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Description

DUYUNG

The Indonesians extended Atargatis' story, claiming that the sorrow she burdened drove her from her homeland, and landed her in the Java Sea. But she isn't the only fish-tailed femme of the region. In fact, the marine mammal known as the dugong was named after the local mermaid for having the same tail. The duyung are mermaids popular throughout Malaysia and Indonesia, and their queen is called Nyi Roro Kidul.

ORIGINS: Almost all duyung are formal mortal women who could no longer bear the strains of their lives and one way or another wound up with a second chance of life in the water. Jealous rivals in love? Wicked witches? Naughty children? Under appreciating husbands? Terrible skin diseases? All reasons women have been driven into the sea, shedding their human lives along with their human forms. But they remember the woes of who they once were, and thus continue to lament, often seen weeping at the shoreline.

MAGIC: The tears of a duyung are a powerful thing and can be used in potions used to mend broken romantic relationships. Sometimes at night they take human form to return to land, but they can only be young and beautiful on nights of the full moon, otherwise they appear as old women.

TEMPERAMENT: Occasionally a duyung could be a creature of vengeance, taking the lives and souls of handsome young men. I'm guessing it has something to do with the reason those particular ones became duyung to begin with. Otherwise they are harmless, only interested in wallowing in their own sorrow. I'd like to think that not all duyung have thrown away this magnificent chance at a new life, and it's only the gloomy ones who cling onto their pasts that linger near the shore where they are seen by humans.

DISLIKES: The duyung's favorite color is aqua green, and they are so possessive of it, they despise seeing humans wearing the color.

Description

DUYUNG

The Indonesians extended Atargatis' story, claiming that the sorrow she burdened drove her from her homeland, and landed her in the Java Sea. But she isn't the only fish-tailed femme of the region. In fact, the marine mammal known as the dugong was named after the local mermaid for having the same tail. The duyung are mermaids popular throughout Malaysia and Indonesia, and their queen is called Nyi Roro Kidul.

ORIGINS: Almost all duyung are formal mortal women who could no longer bear the strains of their lives and one way or another wound up with a second chance of life in the water. Jealous rivals in love? Wicked witches? Naughty children? Under appreciating husbands? Terrible skin diseases? All reasons women have been driven into the sea, shedding their human lives along with their human forms. But they remember the woes of who they once were, and thus continue to lament, often seen weeping at the shoreline.

MAGIC: The tears of a duyung are a powerful thing and can be used in potions used to mend broken romantic relationships. Sometimes at night they take human form to return to land, but they can only be young and beautiful on nights of the full moon, otherwise they appear as old women.

TEMPERAMENT: Occasionally a duyung could be a creature of vengeance, taking the lives and souls of handsome young men. I'm guessing it has something to do with the reason those particular ones became duyung to begin with. Otherwise they are harmless, only interested in wallowing in their own sorrow. I'd like to think that not all duyung have thrown away this magnificent chance at a new life, and it's only the gloomy ones who cling onto their pasts that linger near the shore where they are seen by humans.

DISLIKES: The duyung's favorite color is aqua green, and they are so possessive of it, they despise seeing humans wearing the color.