Black Summoning explained, part 3

In this post I will go over the surviving notes on the canceled US adaptation and share a few ideas of my own. (Links for Part 1 and Part 2.)

The canceled US version

Ian's surviving notes were only working from a translation of the first edition Selenim supplement, and lacked access to the second edition supplement or Le Livre Noir. Nonetheless, he devised a three circle structure for Black Summoning independently of the third edition published a few years later.

To quote his notes:

BLACK SUMMONING

This occult science involves three circles of invocations that draw quite bizarre creatures out from the Black Moon fields. Black Summoning is actually quite seldom used among the Selenim for four reasons: 1) it is generally too expensive in BMK to cast the spells; 2) the creatures summoned are often too dangerous to control safely; 3) Black Moon creatures can only be summoned in the very strongest of Black Moon fields, which are few and far between; and 4) because the spells are so nasty, few Selenim are willing to teach them to potential rivals.

First Circle - These summonings generally invoke goblin-like creatures that are able to affect the emotional states of their victims. There are also one or two creatures that can do a minimum of direct physical damage. These creatures are invariably invisible to anyone unable to sense Black Moon fields.

Second Circle - These creatures are distinctly more powerful than the previous circle, and they have more dire abilities, including physical damage and the destruction of various types of Ka. They are also much harder to control.

Third Circle - These creatures are almost off the scale. They are beyond control and possess the most alien and malignant knowledge beyond the ken of most Selenim. Virtually no one possesses these spells, and those who do would not be foolish enough to share them with others.

(Note: As may be inferred, at least some of these beings of the Third Circle are the lingering spirits of the great Saurians.)

Although I doubt there was any cross-pollination because these notes were publicly released on his personal website at the same time the third edition was released, the basic concept behind these circles is eerily similar to the French version. The only difference is that Ian's third circle allows the summoning of powerful entities just like the Nephilim's Summoning.

Ian would've made the Tenebrae (renamed from French's Pavane) more important than the purely roleplaying tool it was in first edition. Since he never had access to Le Livre Noir and never learned of the songs linked to Black Summoning, he made it a skill tied to Necromancy instead (so see my post on that science for details).

My ideas...

These ideas are tentative. I would use a hybrid model of Ian’s notes and Nephilim: Revelation. The first and second circles are already conceptually very similar between the two, so I won’t recap that here. 

What I will note is that, as with Liber Ka, all conjurers may design their own spells and aren’t limited to relying on acquired foci. While conjurers cannot invent entities with the desired properties from scratch until they reach the Third Circle, they can still research known entities (i.e. published spells). This may involve consulting occult libraries on summoning, contacting other entities for their knowledge, or using astral travel to find an entity to contract.

I’m developing a new Summoning system to match the enlightened magic system, so Black Summoning will be affected too. The primary change will be that magic is subtler. Most black summons are invisible outside black Ka-vision, but those visible aren’t recognized as such by the uninitiated. They’ll usually be dismissed or rationalized as something mundane, or in the worst cases misremembered as cryptid or UFO sightings.

The Magic Technique associated with each Circle of Black Summoning would have a unique name: Lesser Conjuration, Greater Conjuration, and Composition. As such, Black Summoning is also called Conjuration. Indeed, Black Summoning is actually the Black Moon equivalent of both Sorcery and Summoning, so the name Conjuration actually makes more sense.

The third circle is where Ian’s notes and 3e diverge, so I’ll describe my idea for that here.

The Third Circle, Composition, has several applications:

  • Compose black summons with the desired properties from scratch, then share the new spell with others. This only creates new summons for the prior circles, never Black Keys (see below).
  • Compose and perform various songs that exploit the Tenebrae to affect the magic fields, a kind of "Black Sorcery." These effects often aren’t very powerful, all things considered, but they are certainly unique. Songs may exist for the lower circles, but I'll save that exploration for later.
  • Summon Black Keys from the forbidden Sefira Da'ath. These terrifying entities are just as powerful as the Keys of chromatic elemental Summoning. Don’t call them.
  • Conjure the ghosts of deceased Selenim, and potentially resurrect them. This effect is shared across the Third Circles of the Selenim’s Occult Sciences.

Additionally, Black Summoning is associated with its own astral realms spontaneously composed of humanity's nightmares and worst desires or deliberately constructed by Selenim. Although Black Summoning is often used to conjure entities from scratch, it is possible to summon existing entities from these realms. Some of these realms have their own sovereigns with ulterior motives, such as Mictlantecuhtli (mentioned in Major Arcana).

Hope you enjoyed!

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