Kelpwitch
They remember what others won’t, and the sea tries to keep for herself.
- Elias McKinney, smuggler
Magic, as most call it, is the mysterious raw power drawn from the Etherwave Arcana. An unseen force that connects all things, woven through the fabric of reality. Many tap into it, call on it, and even say they command it. Shaping and temporarily altering reality in both small and large ways, giving back a piece of themselves in return.
But there are some creatures and spirits that draw on this power through other means. For them, it isn’t a learned skill, but natural as breathing. Writing their changes in sand, brine, kelp, and salt. One group of these creatures were once mortals from humans, thayans, grimling, or morasu. They were people caught between trauma and tide, carried over the sea of dreams. Victims that, even as they stood on death’s door, were given a choice to return and become archivists of the dearly departed.
Them. Right. Well, some call them the Brine Children. I can see it, even if it misses the point. The truth? Well now, that’s a damn sight stranger.
- Morowen Waxbend, sea hag of Port Royal
Kelpie Keepers of Lost Memories
Kelpwitches are one of the more unusual changes to appear once the shattered Otherworld merged with Earth. Before 1712, they were barely a tall tale. That all changed in 1713, when a small group walked out of the fog on the shores of Ireland and Japan to begin their solemn work. Even on Otherworld, kelpwitches were barely a myth. Stories told to frighten, or soothe, children. Their appearance on Earth was as much a shock to Otherworld refugees as it was to Old Earth cultures. Both viewed them with trepidation and suspicion.
These creatures, often called Brine Children or Sea Dryads, prefer to linger on the fringes of society. The daily hum of town or city life is often overwhelming for them, especially in places where there is more worked stone and machinery than nature. Then, there is the overabundance of people and their active memories.
Subject of many a tall tale, they aren’t as lethal as some claim. Instead, they are quietly social in isolated communities. Kelpwitches leave their greenery-drenched shoreline homes to seek places of disaster and similar locations. Hoping to collect the memories of the recently dead, to preserve them and the knowledge they had.
Born of Bloom and Grove
We are the children of the deep, the midwives and shepherds of memory.
- Old Kelpwitch saying
Kelpwitches, despite the name, aren’t just women. They are both men and women who’ve undergone a unique transformation. One that bridges land, sea and the memories of both. Most kelpwitches are the same size and shape as they were in life. This means most kelpwitches could be short or tall, muscular or thin. They even keep the features of their original bloodline, such as thayan dragonfly wings, grimling metal-colored veins, or morasu raven feathers.
No one is sure how a kelpwitch is ‘born’. But the popular story is that they are reanimated bodies. As the tales go, a victim—often a drowning victim—expires in a tidebloom grove. When they do, it’s said the tidebloom vines cocoon around the victim, changing them, but breathing new life into them. Tidebloom vines weave around the body, binding the person to that tidebloom grove. In a ten-day time, the person—as they remember—wakes up as if from a gentle nap. Only now, they’re no longer who they were, but a kelpwitch.
The tide doesn’t choose you for what you were. It chooses you for what you lost.
- Captain Jon Silvane, former drowned privateer turned kelpwitch
Turning a New Leaf
Once they leave the cocoon, all kelpwitches share certain similarities, such as skin and faintly blue-green glimmering hair, along with certain specific blooms. Most of the skin on a kelpwitch retains the hue of their original bloodline. But now reborn as a kelpwitch, their skin has a shade of light, healthy green, laced with vines and leaves, all flush against their skin.
Their hair regrows to soft, corn-silk-like strands that grow like any normal hair. Only a kelpwitch’s hair is red or gold, turning light brown as they age. Along their scalps or the nape of their necks like a natural lace trim, grow the ribbon-like fronds of tidebloom flowers. Each one shimmering with violet and green hues under moonlight.
In a surprising contrast to their appearance, kelpwitches prefer loose-fitting clothing and traveler’s robes with natural colors. Sea blue, light tan, and rich greens aren’t uncommon.
Delicate Dining
It’s a common mistake to think that a kelpwitch doesn’t eat, but only needs sunlight, water and ocean-rich soil. This isn’t true. A kelpwitch needs more than that, and does eat in a way similar to some coastal cultures. It’s true that Kelpwitches require air and sunlight. But they also need to feel their mortal half as well. This takes the form of fish, shellfish, kelp, and a wide collection of root vegetables that grow well along coastlines.
One made me seaweed stew and sweetplum wine. We ate in silence, and she cried after. Never told me why. I was afraid to ask.
- Salvadore Keene, shipwreck survivor
Lifespan
Unknown
Average Height
Same as person was in life, depending on bloodline of human, thayan, morasu, or grimling.
Average Weight
Roughly the same as they were in life, but do tend to be leaner.
Names and Naming
Kelpwitches use the names they once had in life, but it’s been said they also have secret personal names. A name each one is given once they are adopted into the grove.
Stories about this explain that it’s a ritual. On the next full moon after the just drowned rise as kelpwitches, the tide coven holds a naming ceremony. Each kelpwitch is given a ‘grove name’ by the tide coven’s Deep Minders. This name is private, known only by members of the grove and those rare outsiders of the grove who have earned knowing what it is.
The Drowning Choir
A Drowning Choir, often mistaken for the legendary ‘siren song’, is a rare and dangerous phenomenon. This is when an entire grove of tideblooms blooms all at once on the same evening in harmony. When this happens, the tideblooms release a soft hum or melody for just a few seconds. Anyone who hears it without some sort of mystical or physical ear protection to muffle the sound is mesmerized. Those living souls caught by the hum are lured to walk into the sea.
Kelpwitches don’t encourage the effect, but cultivate the tideblooms to bloom on different days to prevent this from happening. But if there are not enough kelpwitches for a healthy grove, that won’t be possible. So, in those situations, kelpwitches work to keep people from drowning if they can. Otherwise, they sadly gather the memories of the dying, if there are any kelpwitches nearby.
The Saltbridge Incident (1717)
Saltbridge wasn’t flooded. It was made to forget and to be forgotten for what had been done.
- Captain Jon Silvane, privateer turned kelpwitch
In the spring of 1717, the bustling salt-trade town of Saltbridge, on the island of Saint-Domingue, collapsed into stillness overnight. No storm. No battle. Just silence. As if hundreds of souls vanished all at once while going about their lives.
Thirteen survivors were found days later, wandering aimlessly, weeping, muttering the same word… Selvia.
A trampled tidebloom grove on the outskirts had been burned. Local whispers claim mercenaries hired by the mayor had tried to harvest tidebloom fruit, seeking secrets from noble bloodlines. The grove resisted.
The British Royal Navy arrived late with members of the Bonewright Order and sealed the town. Official records called the grove "already corrupted", claiming tideblight drove the kelpwitches mad. But nothing explained the siren claw marks on ruined, empty ships, or pearls carved into skulls littered around the docks.
Thirteen living souls and not one remembered a thing. Saltbridge died in one night. No sound. No fight. Not even barely a memory.
- Morowen Waxbend, sea hag of Port Royal
To this day, survivors still wake at night muttering names of people they’ve never met, or don’t remember.
I love the kelpwitches. This is a great article with a sombre tone.
Explore Etrea | WorldEmber 2025
Thank you! I'm so happy with how they turned out and how well they connected with the setting.