Summoning/Summoner

As the number of Dragons declined during the Third Age, the sentient species of Eien sought an alternative method to attain power outside of the ambient magic of the soil. The Ti’nisin people of the Plains were the first to discover that beings from ‘elsewhere’ could be summoned - later learning that they were pulling beings from the Ethereal Plane. The most commonly summoned and contracted being were Lesser Spirits, with some extraordinary Shamans finding and binding the souls of Lesser Demons and Greater Spirits. These first Summoners became legends in their own time, with some attaining what many believed to be the secret to eternal life.

This later proved to be the Shaman’s undoing and led to a sundering of their people - with several rival factions splintering off. Those who shunned summoning for personal use remained on the plains as nomads - utilizing their Ethereal companions only in defense of their settlements. The rest traveled north, following the Sun until they came to a place that would later become the Empire of Kejas. Kejasi shamans soon developed their own religion alongside formal magic, becoming priest-mages capable of summoning beings as powerful as a Greater Demon.

As for the rest of the world, summoning became a rare specialty of magical study - with most mages capable of it careful to keep their secrets to themselves and their most trusted apprentices. The types range from spirit summoning (generally of known Mortal Spirits, such as ancestors, and of famous Ghosts) elemental summoning (generally of Lesser Spirits with elemental affiliations desired by the summoner) and blood-path summoning - also known as Demon Summoning.

Blood-Path Summoning is the rarest form of Summoning, and it is only practiced among the Kejasi Priest-Mages after the corruption of their religion by the The Order of the Dawn. It always results in the summoning of a demon, and always binds the will and soul of the summoned in a process very similar to the manner of the Alfather’s corruption. The ritual has been known to snare and corrupt lesser spirits into fallen versions of their pre-summoned selves. No demon or spirit wants to be summoned by this ritual, and they will fight once brought to the Material Plane in a circle. Blood Mages must be very certain of themselves and their skill before attempting a summoning.

Summoning's Bright Side

Though the practice of Summoning often seems to draw the very worst of Eien's magic-users, there is something to be said for the shifting of magical energy between the planes. As the Dragons decline and their magic wanes, the magical energy of the Material and Ethereal plane festers in place, leading to hot spots of stagnate energy on both planes that infect nearby beings and bring illness and calamity.

Summoning beings from one plane to the other - including the Ethereal's habit of snatching material beings in areas where the boundary is thin - stirs up the energy flow and keeps both planes from stagnating completely. Ideally, the Dragons will return in numbers and restore the balance themselves, but in the short term - summoning assists in relieving pressure.