2.5.7
on July 14, 2025
at 3:00 am
mermaid search and rescue sounds like a thankless job but it does conjure the very funny mental image of some sirens absolutely giving the mermaids the stink-eye as they give the lifeguard treatment to those sailors they lured to their watery doom fair and square
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: I cast INSTANT MIGRAINE (range: self)
Image source: sure
Gotta say, respect for always making sure everyone gets to see the alt-text and image source
Same
tumblr text: perception check!
Tumblr text: perception check!
Bluesky text: this day will start getting better any page now
. “Kiska’s blood–” the captain starts, hands tightening around their spear.
. “Wait! Please!” the mermaid cries, quickly swimming past the captain and toward Alinua.
. “No. Sorry,” Alinua says, swimming upward. “I’m freezing, my head hurts, I’m breathing through my ribs and I hate it–”
. “Look, I–”
. “And there’s people on the surface who need me right now!”
. “No– I mean, yes, I understand, but– PLEASE, just listen!” the mermaid cries. “I wouldn’t have brought you here if it weren’t desperate!”
. “You brought me–?” Alinua whips around, grabbing the mermaid’s shoulders. “The wreck! Was there anyone else in the wreck?!”
. “I– no! Nobody!” the mermaid yelps, jerking back. “I thought I’d be pulling sailors out of the water for hours, but it was just you!”
. “Just me,” Alinua breathes. “So they made it?” She reaches up, eyes and tattoo glowing as she clamps her hands on her ears. “But I have to be sure–”
. Then she gasps as her Life senses are overwhelmed by the spiraling shape of the Wyrm.
They really need to introduce theirselves so I can stop referring to them as “the mermaid” and “the captain”
Yeahhhhhh, I think that’s a Collector-ed Wyrm incarnation, it’s just like so much Life and I don’t think a god of the OCEAN would normally have much Life magic. And it looks like Collector dog-chimeras, with the tri-split mouth, and all of that visible life magic on it…
The mermaid’s name is Selach, if that helps!
Yeah, but Selach hasn’t introduced herself so it wouldn’t really make sense to use her name currently
The mermaid’s name is Selach (revealed in a Tumblr post). We don’t know the captain’s name. I suspect we will be calling the captain Captain for quite some time, seeing as Selach prefers to call them “the Captain”
Oh! INSTANT MIGRAINE. I have that spell. I just have to look at the blue sky or stop masking my pain response, and boom, day ruined 😀
….my health is a mess.
Alinua can you stop exploding for 10 seconds please.
Panel 6 looks so silly to me. Oooo. Frog.
Yeah, it makes sense that the Wyrm would be the only significant thing Alinua’s Life Ping would pick up. The rest of the Floof Squad is miles away.
That looks safe and intentional…
I wonder how Alinua’s tapping into Life’s power so casually
She tapped into the Life vision quite casually before.
Alinua… Why do you hurt Red’s drawing hand like that?
All the characters, really. So uncaring. Too callous.
Or is it not callused enough?
Carpal tunnel is temporary, Aurafarming is eternal
Alinua next page probably (if her magic life location magic thing reaches far enough): “Oh good, everyone made it onto the island with the volc- wait. Why are some of them *inside* the volcano?!?”
“Oh wait, there are other people inside there as well. I guess it is safe enough?”
For a little while I had a theory that maybe human races aren’t the only ones that could catch the chimeric plague and this is what happens when a massive wyrm gets it, but I just remembered that being able to channel magical energy was kind of humanity’s whole deal here. And thank the twins for that! Could you imagine? A dragon capable of using life magic sounds like a walking ecological disaster. Sharks with water magic could simply make a current to push you into their mouths without even needing to give chase. Ants that fly not with wings but by making a current using their collective wind magic to raid other ant colonies.
Many other species do use magic derived from the primordials (each dragon, for instance, has a certain elemental influence and a matching breath-weapon), but it is not ‘magic’ as such (the channeling of elemental energy through a soul channels and back into its corresponding elemental matter) but rather by an innate ability such as Dainix’s. It’s not what these people call ‘magic’, but its still what we’d call magic. Also, small point, but elves arent humans, so its not just humans who can be chimeric carriers! My gut instinct is to agree with you that only they can be chimeric carriers, but the Dragons can take other species as their vessels… and that’s basically what a chimeric carrier is, an attempted Life-vessel… maybe they’re different because they’re Dragons?
Wait — I think i might have it? In Alinua and Erin’s (and presumably Tam’s) cases, it took quite a bit of work for the primordial to be able to make that connection. And the only other beings that have apparently been possessed are dragons (or dragon shaped gods), by the Dragon Primordials, as they are living symbols of their truenames. By the same logic as Tynan, a Dragon should be able to have a strong affect on the Wyrm’s vessel, as it is in the shape of a sea serpent, a Water-adapted dragon. Life, however, does not have this loophole, so i dont know if it would be possible for her… I’d guess not. However, the Wyrm, being not a true sea serpent but likely a gods vessel would probably not be capable of it. Also, someone pointed out at some point that, since Life made a successful connection with Alinua, there’s no point in any other chimeric carriers being made
Back when Erin was in the paladin archives, he said “[dragons are] essentially living symbols of [VD’s] truename” (my user links to this page) so I’d assume that (a) the primordial dragons can’t possess non-dragons, or otherwise would have to go to massive efforts to do so (similar to VD sticking his great rune on the ancient pedestal to create the storm), and (b) Life used a similar principle while trying to get a vessel. It might also explain why Alinua is so good at Life magic – obviously she’s great at it because she’s Life’s vessel but the actual logic behind it is unknown to us; it may be that Alinua effectively acts as an independent-but-connected extension of Life herself, like how dragons that have been possessed by the Light dragon gain some form of mind that seems to make them sympathetic toward her cause and/or the paladins?
In theory you could do something like what the Ancients did and stick the great rune on something, so maybe someone put the rune on the Wyrm for … healing purposes I guess? And it went really wrong and got chimera’d? Not sure, but I do think it’s possible that the Wyrm is a chimera and/or has been badly screwed over with Life magic without it being a channeller itself /and/ without malicious interference vis a vis the Collector.
.. oh, my version of the page was outdated and I just repeated everything you just said, lmao.
Man. Mermaids are BASED!
Ah, so she literally only has the bare essentials for survival with nothing to give comfort. Paradoxically, it’s probably a slight comfort to her to realize this, since it means she’s still a surface-dweller at heart.
agh rib breathing
“I’m freezing” If it gets really cold, will the next mutation be a layer of blubber like a seal? Are we ready for a plumper Alinua?
I like the framing of this discussion between Ali and the merfolk; opposite sides, both with senses of great urgency, but they’re not angry or rude to one another. Plus the captain, while startled, let this discussion to take place.
Also good to get confirmation that they were near the boat to help rescue people and not to plunder the ship’s cargo in the Wyrm’s wake.
Alinua’s life-vision back in the dungeon arc picked up so much different wildlife in an otherwise desolate looking place; here, while those bright lights might be lifeforms, it’s all drowned out by Nessie. Nicely illustrates what an outlier the Wyrm is, in the life sense, that its presence outshines all other creatures in what should be a large and varied ecosystem.
I, for one, while I love Red’s art and her brilliant mind, am definitely ready for more diverse body shapes… also, I would point out that when your “helpless” captive effortlessly frees herself and displays freaky undefined magical powers, and doesn’t attack you, pivoting to bargaining is a fairly intuitive reaction.
Alinua: (Mentions she’s freezing underwater)
Life: (Instantly grants Aliunua 50 pounds of seal blubber)
Alinua: God dammit Life!
Sealinua would be ADORABLE!!
Well, i assume so. Since seals are adorable.
alinua seeing these replies:dont encourage her
You and I had the same thought process.
Plus, if Helm is as cold as Erin says, the blubber could be useful there too. Or maybe all-body fur like Falst!
… Alinua’s would hate us, wouldn’t she?
I love how dynamic Selach looks in the first panel!
They’re so pretty! 😀
Aurora Question #52: What animal would be interesting to see a mermaid version of (Or Centaur version if that’s more applicable)?
Red has mentioned that there are digitigrade centaurs (like a cat) as well as unguligrade (like a horse), I’d love to see that! Id love to see a crustacean/squid mermaid. Or a chimaera mermaid. Or a sea angel one!! Maybe a giant blue whale mermaid? Ooh! Orca mermaid! Moray mermaid! Lionfish mermaid! MANTA MERMAID!!! We’ve already sort of got a shark mermaid with our dear Selach.
Tldr: asking me to pick an animal to be a mermaid is a bad idea xD
To think of some, that @AsTheLightFades hasn’t already mentioned, I’ve got:
– Oarfish, who’s really tall a hairdo similar to their dorsal fin.
– Koi, with beautiful patterns and scallop fans for dances and as weapons.
– Turtle, maybe centaur-like with the human half coming out from the front.
– Sea horse/seadragons, poor swimmers but the prehensile tail would be useful.
– Coelacanth, maybe use for a mermaid elder.
– Pufferfish, thin mermaid blowing up with spikes could be good comedy.
– Sunfish, likes sunbathing.
– Suckerfish, hang around the shark and whale mermaids as part of their retinue.
(yes I did put in the hours for my Animal Crossing museum, why do you ask?)
Is this something like how Erin got a backlash from sensing Tynan back in Zuurith, and he said “without control, you’re vulnerable to all kinds of environmental influences”, but Alinua couldn’t feel Tynan since she wasn’t the right kind of mage? Looks like she’s the right kind of mage for this Wyrm.
New fantasy swear!
Ooh! Didn’t pick up on that. I wonder who ‘Kiska’ is?
https://comicaurora.tumblr.com/post/789049489079009280/whos-kiska-of-blood-fame
Yes, i went and looked it up, but my comment explaining it hasn’t shown up for some reason. It does that sometimes when I put a link to any sources!
Ahhhh… looks like she’s about to get a bit distracted
Alinua books it, but is talked to a halt
Searching the depths where she is through the mermaid’s fault
I love the idea that mermaids want to save people from shipwrecks, because in typical mermaid media, mermaids either want people to drown or don’t care if they live or die, and as a guy who always wanted to be a mermaid, the idea that they were vicious and didn’t care about the life of others was very disappointing. Anyway, this is the kind of mermaid I would want to be.
Is this when Aurora finally passes the Bechdel test? (This is a joke, I’m aware that there are more measures of writing good female characters than just the Bechdel test, but i am interested).
Didn’t she already have a heart-to-heart with Tess about what home means?
It’s passed before lol! Shrike and Vienne, Theia and the head archivist lady, Alinua and Life(?), and then there was also that one conversation Tess and Ali had that was like 50% about Kendal and I dunno if that discounts it but I feel like it shouldn’t?
Don’t forget Tess talking about the weather with the lighthouse lady in Argist, and earlier with the female guard in Zuurith. Well, granted that last one was indirectly talking about Tynan, but they didn’t know it was Tynan, so … does that count?
I have my own version of the Bechdel test I use for sci-fi and fantasy; I call it, the Xeno-Bechdel test!
To pass you need to have two aliens and/or non-human characters, and they have a conversation about something other than a human or humanity in general.
Like the actual Bechdel test it also falls under Goodhart’s law: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure”.
Did not know about Goodhart’s Law. That fixes so many problems for me, just by identifying said problems!
To everyone who replies: Thanks for reminding me of the other examples! Sometimes my memory is amazing, sometimes it’s a sieve. Apparently… the sieve sieves out anything that’s not world building lol
What do you mean, “finally?” Tess and Alinua had a discussion about the best ways to avoid the guards in Zuurith, if you don’t count the conversations between the minor female named characters.
I was remembering the time on page 1.20.1 when Red joked ‘tess no the bechdel test’ because Tess was asking Alinua about Kendel. Unfortunately my faulty memory failed to remind me of all the times SINCE then that render this joke somewhat daft 😅
I’m reminded of something I was told by a tour guide while visiting Key West. They would have lookouts posted all of the time watching for wrecks, and when they saw one, everyone would spring into action and not rest until they were sure that every survivor had been brought to safety.
And once they WERE sure that all of the survivors were safe, THEN they would get to work salvaging the wreck, retrieving anything of value and auctioning it off so that the crew had a chance to buy it back.
Alinua has suddenly gotten a lot more cold and calculating and this feels like a bad thing considering how frivolously she’s using magic we’ve never seen before.
Her life-sense she’s used before, manipulating plants (the kelp) she’s also done a lot; the aquatic adaptations aren’t HER doing, that’s Life’s doing (at least, evidently so). But she has definitely entered crisis mode and we’ll see the emotional fallout once she gets a minute to breathe (air :p) and not be scared for her friends’ lives. Red on Tumblr has been phrasing it as her exercising her adept (read: developed in response to lifelong traumas) skills in compartmentalization.
I think there’s a bit in Red’s Trope Talk on the Heart, about what can happen to a Heart character when too much goes wrong for one or more of the other deuteragonists. On a small scale, Alinua has been doing this all along: playing as The Chick and The Healer (more than Red’s concept of The Heart) until things get really dire, then revealing an increasingly overpowered and concerning connection to Primordial Life that just roflstomps the problem, before reverting to her normal affect. Don’t worry about it, it’s fine. Also, I am counting the Windscrest tree as an early one of these moments.
Every time the biosolids REALLY hit the fan, Alinua seems to get progressively more powerful. And it looks like at this point, under the duress of complete separation from her found family, the empowerment might finally be starting to affect her ironclad sense of self.
yeah like ever since alinua’s first appearance alinua has been extremely quick to show her frankly absurd power with life magic(just look at the scene where she tries to find the collector’s tunnel in among the trees or how she easily deals with the sentinel in chapter 3) …its just that with the floof squad getting more menbers she ended up falling into the background because 1:other main characters are already handling the problem at hand and 2:someone else in this self sacrificing party needs healing at the moment so other than the very beggining of the webcomic her absolutely insane power level was never really the focus(other than the life titan scene on monster) because even the scene where she breaks a mountain in half she is sharing the spotlight with dainix and tynan
Ali no, you cant intervene now, think of the timeline!
Hahaha 🤣
I’m caught up! This means…
HELLO PRESENT AURORA CHAT!
To quote my first-ever comment on this site: “I found this comic on 2025-06-24, but I only read up to 1.1.16 at that time because I had responsibilities that week, so I set it aside for seven days and started over on 2025-07-01. I’ve been really enjoying Red’s trope-savvyness and HelloHaiku’s haiku. And the magical hazmat suits [back in 1.2.13].” All of this still holds true, even the magical hazmat suits (I still sometimes return to that comment to see them because they’re so satisfying).
I think I’ll go read the Extra Lore pages now since I was avoiding them while reading the comic backlog. See you guys again soon!
*page
I still sometimes return to that page to see [the magical hazmat suits].
Bluh, not sure how I did that.
Welcome to the party!
Thanks!
Red’s creator comment makes me happy, because in my own fantasy worldbuilding, my aquatic sophonts are tightly woven into the two-legged people’s maritime industry. Rescue swimmers are very common, and also act as divers and low-power bow thrusters. Instead of fishing communities, most coastlines have “seatrade” communities, and political boundaries sometimes ignore the coastline in favor of the limit of inhabited seafloor. A ship in distress can call for help simply by the crew banging a specific rhythm on the hull, or on an oikomi pipe. Sailing vessels don’t need to be warped into a pier in a large port: there are professional teams of Merryl who will push your vessel sideways towards the pier until suction takes over. And being a professional diver is far more safe when your body is adapted for a wide range of external pressures!
yooo that’s really cool worldbuilding
That sounds so cool!!! If this wasn’t a discussion section for a completely seperate story, Id ask you for more details! It sounds really good.
Mermaid: “If you would just STOP, for ONE day, my job would be so much easier!”
Siren: “*I* am a -vital- part of this ecosystem!”
Well… predators are really important from stopping prey overpopulation. *looks at over 8.2 billion and rising human population* hmmm…
Not that i think humans should be dying to combat overpopulation!!! Its a difficult circumstance with no easy solution.
I have a proposal that I consider quite modest… -Dr Lecter, most likely
Nonono! None of THAT here. Cannibalism can spread prions, and prions are NOT good news. It’s not good for some other reasons too, I’m sure… can’t remember them of the top of my head, though…
Human reproduction rates naturally slow when contraception and abortion are avaliable and women are educated, though. We should have more than enough space and resources for everyone, we just suck at distributing it fairly and and not wasting it.
Well said!
Agreed
Begone, moist harlots!
Why is Alinua so calm, first she’s like “hi, Imma leave now” now she’s like “man, it’s cold in here, also I have gills now…weird, anyways byeee” than she just … I don’t know super vision-ed wether everyone made it?
Alinua becomes the eye of tefiti
Oh dear. Looks like Alinua is having another vision of the Wyrm and not having a good time with it, at all. (And evidently not having a good time with the gills, or the water temperature, or anything, really.) More trouble from it incoming, with Life trying to warn her? Or did she try to mentally reach out with her magic and accidentally sense it and get staggered by its presence?
Regarding Alinua’s “cold” or “calm” initial response, it makes perfect sense to me. She’s gotta deal with the situation and get out of it as soon as possible. I think it’s an advantageous skill, to cut to the quick in a crisis and process feelings later when there’s time and space for them. It increases survival odds. Though I wouldn’t say she’s “calm,” judging from panels two and four. She’s worried and acting with urgency. She really deserves a mug of warm tea, a hug, and a nap after all this…
Hi. Um. Why do my comments only get sent through 30% of the time? What can I do to increase this percentage?
….never mind it appears to be working today, making the percentage more like 80%
It usually takes a while for you to be able to see your comments on the page. If it doesn’t show up at first, just wait an hour or two and refresh, and you’ll probably be able to see your comment 🙂
So are we seeing two different species of underwater humanoid? Legged and tailed?
Yes. Sekrai are water-adapted humans; merfolk are a younger race.
Good to know, but also how did you know that? Was it mentioned earlier in the story?
No, it wasn’t – Red posts heaps of random relevant lore on tumblr (comicaurora.tumblr.com) in response to questions. By “random relevant lore” I mean stuff that’s relevant enough to the story that it’s worldbuilt, but not relevant enough that it’s a spoiler. For instance, the history of sekrai, how character’s voices sound, or (recently) the… extent of Ignans’ fire-resistance, that sort of thing.
If you search for a term it’ll come up with everything she’s said about it.
sekrai are also mentioned among the human evolutions in the elder races’s extra lore part of the site
And that thanks
Thanks! I’ll have to dive into that later.
BIG WORM
we’re barely into alinua’s section of The Plot and she’s already so done with everything that’s happening to her. frankly, i can’t blame her. i wouldn’t want to breathe through my ribs either…
I just binge read through the whole comic today, and Holy Jesus Christ this is good
TL;DR: Well that might screw up your getaway.
Thanks to your little comment, I now have the image of a siren trying to convince a mermaid to give up a sailor. I like to think that in this little AU, there are Rules regarding how sirens and mermaids interact, like, sirens and mermaids can’t steal from each other (mermaids stealing from mermaids and sirens stealing from sirens is fair game) and mermaids are allowed to rescue any drowning sailors.
So there’s a siren trying to get the mermaid to hand over the sailor and they can’t steal the sailor to eat because Rules. Meanwhile the mermaid is just doing the lifeguard swim with a very song-drunk sailor in her hands.
Sekrai in shock, the mermaid gives chase
Urging escaping Alinua for her aid.
Retrieved from the wreck, are her friends safe?
Elemental radar may show their range.
Alinua is so real for this
Wow what a comic , found two days ago and completely finished. Best adventure fantasy ever for me
…But if the others were *dead*, would Alinua be able to sense them? Or can she only sense *living* creatures? She was only able to sense everybody last time with the help of the roots beneath the ground…