Valenth

Travelers of the oceans, the ochy people are reasonably friendly to outsiders, if a bit wary due to the trade in their magical, removable skins.

Resemblant of otters, they stand on their hind legs when out of water, but are most at home dashing about in water using their tails and webbed hands and feet to propel them. Ochy are fond of bright objects, and fashion necklaces out of pearls, colorful coral, shells, fish teeth and bones.
They have a simple society based around the trade of fish and particularly well-made trinkets kept hidden away deep beneath the waves-- difficult to find without the use of magic, machinery or an ochy's skin.

An ochy's intact skin is a much-coveted prize on the black market; they allow the bearer to transform into an ochy while it is in their possession. Without its skin, an ochy transforms into a creature resembling a short fae with dull brown-black skin, small eyes, and webbed toes. They can still swim, but their magic is lost until they retrieve their skin.
Ochies never remove their skins without a very good reason, so usually brute force must be employed to retrieve one. Those sellers who claim that no ochies were harmed are either liars, or so bold as to befriend an ochy simply to get close enough to steal the skin and flee.

Some ochy-skin owners have attempted to slip into ochy cities to learn more about them. Such actions rarely escape notice of the ochy water-bearers, and the trespassers are usually punished by having the skin taken away and being left to drown.