Umiens

Umiens is a term used in speculative fiction and world-building to denote an imagined population of aquatic or semi-aquatic humanoids. In most renderings, umiens inhabit coastal, tidal estuaries, or freshwater deltas and show physiological adaptations for underwater life, such as enhanced gill function, webbed extremities, or efficient oxygen use. Their societies are typically organized around maritime resources, navigation, and seasonal cycles of the sea.

Name origins vary by author, with the word commonly described as a neologism formed from sea-related morphemes or as an endonym within the fiction. Because umiens appear in multiple independent works, there is no single canonical etymology.

Umiens are commonly depicted as skilled sailors and aquaculturalists, employing boats, nets, and underwater caving technologies, or even bioengineered symbiotic organisms. Some portrayals emphasize egalitarian or clan-based social structures, while others feature hierarchical chiefdoms or technocratic cities built along submerged reefs. Their relationship with land-dwellers ranges from distant trade partners to contentious neighbors, reflecting themes of migration and environmental change.

In literary and game studies, umiens are used to explore ecological interdependence, ocean governance, and otherness. They function as a flexible archetype, allowing authors to imagine alternative ecologies and ethical frameworks for interacting with aquatic environments. See also merfolk, selkies, and other aquatic humanoid traditions.