Sedacthy

Sedacthy
Sea devil
Sahuagin

(Creature)

Common

Medium

Amphibious

Humanoid

Sedacthy

Level

Varies

Adjective

Sedacthy

Images of sedacthys

Source: Monster Core, pg(s). 300

Sea devils had the

LE

Sea devil

traits in Bestiary 286–287.

Type

Monstrous humanoid
(aquatic)

CR

2

Environment

Temperate or warm ocean

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Adjective

Sedacthy

Images of sedacthys

Source: Bestiary, pg(s). 239

Sedacthys, also known as sahuagin (pronounced sah-HOO-ah-gihn) or sea devils, are one of the most populous aquatic ancestries to dwell upon Golarion's ocean floors, much to the chagrin of the ocean's other races.

Appearance

Sedacthys in Outsea.

Sedacthys resemble a cross between humanoids and fish, standing seven feet tall with two arms, two legs, and a tail that ends in a fish-like fin to help propel them through the water. A sedacthy's head is clearly piscine with a mouth that gapes like a fish, but it is filled with sharp, flesh-rending teeth.

Ecology

Female sedacthys lay clutches of up to 200 eggs each in well-protected chambers. Depending on its size, a sedacthy settlement can have from one to a dozen egg chambers. The eggs hatch after three months, and the hatchlings quickly turn on each other in a violent feeding frenzy. After a year the parents return to claim the offspring that were clever, fast, or strong enough to survive in the egg chambers, recognising them by scent. Unclaimed young, either because their parents have died or cannot recognise them, are raised communally.

Sedacthys grow limbs after six months, reach a height of five feet at the age of one, and attain their adult size after six years. Sedacthys grow large but not feeble as they age, and some rulers have been known to live for centuries, but most are killed before their thirtieth year.

Habitat

Sedacthys can comfortably live in all aquatic environments, regardless of pressure or temperature. Regardless, they markedly prefer warm coastal waters, where food and prey are both plentiful. Some of them have settled on the Plane of Water.

Society

Sedacthys are intelligent, orderly beings that barely suppress their bloodlust, and the smallest provocation can tip them off. In order to satiate their bloodlust, they periodically revel in bloody waters; those who cannot do so either become lethargic or murderous.

Sedacthy society is a ruthless, orderly meritocracy. Titles are earned with prowess and skills and lost with incompetence; showing any sign of weakness is to risk death. Children of nobles have more opportunities and training, while those of commoners must fend for themselves as soon as they mature, and sedacthys take pride in powerful relatives, but otherwise bloodlines matter little. A commoner's ambitious child might become king or queen, while a royal's inept offspring can end up as food like any other.

Each noble sedacthy aspires to subjugate others and become the ruler of an empire. Sedacthys are at constant war against each other, and their kings and queens encourage these petty feuds as a means to satiate bloodlust, control their numbers, and hone their skills.

The goal of sedacthys is nothing less than to dominate the seas, and they view other races, especially aquatic elves, athamarus, merfolk, and tritons, as nothing more than food, game, or slaves. They both hate and respect alghollthus and krakens, who are sedacthys' greatest threats. The only creatures sedacthys seem to get along with are sharks, with which they can communicate telepathically, and the shark-like adaros. Sedacthys have even developed their own species of servitor sharks called feeders in the depths, which are more intelligent and bloodthirsty than regular sharks. Other than sharks and adaros, sedacthys have also enslaved sea monsters such as dragon turtles as beasts of battle.

On Golarion

Sedacthys live in most of Golarion's temperate seas and oceans, from the Obari Ocean and the Inner Sea to the nearly endless expanse of the Arcadian Ocean. They build vast cities in the oceanic depths that rival great metropolises of surface folk and create impregnable fortresses near shorelines from which they launch frequent raids against land dwellers. They are also in constant conflict with other aquatic creatures, such as the merfolk, gutaki, and the mighty alghollthus. Their warlike tendencies have made sedacthys one of Golarion's most hated ancestries.

Shackles

While they are a threat to any creature they are near, sedacthys are a particular threat in the western isles of the Shackles, especially around the port city of Ollo. They are also one of the dominant ancestries of the amphibious River Kingdom of Outsea, where they unusually live in relative peace with the native population of merfolk.

Tian Xia

On the continent of Tian Xia, most live in the undersea kingdom of Xidao, although their numbers are smaller than the dominant athamarus. They also dwell in the many caverns and crevices that honeycomb the underwater Aya-Maru trench, where they are in nearly constant conflict with local merrow tribes.

Casmaron

On the continent of Casmaron, a group of sedacthys control the mangrove islands and shallow waterways of the Kuruban Swamp in southern Vudra. They defend the swamp from the rampaging aberrations that ravage most of the rest of the Open Bridge region. As of 4720 AR sedacthys were investigating some sort of ancient ruins within the swamp's depths.

Okaiyo Ocean

More sedacthys live in the Sintos Trench of the Okaiyo Ocean than anywhere else on Golarion, enough to form a true empire. Their capital, whose true name is unpronounceable by most other species and is often instead called Furydeep, is home to 10,000 sedacthys and large numbers of adaros, sharks, aquatic mutants, and slaves.

Rumors

A recently decoded carving on the Pathfinder Society ship Grinning Pixie suggests that an abandoned sedacthy city exists on the ocean floor off the Rahadoumi island of Nuat's western coast, but so far no one has investigated the rumor.

In the Great Beyond

Sedacthys are not limited to just Golarion's oceans; they also live on the Elemental Plane of Water, where some emigrated thousands of years ago at the behest of some now-forgotten prophet. They arrived soon after the death of the final Saline Padishah, Niloufar the Great, and the demise of the faydhaan empire. These sedacthys spent centuries carving out a vast empire for themselves before they fell to bloody infighting. Now rather than one vast, united empire, there are countless smaller "kingdoms" controlled by ruthless warlords, hulking mutant sedacthys, or strange religious cults each seeking to recreate their ancient empire with themselves at the head.

Mutation

Sea devil baron
Four-armed sahuagin^1E

(Creature)

LE

Medium

Amphibious

Humanoid

Mutant

Sea devil

Level

6

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Images of sea devil barons

Source: Bestiary, pg(s). 287

Type

Monstrous humanoid
(aquatic)

CR

3

Environment

Temperate or warm ocean

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Images of sea devil barons

Source: Monster Codex, pg(s). 188

Sedacthys have a unique genealogy prone to random useful mutations. Within their society these mutations are seen as a divine blessing, and those who possess them frequently rise to the highest level of sedacthy society if they survive the hatcheries. The most common of these mutations is the additional set of arms of four-armed sahuagin, who account for one percent of surviving hatchlings. Another infamous mutation are the rare and mysterious sedacthys known as malenti, who look exactly like aquatic elves. Despite their less fearsome appearance, within the malenti beat the same bloodthirsty hearts as those of any other sedacthy.

Numerous other strains of mutant sedacthys exist in addition to four-armed mutants and malenti:

• Prehistoric sedacthys, or adacthys, are unusually large and powerful sedacthys who originate as throwbacks to the species' ancient past. They share their habitat with aquatic dinosaurs and megafauna and can communicate with them in addition to sharks.
• Shark-blooded sedacthys have abnormally large mouths filled with sharp, sharklike teeth and fully piscine lower bodies reminiscent of those of merfolk. They are typically found in sedacthy communities with many sharks or located near shark hatcheries.
• Sightless sedacthys have no eyes, pallid skin, and glowing lures capable of mesmerizing other creatures. They often live near ancient evil sites, or in flooded caverns or the abysses of the seas.
• Spined sedacthys are covered in hundreds of spines that protect them against physical attacks. They are usually seen in the hunting grounds of massive aquatic predators.

References

Paizo published a major section about sedacthys in Monster Codex.

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.