History:

The history of the Ice Maidens is roughly separated into four ages, as they themselves tell of it: The Age of Discovery, The Age of Enlightenment, The Age of Isolation and The Age of Trade. It is in fact not until the Age of Trade that the Ice Maidens became the name that outside races use in reference to this unique race of beings, the name being translated from the Shou* term Bing Jie. It is not known what they call themselves as a race in the eras before nor can we trace what the elves refer to them by in the Age of Enlightenment. Consequently, the term Ice Maiden will be applied to this special race all throughout.

*Shou is the official language of the Dragon Empire

The Age of Discovery
The changed Snow Sprites settled on the Svetla Glaciers.
This is the period during these new beings are experimenting with and adapting to having a physical body. While theyve observed different races often enough, its an entirely different issue when it comes to actually working with a physical body. Some decided to take a peek at the elves.

The Age of Enlightenment
The Ice Maidens not only look identical to the originals except for the colouring of hair and eyes, they also act in identical ways (in posturing and little actions of habit eg. if the original plays with her hair when nervous, the copy also does so now etc.) After the families found out about their existence, they are invited to live the families, who still see them as their loved ones. In fact, for a while they lived amongst the elves. However, the differences between them and the originals soon became apparent. They are incapable of reproduction, being immortal. Moreover, their mindsets are very alien- they have no concepts of love as well as that of life and death. The husbands who expected the return of a Bonded partner soon become disenchanted with the fact that their wives are now very distant. Over time, the elves become increasingly disturbed by the presence of the Ice Maidens as they cannot share the communal joy at the birth of a new life nor mourn to the passing of a life. The families, in particular, become torn between the desire to keep the Ice Maidens, which are such acute replicas of their loved ones, with them and the pain of interacting with these alien beings on a daily basis.

Most departed from the elves in sorrow but a few, with the support of their adopted families, did learn to love over time and gradually become more akin to the original in mindset. With such changes, these maidens now are able to bear children. They stayed with the elves and interbred with them, creating offsprings that have the same distinguished traits as themselves. These maidens and their children become known as The ones of Snow while the departed ones become known as the Ice Maidens.

The Age of Isolation
The Ice Maidens went back to the Svetla Glaciers. They are a peaceful race living in seclusion from the common races but remained in contact with fellow Snow Sprites and in this way accumulated a large amount of knowledge on various things across the world.

The Age of Trade
This period coincides with the Lu Dynasty as reckoned in the Dragon Empire. This is an age where the Ice Maidens first come into sustained contact with the human race at large.