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. However the Conjure schools are especially adept at it. Those who primarily use summonings are called Summoners.

Methodology

Summoning is a deal and conjure oriented school. It is extremely versatile, due to the sheer amount of capabilities Others bring with them. 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>. Regardless of how the Other was summoned, the biggest danger is in giving it a command that could rebound it back<ref>“I realized what we did wrong,” Rose said.  “The terminology of the binding Maggie and I set up when we primed Midge to come when I gave the word, it was too narrow.  She was supposed to defeat all enemies we had in the immediate area, then return… but when we defeated some of the enemies-“

“She couldn’t follow through,” I said.  “Freeing her of the contract.” - Subordination 6.08 </ref>. Additionally most summons are also limited in use<ref>Pact Dice: The Practices</ref>, e.g. can only be summoned three times, only stays for a certain duration, only summonable in hot areas, etc.

Return to Sender

Summons and hexes which are sent after a target, but successfully rebuffed, will often "rebound" against the summoner stronger than before. 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><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><ref>Barriers will serve their purpose, but hexes and deleterious magics will often glance off the Bane, rendering them a potent devise against the unwary.  Without expecting their workings to go awry and come back to them, such a Magus might find themselves dealing with their own practises and the Bane both. - excerpt from Duress 12.3</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>

Known Summoners & Summons

Rose Thorburn Senior

• Ouhim (First choir)
• Morax (Second choir)
• Zapan (Third choir)

Rose Thorburn Junior

• Mary Frances Troxler (Mirror girl)
• Tallowman (Wax zombie)
• James Corvidae (Bird trickster)
• Midge (Subhuman)
• Diary Girl (Paper Bogeywoman)
• Gunter Veit (Bogeyman welder)
• Nurse of Darnby (Bogeywoman nurse)
• Bristles (Bogeyman "dog")

Maggie Holt

• Dickswizzle (Goblin)
• Screwloose (Gremlin)
• Douchegargler (Gremlin)
• Buttsack (Goblin)

Alister Behaim

• Tick (Clockwork spider)
• Clockwork Knight

Diana Thompson

• Hunter Arrangement
• Swan Arrangement
• Dipper Arrangement

The Shepherd

• The Dead of Toronto

References

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