Merfolk Shifting

~Pods~

It's Wednesday my dudes! (For me at least lol). Hope everyone is feeling alright! This chapter, my fellow merfolk and mer-lovers, is all about pods and the roles of the merfolk in the pods. I've been trying to read up on them a bit so I can give you guys as much information as possible (I will try to only provide sources that corroborate). I also got help from some mers that I'm friends with, miamichalbax helped because she's a demigod daughter of Poseidon, as well as Triton (the Greek merman god of the waves and king/god of merfolk).

Now, merfolk pods, like many different species of animals, have a sort of social structure. Quite frankly I feel like i should direct you to Isla_Mer and her chapter on pods which I personally found very useful, though there is more than just that on the internet :)

Pods consist of mermen, mermaids and merbabies but can be subdivided into the structure of the pod. The roles do vary based on the species of the pod, as well as the location.

Basically from what I could find that was actually useful, pods are a group of mermaids that can have hundreds of members depending on location and species. within these pods there is a council, hunters and gatherers, nursing merfolk, trainers, teachers and students, and parents. All of these roles are very straightforward but I'll break it down for y'all anyway.

The council is a group of wiser and/or elder mers (often a group of 5-10 but the more there are the harder it can be to decide on things). These merfolk are in charge of governing the pod and making large decisions that affects the entire pod. The council decides on punishments for pod members but when they cannot decide on a punishment, they sometimes decide to adjourn for a few days then regroup. Some common punishments I have heard of are banishment or scraping barnacles off of cave walls (maybe that's just the horror stories that Triton likes to tell me...who knows?)

Hunters and Gatherers hunt and gather food and ingredients for remedies for the nursing mers. The hunters will often be in large groups so as to get enough food for the whole pod, and the gatherers are in slightly smaller groups collecting seaweed and other nutrient-rich plants/ingredients.

Nursing Merfolk are the doctors of the pod. They treat wounds and help cure illnesses among the pod and make sure everyone is healthy and happy. There are a variety of nursing merfolk and some have focused areas of expertise, while others dabble in all aspects they can.

Trainers will train sea animals to aid in hunting, home help and on occasion, wars*. I have often seen a mer or two with a companion lobster, snail or crab and they train those companions to do tricks. Some trainers just train merfolk companions because it's an easier and more relaxing line of work.

Teachers and students teach the roles of the pod's society and the students learn about what roles they're best suited to. They learn what's safe to eat, how to prepare it, basic medical skills, companion training, diplomatic skills and more. The students them go on to learn more about their desired role in the pod and develop those skills further.

Parents birth and raise the babies within the pod and help them develop basic skills such as coordination, communication and socialisation.

Some pods also have a Royal Family but I haven't met many. I've only met Triton, but he's a god as well as the king of merfolk, and a few royals...but yeah.

WOW this chapter is LONG! Sorry about that folks! I hope it was useful though :)

Signing off for now,

Magnus~

(Hey Isla_Mer I hope you don't mind me mentioning you in this chapter! I just love your book on mermaids and found it extremely useful and wanted to spread it (even though I don't have many followers lol).)