Auril

Frostmaiden, Icedawn, The Cold Goddess, Lady Frostkiss

Auril (AWE-ril) is most powerful in those regions that are affected by deep winters or crouch at the edges of the Great Glacier. She is worshiped primarily out of fear. She serves Talos and is one of the Gods of Fury, and much of her ethos is similar to that of the god of nature's destruction. She has seen much of her personal power eroded by Talos, and as a result, the winters have grown colder in the past decade to remind the northerners who still controls the power of cold. While she can call on the other Gods of Fury for aid, she only does so with Umberlee with any confidence; Talos usually responds but then directs all the glory and worship to himself, and Malar despises her. The feeling is mutual.
When portrayed, Auril appears similar to her Frostmaiden avatar. She is a fickle, vain, and evil creature whose cold divine heart remains untouched by any hint of true love, noble feeling, or honor. She often toys with those who offend her, trapping them in snow storms and then driving them insane by tantalizing them with visions of warmth and the comforts of home before she freezes them to death. Her eternal beauty is cold and deadly, the flower of womanhood preserved forever in a slab of arctic ice—with sensibilities to match the ice.

Divine Domains

Nature, Tempest

Divine Symbols & Sigils

A white snowflake on a gray diamond (a heraldic lozenge) with a white border

Tenets of Faith

Auril charges her clergy to: "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 Faerun fear me."
Auril's clergy are commanded to revere her and sing her praises into any chill breeze or winter wind. They are to make all creatures fear or worship her and to bring down her cold power against all so that all may know her and quake before her. They are not to raise their hands against any other priest of Auril.

Holidays

Midwinter Night is the most holy time of the year to clergy of Auril. It is a festival of ice-dancing that lasts the whole night through, during which the goddess desires her clergy both to enjoy themselves and to lure as many folk as possible into her service. Postulants are instructed in the ways of the goddess, and must undergo the most sacred ritual of Auril to gain admittance into her clergy: the Embracing. This personal ritual may occur at any time of year, but if it is in summer, the postulant must journey to arctic or high mountain regions in order to find a blizzard. The Embracing consists of running through a blizzard all night long dressed in only boots (though they may be thigh-high), a thin shift, and body paint depicting symbols sacred to Auril. Celebrants either perish of exposure or are accepted by the goddess by being rescued from the pain and shivering by Her Embrace.
Thereafter, clergy members usually pray in private, by lying out in the snow all night long in prayer vigil. In summer, her clergy usually immerse themselves (except for their heads) in the coldest water they can find, typically by lying down in a fast-flowing stream. Auril answers their queries and gives them directions and missions through mind visions.
Two informal but enthusiastically celebrated rituals are the Coming Storm and the Last Storm—howling ice storms called up by clergy working en masse with all the cold magic they can muster. Together they bring fierce weather down upon a town or region to mark the onset of winter or its last gasp as spring begins.

Divine Goals & Aspirations

Day-to-Day Activities

Clergy of Auril seek to make all folk fear their goddess and her clergy (to cut down on the attacks they face) through the fury of the winter weather. They also try to make themselves personally wealthy and influential by carrying out tasks that others cannot in the worst winter weather and by magically protecting those who pay or obey from the worst winter conditions. Clergy members make offerings to the goddess of some of the wealth they amass by scattering it in falling snow during a storm or throwing it through cracks in river ice or glacial crevasses during the winter.
In the cold months, Auril expects each of her priests to force or persuade someone to pray to her in the approved manner by beseeching Auril for mercy and praising her for the "cold cleansing" she brings. This prayer must last for the length of time it takes a piece of ice larger than the "supplicant's" hand to melt against his or her bared flesh. It must be done out of doors and preferably at night. During the winter, Aurilian clergy are also expected to slay at least one creature by cold. This is often done so as to provide worshipers or potential worshipers of the goddess with food or to slay a personal foe of the priestess or priest.

Priestly Vestments

Priests of Auril wear ice-white ceremonial robes with blue piping. The robes are cinched at the waist by a very wide silver belt, which also holds the requisite ceremonial ice axe. The ice axe bears the snowflake-in-lozenge symbol of the faith. (The ice axe is treated as a hand axe for combat purposes.) A silver circlet on the head is the final touch.

Adventuring Garb

When adventuring, most priests of Auril wear at least the circlet, the belt, and the ice axe with their normal day-to-day clothes. Since they are immune to the effects of cold, they usually wear only what clothing they think enhances their appearance, not necessarily what others are wearing for the weather. They never encumber themselves with excessive clothing or large sleeping bundles, preferring to travel light for maximum mobility.

Symbol: A white snowflake on a gray diamond (a heraldic lozenge) with a white border
Home Plane: Fury's Heart, Winter's Hall
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Portfolio: Cold, winter
Worshipers: Druids, elemental archons (air or water), frost giants, inhabitants of cold climates, arctic rangers
Cleric Alignments: CN, LN, NE
Domains: Nature, Tempest
Favored Weapon: Icemaiden's Caress (Ice Axe - Battleaxe)
ALLIES: Talos, Umberlee, Malar
FOES: At'ar (Amaunator), Moander (now dead), Sune, Chauntea, Shiallia, Uthgar

Divine Classification

Lesser Power