About

When merfolk (or ‘merkind’ as Meara collectively refers to her people) were beginning to spread across the ocean floor, increasing in numbers and evolving into more varied types, they began to form their own formal societies and cities. Central to their development as a society was their reliance on the light of the surface. It became significantly important to them; those at the North and South polar seas developed ways with which to trap the light of the sun for better illumination in the long dark months of winter. The abyss, however, was left untouched. It was deemed too far below the surface, too far from light’s touch, to be a viable prospect for habitation. Merkind never ventured beyond the depths at which light could still reach. Indeed it never so much as crossed their minds to do so for, to them, light was life, and therefore the absence of it must be the opposite.

As growing merfolk began to clash over power, with no royalty or noble structure to speak of to guide them, Meara (a soldier for a European merfolk nation) sought to find somewhere in which those more vulnerable to the fighting or those who simply wished to avoid it could reside safely. Knowing that no merfolk had ever inhabited the dark abyss she travelled down there herself to judge how heavily the absence of the surface light had affected its viability to be lived in. She found light amidst the darkness, however. Light where there should have been none, in the form of creatures like the Lanternfish that were able to shine on their own. Fascinated by them, and realising that life could thrive down there, Meara remained in the abyss for a great many years to further explore it, learn from the creatures that could make their own light as no merfolk could by then, all for sake of the ultimate goal of creating a city wherein wars with those nearer the surface would be highly unlikely.

When Meara took up life in the abyss her body underwent changes that no merkind had ever taken on. Her eyes, once as vibrant a shade of blue as the surface seas themselves, grew pale and featureless in the absence of the sun. Her sense of sight itself became more honed to the darkness at the cost of heightened, painful sensitivity to raw sunlight. She slowly began to take on that elusive abyssal light that had so fascinated her upon her arrival, until she produced more vibrant a glow than any other light-bearing creature in the depths. In time the Lanternfish that she so loved began to glow far more vibrantly in her presence than others of her kind, as though she had come to share some of her power with them.

When Meara’s glow reached its brightest and she had completely adapted to her new place of residence, she found herself meeting the first visitors from nearer the surface. These visitors were not her people, as she had expected. Instead she had been visited by an ancient whale and her several children. As the whale explained, they had passed over the trenches so many times but never thought to swim into them for they too had never considered life being possible in a place of such darkness. Her glow had been bright enough to attract their attention. When she explained to the whale and her children why she had chosen to make the abyss her home the mother whale, touched by Meara’s desire to help more of her people, offered to help her. She, her offspring and later other sea creatures as well helped Meara to craft the beginnings of a city in the depths of the abyssal trench; while they used their immense strength to move rocks and gouge into the seafloor, Meara used her very claws to assist in quite literally carving out the city she so dreamed of making. In time more creatures came to aid her in her efforts to shape Mea’Faraille. What they were able to make was not beautiful but it was certainly enough to be called the beginnings of a great city. No merfolk found their way down there, however, as they never wandered close enough to the trenches to see the glow from within or hear the growing number of voices.

It came to Meara’s attention that her city in the abyss might not be suitable for all of the inhabitants she wished to take in and offer refuge to. Those who breathed air, such as the whales that had given her their strength, would have to return to the surface in order to breathe every so often. She consulted with the eldest whale, the first to have come to her and the first with whom she had spoken, who passed on to her a magic she had learned of a long time ago but lacked the ability to perform herself; she spoke of a magic that could change the waters and allow those who breathed air to survive within. Meara, being one of merkind, would perhaps have the ability to make use of that power. It took time but, alas, she was able to perform and make use of that magic the whale had passed down unto her. Using her new ability she created a great space over and throughout her dear city so as to comfortably accommodate those who would otherwise still need to visit the surface to breathe air. The process, however, took a toll on Meara’s strength. By the time she was finished she was barely strong enough to swim. As much as she wished to bring her kind into her city, her multitude of abyssal companions agreed that she should be stronger for such a day. She ultimately made her decision to enter a temporary state of dormancy so that when she was strong enough she could greet her people and bring them there in good faith.

When Meara slept, most of her beloved Lanternfish shoaled around her sleeping place. Their collective glow shone like a star in an otherwise featureless black sky, but no merfolk were there to see it. The rest of her Lanternfish rose out of the trench and spread out in order to find or be found by her people. Fascinated by the luminous fish, at long last, the first few merfolk were drawn close enough to the abyss to spot the light far beneath. Those that swam down to find it discovered the slumbering Meara, whom awoke upon their arrival and told them to tell the rest of their people a message - that the abyss was a realm wherein life was not only possible but fruitful, and her young city was open to those who desired to stay safe from or were otherwise more vulnerable to the dangers of the nations nearer the surface.

Her word went out, and her invitation was accepted. Merkind finally came to join her in the abyss, further progressing in the development of her city. Her story and the light that she not only produced but had spread to her dear Lanternfish prompted the awe of those who migrated into those dark waters; they took to her as though she were a divine figure to them, though she was quick to remind them that she was no divinity. Nevertheless, she became an important figure and one thoroughly respected by her kind. She was hailed as Queen of the Abyss, the first of the abyssal royalty and she who had formed a sanctuary for her people where none had thought one could ever possibly be formed. She still rules over her city today. The city would go on to be named Mea’Faraille, in honour of the queen who had done so much to forge it.

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