How can we make Mermaids more interesting?

> that one guy having a marital spat with his mermaid wafiu

That's Minnow, isn't it? She's more interested in burying the medals of the dead soldiers than fucking a thundercloud. What a nerd.

...

She also speaks unlike the others.

Ashley has said she's going to be the next main character after Duane and Sette's story.

...

I've loved Merfolk since I started playing MtG. I've always wanted to run a game set in an archipeligo with a faction of Merfolk as something the PCs have to work around or befriend or antagonize.

I wanted it to feel like a borderground, between some unknown Underwater Empire and the Land. Constantinople between Sand and Silt.

I rolled a merman fighter/blacksmith in a pathfinder land campaign, move speed was stupid slow but damn was it hilarious.

give them an actual civilization instead of keeping them tribal nomads.
i made mermaids a turbo capitalist race.
their society is a republic controlled by the various professional guilds constantly jockeying for power.
they are expert buisnessmen, negotiators, and explorers

Make them space faring murderous dolphins.

stupid is not interesting

I appreciate this and specially the effort done. But transforming mermaids into bluemen doesn't do it for me.

I don't want Aquaman, I want a screeching mermaid.

that race originally had tails. nothing is stopping you from putting them back.
just say they have tails that are long enough and powerful enough to hold the mermaid upright on land, like a naga
-10 movement
in exchange give them a small situational bonus called merfolk blood.
reroll 1s on saves to resist magic.

now that's based

What's wrong with them?

also, read these.
1d4chan.org/wiki/merfolk

Seto no Hanayome warring-states era prequel, anybody?

Make them more fish than human, none of that half and half bullshit.

reddit.com/r/darkestdungeon/comments/6kspty/a_harsh_lesson_on_bringing_flagellant_to_fight/

the bones of mermaid children are intensely valuable.
mermaids have an incredibly short gestation period.
mermaid children grow up fast compared to a human, reaching around 6 years old (the prime bone harvest age) in about 7 months.

Make them look like creepy abyss creatures with transparent skin, visible bones through transparency and bioluminescence
Necromancer civilization recycling dead creatures and humanoids coming from the surface to serve as slaves and soldiers to raid fishers settlements and bring back more corpses / rare terrestrial ressources

Get back the standard mermaid body, keep the capitalism. Maybe they've started running a protection racket for local pirates, asking for treasure and a fresh supply of meat

*tips fedora*

the only problem is figuring out where the mermaids are breeding when there's twelve different bays to search through.