Dragons, faeries, merpeople, oh my! Fantasy races

[makoeyes]

So do you have an idea for a fantasy species in your head but not entirely sure on some things?

What I can't decide on is the Merpeople. The Merpeople call the Oceanic version of the Otherworld the "Blue World." In mythology, are merpeople actually considered faeries? Or are they something different? I originally had it planned that the merpeople are just marine versions of faeries, but Idk if that's a real thing or not. If they are the marine version of faeries, then they need to be just as powerful as the "land fae," which means more powerful than humans but with exploitable weaknesses. If that doesn't sound like a bad idea, then what would their weaknesses be?

Also, in my series, the Unseelie Queen is Nicnevin, aka the Queen of Elphame. Would it be plagiarism to subtley imply that she has entered popular imagination under an alias?

So that's what I need help on? Anyone need help with their fantasy creatures?

[Prime Spinosaur]

Probably not, Jim Butcher does stuff like that all of the time. He even has Dresden sarcastically mention that Queen Mab (The Sidhe Queen of the Winter Fae) probably gave Maleficent lessons on how to be a villainess.

And honestly, go with whatever you'd like to do. Just as long as the Merpeople aren't sparkling, we're okay. My best advice would be to follow a crum trail from Wikipedia to their references and then try to find the references that they used. The local or college library can help with this significantly.

What I do with most of my mythological creatures such as Dragons and Wyverns is I try to find real life parallels with them in the Fossil Record. Right now, the common dragons in my fantasy novel are really a large Pristichampsidae or a Mahajangasuchidae. Wyverns are actually a species of Azhdarchidae. Sea Serpents are both Mosasauroids or a surviving Basilosaurus and the Kraken is a giant squid. The stereotypical six limbed dragons are known as the Primeval Ones, and are evil spirits that existed in the dawn of time ruled over by the Primordial Gods who kept the later gods as slaves and food until an uprising and the creation of water had the Primeval Ones sealed at the center of the earth. The crocodylian and pterosaur dragons are infact the descendants of the Primeval Ones that sided with the gods in the revolt against the Primordial Gods.

[makoeyes]

Jun 21, 2012 8:06:29 GMT -8 Prime Spinosaur said:

Probably not, Jim Butcher does stuff like that all of the time. He even has Dresden sarcastically mention that Queen Mab (The Sidhe Queen of the Winter Fae) probably gave Maleficent lessons on how to be a villainess.

I actually use Mab as an Elf Queen/goddess in my works, but she's the nice one, similar to her portrayal in Shakespeare's play and Peter Pan. Her portrayal as being evil is due to a successful attempt by the true Unseelie Queen to ruin her image.

And honestly, go with whatever you'd like to do. Just as long as the Merpeople aren't sparkling, we're okay. My best advice would be to follow a crum trail from Wikipedia to their references and then try to find the references that they used. The local or college library can help with this significantly.[/quote]
The only thing is that the weaknesses for merpeople don't really seem to be as well defined as land fae. But I think I'll use silver as a weakness, since as far as I'm aware, it doesn't rust regularly.

What I do with most of my mythological creatures such as Dragons and Wyverns is I try to find real life parallels with them in the Fossil Record. Right now, the common dragons in my fantasy novel are really a large Pristichampsidae or a Mahajangasuchidae. Wyverns are actually a species of Azhdarchidae. Sea Serpents are both Mosasauroids or a surviving Basilosaurus and the Kraken is a giant squid. The stereotypical six limbed dragons are known as the Primeval Ones, and are evil spirits that existed in the dawn of time ruled over by the Primordial Gods who kept the later gods as slaves and food until an uprising and the creation of water had the Primeval Ones sealed at the center of the earth. The crocodylian and pterosaur dragons are infact the descendants of the Primeval Ones that sided with the gods in the revolt against the Primordial Gods.

That's a great method. Have you by any chance seen Discovery Channel's fake documentary on dragons? They explain how dragons could be scientifcally plausible, and like yours they're descended from dinosaurs. Also, just curious, but does your work feature Far Eastern dragons?

Mine are basically like dinosaurs as well, or at least the Western/fire dragons. They're essentially intelligent, magical birds with scales and teeth. Eastern/water dragons are more of a strange mix up of creatures. The originally myths describing the Eastern dragons describe them as having the talons of eagles, antlers of deers, whiskers like, scales like a fish, among other things.