Tritons are generally similar to their regular D&D counterparts as found in Volo's Guide to Monsters, but are not considered to be an outsider race on Abmarah. Much like Elves, they seem to be linked to celestials.
On Abmarah, the legs of the tritons fuse into a mermaid-tail when they are swimming, although some tritons do not have this transformation and instead feature both legs and a tail at the same time.
It's said that they were made when the goddess Aethys laid with Sigmus in order to distract him and steal a small portion of his soul. This union infused this part of his soul into the water around them, growing golden fruit that turned into the race of Tritons. Her purpose for doing this is lost to time, some attest it to her whims or a plan of great destiny.
The warrior-race venerates Aethys to this day, granting her wish of having a civilization be her own. The Tritons were entrusted by her to defend the world from water-elementals, and counter-invaded the plane of water. While they are similar to sea-elves and coexist with them, they have vastly different origins.
They were notable in their many underwater adaptations that rendered them visually distinct from other humanoid races. Their skin was most commonly a deep-blue but had also been known to appear as pearl, light green, or in rare cases, other mutant colors. Their hands and feet were webbed, and they had minor dorsal fins that ran from their mid-calf and ended at their ankles.
Triton hair tended to be dark blue or dark green and was worn in the form of long, flowing "manes". Triton men typically cut their hair around five inches past their shoulders, braiding it to keep it out of their eyes. While triton women occasionally followed this rule, they had also been known to let it flow free. Triton hair did not grow within two inches of the base of their pointed ears, giving the appearance that it had been shaved there. When heading into combat, they often bound their hair into styles such as tight ponytails, so as to maintain visibility. They were also known to weave pieces of coral or metal into their hair for emergency use as bludgeons.
Triton eyes typically seemed to vary between brilliant shades of green or blue. If seen in standard lighting, their eyes appeared similar to a human's. In dim lighting, their pupils expanded greatly to allow for better sight in the dark, sometimes turning the entire eye black. Their eyes also possessed a nictitating membrane, which protected them from sudden changes or flashes in light. All of this allowed for them to have normal vision even up to depths of 1,000 ft (300 m) under the sea, though the triton were known to be able to safely swim down to 3,000 ft (910 m).
Tritons are found across all the oceans of the world, but are mainly gathered in their underwater nation known as the Aethian Dominion. They used to be far more important and grandiose in the first era, and were considered to be one of the 'primary' races of the world alongside Elves, Omniborn, and Dwarves. However, they lost much of their power following the Omniborn Crisis.
They have many subraces seen across the world of Abmarah:
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