Summoners bind Spirits to one's service for protection, industry, and utility. Summoning requires expending a Minor Merit to purse.
Warning: Summoning is not available for play as of yet.
Summoning
History
History
Acquisition
Becoming a Summoner requires having the symbol for Summoning painted upon the initiate, and then they are Incited. This causes their soul to contort, twisting and flexing, equated symbolically to giving birth from their soul. Should they survive, their Familiar will coalesce and greet them - or try to kill them in a newborn rage of confusion.
Archetypes
For a full rundown on Archetypes, see Spirits.
Lemures
Lemures are Spirits of inconsequence, often performing little more than small gimmicks related to their Metaphor. Some of these can harm the common man, however, and they tend to be more dangerous en masse.
Cambions
Cambions are usually man-sized soldiers. They are Playable Races with souls, and excepting the Rakshasa, they all have the Pact of their Plane. There is only one type of Cambion for each, and these are also a Playable Race.
Demiurges
Beings that change the world around them in their image.
Arche
Archaeon, Archdaemon
Playing as a Summoner
Summoners employ various planar beings as soldiers and servants for a myriad of purposes, from labor, to trades, or even war. They also possess a Familiar in service to them
Convergence
Each Summoner must perform the sacrament of Convergence to then summon spirits from a plane. This entails first finding the Arche for that Plane, and then contracting beneath them by performing a task. Ones relationship with the Arche of that Plane is therefore paramount to the success of a Summoner, as they can deny them a Summon; they tend to be ambivilant and fairly give and take, representing their Metaphor accurately. The Convergence costs 0 XP + 25 XP for each Convergence before it.
The task usually entails a lifelong commitment of some kind, whether it is to dedicate every meal to the Metaphor they represent, or to go about ones life in pursuit of a task. So long as the Summoner follows these words, their Command over spirits will hold; there are Summoners who deny the Convergence to instead focus on their Familiar, and those who gather each to serve monastic lives of ritual in understanding of Metaphor, bartering Planar diplomacy better than none other.
The Convergence is something a Spirit including a Cambion can sense. It will make the Spirits of that Plane feel a slight deference towards the mage, enough that they would not act in hostile ways towards them should their minds be primitive. Dissonance is when an Arche afflicts another with the opposite of a Convergence, fostering generalized hostility towards them.
While each Spirit is not totally loyal to the Arche of its Plane, each is at least guarded by a Formation of Cambion loyal to them, as well as 10,000 or more Convergence Rating worth of Spirits. The Arche of Lacon also sponsors the Cor'Norai and is protected by them
Convergence Rating
There is a limit to how many Spirits a Summoner may have permanently bonded to them at a time. As one nears this limit, their Aether Spell Reserve regeneration at that tier will be fractionally nullified until reversing course in excess of this number. Going over this limit is possible by expanding ones Spell Reserves, such as being initiated into additional Galdr.
- Each Spirit will have its own specified Challenge Rating, which also equates to how many grams of that Planes Alkahest must be sacrificed to Contract with it, and its contributing Convergence Rating cost.
- CR1: 10 Gram
- CR2: 30 Grams
- CR3: 90 Grams
- CR4: 270 Grams
- CR5: 810 Grams
- CR6: 2,430 Grams
- Novice: 100
- Apprentice: 250
- Journeyman: 500
- Expert: 1000
- Master: 10000
- Ascendant: 100,000
Example: A CR1 Spirit would cost 10 Grams of Alkahest to Contract, leaving a Novice with 9 Convergence rating left. As Summoning can be rather expensive, unlike Nekron they will struggle to fill out their retinue without a Duty or some other way to generate Seasonal Points to buy Alkahest.
Familiary
Every Summoner births from their soul a Familiar which grows with them. including any Arcana; however, they will both share the same Spell Reserves. Every Familiar is a unique expression. At every tier of skill, the Familiar will manifest a new ability from those specified in the Familiar page. Functionally, a Familiar is a CNPC which shares the skills of the Summoner up to their tier of Summoning rather than fostering its own.
- Each Familiar is as varied as the mage that spawned them, and the Spirits themselves, with the added matrix of the mages own soul. If the mage has a very fey mind, then they might be every bit as ambivalent as they are. Relationships between Summoner and Familiar are as varied as relationships between people, ranging from quarrelling lovers, unquestioning pet-master bonds, or outright subversive hostility - they tend to reflect dramaticized versions of the best and worst traits of the mage, simply due to chafing with their own identity as a lesser being to the mage that formed them.
Acquisition
Conjuration is difficult to acquire. Ascension in an Arcana is required for most.
Spells
Base Cost: Spirits
- +1.00 : 6' Tall
- +0.10 : Per -1'
- -0.10 : Per +1'
- Minimum 1' for 0.50, Maximum 60' for 6.40
- +0.00 : First Trait
- +0.11 : per Additional Trait
- +0.33 : per Equivalent-tier Skill
- +0.11 : per -1 Tier Skill
- +1.00 : per Equivalent-tier Arcana
- +0.33 : per -1 Tier Arcana
- +0.11 : per -2 Tier Arcana
- Conjurers must possess a Skill or Arcana to confer it upon a Spirit.
Base Cost: Frequency
+1.00 : Visible Incorporeal (Rakshasa Only)) +1.00 : Incorporeal +0.66 : Gas (Holds Shape) +0.33 : Liquid (Holds Shape) +0.00 : Solid/Frequency of the Caster
Base Cost: Weapons
+0.66 : Small Weapon +1.00 : Medium Weapon +1.33 : Large Weapon
Base Cost: Armor
+1.00 : Torso Armor +1.00 : Legs Armor +0.66 : Arms Armor +0.33 : Head Armor +0.33 : Hands Armor +0.33 : Feet Armor
- 3.66 Total : Full Raiment (Grand Convocation / Repeated Summons Only)
Base Cost: Vehicles
+1.00 : Small Vehicle (Rowboat / Pull Cart) +1.50 : Medium Vehicle (Sailboat / Wagon) +2.00 : Large Vehicle (Frigate / Sloop) +5.40 : Massive Vehicle (Galleon / Carrack)
Base Cost: Objects
+0.11 : Tiny Object (Rings, Necklaces) +0.33 : Small Object (Up to 1' x 1') +0.66 : Medium Object (Up to 4' x 4x) +1.00 : Large Object (8' x 8') +1.33 : Huge Object (20' x 20') +5.40 : Massive Object (60' x 60')
Base Cost: Buildings
+1.00 : 8' Defensive Fortification +2.00 : Building (400 Sq Ft Room) +0.20 : Building (Additional 400 Sq Ft Room) +5.40 : 60' Star Fortress / Castle
Multipliers: Cantrips
0.33 Base Multiplier +0.00 First Cantrip (Entire Spirit or Partial) +1.00x per Additional Cantrip (Entire Spirit) +0.66x per Additional Cantrip (Large Edge/Large Claws) +0.33x per Additional Cantrip (Small Edge/Small Claws) +0.11x per Additional Cantrip (Tiny Edge)
Example: WIP
They might also Summon spirits for which they know the True Names of who are not contracted, but are 'friends' in this way.
Conjure
- By paying a steep amount of Spell Reserves or burning an equivalent amount of Alkahest, a Conjurer may Cant a description and spiritual embodiment of what they wish to Conjure over a number of minutes until they have described it as thoroughly as possible.
- The Conjurer must possess any relevant Trade Skill(s) for shaping Conjurations; a Novice could only make a 'stick' or a 'box' and so on.
- Conjurers must know any Skills or Arcana they add to their conjured Spirits.
- Conjurers must know any Cantrip(s) they add to their creations, and their Craft Skills must be of an equivalent tier to impart them.
- Conjurers must know at least Apprentice-tier Smithing skill to create armor or weapons other than a stick.
- Conjurers use Mysticism for the organic complexity of Spirits, and Sculpting for the inorganic complexities.
- Conjurers must possess a Pact with a Godhead or else an Ascension in that Metaphor to conjure Spirits from that Plane.
- No form of Conjuration works with Canting; instead, Canting aids with the accuracy of a Conjuration.
- Should the Conjurer describe something too complex, then the spell will burn through their Spell Reserves until they enter Major Mageburn, assembling an inferior version of what was described from what was given.
Invoke
- A Conjurer may Invoke a Conjuration they have previously summoned in-character as an Inefficient Cast of the total in order to call upon it quickly.
Example: If the Conjuration costs 1.40 Spell Reserves, then it will cost 1.33x this amount for a total of 1.86 Spell Reserves of the tier it is cast at.
Grand Convocation
- By paying a steep amount of Spell Reserves or burning an equivalent amount of Alkahest, a Conjurer may call upon many copies of the same Conjuration, or else arm themselves or others within a radius with a raiment of equipment. This spell has a long channeling time.
Contract
- Mystics may contract with a Conjured Spirit by offering it ten times the Alkahest worth of Spell Reserves that it cost to cast, treating it like a Hired Hand or possibly a CNPC if it possesses the Intelligent Trait.
Communion
- Spirits are autonomous beings that function in a specified way. Communion works on any Spirit without a soul, allowing the mage to converse with and direct them mentally as they wish. Those with Souls such as Cambion will merely feel a strong suggestion which might aid in fighting cohesively. Communion may be performed on any Spirit they have Summoned or Contracted with, at any distance.
Unite
- Willing Spirits may be pulled into themselves into the Conjurer, overlaying their body. By Uniting with a Spirit, a Conjurer will attain its abilities, size, and properties for a time.
Banish
- Summoners may banish Spirits within their line of sight with so much as a gesture, including those Contracted to other Summoners, and their Familiars.
Tiers of Mastery
Novice
Description
- Spell 1:
- Description 1
- Description 2
- Spell 2:
- Description 1
- Description 2
- Spell 3:
- Description
- Spell 4:
- Description
Apprentice
Description
- Spell:
- Description
Journeyman
Description
- Spell:
- Description
Expert
Description
- Spell:
- Description
Master
Description
- Spell:
- Description
Ascension
Creations
Ensorcelling
Alchemistry
“Blurb! Or a mote of history.” - The person.