shellphones | first ⚡ a topic on summoning

Type: Text
Sender ID: ramuhs
To: General public
Subject: Summoning other creatures and people
Warnings: None except maybe FFXVI spoilers in their respective threads?

[// PUBLIC PORTION //]
A curious question to my fellow riftfarers — to those who are capable of "summoning" or calling upon powerful beings or even people, how does it work in your world? Any particular requirements? Contracts?

And have you any luck doing so while here? Any changes you've discovered?

[This is a general broadcast type post, so anyone can threadhop if they'd like to swap stories or anything! Cid will be reading everything...with very keen interest.]

[// PRIVATE TO FFXVI CAST //]

In case you're wondering what this is about, while on that ghost ship a girl somehow managed to summon me from a rock she had—materia she called it. She also knew about Ramuh and some of the other Eikons from our world.

Given there was no warning and that she might not be the only one, thought I should give everyone a heads up. For now I'll be trying some tests with her to see how it works and will share the results.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hey again! Rikku here.

...I'm not the one who knew how to summon, but my cousin Yuna did. Where I'm from, the people were desperate to win a war a long time ago, and they could undergo some kind of spiritual ritual to become what we called fayth. Their spirits were trapped in living statues. People who were self-sacrificing and had the talent for it then trained to become summoners. Once a summoner had prayed to the fayth statue and made a pact, they could summon that aeon at any time. The people who'd become the fayth, though...they were kind of stuck in this dreaming state between life and death, most of them for a thousand years.

We had to...let the fayth die, I guess, to finally save the world. Because it turned out the big bad Sin who kept attacking us was powered by a corrupt summoner, and he'd keep coming back as long as an aeon's power was there for it to steal. So no one can summon anymore.

[Oh, it's Rikku. He hadn't expected this, so he reads with keen interest.

...Though of course there had to be some corrupted individual that messed with everything. Reminds him of a certain something.]

So were the fayth and the aeons the same? Or were the aeons a separate entity and their spirits create a connection between the aeons and summoners?

Kinda? I only got to see a couple of the fayth myself, because non-summoners weren't supposed to get near the statues...but then we broke the rules. When Yunie made pacts with them or talked to them at their statues, they looked mostly human. But when she summoned them they were in their aeon forms, big and strong and kinda scary sometimes.

So once human, became a spirit, and transformed into an entity that could be called upon to use when needed.

[Those people really must have been desperate to enact such a ritual...]

What kind of pact did your friend make?

Apparently it was really intense. Praying to the fayth always made her really tired. I guess they were testing her to see if she was worthy.

There were actually even more powerful aeons called Final Aeons. They were born from one of the summoner's guardians---a family member or friend---sacrificing themselves to become a fayth. The strong bond made that aeon way stronger than a normal one. Summoners were trained to use the Final Aeon against Sin...but Sin secretly had that corrupt summoner inside it, right? So when Sin hijacked the Final Aeon, forcing that fayth to bend to its will, it severed that bond and the aeon's summoner died.

That almost happened to Yuna too...she only refused to go through with it when she found out we were all lied to and the friend she chose would become Sin.

[...Wow, that is a lot.]

Was there a reason that Sin did that?

The summoner inside Sin was Yu Yevon. He was the founder of the Yevon religion that most of Spira followed. They were the ones who recruited the people to become fayth, set up the summoners' pilgrimage, and taught that Sin always came back because people sinned by using machina. That's why most Spirans hated my people, the Al Bhed. Yevon was telling them that Sin was our fault.

We Al Bhed never believed in Yevon, but...I never thought Yevon was intentionally keeping Sin going. I just thought they couldn't control it and needed someone to blame. But Yuna and most of her other guardians believed in Yevon their whole lives, it was an even bigger shock for them.

[...

Wow, why is this so similar to what they've had to deal with. Differences to be sure, but concept is similar.]

But for what? Power? Rule over everyone?

...Something like that.

Machina was more common thousands of years ago. We've salvaged a lot of ancient stuff! It turned out Yevon banned it so no one could use it against them, and the leaders hoarded it all for themselves in secret lairs.

But Yevon and Sin's true purpose was to protect..a certain summoning they did. It was a recreation of a city that had been destroyed in the war with fayth-people...born from memories, I think? I don't understand it so much myself. But hanging onto a long-gone place was so important to him that he was willing to keep the rest of the world in fear under his control so that no one could get close enough or strong enough to destroy it.

[...Why is it that the more he reads, the more similar it sounds to their own problems in Valisthea? Different details, different beats, but overall the same story.]

But your friend managed.

We were all so proud of Yunie...but it broke her heart. All the fayth had bonds with her, even though they wanted to be set free. And it turned out one of our fellow guardians, her boyfriend, was really a fayth who'd escaped that dream city. We lost him too.

Yuna's so strong. I helped her as much as I could after all that, but in the end, we've all gotta deal with it you know? Anyway, why'd you want to find all the summoners?

Her boyfriend was a fayth?

[Wait. What. No that's tragic, but how did that work—no wait he shouldn't have asked that right now.]

No, nevermind. I was trying to be a bit more discreet about this before all the coeurls left the bag, but someone was able to summon me due to being the vessel of Ramuh in my world. Thought to try to feel things out to find a way to not have that happen again, or at the very least more palatable for us to deal with.

first ⚡ a topic on summoning

text, un: sylreha

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