Auril

Auril, called Saukuruk by her few worshipers among the Iulutiuns of the Great Glacier, was the neutral evil goddess of winter and cold in the Faerûnian pantheon. The embodiment of winter's cruelty and all its deadliest aspects, Lady Frostkiss had a heart of ice to match her lethally cold beauty, eternally preserved beneath a sheet of rime. As Talos, leader of the Gods of Fury, eroded her power over snow storms, The Cold Goddess made her season even more frigid to remind the people in the north who controlled the cold.

The Frost Sprite Queen 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.

"Cover all the lands with ice. Quench fire wherever it is found. Let in the winds and the cold; cut down windbreaks and chop holes in walls and roofs that my breath may come in. Work darknesses to hide the cursed sun so that the chill I bring may slay. Take the life of an arctic creature only in great need, but slay all others at will. Make all Faerûn fear me."

- Auril's charge to her clergy

Description
Auril was known to take several distinct forms. The first was a furious figure of action known as The Frostmaiden, the most frequently seen avatar in all but south and east Faerun. The Frostmaiden appeared as a lithe, attractive human woman with blue skin and a body made from ice and snow, her free-flowing hair long and white. She wore a fine, thickly furred gown and frost swirled around her.

Auril's other form was the Icedawn, an impassive apparition of icy hauteur that silently glided through the air. The Icedawn wore an ornate crown and hooked, spurred armor of opaque and light blue ice.

In the late 15 century, Auril had another three new avatars; the Cold Crone appeared as a tall, hunched bipedal creature with a snowy owl's head topped by a pair of curled ram's horns. She had cloven hooves, arms ending in sharp, black talones, and grayish-white wolf fur covering her from the neck down.

Auril's second form was the Brittle Maiden or Lady Icekiss, a tall figure of fearsome feminine aspect with a thin cloak of mist surrounding her and eyes that burned with a cold, blue light. Made entirely of ice and frost, her body crackled while she moved, with icy blades growing from her form at odd angles and breaking off after growing too long.

Auril's third form was called Winter's Womb (or the Queen of Frozen Tears by her most devoted). It was a in diameter diamond of ice with facets and a sharp point at the bottom. Hovering in the air, the diamond contained her divine spark and radiated intense cold in every direction, her voice seeming to emanate from its heart.

Personality
Arrogant and vain, Auril was incapable of true feelings of love, honor, or other noble emotions, yet adored her ice and all forms of beauty. From natural wonders, to art objects, to the artists themselves, the Frostmaiden froze them all in magical ice, preserving them from the ravages of time and hoarding them away for her viewing pleasure alone. Her ultimate goal was to cover the Realms and all other lands beneath her ice and snow.

Despite being capricious, fickle and unpredictable, Auril was also supremely cold, unfeeling and apathetic. She was incapable of mercy or compassion, a sadist that took great pleasure in torturing her enemies and harassing her foes. She trapped offenders in blizzards and drove them insane with visions of warmth and the comforts of home, ultimately seeking to kill them with the sheer, bitter cold.

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
In earlier centuries, Auril was a member of the Deities of Fury, along with Malar, Umberlee, and Talos, and used their combined destructive powers to inspired much reverent fear and tribute. Her relationship with Talos was said to be close and cordial, but this was no obstacle from his attempt to usurp her following and she preferred not to rely on him due to his habit of responding but then directing all glory to himself. Meanwhile she and Malar mutually hated each other. Umberlee was the only one she cooperated with to some degree of confidence, but eventually the wrathful sea goddess came to despise her enduring cold and the motionless sheets of ice her roiling seas were turned into, forming an alliance with the other Gods of Fury against the Frostmaiden.

Following the Spellplague, Auril gained significant power by siphoning the faiths of Ulutiu, Aerdrie 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.

Auril and Chauntea were mortal enemies, constantly battling each other. Sune opposed Auril, as she blamed her for the destruction of much that was beautiful. Uthgar despised Auril because the Elk tribe abandoned him for her faith. Rellavar Danuvien, a minor elven god of cold, sought to interfere in the plans of Auril whenever he could.

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 and veneration were primarily performed for the Frostmaiden out of fear.

In the North, Auril was a commonly worshiped, and feared, goddess and an integral part of northern cultures. Worship of the Frostmaiden was common in lands such as the Great Glacier, the Icerim Mountains , Sossal and Vaasa.

Northlanders considered Auril one of their primary deities and was a key part of their culture. She was feared and seen as the harbinger of winter upon the whole world. In the late autumn and over the winter, regular sacrifices were made to her. Sacrifices of food were placed upon rafts which were then set adrift in the ocean. Human sacrifices, usually prisoners of war or slaves, were placed on these rafts. Human sacrifice was a rare occurrence and was only seen during dire times.

In the Moonsea region, followers of the Frostmaiden were shunned by society and wwere most commonly encountered in Mulmaster and Zhentil Keep. During the winter in Zhentil Keep, followers of Auril openly recruited from the destitute, homeless and refugees. They were offered salvation, instead of the risk of freezing to death in an alley, if they joined the faith.

Worship and sacrifices to Auril were sparse in the Sea of Fallen Stars region, isolated to the northern shores. Illuskan invaders brought the worship of Auril to Tethyr.

Auril was a key part of the religion of taers and most taer clerics venerated the Frostmaiden.

Auril was one of the deities worshiped by air and water genasi, especially those who lived in cold regions. Air genasi tended to be zealous in their worship, with a fanatical devotion to Auril. They enjoyed inflicting pain on other creatures using cold air.

Auril was one of the deities worshiped by members of the Arcane Brotherhood.

Auril used frost giants and winter wolves to deliver commands to her cults, while frostwind viragos and winter hags were the handmaidens of the Frostmaiden.

Druids considered her to be among the First Circle of nature deities, and saw her as deserving of veneration in spite of her more violent tendencies relative to some other members of the Circle.

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. Druids were also known to pay respect to the Frostmaiden on this date.
 * 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.
 * Auril's Blesstide, or Auril's Day, was a holiday (of sorts) held annually in the city of Waterdeep on the first day of new frost in the year. It was not so much a holiday as a way to seek to appease the Frostmaiden in hopes of a mild winter.

Temples
Shrines dedicated to Auril could be found in Bezantur, Calaunt , Iriaebor , Nashkel , Phlan , Tasseldale , and Zhentil Keep

Notable temples to Auril were:
 * 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

Notable Worshipers

 * Artus Cimber, Chosen of Auril following the Spellplague.
 * Bjornhild Solvigsdottir, queen of the Reghedmen Tribe of the Tiger during the late 15 century DR.
 * Cierre, wandering drow surface spy.
 * Gerti Orelsdottr, effective leader of the Shining White frost giants.
 * Hedrun Arnsfirth, Chosen of Auril during the Second Sundering.
 * Ihanora the Merciful, the Chosen of Auril circa 1099 DR and the creator of the Snow Maiden's Reaver.
 * Iyraclea, self-styled queen of the Great Glacier.
 * Lysan, priestess of Icewind Dale.

History
In the, Auril intervened in Calimshan's Second Era of Skyfire, freezing over the Skyfire Wastes and sending her followers to battle both Calim's genies and Memnon's efreeti.

In the, Chosen of Auril, Hedrun Arnsfirth, began her war in Icewind Dale.

In the late 15 century DR, Auril encroached onto Umberlee's domain by freezing her chaotic tides. Ending their alliance, Umberlee turned to the other Gods of Fury, Talos and Malar, and with their help forced Auril to retreat to the most frigid region of Toril: the Sea of Moving Ice. From an island known as Solstice, the Goddess of Winter caused the Everlasting Rime beginning in the. This seemingly eternal winter covered the area and extended over Icewind Dale for two years. This taxed the goddess, and as such, Auril became very weak, 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.

Trivia
Among the northern islands of the Trackless Sea, such as Gundarlun, the Purple Rocks, Ruathym and Tuern, the constant, bitterly-cold northwest winds were called "Auril's Breath".

Connections
Auril