THE MAERLING TIDE

Zuz "Spikulec" Gruzlewska

The mortal image of the Lord of All tides.

This is not a reversible transformation, barring extreme magical intervention on par with putting them in a new body and scrubbing their soul with bleach. Bear that in mind if you decide to pursue this course.

The Transformation

This is how one becomes a Maerling, and options for your character changes at every stage. There are three stages, from juvenile to mature to elder.

To advance from one stage to another, you have to fulfill The Lord of All Tides’ agenda in the presence of the monolith they were turned at and then pray in front of it to ask for its blessing. Fulfilling an element of the agenda not in the presence of the monolith doesn’t count.

Psychological Changes

The horror of a Maerling is reinforced by the fact that they are largely the same psychologically as they were before, in spite of their grotesque physical transformation. They still retain their mind, sentience, and personality.

This is mostly true, anyway. There are some minor effects of their transformation and newfound connection to the Lord of All Tides that grow more intense and pronounced as they themselves become more powerful.

The Locus of Change

Those who die at the base of the monolith, willingly sacrificing their mortal forms to the Lord of All Tides, must be buried in the wet sand at its base and the tide allowed to rise over their shallow graves. If they have been allowed to remain undisturbed until the next low tide, their once dead bodies will rise and be healed, now juvenile Maerlings.

This may rarely happen even to those who are unwilling sacrifices, at the discretion of those players.

Devourers of the Deep

Maerling abilities require a bloody sacrifice. In order to use their magic, they must kill something bloodily and discard their carcass (or at least their blood) into a natural body of water like the sea. Passive abilities require just one sacrifice to use each day and remain usable for the rest of the day. Active abilities require a sacrifice in the moments before using it.

Juvenile Maerlings

All juveniles gain these abilities, which are not contingent on Devourers of the Deep:

In God’s Image. They are remade in the image of a humanoid cephalopod. They lose all of their hair, their mouth becomes a mess of tentacles, and their skin changes color to various tones of purple, grey, red, blue, or pallid white. Their head elongates and enlarges.

Telepathy. They can no longer use their mouths to communicate, but gain the ability to do so telepathically. Everyone in their vicinity can hear their words, but they may specifically target one person in line of sight so that only they hear, though they must continuously be looking at them while speaking.

Weak. All Maerlings are initially weaker than pre-Maerling. Everything will be more exhausting to perform physically.

Weakness to Starblood. Due to their divine origins, they are naturally weak to starblood. Being in contact with it dampens their abilities and blocks their ability to communicate telepathically. This weakness grows with each stage. At Mature, being struck with starblood leaves a Maerling physically dampened for a time. Physical actions require extra effort, they are slow and sluggish. At Elder, if struck they will be paralyzed from all actions for a moment.

Juveniles may choose one of the following abilities:

Enhanced Telepathy. This is a passive ability. They are able to communicate to others through their mind if they know the person’s name or are familiar with them, no matter the distance, as long as they are on the same plane. They may respond back. They also gain the ability to manipulate small objects in their vicinity with their mind.

Arcane Exception. This is a passive ability. If the Maerling is blessed by The Lord of All Tides, they are now permitted to learn and practice arcane magic.

Devour Despair. This is a passive ability. The Maerling may gain the benefits of Devourers of the Deep by making someone feel genuine despair, instead of sacrificing their blood to the tide.

Disperse. This is an active ability. The Maerling, if they are standing on a shore in water, are able to disperse into seafoam. All of their equipment comes with them, but they can’t bring someone with them like this. They may reappear on any other natural shore they are familiar with hours later.

Mature Maerlings

Mature Maerlings choose one of the following abilities:

Influence. This is an active ability. The Maeling targets one person they can see, and instills in them an idea. The target believes the idea came from within themselves, and they believe it. At their target’s discretion, they may decide this idea is so alien to them or so against their nature that it was nothing more than an intrusive thought.

Arcane Devourer. This is an active ability that may only be chosen if they also chose Arcane Exception as a juvenile. They may sacrifice an Alteran life as part of casting a spell, and gain power equal to the Alteran that was sacrificed.

For example, if the Maerling is a master mage who sacrifices another master mage, their spell is now as powerful as if two master mages had cast it together.

Telekinesis. This is an active ability that may only be chosen if they also chose Enhanced Telepathy as a juvenile. The Maerling is able to manipulate large objects up to the size of polearms and the like, and use them with sufficient force to use them as weapons. They may only interact with one object like this at a time.

Elder Maerlings

Elder Maerlings choose one of the following abilities:

Devour Memory. This is a passive ability. If the Maerling eats someone’s brain, they learn one specific memory from their target. This can only be knowledge of a specific event or the like; they cannot learn the entirety of their target’s life, or replicate a lifetime of skill now stolen from their target.

Greater Telekinesis. This is an active ability that may only be chosen if they also chose Telekinesis as a juvenile. The Maerling is able to manipulate objects up to the size of a wagon with their mind, and hurl them with great force. This includes people. They may still only do this with one object at a time. This ability requires the sacrifice of an Alteran to use, but remains active for the rest of the day afterwards.

Overform. This is a passive ability. The Maerling loses their physical body except for their brain and tentacles. They are exceptionally physically vulnerable like this, but gain all other Maerling abilities. They can levitate under their own power, propelling themselves through air or water at a pace ranging anywhere from a crawl to a sprint. The Overform dries out after being exposed to too much sun and high wind, which is fine most of the time, but means they can’t go flying high above the surface of Altera.

First write up by me, @blargtheawesome final edits