art stuff

I don't even know how I got here

So I do actually, at least a little bit, know how I got to the concept I'm about to present to you now. I was reading this fanfic about merfolk and pirates, bcs yes, and a person asked what the pirates did with the merfolk they caught. Were they sold off to zoos? Were they just killed and used for whatever their bodies had to offer, scales becoming jewelry?

The answer so came up with, is yes, and then some.

I made an entire economy based off of merfolk.

It's horrible.

But here.

For one, we can start with the like, highest ups of humanity, the ones who would pay the most to have the best merfolk caught and brought in. They would keep live ones for show, the prettier and rarer they are the greater that would speak to their wealth and power, and there would be whole buildings sometimes dedicated to a very powerful person's collection of merfolk. So basically, there's your zoos. They'd essentially be like expensive pets, either way, much like how a person of royalty may have tigers or peacocks or something. 

For the pirates, they're a little more useful. 

Once 'broke'(like, tamed or coerced into submission and compliance), they would use the merfolk to seek out treasure, alert the crew of any incoming foes or allies, defend the ship or attack someone else's, as well as seek out more of their kind. Typically, the common amount of merfolk to a ship would be three or four, but the richer the pirate, the more merfolk they'll have. They are also used in naval warfare between kingdoms, not just petty pirate skirmishes. Some who have been broken or trained well enough will actually be trusted to spy on enemy forces, keeping tags and gathering information, be it from other merfolk or their own methods. Some people treat the merfolk as people, to any varying degree, so while there is no true set-down arrangement between the species(in fact, the merfolk are against these captures and there is no record of a single meeting between a human in significant power and a merman/mermaid of any high status ever), some merfolk acclimate themselves to this life and willingly (somewhat) go along with it. 

As for lower class people, more common, they're used for literally ANYTHING involving the sea. Cartographers use them to map out the ocean floor, which helps other humans to make more accurate maps to keep ships from running onto sandbars, as well as architects who want to make more ports and seaside towns with docks. Merchants use them to keep their ships safe from pirates and enemies, as well as pull through storms and doldrums. It takes a lot of them to pull a ship of those sizes and weight, so only the really powerful captains can afford such a leisure. Fishers use them to herd large schools of fish into their nets, as well as scare off predators such as sharks.

Then there's just normal people.

It'd be a common thing, having merfolk as a part of the way seafaring people do what they do, but it's not just the elite and ship captains that would have access to this. Some towns may be able to pay for a few merfolk to come and do things for their townspeople, like if they lived in houses directly above the water or had canals that ran through their streets like in Venice, they would easily be able to tow the smaller, more manageable boats there and help the locals fish for food, look for shells or shiny things of value that humans can't dive for, and alert them if there's an attack. It's places like this where the villagers have a true chance to interact with the merfolk consistently, leading to some communities of merfolk simply staying to help villagers out of friendliness and compassion. As such, these can be either the most wholesome and positive of relationships between humans and merfolk, or sometimes some of the worst. Because while most townspeople are thankful to have the merfolk's help and they seem especially attracted to children and those who sing or play music, there are some humans who will take a mermaid/merman and sell them. If not, they will kill them and take their scales to sell as additional jewelry and accessories, decoration and other such things. Some people would pay handsomely for this, and so as with any sort of lucrative or successful business, there's essentially a black market for them as well. 

This idea was awful and I don't know why my brain immediately went to this but this is what I got and I think if used correctly, it'd actually be a neat concept.

As always, hope you liked it and I'll see you later. Bye!