Selkie

Sarnothi culture is divided amongst the four Major Clans discussed previously, but each Major Clan also has it's own system of sub-clans branched within it. Many of these clans, including the four Major Clans, began as families of influence within Sarnoth's government until they evolved into social and political entities unto themselves. The term "clan" is largely divorced from the concept of a family structure in sarnothi society and generally refers to the established political and socially-influential groups of the city's government. Almost all sarnothi belong to one of the various sub-sects of their Major Clan due to Sarnoth using a form of caste system with varying amounts of rigidity. However, the individual's surname is unrelated to the clan you are born into (or in some cases move into). For example, there is no Clan De'Madiea; Pohl De'Madiea is a member of Clan Sho'Shen within Clan Tel'Dora. Among Sarnothi, this sentence structure would not be confusing.

My initial concept for the sarnothi's mode of greeting was an east-asian inspired hand-clasp and bow at the waist. I wanted a sarnothi greeting to be something that disabled or impaired use of the hands/claws as a sign of trust. But the use of a bowing gesture didn't make sense to me. The act of bowing doesn't "feel" to me like something an underwater culture would develop. So it makes more sense to me that, since sarnothi are hunters and predators by evolution, a sign of trust in their culture would be to blind yourself and "sheathe" your weapons. Although the premise of "lowering yourself" before a superior does exist in Sarnoth, in a fashion. Culturally, it is rude to float or swim at a higher elevation than a social superior. If traveling together the social lesser does so at a lower elevation, and if addressed or summoned the social lesser must be the one to take initiative to correct any discrepancies in elevation (for example, if a social superior addressed Pohl while Pohl was currently swimming above him, it would be Pohl's social obligation to swim downward and place himself at a lower elevation while addressing his social superior.) Backstory bonus extra: During his first year or so on the surface, while taking medical school courses, Pohl had to learn not to be very uncomfortable with being taller than some of his instructors. He had a lingering social obligation impulse to "swim lower".