Fuyuzora

Fuyuzora is the Yuriban goddess of winter and the north. She is associated with snow and ice. Her colors are pale icy blue, pure white and the leaden gray of clouds pregnant with snow.

Associations

The most obvious associations for Fuyuzora are the ice and snow of winter, as well as the northern direction. White, pale blue and gray are her colors of choice. She is also associated with arctic foxes in particular, as well as albino animals of many sorts. (Many believe that the white doe that wanders Yuriba is connected to her in some way.)

Fuyuzora has close connections to both the elements of water and air. Her mythology speaks of her love for Issui, the goddess of water, and Harumeku, the goddess of spring, but it is also known that Fuyuzora maintains a playful friendship with Amanohara, goddess of air. Her relationship with Issui is often seen as originating in how intimately the two work together to create ice, and that with Amanohara began in the winds that often toss the falling snow.

Though Fuyuzora is the goddess of winter, her snows lie atop Akibimi-san and Engetsu-san year-round, linking her to Akibimi and Engetsu as well.

Mythology

As one of the four goddesses of the seasons (along with Harumeku, Zansho and Akibimi), Fuyuzora participates in the yearly cycles of weather and life. She guards the short days and long nights of the winter, both embodying and exemplifying the calm stillness of a snow-shrouded midnight.

Fuyuzora was born last of all the seasonal deities, coming into being only as life had run its first course and the world fell into sleep, resting and gathering its energy to rise once more in the spring.

Fuyuzora's stories have long been secret. These tales often present Fuyuzora as a goddess with two faces -- an outwardly staid, calm and somewhat callous exterior masking a playful, sometimes impish heart. Several times in these stories, one entity or another will only see the chilly outer appearance of this goddess and condemn her, failing to look deeper to see her true self.

Two of the most important stories are related below: the origin of Fuyuzora's relationship with Issui and Harumeku, and the tale of how snow came to cover Akibimi-san and Engetsu-san.

Fuyuzora, Issui and Harumeku

Long ago, as the very first winter drew toward a close, the snow began to melt and the frozen streams began to flow once more, Fuyuzora sat weeping beside a creek, watching ice float downstream. She feared that she would die, and that The Lady did not care for her anymore, prefering Harumeku's spring.

Drawn close by the flowing waters, Issui came upon the weeping Fuyuzora and sat down beside her. Though Issui loved Harumeku and had before found Fuyuzora to be standoffish and cold, in the moment she saw the tears of the youngest of the seasons, she knew Fuyuzora's true heart and came to feel burgeoning affection for the goddess of winter as well. Issui told Fuyuzora of the eternal cycle decreed by The Lady, washing away her fears and replacing them with love. She brought Fuyuzora to Harumeku so that the youngest daughter might come to know the compassion and gentleness of the oldest better, and by the time the seasons changed, Fuyuzora and Harumeku came to regard one other with the same love as that they already shared for Issui.

The Snow Blankets

When Akibimi and Engetsu fell to earth and were transformed into mountains by Chikyuu, their grand bodies lay naked to the sky. They stared endlessly upward, watching the passage of sun, moon and stars, never sleeping.

One day Amanohara noticed that the goddesses did not rest. When she asked why, the goddesses told her, "We lie naked to your skies, forever touched by your winds. We cannot sleep." Amanohara pondered long and hard over this problem, but only when she voiced her concerns to Fuyuzora did an answer become evident.

Fuyuzora, with the aid of Amanohara's winds, drew a blanket of snow across the bodies of the transformed Engetsu and Akibimi, comforting them and allowing them to drift into restful slumber. In this partnership, Fuyuzora and Amanohara discovered affection for each other, and to this day, Amanohara's winds play with Fuyuzora's white snow even as the blankets continue to comfort the mountain sisters.

Lore and Teachings

The winter goddess's lore deals primarily with her season. She teaches that winter is not a season of death, but of rest and renewal, and disputes the common characterization of winter as an ugly, frigid season with no merit. She also keeps knowledge of survival in cold climates, the ways of plants and animals in such regions, and encourages all to see the beauty in ice and snow.

Fuyuzora's lessons for her dedicated followers, much like her personality, come in two "layers". The first layer of teaching revolves around calm, perseverance and resistance to chaos. Winter storms are said to be Fuyuzora's test of these virtues.

The second, more esoteric and more difficult layer of Fuyuzora's teachings derives from the first layer. From a calm mind comes insight; adherents must learn to look beyond outward forms to the true nature of things, reflecting the lore of winter being a season of hidden life rather than death.

Temples and Relics

A number of temples, extant or former, dedicated to Fuyuzora have currently been identified. At one point, an abandoned zone within Underhill had been revealed by Lumi that seem connected to the deity. Within this realm of northern coniferous forest lies a curious structure: low stone walls, covered in Liliaceous carvings, describing the outline of what might be a temple. The tops of these walls are cracked, suggesting a place of purchase for ice, which Lumi and breisleach theorize constituted the remainder of the temple. The mountainous lake of Silverbough contains a small shrine believed to have been dedicated to winter's goddess in Lilian times; a second temple, further south, has been made reference to, but appears to have been destroyed completely, either via natural disaster or the acts of cultists of Inishie.

For reasons that seem unclear, Fuyuzora is connected to Lunyanniichuan spring.

Sentry

Fuyuzora has become the fourth goddess to choose a Sentry, along with Amanohara, Engetsu, and Zokutou, giving Ariah her trust.