Summoning Creatures?

[Zizzac]

Hey there everyone. I'm new here, just picked up the game after reading about it and fell in love with it.

I'm kind of a super-nerd for lore and the like though, so I had a question.

When your mage summons a creature, is that creature just plucked from the land somewhere else and brought through a portal to the arena? And what is making it listen to you in the first place? I can understand for some of the animals being able to be ordered to do something, but what happens when you summon a soldier? Was he just standing there at guard duty and is suddenly standing before a Hydra with some old crazy guy yelling at him to swing his sword at it?

For any of you who know of Kaijudo (Which is probably very few ), in the show they actually explain all of that. The creatures are from a parallel dimension where they have their own lives and when summoned, a portal opens and they are compelled to answer the summon and go through it. Afterwards they are controlled and ordered through manipulating the creature's own mana. (It's actually an amazing show, by the way. Totally recommend. )

I know most of it can be hand waved away by saying "It's a game.", but I was wondering if there was actually anywhere lore wise where they explained why the creatures listen to the mage's orders, and if they are just plucked away from where they're standing when they're summoned.

Thanks!

[lukard]

Hi Zizzac,

When it comes to summoning I think that coming from a portal is fair enough. I particularly imagine a small tornado of dust, smoke, and lightning forming as the mage cast some mystic words. When the dust sets down, the creature rises and stand on his/her feet.

Commanding creatures are different in my mind. I picture the creatures not being "commanded", they act on their own, they also have their own personality, and fighting style. But they are so tightly connected with their master that they can almost read the mage's mind and act according with the "master's plan".

Cheers,

[Death-from-above]

I can understand for some of the animals being able to be ordered to do something, but what happens when you summon a soldier? Was he just standing there at guard duty and is suddenly standing before a Hydra with some old crazy guy yelling at him to swing his sword at it?

I can just imagine this scenario happening. Soldier just minding his own business, on his day off in another realm and BAM! He is in the middle of an intense battle with nothing but his newspaper and a cup of coffee.
His only attacks are a 1 die newspaper swat attack and a range 2 dice coffee attack with a chance for a mild burn.

[sIKE]

When you summon a creature, you are creating a magical representation of the creature. With creatures the Legendary, Unique, and Epic traits mean that you and/or the other mages are only able to have the ability to summon such a great creature in a limited fashion as dictated by the trait.

[Zizzac]

Thanks for all the replies! I was wondering about that, sIKE. So when we summon the creatures, we are just using mana to make a representation of that creautre, not actually pulling the creature through a portal? And only the creatures with Legendary, Epic, or Unique are the ones we actually summon to the arena. Is that correct?

[sIKE]

And only the creatures with Legendary, Epic, or Unique are the ones we actually summon to the arena. Is that correct?

No it just means that only one of them (in the case of the Legendary) can be on the board (in the arena) at a given time. Epic would limit a player to having one during spellbook construction. And Unique would be a limit of one per player on the board at the time. These do combine of course.

[lettucemode]

Check out this tweet from the Arraxian Crown twitter account: https://twitter.com/ArraxCrown/status/470964335897223168

"To this day, Adramelech is physically barred from Etheria. (Though an aspect of his power may still be summoned)."

That statement implies that mages summon aspects or representations of Legendary beings as well as "normal" creatures.

[silverclawgrizzly]

I always figured in the case of a sentient creature like a Dwarf, Knight, Angel, etc the mage had already gone and said "Hey I'm headed into the arena can you do me a solid and help out?" and got permission somehow. That makes absolutely no sense outside the arena of course if you're walking along in the woods, get attacked by a grizzly bear and summon up Brogan he's likely to be annoyed with you.

The representation answer makes a lot more sense, especially if you consider that death of the creature in the arena doesn't mean death for the creature in reality. Thus you could pay someone for the right to use their representation in the arena and they wouldn't necessarily be signing their life away.

[Sand Goblin]

I always figured in the case of a sentient creature like a Dwarf, Knight, Angel, etc the mage had already gone and said "Hey I'm headed into the arena can you do me a solid and help out?" and got permission somehow. That makes absolutely no sense outside the arena of course if you're walking along in the woods, get attacked by a grizzly bear and summon up Brogan he's likely to be annoyed with you.

What if you summoned him straight out of the shower.

*Priestess just strolling around, enjoying nature*

*Grizzly Bear attacks*

*Summons Brogan*

"AND YOU'RE GONNA HEAR ME RO-ar?!!  What-the-heck-I-was-in-the-shower-why-would-you-do this-we're supposed-to-talk-about-it -GAHH!

*Screams in pain as grizzly bear brutally mauls him*

And the priestess probably wouldn't even care, cause, you know...healing and stuff.


I think that the creatures are waiting back in their respective homelands, knwoing that their Mage may summon them into combat at this time.  I bet part of the Mage Wars rules is that both Mages get ample time to warn their nations that they are about to duel and they need some minions ready to be meat shields - er, warriors.

[Laddinfance]

For common creatures, Mages learn to use their mana to create a copy of a generic representation of that creature. So, when you summon a bitterwood fox, you're using your mana to create an average fox.

For legendary creatures it's a bit different. For them you're not just copying a generic set of attributes, you're also trying to capture their unique spark and essence. So, in order to summon a legendary creature a mage will have to actually go to that creature and gain their permission to summon them. Once they have that then they can learn how to summon a copy of that specific individual. Now, each individual can only have one "summon" at a time. The magics that summon creatures cannot maintain the complexity at perfectly mimicking an individual and allow for more than one "summon" at a time.

This is why there can only be one legendary creature at a time and if they die, the original is not killed.

Hope this helps guys.

[Zizzac]

Thanks so much for the reply! That helps out a lot with what I'm working on. Thanks again!

[KosmosAlive]

When you summon a creature, you are creating a magical representation of the creature. With creatures the Legendary, Unique, and Epic traits mean that you and/or the other mages are only able to have the ability to summon such a great creature in a limited fashion as dictated by the trait.

This is such a great theory! It would explain the ability that Mages have to summon Legendary creatures that have already died. Also, it reminds me a bit of the world generation of the Hunger Games, such as the hounds being created from the fallen tributes.

This theory makes Mage Wars more believable as a sport (-ish) since it also implies that certain otherwise concrete aspects of "Destroying" creatures and Mages, etc., are a little more flexible than one might originally think. Perhaps a Mage has the ability to raise a flag of surrender to concede the match and preserve their life.

I also feel a little less mortified when a Legendary creature dies, especially since some of them are essentially Legends of Etheria, and would be greatly missed by the lore and stories (such as Ludwig Boltstorm, Adramelech, and the Angels, among others).

Best Wishes, 
--IronLegionnaire

[Boocheck]

I wouldnt dare to say, that it is a theory. Laddinfance / Mr. Aaron Brosman is a creative director/designer of AW

What he wrote is actually how "magic stuff" is working