Selkie

While human at first glance, selkie feature lean statue and unfathomable beauty, which is only slightly rivaled by their Fey kin, such as the elves and nymphs of the wild. Known also as Seal Folk, they are capable of therianthropy (most commonly known as zoanthropy), the ability to shapeshift into a seal. For this reason, someone who has previously encountered a selkie (or selchie) will be able to recognize another as they all wear a sealskin coat of some kind. Fierce fighters both on land and on the sea, the selkies (or selch) prefer to wear light and occasionally medium armor as their defense, as they are not comfortable with having heavy armor constrict their movements. Seal Folk Regardless of their human-like appearance, upon closer inspection, it's possible to notice that a selkie's fingers and toes have webbing slightly longer than that of a normal human, which extends significantly when exposed to water. In addition, a selkie’s eyes are often larger and darker than those of most humans, adding to their kind, and almost child-like, expression. Selkies can inhabit waters of any climate but are best adapted for the life in cold and sometimes even gelid artic waters. They also prefer to live closer to the shore, unlike the merfolk, who would rather live on the high open seas. However, it's the sealskin they carry that sets them apart from any of the other races: when they pull the hood over their heads, they can transform into a seal, and remain in that form until they remove the hood, thus being able to shapeshift at will. A selkie will, most often than not, have hair and eye colors that match their seal form. A Harbor Seal selkie, for example, would likely have from a tan to a dark brown skin, darker brown or grey hair, and many freckles or beauty marks on their body. Although friendly, the selch are also fierce natural born hunters, especially when in their aquatic environment. Great at swimming and capable of withstanding great underwater pressures, they tend to be great fishermen, and often share their surplus with their friends.   Of The Land As Of The Sea Bearers of a gentle and calm personality, the selch are usually kind and tend to avoid conflict, making them welcome by most creatures, both underwater and on dry land. For this reason, they can be found not only living among herds of wild seals but also rather frequently in coastal humanoid settlements of all kinds. Selkies' natural enemies are the merrow and sahuagin because of their universally aggressive and imperialistic tendencies. Selkies are nomadic, maintaining pods of two to ten family members who travel with and live alongside pods of common seals. Selkies can mate with both humans and seals, and their offspring always has a fifty percent chance of either also being a selkie, or taking after their other parent, though even these children have a sometimes inexplicable draw to the ocean. A selkie can birth up to two children at a time. If the child is humanoid, it will mostly be raised on land by their humanoid parent; if its a pup, it will mostly be raised on the sea by their mother. Regardless, a selkie always keeps an eye on their children, even if only from the sea. Most selkie pups look just like regular seal pups, while other can look pretty much a hybrid between a human newborn and a seal pup: human babies with lower torso and tail of a seal, except for the fact that their arms, upper torso and head is also covered by a soft layer of fluff. Regardless of their looks, a selkie pup will not learn to shed their sealskin coat until they are around three years old. Like most mermaids, selkies take great pleasure in their singing. But unlike sirens, the selch don't mean any harm with their songs - they don't sing to seduce or to kill. Their songs have nothing to do with anyone but themselves; they sing as a way to express themselves, for the simple joy of it. Selkies' voices sound as clear and perceptible underwater as they do on the surface. It is not uncommon for selkies who live in warmer waters to live among the merfolk communities.   selkies can breathe both air and water, which allows them to swim with their aquatic friends even while in their human form.   History And Evolution Despite being considered by most a subtype of merfolk, this is not consensual among scholars. Since wild selkies only fairly recently started to engage more actively with coastal humanoid races, little to no information is known regarding the origin of the species. Some people argue that, despite their similar appearance, the merfolk and the selch are two distinct species. However, the similarities between these two artic communities go far beyond just the physical: they share a language, cultural aspects and, on occasion, even live together. Followers of this philosophy argue that it is simply from living together that they have inherited the same language and cultural values, however, has recently proven, wild arctic selkies and wild tropical mermaids and mermen can still have similar culture and songs despite never having come in contact with other aquatic humanoids. So it seems fair to assume that they are, one way or another, related species of some kind. But that is still not enough for those who seek knowledge on the topic. Some believe that all selkies come from tropical water merfolk, who later spread far and wide and eventually adapted to the freezing arctic waters; others say it was the other way around. We might never know for sure. There is, however, a common ground of understanding, and that is the fact that wild selch don't really understand the concept of clothes. Around the age of three, a selkie pup will instinctually learn to shed their sealskin and, when they do so, their humanoid form is completely naked. For the selch, switching back and forth between their two forms, without the need for clothes, is the norm. It is not uncommon to see a group of wild selkies, happily naked sunbathing on a shore, with their sealskins next to them, or stowed behind rocks. However, if their sealskin is lost or stolen, the selkie is doomed to remain in human form until it can be recovered. This lead to several incidents throughout history where humanoids (mostly humans) would steal selch sealskins and hide them or lock them away, in order to force the selkie to be beweded against their will. Predictably, stories of forced selkie love always end in tragedy for the men and their half-selkie progeny, as landbound selch never stop hunting for their sealskins. They inevitably retrieve them (often through their own children accidentally finding their parent's lost sealskin and returning it without being aware of the repercussions) and return to the sea, never to see their husbands or children again. Because of this, if disturbed while on shore, the sealfolk will typically hastily snatch up their skins before rushing back to the safety of the sea. Regardless, just as they are suspicious, selch can also be eternally grateful to those who help them recover their stolen sealskins, and are known for aiding and even saving the lives of sailors who had previously helped them when they were unfortunate enough to fall in the sea. When it comes to evolution, modern selkies are also a bit different from their ancestors. While older selch were only capable of being either fully human or fully a seal, the younger generations of selch have perfected their transformation skills, eventually learning to only partially undress their sealskin. This allows them to present the upper body, arms, and head of their human form from the waist up, while retaining their seal-like lower torso and tail from the hips down, giving them an appearance rather similar to that of their tropical merfolk kin. This allowed the selch to more easily communicate with the landdwellers (who rarely understood Aquan) without risking losing their sealskins. Selkies who are not as familiar with the land-dwellers' culture might get into some trouble, not only for their odd habits and mannerisms, but also for not always understanding sarcasm or figures of speech, which can lead to misunderstandings.   Curious And Naive More than simply having a child-like appearance, most selkies also have a child-like personality. They are naive and don't fully understand some humanoid concepts, such as lying, which leaves them vulnerable to scams. The selch are always curious, eager to learn more about the far oceans, deep trenches or legendary ruins at the heart of the surface world. A young selkie spends most of their days exploring the depths of the ocean and vast coastal regions with their pod. Mermish is their main language and the first they learn, allowing them to communicate not only with other selkies, but also with the other merfolk. The selch start learning Aquan as well around the age of five and wild selch don't really bother learning Common or other humanoid languages. Only the more civilized coastal ones, interested in adventuring and trading, do so as a way to bridge the language barrier. Unlike their ancestors, who would rarely wonder too far from the sea, younger generations of selch have begun to go on long-term travels and adventures with their land dweller communities and friends. Some selkies can also be a bit mischievous, spreading innocent trickery whenever they go, like a playful child pranking their family and friends just so that everyone can have a good time. Mermish Despite being spoken only by the selch and the merfolk, Mermish may also be understood by some intelligent aquatic animals, such as dolphins and seals. This is due to the Mermish language consisting, in essence, of a sequence similar to animal barks and whines produced by seals as well as pulses, clicks and whistles produced by dolphins. Due to the nature of this speech, selch and merfolk are able to communicate great distances between themselves while underwater, sometimes even from one islet to another/   Selkie Names Mundane selkies can adopt the names of whichever races they live with, but traditional selch usually have either short simple names or names that deal with water or aquatic life in general. Male Names: Cel, Cod, Dylan, Koo, Roll, Ronan, Saoibh Female Names: Ariel, Coral, Eilean, Fiona, Murieall, Pearl, Saoirse, Siobhan Neutral Names: Dish, Faoir, Mílai, Nonn, Saoin, Sho   Selkie Traits Your selkie character has an assortment of inborn abilities, the result of thousands of years of evolution. Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1.   Age. Despite their sylvan nature, selkies age at the same rate as humans, reaching adulthood in their late teens and live for about a century.   Alignment. The selch live for freedom, both for themselves and others. Most selch tend toward chaotic and good alignments, but neutral selkies are not uncommon. Despite having little use for humanoid laws, selkies raised mostly in humanoid settlements can have a more lawful perspective.   Size. Selch's heights are based on their subrace, but their size is always Medium.   Speed. You have a base walking and swimming speed of 30 feet. When fully or partially transformed, your movement speeds change into those corresponding to your seal form.   Amphibious. The selch can breathe air and water. Improved Sight. Your sylvan ancestry has adapted your physiology to both the twilight realms and the depths of the ocean, giving you Darkvision within 60 feet. While in your seal form, you can also use your whiskers to sense your surroundings, thus also benefiting from Blindsight corresponding to your subrace.   Arctic Dweller. The selch are used to freezing cold water temperatures and can survive in them for long periods of time. You are acclimated to cold climates and have resistance to cold damage. You also know the Frostbite cantrip. The cantrip doesn't count against your number of cantrips known.   True Zoanthropy. You have the innate ability to shed your sealskin and use your true zoanthropy skill while wearing it, as described on page 5. Without your sealskin you may not use your shapechanging abilities until the skin is retrieved, you are the target of a greater restoration, heal, regenerate, or wish spell.   Seal Anatomy. Being vulnerable to hot climates, you have disadvantage on Constitution saves and become thirsty twice as fast as the other races when in hot climates.   Friend of the Sea. Using gestures and sounds, you can communicate simple ideas with Medium or smaller beasts that have an inborn swimming speed.   Languages. You can speak Mermish, as well as speak, read and write Aquan, and one extra language of your choice (typically Sylvan, Common or the language of a nonselkie parent or the coastal people you grew up with). Mermish is a spoken, tone terracing system, with no written form.   Subrace. Selkie subraces are based on the type of seal they can transform into, with the most common ones being harbor seal, weddell seal, and elephant seal. Choose one of these subraces.   Harbor Selkie These selkies can fully or partially transform into a harbor seal.   Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity and Wisdom increase by 1.   Size. Being the shortest of their kin, Harbor Selkies stand between 4 and 5 feet tall and have slender builds (80- 110 lb).   Speed. When in full or half seal form, your swimming speed increases to 60 feet.   Curious Seal. You are proficient in Nature and either History or Insight.   Aquatic Grace. You have an advantage on Athletics and Acrobatics checks made on the water and can take the Dash action as a bonus action while swimming.   Fur Selkie These selkies can fully or partially transform into a fur seal.   Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma and Intelligence increase by 1.   Size. Weddell Selkies range from under 5 to over 6 feet tall and weighing between 130 and 180 pounds.   Speed. When in full or half seal form, your swimming speed increases to 50 feet.   Natural Cuteness. You are proficient in Persuasion and either Deception or Performance.   Charming Song. You have a captivating voice. You learn the Charm Person spell even if you're not a spellcaster and can use it once per long rest without spending a spell slot.   Elephant Selkie These selkies can fully or partially transform into an elephant seal.   Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution and Strenght increase by 1.   Size. Elephant Selkies are taller and slightly heavier than humans, standing over 6 feet tall and weighing between 150 and 200 pounds.   Speed. When in full or half seal form, your swimming speed increases to 40 feet.   Menacing Presence. You are proficient in Intimidation and either Sleight of Hand or Survival.   Fierce Hunter. You gain +2 to any kind of attack roll if your target is in water.