Introduction to Summoning, Fourth Edition

    The art of summoning is perhaps one of the more misinterpreted areas of magic (Although necromancy is undoubtedly the most misinterpreted). When the layman thinks of summoning, in their minds, they conjure fantastical images of men on foreboding cliffs pulling godlike beings of yore out of the ether in order to use their powers for cataclysmic destruction. The reality of summoning is that conjurers of such power come around only rarely, and even if they did, the books that might have taught them to summon such beings as God-Phoenix Vercingetorix and Arch-Lich Forneus were destroyed upon the Library of Solomon's destruction in 74th Ifrit. Instead, most summoners of prestige call upon spirits of scrying and prophetical utterings, and serve as advisers for kings and generals. Another common misconception is that summoners have complete control over those beings they summon. This is only true for minor demons and spirits who barely have any mind of their own. In the majority of circumstances, a summoner is not controlling what they summon so much as directing it, or in the case of being called upon for knowledge, consulting it. With this in mind, however, a potential practitioner of summoning has much to gain from learning the art. Summoning is perhaps the most versatile school of magic, granting the summoner such myriad abilities as near infinite-range communication, healing of wounds, comprehension of the languages of monsters, detecting nearby creatures via magical essence, misdirection, and, as in line with the classic image of a summoner, creatures of combat both physical and magical. Most summoners do not attempt to master every summon known, even after accounting for those creatures whose methods of summoning are either unknown or forgotten. Instead, most summoners specialize in summoning certain varieties of spirits and demons, depending on what they intend to use their abilities for. This text is does not serve as an encyclopedia of those beings of which both the method of summoning is known & the knowledge of how to do so can be trusted to be in the hands of common magicians, but rather how the art of summoning came to be,  the materials necessary to summon, how one keeps a summoned creature in control, and finally, how the art of summoning is performed. As with all schools of magic, utmost care must be practiced at all times, lest one's concentration slip, bringing disaster upon the summoner.