Everlasting Rime

The Everlasting Rime was a period of nonstop winter in Icewind Dale created by Auril, goddess of cold and ice, in the late 1480s DR.

Description
The Everlasting Rime was an unceasing winter with dark skies, freezing winds, and heavy snows that covered Icewind Dale for over two years. The sun never rose above the horizon, trapping the region in twilight, and blizzards made the Sea of Moving Ice and the passes through the Spine of the World mountains extremely treacherous, although not completely impassable.

This weather was caused by the goddess of winter, Auril the Frostmaiden. Each midnight, Auril would travel across the sky astride her white roc, trailing an aurora behind her as she cast the spells that kept the sun at bay and conjured the storms that wracked the region.

Location
The effects of the Everlasting Rime were limited to Icewind Dale and the Sea of Moving Ice. Its effects were harshest along their borders, thus making access to or from either region extremely dangerous. Although Auril's spell made it appear that the sun itself was not rising, it continued to do so as normal in other lands.

History
The Everlasting Rime occurred shortly after Auril's Chosen, Hedrun Arnsfirth, failed to conquer Icewind Dale. It began sometime either in the, or early in the.

Auril had feuded with the goddess Umberlee, and as a result had fled her divine realm and taken refuge in the Sea of Moving Ice on an island called Solstice. From there, she used her power to create a dark, endless winter that blanketed the region. The strain of casting the necessary spells every single night drained much of the goddess's power, although she was able to continue granting spells to her clerics. Her reasons for creating the endless winter despite the costs were not necessarily comprehensible to mortals, but the core motivation was her divine drive to preserve natural beauty by freezing it.

The folk of Icewind Dale were the ones who dubbed Auril's work as "the Everlasting Rime." Trapped in this magical weather, Icewind Dale became increasingly dangerous, and the folk of Ten Towns grew increasingly desperate. While some speculated that the Rime was caused by the dale's enemies, such as the Arcane Brotherhood, most understood that it was the work of Auril. People began making fruitless sacrifices to appease the Frostmaiden, beginning with offerings of food and warmth (in which they put out all fires and forced themselves to suffer the cold), but soon escalating to sacrifices of fellow members of sentient races. At the same time, the darkened skies provided an opportunity for Xardorok Sunblight and his duergar clan to prepare for an invasion of the dale.

When the Era of Upheaval ended, Auril briefly heeded the call to withdraw from the Prime Material plane, but quickly returned and resumed her Everlasting Rime. The Rime ended in the.

Appearances

 * Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden