Appearance

A Siren upper body is humanoid with their lower half starting at the abdomen being fish. Their hair can range in all colors, and as can their skin tone. Their upper body isn’t completely humanoid on all aspects. For instance, their teeth are shark-like with the sides being serrated and all canines. They also have a small patch of scales on the back of their neck that matches the color of the scales on their tail. These scales continue over their whole body but take on a more translucent color allowing their skin color to show through. These scales are actually quite sharp and if rubbed from the abdomen up can rip off skin.

Typically Sirens have a single red ring around their iris that glows softly. This is a sign that they are not actually their cousin the mermaids. Another sign is the fact that all Sirens have webbing between their fingers that go from half way to the knuckle back to where the fingers diverge from the hand. Their fingernails are also more like claws than true nails. This allows them to swim faster by using their fingers to pull them forward without having to just rely on their tail.

Sirens have a few differences between male and female sirens. Males have a dorsal fin that grow out of the mid section of their back and is the same color as their tail. Females typically have dull colored scales, while the males are more vibrant. Males also tend to be more feminine than some other species; taking on a lean, slender look with the more muscular types being extensively rare for Sirens. Male sirens by nature are rare with the species being dominantly female. Female sirens, on the other hand, tend to have gills barely noticeable due to their long hair, while males have much sharper and noticeable gills on their neck.

The Sirens all have a human form. This human form looks very similar to their upper half of their body and in this form they lose their gills, webbing, and claws. Their fangs become more like a humans, and their claws more like nails. They keep the red rim in their eye and their scales stay along their body and their legs. The scales change colors to match their top half. This makes them very dangerous. The males also lose their dorsal fin which just becomes a small knot in the center of their back. They also typically keep the colored patch on the back of their neck as is, with it never changing.

Abilities

Sirens, like mermaids, can go onto land for a short period of days. They can only travel upon land for three days before they must return to sea. They use this time often to board ships and trick sailors and crew to abandon or even to crash their ship.

They have the ability of voice, a magic that is enhanced by their control over spirit magic. This power allows them to trick the listener into doing what they want by allowing the Siren to appear as a lover or their ideal lover. This spell is only useful if the person hears their singing and as long as the listener has not found true love yet.

History

Sirens are believed to be cousins to the mermaids having derived from them. The first of the mermaids is thought to have been a joke of the gods. A pair of bellonese had mated together to produce an offspring. They believed that the child would have been a woodland bellonese considering that both parents were native to the forests. However, upon birth the child had a long, fish-like tail rather than a mammal found on land. Angered by the oddity of the bellonese, the male had thought his mate had cheated on him. She cried to him and begged that, that had not been the case. They found that the child could not breath above water as easily due to the gills that were on its sides. The mother placed the child in the nearby tide pool that collected by the ocean. The child was happy enough and soon began trying to swim around the little pool.

Everyday the mom stayed near the child to protect it and feed it. Others from her community shunned the mother for keeping watch over the child. Her mate had left her believing that she still cheated or that the woman was cursed by the gods. Still, the mother tended to her child day-in and day out. Local marine life had seen the pair and started to help bring them food that they could eat to keep the child alive. At night, they would keep watch so the mother could get some sleep. Haliea, Goddess of the sun and moon, having come across the two watched every day and night as the creatures tended to the lone mother and child. She was so moved by the touching gesture these creatures showed them and wanted to do something special for them. Haliea went to Feaya, Goddess of the rivers and oceans, to tell her about the pair and what she wanted to do. Haliea wanted to provide the mom endless days with her child without having the be separated by the ocean. This in turn, would allow the pair to stay together forever, but she needed Feaya to approve because it was her domain. Feaya, wanting to contribute as well, decided to provide the animals who helped tended to the duo the option to transform into the same creature the child had been. Both goddesses took to their oracles to relay their messages to all that were involved.

The mother exclaimed in pure joy at the prospect of staying with her child. Haliea smiled at the mother and soon transformed her animal half into a beautiful sea-dragon. Feaya spoke with the marine life that helped the pair. Most were more than willing to take on another form and soon were turned into a half human, half animal with the lower half being the animal they were previously. These became known as the first mermaids with the mother sea dragon mermaid as the Mother of All. There have been no other accounts of another mermaid similar to her in terms of her animal counterpart.

As the years passed, the mermaids grew into a strong community and broke out into different regions. However, there were a few who did not like the caring ways of the mermaids. Those with song-like abilities began to prey on the mammals found on land and those who passed by on ships. They prayed to Vaerath, God of light and dark, over Haliea as they saw him to fit more with their ideals. Vaerath began to take notice of the increased worship directed to him and saw some of Haliea’s creations. He was amused by them and decided to bless them for having whiched to worship him. He made amplified their song abilities, changed their appearance, and allowed them to appear as mermaids to others before drawing them in as as way to make it easier for them to catch prey and harder for prey to distinguish a siren from a mermaid. Over the years, they have become known for their siren songs and aptly named sirens.