Okay... It's been bugging me. Coral age, not Corral
. In an aquatic environment heavy amounts of poisons, bioluminescence, coral shaping, and the use of clams to produce baroque pearls would be common. Aquatic creatures can 'fly' in water, as they live in a three dimensional environment where they can actually move above 'ground level' without having to build machinery. Most creatures that live at twilight depth will have difficulty dwelling nearer the surface, and their progenitors probably don't need to worry about much.
Technology pretty much comes up when you want to expand a population or improve quality of life. Simple biotech (efficient poison production through cultivation/selective breeding) would be much more useful to most aquatics than high level biotech (full-on genetic engineering).
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Benefits of Aquaculture:
a.) Extended 'listening'. If a creature can detect and interpret noise in the water through sonar or other means of echolocation they can travel in deeper, darker waters, and rely less on visual acuity.
b.) Three dimensional movement: The Enemy's Gate is Down! Your cultures can fight in formations unheard of in the Topside. Phalanx is nice, but there are plenty of fantastic three dimensional solutions to combat, and preventing attacks. An army of Topsiders coming down into the Depths is going to be surprised by the use of schools of vicious fish, harriers coming from below and above, squads of 10 or more soldiers who fight in a protective sphere protecting a central caster...
And their spells don't work down here in the same way
.c.) Magic works differently: Topsiders get targeted by spells to destroy their air supply. Electrical attacks are common, but smart casters learn to boil the water around their opponents, encase in spheres of ice (Transmute Mud to Rock ~ Transmute Water to Ice), and really just wreck your day.
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An aquatic group doesn't need to have a bunch of Topsider tech... They work on a whole different level. They have moving fortresses powered by ballast and decanters of endless seawater. They terraform their world in three dimensions, building in spheres of influence.
Your culture needs to establish a few things to really move forward:
a.) An ability to store knowledge through efficient means. Going from the Spoken to Written word is a HUGE step in building a society.
b.) Ability to accept current limits: If you don't believe that lava or volcanic vents can forge steel (they can smelt it as a low-oxygen, high-heat environment... but it could be risky) then you're working in Cold Tech. Nothing wrong with it... Just a different feel.
What I personally picture? 'Underground' cities with 'wall' caps.
The sea floor opens to an area in the depths. A hemisphere of glowing lights blinks ghostly in the depths. As you move close you see thousands of jellyfish suspended in the water, with patrols of brightly-colored glowfish led by a swiftly-moving merfolk in simple leathers smeared in the same luminescence.
You may pass through the jellyfish.. But doing so causes you to suffer poison damage and harms the jellyfish. This may also raise an Alarm as spotters sitting at posts notice the change in luminescence from the wall (spot checks) or 'hear' the breaching of the wall (listen). Handle Animal check with appropriate understanding of the biome could allow you to pass.
The sphere is centered around a deep chasm 20' in radius, that has been worked through. The depths contain numerous channels through which you can float, and biologic alarms exist throughout the tunnels. The whole place takes a curving shape, as natural branches of an underlying cave complex, and sleeping quarters are more 'storage places where you can float' than actual sleeping quarters.
Life in the underwater city is pretty basic. If needs must for certain items that make life easier through Topside tech the denizens will stalk a ship, bore into its bottom (wood has a weak HP/section and toughness)) and then steal whatever is in the hold. Metal items that could be damaged/rusted by exposure to the sea are greased, and many a reaver's spellcaster makes their grade by casting Sea's Reprieve on their items.
Made Up Spell! said:
There's a reason why merfolk have what they have. I spent several hours ruminating over possible instances... And while the Aquatic culture has a lot of useful and interesting takes, it is difficult to really reproduce a lot of 'tech' in the way we see it. Even biological tech requires an ability to break the skin barrier if you wish to go into full-on genetic engineering. It is so much more useful to go with what you have, and take what you need, for a society that will have difficulty growing into the size of a Metropolis.
Slainte,
-Loonook.
