In the Long Ago, when gods and demons walked the world as freely as men do now, the land lay in an eternal summer. She-of-Summerday did reign over the world, and the heat and light subdued her realm. After the Beginning Night, when the world was without form and void, her warmth was welcomed and loved. But as time passed, the endless hot days did lay low even the strongest of demons and gods. At last, the great demon-king of wind traveled to the center of the world and assumes his aspect of the Lord of Still Air. There he demanded of the sky, with the arrogance and wrath of a true demon, for an end to this summer-day. But he was wiser than most demons, so that was not all he asked for, no. He also asked that there be a cycle, an alternation of days and nights, of hot and cold, so that no element could rule over any other. The sky and what dwelled above it listened to him, and they set She-of-Winternight down at the top pole of the world and bid her walk to the bottom pole. When she had done this thing, then would the world enter into a terrible winter, but when it came free from this winter, then the day and night and hot and cold would alternate in a cycle unto the end of the world. So she walked, and her hounds walked behind her. Her breath stirred the winds with a chill, and her steps brought a frost over the plants. Behind her, a curtain of snow fell across the world. --- This was a lot of fun to make, actually, despite much fighting with my computer to get the dogs to look just right and to keep the render from choking my computer. Also got to use a lot of my winter and Christmas stuff that I had never used before. I also got to try out pwGhost in addition to my standard pwSurface as a shader plug-in, and, wow, do I ever love these products. So much shader-love! Rendered in Daz|Studio, postworked in PSP10. Credits: Victoria3 and morphs, Abyssal Queen - DAZ Leanansidhe texture and Expansion Pack 2 - Cin-, PoserPros Messy Hair - Kozaburo freebie Hair texture - "Wintressa", Christmas freebie, ARTCollaborations Eye texture - "Silverbelle", Christmas freebie, forgot where I got it from Snowflake Earrings - another Christmas freebie, forget where I got it from Pose - "Ollok", Danie and Marforno, DAZ Canus Inferi - Sixus1 Media Pillars - "Spring Patio", Danie and Marforno, PoserPros Microcosm and textures - RuntimeDNA Background sky - Image*After