The Meerish was a personal project I set for myself. I wanted to create an alien life form, complete with their own social constructs, culture, history, and every day living. I used no line art for this image and built up the color layer by layer instead. I thought that a simple color pallet and single Find a full description below the image.
The Meerish live down in the deep, ocean-like waters of a distant planet called Kara. They are one of four intelligent lifeforms native to the planet, but the only one to live underwater so they are generally left alone. Their skin tones are various shades of blue all the way to pure black in order to more easily blend in with their surroundings. They have hard, armor-like skin that is tough to pierce, and natural hair colors can be purple, green, blue, or black. Four crab-like legs and two more human-like arms with hands, and fingers that are webbed for easier swimming. Their eyes give off light so they can see in dark places, and they have rows of sharp pointy teeth. While they will eat any sort of food, they prefer meat in general, but they are extremely susceptible to food poisoning. To help them avoid eating things that might be dangerous to them, their acute sense of smell can determine whether or not their food is safe (usually). Some Meerish have antenna and some do not, but largely this doesn't matter because they are simply left over from when their species was still developing and have no actual use. Gills on their neck let them breath underwater, and a Meerish would only last 48 hours without water at most. They can prolong time spent on land by passing water through their gills, but their skin will dry out in a little less than a week. This time frame, however, and shorten if a planet is too close to a sun or other heat source. Taking regular baths or showers, they are able to live on land indefinitely, however. The type of water doesn't matter, so long as it is H20.
While they largely use Meerish-made weapons, they do have sharp spikes along their bodies and poisonous sacks in their mouths. But to be fair, most Meerish only use their poison to kill the thing they are eating.... many of them prefer extremely fresh "sushi", and this poison won't work on humans and certain other species anyway. The Meerish use an eclectic range of weapons... spears are extremely common, but so are blasters.
Technology is sparse as most things simply don't work at such depths, but what the Meerish do have is generally modified to suit their needs and not usually a Meerish invention. The favored blasters, for instance, were taken from their land-dwelling neighbors and refitted for underwater use. Their minds are sharp, but simply not conducive to inventing original technology.
They live in cities built on, or sometimes made a part of, deep gorges in the ocean. They are neighborly and their day-to-day life isn't too much unlike human ones. They go to school when young, get jobs in various fields, ect. They operate with a semi-monarch semi-democratic system. Basically one Meerish is the supreme leader until they either die, or are overthrown (which also usually ends in the monarch's death). In either case a new one is appointed by popular vote.
Meerish are genderless and can mate with any other Meerish. Most Meerish choose to make life-bonds with their eventual partner. Life-bonding usually constitutes a ceremony, but the important thing here is that if one partner dies, the other always dies soon afterwards. Life-bonds, therefor, are always extremely thought out and not made friviously. There is not a way to break them, but a Meerish can make multiple if they so choose and in essence find loopholes in the life-bond. Only theMeerish directly linked to the dying Meerish will also perish. Death then, works as such. If A is bonded to B, and B is bonded to C, if C dies by a shark attack, only B dies and not A. If a Meerish's partner dies as a direct result of a life-bond, then the other life-bonded do not die. If, however, B dies from a shark attack, then both A and C would die.
While they largely use Meerish-made weapons, they do have sharp spikes along their bodies and poisonous sacks in their mouths. But to be fair, most Meerish only use their poison to kill the thing they are eating.... many of them prefer extremely fresh "sushi", and this poison won't work on humans and certain other species anyway. The Meerish use an eclectic range of weapons... spears are extremely common, but so are blasters.
Technology is sparse as most things simply don't work at such depths, but what the Meerish do have is generally modified to suit their needs and not usually a Meerish invention. The favored blasters, for instance, were taken from their land-dwelling neighbors and refitted for underwater use. Their minds are sharp, but simply not conducive to inventing original technology.
They live in cities built on, or sometimes made a part of, deep gorges in the ocean. They are neighborly and their day-to-day life isn't too much unlike human ones. They go to school when young, get jobs in various fields, ect. They operate with a semi-monarch semi-democratic system. Basically one Meerish is the supreme leader until they either die, or are overthrown (which also usually ends in the monarch's death). In either case a new one is appointed by popular vote.
Meerish are genderless and can mate with any other Meerish. Most Meerish choose to make life-bonds with their eventual partner. Life-bonding usually constitutes a ceremony, but the important thing here is that if one partner dies, the other always dies soon afterwards. Life-bonds, therefor, are always extremely thought out and not made friviously. There is not a way to break them, but a Meerish can make multiple if they so choose and in essence find loopholes in the life-bond. Only theMeerish directly linked to the dying Meerish will also perish. Death then, works as such. If A is bonded to B, and B is bonded to C, if C dies by a shark attack, only B dies and not A. If a Meerish's partner dies as a direct result of a life-bond, then the other life-bonded do not die. If, however, B dies from a shark attack, then both A and C would die.
