Tritonis -- Continued
Races of Tritonis
Humans: Humans have lived in Tritonis for 5,000 years. Unable to grow, there has been reports of several humans using submarines to journey to the surface to start new lives. The insular underwater city cannot hold more than 250,000 people at a time before it strains. The humans are still, for all practicality, human. Their genes can still freely mix with other humans on the surface to produce children.
The humans of Tritonis are suffering because their culture is dying. Even though sometimes every two hundred years or so they lure new surfacers to the land of Tritonis, artisans and scribes of the ancient language is becoming less and less. Literacy in their language is dying and there are few artists in the land producing art.
None the less they have the same brain, the same lungs, the same everything as a regular land dweller. Humans of tritonis call dwellers on land: "Land men", "Dry Dwellers", "Sun men," and other terms both exalting and derogatory.
Humans, Aquatic: Aquatic Humans are the result of magical or scientific changes in the human body structure. The result is Homo Marinaris, or Homo Sapiens Oceanos. Adapted to life in the sea, these humans come in two forms -- one form has a diving reflex similar to cetaceans, and another form actually has gills running along their backs, and the diving reflex. Both forms have increased subcutaneous fat to protect them from the cold of the depths.
Elves, Aquatic: Few elves, from the surface, journey below the depths. The Aquatic Elves -- or the Airanyanar -- were the results of the same cataclysm except the survivors changed themselves. There are two types of Airanyanar: those with green skin and green hair, and those with blue skin and blue hair. Sometimes, the two great families mix, resulting in hybrids. Aquatic elves have webbed hands and webbed feet, an increased layer of subcutaneous fat, a cetaceous diving reflex, and gills along their backs. Unlike the human, which resorted to lost science -- the Elves resorted to sorcery and magic to alter themselves. The Blue skinned ones are adapted to fresh water while the green skinned ones are adapted to salt water. Mixing of the two results in a hybrid that can withstand each other, but not very well.
The major Airanyanar Kingdom close to Tritonis would be Mer'Numeneithel.
Tritons: These are inhabitants of the Elemental Plane of Water who have come to the material plane for reasons of their own. Named after the sea god Triton, the tritons real name for themselves is spoken only in their own language of Aquan. When they speak the language of Tritonis, they often accept the god's name for the name of their own race. Tritons are allied with the people of Tritonis and have fought with them against the Tritons' enemies from time to time.
Half-Elves: half-elves are the result of human and Aquatic elf relations. Since the two races still have similar genetics, the results are often viable amphibious half-elves that resemble the aquatic humans with only the diving reflex. Such half elves are between the world of Air and the World of the Sea. As such, they are between the world of man and the world of the aquatic elf. The resulting figure may be raised in aquatic elf culture or the world of man, but may not feel he belongs to either. They are called half-elf by men and half-men by elves.
Half-Merrows: the result of a forced mating between merrows and aquatic humans, half-merrows have a revolting appearance. Almost like the people of Innsmouth after a generation of genetic mixing with the Deep Ones. They also have lightly green skin and faint, scaly skin. Merrows cannot breed with airbreather humans since the genetics are too dissimilar. But for some reason, merrows can create viable offspring with the Aquatic humans. Matings between aquatic elves and merrows often result in exposure of the offspring. Half-merrows with elvish blood are extremely rare if they exist at all. Strangely, a merrow can rape a land woman and it too, will result in a viable half-merrow about 14% of the time.
Malenti Malenti are aquatic elf on the outside and all sahaugin on the inside. The result of Aquatic elves living near sahuagin settlements means that a pheromone put out by the elves results in changes in sahaugin embryos. No one understand why this happens, but it happens. Many a Tritonis science priest theorized that the sahuagin are related to elves in some way, but no proof has been given in this regard. The possibility that the link even exists results in bloody wars under the sea for generations between the aquatic elves and their hated enemies, the sahuagin. Malenti often work as spies for the sahuagin in Tritonis.
Religions
There are four recognized religions by the State in Tritonis. Three of which are mystery religions, and one is not a mystery religion. The un-mystery religion is the religion that is approved by the state for the masses -- this is a pantheistic religion that worships a multitude of gods. The chief of these being the sea god Neptune and his wife Calypso. The gods in the pantheon include Venus, Mars, Triton, Ba'al, the Titans, and finally Oceanos. Worship involves sacrifice to the sea. The pantheon is a tight Pantheon, although the gods are usually individually worshipped unlike a polytheistic religion. The priests lead the people in prayers to the gods and often seek their protection. The religion is known as Neptunism.
The three mystery religions reject the State protected pantheism and seeks to find Spirituality in other ways. The first is exclusive worship of the Mother Goddess. A secret religion among women, the Mother Goddess is a mystery religion where it's initiates -- both women and men; are inducted through passionate sex. The worship of the Mother Goddess is all about sex and the worship is through sex. Sexual magic and sexual practice is among the mysteries of this religion and the clerics are seen as sacred prostitutes by the state. The idea, however, is to reach a higher understanding of the universe through the use and worship of Sex. Unlike most fertility religions like it, worshippers welcome the end product and often babies are preserved and celebrated. The worshipers of the Mother Goddess often practice Polyamory and have fleeting, shallow marriage relationships.
Creatorism is the second Mystery Religion and it's worship of the Creator. Most people think that worship of the Creator involves worshipping a masculine god, but in truth, the worshippers worship the Creative Force in nature, but are looking forward to a Redeemer who will redeem them from their sins. The worshippers of Creatorism seek to become like the Creator. While those who worship the Mother Goddess experience fleeting marriage relationships, the religion of the Creator makes such relationships binding and are expected to make their marriages work. Polygamy is also accepted among those that worship the Creator, and this often makes the man seek to be righteous in all his doing. Of all the religions, it is the followers of the Creator who are most often persecuted because they are deemed as a threat to the power of the priests, the priestesses, and the science priesthood.
The Science Priesthood is the last of the Mystery Religions. An Atheistic Philosophy, the science priesthood is the worship of Science and Technology. They are the technicians of a lost science, and they are often mysterious and work hard to build an aura of mystique around technology. Descended from the Technician caste long ago, the science priests study the ancient technology of Tritonis and keep it in good condition.
The science priesthood holds great political power and often use that power to suppress education in higher Mathematics and the sciences, and to suppress literacy except among the Aristocratic classes. They view independent thought as a threat to their power. To do this, they built an entire language all to themselves -- Scientia -- and work hard to make sure that the high technology is beyond all understanding. In this way, they keep their monopoly over the understanding of the lost science intact.
