Do people write/think up backstories for their mer-character?

[Ayame]

Hi!!
Pretty much what the title says, I really love making backstories for characters (been roleplaying in World of Warcraft for 5 years, and write short stories here and there) but how many of you actually do that for mermaiding? Does it help with immersion at all? I know most older kids (and some younger) boast about merfolk not being real, but does anyone have it as a side thing, or something?

[Delphinus]

Definitely. Mine isn't as intricate or detailed yet as some people, but being a writer? I have to. It's also a huge help for those who focus on the entertainment side of the community. (you know, being hired for parties and such).

Like, since my mersona is an hourglass dolphin, my basic story is that he was an antarctic mer who just sort of found his way north and along the California coast. Even in the warmer climate, he likes the deep coastline and rocky shore. The mix of familiar and new makes him stick around.

I have more, but it's still kind of a jumble of brainstorming and basic but definite 'yes's. Either way, I just think the idea of having a story, even if basic, is fun. :)

[Mermaid Alea]

This topic made me think about my backstory some more so I just finished filling out a bunch of questions I found online for creating a character. To make things easier for myself I classify myself as a half mermaid. This can help explain why I can't hold my breath forever, why I can have legs, etc. I think Raina has a video where she said in one part that she tells kids she is half mermaid.

If you are specifically worried about having your background fleshed out enough so that if a kid asks a random question you will have a good thought out answer for it, you should check out some threads where mers share about random questions kids have asked them. You can copy the questions then write out your response so that if you get asked that, it will be easy to answer! That is what I am about to do lol.
http://mernetwork.com/index/showthre...alking-to-kids (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?9240-Talking-to-kids)
http://mernetwork.com/index/showthre...-non-believers (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?9956-How-to-deal-with-persistent-non-believers)
http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?12437-Questions-on-Mermaid-Backstories
http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?5012-Questions-Kids-Ask

(http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?5012-Questions-Kids-Ask)

[Mermaid.Mikayla]

I've been trying to figure out my mer-sona, for quite some time now. And I know what my personality would be, but I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted my backstory to be. Since I live near a lake, I wasn't sure if I should stick with being a "lake mermaid" or a "saltwater mermaid".

[Mermaid Alea]

In real life I live on a bay, but I don't really like swimming in the bay. The water is usually dark due to tannin from the surrounding forests so it is hard for me to swim when visibility is so bad. I have swam into logs before - it didn't hurt but it scared me to run into something out of nowhere! I prefer being a freshwater mermaid in places where the visibility is clear - like springs and clear running rivers. Still, I have lots of true stories about life on the bay like herding groups of mullet as a mermaid, trying to swim out to a group of wild dolphins, etc.

So while the bay isn't my favorite swimming place, I think because of the history I have here it is easier for me to place myself as a bay mermaid. Since I am half human I can easily travel to swim in creeks, streams, the ocean, etc. I would pick whichever place you would find it easier to talk about. You could always be a lake mermaid that moved out to saltwater. :)

[Mermaid.Mikayla]

Ok! This helps a lot, thank you :)

[Misty Lau]

This is my merstory, and I'm sticking to it! Feel free to use ideas from it. Also, the gill problem is based off of my lungs not fully developing when I was first born, and I used it to explain why I can't breathe underwater and such. Also, I think mer-people that live primarily on land could lose their gills, or just get out of practice.

My life began how mermaid lives usually begin. I never knew my parents, and that’s okay. They gave me my life, but they’re not my pod. Sometimes, mermaids or mermen don’t know what kind of merperson they are, but luckily, both my parents were lion fish sirens, so that means I am. That’s why my hair is brown. My eyes are the color of the sea plants I hatched among.
Now, the story of my hatching in the Caribbean sea is something interesting. My gills never developed fully, even though my lungs eventually did. So right from hatching, I struggled to breathe. I managed to get to a cove, where learned the limits of my lungs, and how to swim properly. Just like human children take time to learn how to walk, mer people must learn how to swim. Although, we’re generally much faster at learning to swim than land people are at learning to walk.
As soon as I trusted my swimming abilities, I was able to swim from the Caribbean sea all the way to the coast of California. My instincts drew me to Hawaii, but I never made it. On the beach, I was found by a mermaid, only this mermaid was freshwater and was married to a land person. The mermaid used a special object to gift me legs for living on land. They became my pod, and I learned when I was older, around 10 years old, all about what I was and that my new sister was a mermaid too!
I made land friends soon enough, and since I’m a siren, I’m able to transform them into mermaids! Now I sometimes get to swim with them, and it’s awesome. I still sometimes have to be careful about who knows, but these days, people are pretty accepting, and I hardly have to worry about it.

[Ayame]

Woop I keep forgetting to post on this. XD
But I love all your thoughts, and thank you for the links Alea! Here's what I have so far, right now just being an inspiration for the conservation stuff, but I'll be adding more to it as ideas come to me for more of a backstory :)

"Mermaid Ayame grew up in the northern area of the Colorado river, swimming under the rapids, chasing the trout and bass around the rocky bottom. As she got older, she decided to follow a particular trout she was close friends with, to journey downriver and see where the river went.
As she swam along, more and more blockades got in the way, large rock pillars and loud voices coming from them. As they neared the smell of salt water, the river became shallow... too shallow to cross. She rose out of the water and used her magic to change her fin into legs, a necklace forming with the pattern of scales, and told the trout she would be back.
She walked across the cracked earth, seeing no end in sight. Heartbroken, she returned to the shallow river, telling the trout of what she saw. She dreamed of seeing her cousins of the ocean, and her family told stories of the large coral reefs and the vast kingdoms beneath the waves. But the river ran dry, and she didn't know why.
From that day forward, Ayame travels the world in search of help for her finned friends, learning the languages of the world so she can share her story, and hope to inspire the kind souls of the world to help save her family and friends.
When on land she carries her fins' soul around her neck, so when she leaps into the water she can swim among the plants and fish."

This kind of ties into a personal experience I had, when I was around 11 my Uncle took me on a rafting trip, and we camped and rafted all along the Colorado River. At the time there wasn't much cleaning efforts being put into it, plus the dam ended our journey. I figured since koi themselves are a manufactured breed, but carp are freshwater, it wouldn't be too far out there. :)

[Meerihua]

I whipped this up for Meerihua last night. Not a backstory, per se, but an explanation of my persona when I'm my mersona.



Meerihua became a mermaid off the coast of Ireland. Her tongue never forgot her origin shore, no matter how many seas she swam.*

And she swam many. More than seven, no doubt. From the British isles to the tropical ones, and from medeterranian shores to African beaches. She followed ships, singing to them from the sea and collecting the human things they threw to her. *

At times, she was tempted to remain with one human or another. But she was a tide without a constant moon: destined to leave, only rumored to return.*

[PrincessNymphiaoftheSea]

I did for mine. :)

So at the start of the story, Nymphia is a girl from a fishing village who lived with her mother and father. Every day from dawn until the setting of the sun she would seek out her favorite cove and dance in front of the open waves who seemed to delight in her graceful movements. But every day, her heart grew lonelier and sadder. She felt a strong connection to the sea and it seemed to call to her as she danced in the surf of the passing waves on the beach but could answer the call of adventure.

One fateful night, the voice of the sea reveals himself in the form of a hippocampus spirit named Thalassa who offers her a chance to become one with the sea. The spirit makes a deal to transform her into a mermaid, but with a bittersweet price to pay. She will eventually outlive her mortal family and she will never be allowed to set foot in her village home until a century had passed. Reluctantly, she agrees and the spirit grants her wish. She transforms into a mermaid and is later adopted by the king of the Sea who bestows upon her the name Nymphia and crowns her as the guardian or "Child of the Pacific".

[Aurelian]

These backstories are all so cool! I haven't flushed out my mersona, but I do have some ideas.
Aurora is a mermaid whose family is from the northern Atlantic off the coast of Canada. She is from a family of nobility and has a sister named Pearlia. She spends the warmer months with her family in the northern waters and spends the colder months with her sister in the tropics. She also visits the shores of America (especially the Great Lakes) to learn more about humans and gain a human education.