She eyed him in her peripheral vision, just about to turn and leave him to gather himself. "There are people in this world who place little value on shiny pieces of metal. Though it would be good to be able to enter the cities without having to return to the wilds for food..." she mused to herself. Her path led right to land-dweller civilisation, and she couldn't just avoid it forever, but at the same time she had no doubt that someone would offer her coin to lure her into the trap of trust.

"Who are you travelling with?" She asked, turning back towards him. "I am not particularly inclined to bring myself to a convoy of men with weapons. Land-dwellers in fancy cloth like you tend to be accompanied by them."

Serendipity
Tehi, The Selkie Seeker
A young selkie girl on a hunt for a legendary artefact of her people. Within her is a natural prowess for druidic magic.

"You should get back to wherever you came from," she warned him. Finding another place to live for the time being wasn't on the cards. This place had everything she needed while she got her bearings of this land—food to hunt, fresh water, and seclusion. "People will be looking for you, I have no doubt."

She jumped back a little as he finally woke, a look of shock plastered across his face. Clearly she had no reason to be alarmed. He didn't even throw a single blow her way. "You nearly drowned." She replied, dodging his question. Slowly, she backed away, giving him more space and moving to leave him be. If people came looking for him she'd rather not be around when they found him all bashed and bloodied. "You should be more careful. The water is not as forgiving as some think it is. But you will be fine, if you give yourself some time to heal."

Still nothing. She waited for moments, seconds, minutes, but he still didn't wake. Surely she'd fixed him up enough? Maybe... maybe land-dwellers worked differently? Maybe she'd prioritised the wrong thing? Her mother always said human men don't think with their heads... She crept closer again, leaning over him as she watched his breathing. If he was maybe going to die, there was no harm in trying something else to wake him. She leant down further, readying herself, and closed her eyes. Smack! Her palm stung from where she'd slapped him on the cheek, but if anything could wake him, that almost certainly would.

She hoped he wasn't some kind of criminal, someone who would attack her if he did wake up. Most avoided the deepest parts of these thick woods. He must've had some reason to come here. Though as she examined him further, he seemed to be dressed far more elegantly that many of the people she'd seen in the small towns and villages she'd passed through on her way here. They wore more functional garments, in colours like the brown kelp and the foam of the sea. If he was some kind of noble or important figure... people would be looking for him. Guards. Heavily armed guards. Something she could not afford to encounter.

...What was that?

She hesitated for a moment, still crouched in the bushes. Was it a trap? No, it couldn't be, it all sounded so real. After a few moments she brought herself to look over the edge, her hand steadying herself on the rocks. Below, a shadow now floated in the water. A very human-looking shadow. The rays of light filtering through the trees caught occasionally on the form, revealing the clothes drifting lazily about on them. There was no question about it. It was a land-dweller. One that no longer moved. She grimaced, wondered what she was even doing, and then leapt off the edge.

Plunging down, down, alongside the water, before it consumed her, splashing upwards and making waves in the rippling pool. As she opened her eyes she watched the form in the water drift downwards. On their head, a wound. Without even donning her pelt, she let her staff drift to the surface, bobbing there as the piece of driftwood it was as she kicked forwards and dived down. If they were bait, it certainly convinced her. She watched him for a moment until it dawned on her that he might not be as good at holding his breath as she was, even if he had been conscious, and grabbed him. Quickly, she lifted him up in the water. Before long they broke the surface. The shore of the small lake wasn't far and she dragged him over with little trouble, as strong a swimmer as she was, placing him there on his back so he would hopefully breathe.

Before she tended to him, however, she grabbed her floating staff and traipsed onto the banks, glancing around for any others that may have come with him. It pleased her when the sound of the birdsong resumed after her leap; they were wild out here. They wouldn't sing if they knew people were approaching. Satisfied, she turned back to the man lying on the mossy banks of the water. His head dripped blood and his eyes remained closed. Not that she minded—it gave her time to see if he would live, and then move away. With a flourish of her hands, air flooded into his lungs, after which she moved to tend his head, stopping a moment to consider if magic was even needed for this. However, she couldn't tell if he'd really damaged his skull without reaching out with her power. As she pressed a hand against the wound, she felt the magic extend from her, and then the pressure in his head from the swelling, the slight fractures, the torn skin. Bone cracked as it knitted back together neatly, and she just about managed to reduce some of the concussion damage inside as well. The wound on the outside remained as she reached the limits of her healing on such an intricate, important area, but she didn't hesitate to tear a strip of fabric from the bottom hem of the white slip dress she wore, wrapping it firmly around the wound after washing it with a splash of cold water and tying it off. That would do.

Almost immediately she grabbed her staff once more and stood. Hopefully, soon, he would awake, and would go back wherever he'd walked from, confused, leaving her to the wilds where she could find her food and sleep leisurely on the banks of the water. Maybe he would even tell others to stay away. She wouldn't mind becoming a local legend, as long as she was the kind that compelled those who heard of her to keep their distance.

The land... was unforgiving.

She had always loved it, with its tall trees and the immense green that seemed to blanket it like snow did in winter. It wasn't the colour of life to her, not after most of her time being spent underwater as a pup, but rather the colour of excitement. Of adventure. Something different to the swathes of brown kelp and grey rock that dominated the coastline. First came the grass, so similar to the seagrass she knew, yet far less delicate and picky about where it would choose to grow. She didn't have to go far to encounter that. Trees she saw in the distance, but they hardly ever grew so near to the sea, and she heard of them in stories of great forests. They stood strong, and did not move, unlike the thick forests of kelp and huge floating masses of sargassum. As a child, the idea of a maze of giant living statues was inherently filled with magic. The only problem was that the magic never ran out. 

The whole clein knew of her longing stares away from the ocean. The touch of magic she held within her, they commemorated of course, saying it was a natural gift and she was a true steward of the sea. Tehi knew within her that it tied her to everything. To the seas, to the rivers, to the land. The rest of her people did not much care for any fabled connection to the land—the land-dwellers had that covered. So, when they finally saw sense, she jumped at the chance.

And found herself far, far out of her depth.

The first village she had come across, hungry stares followed her with every step. She'd clutched her pelt tighter. It was only luck that a kind woman dragged her inside and threw some of her spare clothes at her. Still, some of the men watched her, with either caution and fear or desire. Though the white slip dress she'd received made her look a little more human, there was no denying that she was a selkie if any one of these men knew half a thing about them. Her naivety betrayed her; the thoughts of why it might have been a good idea to avoid wandering around with only a sealskin draped over her shoulder escaped her. However, she still kept her distance. The pelt she gripped in her otherwise free hand was reason enough to.

The next settlement she found herself in upriver nearly made her cry. Amongst the houses, ironworkers and other craftsmen dumped horrid waste of metal forging and leather dyeing into the waters.  She'd swam up part of the river to it until the water had gotten too rancid, and now she'd discovered why it had been so disgusting. That night, she flooded their workshops under the cover of darkness, escaping into the wilds. The next morning, the craftsmen discovered a selkie curse carved into every piece of stone and wood that made up their shops, and no tool marks to show for it. The wilds became her home for days. 

The sounds of the woods comforted her; she learned about all the animals as she walked, peering at insects and birds even after days on end in the wilderness. It all held so much novelty. But she wasn't so naive not to know the sounds of footsteps. Still on guard from land-dwellers, she hid herself amongst the trees at the top of the waterfall, a good vantage point to watch for prey.. well, perhaps more aptly, predators. Considering her options Tehi looked over the precipice from where the water plunged down, down, and sure enough a nice pool had formed there from decades of weathering. As the footsteps grew ever closer, with a small movement of her hand, the water below parted in a small whirlpool until her magic could no longer part any more, the bed still not quite revealed—yes, deep enough for a jump. Lying in wait was not her hunting strong suit, but she would master it. She would learn the ways of the land, of ambush and patience. Nobody would dare come here again.

Appearance
Selkies are a race you can pick easily out of a crowd; they are a tall people, generally ranging from 5'10"-6'7", though some may be a little taller or shorter than this, and are not often skinny—given their marine habitat, a skinny selkie is a dead selkie. Their skin is mottled with grey patches in the same patterning as their seal form's fur, generally transitioning to solid grey on the head, hands and feet. Their hair is also a mid- to dark-grey colour. Selkies almost always have deep brown eyes, as seals do.

Biology
Average lifespan: 80-100 years, like humans.
Diet: mostly fish and shellfish, however they can eat seaweeds, as well as other meat and plants. Raw fish is safe for them to eat.
Abilities: selkies possess the ability to don their seal pelts and transform into a seal, as well as a natural affinity for the cold.



Social structure
Selkie groups are known as "cleins" (clines), and are of a tribal nature. Men and women are valued equally as both are formidable, other genders are accepted as they believe the sea is ever-changing, and their souls are tied to the sea. Any non-heterosexual selkies are also valued as they often provide communal childcare for pups, and good couples fight well, no matter their genders. Social hierarchy is less important than it is to most humans, however they do have a system in place:
The best warriors, knowledge keepers and healers form a council in most cleins, the clein's best interests at their heart. They also have a system of denoting their roles, where warriors wear choker/collar-like bits of fishing net, healers wear beaded necklaces, and knowledge keepers wear patterned, woven bands on their upper arm made from seaweed or sometimes fabric, all of which can be embellished for any notable feats accomplished. Selkies raise their young communally.

Religion, Myths & Legends
Selkies believe in a goddess named Creena, a goddess of the moon and the sea, amongst other things such as wisdom. They believe she wilded the oceans when they went neglected by other gods who made plantlife and animals for the land, and that she created selkies as wardens of the ocean, able to traverse the waters and the land, and bridge the gap between the two. They also believe in figures such as Calybride, a once-follower of Creena who grew jealous. Calybride's story is used to scare young pups from heading out into the sea on their own, or when it is dangerous. When they die, they believe selkie souls drift the ocean, becoming spirits, and being reincarnated into pups that are born in the light of the moon. Their worship of their figures is often druidic and tribalistic.

Some cleins have their own legendary figures, such as Clein Ysbal, named for a member of their tribe who had her pelt stolen from her by a fisherman, thus taken for wife by him as he kept her from the sea, and Tehi Tegi, the selkie sorceress who sought revenge on land-dwellers for their theft of pelts. Land-dwellers say she was a witch riding a white horse, so beautiful she led all the men to drown in the sea. The selkies know her to be one of them, who rode on the white waves.

Practices
Selkies love stories and music. They often tell their myths, passing them down to the pups, around hearty food or even a fire, and a selkie celebration is not right without some lively jigs. Some of their rituals can be disturbing to others, like smothering themselves in fish blood and burning dried seaweeds during blood moons to represent the bloody battle Creena had with Calybride, and cleansing themselves of Calybride's influence with the seaweed smoke.

They also celebrate the changing of seasons and such, as they are hunter-gatherers, generally with feasts. Births are often celebrated with similar feasts, however the mother is encouraged to retire to a private hut at any point she needs to, with or without her baby. The baby is usually held under the light of the first moon since its birth to allow Creena to bless the child, whilst the clein sing for it. Dead selkies are usually placed reverently in the sea, where they will turn to seafoam, and seaweed is burned while the whole clein sings a song of mourning.

Names
Selkie names are often Irish, Scottish, or Manx-sounding. Feel free to make your own along those lines, or find a list of those names and pick one you like.

Clothing
Selkies are, to put it simply, nudists. Seals don't wear clothes, and they don't feel the cold, so why would they bother? The most you will see a selkie within a clein wearing is along the lines of a loincloth or similar. Clothing and embellishments are more seen as decoration, like their beaded necklaces and armbands for different societal roles. Selkies who come into land-dweller society will have to wear clothing to fit in, but will often still not quite look the part especially in colder climates, as they will not bundle up as much as everyone else needs to. Their jewellery is often made from wooden beads painted or dyed in blues, greens or browns, mother of pearl and shells, or woven seaweed. Embellishments to status-wear includes little mother of pearl coins, single beads threaded on, or different colours of seaweed worked in.

Magic
Magic is not hugely common in selkies, however it is not unheard of either. Most of the time, they are healers, or those with elemental or druidic power borne through their connection to the sea and nature. Because of this, magic (or nature/life-based magic at least) is highly valued in selkie culture, especially as they see it as either a gift from the goddess Creena, or a pure form of their stewardship of the coast, showing the mage in question is truly what selkies were created to be.

Thank ya! Seems like a fun place, I'm sure I will!

Name
Tehi

Nicknames & Titles
N/A

Age
22

Gender
Female

Species
Selkie

Ethnicity
Serenian

Height
6'2"


Physical Description
Tehi's skin is mottled with a dark grey colour, mimicking the markings of a grey seal, but is otherwise a fair tone. Her hair hangs long and straight, sometimes across her face—also grey. Body-wise, she has wider hips and shoulders a little too, with round thighs and an ample bust—much like the blubber of a seal.

Height
6'2"

Weight
~90kg


Personality
Tehi is a curious young woman, longing to know more about the world of the land dwellers. She's rather naïve, however, particularly about the ways of the land. There are many dangers on land and she is unaware of many of them. Her inquisitive nature is often at odds with this apprehension of the people she finds, and due to her upbringing she doesn't know much about land-dwellers. She can be, as a result, a little  shy.

In her heart, she's a gentle soul, or she would like to be. Sometimes, people are not genuine with her—selkies are easy to trap if you can take their pelts—and she is not averse to calling upon the powers of nature to teach those who would abuse her trust a lesson. She loves the simple pleasures in life; fresh fish, the feeling of grass on her feet, warm basking weather, and interesting creatures. Tiring land-dweller customs, dull days and loud hustle and bustle she isn't quite so fond of.


Fears
Having her pelt stolen, or not completing her task and returning home empty-handed.

Goals
To find the pelt of Ysbal.


Relationships
Her mother, Breeshey, and her father, Finbar, as well as the friends she had back in her clein. None on land currently.

History
Tehi grew up in a very full family, as selkie cleins often co-parent pups. She was the eldest of those she grew up alongside. Ever the mischievous one, or rather the one everyone else called mischievous, she rather enjoyed foraying into places she perhaps shouldn't go, like dangerous sea caves, and of course further onto land. Her clein suspected that one day she would end up leading land-dwellers back to them, leaving them to defend themselves against those that may mean them harm.

She grew into becoming a healer for her clein, much like her mother, but her connection to the land and sea was truly deeper than many other selkies. The power granted to her by nature meant she yearned to discover more, to protect both land and sea, and it led her away from her role as a medicine woman learning her craft, into fanciful time spent lying in the grass or playing with the water of the waves as they came into shore. Her clein did not like this curiosity of the land being so well-fostered. And so it was that the elders of the clein took Tehi aside one day, asking her to complete a task for them; find the pelt of Ysbal, and return it to them. Little did she know that the elders did not believe the pelt was real, or at least that it still existed, and had merely sent her away to learn the hard way about the ways of the land.

Occupation
Healer, seeker of lost things.

Residence
None.


Clothing
Tehi currently wears little else other than a white shift dress, given to her by a kind woman not wanting her to wander around unclothed, and her seal pelt, worn with the head peeking over her shoulder. Her feet are bare.

Weapons
A simple wooden staff, gnarled and not perfectly straight, made out of a piece of driftwood.

Items
A little pendant on a long string that she wears round her waist that holds some fresh salt water from her home, used when she heals.


Sealshifting
Tehi can don her seal pelt and change shape into a seal at any time, along with changing back at any time.

Call of the Wilds
Tehi can transform into an animal no bigger than she is that she is familiar with. Currently this is limited to once a day with her magical skill and energy pool.

Nature's Wrath
With her connection to nature, Tehi possesses magical control over elemental forces and life, such as water, air and plants. Fire, she's... working on. She can currently only manipulate (or create) up to roughly a cubic metre of material, or a large bush's worth of plantlife.

Healing Touch
Her affinity for nature and life gives her minor healing magic, capable of healing minor wounds currently.

Skills
Foraging, non-magical healing, singing, druidic magic somewhat, swimming and hunting seafood.

Weaknesses
Knowledge of land flora/fauna, anything mechanical, land-dweller social rules, anything more than the most basic staff combat, mathematics.


Current Threads

Complete Threads

What are your favorite kinds of plots and relationships to play?
I'm a huge fan of adventure, classic DnD-style stuff, even if it's kinda dark. For relationships, I've not ever delved into having proper relationships between characters (threads dying out, not finding characters that click with mine etc.) but if it works, it works. However, I really like the found family trope, which might be why I enjoy DnD.

What are your least favorite kinds of plots and relationships to play?
I'm not super heavy on romance-specific stuff, so both in terms of plot and relationships, I would say romance-heavy stuff would be my least favourite.

What are your favorite character types to play?
Love me a good weirdo. I also love characters that look a little odd, or a little monstrous.

Are you a planner or a pantser? Do you prefer to pre-plan and stick to a script when posting, or do you prefer to surprise and be surprised?
I like a little of both. Planning helps both/all of us progress our characters/what we want in some way, but little surprises here and there are also nice. If you want your character to step in front and pull off a bit of a hail mary against something bad, go for it. Always happy to let someone do a badass moment.

How do you feel about group threads?
Love them!

How often can you reply to any given thread? How long should a partner wait before nudging you for a post?
I usually reply once every 1-3 days. Not necessarily due to workload, sometimes I just don't know what to write/have no motivation. Feel free to nudge me at/after 3 days :)

What is the longest you're willing to wait for a reply to a thread?
I went to check the other day if someone who dipped on a group thread like 6 years ago ever came back to the forum it was on. So... weeks. I know life gets in the way sometimes.

How do you feel about instant messenger RP?
I prefer doing RP over threads.

Ho do you feel about post volleying/rapidfire RP?
Not so much a fan of this as I get burnt out kinda quick. I generally take a while to write and consider my posts haha.

What's your preferred posting style? Long posts? Short posts? Anything and everything?
I range from 5 ish sentences up to 3-4 paragraphs. If it's super descriptive scene-setting, it'll be longer, and if it's just quick-fire dialogue, it'll be shorter. I do make an effort to match my RP partner(s) though.

Any RP styles/habits that you love?
None in particular!

Any RP styles/habits that you avoid?
I'm not picky! I generally just want decent grammar and such so I can tell what's happening.


What are you limits regarding powerplay/godmoding?
Honestly, grab my characters and throw 'em around if you want, as long as they can do the same to yours. Bonus points if it's funny. If you come up to a character of mine in a tavern and just sock em, expect them to fight back. Of course, don't just annihilate my character—actual plot-impacting stuff I'd prefer is planned out.

What are your limits in regards to romantic situations?
(What are you comfortable with and not comfortable with? Do you prefer to pre-plot relationships or let them happen organically? Are you open to IC-rejection or love-triangles? Age differences? Etc.) I'm not huge on romance, so it probably won't play a big role in my roleplay. That said, if the characters really click, it could definitely happen. I'm down for IC rejection and such if my characters do ask someone else's for a relationship. Age dif-wise, probably not something I'm gonna do, unless this is reasonable differences like 25 and 28, or 350 and 450 haha.

What are your limits with regards to graphic content such as sex, violence, drug use, sexual assault, etc? What is your comfort level?
I feel super awkward roleplaying sex, however I am totally fine with it being discussed in whatever levels of detail, I won't clutch my pearls at vulgar stuff. Same with drug use and sexual assault. Violence is totally fine by me, I enjoy a bit of dark fantasy.

What are your limits in regards to pregnancy within plots?
Totally fine, roleplay that to your heart's content.

What about healing?
Just ask OOC, as I may have a character I want to be scarred etc.

What about characters being transformed against their will? Chill with me, but that would be something I'd like to plot.

Hey everyone! I'm selkie (I usually go by Ketania but that's the name of one of my characters who I might end up using here; feel free to use that name though!), I'm 19 and a current marine bio university student from the UK.

I've been roleplaying since 2015 starting on forums, having moved to Discord in 2017. However, I found that a lot of roleplay servers there involved just chatting between characters rather than plotting out some real fun adventures. Maybe it's time I return to forums :)

Outside of RP, I'm into a whole host of things, like DnD, writing, costuming/cosplay, singing, poi spinning on occasion and Celtic/spiritual stuff. I love movie/game soundtracks, Celtic folk and the odd bit of musical theatre. Currently getting into drawing as well as learning Blender for 3d modelling and printing cosplay stuff.

Fun facts: I'm a trained SCUBA diver, BDMLR medic and certified seal superfan, so if you love marine life I will happily nerd out with you!