Dear Mr. Stroud,
I have several questions concerning the beginning of summonings.

1. How did the first magician who performed the first summoning learn how to call upon spirits?

2. When and where did the first summoning occur?

3. What was the first type of spirit summoned and what was its name?






Thank you for taking the time to answer the questions, Neji22.

Hi there,

Many apologies for taking such EONS to reply. Thanks for your questions...

Hmm, they're tricky ones, since they involve going way, way back into the mists of time.

It is possible that the first true summonings were carried out by shamens on the Asian steppe, way back before city civilisations began. Their approach was rather similar to the innovations Ptolemy tried out centuries later - ie. they left their bodies in some kind of dream state and either crossed over to the Other Place or met spirits midway. This might have been how they made contact with entities from the OP without knowing their names first; at some later date magicians figured out ways of drawing out 'portions' of the OP essence, gave names to them and tied them into servitude on Earth. This switch to the familiar type of bondage that Bart knows must have taken place with the first city civilisations - in Sumer and the Fertile Crescent generally; in Egypt soon afterwards, and also in India and China. The very first such summoning is unknown. Bart is unusual in that he's managed to survive being summoned for several thousand years. Most of the spirits brought over in the very early years are probably long dead, and their names forgotten.

Cheers,

Jonathan