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This entry is part of the Carnal Bestiary, an ongoing collection of descriptions for monsters in a dark fantasy setting. All aspects of this piece and the others of this collection are erotic fantasy and should be treated as such. The author does not condone the act of nonconsensual sex and urges the importance of consent in all sexual acts.
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Regardless of whether there are large bodies of water nearby, tales of mermaids seducing sailors and adventurers alike are well known across the land. First, they lure in the unsuspecting through gentle song, then they appeal to their victims with their alluring appearance, and it all ends as these beautiful creatures drag their prey into the murky depths below. These stories, however, only cover a fraction of the complexity that is the mermaid. While accurate information about mermaids is limited within the general public, a proper understanding of mermaids can save one's life.
Starting with the very foundations of the mermaid, these creatures are actually not monsters in the traditional sense like goblins, kobolds, or the infamous hellhounds. Rather, mermaids are more akin to incorporeal spirits like elementals. Mermaids are in fact physical manifestations of natural energy emanating from ley lines in marine environments. Typically, the creation of mermaids does not occur in unexplored sections of the wilds as discovered by the consistent pattern of mermaid sightings only happening months after human contact within a region.
For centuries, the seemingly cause-and-effect nature of mermaid appearances first led scholars to believe that humans are the natural prey of these creatures and that the presence of humans merely attracts them. Yet, more thorough investigations revealed the abovementioned form of mermaids as manifestations of natural energy, and it was logically concluded that mermaids do not require the consumption of sustenance to survive. This means that mermaids kill only for the sake of killing. The current theory accepted by most scholars and mages is that mermaids are not creatures that live in marine ecosystems, but are creations of the ecosystem itself as a defense mechanism. This theory is largely supported by the positive correlation between the amount of fishing in an area and the number of mermaid attacks in said area. If this is the case, it is possible that mermaids may be an aquatic variation of the spriggans that guard the many forests dotting the land.