Cecaelia

A ceacelia in the surface

## Physiology

### Hide

Upper body is human-like but may be an unusual color for a human such as green, purple or blue, their lower halves are usually a single uniform color though like octopi they are able to change the color of this half at will.

### Eyes

Various can be any color a human or mermaids can be

## Ecology

### Prey

Fish or other creatures it can catch

The **Cecaelias** are a octopus-like humanoid race which lives in the seas and are a part of the collective of underwater civilizations known as the Deep Folk. Little is known about them, except that they are skilled in magic, are matriarchal, enemies of the Merpeople and allies of the Vodyanoi.

Supposedly, they were created by the Sea Witches to aid them, but over time, they rebelled against their creators.

The only information comes from a second meeting king Ethain had with his ex-wife Sha who came to warn him of the danger they could pose to humans.

## Physiology

### Overall

**Cecaeliae** are aquatic-based humanoids whose lower halves resemble octopi. They possess human-like torsos that are typically slender, but even above the waist, there are marked differences between humans and **Cecaeliae**. There are gills on their necks, and their eyes are all one color and when not disguised possess horizontal pupils. Their hair appears to be made up of tentacles. These appendages, however, cannot move independently and do not serve any purpose. Scholars believe that **Cecaeliae** may have developed such pseudo-tentacles so as to confuse predators, when disguising themselves as more human-like they can take on the appearance of seaweed and hair.

### Limbs

**Cecaeliae** have powerful tentacles instead of legs below their waists. These long, thick limbs are deceptively dexterous, capable of fine motor control, and covered in suckers. Even while stationary, **Cecaelia** tentacles are always in motion, constantly sensing and stabilizing to their environment. They have talon like fingernails.

### Facial

At a distance especially in the water, a **Cecaelia** has the facial appearance of an attractive humanoid though upon closer inspection one can make out features that confirm this creatures non-human origins, starting with their beak which is actually a series of plates starting where a human's nose would be and surrounding the mouth area. Because these are plate based they cannot facilitate the intricacies of a human's facial movement except through illusion magic.

### Coloration

Generally, **Cecaelia** skin colors are the same as their tentacles which can be any color, from green to purple to red. Their skin is controlled to change the color in some way, they can also use it to display some minimal camouflage. They will revert to the same color when not trying to concentrate on blending in. When approaching a human they will turn the skin on their top half to a complimenting shade to the human's to appear friendly.

## Abilities

### Physical

* **Cephalopod Physiology**: **Cecaelia** have the abilities of Cephalopods.
	+ **Alien Mind**: **Cecaelia** possess a mind so alien that it is incompatible with a normal human mind.
	+ **Aquatic Adaptation**: **Cecaelia** are able to survive and adapt to underwater environments, being able to breathe water along with a gaseous breathing medium, to swim well and to endure high water pressure and extreme water temperatures. They are able to use their senses to perceive normally regardless of the distortion/pressure of the water, possibly including ignoring various impurities that would otherwise reduce the visibility.
	+ **Beak Protrusion**: **Cecaelia** have an octopus-like beak that when closed is disguised to look like a human nose and mouth, but the plates can be seen at close proximity.
		- **Enhanced Bite**: With their beak, **Cecaelia** have a particularly strong bite.
		- **Poison Generation** (through bite): Some kinds of **Cecaelia's** bites can be venomous as an enzyme from a **Cecaelia's** beak can contain neurotoxins.
		- **Saw Tongue**: The tongue of **Cecaelia** functions as a saw.
	+ **Bioluminescence**: Certain kinds of **Cecaelia** can generate bioluminescence, light produced and emitted by a living organism often as the result of a chemical reaction.
	+ **Bloodlessness**: **Cecaelia** have no blood or other circulatory fluid, being able to live without the necessary circulatory system in their bodies. Allowing them a sense of limitless stamina as they would have no need to oxygenate their cells with blood and survive horrible injuries since they wouldn't have to worry about bleeding out.
	+ **Boneless Body**: **Cecaelia** naturally have no bones, often making them highly flexible. Often the user's skeleton is made up of other matter, such as cartilage.
	+ **Camouflage**: **Cecaelia** can visually blend into surroundings by blending in with the coloration and form of their background to avoid optical perception. **Cecaelia** are also able to camouflage while staying still by changing the color and texture of their skin.
	+ **Elasticity**: **Cecaelia** are extremely malleable and elastic, allowing them to stretch, flatten, deform, expand, and contract their whole body, including limbs, torso, neck, etc. They can control how elastic/flexible they or parts of them are, allowing them to change their bodies into various tools or other constructs. Because of their elasticity, **Cecaelia** are extremely hard to wound or hurt due to their body reflexively absorbing damage by stretching with attacks, but may still feel pain.
	+ **Enhanced Agility**: **Cecaelia** even out of the water can go from one motion to another effortlessly, effectively dodge attacks, swing from things easily, sprint, do back-flips, leap across rooftops, and numerous other gymnastic, athletic and martial implements with little to no effort.
	+ **Horizontal Pupils**: When not disguising themselves or while swimming underwater, Cecaelia possess a set of eyes with horizontal pupils, allowing them to have a wider range of vision as well as letting them see in darker environments like the deep ocean.
		- **Enhanced Vision**: Cecaelia have enhanced vision beyond that of the peak that can be achieved by the average human, allowing them to see with amazing clarity/detail, distance, or color, in the dark or perhaps even in a different spectrum of light.
			* **Invisibility Awareness**: Because of their experience with their own camouflage ability **Cecaelia** can automatically detect and see cloaked/invisible targets and tell where they are.
	+ **Ink Generation**: **Cecaelia** can generate ink, either in liquid, solid or gaseous form.
	+ **Limb Regrowth**: **Cecaelia** can regrow any of their limbs that was separated from their body.
	+ **Lunglessness**: **Cecaelia** effectively lacks lungs, though they will often be able to function as if they still had them, such as being live or even breathe without lungs. They may be able to achieve feats that they otherwise couldn't because they lack those lungs, for example they may not need to breathe at all.
	+ **Multiple Arms**: **Cecaelia** possesses more than two functioning arms, allowing them to manipulate several objects at once, fight with greater efficiency, etc.
		- **Tentacle Extension**: **Cecaelia** possess a set of eight tentacles which form their 'legs'.
			* **Constriction**: **Cecaelia** if they grab something of comparable or smaller size with their tentacles can squeeze/constrict target, either simply holding/immobilizing them, restricting their air or blood flow, or forcing the heart to stop, causing either unconsciousness or death.
			* **Sucker Protrusion**: **Cecaelia** possesses suckers on their tentacles.
	+ **Pressure Resistance**: **Cecaelia** as deep water residents are resistant to damage from being crushed, smashed, or flattened especially by under-water pressure that usually if a being goes too deep the weight of the water would crush them.
	+ **Speed Swimming**: **Cecaelia** (when motivated) can swim at incredible speeds, unrestricted by water resistance.

### Magic

* **Human Disguise** (Partial): **Cecaelia** can partially (top half) take on an ordinary human appearance to blend in with modern society. This power is designed for non-human individuals to hide their non-human traits and appearances to avoid detection.
	+ **Glamour**: **Cecaelia** are capable of turning their upper half into what appears to be an attractive humanoid from a distance, though the illusion does not really hold up under closer inspection.
	+ **Malleable Anatomy**: **Cecaelia** can modify the physiological features of themselves, including face, body, skin, or size (to a limited degree) to disguise or look like another similar being. While removing/concealing a body-part, like a finger, eye, etc., is possible, the user can't actually add anything new to the body-shape. They *can,* however, shift the flesh to a remarkable degree, although the changed being will always be recognizable as a member of their species upon closer inspection.

## Behaviors

The behavior of the **Cecaelia** usually differs between individuals for example Aris had interactions with the witcher Adalwulf of Aedirn, she was suspicious of him but accepted his reasoning for returning the eggs, and was later seen fostering the three Nixa that hatched from the eggs. The thing to keep in mind with **Cecaelia** is that they are predatory and if they are hungry enough have no qualms with attacking a diver for an easy meal (Though they are not a fan of the taste of human meat and prefer fish and shellfish).

While Adalwulf's friend and guild companion, the Griffin Witcher, and later founder and grandmaster of the School of the Crane, Putnam Pitch, encountered a completely different and highly aggressive behavior from the cecaelias towards the end of the first decade of the 14th century. This happened when, in a contract, he had to confront cecaelia known as Naala directly without being able to negotiate the ransom for the daughter of the Imperial Governor of Etolia. Supposedly, Naala had kidnapped the governor's daughter in exchange for a magical artifact that the governor had stolen from Naala's sister during his youth as a sailor. Putnam attempted to retrieve Naala's body after the confrontation to study it. However, faced with the decision of whether to save the governor's daughter or recover the body, he chose the former. Preventing, therefore, the acquisition of more precise information about this race.

## Notable Cecaelias

* Naala
* Atah
* Yalnish
* Aris
* Huari
* Usula

## Image Credits

* *Messenger of the Sea* by Zuzanna Kapuścińska.

## Trivia

* Usula is a reference to Ursula, the Disney villain from The Little Mermaid film.
* While Naala is a reference to Ursula´s sister, Morgana from The Little Mermaid 2 film.
* Putnam´s story is a reference to the plot of The Little Mermaid 2 film.

## Notes

* **Cecaelia** are free to use in stories and articles, all I ask is that you honor the lore present and if you make one add their name and a link to this page.
* The race known as the **Cecaelia** are partially fanon creation as a creature that fits its description is featured on the gwent card 'Messenger of the Sea' outside of this there is no official proof of their existence in the Witcher works outside the fanon community.