Summoning Magic

When they say that we're 'walking on the shoulders of giants', I doubt that they had this in mind. Summoning Magic is not something that can simply be covered in a single, brief discussion like this; in many ways we owe our understanding of magic through the Hysilens to this form of magic, and the mysteries surrounding it are still extensive.

— Tsuki Koike, Eleventh Radiant Empress of Bhailu

One of the most storied magical forms in the world, Summoning Magic is an ancient magic believed to have been developed by the Hysilens themselves, and is truly capable of mindboggling things that break with tradition for most forms of magic.

History of Summoning Magic

Age of Innovation

Few discussions can be had on Summoning Magic without discussing the Hysilens, who were believed to have potentially created Summoning Magic - referring to it as Memoria Magic - or at least spearheaded its development. It's generally accepted that the entire race possessed a bloodline for the magic, and that their innovations in the art of summoning was truly extraordinary, wholly departed from elemental conjuration magic.
The most famous and... complicated contribution made by the Hysilens to the magic at large was without a doubt Memoria Creation, detailed further below. Through this magic, the Hysilens' were able to attain true mastery of the planet while possessing little in the way of industrial capacity - if the ruins are to be believed.
The biggest travesty for much of the world is that the Hysilens don't remain to inquire about their grand magic's limitations - among other things, no doubt - as it even possesses its own Crysium Shards, which would potentially imply - if they made it wholly themselves - that the Hysilens understood the process of creating their own shards, on a scale truly beyond anything the world understands today.

Early History

Following the departure of the Hysilens, they were said to have left the knowledge of summoning with the Raqise, who explored it during the era of the Raqise Confederacy, but their magical interests quickly veered to darker arts, and their interest in the summoning arts faded quickly, until it was nearly lost following their collapse.
Summoning Magic rarely had a bloodline in the mortal races prior to the Shard Ritual, which made it slow to pick up knowledge, but discovery of the Hysilens' and Raqise's ancient ruins and their exploits with the magic spurred many on to investigate its capabilities anyway. The discovery of the ritual and its spread across the world led to a great deal of interest in summoning magic as a general force multiplier - as the Memoria Beings were potent combat additions.

Memoria Shards

Memoria Shards are one of the most curious types of shard, as they're rare, but renewable; the shards grow on the sites of great battles and catastrophes throughout history, to be harvested by the rulers of those regions almost as a consolation price - a cruel sense of humour if that was indeed the Hysilens' work, for sure. In either case, the destruction needed for the shards to grow is significant, making the acquisition of the shards still quite difficult.

Modern History

Nowadays, most of the world understands their own limitations of the craft - Dominant Conception and Memoria Shifting - but attention has shifted mostly to the dizzying heights the Hysilens reached with the magic, it - very reasonably - being viewed as the pinnacle of spellcraft that is still misunderstood, and the chief example people make for why, despite their magical excellence, the Raqise never truly matched the talents of the Hysilens.

Uses of Summoning Magic

Memoriate Summoner by Lee Jeong Min

Planar Conjuration

While not immediately coming to mind when summoning is mentioned, in reality one of its most powerful aspects is the ability to conjure equipment and items from planar energy, effectively forging a spectral weapon or item that - for all intents and purposes - functions as its original version, and can be used by the caster.
As per the nature of magic, these weapons and items are more brittle and very obviously magical, but they are an excellent combat tool all the same, allowing a Summoner to bring any weapon they desire to battle with just a thought.

Memoria Conception

The actual practice of summoning is a long and storied one, often colloquially known as Memoria Conception in reference to the Hysilens' term for the practice, it generally revolves around the use of spirits, siphoning parts of their energy into a Concept, so-called because it effectively represented the being. These Concepts could then be used in the summoning process to create a simulacrum, generally known as a Memoria Being. These beings are effectively perfect copies of the original Concept, albeit weaker but fully loyal to the caster.
Over time, a Summoner can perfect this technique to bolster the base Concept, making stronger copies of the being during the actual summoning process, and a particularly famous power at the highest bar of skill is the ability to manipulate and customize a Concept, allowing for the summoning of completely bespoke and unique beings, independent of any other Concept. These beings can be immensely disparate, and often have a much more vibrant personality, but are still unwaveringly loyal.

Dominant Conception

The pinnacle of the branch of Summoning Magic concerned with actual summoning of creatures, Dominants are known to be the aforementioned personalized Concepts, except these Concepts are created through a willing partnership with another being, typically of extraplanar relation. A Dominant and its summoner have vastly varying relationships, but share their power together, the Dominant being reshaped as per the Concept - though not entirely, for the being itself has a lot of say - while lending the summoner its power and vice versa.
Generally, the distinction between the two doctrines is that a Dominant Being is far stronger than a Memoria Being, but the relationship is just that, a relationship involving both give and take, and not one of the summon mindlessly obeying its master or mistress with no discussion. Some Dominant relationships can be like that if that's the preference of all parties, but that's far from a given.

Memoria Shifting

Memoria Shifting is the doctrine of summoning concerned with changing the self instead of another being. It functions very similarly to Memoria Conception except for the fact that upon the refinement of a Concept, the terms of that concept are blended with the form of the caster to change it in a way that somewhat resembles the Concept.
Initially, these changes would be minor - clawed hands or feet, a set of vestigial wings, and so on - but as a Summoner's mastery of both Memoria Conception and Shifting increases, the specificity of the shift can vary greatly, from precise shapeshifting of certain, controlled body parts, to a full shapeshift into the Concept.
Indeed, these techniques even function for the customized, personal Concepts, making Memoria Shifting a very potent combination for a Memoria Conceptionist, indeed.

Dominant Summoner by Khoa Viet

Memoria Creation

While Summoning Magic at large is famous, few aspects are truly as well documented, yet not understood, as Memoria Creation. Believed to be the form of summoning magic all of the Hysilens' were skilled in, Memoria Creation is, according to all known laws of the magical world, a literal impossibility.
For one, it can create anything out of magic, and do so permanently, with no drawbacks of brittleness or such intrinsic to ordinary magical creation, completely breaking one of the well-documented limitations of magic. On top of that though, its capabilities simply defy convention; it by all metrics replaced all forms of industry for the Hysilens', explaining the age-old question of how they advanced so far with no obvious technological backbone, but leaving all new questions as to the limitations and capabilities of this wondrous magical power.
With the Hysilens' believed to be ascended to godhood and unwilling to discuss their magic - even if the veracity of that belief is not fool proof - however, such questions and quandaries may well remain that way. All that's known for sure, is that Memoria Creation was the closest form of magic the world has seen to physics-defying, with only Blood Magic matching it, but only by breaking a single law of magic, instead of most of them.