Faiths of Sublanarya: Goddess of Witchcraft Part 3: Caecillia the Sea Witch

We continue covering goddesses of witchcraft by looking at a powerful and dangerous practitioner that rose to legendary prominence through her cruelty. The tale starts at the bottom of the sea...

Caecillia was the princess of an ancient merfolk empire and, upon her brother being chosen to take the crown, she tried to usurp his throne with magic. With the help of Delphina and his own power, the king managed to fend off the witch and cast her down into the deepest depths of the ocean, banishing her from the kingdom, and condemning her to be consumed by the darkness.

In the darkness, she was transformed from a mermaid into a horrific creature, with the tentacles of a squid or octopus, and any poor soul unfortunate enough to seek out her power was quickly pulled into her "embrace". Usually, she offers assistance to the desperate and pitiful souls of the sea, but her assistance is a double-edge sword that always cuts those that take it.

The cruel witch even set sights on her own niece. The mermaid princess had fallen in love with a human prince after saving him from a shipwreck. She wished to have legs to walk and lungs to breath on land. She sang her sorrow until she got an answer in song and, following the second voice, she found her long lost aunt who she had never heard of.

"Aunt Caeci" told her that she could grant her wish in exchange for her beautiful voice and, without hesitation, the princess agreed. The only downside was that if the prince fell in love with and married another, she would be reduced to sea foam.

She came ashore, finding the prince and, while she failed to recognize her as his vision had been blurred before by a blow to the head and she now lacked that sweet voice, he still befriended the charming and strange girl. Though he loved her dearly, he wanted to marry the girl who had saved him, unaware it had been a mermaid-- what was now his new mute friend. Then a strange girl appeared, Aunt Caeci in disguise with the mermaid's voice, and the prince mistook her for his savior and planned to marry her.

The mermaid princess was doomed but her sisters found a way to save her. If she were to kill the prince before his wedding night, she could be saved. They gave her a dagger and begged her to sneak into the bedroom of the prince. As she looked upon his sleeping form, she could not bare to kill him and instead took her own life. When he awoke to find his friend had died, his heart was broken, and he leapt into the sea.

This foiled Caeci's plans to marry the prince but she still survived to sow more suffering...

CAECILLIA

Title(s)

The Sea Witch, Auntie Caeci, Queen of the Deep,

Pantheon(s)

New Gods

Power Level

Lesser Deity

Alignment

Chaotic Evil

Symbol

A coiled tentacle

Portfolio

Sea creatures, storms, curses and hexes, witchcraft, piracy

Domains

Nature, Tempest

Worshipers

Pirates, slavers, sea hags and witches, merfolk, kuo-toa and other evil sea creatures

Favored Weapon

The trident