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Description
Actaea ("dweller on the coast") is a nereid often mentioned by ancient Greek writers when listing the fifty daughters of Nereus, the old man of the sea. The nereids lived with their aging father in an undersea grotto and were ruled by their sister Thetis, but would surface to do things like help steer the Argo away from the wandering rocks (Thetis was married to one of the Argonauts) or join their nephew Achilles in mourning his friend Patroclus. Indeed, the nereids are almost unique among the water-women of mythology (of which there are bizarrely many) in being entirely benevolent; as goddesses, they collectively represented all the things about the ocean people like, like bounteous fish catches and finishing a successful voyage; their individual names reflect these aspects of the sea, like Eucrante ("success") and Sao ("safety"). Actaea apparently represented rocky coastlines, according to one source I read; that's why you're getting her on the rocks.

As far as appearance goes, nereids were described as beautiful (of course, eye roll) women wearing white robes (hence Actaea's choice of beachwear here) and crowned with branches of red coral. Some writers describe them as "sea-green" or "sea-blue", while some (like Ovid) specifically describe them as having sea-green hair, which is what I opted for here because I FRICKIN' LOVE OVID. As for what she's doing...well, if I was the goddess of rocky shorelines, I think I'd be out enjoying my beachfront property (though I guess Eione is actually the nereid of sandy beaches. Maybe I'll draw her next.)

Description
Actaea ("dweller on the coast") is a nereid often mentioned by ancient Greek writers when listing the fifty daughters of Nereus, the old man of the sea. The nereids lived with their aging father in an undersea grotto and were ruled by their sister Thetis, but would surface to do things like help steer the Argo away from the wandering rocks (Thetis was married to one of the Argonauts) or join their nephew Achilles in mourning his friend Patroclus. Indeed, the nereids are almost unique among the water-women of mythology (of which there are bizarrely many) in being entirely benevolent; as goddesses, they collectively represented all the things about the ocean people like, like bounteous fish catches and finishing a successful voyage; their individual names reflect these aspects of the sea, like Eucrante ("success") and Sao ("safety"). Actaea apparently represented rocky coastlines, according to one source I read; that's why you're getting her on the rocks.

As far as appearance goes, nereids were described as beautiful (of course, eye roll) women wearing white robes (hence Actaea's choice of beachwear here) and crowned with branches of red coral. Some writers describe them as "sea-green" or "sea-blue", while some (like Ovid) specifically describe them as having sea-green hair, which is what I opted for here because I FRICKIN' LOVE OVID. As for what she's doing...well, if I was the goddess of rocky shorelines, I think I'd be out enjoying my beachfront property (though I guess Eione is actually the nereid of sandy beaches. Maybe I'll draw her next.)