94828-2 RAA Outer Seas TEXT R1 Proof

Val Carter’s Guide to Merfolk

Description Large and serpentine, the Elapso Fate Benders are as awe inspiring as they are intimidating. These haunting four armed merfolk have the upper body of a humanoid and the lower body of a massive coral snake. The Fate Bender typically adorns their body with bangles and cords crafted from precious materials and laced with the faint touches of magic. A great majority of the Fate Benders collect the skulls of those they have conquered in one way or another, displaying them proudly on their bodies as a symbol of status to other Elapso merfolk, who might otherwise call their authority into question. About Elapso Fate Benders make their homes in places where the veil that divides dreams and reality is the most thin. Drawn to sites of power and enthralled by the nature of change, the Fate Benders typically make their

lairs in the ruins of sunken temples and towers, remnants of a bygone age. Those who have mastered the art of speechcraft and trade often seek out the Fate Benders, offering rare items of antiquity found across the Outer Seas. In exchange, these trad ers receive access to hidden vaults of knowledge, or news of sacred and strange spaces long forgotten, tucked away from the prying eyes of those who might steal or spread the secrets held within. While many a wandering warlock or merchant lord has sought out the services of an Elapso Fate Bender to help them uncover things that they could have done with many years of study, few have come out of the deals they struck unscathed, unchanged, or free of servitude. These unwitting fools often becoming so enthralled with these strange merfolk that their obsession causes disasters: the falls of fleets and the losses of fortune.

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