Summoning

Summoning is the art of, well, summoning Others to come do your bidding. It is one of the more basic spells any practitioner can learn regardless of their school. Those who specialize in summonings are called Summoners. Classified as a creation practice.<ref name=":C"/>

Methodology

Summoning is a school focused on deals and conjuration. It is extremely versatile, due to the sheer amount of capabilities Others bring with them.<ref name=":1">Conjure x Deals: Summoner - Gathers an assortment of minions to summon and deploy, often from a variety of types of Other.  Brings them to the field, often for limited times, or puts them to work undertaking certain tasks.  Oftentimes the deals that make an Other available to summon are limited use; three summons ever, for example, or they only appear for a duration. - Pact Dice: The Practices</ref> There are a variety of ways to summon something. Some can be as simple as saying its name repeatedly,<ref>“Ms. Lewis,” I said.  “Would you happen to know the name of that something nasty that might come if I called it?”

“Yes,” she said.  “Ornias.  He once placed stars in the firmament, but he now calls them down to earth.  Say his name seven times.” - Damages 2.5</ref> or opening its container.<ref>I drew the whistle from my pants pocket.

I blew.

Rather than a high pitched noise, there was only a low wet sputter, and Dickswizzle was spat out onto the floor. - Breach 3.4</ref> While some Others require a specific ritual to summon, bind, and/or use.<ref>Pact Dice: Evangelists</ref> Additionally most summons are also limited in use, e.g. can only be summoned three times, only stays for a certain duration, only summonable in hot areas, etc.<ref name=":1"/>

Creating or constructing new Others is also classified as "summoning", even if they're not being summoned from anywhere as such. Summoners will often have specialized tools and techniques for this.<ref name=":0">“No. I’ll keep your confidence. The masks they’re talking about, they’re not uncommon in some circles. When you deal with a lot of hostile Others, you don’t want them coming after you. It’s also a way to make it easier to evade a bounce-back, from a curse or a wayward summoning. I thought your own masks might be something like that.”

Brie continued chewing.

“Does that help us?” one of the girls asked. It was a lower volume, which might have been her asking her friends. - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.z</ref><ref>“He was once a summoner.  He may be forsworn, but there’s nothing saying he couldn’t have something stowed away.  He can use objects that an ordinary human could stumble onto and use, they would likely hurt him or have a chance to turn on the user, but with caution or sufficient preparation?  He made Others as the core part of his practice.  He could have sent something to do his work.” - excerpt from Stolen Away 2.2</ref>

One common trick employed by Summoners is wearing a mask when summoning or creating an Other, making it harder for the Other to identify and target you (such as in the event of a Bounce).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":C">

• Summoners call on and combine forces to manifest, forcibly combine or alter, and custom-create Others. Often masked to hide their identities from the forces they use and call on, they may have creations last for only moments to perform one action, or last indefinitely.

- PACT DICE: Creation</ref>

Return to Sender

Main article: Bounce

Summons which are sent after a target, but successfully rebuffed, will often "rebound" against the summoner stronger than before.<ref>“Now demand it return to its master and do its utmost to weaken her and harangue her.”

“Returning a summoning the same way we might return a curse?” Verona asked.

“Exactly so.” - excerpt from Stolen Away 2.6</ref><ref>One of the bogeymen they’d sent out the door only a minute ago.

“It’s a bounce!” Alexis called out, springing to her feet.  “They blocked her somehow!  She’s after the nearest available target!”

Return to sender.

A very good reason many practitioners were very careful before they sent a curse or a demon stomping over to their enemies.  If they fucked up, or if the enemy was clever or strong enough, that same curse or demon or whatever could come back, stronger.
[...]
“Bounce her back,” I said.

“Antique box,” Alexis said, standing just to my left.  She held a box a human might have been able to fit inside, but only if they really contorted themselves.  “Not sure how to get her in it, but once we do, we can push her outside the library and remove the lid.”
[...]
The box fell, cracking on the floor.

Each return-to-sender makes the summoning stronger, I thought. - excerpt from Malfeasance 11.8 </ref> They could then be rebuffed by the original summoner, sending them back against the original target - but if they are bounced back a third time, they will be significantly strengthened.<ref>Bogeyman came with a container, practitioner broke the container?  Approaches to binding rituals.

Sent bogeyman to go murder someone in the most horrible ways possible, but they were blocked, and came back to me, what does the practitioner do?  Do the same thing, and hope they aren’t equipped to bounce it back for the third total time, because it would be far stronger on the third trip. - excerpt from Malfeasance 11.2</ref> This is because of the power, hostility and outrage they absorb from the person rebuffing them.<ref>He was wrong about what the crow was, but he still managed to capture and bind it.

He sent it back at the ones who had created it, with a touch of added power, hostility, outrage, given freely, and the compact of the Invader’s ways of dealing with spirits.  A seal, which made the crow both less of what it had been and more a part of things.  A different manner of things.- Interlude 11</ref>

Notable Summoners

• Charles Abrams

References

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