In order to traverse land, merfolk need to have the blessing of their goddess. She will approve of their travels, for she believes her people should live freely, but with the promise they will one day return home.

This promise takes the form of a vessel, given by the local priestesses/priests, full of their "home water." They must keep this vessel with them while away, and return the contents when they journey home again. However, If they lose this vessel, they will lose their way, and their goddess will take this very personally. Don't break promises.

So I'm getting to world build merfolk culture for the campaign I just joined.  I really wanted a mermaid priestess and the GM went for it!  This is Nelle (rhymes with bell, shell, etc.); the middle section of my artistic venn diagram. More pics of her (and campaign mates?) to come no doubt!

A little info on the merfolk culture so far cuz I'm having so much fun: their language has 3 parts - regular speaking, sonar, and sign language!  Speaking for on land, sonar for long distance underwater, and sign language for up close underwater/on land.

Depending on the body of water they live in + genetics = their color pallets and features.  Nelle is from a freshwater lake so her colors are more limited and her fellow lake-neighbors have a similar range of colors (greens, browns, you know lake colors).