Grylukert

The ancient snowsingers of the polar regions, these are the wielders of hvitdogg, the aether of the cold and winter. Their voices command the cold, ice, and snow.

Ice and Snow

In order to wield hvitdogg with their voices, grylukert must have some source of it from nature--ice or snow works best. They hold this in their mouths as they sing, at least at first, in order to command the cold with their voices.

Body Temperature

More skilled grylukert eventually learn how to lower their own body temperatures in order to be able to always wield the cold with their voices. They do this by a series of meditations and ice baths, followed by singing sessions and wearing heavy blankets and furs. They do this over and over again for six winters, and they will, if they are skilled and dedicated enough, have mastered their own body temperatures, allowing them to live at several degrees below normal body temperature for their species.

Blankets and Furs

Because they are constantly lowering their own body temperatures, they risk dying of hypothermia if they are not careful. As such, they always have blankets or heavy furs on hand in order to warm themselves up, though never to average body temperature for their own species. It is a matter of balance. A human grylukert aims for being about 68.6 degrees (30 below average). If they go below 58.6, they will be unable to survive, even with their powers.

Common materials for blankets or furs include:

• Highreach wool
• Yeti fur
• Polar bear fur
• Reindeer hide
• Lemming fur
• Arctic fox fur
• Snowy owl feather
• Yak wool
• Arctic hare fur
• Musk ox fur
• Arctic wolf fur
• Winter wolf fur
• Walrus blubber and skin
• Narwhal blubber and skin
• Sealskin
• Arctic tern feather
• Common eiderdown
• Arctic ground squirrel fur
• Penguin skin
• Snow petrol feather
• Whale skin
• Skua feather
• Snow petrel feather
• Trunko skin
• Snow lion skin
• Hoary puma skin
• Zreggad skin
• Yeck skin (can be used to shapeshift)
• Snowshoe grass-weave
• Arctic beetle chitin
• Fir bark

Illness

Because their body temperature is vital to their craft, they become weak if their temperature rises due to fever. A fever can render their powers unusable, sometimes permanently. As such, they guard against disease rigorously via diet, exercise, and preventative medicines.

Brumal Focus

Brumal focus is the art of focusing on one's body temperature and channeling the cold hvitdogg from within, putting it into an implement, usually arrows. This is more often used by the Snowguard, but grylukert sometimes use this as a back up option in combat.

Song

The grylukert music is not dissimilar to the joik music of certain northern tribes, but it is heavier on words and requires no drums or other instrumentation. The special words used are chanted rhythmically, in combination with their lower body temperatures, in order to draw forth the cold and send it where their voices land. These are the commonest powers of their songs:

• Freeze: cause any object's temperature to lower.
• Control Snow: control existing snow.
• Control Ice: control existing ice.
• Cold Survival: give others the ability to survive lowered body temperature.
• Cold Air / Vapor Ice: make the air uncomfortably, painfully cold and fill it with tiny icicles.
• Cold Water / Ice Floe: make water colder, painfully so, and create blocks of ice within it.
• Cold Stone: make stone (or earth, metal, sand, or glass--solid matter) cold to the point it hurts to touch.
• Icicle: turn the moisture in the air into an icicle to wield as a weapon.
• Hoarfrost: leave a rime of frost around a target.
• Hailstorm: make it hail.
• Sleet: make it sleet.
• Snowfall: make it snow.
• Icy Wind: blasts of ferocious, icy winds.
• Split Ice: open fissures in sheets of ice.
• Polar Animals: call or control animals that live in arctic/antarctic cold.
• Polar Plants: make boreal plants grow or influence/control them.
• Coldfire: create a white flame that is cold instead of hot, that freezes to the point of "burning".
• Bloodfreeze: freeze the blood in someone's body, usually killing them.
• Heartdrain: drain emotions from a target.

Group Magic

Grylukert working in a group, singing in deep-voiced harmony, can do much more powerful things with their songs:

• Iceberg: especially useful at sea, a group of grylukert can create, control, or call icebergs.
• Blizzard: creating a blizzard.
• Thundersnow: creating a thunderstorm with snow.
• Coldfire-Storm: creating a massive area attack of coldfire.
• Frostwall: a wall of freezing fog.
• Winterstorm: massive blizzard.
• Snow Tornado: creating a tornado from icy winds.
• Drevhs: call or control drevhs (ice elementals).
• Open Crevasse: open crevasses in glaciers.
• Heartfreeze: completely destroy a person's emotional capacity.
• Icequake: cause massive ice-sheets or glaciers to rumble.
• North Wind: commune with and channel the powers of the North Wind.
• Glacier: control or move entire fucking glaciers.
• Cryovolcanoes: cause a cryovolcanic eruption or control an existing cryovolcano.
• Winter-Dawning: bring upon the season of winter, even if only temporarily, over an area.

Snow Queen

The most powerful snowsinger is Snedronning, the Snow Queen, whose magical mirror shattered into snow bees, shards that, when stuck in a person's eye, will make them unable to feel emotion. This would allow, however, the person to lower their body temperature to below 0. At this temperature, they are able to use magicks only possible to groups of grylukert. The Snow Queen herself can do all this and more. Her powers include

• Mindfreeze: freeze the mental processes of a target.
• Comet: call or control comets.
• Soulfreeze: freeze the metaphysical essence of a target.
• Long Winter: extend the winter for six weeks.
• Form Cryovolcano: actually create one.
• Create Glacier: actually create one.
• Namefreeze: freeze all aspects of a target.
• Ice Age: blot out the sun for several years and drop the world's temperature.
• Absolute Zero: drop temperature so that molecules stop moving.

Variations

The way their powers work does not vary by culture, but the sound of their songs and sometimes the commonest effects do vary. The term grýlukerti comes from the Thaerglundish [Icelandic] term for "icicle." Names in other cultures include but are not limited to

• Coleshi [Siberian/Russian]: Pevetssnega
• Majonese [Nepali]: Hi'um̐gāyaka
• Jorgendish and Hynofish [Norse/Swedish]: Istapp
• Remakish [Finnish]: Jääpuikko
• The Endless Ice [Inupiat/Inuit/Aleut]: Qusrulugaq
• Cassaran Tundra [Sami]: Baldu (word for "ice floe")
• Southern Dabusen [Siberian]: Čagdânmué
• Ayisiniwak [Cree]: Waapaskwnîpîy
• Bandalayan [Tasmanian]: Ukapa

Specializations

Some specializations exist around the world:

• Barapharkaradine: in Majon, some hi'urngayaka use their powers to shape ice into major structures and buildings. In southern Palhur, these have no specific name but are common among the qusrulugaq.
• Cryologer: scientists who use hvittdogg to study the cold or grylukert who use cryological science to improve their magic.
• Gairakununi: robbers and bandits in the Highreach who use snowsinging to help isolate and raid caravans.
• Isandansari: those in Thaergulund who replace singing with dancing as their primary method.
• Myndhoggvari: in Thaeglund, some grylukert specialize in using their powers for making ice sculptures.
• Nipatana: Highreach organized crime agents who freeze dead bodies to help get rid of them.
• Seljandi: a Thaeglish seller of stolen goods who uses the powers of snowsinging to keep stolen foods and perishables fresh.

Snowguard

The Snow Queen has an elite set of guards known as the Snowguard, or Snjovoerthur, who wield bows made of suuri and shoot icicle arrows via brumal focus. They wear armor of ice and are imbued with parts of the Snow Queen's magic mirror. They are elite warriors who are immune to the cold and kill without remorse.

Treatment

Usually, grylukert and their variants are not specifically targeted in most countries, but their powers are sometimes regulated. In very hot or very cold places, they are usually honored for their skills.

Skills

Some common skills include

• Singing
• Hunting
• Dancing
• Boreal survival
• Animal care
• Skinning, tanning, and furcraft
• Sewing
• Sculpting
• Meteorology

Stats

The average grylukert has these variations on the base stats of their nation/species:

PRO +1
ATH +1
STR +1
AWA +3
WIL +5
STH +2
PRS -1

The averge Snowguard has these variations:

PRO +6
ATH +3
STR +3
AWA +3
WIL +3
STH +3
PRS -4