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Some notes on species
I can and will create long-ass documents with more details later, but I just wanted to put together a little something for now. Also, this will explain and clear up stuff related to my interpretations of the characters who are part of these species.
SIRENS
Sirens are born when people die at sea, particularly those who have been treated unjustly by sailors.
I should explain some lore stuff. The Ocean (personified) doesn’t like sailors that much. She tolerates them once they acknowledge that they’re sailing all over her property and are respectful about it, but the cocky, “Yar har, I’m the master of the sea!!” types of people she doesn’t like at all.
So she takes pity on people who suffered at the hands of sailors (they have a common enemy) and adopts them as one of her own (brings them back to life as sea creatures). And she gives them the power to enact revenge on sailors (their voice powers).
When I say “people who have been treated unjustly by sailors,” I’m talking about, like, mistreated staff (boatswains, cooks, servants, etc.), prisoners of war, stowaways thrown overboard after they were discovered, women drowned because of the belief that a woman on board a ship is bad luck, etc.
Most sirens are female (the Ocean is female herself and feels camaraderie with other women), but it's not impossible for men and nonbinary people to become sirens.
Sirens don’t remember their lives as humans after they turn into sirens.
FEATURES: webbed hands; claws; shark-like teeth; big unblinking fish eyes, long, flipper-like feet; dermal denticles (shark skin); gills on ribs; bluish-green skin
Their power is basically that people are suggestible to whatever they say. For example, if they tell someone to go to sleep, they will feel sleepy. Etc.
They have beautiful singing voices that sound kind of like whalesong. They use it for sonar to locate ships as well as other sirens. I don't think their singing has magic properties, but sometimes sailors are drawn to it anyway (if they are stupid. Smart sailors turn around and get out of there if they hear it).
Sirens don’t have a structured society (they are like nomads and sleep in whatever caves and crevices they find) but are tightly knit and look out for each other. They sometimes hunt in packs.
Their diet mostly consists of human flesh, but they also eat fish.
I’ve read recently that in Greek mythology, sirens didn’t lure sailors by seducing them, but instead offered to reveal hidden knowledge to them, and I think that’s neat. For like, sirens to know mysteries and secrets as a way to symbolize the ocean and uncharted waters being full of mysteries and secrets. I’m not sure if and how I’d incorporate this, though. (Also I’m so pissed at medieval writers for getting rid of all of the sirens' cool traits and reducing them to just being sexual and nothing else.)
DOLL PEOPLE
I created this species for Heartfelt and Mort to explain the facts that A, Heartfelt can stick giant needles in his body like it’s no big deal, and B, Mort has button eyes despite being from the novels and not the show, and therefore isn’t portrayed by a puppet (meaning that that’s how he actually looks in-universe).
(I know it’s awkward and possibly confusing for Candle Cove—the show where almost every character is portrayed by puppets or dolls despite being human in-universe—to have characters who are actually meant to be dolls in-universe. But whatever. I mostly only think about the universe of Candle Cove and not the meta elements. The fact that this whole thing is supposed to be a puppet show rarely crosses my mind. Maybe it isn't relevant at all in my AU?)
Doll people came into existence when life magic-users used their magic to bring their children’s dolls to life. Once the dolls gained sentience, they didn’t want to be just toys anymore (understandably) and joined society.
Doll people were originally the size of regular dolls (small), but as time went on, they made human-sized bodies for themselves so that they could interact with humans more easily.
The thing that gives doll people their life force are their hearts (which are not the same thing as human hearts). They’re small and red and actually shaped like hearts. Doll people’s personalities are also stored in their hearts. So a heart can be taken out of a doll person’s body and put into a new body, and they would then possess the new body. (This is how they made themselves bigger, in my above point).
They don’t feel pain, and it’s no big deal if their bodies get damaged (they can just sew themselves together again), but they could be in trouble if their hearts get damaged.
Doll people don’t have organs and therefore don’t eat or breathe or do any other body functions. They do need to sleep, though (that’s how their hearts rest and repair themselves).
Body modification (embroidery, patches, replacing whole body parts, etc.) is popular among doll people (more so than it is among humans) because of how safe and painless and cheap it is.