fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #6487 ]

[ SECRET POST #6487 ]

⌈ Secret Post #6487 ⌋

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[House]

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Depends on history, I think, and how/when merfolk tried to leave the water and who got there first. So there's no real answer.

Like all Merfolk weapons and defenses are designed to function in water. They'd have to redesign from the ground up (pun not intended) to get stuff that functions on land, and they'd be competing with land people who have had that stuff for centuries if not millennia. What are Merfolk going to do against horse archers when they have no experience with horses or archery and everyone else is moving at 4x their run speed and projectiles come at them at seemingly impossible speeds without water resistance? What are Merfolk going to do about castles they can't simply swim over and attack from above any more? How do they get everything they have adjusted to land gravity when their heavy armor is suddenly 2x heavier? Are they going to train on the shore for years and expect to not be disturbed?

The further back they emerged, the better chance they have, but unless it was extremely far back, their chances are pretty slim at taking over. And usually stories have them as being secluded and hiding for some reason for a while.

It really depends.

Do you think if they were able to control the beach or islands they could then learn land war tactics and mount an invasion?

Maybe, on a beach or island? What are they gonna do in mountains or plains or deserts or tundra?

SA

Imagining pre-industrial merfolk emerging with (too) heavy armor and tridents and being killed by basic bows/arrows or basic muskets and thinking it's magic teleportation projectiles would be funny though. Nothing moves that fast in water, wtf is going on!? How are they doing that? Instant death? No dodging??

I was thinking once they have land they could hold then they could slowly adapt to the humans ways of war. I see the mountains being the hardest for them to fight with. If they are of human intelligence and neighbors to humans they could easily spy or learn from them enough to then plan an invasion. I think they then have a fool-proof of "even if we lose we can just retreat to the ocean and the humans can't follow".

Would it even be worth it for them to conquer? Is the risk/cost worth the rewards? What would they get on land to bring back to support their main civilization in the ocean (that wouldn't rot, rust, or otherwise be unusable in deep water)?

What would they gain from holding and conquering territory that they wouldn't from a short shoreline raid every so often?

I can see how a merfolk dominated world would be possible but you'd need to worldbuild the basis and history for it, just like any other world.

Honestly, I was just wondering why I saw humans as the dominant species every time. If it is possible for merfolk to be dominant then it possible for all variations in-between. I guess I was mostly just stumped by seeing so much "merfolk are few in number and live in small, isolated communities that are so beneath humans" when many have the same level of intelligence as humans and are capable of living on land.

That said, I figure the reason they would be expansionist for more than just beachfront to keep their industries going is simple greed and want of power. People war for a lot of stupid reasons.

Hmm, well it's the same as asking "why are white Europeans default dominant in most fantasy?" "why wasn't it Native Americans/Canadians/Australians?" "why wasn't it Africa conquering everyone else?" "why isn't the world still in Mongol era?"

It easily could have been different, but history went one way instead of the other. To make something else feasible you'd just have to tweak history a bit. Same with the merfolk thing. If there's basis, why not? But there has to be a basis, especially if it's established than land civilizations who are specialized for land and used to land, also exist

Yes! That was exactly what I was thinking. I can see different variations happening for many different reasons. I just normally only see one kind though. I hope there is more variety some day.

You are right though, there deffo has to be a reason. If there isn't one then you don't really have a world you're building, but rather a cardboard box, just as weak and just as boring.

Thank you for indulging me, by the way. I really do appreciate your insight.

Stuff like this is fun!

Now I'm trying to think of what merfolk would want from the surface even. Like metals and tech seem like the obvious answer but there's no reason for them to take it if most of it would corrode or not function without heat/power/electricity. Gold and gems and things might make sense because they're sparkly and would serve as currency and commodities.

Food, maybe? But lots of food also gets ruined if you dump a bunch of seawater in it. Fruit, maybe? Raiding entire villages to get apples would be pretty funny.

This is assuming they'd be keeping the underwater civilization as their "main" hub, though...

Maybe they want land for weird research? Or maybe something on land can destroy the thing that is hunting them?

I don't see why they couldn't make a small island as maybe "part" of their main hub? That way they can get kinda the best of both worlds.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #6487 ]

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