More SMN Lore

Y'mhitra Wrote:Let us review the history and role of the summoner, that we might never forget the tragedy that befell the unfortunate Tristan.

A summoner is a unique type of mage who harnesses the energy of the primals and reshapes it into a biddable avatar. In the ancient Allagan tongue, these avatars are known as "egi." Only those who are present at the defeat of a primal and have captured its savage essence are able to manifest such aetheric entities. Now, any explanation of the summoner is not complete without a brief history of its origin.

The Allagan Empire reached its peak during the Third Astral Era. Dissatisfied with dominion over Eorzea alone, this thriving civilization sought to expand its borders to ever more distant lands. Eventually, the empire cast its avaricious gaze upon the southern continent of Meracydia. The peoples of these nations did not, however, take kindly to being invaded, and they summoned the primals to repel the Allagan forces. Hard-pressed by these incarnations of elemental wrath, the leaders of the empire's military were forced to alter their tactics. They ordered the mages under their command to devise some manner of magic with which to counter the primals, and, after much experimentation, the art of summoning was born.

The magic invented by these arcane pioneers met with great success, and, within the Allagan Empire, the title of "summoner" earned the bearer an uncommon measure of awe and respect.

Y'mhitra Wrote:My studies of the tomestones revealed to me a tale of adulation: the summoners of Allag were revered as heroes for their part in defeating the ancient primals. But reverence slowly turned to revulsion as practitioners─intoxicated by their own immense power─began wielding the art of summoning as a means to further their own selfish ambitions. That is not to say, of course, that all summoners chose to become tyrants. Amongst the common people, however, it became a strongly held superstition that those who meddled in the powers of primals ultimately fell into the embrace of evil. This superstition blossomed into outright terror, and that is when the mage hunts began... By the end of the Third Astral Era, the last of the summoners had vanished from the stage of history.

(While the "official" history credits the Allagans with the creation of Summoning, certain aspects of the MSQ heavily suggest that the Ascians may have taught the Allagans exactly how to do it in the first place.)

Y'mhitra Wrote:In the ancient tongue of the Allagan Empire, it would be known as “Ifrit-Egi,” where “egi” translates approximately to “pure” or “the essence of.” In short, you have tamed a willful manifestation of Ifrit's raging fires.

Y'mhitra Wrote:According to the records we recovered, the summoners of old would perform these rites in a land in which the naturally dominant element matched the aspect of the avatar they wished to call forth. Only in such a place might one sufficiently shift one's aetheric balance in the desired direction.

Now you must focus. Visualize the aether flowing through you, a vibrant current of energy transforming into living fire. Hold this image in your mind, and the raging heat of your life force shall spawn an egi wreathed in flames! Be aware, however, that this nascent entity will appear before you unbound and hostile. It is your charge to overpower the avatar, and establish yourself as its master.

Gamerescape E3 Interview Wrote:Q: At Fan Fest, we had some people very interested in the nature of faeries and we got a lot of information about that. I thought we might talk about Egi this time. We know the story is that you’re tainted by the aetherial mist that comes about in a primal’s defeat. Can you be more specific about how that works and how that comes back out in the entity you summon?

MCKF: Basically, every being is made up of aether. It’s your own aether, and that is you. By taking your aether and splitting it, you create an egi, but you still have yourself. The thing is, you’re maintaining both of these at the same time, which is why summoners can only do this with one egi at a time. If you split yourself too much, your grip on yourself is gone and you fade back into the Lifestream. That’s not to say there aren’t certain beings in the world that have a larger pool of aether; some beings can split into multiple egi, while maintaining that balance, before they die. As for how to create an egi, as you said before, you get that mist – that taint – by defeating it; it goes into you. You are creating an image of what that primal was, so without ever having seen it, you cannot create it. By attuning with their aetherial remnant, you know that primal and can attune an egi in that image. There are no new egis in 3.0, and the reason why will be explained in a way that ties back to this information, as well.

Fernehalwes Wrote:GE: Can you give us some details on what happens to a person when they become tempered by a Primal? How much of their identity remains? Also, speaking of “tempered,” some people have taken to the idea that this term was only supposed to be attached to Ifrit, since tempering involves heat, and we see other terms attached to the process with other primals (Drowned / Touched). Care to shed any insight on what’s up with the different names?

MCKF: Back in 1.0, in that first Ifrit battle, that whole thing is that Ifrit has his blue flames that he spits out. That’s what tempers the people. There used to be NPCs that would go “No! I’d rather die than be tempered!” because it takes all of you away. It tempers you, removes part of your will to make you more acceptable to the teachings of Ifrit and the Amal’jaa. How much of the identity remains depends on how much tempering has been done. You don’t get a full tempering in one shot. One tempering will remove some of your will, but you’re still kind of conscious. If you remember back in 1.x you have people in the Serpent Reavers that were “drowned,” but they were still talking about their lives in the past, but now they’ve changed.

GE: So, it’s like a diet tempered.

MCKF: Yeah, there’s still a little bit of them left, but they’re convinced of the true power of Ifrit, Leviathan, etc. The more you get tempered, the more you lose. Currently, there is no known way to cure the tempering. Currently.

For Ifrit, the process is his blue flame. For Leviathan, they’ll dunk you in the holy water and you become Drowned. It’s the same process, but it’s a different kind. For Garuda you’re being touched by her gales of tempering, and so we’re calling it Touched. It’s that element washing over you and taking part of you away. You can assume there will be something similar with Ramuh and Shiva like Shocked or Frozen.

Fernehalwes Wrote:Q:
After Bahamut Prime is defeated, it is assumed that Bahamut's regenerating body is dispersed into aether so he can finally rest in peace. Does this mean that Bahamut may once again be resurrected as a Primal in a future patch, should we ever step foot in Meracydia?

A:
As has been mentioned in past quests, most primal summoning comes down to the faith of the primal's followers. That faith acts as a beacon for the primal's dispersed aetherial essence, allowing for the remanifestation of a being whose infinite number of parts were tossed into that giant blender known as the Lifestream. If enough followers of Bahamut (or perhaps Dalamud, which, ultimately is the same concept) were to gather and perform a summoning, then technically anything is possible (with the proper amount of aether to act as the catalyst), and it doesn't necessarily need to be on Meracydia (which, in many places is still a smoldering waste, even today). What needs to be understood is that the state of the believers when the summoning occurs directly affects the manner in which the dispersed essence of the deceased is reconfigured. Tiamat, knows of this first hand due to her failed attempt to resummon her fallen beloved. She and Bahamut's brood knew Bahamut better than anyone, but since their hearts were darkened by sorrow stemming from the loss, coupled with hate directed towards the Allagans, the Bahamut that was ultimately brought back ended up being naught but a twisted shell of the dragon Tiamat remembered. This also explains the differences between the actions and temperaments of other primals spanning from 1.0 to 2.0. The needs and desires of the believers doing the summoning changed following the Calamity, resulting in changes in the primals they summoned, Ifrit and Titan, even Shiva all being good examples (though Shiva's differences span back further than just 5 years ago).