Makara

The Makara are a sea-dwelling humanoid race feared for their aggression and love of war. They inhabit warm seas and oceans all over the known world and are the sworn enemies of the merfolk known as Tritons. They are hideous, with jutting shark-toothed jaws, dark sunken eyes and tough green scales that ward off most stinging and biting sea life. Sharp spines line the back from crested head to waist, and webbed, clawed hands and feet make them very fast swimmers.

They live in colonies of up to two hundred, usually in undersea caves, though small groups reportedly settle in the hulls of wrecked ships. The biggest, strongest male always rules and may be nearly twice normal size; some scholars say Makara keep growing slowly all their lives, so very old ones can become enormous. Colony life is perilous, with constant infighting and cannibalism in lean times.

In battle they are savage, and although their natural weapons are deadly, most warriors carry tridents, spears, military forks and other pole arms. Fearless and pitiless, they take prisoners only when food is plentiful, keeping air-breathing captives in undersea grottos or air-filled caves to be fattened like sheep, and quarreling fiercely over the plumpest. Long thought mute beasts, they in fact communicate empathically in a simple language, probably also how they train their pet morays, sharks and stingrays. They attack ships from below the waterline and, able to last an hour out of water, sometimes raid coastal villages and remote islands. Makara breathe water. They follow the trades of Warrior, Witch Doctor or Shaman.