#amphtrite

Poseidon, shaking Amphitrite awake: Do you like me?

Amphitrite: I married you.

@widdershyn-panda asked  "What's the hierarchical structure of merfolk society? Patriarchal? Matriarchal? Where do sharklings come into play, if they're different than merfolk? What's the power structure, is it a council, or more like a single ruler?”

The Matriarchy

Merfolk are a matriarchal society. As far back as the songs tell, women have almost always ruled their pods, beginning with the moon and her pod of stars. The mermatron once had the power of life and death over all her family-members, but such barbaric practices have been left in the distant past. 

While every pod is unique in its structure and organization, all are essentially hugely extended family groups ruled by a collection of mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and cousins. They also tend to be fairly democratic. 

Percy’s pod is ruled by such a family. The current head of the hierarchy is Rhea, the grandmother of all the other matrons, and her sister Ceres. At the moment those two are away, so rule of the pod has been vested in Rhea’s niece* Amphitrite. Rhea’s other daughters, Hera and Hestia are also powerful figures in the community as is Ceres’ daughter Persephone, and Rhea’s great-niece Aphrodite. Two relative newcomers to the pod have also become powerful figures, Maria and Sally.

To the merfolk, motherhood is the highest calling and the right to sire a child with a matron is a great privilege. As such, matrons may take many consorts and have many children by them. Large families are common, and having seven children is considered good luck. Motherhood does not preclude taking another mermaid as a life-partner, however. 

It should be noted that a consort is not the same as a partner. For example, Sally took on Poseidon as a consort, but her partner, and the functional father of her children, is Paul. 

The mermen are great hunters and protectors of the pod. Upon reaching manhood, mermen are permitted to travel to other pods to make families of their own, but this is not mandatory. Many mermen who come of age, such as Percy, elect to remain with their birth pod to help raise their siblings and defend their families. However it is difficult for them to find partners, as most mermaids are their kin. 

Sharklings

Sharklings are just as merfolk as any other mer, but they considered deeply unlucky for several reasons. Merfolk live precarious lives, equivalent to early Iron-age humans, and resources must always be used judiciously. Sharklings are voracious, and require a great deal of food to survive, much less thrive. Adding to this is a slower developmental speed, necessitating a longer period of dependence on their parents. Many consider this an unnecessary burden on the pod as a whole. (I never said the merfolk don’t have problems with their society)

Sharklings also grow to gargantuan sizes, usually in excess of twenty feet long. To a species living in hiding, this presents a considerable difficulty. 

In less scrupulous pods, sharklings are abandoned or outright killed at birth. Even in progressive places like Rhea’s pod, violence against sharklings can occur in times of stress (which is how Tyson lost one of his eyes).

Stolen from @stormbornwitch

Basic Info

Name: Ashley Age 25 Birthday March 3rd Zodiac Signs: Pisces Sun/Libra Moon // Goat

Current  Interests:

Water Magic/Sea Magic - including baths and spells 

Mermaids 

Sigils

Tarot

Pole Dance ;)

Things I’d like to learn more about:

Danced Spells. - something I am exploring as a dancer. Can you dance a spell with music, movement, intention, and maybe a (ELECTRIC) candle?

My Pantheon:

Rate: 10/10

Compliment: awesome posts awesome theme awesome url wow +follow

thanks!:)

url 9/10icon 9/10theme 9/10post 9.5/10 following: n / now / y / forever

i don't like pringles?? original tho if i do have to pick

url: 10/10

theme: 9.5/10

icon: 10/10

posts: 10/10

overall: 10/10

following: y/n/+f

comments/advice: i really like your theme!! it's very clean and nice

oh man i love that name!!

L: lose your soul- dead man's bones

I: i bet my life- imagine dragons

N: night changes- one direction

D: don't- ed sheeran

A: addicted to love- florence and the machine

oooh thank you!

your blog is just s o aesthetically pleasing + i noticed u were reading starcrossed and i love starcrossed so your my fave (seriously tho that series gets so passed over when people talk about modern myth adaptations its such a shame)