Glasya
Glasya, i, is a unique monster that appears in dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack. Glasya is a humanoid and human-sized imp that is one of the many devil lords of Gehennom: she is strong, has a pair of horns, is capable of flight with her wings, will pick up items that she comes across can be seen via infravision, and can track the hero and other targets via extramission. Glasya is not covetous unlike most of the other demon rulers, but can still follow a hero to other levels if she is close enough, and can turn traitor if she is tamed. Glasya has 27 total points of AC, with 9 each in the 'natural', 'dodge' and 'special' categories, and she also has 2 points of DR in the head slot along with 9 points of special DR.
Glasya has seven attacks: a weapon attack and offhand weapon attack; an intrinsic-stealing claw attack that inflicts damage; a sting that can inflict strength-draining poison; the ability to cast one monster spell per round, chosen from all available mage, psionic or clerical spells with an equal probability of each subset; a single-target gaze attack that inflicts shock damage; and a passive attack that splashes attackers in acid and may corrode their weapons and armor. Glasya boasts expert prowess in martial combat and has a full base attack bonus of +1 to-hit per monster level. She possesses fire resistance, shock resistance, poison resistance, drain resistance, death resistance, and stoning resistance, and also has a weakness to silver.
Glasya is poisonous to consume, which primarily comes up if she is digested by another monster or else subjected to the spirit Ahazu (which has abilities that can ignore adverse effects from digesting monsters). She can be warded by the fully-reinforced Elder Elemental Eye.
Contents
Generation
Glasya is always generated hostile, and is not a valid polymorph form or genocide target.
Glasya is normally generated in Nessus, where she is placed in the center of one of the four outer rooms during level creation: the down stair on her square has a 1⁄5 chance of being the real down stair for the dungeon level, and a legion devil captain and two pit fiends are generated alongside her. Glasya cannot be summoned by demon gating unless Mammon is the one to perform it, which has a 1⁄20 chance of causing her to appear.
Glasya is always generated with a cursed +9 helm that has the appearance of a "gold circlet", a cursed +1 gentlewoman's dress, cursed +1 Victorian underwear, a cursed +1 golden pair of stilettos, a cursed +1 golden pair of long gloves, and the cursed +9 Caress: Caress is an artifact golden bullwhip that grants shock resistance while wielded, and has +1 to-hit and deals +1d20 shock damage against non-resistant targets.
Glasya does not leave a corpse upon death.
Strategy
While Glasya is fast at 18 speed, her lack of covetous warping makes her notably easier to deal with compared to some of the other devil and demon rulers that can be encountered. A hero that lacks acid resistance should utilize ranged attacks to bring her down.
Origin
Glasya originates from Dungeons & Dragons, where she is depicted as an archdevil who is the daughter of Asmodeus and the lord of the sixth layer of hell known as the Malbolge. Her name originates from "Glasya-Labolas", a demon of the Ars Goetia who is a mighty President (or Count) of Hell who commands thirty-six legions of demons and is depicted as a dog with the wings of a griffin.
In Dungeons & Dragons, Glasya is known by many names including "Princess of Hell", "Dark Prodigy" and "Queen of the Erinyes". She appears as a 9-foot (2.7 m) tall and black-haired figure that is similar in form to a succubus, with an unearthly beauty that was undiminished by the small horns, large, leathery wings, and forked tail signifying her diabolical origins. Her copper-hued skin is unusual for its more metallic appearance compared to other humanoids, and she is adorned with jewels, clothes, and various finery of incredible expense. Though she is among the weakest of the archdevils, Glasya is also perhaps the least predictable, with a reputation for capriciousness and a history of whimsy and mischief: she took pride in her nonconformity and openly flouted the norms of Hell at her leisure, breaking tradition while bending the rules; surprising others with unexpected gambits is a source of delight for her, and even before she became an archdevil she was somewhat rebellious and defiant, moving between courts as the mood struck her.
Glasya is believed to be the only child of Asmodeus, and the circumstances of her birth are shrouded in mystery. Asmodeus' plans for his daughter are similarly unclear, although he gave his blessing when she took over Malbolge; it is possible that he expected Glasya's ambitions to be kept in check with responsibility over a Hell. The two have a long, volatile history: Glasya often consorts with the enemies of Asmodeus and openly resists his efforts to control her, and his move to make her serve in his court would only make her bored and dissatisfied, although Glasya is not above using her familial relation to Asmodeus as a shield to protect herself from retaliation. Prior to her death, Glasya's mother was so driven by her loathing of Asmodeus and desire to see him killed that she seeded the desire to replace him in Glasya's heart while teaching her seduction, intrigue and poisonous hate.
In spite of her contrarian behavior, Glasya is no less cruel than any other diabolical denizen of Hell, with a penchant for verbal and physical sadism alike. Glasya's sense of aesthetics also belies her inner corruption, with a disturbing love of beauty that motivates her to spare those she finds appealing or else open to her attempts at seduction (particularly if they are servants of good). Glasya also crafted the domain of the Malbolge from the corpse of a former archdevil, Malagard the Hag Countess, and used her as a foundation of ugliness and decay to create the pleasant palaces and gardens that make up the layer—this also means that the layer reflects Glasya herself, with a refined and enchanting surface disguising a truly rotten core. Though she still generally supports her father Asmodeus since the two share a similar outlook and methodology, she also went as far as to win the loyalty of some of the Dark Eight, his insidious cabal of pit fiend generals, this raising the question of which of them would support her or her father should the two go to war.
Encyclopedia
Adorned in priceless jewelry, silks, and other finery, this
humanlike creature is the vision of beauty -- though her
copper skin, batlike wings, forked tail, and pointed horns
betray her true nature.
