Tsurara-Onna
The frigid icicle women born of the loneliness within mortal souls
Description
Tsurara-Onna(Better known as Icicle Women) are beautiful women born from the loneliness inherent to the souls of mortals, especially the loneliness born during the frigid winter months, when a man might longingly gaze out his window at the Icicles hanging outside, wishing for a companion to keep himself company in the cold winter months. It is in this way that Tsurara-Onna are born, and it is a way that distinguishes them from the creatures they are considered to be a "Variant" or "Offshoot" of - the Yuki-Onna, or snow women. Rather than being born from the despair and fury of souls who froze to death in cold weather conditions, Tsurara-Onna are born from less negative emotions but similarly painful ones, and are thus somewhat more connected to mortals - unlike Yuki-Onna, they have even been known to form lasting relationships with mortals, though these relationships in almost all cases tend to end tragically or in despair, either with the Tsurara-Onna leaving with the coming of spring to avoid death only to return the following winter to find their former partner remarried or with another, or having moved on and killing them out of fury, or a multitude of other factors. As such, despite their icy origins, Tsurara-Onna can be quite warm and loving spirits - but as is almost universal for Undead, they are doomed to a cycle of tragedy, and are a notorious plague wherever they appear as their loneliness acts as an anchor to keep the winter months from ever ending in areas without yearround snow. This habit of causing neverending winter for an area large enough to fit any settlement from a small village to a sprawling metropolis makes them monsters that are massive annoyances no matter where they are - in smaller villages, they often become local legends and many villages form traditions of 'sacrificing' one man in each generation to sate her for a lifetime and stave off eternal winter, as they almost never have the power to destroy one outright and have no desire to let her loneliness languish such that massive ice spires and ice growths take over the countryside, entire towns buried beneath snow drifts a dozen feet high. They often frequent the same areas as Yuki-Onna - and while the two frigid Undead Women tend to not be hostile towards each other, both view the other with thinly vieled contempt: The Yuki-Onna tend to see the Tsurara-Onna as excessively loving, naive, weak, and lacking the vengeance and fury that burns in their hearts that they think mortals deserve, and the Tsurara-Onna see the Yuki-Onna as excessively hostile, overly enraged, and unable to see the worth of mortal companionship - for good reason is their relationship likened to that of excessively hostile supernatural housewives. The two have been known to work together(As their powers often complement each other) on rare occasions(When they can set aside their bickering and contempt for one another), and on extremely rare occasions can sometimes set aside their differences to form terrifying cabals of frigid women that blanket entire countrysides in wintery conditions to further their goals. These cabals, better known as "Clutches", reside in massive castles, palaces, and spires made of solid ice as strong as steel, and are the stuff of legends - the things that only the most powerful heroes could hope to put a stop to, and often force even the mightiest nations to capitulate to these freezing women of undeath, forcing them to send yearly sacrifices to keep them at bay until suitably powerful heroes can be found...or in especially hopeless areas, may even submit to their rule in the hopes of recieving mercy. The ruling of an area tends to be dependent on whether a Tsurara-Onna or a Yuki-Onna holds the dominant seat in the Clutch - and can be anywhere from somewhat benevolent to excessively cruel as a result.Basic Information
Anatomy
The anatomy of a Tsurara-Onna is mostly nonexistent - as they are ghostly and incorporeal creatures, their bodies lack any actual substance and thus no discernable anatomy. Only when they take on a humanoid guise(Often only to appease their companions or to disguise themselves as a normal humanoid to gain the trust of a potential companion) do they have substance - though even this is nothing but a lie, a fascimile created by the dark powers of undeath as a mask of life.
Biological Traits
Oftentimes, the telltale sign that a ghostly woman is a Tsurara-Onna is the presence of icicles that cover an eye and part of her face, as well as a large mane of icicle-like hair growing down from the back of her head and dangling behind her as she floats along - as well as icicles that adorn her ghostly kimono or the clothing she otherwise wears. Their skin tends to be a frigid pale bluish-purple to bluish-white, and their eyes usually have pitch black sclera with icy blue irises.
Genetics and Reproduction
As a ghostly undead creature, a Tsurara-Onni is not believed to be able to reproduce - though tales passed down through the most remote villages in eternally wintery areas speak of children born of unions between Tsurara-Onna and mortal companions that grow up as partially undead, gifted and infused with power of ice and snow. These creatures, if they are even possible or exist, are unknown.
Growth Rate & Stages
A Tsurara-Onna is born into the world fully formed - sprang from the loneliness and isolated feelings of mortals as they yearn for a companion, especially during the winter months when they are trapped inside, gazingly longingly at the icicles outside their windows.
Ecology and Habitats
Tsurara-Onna are found in two places only - in places where snow is a year-round phenomena, or anywhere that is currently in the winter months. In such places with more than one season, they tend to come and go as winter comes and goes, returning to see the mortals they have formed relationships with on a yearly basis. When this cycle of leaving and returning gets disrupted(Often due to the death of the mortal partner), a Tsurara-Onna will then stay in the area, her lonliness and despair bringing eternal winter as she will often begin hunting and preying on other mortal creatures, hoping to find another who fits her criteria to become her new partner(willing or not).
Dietary Needs and Habits
A Tsurara-Onna is unique amongst Undead, especially Incorporeal Undead, in that they can and sometimes will eat mortal foods when in their humanoid form - but more often than not, the only 'food' they eat is the energy they drain from those they feed on.
Additional Information
Uses, Products & Exploitation
As they can form ice and other supernatural materials like Uttercold seemingly at will, they are extremely valued by those who covet such materials - not to mentiont the ice they create tends to be as hard as steel, making it an extremely valued product in cold climates.
Facial characteristics
Their faces are often half or partially covered in large, jagged ice formations that run up their heads and make up much of their hair - but otherwise, their faces are pristine and beautiful, if not hauntingly sad or sorrowful. Their eyes, when gazed into, are said to fill one with immense loneliness and isolation, and a powerful yearning for companionship.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Tsurara-Onna are found in two places only - in places where snow is a year-round phenomena, or anywhere that is currently in the winter months. In such places with more than one season, they tend to come and go as winter comes and goes, returning to see the mortals they have formed relationships with on a yearly basis. When this cycle of leaving and returning gets disrupted(Often due to the death of the mortal partner), a Tsurara-Onna will then stay in the area, her lonliness and despair bringing eternal winter as she will often begin hunting and preying on other mortal creatures, hoping to find another who fits her criteria to become her new partner(willing or not).
Average Intelligence
Tsurara Onna are almost twice as intelligent as the human average - cunning and wise, they have minds that somewhat outstrip normal mortals, though nothing that enters the realm beyond the ordinary. They are often cunning and manipulative, and deeply emotional - both positively and negatively.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
A Tsurara-Onna can see perfectly in the dark thanks to their nature as undead, and in a notably departure from their sisters the Yuki-Onna, they have the innate ability to sense life around them.
Lifespan
Immortal
Conservation Status
Tsurara-Onna are extremely rare outside of areas where cold weather is year-round - and even then, are still a somewhat rare occurance. They do sometimes appear irregularly in other areas when the winter months are in full swing, but the means of how or why they form are as of yet, unknown.
Average Height
Tsurara-Onna run the gamut of heights in the medium range. (4ft - 8ft)(1.21m - 2.43m)
Average Weight
Nothing. Even when in humanoid form they are believed to weigh next to nothing.
Average Physique
Their physique is mostly nonexistence, as ghostly undead - but their appearance is almost universally that of hauntingly beautiful women(often shaped from the minds of the mortal whose loneliness they first sprang from), with a cold, haunting beauty that is as unchanging and icy as a glacier.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Their body is often tinted bluish-white, but can run anywhere from bluish-white to a discolored pale bluish-purple, or simply bone white - either way, their skin tends to resemble either ice, pale flesh, or the bruised skin of a frostbitten woman.
Their hair is almost universally white, pale blue, or some mixture of the two or other light colors while their eyes usually have pitch black sclera with icy blue irises.
Covering their body are somewhat translucent ice growths that pulse with faint white-blue light, jagged and sharp as they form massive spires of icy hair on their heads, part of their faces, and along their clothes and skin - the source of their name "Icicle Women".
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