Merrow

When humanity dreams of the beauty of the sea, it dreams of mermaids. When those dreams turn to nightmares, the merrow are born and sustained. The merrow themselves claim that they are the dreams of the great Dagon, who created the first merrow egg from the foam of the sea and a bite of the sky. Merrow are cunning and intelligent, but structure themselves in a violent, bestial society primarily dependent on survival in the cold, unforgiving deeps. Their colonies are constructed in the wreckages of ships and planes. Merrow are rare in that they self-replicate, using the warm bodies of drowned sailors, divers, and swimmers to lay the eggs of the next generation. Not all of these eggs hatch into merrow, but those that do not serve as the first meal of the newly-spawned fry. Merrow inhabit a wide range of aquatic environments, from warm briny coasts to trenches in the depths of the ocean. While they are not inclined to venture outside of their territory, they are aggressive and extremely hostile to encroachers. They have no compunctions about dragging hapless mortals or other fae beneath the waters. Some merrow even take great delight in stealing the final breath of their victim, letting the human struggle in their hideous embrace before they drown.

Appearance

Even in human seeming, merrow are barely human in appearance. They are slimy-skinned, pale, and alien individuals that unsettle those around them. In fae mien, some may be strangely beautiful, but most are monstrous nightmares from the deeps. Merrow never take their animal traits from whales or fish, and are amalgamations of semi-human upper bodies, and molluscoid, cephalopoid, or arthropoid features, with translucent skin and webbed fingers.

Endowments

Gift of Dagon: Like merfolk, merrow gain special powers from their Apsara (p. 448). Some merrow have spines and stingers, while others rely on brute strength. Jellyfish merrow have a sting that wracks a victim with days of agonizing pain; squid merrow have multiple strangling tentacles at their disposal. Eel merrow deliver electric shocks, and anglerfish merrow rely on bioluminescent trickery to nullify their prey. The merrow also receives +1 to either Strength or Dexterity.

Pelagic Nightmare: The merfolk are the beauty of the ocean. The merrow are the ocean’s horrors. Merrow are such a bizarre mix of human and alien, anyone looking at a merrow for the first time must make a Willpower roll (difficulty of the merrow’s Glamour rating) or be frozen in shock and horror for one turn, which is usually all the merrow need to dispatch victims.

Vulnerability

The Coldness: Like their Kithain cousins, merrow suffer horrific side effects as Banality touches them. As a merrow’s permanent Banality increases, her ability to breathe water decreases, until she is left alone in the middle of the ocean. Such unfortunate merrow usually drown and become hosts for the next generation of merrow.