Lost in the Blizzard

Yuki-Onna are perhaps the most popular myth in our village. Origin unknown, these woman-looking spirits are not that uncommon of an apparition in times of winter.

Their motives and methods are as varied as humanity's. Generally, they fall into one of three archetypes: The guides, that help people back to safety. Sometimes luring them back to civilizations, sometimes carrying them to a nearby spot shielded from the elements, they are there to help, though their unsettling quietness is scary all the same. These are always virgin, and many of them will actively try to romance you, while others will just guide you with cold friendliness. The executioners, that kill. Some say that they lure the most wicked humans out into the wild to die, some say they mercifully execute those who are already doomed to a lengthy, cold death in the hands of the wild. They are usually widows.

What are they? We don't know. The don't talk much, and even their movements are economical and elegant. What we know is that they aren't really humanity's enemy, proved by how often we marry them.

Yes, it is possible for a human and a Yuki-Onna to fall in love during a meeting. This will cause the Yuki-Onna to chase and pursue the human, sometimes ending up in a marriage, in which case she has to come to the village. Their acting is shit, and their extreme anti-social behavior (never leaving the house, only speaking with their husband and children) usually outs them as non-humans. Even if that's wasn't the case, seeing the husband getting older while the Yuki-Onna remains exactly the same over decades is hard to ignore. But we pretend we don't know. A kind of truth that everyone knows but doesn't speak out loud, an unaddressed elephant in the room. They aren't doing anything wrong and are a part of our community.

This scene takes place in pre-industrial Japan with very slight magical elements. The nearest village, located in a valley near a forest, is cut off from the rest of world due to being surrounded by large mountains. Most humans in the area are born and die in that village, without ever knowing other settlements or the wider world. It has around 1200 inhabitants.

In the winter, catastrophic snowstorms are common, and it's also common for at least one person to get lost and die in the wild. Between the snow and the mountainous terrain, going outside the village during a snowstorm is next to suicide. Perhaps this is why the legend of the Yuki-Onna is so wildly spread and so fiercely taught by the older villagers to the youth.

All Yuki-Onna will have the following characteristics: They are beautiful. Skin is extremely pale, mirroring snow. Eyes are of a lavender or lilac color. Their gaze is very steady. Have a feeling of weightlessness, leaving no footprints in the snow and having no problem moving through snow. Their hair can vary from completely black to a soft lavender, and can be very long or shoulder-length. They have absolutely no body hair. They wear either snow-white kimonos or are nude, further improving their ability of melting into the snow. They are of average height. They do not age, and always look somewhere between late teens and early adulthood. They dislike temperatures above 0C, and start sweating at 10V (Obviously) They are completely immune to any kind of cold.

Personalities: Obviously it varies from apparition to apparition, but generally they are extremely calm. Whether that's a comforting calm or a methodically cruel calm is up to chance. They never drag out a death. Those that kill usually do so in a quick strike after a conversation. Those usually see their killing as mere anticipation of what the elements were already going to do anyway, at least this way is less painful and you get a last comforting conversation. While they are very calm, their emotions are very intense. Especially Yuki-Onna wives, who usually develop an affection for their husbands and children that most wouldn't consider natural or healthy, although they are good at masking this because of their calmness. They think white, winter, snow, stillness and associated concepts are beautiful. The popular associated phrase "Now that we've met, promise to never tell a soul." Is true, and they despise having their identities outed. Yuki-Onna don't divorce nor remarry. They upkeep the marriage until death of the husband, at which point they either dissolve into snow over the grave or continue wandering as a widow, never showing affection to anyone else.