Gluma

Gluma (plural: Glumae) a spirit raised from the recently dead to pass through the world, go-betweens who could travel across the Veil, known as messengers for Book and Snake.

## Description

### Physical Appearance

As glumae are the recent dead, they generally look like normal humans. Glumae however have sheer, glasslike quality to their skin that can allow a person to see their veins and the shadows of their bones. They stink of the Veil and uncanny.

### Nature and Behavior

While strong and obedient, glumae are not intelligent. Masters of glumae often only give them a simple tasks to accomplish, as they are too violent and unpredictable to really be good for much else.

## Abilities

### Powers and Purpose

Glumae are used by Book and Snake as messengers to and from the other side of the Veil.

* **Strength**: Glumae have supernatural strength and aggression
* **Levitation:** Gluma can fly or hover off the ground.
* **Invisibility**: Gluma are invisible to the mortal eye.
* **Intangibility**: Can move through solid objects. Also has the ability to interact with its surroundings.
* **Immune to death words**

### Protection Against Glumae

While there are no straightforward magical protections, a wrist or pocket watch can be used to distract glumae in a fight. The sound of a watch ticking confuses the gluma. Glumae, and any other creature not born but made, will perceive a heartbeat in simple clockwork and will try and find a body where there is none.

Alternatively, while the strength of the average is human is ineffective to a gluma's strength, Grays can effectively combat glumae with their supernatural strength. Effectiveness varies with the strength of the Gray.

## History

### Ninth House

Elliot Sandow created a gluma using Book and Snake's necromancy magic and armed it with corpse beetles in its mouth to attack and ultimately kill Alex Stern. The gluma itself was a guy wearing round glasses and a navy Yale sweatshirt, ensuring that when it approached Alex, she wouldn't realize that he wasn't human until it was too late. Alex presumed the thing was a Gray, as no other person in the store could see her attacker, but the things was unresponsive to death words.

Alex's attempts at defending herself drew attention as she was pushed out into the street. The gluma blew the Corpse Beetles into her face, until he was pushed away and attacked by The Bridegroom. Affected by the dust, Alex ran towards the Hutch. She quickly messaged SOS to Pamela Dawes, who managed to get Alex upstairs and classify the attacking entity as a **gluma**. Dawes gave Alex a potion of brimstone to burn up the corpse beetles eating at her insides. Despite the pain of the beetles and potion, Alex was grimly satisfied, knowing that the gluma attack was proof that their was something more to Tara Hutchins' murder.

When Sandow arrives at the Hutch, he was surprised to see Alex conscious and healing. Alex tells Sandow her theory that the societies sent the **gluma** after her in connection to Tara's murder. Sandow tries to raise the possibility that Alex's presence—with her ability to see Grays—might have attracted the gluma to attack, only to be thoroughly shut down by Pamela. When Alex tried again to convince him, Sandow only showed her the surveillance video of what happened outside the mini-mart, which showed Alex being dragged around by an invisible figure, and told Alex that the Lethe board wouldn't take her seriously if she made these serious accusations now. Sandow goes to convince Alex and Pamela to leave the investigation to Detective Abel Turner's trusted hands.

## Trivia

* It is unclear whether Alex was able to see the gluma that attacked her because of her power to see Grays or because she was a target of the gluma's attack. In any case, no other person was able to see the gluma attacking Alex.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *Ninth House* Chapter 9 (Winter)
2. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 30 (Early Spring)
3. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 11 (Winter)