Vorpal is a big town known for its docks. Water has been a symbol of this town for years and fishing has been it’s main source of income and trade. You would think the fish would learn by now that we’re looking for them, but yet they’re always there. That might sound normal, but I don’t mean we’re always able to fish, I mean they are always there in abundance. Nearly every fishing trip is worth it here in Vorpal.

    We have Morska, the Mermaid Goddess to thank for that. Though the story of Morska dates way back before most of the citizens of Vorpal were born. Fenrir is home to four deities and Morska is the one we worship here in Vorpal. We have always worshipped fish in general here, but we weren’t always the only option for people to get their angling needs.

    We once had a rival town known as Hendtin. The people of Hendtin were always jealous of our good fortune, especially when it came to fishing. Our prices were better and our harvests were too. How they ever kept up is still a mystery with the astonishing difference in fish numbers and variety. What seemed like friendly competition between Vorpal and Hendtin at first, grew more and more treacherous over time and soon the people of Hendtin became desperate. One day a group of Hendtin citizens attacked Vorpal in hopes of sabotaging a fishing festival that is held yearly here in Vorpal.

    The plan was to use explosives lined with fire magic so their fuses wouldn’t go out in the water and blow up all of the fish, thus ruining our harvest and our tradition. The night before the festival the people from Hendtin arrived to do their worst, but when they got to the docks they saw a blue-skinned woman standing at the edge waiting for them. Now, I know you must be wondering how Morska could be standing there waiting if she was a mermaid, but Morska is capable of taking on many forms and this particular one had legs.

    The people from Hendtin confronted her and she warned them not to do what they planned, but seeing only a single woman as their obstacle they decided to throw the explosives into the water despite Morska’s warnings. A few seconds went by and Morska stood there patiently. The explosions never happened and the people from Hendtin rushed to the other parts of the dock to find their explosives fizzled out despite the fire magic protecting them.

    Morska asked them why they would do such a thing.

    “Vorpal ruins our income every year!” said one.

    “Instead of bargaining with the people of Vorpal, you kill the fish?” Morska replied.

    The people of Hendtin had tried to bargain with the people of Vorpal before, but the truth is their methods of bargaining were often hostile by nature. They tried to explain this to Morska and she simply laughed at them. The one leading this group from Hendtin took offense to the laughter and shoved Morska into the waters of Vorpal.

    “Let’s get out of here,” said their leader, defeated. But this was not the only defeat they would experience this night, as Morska emerged from the water in her mermaid form and grew to a massive size! She told the people of Hendtin that as long as their feud with Vorpal continued that there would no longer be fish in their waters. That until they made peace with Vorpal and learned their place among the market, that their harvests would be bare. 

    The next morning the fishing festival was the most extravagant the people of Vorpal had ever seen. New fish were caught as water magic danced in the sky above the docks. The amount of fish caught seemed to be endless. The people visiting the town to make purchases seemed to be triple the amount of the year prior.

Our town’s mayor at the time went to the docks to see why they were having such a successful festival and Morska, in her blue-skinned human form, was waiting at the docks. 

“I promise that as long as the people of Vorpal act peacefully toward the people of Hendtin - that your harvests will remain bountiful,” Morska said. “That as long as they are thankful for the fish that give them food and riches beyond measure… That I will protect them.”

And with a simple raise of her hand she was engulfed in a blue smoke that transformed her back into her mermaid form and once again she grew in size, this time presenting herself to the people of Vorpal.

“I am Morska,” she declared. “The Mermaid Goddess of Fenrir. Worship me and every festival from now on shall be enriched from both a lucrative standpoint and a spiritual one.”

The next year the fishing festival was named the Morska Festival in honor of their new goddess. While the people of Hendtin refused to swallow their pride. In mere months, Hendtin became a ghost town. Without their harvest people starved and had to move on to somewhere new to live. It remains that way till this very day, while the Morska Festival remains the most glorious day of the year in Vorpal.