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Bane (deity)

2022-11-20T18:25:14Z

172.70.162.80:

: ''For the spell, see [[Bane]].''
{{Deity|name=
|icon=Ig_hu_bane.png
|alias=The Black Lord, the Black Hand, the Lord of Darkness
|power=Dead
|pantheon=F
|domain name=Formerly Avalas/the Black Bastion
|symbol=An upright black hand, palm out and fingers together, usually on a red field
|alignment=LE
|cleric=LE, LN, NE
|portfolio=Strife, hatred, tyranny, fear
|worshippers=Conquerors, evil [[fighter]]s and [[monk]]s, tyrants, [[wizard]]s
|domain_destruct=1
|domain_evil=1
|domain_law=1
|domain_canon=Hatred and Tyranny
|weapon=[[Morningstar]]
|weapon_canon=
|allies=[[Bhaal]] (now dead), [[Loviatar]], [[Talona]], [[Myrkul]] (now dead), [[Malar]], [[Mask]]
|enemies= [[Chauntea]], [[Eldath]], [[Lathander]], [[Mystra]], [[Tyr]], [[Helm]], [[Deneir]], [[Torm]], [[Ilmater]], [[Tymora]], [[Lliira]], [[Oghma]]}}

Bane (BAIN), one of the Dark Gods, was the ultimate tyrant and a thoroughly evil and malicious being who reveled in hatred and strife and was worshiped by those who in turn enjoyed such wickedness. From his throne in the Black Bastion, he ruled over select parts of Faerûn through his clergy. In religious art, he was depicted as a looming, brooding black hand ready to crush the world in its palm, as an empty black throne, or as a shadowy, vaguely human-shaped figure garbed in garments of black streaked with red sitting on a throne of skulls. The one constant in these depictions was a jewel-encrusted gauntlet streaked with blood. While Bane hated most of the Faerûnian pantheon, in particular he hated Mystra and dreamed of torturing her and consuming her power. He devoted much research to trying to learn ways in which other gods have in the past subsumed the powers of rival gods whom they destroyed, for Bane desired above all to gain true supreme power by acquiring governance over all magic. The Black Lord was destroyed in conflict with Torm during the Time of Troubles, and his portfolio was given to the once-mortal Cyric by Ao, along with the portfolios of Myrkul and Bhaal. Loviatar and Talona served Bane indirectly by serving Bhaal.
Much of Bane’s power was absorbed by Cyric, the Prince of Lies, when the Black Lord was destroyed by Torm, the Lord of Duty. As is the case with Myrkul, a small fraction of Bane’s essence remains in the Realms. Fragments of his personality were scattered among his 25 or more surviving Baneliches (clerical liches of Bane). In centuries past, the Black Lord had transformed over 35 living High Imperceptors at the end of their tenure into undead “Mouths of Bane” — Baneliches. In the wake of the Godswar, each Banelich now believes itself to be the reincarnated form of Bane, with the expected corresponding megalomaniacal plans for conquering Faerûn. They are also the only known beings in the Realms to either still receive spells from Bane and/or grant themselves clerical spell-like abilities without a living divine patron.

Bane often manifested as eyes of red blazing flame surrounded by darkness, whether it was night or not. Another favored form was that of a black, taloned hand whose touch was like ice (and was, in fact, a chill touch) reaching out of a cloud of darkness. In either manifestation, Bane retained the mighty magical powers of his avatar form, including the ability to cause instant death by touch or glance at will. He delighted above all in manipulating mortals through their fear of him, and his every word and deed acted to further such influence. He lashed out without qualm when necessary — but only when absolutely necessary, preferring not to use brute force when he need not. Bane enforced his will, gave aid to his faithful, or showed his favor through a variety of servitor creatures as well, including baatezu (of all lesser and least varieties), beholders and their kin, black dragons, death tyrants (undead eye tyrants, the remains of, beholders who rebelled against Bane or failed him), imps, maelephants, banelar, simpathetics, and all manner of creature possessed by pride incarnates (a type of extraplanar creature). The Black Lord sometimes showed his presence through the imprint of a giant footprint from a mailed boot beneath which the very earth was charred. The discovery of a single black sapphire or the presence of red powder (often powdered carnelian) was said to indicate Bane's approval or disapproval, respectively.

In ages past there was but one god of strife, death, and the dead, and he was known as Jergal, Lord of the End of Everything. Jergal fomented and fed on the discord among mortals and powers alike. When beings slew each other in their quest for power or in their hatred, he welcomed them into his shadowy Knucklebones, Skull Bowling, and the Empty Throne kingdom of eternal gloom. As all things died, everything came to him eventually, and over time he built his power into a kingdom unchallenged by any other god. But he grew tired of his duties for he knew them too well, and without challenge there is nothing, and in nothingness there is only gloom. In such a state, the difference between absolute power and absolute powerlessness is undetectable.
During this dark era, there arose three powerful mortals — Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul — who lusted after the power Jergal wielded. The trio forged an unholy pact that they would dare to seek such ultimate power or die in the attempt. Over the length and breadth of the Realms they strode, seeking powerful magic and spells and defying death at every turn. No matter what monster they confronted or what spells they braved, the three mortals emerged unscathed at
every turn. Eventually the trio destroyed one of the Seven Lost Gods, and they each seized a portion of his divine essence for themselves. The trio then journeyed into the Gray Waste and sought out the Castle of Bone. Through armies of skeletons, legions of zombies, hordes of non corporeal undead, and a gauntlet of liches they battled. Eventually they reached the object of their lifelong quest — the Bone Throne.
“I claim this throne of evil,” shouted Bane the tyrant.
“I’ll destroy you before you can raise a finger,” threatened Bhaal the assassin. “And I shall imprison your essence for eternity,” promised Myrkul the necromancer.
Jergal arose from his throne with a weary expression and said, “The Throne is yours. I have grown weary of this empty power. Take it if you wish — l promise to serve and guide you as your seneschal until you grow comfortable with the position.” But before the stunned trio could react, the Lord of the Dead continued, “Who among you shall rule?”
The trio immediately fell to fighting amongst themselves while Jergal looked on with indifference. When eventually it appeared that either they would all die of exhaustion or battle on for an eternity, the Lord of the End of Everything intervened.
“After all you have sacrificed, would you come away with nothing? Why don’t you divide the portfolios of the office and engage in a game of skill for them?” asked Jergal.
Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul considered the god’s offer and agreed. So Jergal took the skulls of his three most powerful liches and gave them to the trio so they could compete by skull bowling. Each mortal rolled a skull across the Gray Waste, having agreed that the winner would be he who bowled the farthest. Malar the Beastlord arrived to visit Jergal at this moment. After quickly ascertaining that the winner of the contest would get all of Jergal’s power, he chased off after the three skulls to make sure that the contest would be halted until he had a chance to participate for part of the prize. Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul again fell to fighting as it was obvious their sport was ruined, but again Jergal intervened. “Why don’t you allow Lady Luck to decide so you don’t have to share with the Beast?”
The trio agreed, and Jergal broke off his skeletal finger bones and gave them to the players. When Malar returned from chasing the skulls, he found that the trio had just finished a game of knucklebones.
Bane cried out triumphantly, “As winner, I choose to rule for all eternity as the ultimate tyrant. I can induce hatred and strife at my whim, and all will bow down before me while in my kingdom.”
Myrkul, who had won second place, declared, “But I choose the dead, and by doing so I truly win, because all you are lord over, Bane, will eventually be mine. All things must die — even gods.”
Bhaal, who finished third, demurred, “I choose death, and it is by my hand that all that you rule Lord Bane will eventually pass to Lord Myrkul. Both of you must pay honor to me and obey my wishes, since I can destroy your kingdom, Bane, by murdering your subjects, and I can starve your kingdom, Myrkul by staying my hand.”
Malar growled in frustration, but could do nothing, and yet again only the beasts were left for him. And Jergal merely smiled, for he had been delivered.

=The Church=

All clerics, specialty priests, and crusaders of Bane received religion (Faer unian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.
Bane was the most widely known and feared evil god of the Realms. Banites were generally cruel folk who enjoyed exercising power over others within the security of a rigid hierarchy and rules. While Bane is dead, his church lives on, though most of its members have now joined the churches of Cyric or even Gargauth, Talos, or Talona. The church of Bane was overrun with wizards, especially near Zhentil Keep. The presence of so many wizards as clergy members and the influence of the ambitious Fzoul Chembryl led to a schism in the church long before the Time of Troubles. This created a fierce internal rivalry within the church between the Orthodox (mostly clerical) and Transformed (more heavily wizardly) factions of the church. Bane's church underwent several rapid changes after the death of its deity during the Time of Troubles. In the immediate aftermath of the Time of Troubles, the rift between Orthodox and Transformed Banites worsened. Cyric assumed Bane's portfolio, continued to grant Banite priests spells, and tried to convert Bane's faithful to direct worship of him. Orthodox Banites held that Cyric was merely a new form of Bane, expanded to take in the powers of Myrkul and Bhaal to show the growing power of evil. Transformed Banites instead argued that Bane was dead and Cyric had taken his mantle and position as deity of strife. The office of Bane that Cyric held was the power they worshiped. Along with almost all former Bhaal-worshipers and the vast majority of former Myrkulytes, these Banite factions formed the strong base of Cyric's faith. There remained scattered sects of hardcore ultra-orthodox Bane worshipers, such as the Risen Cult of Bane in the Moonshaes, who believed that Bane was still alive and that Cyric, whom they referred to as the Pretender, was a usurper who would be punished in the future along with all his faithless followers. Little did these stubborn, misguided fools realize that the Prince of Lies was granting the spells and special abilities of all Banites, whether they recognized him as Bane or Cyric, because he could not resist the chance to prevaricate in such a broad way and because he hoped to eventually lure the stubborn holdouts to his cause.
The High Imperceptor was in theory the supreme living servant of Bane (numerous former High Imperceptors survive as Baneliches) and was formerly directly recognized as such by Bane, but in practice this declared leadership was often
not the actual case. Well before the Time of Troubles, Fzoul Chembryl of Zhentil Keep led a powerful faction of the church into schism. He then assumed complete authority of the splinter branch - an act whose temerity Bane rewarded by possessing Fzoul directly when the Fall of the Gods came down upon Faerun. There have been other rebel leaders in the church of Bane, such as the Risen Cult of Bane, the Orthodox Church of Bane, the True Church of Bane, the Old Church of Bane, and so on. Bane suffered such strife to continue down the years because it brought eager service beyond the call of duty and because he delighted in the strife itself.
Specialty priests of Bane were known as [[Dreadmaster]]s, a term used regardless of the gender of its owner. About 10% of the total priesthood of the church of Bane was comprised of [[Dreadmaster]]s and most were kept in low-level positions. Some specialty priests of Bane operated outside the rigid church hierarchy; they were mainly adventurers and hermits seeking to create their own power base to eventually destroy the others.
Novices of Bane's clergy were addressed as slave, but if named by Bane from a speaking altar or in a dream vision, they became full priests of the god and gained the title of Watchful Brother/Watchful Sister. From there, they ascended through the following rankings: Deadly Adept, Trusted Servant, Willing Whip, Hooded Menace, Black Fang, Striking Hand, Vigilant Talon, Masked Death, Dark Doom, Higher Doom, and Deep Mystery. This latter title was a general one held by all clergy members of 12th and greater level. A priest of this rank addressed fellow clergy members of higher ranks or levels as Deeper Mystery (not to do so was regarded as a deliberate insult). Known individual titles among the Banites of Deeper Mystery included Vigilator, Lord/Lady of Mysteries, Lord/Lady of the Hand, Imperceptor, Dark Imperceptor, Grand Bloodletter, High Inquisitor, and High Imperceptor. All except the last title were self-bestowed, but such self-given titles had to be confirmed and used upon the bestower by a higher ranking priest before they were formally recognized.
Banites addressed each other only by title unless the mix of individuals present would cause confusion without the addition of a surname. Banite clergy bowed, knelt to, or kissed the boots of superiors, depending on the difference in their ranks and what they were ordered to do. When in the presence of non worshipers of Bane, Banite clergy addressed each other as Brother/Sister Faithful unless speaking to a superior of considerably greater rank, whereupon Dread Brother/Sister would be used.
Priests of Bane prided themselves on cold, decisive thought, speech, and action. Sarcasm and cutting authority were valued over shouting, loss of temper, or uncontrolled behavior. Two priests arguing to the death may well have appeared as softly polite but insistent noblemen debating some minor point right up to the last moments of one (or both) of their lives.

==Dogma==
The clergy members of Bane's church believed that those who crossed the Dark One met their dooms earlier and more harshly than those who foolishly worshiped other deities than Bane and still inevitably fell before the church of Bane. All priests of Bane were ordered to submit to the word of Bane as uttered by Banite clergy members who outranked them and to spread the Dark Fear of Bane.
Bane whispered to initiates in their dreams: "Serve no one but me. Fear me always and make others fear me even more than you do. The Black Hand always strikes down those who stand against it in the end. Defy me and die or in your death find loyalty, for I shall compel it. Submit to my will, since true power can only be gained through service to me. It is the doom of those unguided by me to let power spill through their hands."

==Day-to-Day Activities==
Bane desired to rule the world so that all Faerun would know his tyranny. His clergy members were charged with the task of rising to power in every realm and if necessary leading a band, city-state, or kingdom to war to conquer its neighbors in order to bring ever more territory under the sway of the Black Hand of Bane. Hatred, strife, and destruction were to be spread but under clear duress and control, not unbridled chaos. Domination was preferred to debauchery, and carefully limited discord to stability. Cruelty, torture, and mayhem were tacitly encouraged, but those caught at such activities had to pay the price unless they had served Bane so well by spreading fear that none dared speak or act against them. Superior Banite clergy members had to be obeyed at all times and in all things. The faithful were to work subtly and patiently but tirelessly to bring members of the faith to power in every guild, village, town, court, war band, fellowship, realm, and society. All rules of the church had to be followed to the utmost, but the rules of others were no rules at all.

==Holy Days/Important Ceremonies==
No rituals of Bane corresponded to calendar dates, seasons, or lunar progressions. Rituals were held whenever clergy leading a congregation declared they would be, and these ceremonies were called by a wide variety of names. Personal prayers to Bane were to be uttered before going into battle and before eating or drinking anything to thank Bane for allowing his worshiper to live to taste the fare. Rituals were held in a place of darkness (often simply outdoors at night) lit only by dim magical radiances, moonlight, and flickering torches or braziers. Usually dark chambers, caverns, and ruins were used. The worshipers gathered around the Black Altar, which was a plain stone block draped with black cloth or painted black, a block of obsidian, or anything over which a large, floating, black stone Hand of Bane hovered (levitated there by a wizard clergy member or a magical item used by a priest or through magic of its own). If no Hand of Bane was present, an empty black throne was always placed facing the Black Altar. Services in such evil churches involved rolling drums, chanting, and sometimes singing and the sacrifice of intelligent life. Sacrifices had to be humiliated, tortured, and made to show fear before dying to be acceptable to Bane, and they usually met their deaths through slashing, flogging, or being crushed by the floating Hand of Bane.

==Major Centers of Worship==
The largest and most powerful temple of Bane was not located in Zhentil Keep, nor was it the court of the High Imperceptor at the Black Lord's Altar in Mulmaster (though that is usually considered the center of the faith). The largest temple of Bane in all Faerun is the Black Lord's Cloak in the city of Mourktar on the edge of the flat, sandy plains of Threskel. It has been said (accurately) that only the presence of this temple, which grew to rule the entire city following the death of King Theris and the subsequent assassination of his successor, prevented the more ambitious Red Wizards of Thay from abandoning all plans to assault Rashemen and instead establishing a beachhead in Threskel from which to attack decadent Unther and fractious Chessenta.
Imperceptor Kabarrath Telthaug styled himself Dread Imperceptor in the days before the Time of Troubles, asserting his own independence of the standard Banite hierarchy. It is not hard to understand why: He commands over 700 Banite priests of rank, another 1,000 lesser clergy members, and a well-equipped, harshly disciplined army of loyal troops armed with many items of minor magic, and well practiced in slaughter. This army has been force-marched west to ravage cities in Chessenta time and time again only to pull back when the exercises are over. The temple is named for its only relic, an animated black cloak once worn by Bane himself that became a sentient monster that envelops people from time to time and sucks them dry of all blood. The Black Lord's Cloak temple complex has grown into a vast palace where Kabarrath keeps the wealth of subject Threskel and its fleet of merchant and fishing vessels. The widely feared pirate fleet of Alkoth is said to have secretly served the priest sof the Cloak, and it is certain that the adventuring bands the Six Black Blades and the Crow Banners (active in Murghom, Mulhorand, and Var) and probably other tomb-robbing organizations as well were agents sent forth from Threskel to gather magic, wealth, and less glamorous supplies for Kabarrath's temple and the greater glory of Bane. With the destruction of the Untheric pantheon, Imperceptor Kabarrath perceives a power vacuum in which he can seize control of that ancient nation. It is unclear which deity supports this powerful temple that still maintains its nominal dedication to Bane in the aftermath of the Time of Troubles.

==Priestly Vestments==
Banite clergy members always went armed and were required to always wear something black. Ceremonial dress for Banite priests was black armor with blood-red capes, The more prosperous the priest, the finer the workmanship of the armor was. The ceremonial robes of wizards of the clergy were always black; wizard clergy members of the highest ranks enspelled these robes to swirl with ever-present illusions of glittering black stars and splashes of spilling blood. Facial tattoos were common among Banites. After the Time of Troubles, these unfortunately made them stand out among clear-faced new Cyricists within the ranks of Cyric's faithful. High-level Banites wore gems on their foreheads.
When adventuring, priests of Bane retained their black armor, though their battle armor usually sported cruel spurs, hooks, and horns. Wizardly clergy members preferred long, flowing, black-and-red robes. Neither group would wear such gear in public if it would expose them to persecution or hamper their service to their deity. Usually, the facial tattoos of Banites were enough to identify them.

=Server Lore=
During the Time of Troubles, hundreds of the clergy of the now dead god Bane were murdered overnight in Zhentarim controlled areas. A few managed to escape, fleeing far away. In Zhentil Keep, it is said Fzoul Chembryl himself has fled, but no one knows where.
In the morning, Manshoon leading a large group of Blackcloaks proclaimed to have liberated Zhentil Keep and all its holdings from Fzoul and his zealots, marking the end of the war with Cormyr. He immediately took control over the Black Network, having purged it of its Banite element.
To the west, in Darkhold, blackcloaks bearing Manshoon's seal captured and shackled Imperceptor Vyshasa before placing him in the dungeon.
Imperceptor Vyshasa was shortly after handed to the orcs of Uruk Lurra in payment for their aid in the war against the Lord's Alliance.

Auril

2022-11-20T18:17:32Z

172.70.162.80:

{{FRWiki article|Auril}}
{{Deity|alias=Frostmaiden, Icedawn, the Cold Goddess, Lady Frostkiss
|power=I
|pantheon=F
|domain name=Pandesmos/Winter's Hall
|symbol=A white snowflake on a gray diamond (a heraldic lozenge) with a white border
|alignment=NE
|cleric=LN, N, CN, LE, NE, CE
|portfolio=Cold, winter
|worshippers=[[Druids]], elemental archons (air or water), frost giants, inhabitant of cold climates, [[rangers]]
|domain_air=1
|domain_cold=1
|domain_evil=1
|domain_fury=1
|domain_water=1
|weapon=[[Battleaxe]] - "Icemaiden's Caress"
|allies=[[Talos]], [[Umberlee]], [[Malar]]
|enemies=Amaunator (now dead), [[Moander]] (now dead), [[Sune]], [[Chauntea]], [[Shiallia]], [[Uthgar]]}} icon = Ig_hu_auril.png}}
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

Auril usually manifests as icy breath accompanied by a cold, ruthless chuckling and a blue-white radiance that leaves a thin line of frost to mark its passage. She also appears as a blank-eyed face of frost with long, wind-whipped white hair that radiates intense cold. Auril uses this latter manifestation if she wants to speak, slay, or confer items of power upon worshipers. She slays with her life-chilling kiss and confers boons by breathing them out of the face’s mouth. Auril also indicates her favor or disfavor or sends aid through the presence or actions of water elementals, ice paraelementals, undead, winterwolves, frost giants, and other arctic creatures.

=The Church=
Auril is feared and worshiped in order to hold off the depredations of the harsh winters with which she threatens Faerûn. Trappers, miners, and settlers in the North, some barbarians and inhabitants of the Great Glacier, and residents of the lands crouching at any glacier’s edge revere her and honor her in attempts to placate her cold fury come winter time. In recent years, winters have been getting longer and colder, and more and more folk have been making the prayers to Auril that her clergy urge be done. A few clans of frost giants are led by shamans in her service. Priestesses of Auril roam the lands of Faerûn, especially in the North, though her clergy are now being seen more often in the Heartlands. Auril’s church has a few males within its ranks, but most clergy of the Frostmaiden are female.
Specialty priests of Auril, called icepriestesses and icepriests, make up one third Auril’s priesthood. The relationship between the specialty priests and the clerics of Auril is very good. The entire church is very loosely and informally organized, and clergy members wander and are largely independent. Most priests of Auril use only the honorific “Hand of Auril” or “Icebreath,” but at temples such as the House of Auril’s Breath at Glister the clergy use formal titles. In ascending order, these are: Postulant, Votre, Icewind, Storm Sister/Storm Brother (a title given to the great bulk of priests between 3rd level and 8th), Frosttouch, Lady/Lord Cold), Lady/Lord Deep Winter, Lady/Lord Cold Circle, and High Hand of Ice.
Priestesses of Auril are often seen scampering lightly through the snows in summer-weight clothing or bathing in frigid river waters in the depths of winter to no apparent ill effect. They need much less food than other beings because of this ability, and often roam the northlands energetically when blizzards have forced other folk to hole up against the weather. Many priestesses of Auril make some living delivering medicines, messages, and needed supplies throughout the northlands in winter.

==Dogma==
Auri 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 brine 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 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.

==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.

==Holy Days/Important Ceremonies==
Midwinter Night is the most holy time of the year to clergy of Auril. It is a festival of icc-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.

==Major Centers of Worship==
The House of Auril’s Breath in Glister, north of the Moonsea, is the largest and most influential temple to the cold goddess, boasting a congregation of over 1,600 gathering around the fires for nightly Fire and Ice rituals (all of them miners and fur trappers too afraid not to venerate Auril). High Hand of Ice (high priest) Malakhar Rhenta leads the Storm Circle of 14 or so senior priestesses in running the temple and planning the weather magic they work. The House of Auril is known more commonly to those not of the faith as the Cold House or, more bitterly, Cold Comfort Towers.

==Affiliated Orders==
Auril's church has no affiliated military or knightly orders. She is just not of a mind to sponsor prolonged martial actions; she would rather send a blizzard down on those who offend her than troops. An odd assortment of cults and fellowships have grown up around or become attached to her worship, though. These groups include the Cult of Frost, whose driving goal is the acquisition of the artifact known as the Ring of Winter; a group of wizards known as the Frost Witches, who have recorded at least one tome of frost and cold magic in Auril's name and are reputed to know the location of the Codicil of White, a priestly book describing Aurilian rituals and containing some wizard spells also; and the Sisters of Istishia, who worship Istishia as a herald of cold and servant of Auril. The Sisters of Istishia's worship seems to benefit Istishia, not Auril, as a few Aurilian priestesses have been given a divine mandate to seek out the Sisters and <i>correct</i> their theology.

==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. A silver circlet on the head is the final touch.
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.

==Speciality Priests==

NAME: Icepriestess/Icepriest (Not implemented in game)
ALIGNMENT: NE
WEAPONS: All bludgeoning weapons and the ice axe.
ARMOR: All armor types up to and including chain mail and shield.
MAGICAL ITEMS: same as cleric.

- Icepriestesses and icepriests have an immunity to cold similar to a permanent resist cold spell. They are immune to natural cold and have a +3 bonus when making saving throws vs. any cold- or ice-based attacks.

- Icepriestesses and icepriests can cast frost fingers once per day.

- At 3rd level, icepriestesses and icepriests are able to cast frost whip once per day.

- At 5th level, icepriestesses and icepriests are able to cast ice blade once per day.

- At 8th level, icepriestesses and icepriests are able to cast ice storm or wall of ice twice per tenday.

- At 10th level, icepriestesses and icepriests are able to cast cone of cold once per day.

- At 12th level, icepriestesses and icepriests have the ability to summon an ice para-elemental once per tenday. They may do so an additional time per tenday for every level over 12.

=Server Lore=
It is rumored that during the Time of Troubles Auril's avatar manifested in her temple in the Cloudpeaks.

==[[DnD 3.5]] comparison==
*In 3.5 (Player's Guide to Faerun), the Cold domain replaced the Water domain in Auril's selection, but both are displayed here as some may find one more fitting than the other.
*The Fury domain is not canon in the Forgotten Realms, but has been included as Auril is one of the [[Deities of Fury]].
[[Category:Nature_deities]]