Humans - Summoners
The Summoners of the central continent are Human, but highly trained in the arts of spell-magic. Their rituals and lengthy summonings take a lot of energy and skill. Summoners are often strong and wiry in build, pleasant enough to look upon but not ravishing in most ways. They have mostly tan skin tones, but some are swarthy and darkly exotic looking. Their hair is almost always dark and slightly wavy, but often turns white prematurely (or in their case perhaps normally goes white in their thirties). The men mostly sport finely kept beards and goatees, and the fashion among women is veils and shrouds – though there is no strict requirements for women’s clothing. The Summoners eyes are often brown, but verge into hazel, gold, striking yellow-orange, violet-brown, and brilliant red.
Both men and women participate in the actual summoning of creatures, demons, imps and elementals. In general however it has always been males who dominate the history of strong magic. It is central to every Summoner that they know how to control what they bring into this world and thus they are taught to unsummon before they are actually allowed to summon. Dismissing an elemental or small servant is easier than doing so to a major demon, but the essential theory remains the same. It has always been these summoned creatures who do the ‘real work’ in the area, from hollowing out the cliffside homes behind the Blue-Well falls, to carting waste out, and harvesting their crops. Only a few Summoners actually have hands-on experience with those things but must know in theory before bringing anything in to do that work for them.
Of all the magic-users in Dragondeep, the Summoners are most at risk both socially and magically. They reach out past the barriers between worlds, and yank sometimes unwilling creatures into this world and cause them to work, then stuff them back – if they’re lucky and don’t die while working. Plenty of Summoners prefer to bring only elementals or the simple-minded imps to aid them, but some are intent on controlling bigger and more dangerous creatures. The act of summoning something is, in and of itself, often noted as being euphoric – those who continually summon, therefore, may even be considered addicted to it. As most addictions go, without intervention, a Summoner may need more and more danger or difficulty in their magic. There is a fine line between ‘euphoric’ and ‘orgasmic’ power, and Summoners tend not to see that line until it’s too late.
It is for that reason that the Dragons are wary of these people, because they know from experience what it was like to be slaves held by magical means, and they do not respect this. And though they have in fact caused some serious issues around the world because of their magic, it seems as though the Summoners just don’t care what other people really think about them. They only do what the Dragons ask – or “don’t do what they’re told not to do”, rather – because the Dragons are not to be trifled with. That’s where their respect for others desires ends.
A Summoner child is taught at a very early age, from the time they can begin to speak and move their fingers adeptly, to pronounce things properly and to read and write. Precise wording and pronunciation is essential to summoning rituals, of course, and any mistake in transcribing a spell for later use can be disastrous. Summoners as adults generally have the most flawless penmanship, and when they are found abroad they are often being paid to do journalistic and research tasks, in addition to whatever summoning they manage.
Romance among Summoners is a blustery, impressive matter. Summoner women are hard to impress, and in particular they want a man who is able to bring and dismiss powerful servants. The more powerful the servants, after all, the bigger their household can be. Of course, this means that plenty young men wind up dying in the process of wooing their woman, and the women are left to clean up after them. Typical.
After marriage (which is a huge event in any Summoner’s life) it is considered forbidden for a woman to be with any other man, and likewise a man to be with a different woman. While it’s forbidden … there are plenty of ways around this, not the least of which is the fact that they consider only Summoner men and women in this law. Therefore almost anyone else is fair game for mistresses or man-meat. A particular favorite is for a couple to actually go out to challenge one another to find partners among the Jewel Witches or Necromancers, Elves or even Wyldkin (though they tend to remain with Skins and not the fully morphic versions). Summoner households are quite bizarre as seen by others; there is no jealousy involved when a woman discovers that her husband has a Witch for a mistress or that there is a handsome Lumin artisan doing more than giving the wife backrubs. The primary concern is that the Summoner may lose his touch with his rituals. They have a yearly ‘house cleaning’ event around the entire Summoner community, in which any non-Summoner house guests are put out and the family gets its own time together.
Summoners can live a bit longer than typical, but rely upon potions and rituals to do so, and this hardly ever ends well. The fact is that Summoners are apt to be highly volatile people, and any chance they get to one-up each other, they will take it. This means, a woman might be sipping her longevity potion and discover it to be poison instead – her land may now be her daughter’s. They have had a quick succession of leaders in their eight or nine thousand years on Dragondeep, almost all of whom have been killed by other politicians. It may be possible that they inherited the foolhardy ways of the Domain of Illumination, they are extremely similar in their cavalier and dangerous attitudes, in addition to their heavy reliance upon spell-magic. Their politics are organized around wealth and power, an oligarchy with a strong magical foundation.
Because they rely upon their summoned creatures so much, they have time to enjoy life, and are the most common frequenters of the pleasures of the Grape Barony for vacations. Summoners travel a lot, making note of interesting species and locations, and are also among those who move through Portals back and forth making sure that the other worlds are still rich with life. They alone can create their own Portals, since they have the basics of teleportation involved with their summoning techniques. It is through these home-made Portals however that some number of disasters have occurred, not the least of which had brought numerous demonic entities into Dragondeep where they remain in the Rotwood province.
While many Summoners would hardly ever put their hands on a shovel or plough, a few still live a more or less normal lifestyle on the mesas above the waterfalls of Blue-Well, though more are merchants and traders if they have a profession other than merely summoning things. One thing the women in particular do exceptionally well is tailoring, and their export of clothing is a thriving business. They import woven cloth from the Reed people as well as from other parts of the world, and put them together into a fascinating array of beautiful designs. Even the Starcourt Elves admit that they like the fashion sense of the Summoners. They are also well known for their amazingly extensive culinary delights, some which rival the Grape Barony’s in taste. However they concentrate on spicy, fun foods – brightly colored with the saffron and curries brought through the trade routes, and it is almost a crime (and surely a sin) to pass up on a Summoner’s offer of a seven course dinner!
Prominent Summoners of the Era
(none at present)
