The Creature Compendium

Ice sprites, named for their habitat, are small, winged humanoids found only in cold weather systems. When the storms and cold disperse, the sprites melt away.

Category: Weather

History

While they are commonly found within winter storms, they are rarely directly perceived and thus have no true lore attached to them.

Jack Frost is occasionally referred to as an ice sprite, however this is an incorrect association, as Jack Frost’s characteristics do not indicate he is an ice sprite.

Traits and Behavior

While similar in appearance to common sprites, they have more in common with fire sprites, as ice sprites are created by, and exist solely within, freezing weather. They have the appearance of small humanoids with wings, usually in fractal designs and exclusively in icy tones. Their body temperature is low, below freezing as well, and they can freeze small objects and bodies of water with their touch.

They are primarily diurnal and are less often found at night. Their fractal wings often throw small rainbows around them. They find and locate blizzards and wintery regions as their homes. Should they become trapped in a warmer climate, usually due to a weather pattern dissipating, they melt away. They are more often found in extreme regions that can sustain them year round, but their life span rarely extends over a year or two regardless.

Ice sprites appear more drawn to cold areas than the cause of these events, but the exact relation is not known. They feed off of the intense light reflected off of ice, and do not appear to find a need for sleep or other food.

Whether ice sprites have a language is unknown, and many speculate they can communicate through subtle changes in their own coloration, as they appear to have an internal glow.

Ice sprites are most active during storms, flying and dancing in the wind and snow, freezing over leaves and icicles and leaving frost patterns on flat surfaces. They do not appear directly bothered by people or other living creatures, to the point that some believe they aren’t aware of anything else except the movement of the storm.

They only seem to procreate in the sense that when a few fully grown ones are found in an area, eventually smaller ones will also appear. If these are created through any kind of sexual reproduction, or simply spawn as a result of the concentration of cold and light, is not currently known. They do not appear to have any clear social structures or communities, despite rarely being found alone.

Weaknesses

Ice sprites are severely susceptible to heat. If for any reason, you need to rid an area of ice sprites, a fire and torch are enough to take one or a small number out. For larger numbers, such as in a blizzard, best to ride out the storm before making any such attempts.