I'm not sure Emily is always a trustworthy source when it comes to such things, but I do know the Wizard does at least confirm that there are merpeople. I think he says they don't enjoy littering during the Luau.
This one: http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/anime-villagers-30-30-portraits-done.110415/ A word of advice thought: LumpySpace isn't active and therefore the mod is outdated, but somewhere along that thread you can find a post in which somebody updated emily's portrait set. In fact, the only reason i am using this version of Emily if because nmura is basically gone and would not update his portraits, which is a shame as those ones are my real favorites. Not really digging the "anime" style, but i'll take what i can get to fill up the gaps.
Well, people have posted pics of a creature appearing in water while they were fishing in front of the store before, so I guess those are mermaids?
Indeed! They're called the "merpeople" by the wizard. Wiki about them: http://stardewvalleywiki.com/The_Merpeople I've seen the merperson/sea monster twice in my entire 792 real hours playing the game, so it's a pretty darn rare sight.
Are there? Are there really? Would they be by a big rock when you fish? A certain rock? Would they pop up and swim away? I don't know, you tell me. But just Em do Em, maybe she'll find one and then solve this mystery for us.
I think it would be cool if they had mermaids and merpeople in Stardew Valley.They already have a Dwarf, and ShadowPeople like Krobus.
I seem to resemble this topic. I hope there's a way to interact with them. Like, throw trash in and get it thrown back at you or catch one and a bunch of kinsmen throw tridents onto the beach or curse the town or something. Merpeople quests would be a great mod if they're not already in the game.
As an artist, Leah would have a good sense of mythology and folklore as inspiration. With luck, some of her other creations exist only in her imagination...