Auril

Auril, also known as The Cold Goddess, The Frostmaiden, Icedawn , the Goddess of Winter, , and the Frost Sprite Queen, was a fickle, vain, and evil deity, who was primarily venerated out of fear. The few among the Iulutiuns of the Great Glacier who worshiped her called her Saukuruk. She was additionally seen as being synonymous with the Queen of Air and Darkness by some communities of fey, such as those of the Shiverpine Forest in the Deep Wilds. However, after the Sundering the Queen of Air and Darkness was seen to be only impersonating Auril in order to retain followers on Toril.

Divine Realm
Auril had a divine realm called Winter's Hall in Pandesmos, the topmost layer of Pandemonium in the Great Wheel cosmology. Norse god Loki also made Winter's Hall his abode, a place to hide away whenever he fell out of grace with the other Aesir.

During the Spellplague, Auril's realm was located within the Astral Dominion of the Deep Wilds and was known as the Land Under Eternal Ice.

Relationships
Following the Spellplague, Auril gained significant power by siphoning the faiths of Ulutiu, Aerdie Faenya, and Gruumsh/Talos into her own. In addition to her classic portfolio of cold and winter, the Frostmaiden claimed dominion over wind and storms, bringing her into direct conflict with the ancient primordial power Akadi.

In earlier centuries, Auril was a member of the Deities of Fury, along with Malar, Umberlee, and Talos. Umberlee and Auril cooperated with some degree of confidence, while Malar and Auril despised each other.

Kossuth and Auril were mortal enemies, but their followers seldom came across each other. Sune opposed Auril, as she blamed her for the destruction of much that was beautiful. Uthgar hated Auril as she turned the Elk Tribe away from his worship.

At one stage, Auril was in a relationship with Thrym, God of the frost giants. During that time she became the mother to the Empyrean daughter Nalkara.

Worshipers
Sacrifices to the Frostmaiden were common, especially in the North, as people hoped to appease her and thus avoid cripplingly cold winters. Sacrifices to the Frostmaiden are often left tied up to perish from exposure to the cold, or drowned in ice-cold ponds. She also had many secret temples along the Spine of the World that brought terror and dominion to small settlements of people trying to eke out a living.

Auril's clergy was loosely organized, and the main goals of most followers was to intimidate common folk and make them venerate the Frostmaiden to avoid reprisals from her clergy, or to have them make donations to her church. Some of her powerful clerics accumulated impressive personal wealth in this manner, some of which they sacrificed as offerings to Auril. Her priests wore ice white robes with blue trim, and were easily identified by the dire warnings they proclaimed of the wrath of Auril come the winter. They were also known to cast cold-based spells, many of which were described in the Codicil of White.

Holy Days

 * Midwinter (Night), Hammer 30 to Alturiak 1. This was the most holy night of the year for the clergy, a festival of ice-dancing that lasted all night.
 * The Coming Storm and the Last Storm, informal but enthusiastically celebrated rituals where the priests gathered and called howling ice storms down on a region to mark the onset and end of winter.

Temples dedicated to Auril

 * The House of Auril's Breath in Glister
 * Icedawn's House, south of Nashkel
 * The Towers of Fury in Calimport
 * The Winter Palace in Luskan
 * Ice Temple, located between Andora and the Wandering Village in Icewind Dale
 * Small shrines dedicated to Auril could be found in Phlan.

Aurilian Spells
The Codicil of White was a magical book containing basic rites, rituals, services, and major ceremonies of Auril's faith. The book also had several pages devoted to the goddess' favorite arcane magic. It was created as a tool for Aurilian wizards and sorcerers to gain a better understanding of the faith.

Many of the following divine magic spells were believed to be recorded in a holy book of Auril called Revelations of the Icedawn.
 * Auril's flowers
 * Cold fire
 * Cold snap
 * Corona of cold
 * Freeze
 * Frost breath
 * Frostbite
 * Frost fingers
 * Frost whip
 * Heart of ice
 * Heat leech
 * Ice axe
 * Ice blade
 * Ice gauntlet
 * Snowshoes
 * Mass snowshoes

Notable worshipers of Auril

 * Iyraclea, self-styled queen of the Great Glacier
 * Gerti Orelsdottr, effective leader of the Shining White frost giants
 * Cierre, wandering drow surface spy
 * Lysan, priestess of Icewind Dale
 * Hedrun Arnsfirth, Chosen of Auril during the Second Sundering.
 * Artus Cimber, Chosen of Auril following the Spellplague.

History
In the late 15 century DR, Auril encroached onto Umberlee's domain by freezing her chaotic tides. Though Umberlee was once allied with Auril, she cut off this alliance, and turned to the other Gods of Fury, Talos and Malar. The three allied deities sought to take down the Frostmaiden, and she was forced to retreat to the most frigid region of Toril: the Sea of Moving Ice. Specifically on an island known as Solstice, the Goddess of Winter caused a seemingly eternal winter over the area, including Icewind Dale. As such, Auril became very weak and vulnerable, and self-isolated. In fact, she became so powerless that she could be slain by mortal creatures, which could force her to be banished until the next winter solstice.

Connections
Auril