Maddie

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Maddie is the dominant matriarch of the southern reef shoal that resides off the Caribbean isles. Despite the fact that the mers tend to follow the lion pride aspect of a dominant male and his family, plus several subfamilies, Maddie tends to turn the whole thing on its head with her dominant nature, fighting prowess, and overall calm mind. As a result she gains a great respect from her clan and they hold her to almost a standard of a wise woman with great 'political' influence over the shoal's actions.

A fierce fighter, she is a threat to reckon with. The venomous barbs upon her arm fins being her most dangerous strongpoint, and she will use them with no hesitation. Whether it be against her enemies, or in holding her position as the head mer within the shoal.

Upon the birth of her youngest child, her son, she is forced to make a drastic decision. As the child's only colors were shades of gray and there was fear of sickness, and of a madness that came with it. As the child grew older, so did the wild and aggressive nature that had been feared. Thus with the pressure of the shoal, she was forced to abandon the child only a few years old; chasing him off in the midst of a storm. Hoping that he would either live on someplace else, or be ended quickly in the violent swell... And it was more believed that the later had occurred. Overall it was a matter of either losing the shoal and the rest of her family, or losing a child that didn't look like it was going to survive.

Yet the child did survive, and travelled northward to end up along the coast of Florida. From there he grew stronger, feeding off of the rich abundance the reefs held, and becoming more territorial with age, claiming the reef as his dominion and ending up in trouble with local fishermen. 

Years later when he manages to get out of his debacle, her son returns with his own mate and child.  She refuses to accept him back into the shoal as there is still superstition about him and his aggression over the years even reached their ears in the south. It was only upon seeing her grandson that she tolerated his presence as the child was far healthier than imagined and was safer amidst the company of a shoal.