Emberfish!!! Au!!!! It's so good!
Theres something FISHY going up in this au....... Ahah
Anyways i don't really know what to ask i just want to say i love it nd i appreciate you. Its great
Oh yeah, so here are some questions: how social merpeople are is based on dolphins, right? Are the pods always only 3 people? Do you think merpeople can survive alone or in a sort of close knit "village" with others? They should be able to hunt, right?
Thank you!! There is something fishy going on, i'm glad you've noticed ;)
How social mer are is actually based off of both dolphins and humans. I've found that people underestimate just how social we are as human beings, and how, if you are put in an environment that requires you to work together with a group to survive, natural selection tends to hone those more social instincts. And on top of that, being alone in the vast ocean where sometimes it's hard to tell up from down and day from night can drive a mer mad if they don't have SOMEONE to talk to. Mer find it a lot easier to end up in situations that are sensory depriving. And for a species hardwired to be on alert at all times? That sort of thing takes it's toll.
It's also a little bit taken from space aus and "humans are weird/earth is space australia" stuff I've seen and really enjoyed over the years. Especially with Martyn's thoughts on 'mer will pod-bond with anything that gives them enough attention.' it's essentially the mer version of pack-bonding for humans, and how we tend to build relationships with any sort of animals we can feasibly keep as a pet, and even inanimate objects.
A pods of around 7-15 mer is considered the normal size for a pod, and is typically the size for a stable 'family' pod. A family pod is usually from 1-3 mating pairs, along with their children, and perhaps a few other friends or younger mer from other pods who are courting or become friends with their children.
The minimum for a pod is 3, because otherwise that's just a pair, and from 3-7 mer is considered a small pod. I've gone over this before in other asks, but as mer grow up, it's not uncommon for teenage mer to leave their family pods (sometimes alone, if there's another pod they can join right away, but more typically in pairs or trios of siblings or pod-mates) and strike out on their own. These younger mer will often form friend based pods (like Grian's pod or like the NHO pod that Etho and Bdubs belonged to before they left and met Tango), which are pretty unstable until the mer fully mature, and often end up becoming new family pods as romance blooms, yadda yadda yadda birds and the bees.
Not always, though, as we see with both the 'bet' pod (Bdubs, Etho, nd Tango) and Grian's pod. Etho, Bdubs, and Tango could join up with another pod if they wanted to, they just don't.
Anything bigger than roughly 15 members is considered a 'large' pod. There tend to be fewer of these, and they tend to be more migratory because of their larger draw on the resources around them. Large pods also tend to be more unstable as different smaller pods can join or leave depending on the time of year and the specific migratory path, and teen mer who have left the family pod where they grew up might join or leave whenever. They due tend to be great sources of gossip and general knowledge and skills, though, due to the many members and because they have more hands to do the work they can get more specialized in what they know. They also tend to have more well established migration paths, and normally there's a more stable extended family in a large pod that acts as the 'backbone' and leadership, so to speak. They tend to function like more like close knit little villages, rather than small family groups.
The hivemind pod (lead by Doc) is a very unique outlier in this, being completely stationary, and having roughly 50 members at any given time. They're basically trying to create mer agriculture, and are already a major trading center.
While lone mer can survive on their own, especially as adults, it is very very hard and very very stressful. Most don't do it unless they have to, because of how dangerous the ocean can be. Hunting in general is difficult, and mer need meat in their diets to support their high metabolisms. They can survive off of foraging alone, but clams and other shellfish can be hard to get into without the right strength or tools, and mer can't survive off of only plants in the long run.
When one wrong move can net you an injury that might impede your ability to hunt, and you're alone? That mer is basically shark chum unless they are either very lucky or can find someone to help. A mer alone lives on a kinfe's edge. Most simply choose the safer option to be in a pod.
