The North of Europe, Selkie Brides and an Out There Thought
In Celtic and Norse mythology, selkies or selkie/seal folk are mythological beings that can transform from seal to human by shedding their skin.
The standard folk tale is the tale of the selkie bride, wherein a human man steals a selkie woman’s sealskin and forces her to marry him. The story always ends with her finding her skin and returning to the sea, but usually without the children.
If you’re born with a little bit more webbing on your hands than normal in that part of the world, then somebody is almost certainly going to say “Oh, there’s selkie blood in that one.”
Selkies are not mermaids. They are shapeshifters that appear to share folkloric DNA with swan maidens.
Or are they.
Imagine This Scenario
As you travel further north, it becomes colder. You can see a wall of ice that you know is the edge of the world.
You are hungry. The animals a bit further south are large, but all you can see here are small critters hardly worth hunting. Those plants you recognize as edible or medicinal are stunted.
You have reached the Arctic. In the time in which you live, it is further south than it is now.