So, we know that each spirit becomes an individual spirit when they are summoned...but how do the magicians know their names if, say, the spirit they summoned had never been summoned before? Do they just try some random name?

There are different rituals for creating new spirits, which are largely avoided or lost by modern magicians, as they're much more difficult and dangerous, and there's no shortage of existing spirits around to be summoned, vast quantities having been created in ages past.

Ah, I see....thanks again!

Sentynel wrote:There are different rituals for creating new spirits, which are largely avoided or lost by modern magicians, as they're much more difficult and dangerous, and there's no shortage of existing spirits around to be summoned, vast quantities having been created in ages past.

Hmmm that's interesting. Did you hear that from the author, or is this said somewhere in the books?

I wonder how it works. Do the magicians actually Create the new spirit from scratch? Or do they just lump together a bunch of essence from the Other Place?
If it's the latter, then are spirits not sentient until they are created/summoned? Could one theoretically lump together more essence onto an existing spirit to make it stronger? Or maybe even combine multiple spirits into a new demon!

Ahhh, so many questions and possibilities. I'm kinda glad Stroud left the series so vague. It allows for so much speculation and new ideas~

It's hinted at in the books, but the confirmation is from the questions to the author section here, as I recall. As I understand the process, it involves carving a section of the Other Place out as a separate entity, which becomes the spirit. I've seen nothing to suggest a ritual adding extra essence to a spirit has been attempted, much less successful.