These soquili have begun showing up rarely at night in the fresh waters near the Kawani village and in the ocean. The Kawani considered them to be evil, and the villagers stay away from them. Some say they come from a land of the red-haired pale-faces.
Legends tell of a beautiful horse that appeared to be trapped in a lake, but when someone went to try to help it, the horse grabbed a hold of them and pulled them under water to eat their flesh.
However, in truth, Kelpi tend to fall into two basic categories. Some of them serve as loyal steeds to the Merlok people. They are well socialized and participate in a society every bit as complex as their land-dwelling cousins.
However, other kelpi are every bit the monsters that the legends speak of. They may have pointed spines and even sharpened shark-like teeth. Some of them are even carnivorous. Many of these do not even get along well with their other water-dwelling soquili, but tend to harbor a particular animosity towards land-dwellers.
Some Kelpi have fish fin-like wings similar to flying fish. They use their wings to soar over the waves. Kelpi can also dive deep into the water and many have made undersea homes to raise their young.
Kelpi are truly amphibious soquili - able to dive deep below the waves, using their strong tails to propel them. However, they are not as fast or able to dive as deep as Mer-Soquili. But, they can also go above land and walk on solid ground. Their scaly covering prevents their skin from drying out like the mers and seathi. However, they are not as graceful out of water as other non-aquatic species. Their heavy tails make them a little ungainly, and those that have not spent a lot of time on land can be awkward, not having their "land legs." Furthermore, true kelpi are able to interbreed with both Mer-soquili as well as land-based soquili! So while they are more variable than any other soquili, they are also not as adept at mastering their environments as other natural denizens. Some theorize that it is this weakness that drove some of the kelpi to malicious ways, taking the land-dwellers into a watery environment where they were helpless... or tricking other water-dwellers onto land.
Like Mer-soquili, Kelpi do breathe air. However, unlike their marine brethren, they have scaly skin that does not allow absorption of oxygen from their environment. Therefore, they can't stay underwater as long as mers and seathi.
