Niflheim

During a period of winter, the inhabitants of Helmonde are forced to escape the town or seek refuge somewhere safe and closed-up within it. The streets freeze over and the air becomes so cold, one would be dead within a few breaths.

This period has come to be called Niflheim, named after the realm of ice in Norse Mythology. At first it was used jokingly, not only because of the weather, but also based on the town's nine rivers, similar to the ones in that very realm. In later time, however, it has basically become its official title.

Time period
Niflheim occurs during the last part of November each year. The date of its arrival changes, and so does the haste of it - making it impossible to know for sure, since it doesn't show up on radars until just before it strikes.

It's been calculated that the period lasts during a week of seven days. This, however, is only according to the world outside of the town, as it lasts longer if you are actually within it.

The problem is not that the seclusion makes the days feel longer. The time actually shifts between day and night at regular pace - it just winds up happening for more than just a week. Within the town Niflheim's been calculated to last around a month, sometimes more or less but mostly it ends after 30 days.

Distinction
Countdown

Helmonde is a town in which it often starts snowing early in November, rendering the streets filled with snow once it stops. This is when people start to count down. During the week approaching Niflheim the skies slowly open up. The clouds vanish, not by wind but into nowhere, and the pace of the disappearances increases the closer it gets.

Appearance

Sometimes, at the same time as Niflheim strikes, massive snowstorms hit the town for the first few days, but most of the time the skies remain clear blue for the entire period. The glass on the windows become covered with ice crystals and frost, and they freeze stuck just as the doors do. Once inside, you are literally unable to go out in the cold.

The skies are entirely open and as the sun shines coldly on the omnipresent snow, making the world blindingly white without melting anything. Ice crystals, like on the windows, form everywhere and makes the reflection of the light even more intense.

Nobody has been able to measure the degree rates as of yet.

Adaptation
Seeing as this has been a common problem for several hundred years, it has also caused standard routines among the townsfolk. Most individuals that stay behind open their doors to shelter homeless people or those still out when the final moments approaches. Unused accommodations are also opened up for the sake of survival before anything else.

Shops and stores make humungous orders so that the townsfolk can store up food to last the entire month, which also has led to all buildings having huge storages. The shops also have rooms so the assistants working there in the week leading up to Niflheim also have somewhere to stay, since they are unable to leave once the week ends.

Seeing as the Prince basically rules the town, he has not only made sure the windows are safe from direct sunlight for kindred, but also do not break during these extreme conditions. The houses are all isolated and equipped with fireplaces for extra warmth, since the cold makes its way into the houses.

The Alarm

One weather station focuses only on the arrival of Niflheim, and with many years of intense research, they are now able to know what day it will wind up there - more than so are mostly lucky guesses. When they know the day, they can also count down the last hours, information which is shared with the rest of Helmonde over speakers.

Half an hour before its arrival these speakers start ringing alarm similar to bomb alarms. This is to warn anyone out in the nick of time that it's time to make their way home or to closest safe place as quickly as possible. The alarm becomes more and more intense to stress the importance the closer to Niflheim it is - and then becomes entirely silent, since it is no longer necessary nor helpful to those still out in the cold.

Awareness and departures

During this time many humans are turned into kindred or ghouls, as the ones seeking safety within a kindred's domain impossibly can remain unaware. The most people, however, prefer to take this so called "week" as a vacation outside of town and so they remain safe.

Most kindred stay in town for the entire month, mostly because it's still a place where the edits to the facilities make them feel secure. They can also go without food for a long time, and would not be terribly pained if their resources ran out.

It's also been noticed that the few still surviving werewolf packs also leave the town's forests for safer land. Supposedly, so does most wild animals.

Nature

As fall has already happened and the world is covered in snow, not too much damage is done to the nature. The trees in the great woods however have shaped themselves with the years, making them look as though embracing each other and themselves for protection from the cold.

Birth rate results

Any child born during the durance of Niflheim are given a secondary birth date. If, for example, the period began at the 25th of November and the child was born between 1-5 days into the month, its secondary date would still be in November. As long as you can still count it to be within the month, it becomes that day.

If, however, the child is born once the calculated days of November have run out, it will be monthless and written as though it was born on December 1st. Within Helmonde, however, the Niflheim date is often used to explain which kind of "December 1st" child you are. It is, obviously, more common that the child was born during Niflheim.

A more common birth month, however, has wound up being August, easily explained by the fact that the long month in seclusion must become boring in the long run.

Death rates

Caution and carefulness are important must-be's in this society, for it is indeed lethal and dangerous. Each year a handfull of citizens are noted as missing, and yet a few more vanish without recognition.

Because of the bodies going missing together with the departure of Niflheim, a certified amount is impossible to achieve. Thanks to the awareness and adaption of the society, however, the number has grown distinctly smaller.

Cause
Many guesses have been made based on scientific facts from the rest of the world, however there are always details breaking these guesses. Neither kine nor kindred have come up with a decent explanation yet.

Unbeknownst to them, this longlasting "curse" is the result of Tempora and Distantia's quarrel, and the majority of the stones having ended up in the same town. In several areas of the world, there are sudden weather changes once a year, but none as severe as Niflheim.