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ElvenAngel — Merfolk of Obscura
Published: 2012-03-24 02:09:54 +0000 UTC; Views: 4745; Favourites: 81; Downloads: 132
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Sorry about the huge fullview. Download for even moar detail.After ages of sketching and a lot of delays due to my running around like a headless chicken over the possible part-time job I might be looking at... this took way too long.
So yeah. Because I have confirmed that people get confused... female to the left, male to the right.
I based these guys on sharks, whom I am quite fond of. I do quite like this idea of mer-people, instead of the traditional humans-with-fish-tails thing. My merfolk are a nasty bunch and they make Obscura's oceans even more dangerous, as if whale-sized sharks, aquatic dragons and other nasties of the deep aren't bad enough. They have a relatively primitive society built around family pods. They believe in no gods, only in the might of the individual and the law of the wild. They care only about their of pod, and even then only to the extent it suits them. They live extremely harsh and violent lives, with competition over food, power and other resources being the daily routine. They can't speak, and use electromagnetic signals as a sort of telepathy to communicate. They have a strong dislike and even contempt to everything relating to the surface, except the stuff they loot from ships they sink or steal from sunken vessels. They're also the only race of Obscura that didn't give a fuck about the Black War and killed water-dwelling demons as they pleased, even eating them on occasion. They're so hardy and resistant to poisons and toxins that the infernal flesh of demons didn't even give them indigestion. Their own toxin-laced claws are bad enough for anything else though.
The tl;dr version: They're the mer-people of Obscura. You do not want anything to do with them. They'll eat you.
Merfolk, Obscura & Art (C) to *ElvenAngel
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Comments: 32
The longer I look at this picture, the more I see that I like. I love vicious, violent, realistic mermaids, especially when the females don't have mammary glands (if they aren't based on mammalian sea creatures, that is), and this is a great version. I especially like the design of their heads, and how the only way to differentiate male and female is via size and their cranial fins. I like to imagine the females select males based on how colorful and dramatic their frills are. Anyway, great picture.
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Thank you!
Yes, that's pretty much how they select mates, along with 'social standing' - the higher up the pecking order a male is, the better, and usually those higher up the ladder have better looking frills because they get to eat more and develop better. They're pretty cut-throat.
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The scars make them look even more hardcore!
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If they're sharks, shouldn't the females be larger?
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I thought of making the females the dominant gender but I'd already done that with two other species in Obscura, the fictional land these are from, and when I wrote out that story, it didn't work right. Females in charge would mean building the society a little like a hyena one, where the pups can boss the males around and that didn't work out with the nasty attitude of the race in full. So yeah, the females may be less big, but that doesn't mean much. They're all still shark people who'll hunt, kill and eat anything even if it's ten times their size.
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They don't have to be dominant just because they're a bit larger. They could still be equals or something
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I thought of that too. But I don't want proper equality in this race; there's no room for the reasonable thought that real equality requires. Sure the females aren't totally dominated, but they aren't easily found in top spots. These creatures kill each other in order to usurp positions, or get killed trying to do so. It's a complicated thing.
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That does make sense. It makes the race as a whole seem more realistic, since they have actual internal problems due to the very nature of their being.
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$%&^*(&^!!!!!! So ultimate badass looking!!! Fantastic work! I adore sharks, BTW.
I'd love to see more of these! I'm adding you to my watch/friends.
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Thanks. I intend to work on some other races of this novel later, but these days I'm a bit busy with writing a short story. 
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NP on the watch
What kind of short story?
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Ah I'm adapting a Shakespearean play to a semi-modern fantasy setting. Making a comedy of sorts. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing with it, hahaha. I hope to publish it once it's finished and polished.
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An interesting concept. There have been a number of films in recent years adapting Shakespeare to modern times and beyond. I would like to see your spin on it when it's published.
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I'm aware of them but I'm trying to distance myself from them in order to keep a fresh approach. I may drop a couple of references here and there but I'd rather not follow in their footsteps.
Hah, publishing is still a bit of a dream for me. It'll take a lot of work to get there even after the story's done.
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ΠΩ ΡΕ τι εικονάρα είναι αυτή! Χαλιέμαι που δεν έχω άμεσα δικό μου κομπιούτερ να την αρπάξω. Καλά θα φέρω το φλασάκι την άλλη φορά ντάξει κομπλέ. Όλα είναι τέλεια, ειδικά τα πρόσωπα τους με τα πτερύγια , οι ουλές τους όλο το σετ. Πιο πολύ μου αρέσουν εδώ οι μικρές λεπτομέρειες όπως το βραχιόλι στο μπράτσο του αριστερού
Αποθήκευση φυσικά σε: ΤΕΡΑΤΑ ΚΑΙ ΖΩΑ/ΘΑΛΑΣΣΙΑ ΥΔΡΟΒΙΑ ΤΕΡΑΤΑ/ΙΧΘΥΟΕΙΔΗΣ. δεν τους βάνω στις γοργόνες/ους γιατί εκεί πάνε όσοι είναι με το κλασσικό στύλ.
Ναι και στην Δεύτερη Γή τέτοιο στύλ είναι οι θάλασσες πάνω κάτω.
Μπαρτούγκ: Ναι απο δω και πέρα θα χρησιμοποιώ το μενταγιόν μετάφρασεις και οποιανού του αρέσει! Καλά είναι τα ψάρια δεν λέω, ειδικά αφού φέρνουνε και σε καρχαρίες, απο τα αγαπημένα μου ζώα, σχεδόν τόσο σκληρά όσο τα όρκ ΧΑΡΧΑΡΧΑΡ! Αλλά απο σαχουαγκίν, καρχαριανθρώπους, πισεάν όλα αυτά, έχω αρκετά τρόπαια δεν χρειάζομαι άλλα χερχερχερ...Θυμάμαι πως πηγαίνανε να με δαγκώσουν ενω είχα την πανοπλία με το τοξικό σύννεφο! Δεν τους άρεσε αυτό μα τον Γκρούμς, αλλά μου άρεσε εμένα και αυτό φτάνει! ΧΑΡΧΑΡΧΑΡ!
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Ε τι μόνο αυτό βρήκες να πεις; εδώ έκαμα ολόκληρη ανάλυση και έβαλα και πρόκληση απο τον Μπάρτ. Πες και τίποτις παραπάνω!
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:3 Giati na kanw spoilers gia to biblio mou?
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Your attention to detail is amazing*.* Even if you did not explicitly distinguish which is male and female, it's pretty easy to determine their genders just by looking at their features and accessories. I think you did a great job with their faces; they really look vicious and nasty
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I wonder who will be the first of your OCs to encounter them
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Oh it is, I plan to have Axel and Ant run into them underwater... XD Not a very pretty because because Ant has an issue with sharks so he'll probably scream like a little girl before decking one in the face.
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Oh that's a surprise. I mean, I thought Ant has an affinity for water, ice and all things "fishy." I actually expected him to try diplomacy before resorting to punching the shit out of them. Oh wow I just realised I can actually recall some tidbits about your OCs. Makes me wonder why I can't memorise that well when it comes to studying for exams etc>.<
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XD Well you're right and he would, but he's just REALLY not comfortable in open water. It's one of those things he can't work through. XD Sharks don't help much either. ^^ He panicked, bless him.
And welcome to my world sweetheart. I can remember all kinds of random, interesting shit, but once you ask me to remember something I studied last night, it's all gone.
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Yeah, I do really like the attention to detail with them when it comes to the tribal marks, scars, chomps, and bits of jewelry. I think there is enough to distinguish the males from the females, with the size and faces (especially if you note the small fin at the jawline of the males) But what sells this piece for me is the color scheme, the background, and the really close relation they seem to have with sharks.
Nice job. ^_^
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:3 thank you! I love sharkies, so yeah. My merfolk are shark people XD
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So many battle scars. Good job with the frilly things on their heads, it makes them look more authentic.
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They're a nasty bunch, even to each other. ESPECIALLY to each other, actually...
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And I was just informed that I am made of fail today.
Not reading that the left one IS a female... and now that I actually look at the picture I see that the right one has more vivid colors... common in aquatic and avian males...
So yeah... ignore me today
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But.... what about the females?
Do they do the Ariel thing and use shells to cover the bewbs?
Cool image though, I like the touches by giving them jewelry here and there ^^
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There are no boobs. They're FISH, darling, they need no boobs, so no boobs. :3 Danke.
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