Maeryn Lestat

Origin
The origin of the Selkies (also spelled silkies, sylkies, selchies) is not entirely clear. Several different beliefs surrounding their origin, including them being fallen angels, humans being punished and forced to spend their days in the sea, who can only assume human form once every seven years because they are bodies that house condemned souls. This is the notion that they are either humans who had committed sinful wrongdoing. Though it’s even been said that Selkies are born from the souls of drowned.

Some people also believe that the Selkie and the Finfolk were once the same. The Finfolk are seen as sort of darker version of Selkies, sorcerers that could shapeshift between seal and human.
What differentiates them from mermaids (aside from the animal traits they show) is that they undergo a full body transformation upon coming to shore: they do not merely transform seal tails into human legs, but rather completely shapeshift from the sea animals into a human. This is accomplished by shedding their seal-skin when they come to land.

The sea-folk were believed to revert to human shape and breathed air in the atmosphere in the submarine homeland, but with their sea-dress (seal-skin) they had the ability to transform into seals to make transit from there to the reefs above the sea. However, each skin was unique and irreplaceable.

The most noted part of a selkie legend is it’s “coat.” The coat is the seal skin of the selkie. It is the sole provider of its seal form and free will. If one hides the coat of a selkie, the selkie loses its free will and lives in servitude to their captor on land, as if under a spell. There are countless stories of people who get these coats and lock them up where the selkie has no access, to marry the creature. There are grim tales where some fisherman and women are so desperate to make sure the selkie never leaves, they burn the coat, binding the Selkie to them forever. In all these situations, subconsciously the selkie is extremely depressed and aches to return to the sea. Some Selkies even have married selkie partners and have had selkie children. In these arrangements, the Selkie cannot see their selkie family as long as they are under the power of their captor. In many cases, the children born, between the selkie and the captor, find the coat and the selkie parent returns to the sea. In the years to come, the selkie halflings either leave with their selkie parent, giving up their mortality and diving into their birth rite, or keep company the broken hearted captor parent. Selkies never abandon their children and often call them to the sea to spend time with them, in these cases, avoiding the human that kept them a slave at all costs.

Selkies are known to remove their skins and dance along the shore in the beams of the Full Moon. If a human catches a glimpse of a selkie, of the sex they're attracted to, out of its coat, they undoubtedly fall in love. Sometimes even Selkies fall in love with humans and seek their lover out. Though if they find their skin they will return to the sea. This is upsetting to the lovestruck human who wakes to see them gone and the aching for the selkie in the sea.



These magically bound sea spirits are gentle in nature, and did not seem to spark the stigma or fear a lot of the other fairy stories in these places caused. This gentle and creative temperament made them amazing wives and husbands when held captive. Selkies always allured people. There have been multiple tales about selkies aiding fisherman at sea with their catch and navigating them out of harm’s way. Maybe this is because of the rumor that selkies are reincarnated souls of people who have drowned. Yet the connection between humans and selkies are normally always romantically linked.
Selkies have the gift of foresight but do not practice magic or sorcery of any kind so they can see the future but cannot change it.

Like other half-human, half-animal supernatural creatures, selkies seem to struggle with their dual identities. The sea identity always predominates and, given the opportunity, they will always return to their animal forms.
Male selkies are described as being very handsome in their human form, and having great seductive powers over human women. They typically seek those who are dissatisfied with their lives, such as married women waiting for their fishermen husbands. In one popular tattletale version about a certain "Ursilla" of Orkney (a pseudonym), it was rumored that when she wished to make contact with her male selkie would shed seven tears into the sea.
the males are much freer and can roam at will on both land and sea. They seem to be fairly well-meaning creatures who have a sense of family responsibility and an affection for their human wives and their offspring. Again, this is very unusual for the supernatural male.

Female selkies often travel in pods of at least three. They will shed their coats to dance on the shore together. Whereas males tend to be more independent, traveling alone.
Most male selkies stories derive from Scotland. Once the coat has been taken off a muscular, tall, lean, fair skin, long dark haired male emerges.
Male selkies can enchant any human with their seduction spells, man or woman depending on their sexuality.
If a male selkie impregnated a human female, he would leave the sea and be present with her during the birthing process. Afterward, he would take the child to the ocean to teach them the ways of the seal.
Male selkies were known to crash or sink ships that hunted seal.
Male selkies tend to target men and women who are unsatisfied in their lives and relationships. Also lonely fishermen & fishermen wives.
Scottish believed all gray seals were male selkies, however some spotted seals were found to be males as well.
If a mortal wants to summon a selkie male lover they would have to practice a precise ritual. In the rite they would have to cry seven tears into the ocean, at high tide, on a full moon. The male selkie will leave the sea and be summoned to love them, if he so chooses to take their offering. Most cannot resist fulfilling an emptiness that they often face themselves.
Male selkies appear less often in the stories. And they’re far less docile than their female counterparts. In human form, they appear as handsome men and often carried off married human women or men.
Given their fondness for dissatisfied spouses, you do wonder how many men and women simply abandoned their husbands and wives and used selkies as an excuse.
Described as incredibly handsome and beautiful, Selkies take the role of both predator and prey. Those who willingly come to land often seek those who are already dissatisfied in their daily lives such as the wives of fisherman. It appears more common in myths that the "predator" Selkies are usually the males, as tales indicate the men more often seek out lonely humans; however, there are also variations in which humans choose to summon male Selkies to the shore by sending seven tears to the sea. Selkies can only remain in the presence of humans for a short period of time, and then must commonly wait seven years to return the shore. That rule is broken, however, when a Selkie is forced to remain a human without his/her consent.

The tales of the male Selkies paint a different picture of these creatures. While female Selkies have their skins stolen, thus forcing them into the hands of their captors, male Selkies attract humans to their sides. The lore about male Selkies say that they are irresistible as men. They often entice lonely or out-of-love women, who pine for them after their disappearance.
Some stories say that women try to summon the Selkies back to them by crying into the sea. However, this summoning can only happen at certain times, as the timeline of when a Selkie can take human shape isn’t clear. How often they can transform and what happens when they return to the sea is also something to consider. Some stories claim it to only be once a year, Midsummer’s Night Eve, or every ninth day, and others say it is every seventh stream. Whichever you like best (or if you decide to tweak it yourself), the overall consensus seems to be that this isn’t something they can do that often. And when it comes to returning to the sea, even less so. Some stories don’t specify any real difference for a Selkie returning to the sea after a long time. But some say that once a Selkie returns to the ocean after living years on land, they will never be able to transform again.

Neither the males nor the females form lasting relationships, even with their offspring, always returning to the sea after a brief period on land. Popular belief states that, once a selkie has returned to the sea, it will be seven years before he or she is seen again.

For those who decide to take their human lover to the sea, the two lovers share a single skin, so that they can never be together in the same form; always one as a seal, and one as a human.

Selkie Descendent Traits
A very dark natural hair color in straight or loose wave texture.
Slight webbing between the fingers.
Super fair skin.
Black eyes, or extremely light blue or green.
Ancestors hailed from the shores of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Iceland, or England.
Fascination with the ocean.
Seafood cravings.
Naturally great swimmers.
They say there are descendants of the unions between selkie and humans that are and still being born today. The origins of these stories came with abnormalities born or odd behavior in children was blamed on the fairies, commonly. The most noted family in history was the Outer Hebrides Scottish clan “MacCodrum.” They sometimes were born with a birth defect of webbed fingers that was hereditary, that no matter how the midwives would try to trim it away, the webbing would always grow back.

Weaknesses
Most things have weaknesses. Werewolves have silver, vampires have garlic, etc. Selkies don’t have anything quite so extreme, being so similar to humans. Their seal skin is their biggest weakness. If you can get ahold of that, then they can’t turn back.