Image from Arik | |
The earliest clades of merpeople were aquatic air-breathers, and could hold their breath for up to ten minutes and dive more than 100 metres deep. True water-breathers such as the Europans were not developed until several centuries later. |
When I'm being engenerated in an aquatic environment I like to request that my new body have a residual suffocation reflex. That first moment waking up in the pod begins with a jolt, a split second of alarm at the water filling my throat before new responses kick in and it feels natural. This small moment of panic and the relief that follows helps solidify the transition in forms for me. I like to do the same when transitioning back to a terrestrial form. There's nothing like the odd feeling that one's blowhole is blocked, followed by a satisfying, programmed sneeze.
Excerpt from Tyrol's Travel Notes: To the sea and back
Image from Steve Bowers | |
The merpeople of the Interplanetary Age did not have fins, so had to wear artificial flippers, like this monofin. |
Image from Steve Bowers |