Black Summoning explained, part 2
In part 1 of this series I recapped the rules for Conjuration in 3e. In this part 2, I will compare the bits of prior editions that were altered or deprecated.
The exact nature of the entities summoned varied by edition. In the first and second edition, the Selenim and Le Livre Noir supplements couldn't agree if the entities lived in their own world or were created by the summoner. Examples of both were given and even in-universe the summoners debated the truth. Entities were described as traveling through the Black Moon fields even without being summoned and visible in black Ka-vision, spying on summoners, and new invocations being created by the summoner astral projecting and conjuring the desired entity out of the hypothetical "dark dreams" of the Black Moon.
Altered and deprecated summons
The first edition Selenim supplement included the first round of black summons and other spells. The supplement Le Livre Noir reprinted the spells from the Selenim supplement and introduced a bunch of new ones. The second edition Selenim supplement omitted spells entirely and instead relied on referencing Le Livre Noir. The fifth edition Selenim supplement reprinted the first edition supplement almost verbatim and, bizarrely, didn't incorporate any of the material published since then. But I digress...
The supplement Le Livre Noir contained almost all the black summons created for the first and second editions, aside from one or two from subsequent supplements. Third edition incorporated most of these too, modifying the effects of many summons to make them more useful and reduce redundancy. A few received cosmetic changes like renames and redesigned appearances.
For example, "the Pernicious Serpents" changed from draining ghosts’ SK to draining BMK to avoid redundancy with "the Prowlers beneath the Gallows". I’m not gonna go over all these changes, since they’re so minor and doing so wouldn’t serve much purpose.
According to the second edition supplement, the summoner could send his summons to recover their BMK from mortal SK through an unexplained process. The GM rolled to determine whether this succeeded or not. So unlike Kabbalah summons, black summons could stay indefinitely without recasting the evocation provided the dice rolled the right way.
It was possible for at least some summons to arise spontaneously on Earth, like the elemental beasts ("dragon-effects" in French). The Tears could visit their summoner on their own, while the Pernicious Serpents would appear in particularly crowded cemeteries. However, no concrete rules were provided.
A roleplaying bit mentioned in first (and fifth) edition that wasn't carried over was a passage telling players to be creative and individualize their summons. For example: instead of summoning a Tear, the summoner called "Saalindra, Tear of the Unexpressed Sadness." (Ian noted in the margin of the translated manuscript that he preferred individualization.)
Third edition Composition allows the Demiurge to create new summons from the player’s imagination. Le Livre Noir included a roleplaying explanation in which the Conjurer underwent a vision-quest through the "dark dreams" of the Black Moon to do so, creating the desired entity by discovering it within the (collective? personal?) unconscious mind. The entities so created might consider him its beloved parent, or alternatively despise him for birthing them into the torment of existence. Again, vague to the point of uselessness.
Removed summons
Some summons were dropped entirely. I’m not sure if they would’ve been adapted in later supplements or what. I can guess that they were removed because they either no longer served a purpose, their concept was outright useless, or they didn't fit into any of the existing Appeals. They were organized into proto-Appeals, which I have preserved in the list below. The summons so removed were:
Associated with the Dead
- Les Pleureuses silencieuses de l'éternité: "The silent mourners of eternity." Could either play songs to appease the dead, or turn these songs against the living to make them decompose alive. Replaced by the Harmonious Chorus of Eternity, which was limited to appeasing the dead's Torment.
- L'ultime Abomination: "The ultimate abomination." An entity that could possess and reanimate corpses as zombies, but the dead hated this. This was removed presumably because of redundancy, as Animation was a First Circle Desmos that even those who preferred Conjuration could take at character creation.
Soldiers & Combatants
- Le Juggernaut d'acier noirci: "The juggernaut of blackened steel." A ghostly WWI era tank.
Specialists
- Les paisibles Chiens du vide infini: "The peaceful dogs of the infinite void." Canid simian creatures that the summoner may use to practice sculpting Imago's Aspects. Probably removed due to the Imago developing its own personality in this edition, thus becoming redundant.
- La Bouche d'ombre: "The mouth of shadow." A living portal between Black Moon Fields. Probably removed due to the rules for Fields being simplified to present and not-present and the lack of an appropriate Appeal.
Associated with Realms
- Les diligents Sculpteurs de néant: "The diligent sculptors of naught." Resembling wrecked bronze statues, used to construct features of the summoner's Realm.
- Les judicieux Sénéchaux des divinités à venir: "The wise seneschals of the divinities yet to come." Assigned by the Sovereign to decide whether incoming entities should be allowed to enter the Realm.
- L’Œil aux reflets de flammes froides: "The eye that reflects cold flames." An entity that would show the summoner what their future Realm would look like before they ever started construction, allow them to alter the design in advance, and draw black moon creatures to fight over the right to emigrate.
- L’Œuf d’étincelantes ténèbres: "The egg of scintillating shadows." An entity that would collect and concentrate ambient BMK from the surrounding Field so that the summoner could use it to start construction on their Realm. Presumably removed due to redundancy with the Anchor Aspect used to begin Realm construction.
Strangeness
- Larmes: "Tears." Flying blobs of liquid silvery material that served no purpose. Noted as being friendly and eager to visit Earth, even when not summoned.
- L'errant griffu: "The clawed wanderer." An alligator-like creature that enjoyed basking in nature, but unfortunately its presence caused plants to wilt and die. Again, served no purpose.
- Les étranges horloges qui décomptent le non-temps: "The strange clocks that deduct non-time" [I cannot find anything on Google consistently explaining the idiom "le non-temps," so no clue what the writer was going for here.] These were Dali-esque surreal clocks that unpredictably warped the flow of time in their vicinity, sending people backwards or forwards or even causing temporal paradoxes! I can understand why they were deprecated.
The unknown creatures
In prior editions summoners could also potentially call up the ghosts of deceased Selenim or even Saurians. This was the equivalent of Necromancy for Black Moon beings. Third edition Necromancy of the Third Circle could resurrect destroyed Nephilim and Ar-Kaim at the third circle, but couldn't target Selenim the same way.
Saurian ghosts were mentioned in first, second and fifth editions. If a summoner attracted sufficient attention, then a Saurian ghost may spy on them for months or years. It might even take a mentorship role similar to the third edition rules for sovereigns in Kabbalah, but it always had its own motives. In third edition, these entities were confined to the third stratum of the Anti-Lands and some conspired with Tezcatlipoca.
First and fifth edition had a section for handling Selenim ghosts. Like human ghosts they usually lost most of their knowledge and power, but some could provide more substantial knowledge of obscure sciences and the occult world if appeased. Within a Realm it was even possible to resurrect them as an entity with a body of BMK. Oddly, the second edition supplement omitted any mention of them. Third edition doesn’t seem to mention Selenim ghosts, even though it would fit into Thanatology affecting Immortals. Resurrecting Selenim might've been a Gain for the Quests associated with the Selenim's Occult Sciences, but since MultiSim went under before the Occult Science supplements were published then we'll never know.
Deprecated songs
Le Livre Noir introduced Pavane "chants" (song-based spells) that required a high rating in Black Kabbalah (or Pavane) to perform. Reaching this level was referred to as "The Illumination" and the fluff text said it was a complementary state to Agartha. This were largely incorporated into the Executions for the Major Scales skill of the Third Circle Composition, while the Pavane was deprecated as a distinct skill. (The fanzine Vision-Ka #6 reintroduced the Pavane as a distinct skill, now serving only to provide information on all magical fields as a research aid.)
In the first and second edition, listening to the Pavane for too long risked causing the Selenim’s simulacrum to start decomposition. The Pavane caused the Simulacrum’s subconscious to think the body was dead and begin the process of decomposition. This effect was present in third edition, but only explained in the Selenim's Codex (p15) rather than the Players' Book.
In earlier editions the other dangers included causing accelerated decay in surroundings, creating cursed places, weakening the local Black Moon fields, or getting lost in the music (the "attraction" represented by a POT). These effects were dropped in third edition and there was no equivalent degeneration, thought some Fumble results resemble these dangers. In fifth edition it was specified that sufficient decomposition would render the Selenim unable to pass for human.
The songs that weren’t subsumed into Conjuration were (organized by category/theme):
- Chants pour les Selenim ("Chants for the Selenim")
- Accord: “Accord”, makes a Selenim listener particularly receptive to the Pavane.
- Transe: “Trance”, grants a Selenim a bonus to Pavane rolls.
- Odes à la Pavane ("Odes to the Pavane")
- Création de Pavane: “Reformation of the Pavane”, add your voice to the Pavane to acquire a vague benefit.
- Création d'effets-Dragon ("Creation of Dragon-effects")
- Eveil à la conscience: “Remove the Veil to Consciousness”, summon a Genius Loci that provides a vague unfocused benefit.
- Sublime discordance: “Sublime Discordance”, dissolve an entity.
- Variations sur la Lune Noire ("Variations on the Black Moon")
- Voix du passé: “Voice of the Past,” listen to recordings of pasts sound that occurred in a BM field.
- Matérialisation: “Materialization”, conjured short-lived objects that dissipate catastrophically outside a BM world.
- Miroir noir: “Black Mirror”, conjure a magic mirror that can scry on BM fields or in BM worlds.
- Requiem pour les humains ("Requiem for the humans")
- Chant funèbre: “Funeral Chant”, sensitive mortals to Pavane, with the same deadly dangers.
- Transports: “Entrance”, place a mortal or crowd into a trance where one emotion dominates.
- Not otherwise categorized
- Attirance morbide: (Selenim 2e p69) "Morbid Attraction." Get the attention of dead souls within a 20 meter radius, translating to a bonus on Necromancy spells to attract their attention.
Coming up...
In part 3 of this series, I will recap Ian's notes for Black Summoning that were planned for the canceled US version and share some ideas of my own...
Comments
Post a Comment