Summoning Magic part 1: the Summoned

[Minibit]

Summoning magic; the art of making things and beings appear out of thin air to serve your purposes. Summoning magic has a huge variety of interpretations and ways it can work; and in this miniseries, we're going to put together your very own summoning magic system!

To start, it helps to know and be familiar with what is being summoned. Options include but are certainly not limited to:

• Elements (fireballs, growing vines, water, snow, ice, gusts of wind, etc etc)
• Sentient spirits/beings
• Beasts, monsters, demons, etc
• Spirits of the dead
• Spirits of nature or other abstract things
• Items (weapons, tools, clothes
• Food and/or drink

You'll have to also give some thought to where the summoned thing/being is before it is summoned; we'll talk more about the actual process of getting them from there to here in the next installment, but for now, here's some ideas. Again, options include but are not limited to:

• An earthly location (a box, safe, closet, or some other known location)
• A separate plane of existence (think like a second dimension, but overlapping this world instead of being separate from it)
• A separate world (ie: heaven, hell, an alternate universe)
  

Here's a template for you to fill out, or, if you wish you can free-write about what gets summoned in your summoning magic system, but try to address the points in the template, too. Skip any questions that don't apply to your summoned object/being/thing.

What is Summoned
Name: what do you call it?
Species:
Appearance: what's it look like?
Use: what does it do/what is the usual reason it's summoned?
Where was it before?: Where was it summoned from?
Vulnerability: Can it be damaged/destroyed while summoned? How? What about before it's summoned?
Sentience: Is it intelligent?
Independence: If sentient, does the caster totally control it, or can it disobey orders if it wants?
Power: How efficiently can this summon perform the average task it is summoned for?

 

[Krnon]

Personally, I disagree with this, as just because you summon an entity, does not mean you control said entity, as summoning brings an entity to you that already exists, but does not guarantee control in my opinion. Alas, I shall give this a try anyhow.

What is Summoned
Name: what do you call it?
Whatever it is called, such as if it has a name, or a species.
Species:
Whatever it is, shouldn't matter so long as you know the entity and it's true appearance.
Appearance: what's it look like?
Same as above, but it must already exist.
Use: what does it do/what is the usual reason it's summoned?
To carry out a task or service to the being who summoned it.
Where was it before?: Where was it summoned from?
Any of the planes of existence.
Vulnerability: Can it be damaged/destroyed while summoned? How? What about before it's summoned?
Any damage it can receive is equal to however much it normally can under normal circumstances.
Sentience: Is it intelligent?
Depends on if it is normally or not. If I summoned a cow, it would still be a cow.
Independence: If sentient, does the caster totally control it, or can it disobey orders if it wants?
Caster does not control it with only summoning it, but instead may barter with it, or otherwise make a deal. Also, even if not sentient, the caster cannot control the entity just by forcing it to appear before the summoner.
Power: How efficiently can this summon perform the average task it is summoned for?
Depends on the entity summoned, as summoning has no duration since it is plainly just reaching out, grabbing an entity, and poofing them to you.

This way would make sense to any kind of technological type of role play as you have to have knowledge of the being you wish to summon, an image of it in your mind, and sufficient power to overtake the entity and force them to show up in front of you. As such, summoners would be hard pressed to summon anything they did not know or would have no knowledge of in the first place. This way of summoning also angers the entity, as it could have been doing something previous to being in front of you that it enjoyed. As such, summoning a demon while it was tormenting souls would be a horrible idea, which is why you need to know when the best time would be to summon it. As previously stated, just because you make something appear before you, does not mean you should be able to control it based on that one spell alone.

Example: I summon a cow for milk. The cow is free to ignore me and just walk away.

In this example, I did not use a controlling spell, the cow is free to decide on it's own. Other examples could include material objects, but those aren't alive, and thus cannot object to anything they are used for, unless they are magical items with intelligence of their own, and at that point, the user needs to convey what they want of the entity, and then convince it or control it like normal. Since I only summoned the cow, it cannot comprehend my language.

It is worth mentioning that the summon usually gets sent back after completing the task it was asked to do.

 

[Minibit]

Personally, I disagree with this, as just because you summon an entity, does not mean you control said entity, as summoning brings an entity to you that already exists, but does not guarantee control in my opinion.

That's why I added the independence question; my personal experiences have shown me more 'control this thing' type summons than the other kind, but I know plenty of independent summons exist in fiction (Lucy's summons in the Fairy Tail franchise come to mind; Aquarius is frequently upset at being summoned in the middle of something, and she when she forms a new contract, she tries to work out when a spirit will be 'available' for summoning), so I left room for that kind of summon in the questions :)

Also, reading your answers to the template 'questions', I'm not sure you understood the exercise; you're meant to invent a summon, not talk about the concept of summons/how summoning works (how summoning works will be the follow-up to this installment!) :/ I'll fill it out to give you an example

Name: Vii
Species: Fey
Appearance: small, only about 3' high. Very thin in structure, with wings that resemble autumn leaves. Short, auburn hair, and a glowing aura
Use: Vii can be called on from another plane of existence to help with everyday tasks
Where was it before?: A separate plane usually called the Fey plane or the Spirit plane
Vulnerability: Vii has all the vulnerabilities of a human, but is especially susceptible to physical damage due to her frailty
Sentience: Yes
Independence: Vii chooses whether or not to answer the summon, but is usually willing to come over and help out. She is not physically controlled, but she's pretty good about taking orders.
Power: Heavy labour she's not so good at, but her innate magical abilities let her perform smaller tasks with far less time and frustration than a human.

 

[Krnon]

That's why I added the independence question; my personal experiences have shown me more 'control this thing' type summons than the other kind, but I know plenty of independent summons exist in fiction (Lucy's summons in the Fairy Tail franchise come to mind; Aquarius is frequently upset at being summoned in the middle of something, and she when she forms a new contract, she tries to work out when a spirit will be 'available' for summoning), so I left room for that kind of summon in the questions :)

My apologies, I must have been confused.

Also, reading your answers to the template 'questions', I'm not sure you understood the exercise; you're meant to invent a summon, not talk about the concept of summons/how summoning works (how summoning works will be the follow-up to this installment!) :/ I'll fill it out to give you an example

Again, I must have misunderstood, as such I should redo mine to suite.

Name: Argol
Species: Demon
Appearance: A Crimson flame with purple and black eyes.
Use: Summoned to answer the riddles of mortals with another riddle, or to do a service in return for a soul.
Where was it before?: Hell
Vulnerability: Anything holy, Water, and the Sun.
Sentience: Yes
Independence: Argol can choose whether to answer the summons in the first place, secondly, it is his choice whether or not to carry out its summon or go back to hell dragging you along with him.
Power: This entity has the power over hatred and burning desires.