Fraeyal

Name: Fraeyal
Titles: The North Cross, the Frost Matron, The Silent, Chill of Night, The Stoic Instructor
Nature: Fraeyal ushers the world into it's brief slumber of Winter, allowing the world to rest. She is a calm deity who seeks to instill a sense of peace and silence into the world. She encourages mortals to use the winter months as a time of rest and reflection. Winter is time to come together and prepare for the coming year, and the rest of their lives. She encourages mortals to use the time to improve themselves and their situation.
Gender: Female
Times of Power: Winter. Night to a lesser degree
Portfolio: Ice, Cold, Calm, Peace, Silence, Planning, Strategy, Training, Endurance, Reflection
Favored Alignments: Lawful(any)
Restricted Alignments: N/A
Allows Druids?: Yes
Allows Spirit Shamans?: No
Allows Paladins?: No
Favored Weapon: Rapier
Symbol: A Snowflake
Domains: Cold, Strength, War, Dream, Earth

As the dulling cold of Autumn begins to further chill into the Winter months, Fraeyal begins to wax in power, her influence turning the land into a world of silence, and simple elegance. While some see Winter as a time of object death, in truth Winter serves the land by allowing it to have a time of rest. Winter is a time of reflection, training and togetherness as creatures and people huddle together in their warm places and wait for the world to reawaken. The cold months are a time of testing, in which mortals must survive on plans they set earlier in the year. However, those without the means or ability to secure shelter face Fraeyal's true wrath. Blizzards, cold rains, hail and freezes all test those stranded or traveling great distances during the Winter months and wildlife alike. Food is hidden beneath snow, layers of ice lay between cracked lips and water, and game is forced into hibernation or inactivity. Many an army has suffered losses from the creeping death that is Fraeyal's silent fury, and there will be many more who do not please her that will fall. The Lady of Winter encourages mortals to use this time to improve themselves, and to prepare themselves for the coming flurry of reawakened life. What time not spent in self-improvement or simple survival may be spent reflecting on the past, and internalizing the lessons of the past year. In many ways, the time of Winter is a time of preparation, regrouping and recharging one's will to go on. In others, it is a time of testing, endurance and survival.

Fraeyal is most often depicted by mortal artists as thin woman with a somewhat malnourished looking body, but a healthy face that shows no emotion. Her clothing is usually shown as plain, but utterly and pristine white, in either pants and tunic or a simple robe. In some representations, she is also shown with icicles hanging off of her form. Fraeyal is said to wield Glacial Scorn, an icicle of clear ice of impossible thinness that resembles a rapier. This icicle is said to be able to find any weakness, so as to crack icebergs in half with a single puncture. Each wound inflicted by it spreads frigid cold, bringing living beings to a quick, still, silent death and grinding other entities to a halt. Being held by mortals without Fraeyal's permission will have it be permanently embedded on the skin that held it (over any covers) until the extremity falls off.

Holy Symbols of Fraeyal resemble the stylized image of a snowflake. They are usually made from platinum, silver, or ivory. In the cases of the most devout of clerics, Fraeyal grants them the ability to shape white ice into an unmelting symbol as long as the cleric is true to Her, which remain cold even in the hottest climates.

The church of Fraeyal is committed to spreading the ideals calm, controlling emotions, intense physical training and wilderness survival. They often teach techniques for survival to the public and are at the forefront of teaching combat and self-defense skills to the public. The church does not actively advertise these services, feeling that only those who truly wish to be taught will seek them out. Certain rumored followers of Fraeyal are said to wander to the icy landscape in search of victims to kill; those that might be judged to be too weak to carry on. These rumors are intensely demeaned by the church.

The Lady of Winter is worshiped by a wide variety of people, although many monks, rogues and swashbucklers follow her philosophies.