#scaphrim

Rán+ Ægir : Giant, sea personnified, Ægir is married to the goddess Rán, the thief, the cruel sea who takes careless sailors to her net and shelters them in her hall. Together they welcome Aesirs and Vanirs to feast and drink and it is during one of those feasts that Loki, the god of mischief ridiculizes the other gods in the Lokasenna. Together, those two sea gods have nine daughters, waves personnified. While Ægir tends to represent the benevolent side of the sea, Rán represents its cruelest aspects.

Those mermaids, whose tail is one of a crocodile, are usually found across Africa, mainly in rivers and especially in the river Nile. Some wanders around western swamps of the continent and others tend to dwell in the sea, near the shore where they can eat. They mostly eat snakes, sheeps and other animals but there are rare cases when they eat humans. In ancient times, they were revered as Sobek's daughters in Egypt and were told to be spirits of the water to be feared by the population. That is why they were often given gold as a sacrifice for it was commonly said that whoever was in their good graces was bessed by the sea and rivers and that having one's trust would grant you wealth.

Found into the Indian ocean and Indian seas as well as in some large rivers, Indian mermaids are sisters to the Nâgas, only their tail looks like a fish's. They enjoy architecture and often wanders near the shore to see palaces and temples. Their hands are generally painted red and often they take in rivers, bracelets to adorn their wrists. Their task is to ease a drowning human's pain; to soothe their death to make sure the Nâgas' work guiding them goes well. Usually curious and joyful, they enjoy singing at night to delight human's ears.