Manō: Shark-Kin minor tweaks
by Marc SaindonCurrently skimming over PC3 The Sea People, and I see the Shark-Kin are missing a bit of lore to make them a bit more interesting to play.
1. Lose the Creature from the Black Lagoon look, and replace it with the anthropomorphic shark appearance. There are already many other monsters (e.g. Locathah) that fill in the Black Lagoon niche.
2. Make Shark-Kin immune to Were-Shark Lycanthropy (or should that be therianthropy?) but can be carriers. An idea similar to making Orcs immune to Devil Swine lycanthropy but still can be carriers.
3. Give them a name other than Shark-Kin, like "Kanaka Manō" (Hawaiian for "Shark Man" from google translate) or just the "Manō people".
4. Give them a cultural connection to the Makai. Perhaps until late adolescence, early adulthood, some Manō have a "larval stage" in which they resemble normal humans and can even interbreed with humans (although this a rare event). Taking a cue from Lovecraft's Innsmouth (although with an equal dose of Little Mermaid), the Shark-Kin and the Manō-Human begin to feel a yearning for the sea, and sea-related activities, like fishing, swimming and surfing. At some point during this yearning stage, should the Shark-Kin ever taste meat or blood, he begins a mutation process (see the myth of Nanaue). Some Makai villages might even be strict vegetarians because of this, calling a tabu on meat products. All of this is rarely talked about to outsiders of Makai culture.
5. Replace the Shark-Kin shaman by a full-fledge Druid class, although these go by the much less celtic name of Kahuna. A few might even be "Bards" who do hakas (see 6e College of Dance for ideas).
6. Despite fear and distrust, the Makai and Manō still have some sort of alliance against horrors from the darker seas, like the undead Nightmarchers and the Devil-Fish.
Notes:
10 Hawaiian Sea Animal Names You Need To Know
Nanaue
Nightmarchers
(Image from: https://www.deviantart.com/krunch-bloodrage/art/Shark-Blade-Beach-Day-161476148)