Mòr Cuan Cailleach

(a.k.a. Aglæcwif)

In the mythology of the Dòbhran Selkies of the Arcaibh Islands and the Kattalands, there is a figure they call Mòr Cuan Cailleach, which roughly means "Big Sea Hag". Mòr Cuan Cailleach is the mother and small god of the sea-trows (also known as tangies), and encounters with her or one of her thousand children feature in many Selkie folktales. She also appears in the lore of the Norður Islands, where she is known as the Aglæcwif.

Mòr Cuan Cailleach is described a a huge figure, with the head of a sea lion veiled by long tangles of seaweed-like hair. Her unblinking eyes bulge from her head, with horizontally elongated pupils like a goat. Tales advise avoiding eye contact, as locking eyes with Mòr Cuan Cailleach allows her to speak into your mind, filling you with strange and eldritch thoughts that confuse and madden. Her skin is covered in patchy fur and black scales. She has long arms with strange hands, flat and round and huge, with webbing between the fingers and claws at the tips. Her legs and feet are like those of the sea lion, with powerful flippers that let her move with surprising speed and grace in the water or on land. On land, she leaves a strange rippling track on all surfaces, as if the earth and stone had briefly become rippling water as she passed over them. Mòr Cuan Cailleach does not speak, but she does roar - a strange sound like a combination of a howling woman, an angry beast, and the crash of a massive wave. Those who hear her roar are said to carry a curse upon them, bringing them great misfortune in the days after the encounter.

She is said to live beneath one of the remote islands west of the Arcaibh Islands. They call this island Eilean nan Cailleach, and there is some debate over which island is actually her home. It is believed by some that Eilean nan Cailleach is actually a movable island, and that it conceals crab legs beneath the surface that it uses to scuttle along the ocean floor.

Mòr Cuan Cailleach avoids any touch of sunlight, retreating into the depths of the sea or into deep caves during the day. She cannot abide the touch of the sun, and has passed that trait on to the sea-trows she has birthed. In her cave, she brews storms which she can unleash at will. She wears a necklace of strange shells, each with a powerful storm caged within. When she crushes the shell, the storm released. She seems to use these storms for her own amusement, or to punish any who have crossed her.

Mòr Cuan Cailleach has borne a thousand offspring who fill the seas near her island, and sometimes wander further afield. These are the sea-trows, and they are a plague upon those who fish in the northeastern part of the Great Ring. They resemble their mother with their sea lion heads, long arms, bulging eyes and clawed hands. They like to steal the catches of fishing boats, either taking them before they can be hauled aboard, or climbing into the ship in the night to rob them. If they are confronted, they react with mindless rage, lashing out with enormous strength and fury. If you stand back and let them take the fish, they won't attack - but they will return night after night, stealing the catch over and over until either they or the boat is destroyed. It is said that if you kill a Sea-Trow its spirit flees back to Mòr Cuan Cailleach's womb, and is reborn again. Like their mother, the sea-trows cannot bear the touch of sunlight, and will dive for the abyssal depths to escape it. They can also roar like their mother, but while it is a frightening noise, it does not carry a curse like hers.