Mer Co: A Better Kind of Mermaid {Growths: 558, 559, 560}

Which sea creatures make the coolest mers?

Bony fish (reef fish, etc)	0.0%	[ 0 ]
Cartilaginous fish (sharks, rays)	30.8%	[ 4 ]
Cephalopods (squids, octopuses)	15.4%	[ 2 ]
Cnidarians (jellyfish)	15.4%	[ 2 ]
Nudibranches (sea slugs)	23.1%	[ 3 ]
Cetaceans (dolphins, whales, porpoises)	15.4%	[ 2 ]
Total Votes:			[ 13 ]

[Mer Co Director]

Welcome to Mer Co: A Better Kind of Mermaid! Please Enjoy your stay!

Mer Co aims to effectively colonize the seas of Gaia, and what better way to do that than with people specially adapted for the ocean? Of course, these children will need mentors from the land: parents, of sorts. Are you up to the challenge of being a good role model for a child of the sea (and science)?

Mer Co is run by Tohopekaliga. Art & Certs by Tohopekaliga.


Table of Contents
All links are to posts on this page...but it opens in a new tab/window.
1. Welcome, News, TOC
2. Introduction
3. Story
4. Mer Info
5. Owners
6. Stages & Growth Requirements
7. Breeding
8. Pricing/Customs
9. Rules
10. FAQ
11. Links/Affiliates

Page 2
1. Events Calendar
2. Future Events Information
3. Reserved: Events
4. Reserved: Events
5. Reserved: Events
6. Reserved: Events



News

4 October 2009 There are definitely news items missing. sweatdrop
30 May 2009 Gender Benders event!
12 April 2009 Grand Opening contests finally come to an end!
21 March 2009 Mer Co is now open for business! Grand opening celebrations begin now! See the next several posts for details, but there're RP flatsales, contests for banners, posting, and other bits of excitement!

[Mer Co Director]

~~~IC~~~
Thank you for your interest in Mer Co and our mission to explore the oceans, and bring the rich knowledge, beauty, and resources of the world's oceans to all of society!

Mer Co's goal is to develop undersea cities and research operations that can operate continuously. Unfortunately, the average human shows to experience serious problems with prolonged time in the water. There are obvious limitations to mankind's ability to operate under the water without extensive amounts of equipment.

Mer Co has perfected genetic alteration systems that allow us to alter humans to be much more suited to life under the sea. The alterations can only be performed once, and must be done at the embryonic stage of development, so Mer Co is building a new society from the ground up.

These children are akin to the mythological beings mermaids, but Mer Co's mermaids and mermen are not what many people think of when they think of those ideas. Human skin does not fair well when under the sea for long periods of time unprotected, so no Mer Co mer will have that. Depending on the template species of the mer, they may have scales, a rubbery skin, or any of a variety of things that you would find in the species of the sea.

Each Mer Co mer is distinct from all other mers at this time. That is, we do not wish to have all of them based on the same template species. In the future, Mer Co will, by necessity, allow for additional mers of the same template species, but not at first.







~~~~~OOC~~~~~
Mer Co features (you might have guessed already) mer-people! But not just any ol' mermaids and mermen! Oh no. That would be too easy. Here at Mer Co, we strive to provide more interesting kiddies than a person with a fish butt. The Little Mermaid, with her legs-in-a-fish's mouth issue won't be making appearances.

Further, each and every kid that shall appear in Mer Co will be unique: This is not a recolors shop. New lines, colors, everything for each one will be done anew every time.

That does mean that custom requests and such may be slow-going and limited in numbers, but we hope to be able to keep a fairly steady amount. And, of course, there'll be flatsales and auctions and the like at regular intervals.

Also note that because the shop is set on the ocean, there are no freshwater mers at this time.

This is an RP Required shop.

RP'ing, journal-keeping, and most other actions that don't involve contests or idle chit-chat will take place in the Mer Co Guild.

[Mer Co Director]

One: The Beginning
Two men were seated in the top-floor office suite of Mer Co's main building. Dr. Thompson, the President of Mer Co, was leaning on his desk slightly, fingers under his mouth, thinking as he listened to one of the senior researchers, a geneticist by the name of Dr. Martin, who was seated in a chair placed in front of the desk.

"Okay, let me see if I've gotten this straight," Dr. Thompson said slowly. "You want me to...give my go-ahead on a project that involves making children?" He shook his head slightly. "Isn't that a little excessive?"

"No sir," Dr. Martin replied, dropping a rather thick file down on the company chief's desk, if only for a dramatic emphasis. "We've got the procedure worked out and there are no complications at all." He shrugged slightly. "Well, aside from the obvious issues with walking..."

Dr. Thompson had opened the files, and was looking at an anatomical diagram, in which the lack of legs in the proposition was quite clear. "Yes," he said quietly. "I...see that." He continued flipping through. "Now, why would we want to go through the trouble of all of this...?"

With a slight grin, Martin replied, "Well, isn't the prospect of proceeding into the unknown a good enough reason?" The nonplussed expression on his superior told him otherwise, and his own smile faded slightly. "Of course, there's lots of practical applications. Having a workforce--no, an entire society--completely self-sustaining under the water, without need for surface ships and tenders? That's really something."

Nodding, Thompson said, "Yes, this is true... but the amount of time needed to establish something like that... not to mention resources... that is a massive cost." He scratched his cheek thoughtfully a moment, briefly considering the stubble on his face before returning to the discussion. "However, to be the...origin of something like that, yes, that would be very," he paused and looked up, waving a hand around slightly, "advantageous." He nodded.

"So, that means..." Dr. Martin said with an almost palpable amount of anticipation.

"That means your project is approved, Doctor." He put the file down, and turned his chair to the side. "I'll read over the information further, but for now, you and your team may proceed."

"Thank you very much, we'll get started right away...in that file is what we'll need in addition to our current resources."

"Like what?" Dr. Thompson asked, looking back at the geneticist.

"Like...guardians," he answered. "Parental figures, you know, that sort of thing. We'll be essentially creating children. A group of scientists aren't really the best choice for raising them."



Further Reading
More stuff can be found in the Information Center of the Mer Co guild.

[Mer Co Director]

Mer Info

A nice, picture filled explanation of everything is still in the works, but for now, you can visit the Anatomy of a Mer entry in Mer Co's Information Center.

[Mer Co Director]

Icon :: Name :: Gender :: Species :: Guardian

• Alex :: Male :: Alabaster Nudibranch :: Tom Coronet (Tohopekaliga)
  
• Darcy :: Male :: Megalodon :: Kabibe Akuji (La Merwaffle)
  
• Kouli :: Male :: Red Lionfish :: Breath Dawn (Zactura)
  
• Kai :: Female :: Regal Tang :: Ash Maher (moonlit-raven)
  
• Atl :: Female :: Fine-Lined Tambja :: Aylen St. Claire (Orpheus Solon)
  
• Lucille :: Female :: Short-Beaked Common Dolphin :: Breath Dawning (Zactura)
  
• Sayer :: Male :: Vampire Squid :: Jynk
  
• Aquamarine :: Female :: Caribbean Sharpnose Puffer :: Mistress Shiomi
  
• Cirri :: Male :: Lined Seahorse :: Kaliskanny
  
• Lori :: Female :: Oarfish :: Japi
  
• Hiriaku :: Female :: Southern Stingray :: Dooma
  
• Chrys :: Male :: True Percula Clownfish :: Jynk
  
• Fren :: Male :: True Percula Clownfish :: Kaliskanny
  
• Rangi :: Male :: Flying Gurnard :: Aylen St. Claire (Orpheus Solon)
  
• Lorelai :: Male :: Chromodoris Fidelis Nudibranch :: Kiri (Aaron Arrikanez)
  
• Schylla :: Female :: Glaucus Atlanticus Nudibranch :: Juliette (EchoLimaFoxtrot)
  
• Awin :: Female :: Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse :: Tuelden (Nikiana)
  
• Dominick :: Male :: Bullina Oblonga Sea Snail :: Kelsey (WyvernScale)
  
• Phoebe :: Female :: White-Spotted Jellyfish :: Philomena (AnimeShime)
  
• Maleko :: Male :: Atlantic Sea Nettle :: Dooma
  
• Kale :: Male :: Whale Shark :: Skylar (BunBunBee)
  
• Sierra :: Female :: Bullethead Parrotfish :: Connor (Admara Tanier)
  
• Kraken :: Male :: Mimic Octopus :: Ray (Lulki)
  
• Haaka :: Male :: Pelagic Thresher Shark :: Suien (Jayoku)
  
• Requin :: Male :: Great White Shark :: Sirène deMer (Eve Hilson)
  
• Geoffry :: Male :: Tiger Shark :: Forte (Orpheus Solon)
  
• Foka :: Male :: Harp Seal :: Noel (Cooro the Mute Wuff)
  

[Mer Co Director]

Mer Co Mers consist of 4 stages, each representing a range of ages in the development of a child. Each stage gets new art for the mer.

• Small Child - Ages 2 - 6
  
• Child - Ages 7 - 12
  
• Teen - Ages 13 - 19
  
• Adult - Ages 20+

Growth Requirements
Please note that for the first couple of months, the requirements are all subject to change...Although changes that increase requirements will not apply to Mers already in the stage in question...unless the requirements are not listed before the "change."

Note that if you want to play a certain stage for longer than what the requirements say (additional PDs, or journal entries, or whatever else), you are welcome to do so! However, requirements exceeded will not count toward the next stage.



Small Child to Child

• 1 Month
  
• 3 PDs
  
• 1 Journal Entry/"Solo RP"
  
• Doctor's Visit
  

Child to Teen

• 3 Months
  
• 5 PDs
  
• 1 Journal Entry from Guardian/"Solo RP"
  
• 1 Journal Entry from Mer/"Solo RP"
  
• Doctor's Visit
  

Teen to Adult

• 5 Months
  
• 7 PDs
  
• 3 Journal Entries from Guardian/"Solo RPs"
  
• 3 Journal Entries from Mer/"Solo RPs"
  
• Doctor's Visit
  

Growing Up
You should keep track of your current requirements in your Journal thread, including linking to all PDs participated in. Once requirements are met, post this fact, and a link to your journal, in the growths thread in the Guild.

[Mer Co Director]

Mer Co mers, in spite of having differing template species, are able to procreate, so long as the pair consists of a male and a female. The offspring of two mers will likely show aspects of both parents, with varying degrees of combination and replacement.

Having children for the mers is just like for any normal human: They must reach maturity first.


OoC Breeding Info

Yup. They can make babies. This uhm... "service" won't be available until mers are grown up enough.

The requirements are:

-Both at least Teens. (Ideally, that's "Both Adult," but things, uhm... 'come up' in younger people, so it might as well be available. There'd better be a good reason for it)
-The pair must consist of a functional male and a functional female. (See below)
-Payment to the shop TBD
-No co-owning. There can be twins, one going to each parent.


A separate explanation of what is meant by "functional" is necessary. That is, something like a nudibranch could serve as the male or the female in a relationship, regardless of what their gender is. Of course, if a mer thinks of himself as male, and is the female in a breeding pair, there'd better be some amusing interesting very good RP reason for that.

[Mer Co Director]

"Flatsales" are presently done free, and are done approximately every 6 weeks or so.

Customs/Bribes are 150,000 gold

Mer Co wants you to join the splashy fun of our little (growing) community of roleplayers! If you can't afford that price, payment plans could be worked out, and discounts are often randomly awarded for people who stick around. Stay awhile, post, have fun! You might get something free, or really cheap! biggrin

As all Mers available at Mer Co are unique, they could technically be considered "customs." As such, custom mers are only available in small quantities.

A custom is simply choosing what species and sex a mer is, as well as most aspects of the appearance. Final look of every mer is still entirely at the discretion of Toho, but he will do his best to fulfill the wishes of purchasers of customs.

A custom mer is still subject to all growth requirements of other Mers from Mer Co.

To get a custom Mer Co mer, please fill out the following form, and PM it to Mer Co Director. Once that's been acknowledged, you'll need to also send a trade with the gold, which will not be completed until you have what you wanted.

Username of owner:
Guardian Name:
Mer Name:
DNA: (Specific species, please. If you don't know one, you can say what sort of thing you want, and Toho can find one to suit you.)
Sex/Gender:
Eye Color:
"Hair" Color:
Other Colors:
Body Design:
Pose Requests:

Except for the first three, all can be left to the discretion of Toho. If you don't know what kind of fish you want specifically, you can just say what sort of thing you want, and the specific species can be worked out.

"Body Design" is a place where you can (if you want to) provide thoughts on how to set up the mer. This isn't really needed in most cases, as I strive to match up parts of a fish with parts of a human as best as possible... but for things where there is not a clear analogy, or the connection is small, my vision might not be what you're looking for. Be aware that I reserve the right to not do it exactly as you describe, but so long as it isn't something completely batshit insane, I'll try to work it out.

Customs in the works

• Nageela - Shortfin Mako Shark
  
• Nageela - Banded Sea Krait
  
• Jayoku - Greater Blue Ringed Octopus
  

Waiting list

Jayoku - Transient Killer Whale

Eve Hilson/Dr. Noble - Spotfin Chub

Adrian Felicis - Glaucilla marginata nudibranch


Customs Completed

• Mistress Shiomi - Caribbean sharpnose puffer
  
• Jynk - Vampire Squid
  
• kaliskanny - Lined seahorse
  
• Orpheus Solon - Flying Fish
  
• Aaron Arrikanez - Chromodoris fidelis nudibranch
  
• EchoLimaFoxtrot - Glaucus atlanticus nudibranch
  
• BunBunBee - Whale Shark
  
• Admara Tanier - Bullethead Parrotfish (Chlorurus sordidus)
  
• Lulki - Mimic Ocotopus (Thaumoctopus Mimicus)
  
• Jayoku - Thresher Shark (Alopias vulpinus)
  
• Eve Hilson - Great White Shark
  
• Orpheus Solon - Tiger Shark
  
• Cooro the Mute Wuff - Harp Seal
  

[Mer Co Director]

Posting

• Don't be a d**k.
  
  • Keep your flames somewhere else
    
  • Don't spam
    
  • Oh, and follow that T-O-S thing. I don't really need to say that, do I?
  
  
• The guild is for RP'ing, the thread is for OoC fun & shop discussion
  
  • OoC means "Out of Character," in case you didn't know
    
  • You can talk about whatever you want in this thread, really.
  
  
• If your only reason for coming here is to advertise something, kindly go away
  

Mer Aquisition

• Please don't request more mers than you think you can successfully handle the RP'ing for. We want your kids to grow just as much as you do...but they won't without all the requirements!
  
  
• Custom prices change. Your price is secured when you send your order PM, or when you make a "quest" thread.
  
  
• No refunds.
  
  • If you don't like your mer, tough.
    
  • But if it's something minor, I'm sure we can modify something a bit.
  
  

Roleplaying

• Yes, the RP'ing is required for your mer to grow.
  
  
• It's your responsibility to keep track of it: You get a journal thread for that! razz
  
  
• Be literate!
  
  • That means complete sentences, proper dialog marking, and spelling out your words
    
  • My god, just spell your words!
    
  • This doesn't apply to the main thread...although if you can't type coherently, no one will want to RP with you, probably.
  
  
• The age of your child in RPs is determined by their stage. They can be represented by any age within their current range. Not older.
  
  • Though, for the sake of your sanity, you should probably not jump around in age up and down in that range.
  
  

General/Misc

• These rules are subject to change. Toho will probably make a post about it if that happens, but it's not guaranteed.
  
  
• Begging and whining get you nowhere.
  
  
• Be friendly! Everyone's happier that way.
  
  
• Oy, lurker! Post! We won't bite. Well, Darcy might.
  

[Mer Co Director]

• How do B/C shops work, anyway?
  RP-Centric B/C shops like this one are a buy-in RP environment. Why is it buy-in? Makes you more likely to want to stay around. If everybody has paid to be a part of the group, then everybody's more likely to stick around and have a good time. Easy, yeah? biggrin
  
  So, in order to join the RPs that happen in the Mer Co guild, you've gotta either buy a "Custom Mer," or win one of the flatsales or auctions during an event. Generally, the flatsales are the cheapest way to join, since they cost little or nothing...but usually are a contest. In the case of Mer Co, we do RP-prompt contests. So, you're shown the mer, given basic stats, and some scenarios to choose from. You pick a scenario, and write about it. Simple, no?
  
  Players/Owners are allowed their mer character, and his/her guardian(s), plus family. The mer character grows as requirements are met, and RPs must reflect the current stage of the mer, so they can't be played in an an older age range, or younger. But the players can choose to not have their mer grow for as long as they want.
  
  
  
• So...where does the story of Mer Co take place?
  Mer Co is in Gaia. To the northeast of Barton, along the coast and outside the maps provided by Gaia Online. This is so that we don't have to worry about too much realism, and to allow people to bridge characters with other shops that have their setting in the world of Gaia.
  
  
• They're fish people, right? So, how's it work with humans as guardians?
  All of the mers, no matter their species, are capable of breathing air and living out of the water for extended periods of time. They may not be as happy sitting in a chair or what have you, but it is not harmful for them to live in a house somewhere, as opposed to in a giant aquarium.
  
  This is partially for RP convenience, and largely because it would be an extreme hinderance to anyone to never be able to leave the water...especially before there's enough of them to make a city.
  
  
• Why no fresh water fish?
  No particular reason, really, except that the stated purpose of Mer Co is to exploit the ocean. At some point in the future, we may start offering fresh water mers, but not at this time.
  
  
• So I see you allow for sea mammals/fish doppelgangers, so how thin is the line here for aquatic stuff to be turned into a mer? Cutting it when the fish resemblance stops [so no Manatees?], or can we have anything under the sea that is alive like coral or urchins? Or does it just need to be sentient or what?
  Anything and everything that is fully aquatic and mobile is allowable. So, no coral, or otters. A sea urchin...might not work out too well, given the shape of it, but, if you can come up with some kind of appearance idea for it, maybe. And a manatee would be a go. So would seals.
  
  
• I want a custom!
  That's, eh...not a question. But let's pretend like it was! Just go ahead and fill out the form up there and send it in! I've got a little "open" thing going on up there where I've got up to three that are being worked on... if that's filled up, you can still send in a form, I just...can't guarantee it'll be done as quick. razz
  
  
• Can my guardian character just be me?
  Yes, of course! You don't have to have a name for your guardian...it can just be your username, and you simply play as yourself. Personally, I like having a name and such, but it is completely up to you. If you have a name for your guardian that isn't your username, it'll go in the "Guardian" slot on your cert, and your username will be in the notes, otherwise it's just your username in the "Guardian" slot.
  
  
• Do you have more detailed information?
  Yup, sure do! There's a whole subforum in the guild dedicated to that stuff. It's called, appropriately enough, The Information Center.
  
  

[Mer Co Director]

Mer Co is searching for other shops and RP destinations to become Affilates with! If you would like your link here (and want to show our link there), PM Mer Co Director with a link to your shop. Feel free to link to us. heart



Affiliates:


D-Corp has lots of unique slightly animalistic kids...and dragons! What's not to like?


Royalty Bound has pretty frog-boys. Cool stuff, and one of the best artists you'll find around Gaia. Sciency theme, too, with pets/kids based on real frog species.


Double Trouble makes babies. Twins. Double, get it?


[The World] R:4 is a .hack based B/C shop, going for a feel in line with that series. Nice art, lots of interesting little tidbits. biggrin

Other Links:

Toho's dA page - You might see mers before they show up here! surprised
D-Corp - My favorite B/C shop that I have nothing from, aside from some inspiration. heart

[Mer Co Director]

..

[Mer Co Director]

(Made by Zactura)

[Mer Co Director]

[Mer Co Director]