Marlin Fathomsong
the Embercoral Merman
Named for the marlin that taught him to sing through smoke, and the fathom-deep reef where coral burns without being consumed.
You can sing sparks into coral, causing it to glow with a warm, revealing light that shows hidden paths through the reef — but each spark leaves a black scar on the coral, and you must spend nights tending the regrowth, lest the reef forget you.
- Familiar
- A pink vent shrimp named Sizzle
- Tide
- the Embercoral Tide
You keep a piece of lava rock with the ghost of a coral branch pressed into it, the only thing you saved when your home vent collapsed. Every time you sing, tiny embers glow from the groove, and you wonder if the coral is still alive or if you are just remembering light. You carry it always, even when you swim up to the shallows where heathens gawk at your smoking scales.