The People of the Coral are a species of Merpeople that live in warm sunlit areas amongst the coral reefs. The males would look ugly to human eyes and quite possibly to other mer-species as well. They are grey-skinned and around five feet tall, with large round eyes that can see well in all but the darkest or the most murky water., and with flippers instead of feet and long, muscular arms. They can change their skin to the colour of the water around them, be it blue or grey or another colour, which makes them hard to see.
And that is just as well, for Sea Spiders and several dangerous beasts of the oceans will happily eat them if they can catch them, whilst many members of the other mer-species see them as inferior and a threat to their territory.
Their weapons, clubs and spears, come from different types of coral,as do the few tools that they use.The males roam around finding fish that they can spear and bring back for food.They spend quite a lot of their lives hunting.Their weapons are tipped with Fire Coral which means that even a touch from the point can cause a nasty wound that is slow to heal.
The females are beautiful to look upon, with beautiful many-colored scales all over their bodies that glitter in the light of the sun.Unlike the males, they are poisonous to most of the dangerous creatures that would otherwise eat them,although there are a few that the poison has no effect on. This beauty causes them to be very visible, which is dangerous within the seas of Acqua. Anything that can eat them can see them easily, whilst there are other races out there which like to kidnap them.Their eyesight and hearing,whilst good, is only half as good as that of the males, and their arms are weaker.Just like the males they have flippers instead of feet.
The females are the ones who look after the children, tell the myths and the stories of the People of the Coral, tend the kelp plants that forms part of their food, and sing beautiful songs.
Laws amongst the tribes are few and commonsense and lawbreaking is rare.
Those who do break the laws in a serious way face being expelled from the tribes and left unprotected amonsgt the horrors of the Acquan oceans.
The tribes like to live in underwater caves near reefs.They often share the caves with Cleaner Fish and Glow Fish, that live on thier leftovers.The Cleaner Fish eat any parasites that start to grow on the People,whilst the Glow Fish emit a soft green glow at night.
Pairs normally mate for life and will have several children.A kiddnapped female will slowly lose the colour in her scales, as they turn into a light grey color after a long period of unhappyness, but her sweet voice is unaffected.
If rescued in this state all the colours will rush back into her scales within seconds.
Sadly, the People are declining, as the Shura are taking over their kelp beds, coral reefs and caves, on which they depend for food,tools and safety.Where once they were numbered in the tens of thousands, now they are only a few thousand strong.