#parallel world?

Was talking with someone last night about things I like in fantasy and things I wanted to see more of, and one of those was underwater cities on the backs/bodies of giant creatures (such as the island on the Lion Turtle’s back in Avatar or the city on Eldradimon’s back in Digimon). 

So let’s assume that this is another world where there are massive oceans everywhere to support this kind of life, but imagine giant sea creatures everywhere, and since it’s fantasy let’s go ahead and have merpeople. Well, these people need a home somewhere, amiright?

People who live in the body of a massive great white, with scales made of diamond to let the light shine on its people. The Shark people would be fierce hunters and great strategists, and I imagine they would be protective of their people and their home, so if there is any sort of  threat, you can guarantee they will protect it.

A small group of stragglers, exhausted from their journeys, settle on a rocky outcropping for the night, setting up camp. In the morning when they wake, they find that their surroundings have changed completely. It seems that their “outcropping” was really a giant octopus. The people remain, building their village on the tentacles of the giant. These people are wickedly intelligent, being able to see right through plots and lies, being able to escape any trap their enemies have set for them, having watched their home do so all these years. They’re also a very artistic group, using corals and octopi ink to make paints.

Cities that settle in the quills of sea urchins and sea cucumbers, safe and protected from outside threats. Cities that hide in the tops of jellyfish and swim amongst its tentacles, gathering food or playing hide-and-seek, having grown tough skin to avoid being shocked or poisoned. Adventure-seeking tribes that travel beneath the dolphin’s bodies, curious of the world around them and unwaveringly playful. Large, gentle people who tend to the scratches the whales have sustained from boats, growing the barnacles like gardens and singing long into the night. 

Tribes and cities of people passing and colliding, fighting or trading culture. Languages with different dialects between the same people, so two Octopus people can speak but still occasionally be confused, misinterpreting what their companion is saying in silly ways. Dolphin people who know several different languages and dialects from their travels, giggling when they talk to other tribes in different languages and insult them.

Seabed-dwelling cities using shells and coral as plates or jewelry, using one type of shell to say “I love you” and another to say “You’re my best friend”, or a way to say “I wish the oceans would swallow you whole.” Giving someone a “We welcome you!” shell and offending your visitor, because in their city that shell is used to convey dislike. Creating clothes and weapons and armors from scales and old crab shells.