St. Elmo's

St. Elmo's society crest

**St. Elmo's** is one of the Ancient Eight secret societies in Leigh Bardugo's *Ninth House*. It was founded in 1889 and its specialized magics are elemental and weather magic, or *tempestrate artium*. St. Elmo's is not a landed society due to the loss of their tomb in the 1960's, which has had a detrimental impact on the strength of their magic.

## Book Information

The following is information found in the final pages of Ninth House provided by Leigh Bardugo on the Houses of the Veil.

* *Teachings*: Practices Tempestate Artium, elemental magic, storm calling.
* *Famous Alumni*: Calvin Hill, John Ashcroft, Allison Williams.

### Magic and Influence

St. Elmo's focuses on weather magic, or *tempestrate artium*. Their magics include storm summoning. In its heyday, they had managed some powerful magics, such as tempests in a teapot, which depending on how strong of a brew you make, can either short out camera footage or short the grid for the entire Eastern Seaboard. They used to be able to summon impactful weather conditions for the purpose of seeking advantages: blizzards that raised utility prices, droughts which affected crop yields, winds strong enough to sink a battleship.

### Tomb

The original tomb of St. Elmo's was Rosenfeld Hall, now it's in an apartment building on Lynwood St. Since then, St. Elmo's as a society have only managed the barest of magics. The apartment on Lynwood had a stained carpet, sagging stairs, and a roof with tilting weather vanes. It is continually described the most pitiful tomb of the landed secret societies.

## History

### 1800's

St. Elmo's was founded in 1889. The violent consumption of Sophie Mishkan's soul in 1902 created the nexus on which Rosenfeld Hall, and thus the tomb of St. Elmo's, was built by what would become the Rhinelander Trust Association.

### 1960's - The loss of their tomb

When the society was cash poor in the 1960's, the university purchased the building from them and promised to keep leasing the crypt rooms to St. Elmo to use for their rituals. However, this agreement was not solidified using an Aurelian contract, but a gentleman's agreement that fell to the wayside when new university administration eventually took over. Yale would refuse to renew St. Elmo's lease in 1985 and St. Elmo's now perform their rites in an apartment on Lynwood. Since then, St. Elmo's as a society have only managed the barest of magics, hardly managing to summon a storm.

### Ninth House

Dean Elliot Sandow approached the board of St. Elmo's with a proposition, claiming that he could control the location of a coming nexus for St. Elmo's to build a new tomb in exchange monetary compensation. The money of a few dedicated alumni was enough for Sandow to carry through with his plan.

## Trivia

* The society is named after St. Erasmus, who was also known as St. Elmo's. St. Erasmus (aka St. Elmo's) was a Christian matryr who, when being tortured, was saved miraculously by lightening killing everyone around him. Thus, the weather phenomenon seen during thunderstorms is named, "St. Elmo's fire."

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ninth House Chapter 29 (Early Spring)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Ninth House Chapter 18 (Last Fall)
3. ↑ Ninth House Chapter 10 (Last Fall)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ninth House Chapter 31 (Early Spring)