Overview

While most would consider Icengrim an evil god, not all who honor him are. Among the common folk of the frozen north, Icengrim is often worshipped less out of love and more out of fear, necessity, and tradition. He is the god of winter, hunger, the cold dead, and the brutal laws of survival.

To ordinary villagers, Icengrim is the god one appeases so the roof holds, the stores last, and the children survive the winter. To his darker priests and true cultists, he is the god who teaches that mercy is weakness, that death is not an ending, and that the strong have the right to rule the frozen world.

Artist Rendering

Holy Symbol

Personality, History and Mythos

Icengrim is a cold unforgiven entity. Bitter as rime, vengeful as the blasting winds of winter, and quick to act for death waits for no one. To be in his presence demands respect. Dread and fear surrounds him. Mortals fall to their knees out of hopelessness or obedience despite their willingness.

When he was mortal he was a cold and lonely man. Only speaking up when his party was about to head face first into certain death. He recognized it first. He and death were close, always whispering to one another while others slept, while he was on watch. No one noticed how his mind slowly sunk in a secluded, forgotten darkness. The further they rose up the tower the stronger the hold this dark took hold. Then the curse of Corinette befell him and it sealed away his heart forever. He became a creature of cold rage and death. His martial skills were only focused at murder and it didn't matter who it was aimed at, friend or foes. He did not apologize for it either. He simply did not care. Only reaching the top of the tower mattered. And he did.

As the power of a god surged through him it only enhanced what was inside him. The curse was broken and he assumed his mantle over Winter, Cold, War and pulled something else to him. That darkness, that cold within. He tore at the fabric of reality and brought under his power the dominion over undeath. Though not all of it. It was still contested by his “Overgod.” This is what would later become call the Frost Wars and a Deal with Vinnin was made. To end Lazareth and Lady Corinette.

Frost Wars:

Worship and Followers

Boudica, Mortal Warrior of Icengrim

Major Holy Days

Most Icengrim holy days have two faces: the public rites practiced by common folk, and the darker rites practiced by fanatics, war-priests, necromancers, and the true servants of Icengrim.


Holy Day Season / Timing Public Meaning Darker Meaning
First Frost First true frost of the year Preparation, discipline, and respect for the coming winter The weak are marked before winter begins
The Longest Vigil Winter Solstice Survival through the longest darkness Blood rites, executions, and undead magic
The Day of Closed Door first major blizzard Survival through Brutal Winter Purge the Weak
Night of the Blue Flame Midwinter Honor the Dead Swell the ranks of the worth Undead
The Hunger Moon Late winter Rationing, sacrifice, and communal endurance The strong take what they need
The Breaking of the Ice First thaw Relief, survival, and remembrance Hatred of spring and vows to carry winter into warmer lands
Feast of Frozen Ashes After a funeral or battle in snow Honoring warriors and the hard dead Choosing the dead for service
The Silent Hunt Deep winter Hunting for Food, or fewer mouths Hunting Mortal, Unwilling Prey to appease the Winter God

First Frost

When: The first true frost of the year.
Public Meaning: Preparation, discipline, and respect for the coming winter.
Cult Meaning: The weak are marked before winter begins.

First Frost is one of the most practical holy days of Icengrim. Families inspect roofs, seal doors, repair tools, count firewood, and preserve food. Children are blessed with ash and frostwater while elders remind them that winter punishes laziness and waste.

Priests or village elders walk the settlement and mark each doorpost with a white line of chalk, ash, or powdered bone. This mark means that winter has seen the house.

In harsher communities, First Frost is also a day of judgment. Criminals, oathbreakers, cowards, and those deemed useless may be exiled before supplies grow scarce.

Common Saying:
“Winter does not warn twice.”

The Longest Vigil

When: The Winter Solstice; the deepest and longest night of the year.
Public Meaning: Survival through the longest darkness.
Cult Meaning: The night when Icengrim’s power is strongest.

The Longest Vigil is the most sacred night in Icengrim’s calendar. Fires are banked low rather than built high, showing humility before winter. Families remain awake until dawn, telling stories of ancestors, lost kin, and terrible winters endured.

Common folk place offerings outside their doors: salted meat, black bread, frozen berries, bone charms, or bowls of melted snow. These are not offerings of love, but of appeasement. The prayer is simple: may Icengrim pass over this house.

Among darker sects, the Longest Vigil may involve blood sacrifice, the execution of prisoners, or the raising of frozen corpses beneath the moon.

Common Saying:
“Stay awake, stay warm, stay worthy.”

The Day of Closed Doors

When: The first major blizzard of the season.
Public Meaning: Shelter, family, and obedience to winter’s law.
Cult Meaning: Isolation and submission.

On the Day of Closed Doors, no one travels unless absolutely necessary. Doors are barred, shutters are sealed, and families gather around low fires. No guest may be refused shelter during the storm, but once inside, the guest must obey the laws of the house.

This can be one of the more humane Icengrim traditions. Even enemies may be sheltered during a killing storm, because the storm belongs to Icengrim, and no mortal feud outranks winter.

The darker interpretation is far crueler. Anyone found outside after nightfall is considered to have “chosen the snow” and may be taken by priests, hunters, or undead servants.

Common Saying:
“Beyond the door, only Icengrim rules.”

Night of the Blue Flame

When: Midwinter, often during a moonless night.
Public Meaning: Honoring the dead who died in winter.
Cult Meaning: Communion with the undead.

Families light cold-burning blue candles, witch-lamps, or alchemical frost lanterns for those who died in winter. The names of the dead are spoken aloud, especially those lost to snow, hunger, battle, or exposure.

Ordinary worshippers believe this rite guides the dead away from the house and keeps them from returning hungry.

Icengrim’s true priests use the Night of the Blue Flame to speak with undead, bind spirits, select corpses for reanimation, or interpret omens from frost-rimed bones.

Common Saying:
“Name the dead, lest they name you.”

The Hunger Moon

When: Late winter, when supplies are lowest.
Public Meaning: Rationing, sacrifice, and communal endurance.
Cult Meaning: The strong take what they need.

The Hunger Moon is among the grimmest of Icengrim’s holy days. Every household brings food to a common storehouse. In gentler communities, the old, sick, widowed, orphaned, and injured are fed first.

In harsher Icengrim settlements, the Hunger Moon becomes a public test of worth. Hunters compete, warriors boast, and those who cannot contribute may be shamed or denied honor.

Evil priests preach that compassion is a luxury of summer. More ordinary followers argue that a tribe survives winter by sharing its burdens.

Common Saying:
“No one eats alone. No one starves unseen.”

Crueler Version:
“Winter weighs every mouth.”

The Breaking of the Ice

When: The first thaw, or when river ice first cracks.
Public Meaning: Relief, survival, and remembrance.
Cult Meaning: Hatred of spring and the weakness it brings.

The Breaking of the Ice is not a joyful spring festival. It is a solemn accounting. The tribe counts who survived, who died, what was lost, and what must be rebuilt.

Ordinary folk thank Icengrim for sparing them. They carve the names of the dead into bone tokens and cast them into thawing rivers or beneath melting ice.

Fanatics treat this day with bitterness. They mourn the retreat of winter and swear to carry Icengrim’s cold into warmer lands.

Common Saying:
“We endured. That is enough.”

The Feast of Frozen Ashes

When: After a winter funeral or battle in snow.
Public Meaning: Honoring warriors and the hard dead.
Cult Meaning: Choosing the dead for service.

The Feast of Frozen Ashes is less a calendar holiday and more a recurring funerary rite. The dead are cremated, buried beneath cairns, or exposed to the frost according to local custom. Ashes are mixed with snow and placed on the brows of mourners.

Common worshippers believe those who die bravely in winter become part of the storm and watch over the tribe.

Icengrim’s darker priests may claim the strongest corpses, arguing that death does not excuse one from duty.

Common Saying:
“The warm rest. The cold remember.”

The Silent Hunt

When: Deep winter, usually during heavy snowfall.
Public Meaning: A sacred hunt to feed the tribe.
Cult Meaning: Predation, murder, and offerings to Icengrim.

Hunters depart before dawn without speaking. The first beast killed is partly offered to Icengrim: its blood spilled upon the snow, its heart frozen, or its antlers hung above the settlement gate.

For common folk, this is a holy act of necessity. The hunters risk death so others may live.

For evil followers, the “prey” may be a condemned prisoner, rival, deserter, or outsider.

Common Saying:
“The snow hears. The hunter does not speak.”

The Oath of Iron Winter

When: Before war, exile, a desperate journey, or the defense of the tribe.
Public Meaning: An oath of endurance and duty.
Cult Meaning: Submission to Icengrim’s cruelty.

Warriors, scouts, and travelers swear before a blade chilled in snow. They promise not to abandon the tribe, waste food, betray shelter, or show cowardice before the storm.

Among non-evil Icengrim followers, this rite is about resolve, loyalty, and communal survival.

Among fanatics, the oath demands mercilessness: no prisoners, no retreat, no aid to the weak.

Common Saying:
“Bend and break. Stand and freeze.”

Cultural Divide

Not all who worship Icengrim are murderers, necromancers, or servants of the Triad. In the frozen north, many honor him because winter is real, immediate, and deadly. To them, Icengrim is cruel, but honest.

A common follower might say:

“You southerners think winter is wicked because it does not pity you. But winter is honest. It kills fool and king alike. We honor Icengrim because we know the world is cold, and someone must teach us how to endure it.”

A true priest of Icengrim might say:

“Mercy is summer’s lie. Warmth makes men soft. Hunger reveals truth. Cold reveals worth. Death reveals obedience.”

Funeral Rights

The Last Wintering is the traditional funeral rite of the northern tribes devoted to Icengrim, Lord of Winter and the Restless Dead. To them, death is not a peaceful departure, but a final trial. The dead are given to Winter so their strength, memory, and grudges may endure in the cold places of the world.

Those who receive the rite are believed to walk the Frozen Road toward Icengrim’s White Hall. Those denied it may become Restless Cold: ghosts, frost-wights, or hungry dead.

Core Belief

Winter hates lies. At a funeral, the dead must be named honestly. Their victories, failures, cruelties, kindnesses, broken oaths, and great deeds are all spoken aloud. A false funeral is believed to trap the soul between hearth and grave.

Stages of the Rite

Step Name Description
1 Washing in Meltwater The body is washed with dawn snowmelt. Battle-blood is often left on warriors as testimony. The eyes are closed with ice chips, bone coins, or river stones.
2 Naming of Deeds Kin and witnesses speak the dead person's deeds aloud, both honorable and shameful. Nothing important is hidden from Winter.
3 Gift of Burdens Mourners place small tokens with the dead: tools, charms, weapons, food, locks of hair, or keepsakes. These prove the dead belonged to the living.
4 The Frost Oath The closest kin swears an oath over the body: memory, vengeance, or release.
5 The Night Vigil The body is kept outside through one full night. No fire is allowed near the bier. Mourners endure the cold beside the dead.
6 The Sending At dawn, the dead are sent by pyre, cairn, or frozen river, depending on age, rank, and circumstance.

Forms of Sending

Rite Used For Details
Pyre of Blue Flame Warriors, chiefs, champions The body is burned on a raised pyre with salt, pine resin, and blue-dyed cloth.
Cairn Under Snow Elders, wise folk, honored dead The body is buried beneath a stone cairn facing north. Weapons are often broken and laid beside them.
Cradle of White Boughs Children The child is laid in a small bier of white branches, bells, feathers, and soft cloth. Children are believed to be hidden beneath Icengrim’s cloak until their kin arrive.
Frozen River Sending Exiles, wanderers, or those without kin The body is placed upon ice or sent downriver when the thaw comes. This is considered lonely but not dishonorable.


Icengrim Funeral Prayer

Icengrim, Lord of the Long Dark,
Keeper of bone, breath, and silence,
take this child of the hearth into your winter.
Let no coward spirit hunt them.
Let no liar’s tongue name them false.
Let no warmth make them weak.
They have carried hunger.
They have carried blood.
They have carried the tribe.
Now let the snow cover their shame,
let the ice preserve their name,
and let their enemies hear them coming in the storm.

Divine Relationships

Notable Organizations and Followers

Legends and Stories

See Also

Icengrim Funeral Rights - Free from the Heat of any Fire