Homebrew Cecaelia Species Details

Cecaelia

As enigmatic and untamable as the seas they come from, and with one of the stranger physiologies of the world, the cecaelia have received a questionable reputation among the land-dwelling races, who sometimes view them as suspicious, arrogant, or evil. 

With a fiercely independent nature and nomadic lifestyle, getting to know a cecaelia personally is challenging, but they have proven themselves to be hard workers and are a boon to any group or settlement they join, no matter how temporarily their stay may be.

While hailing from the seas, the cecaelia have also integrated into coastal villages and port towns, often working as fisherman, musicians, or guides for sailors traveling through unfamiliar waters. Some have migrated even further inland, following rivers and lakes. 

Striking Appearance

The torso of a cecaelia is humanoid and has a very pale skin tone, usually taking on muted pinks, greys, and blues. There hair and eyes stand in stark contrast to their light complexion, being rich blues and blacks, their eyes especially adding to their mysterious character.

However, the lower body of a cecaelia is their most striking feature. From the waist down they are akin to a large octopus, bearing eight long, dextrous tentacles which can both propel them in water and carry them on land.These are often deeper blues, purples, and reds, sometimes with faint circular or wave-like patterns of a darker tone. 

Some cecaelia have the ability to alter their coloration, giving them an even greater range of exotic colors and patterns.

Independent Souls

The sea is treacherous and deadly, and every cecaelia is born with a strong sense of self reliance that they have used to survive. They are fiercely independent and will always try to complete a task by themselves unless it becomes apparent that they can't do it alone. At this point they will seek out people they know for help, before approaching strangers as a last resort.

If someone offers to help a cecaelia without provocation or, even worse, tries to help without asking, the cecaelia will see this as an affront to their abilities to look after themselves and will take personal offense, emphatically arguing that they can complete the task by themself and requesting, politely or not, to be left alone.

This is not to say that cecaelia crave isolation, as given enough time ad patience a cecaelia will form intimate bonds with friends and family. Usually limited to a small group, these connections are of great personal importance and are rarely broken.

Aquatic Origins

The history of the cecaelia as a race is all but unknown to scholars of the surface world, and though some surface dwellers believe they are a subrace of merfolk, the cecaelia, and indeed the menfolk themselves, would take great offense to this comparison.

Regardless of their true origins, their lives beneath the waves have effected them greatly. Though they can survive outside of the oceans no cecaelia ever completely abandons the water, with many of the land-dwelling individuals making pilgrimages to the sea every few months. 

Throughout the rest of the year these inland cecaelia sate their innate desire for an aquatic environment via other means, such as swimming in a nearby river or lake, or frequenting the local bath houses. 

A Wanderer's Heart

As a nomadic people, it is very unusual for a cecaelia to stay in any given place for longer than a few years. Cecaelia who take up adventuring do so to fulfill their desire to keep moving, traveling to exotic coasts, following meandering rivers inland, plumbing the mysterious depths of the sea in their lifelong journeys. They take great pleasure in seeing all the world has to offer at their own pace, striving to explore and experience as much as they can before their relatively short lives are complete. 

However, no matter how independent they are, they are not needlessly reckless. An intelligent cecaelia recognizes when help is needed and will turn to small groups of fellow adventurers to aid them. This is most often how personal bonds are formed by adventuring cecaelia, and it is not unexpected for them to stay in touch with previous allies and party members long into old age. 

Cecaelia Names

Cecaelia names are as unique as the individuals who bear them, as they choose their own names upon reaching adulthood. This is considered their true name, and most consist of a single word, often featuring unusual sounds or letter combinations.

As it is known they will adopt their true name relatively quickly, families refer to young cecaelia by very simple pet names that relate to their aquatic environment. However, once a cecaelia takes their true name, addressing them by this pet name is considered extremely rude. 

Family or clan names do not exist in cecaelia culture as the individual is considered just as important as the group, if not more so. They find such practices in other races quite odd. 

Child Names: Wave, Pearl, Tooth, Kelp, Stone, Coral, Bone, Tide, Bubble, Net, Shell

Cecaelia Names: Aamnesthal, Abrolth, Cerecst, Eamleith, Kouln, Lloros, Mnasth, Nilenn, Nuorien, Sorsasz, Tratheniel, Alanral, Caenia, Coulei, Dramnii, Jurira, Lasiei, Quorili, Reoria, Rulithia, Salria, Unya, Yyslamni, Zuorai

Cecaelia Traits

Generalizing cecaelia is risky, but your cecaelia character has the following traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity score increases by 2. 

Age

Cecaelia mature very fast, reaching adulthood by the age of 10. They also age quickly, with most rarely living longer than 70 years. 

Alignment

The cecelia's intense self-reliance, nomadic lifestyle, and preference for small social structures leads them to chaotic and neutral alignments. Despite their dubious reputation amongst other races, cecaelia of good alignments are just as common as others.

Size

A cecelia's torso averages 2 to 3 feet, though their tentacles reach 8 to 10 feet in length. Your size is medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 20 feet. You have a swim speed of 30 feet. 

Amphibious

You can breathe both air and water. 

Tentacles

Your lower body consists of a crown of eight tentacles, the bottom surface of which are covered in a layer of soft hydrostatic discs. You can manipulate these discs to create a suction powerful enough to suspend you out of water and provide movement on land, albeit at a slower pace than that of surface-dwelling races.
Though prehensile enough to manipulate objects, your tentacles do not possess the manual dexterity or speed to wield weapons effectively. You gain advantage on Athletics (Climbing) checks and on checks to either initiate or end a grapple. You may take the Use an Object action as a bonus action on your turn, and can do so at a range of up to 10 feet.

Hydrostatic Skeleton

The internal skeleton of your upper torso is made of a flexible cartilaginous tissue, stronger than that of surface-dwellers but far more flexible than bone. Your lower body and tentacles are composed of vessels that can filled and emptied of fluid, allowing you to stretch, manipulate, expand, and contract your entire body. You gain resistance to bludgeoning damage.

In addition. you may squeeze through spaces up to two size categories smaller than you with no penalties. Equipped weapons. armor and other items must also lit through the space to use this ability. For the purposes of this ability, any size categories smaller than Tiny (2.5ft) are equal to one-half the previous category. For example, a medium size Cecaelia may move through spaces as small as 2.5 ft square with no penalties and a 1 ft square space with normal penalties.

Darkvision

Due to living underwater in low light, you have Darkvision up to 30ft. 

Languages

You speak, read, and write Aquan as well as one other language (typically Common). Aquan is a melodic language commonly used by other ocean dwelling races such as merfolk, sea elves, and the shakua.