluminescent! https://comicaurora.tumblr.com/post/690396628804370432/are-the-deep-sea-merfolk-bioluminescent-like-the
• I believe that Red has said something along the lines of ‘they get bigger and weirder the deeper you go.
• Many Mermaids practise piracy. In fact, they’ve gotten rather good at it! (I’ll see myself out)
“Many mermaids practice piracy.” Now I’ve got Return of the Obra-Dinn music running through my head!
Omigosh thank you so much this community is so helpful! So wait, Younger Races can’t “do magic?” Huh. I’m sure they’d beg to differ with those “privileged Aseran pedants” because Lacrimas can be used by anyone and are very magical. The Ancients built their whole society around lacrimas after all! Should I capitalize the word “lacrima?” If Merferin can change between Mermaid and Human forms, are they an exception to the rule of Elder and Younger Races not being able to interbreed? And finally, did the Merfolk or the Sekrai come first?
• So wait, Younger Races can’t “do magic?”
• Well, it would be more accurate to say that they can’t channel elemental energy, or be a mage, which is mostly what they call ‘magic’ within this world. Remember Dainix’s conversation with Falst where he says that he can’t do magic, because it all comes from within, and there is no channeling involved? There’s things in this world that we would call magic, but that *they* don’t. For example, Mountain Men are an elusive younger race who have an ability that Red has said to probably be related to Water and Stone, where they can bend stone beneath their hands like it is soft, but that it involves no channeling — it’s an internal trait.
• (Bonus fun fact: during a recent search for info about elemental corruption, i found that apparently anyone can control elemental energy to a degree once it is inside their soul barrier (for example if a Life mage forced it past in an attempt to make a chimera), even if they’re not a mage. This is because mages are characterised by soul channels, a feature only a few members of the Elder Races have, but anyone can control the energy if it is past that barrier! They might not know how, though)
• Should I capitalize the word “lacrima?”
I wouldn’t think so — it’s not a proper noun, which are ones that need capitalisation. I’m still figuring out which words i think I should capitalise, myself!
• are they [mer-ferin] an exception to the rule of Elder and Younger Races not being able to interbreed?
• At first I had quite a horrible jumpscare and was prepared to have to reply with ‘do you think that you get cat ferin when a human and a cat…???’ before realising you said nothing of the sort xD Unfortunately not, the still aren’t humans, they’re just shaped like them. I get the feeling that Ferin more look like their animal (or human, in this case) than contain anything of them. Think of the Elder Races as closely related species/subspecies, and each of the Younger Races as completely different things! They look a bit different from humans, too — they “resemble humans, but retain their natural jewel-like hair and eye color and a faint pearlescent sheen to their skin”.
• did the Merfolk or the Sekrai come first?
• Merfolk! I don’t know the exact chronology, but I think— Okay, wait, actually nope. My curiosity (or The Plague, take your pick) got the better of me and I went to look. Merfolk have been around ~about~ 3000 years (life of this planet is around 6000 years old), while the Sekrai were created about 2000 years ago. There Sekrais’ transition to water was terrifyingly abrupt for them, and the Merfolk actually helped them to adapt to their new environment!
I’m really happy to help! 😄 (and maybe show off my knowledge a bit? Who knows 😅)
I have yet more questions, answer at your leisure (please don’t feel obligated) 1) can different Younger Races have kids with each other? 2) if Mermaids all read as feminine (whatever that means) to the Elder Races, how exactly does their own view of gender work, in their own terms, if they even have a concept of gender? 3) and how do Mermaids reproduce to begin with? 4) how long do Mermaids and Sekrai live? Not to mention Elves since Alinua is here. 5) …Jewel…HAIR??? *What* jewel hair!? 6) are there any people with lacrimas built into their bodies in Aurora, and if so, how does that play into the whole magic vs not-technically-magic thing? 7) mages do seem to have a difference in ability and are in a very particular spiritual predicament, but to what extent is their connection to and experience of the world different from someone who uses, like, a lacrima wand? And finally 8) to what degree are mages prioritized over lacrima-users and certain Younger Races with weird powers? Are privileged Aseran pedants a problem? (Crucibles are their own beast, so unless there are other similar conditions, let’s not rope poor Dainix into this discussion.)
Oh I found more: 9) what does it even mean that Merferin “look feminine” in Mer-form, and “look masculine” in human form? Particularly for human form; couldn’t they just wear a dress if they wanted? What people read other people as is connected to, but decidedly different from how someone *presents.* Do Merferin automatically start presenting differently when they shift, or do people just impose the gender binary onto their bodies? Am I overthinking this!? 10) do the Elder Races have a third gender category? 11) do the Ancients, Elves, and Humans have different views of gender from each other, or are they too close together for that to have occurred? Although I guess there’s tons and tons of cultures within humanity and Elf…anity, so that might render this question moot. And I feel I should clear up some terminology if we’re going to have this kind of discussion. In biology, especially marine biology because the ocean is weird, a hermaphrodite is an organism whose sex is not binary—this being a species-wide thing. There are sequential hermaphrodites, which switch between clearly defined sexes either back and forth or linearly, and there are simultaneous hermaphrodites, which are at once female and male, in terms of biological sex. But you can’t refer to a real life human person using that term because it’s both biologically inaccurate, and a slur against intersex folks. Although some Victorian sicko probably used it against enbies and people who just don’t conform in general to the gender binary. BUT! In speculative fiction, a species of people could very well be biologically hermaphroditic, and there wouldn’t be any problems there. Whether this applies to anyone in Aurora would be something that someone else would have to inform me on—and anyone else who’s in the dark. If anyone has any more nuance and understanding they think should be added, please speak up! I don’t want to be accidentally offensive.
@Purple Mage Ok, I don’t know the answer to all of these, whether because no one’s asked Red or because I’ve missed/forgotten it. Unfortunately, I don’t have a tumblr account myself so cannot ask her! I have a growing list of things to ask when I get round to it. Also, I tend to approach non-comic info from the perspective that it IS canon, but could change if Red wants it to, as opposed to the more ironclad comic-canon.
1) No, the Younger Races can’t have kids with each other, being as unrelated to each other as to the Elder Races. Theoretically, though, the twins could make a set of younger races that are ‘related’ like the Elder Races are, but that’s not the case with any currently known ones.
2) I’m pretty sure that they don’t really have a concept of gender. By them being read as feminine, I’m just parroting Red, but I assume that it means that their appearance lines up with female humans rather than male humans, on average.
3) I think that they have 2 sexes (and individuals that fall somewhere between), like humans — they just have no sexual dimorphism (difference in appearance based on sex) As for the mechanics of their reproduction, I’m not sure.
4) I don’t know how long they live, but Sekrai probably have lifespans similiar to humans. I’m pretty sure that Red has said that elves live longer than humans when their life is peaceful, but in times of stress and pressure, they generally have a shorter life expectancy. Alinua is a wildcard — she’s Life’s vessel.
5) I think this just means colourful hair, possible translucent or iridescent. There are the crystal-caste though, a race of Stone-adapted humans with jewel-like hair and eyes, that may or may not be actual jewels! (Tess does have actual metal skin, after all)
6) I don’t know, sorry. Doctor Jolen’s spell eater did have lacrimas embedded in it to store the elemental energy it absorbed, but it was a chimera and therefore not something that any animal should be, let alone a person (it’s pretty unethical).
7) Mages are more at risk of elemental corruption, as small bits of elemental energy can become stuck inside their soul barrier while channeling. They can also sometimes sense elemental energy. I only vaguely remember the ask about this, so I can’t really give any more details, but I think it can be a bit overwhelming sometimes, if there’s a lot of it? Lacrima users do not have any of this, it is more like using a tool or machine, with programming.
8) Lacrima users require a) a Lacrima and b) a way to charge it. This makes them less efficient and reliable than mages, but they are also more accessible, as anyone can use a Lacrima with enough knowledge and practise. As to how much they are prioritised, it depends on the city or area. In Asera, lots of social status it related to being a mage, but it varies. Most Younger Races do not mingle much with the Elder Races, being quite rare and elusive, so they do not apply to this much!
9) As said above, they have no concept of gender, and so the genders people assume do not really matter to them, and are largely based on physical appearance (looking at Auroran outfits, they don’t really gatekeep clothing styles according to gender anyway!).
10) Yes they do! It varies with region from non-binary, to not interested in relationships, to a symbolic role for priests (for example)!
11) Probably the same, but since the Ancients are all but gone now, we can’t really know for them.
My take would be that hermaphrodite would be acceptable in that context, as intersex is ‘between sexes’, which wouldn’t really apply to a creature with both naturally. In fact, their equivalent might be only having one! But I’m not intersex myself, so I wouldn’t want to make a final judgement. Luckily, it doesn’t currently matter, as it doesn’t apply to any younger races!
I’m glad I could help out! 😀
Thanks for clarifying those! I hope that adoption in Aurora is normalized and not made artificially difficult in Aurora, for the sake of couples (or more) who are entirely different species…that is something that I didn’t expect to say in my lifetime. I also wonder how much of this stuff isn’t necessarily common knowledge for some Aurorans (even if it is, Alinua might not know it considering her decade of abject self-isolation). I have two more questions and then we should probably both abandon this thread and stop commenting on this particular page 😅 1) do Ferin only exist among the Elder Races, or does every single race have a Ferin population, or is it somewhere in between? 2) are there shapeshifters in Aurora other than Shifter Ferin, gods, and the Collector?
You’re welcome!
• Adoption is probably pretty normalised. We know that Alinua was adopted and, since non cis/het people and relationships are fully accepted and normalised within this world, there would be many couples for whom it would be harder that usual, if possible at all, to have biological children, who might adopt.
• The people of this world won’t know everything about merfolk that we do, if only because of the difficulty inherent to any interaction. From the things I’ve said, scholars would definitely know that, for example, the creation of the Sekrai and that merfolk are older than that, but don’t know, say, about shifter merfolk (Red has said that it’s often regarded as something of a folk myth, but that noones asked the mermaids).
1) Ferin were created by an unknown mage a while ago (a millennium, apparently), and so any Younger Races newer than that couldn’t have Ferin anyway. The vast majority of Ferin, the only known exception being merfolk, were created within humans and, rarely, elves. Therefore, only their descendants are ferin!
2) Yes! Sort of! Some Life-adapted populations of humans/elves have octopus-esque abilities. Not full shifting, but they can change the colour and sometimes texture of their skin.
Aaar I keep on forgetting that this is back and it’s always a bit too late to make a question. Next time trust me
Oh and I wanted to briefly mention that Alinua’s silhouette in the eye(s) of Snalinua (the sea serpent) is positioned in imitation of having a mermaid tail…I know I’m being irrational but I really worry over the possibility of Ali getting stuck underwater…
the question this chapter is “do we fight the snake”
anyone wanna take bets now before we get important lore moments?
my bet is on “snake fighting does happen despite alinua”
I vote we don’t fight the snake anytime soon, but it comes back later!
I’m so excited for this next part of the story, I was hoping Alinua would get to meet a mermaid and it’s finally happening.
I remember Red saying on tumblr that merpeople were extremely light sensitive and didn’t usually come near the surface because of this so that’s probably why this one seems to be wearing sunglasses, so that’s a neat detail.
I sense a new favourite character!!!!!
You do realize that I will only imagine their voice in a Californian surfer girl accent now right?
Sorry red. She speaks like a surfer now.
How could Red do this to me? I can’t unhear the surfer accent now 😭
TL;DR: Put on your shades, time to watch snek vs. glowy lights.
Merfolk friend! She’s been here for exactly one page, and I’m already excited to see more of her. I love her design and she seems super cool.
THE ALT-TEXT SHOULDN’T HAVE SAID THAT! I’m 100% reading all the mermaids lines in a California surfer accent in my head now, I don’t make the rules sorry!
Is this where we find out that Alinua has Darwin powers?
If she does, that will be so cool! Changing shape, while technically possible with Life magic (see chimeras) has to be done slowly and with very small changes, to prevent damage to the soul (the soul of a creature is strongly tied to their body, and can be damaged if the body changes shape). If the changes are to big or fast, it can greatly damage a creatures soul or even mind (again, see chimeras). If Alinua can do it, that would be so cool! And it would show the massive extent of the power she has from Life.
:O Merfolk!
1. Good ole sea serpant
2. Neat, merfolk
I don’t hear the surfer vibes at all. Because she reminds me somehow of Kria, from Windscrest. To me she has the same small scratchy voice.
Giant Monster: “I think I left the stove on.”
“But you are underwater!”
Also, I guess we do get to meet merfolk!
Let’s hope that one has magic to allow Alinua breathing.
no… i KNOW i did NOT JUST SPEND ALMOST 2 YEARS FORGETTING ABOUT THIS STORY, ONLY TO BINGE READ IT ALL IN A FEW DAYS. NOOO
YESSsSS UNDERWATER ADVENTURE
Look, like, as a Californian I am contractually obligated to read everyone in Valley, mmkay?
Except Erin, for some reason he sounds British in my head. NOOO idea why
“Gnarly dude. . .”
YES! Bring on the cool mermaids.
Mermaid! Mermaid!
I am from California, and I heard the surfer voice even before Red said anything. Righteous, brah!
Oh. Is Alinua about to get a little mermaid rescue?
The great serpent makes hastily its exit
Leaving a mermaid wondering what so could vex it
Hm. Why would an underwater species like the merfolk have hair? Wouldn’t it just create unnecessary drag? The sekrai, I can imagine them having hair pinned to their heads or in braids like this merfolk here or shaving it, but the merfolk were designed for the underwater environment and, I think, probably wouldn’t have long, flowy hair like this? Maybe it naturally grows no longer than a couple centimeters, giving them natural buzz cuts? Or just. Naturally bald.