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Selkies are partly mortal skinshifters: creatures that can transform themselves from seal to human form and back again by putting on or removing their skin. They are descended from Luidaeg and the Roane and first appear in Rosemary and Rue.

Origins[]

The Selkies were created from the near-extinction of the Roane. In the early days of Faerie, Eira Rosynhwyr tricked merlins into attacking the Roane, killing a majority of them and stealing their skins in a desperate attempt to become like the fae.

However, the children of those very merlins feared the Luidaeg, very aware for her capacity of vengeance. They murdered their own parents, taking away the skins they stole and parleying with the Luidaeg to spare their own lives. The Luidaeg, aware that they exacted vengeance on their behalf, but unable to forgive them for the actions of their parents, enchanted the skins to preserve them and bound them to those children, making them Selkies. She made them skinshifters so that the skins might pass along from generation to generation, keeping the magic alive until the Luidaeg was ready to bring back the Roane.

The Luidaeg kept in close contact with the Selkie clans, overseeing the inheritance of each skin and hiding her identity to protect the remaining Roane.

Prior to the Convocation of Consequences, the Undersea used Selkies as their messengers between other sea kingdoms and from sea to land. Because Selkies regularly pass skins, Undersea wards are directly tied to the Selkie's skin and not the indivudual carrying it. This had become a security risk, as Rayseline Torquill had used the stolen skin of Margie Atwater to sneak past the wards without actually wearing it to kidnap Dean and Peter Lorden.

As a rule of the Selkie clans, all clan leaders are ordered to keep the Luidaeg's true identity a secret when she visits them as "Cousin Annie", and are well aware that the Luidaeg will call on them to be bound to their skins whenever she sees fit.

Selkie's Choice[]

Because the skins are limited, passing one on is very rare: either from the death of it's previous owner, or a parent choosing to give up their mortality so a younger family member may have a turn. Since there are so few, not every Selkie child receives a skin. [1]

The new recipient of the skin is told the full history of the Selkies and Roane before being offered a choice much like the Changeling's Choice. If the Selkie-kin agrees, they inherit the skin. If they refuse, they are killed by the person who offers it.[2]

"You are here to make your choice. Will you join the Selkies in the sea, or will you live human for the length and breadth of your days, however long or short those days may be? Before you choose, you must understand where we come from; why our skins are limited in number, why there are no other races like us in Faerie. To become a link in the chain which binds us, you must first be forged. Will you swim the deep waters? Will you be a sister to your people, and keep them ever in your heart?"[3]

Modern Role[]

The Luidaeg uses October Daye's Dóchas Sidhe bloodworking abilities to bind the pelts to their owners, making them the new Roane. The Luidaeg had to wait until a daughter of Amandine stepped up as a hope chest while powerful was insufficient of a binding of this magnitude and Amandine herself refused to help out of fear of prophecy. Before doing so, they along with Amphitrite combine their magic to split the pelts into multiple usable pieces, thereby multiplying the number of potential new Roane and reducing the number of Selkie-kin permanently barred from becoming fae.

The Luidaeg wishes to bind them all immediately, but Toby and the clan leaders strike a compromise. The majority of Selkies gathered at the Convocation of Consequences are bound to their skin, with the instruction to bring the extra skins home to their people to determine the final distribution. The Convocation will reconvene in seven years for the remaining skins to be permanently bound to their owners.[3]

The change of so many Selkies to Roane has upset the political structure of Undersea, and those who use the Selkies as messengers or otherwise interact with them now must adapt to the changes.[4]

Abilities[]

Selkies must keep their skins on their body, where it will take whatever form is convenient: a belt, a bracelet, or otherwise.[5] If it is removed from them, it returns to its natural pelt form. Unlike the Roane, they cannot have future visions.

Selkies are functionally human without their skin. If a Selkie is elf-shot and they lose physical contact with their skin, they die instantly as a human would.[6] This rings the same with goblin-fruit, as Selkies are at risk of overdosing if they remove the skin. Theoretically if one Selkie retains the skin while using goblin-fruit, then the effects are harmless until the goblin-fruit is cleared from their system.

When transformed, Selkies have the full abilities of their seal cousins in addition to human intelligence and reasoning.

A child with mixed Selkie and Roane blood may or may not need a sealskin to transform.

The Luidaeg stated that a Fae or a changeling who wears a Selkie's pelt automatically becomes a Selkie, overriding their former Fae nature unlike that of a Raven or a Swanmay.

Characters[]

This list refers to characters first introduced as Selkies. As of April 2014, the majority of Selkies have been bound to their skins and are now assumed to be Roane unless otherwise identified.[3] The clan structure is presumably still intact.

Ryan clan - Roan Rathad[]

Chase clan - Belle Fleuve[]

Anthony clan - Sweet Water[]

O'Connell clan - Tremont[]

Lefebvre clan - Beacon's Home[]

Unknown Clans[]

  • Bradwr of Cambria, known as Dylan (deceased)


Mythology[]

A typical folk-tale is that of a man who steals a female selkie's skin, finds her naked on the sea shore, and compels her to become his wife. But the wife will spend her time in captivity longing for the sea, her true home, and will often be seen gazing longingly at the ocean. She may bear several children by her human husband, but once she discovers her skin, she will immediately return to the sea and abandon the children she loved. In one version, the selkie wife was never seen again (at least in human form) by the family, but the children would witness a large seal approach them and "greet" them plaintively. Sometimes it is revealed she already had a first husband of her own kind.

Children born between man and seal-folk may have webbed hands, as in the case of the Shetland mermaid whose children had "a sort of web between their fingers." When the webbing is cut, a rough and rigid horny growth may take its place

The Scots language word 'selkie' is diminutive for 'selch' which strictly speaking means "grey seal." Alternate spellings for the diminutive include: selky, seilkie, sejlki, silkie, silkey, saelkie, sylkie, etc.

In Gaelic stories, specific terms for selkies are rarely used. They are seldom differentiated from mermaids. They are most commonly referred to as maighdeann-mhara in Scottish Gaelic, maighdean mhara in Irish, and moidyn varrey in Manx  ("maiden of the sea" i.e. mermaids) and clearly have the seal-like attributes of selkies. The only term which specifically refers to a selkie but which is only rarely encountered is maighdeann-ròin, or "seal maiden,"

Quotes[]

"We know that, while we may love the ocean, the ocean doesn't love us. The ocean is incapable of loving us, no matter how sweetly she loves the Merrow and the Cetae and the Roane.

We know that we must never, never, upon pain of misery beyond measure, trust the sea witch, or take her bargains, or risk her anger."[3]

See Also[]

Other skinshifters include the Raven-maid and Swanmay.

References[]

External References[]

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