Cryonax
"I'm Mr. White Christmas! I'm Mr. Snow!
I'm Mr. Icicle! I'm Mr. Ten Below!"
- – an avatar of Cryonax known as Snow Miser
Cryonax, also known as the Prince of Ice, the Prince of Evil Ice/Cold Creatures, the Bringer of Endless Winter and the Bleak Monarch, is a storied Archomental from the multiverse of Dungeons & Dragons. Alongside his more famous counterparts Imix, Ogremoch, Olhydra and Yan-C-Bin, he is one of the original Archomentals - or "Elemental Princes of Evil", as they were originally called - created by Lewis Pulsipher.
Having first appeared in the Fiend Folio for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition alongside his kin, Cryonax subsequently joined them in reappearances in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix III for AD&D 2e, in Dragon Magazine #347 for 3rd edition, and finally as a solo act in the Lords of Chaos article for Dragon #421 in 4th edition.
Throughout the editions, Cryonax has remained relatively stable; the highly ambitious lord of the Paraelemental Plane of Ice, Cryonax yearns to expand his dominion to not only become a fully-fledged plane, but to freeze the entire multiverse and rule over everything.
Likewise, his appearance has remained fairly stable; a gargantuan Demogorgon knockoff yeti with tentacles for arms. The biggest change there is that he went from one tentacle for each arm in AD&D to having three tentacles per arm in 3e.
Cryonax rules from the Chiseled Estate, a colossal fortress of ice, quartz and glass that rises a mile above the surface of Ice, jutting into the sub-region known as the Precipice (border region to Air) before plunging 4 miles deep into the Core Ice.
Cryonax's holy symbols are a blue-white circle trapped in a square or a silver snowflake.
4th edition altered Cryonax only in so far as his old plan wasn't quite feasible. As a Primordial, he is imprisoned by god-forged bindings in a glacial realm called the Teeth of Lormoch. From here, he issues orders to his cultists to pursue means of freeing him, in hopes of taking his revenge and claiming rulership over the entire multiverse.
Cryonax's cult is more heavily dependent on non-elemental beings, as Ice lacks any true elementals of its own aside from mephits, frost salamanders, ice paraelementals, and ice "animentals" (lesser elementals in the shape of animals, with brains to match), though 4e threw him a bone by making Ice Archons a thing. As such, his primary servitors include frost giants (forcing him to war with Thrym and Kostchtchie for their faith), white dragons, yeti, amitoks, and savage tribes of humans and orcs from the frozen lands of the Prime Material. In AD&D 1e, he was also served by Frost Men, magically altered humanoids who possessed icy powers, whilst in 4th edition, he relished the service of Eisk Jaat, dwarf-kin turned into icy elementals. Frostfell Druids who have gone insane and seek to spread the icy environments they so adore make up some of his more devout worshippers.
Gallery[edit]
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Cryonax in the Fiend Folio.
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Cryonax in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium III.
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Cryonax in 3e.
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They don't call him the Prince of Ice for nothing.
| The Archomentals of Dungeons & Dragons | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elements | Air | Water | Earth | Fire | Ice |
| Good Archomentals | Chan | Ben-Hadar | Sunnis | Zaaman Rul | |
| Evil Archomentals | Yan-C-Bin | Olhydra | Ogremoch | Imix | Cryonax |