Final Fantasy: The Summons

While every Final Fantasy game creates its own world out of whole cloth (with a few exceptions) there are some characters that keep reappearing: The Summons (well, they aren't always "characters", sometimes they aren't more than glorified special effects for spells, but they are still a constant.) Which ones they use and even exactly what they are supposed to be also varies, but overall, I'd say that without summons, it would not truly be a Final Fantasy game.

I'm currently trying to reinvent my Final Fantasy Infinity RP in a more practical, yet more epic, version. Then it occurred to me that I had the solution all along: I need to base the story on The Summons! In my setting, these beings are akin to gods (think Final Fantasy X) -beings who influence the world and are (sometimes) worshiped. Also I've noticed that there's a tendency to describe some of them as "evil" notably the twelve who form a "Zodiac" (with Ultima as the 13th symbol.) I've always wanted to do something with them, so why not now? Tentatively, I'm calling this "War of the Summons" and it's about Ultima gathering the Twelve to declare war on the King and Queen of the Land of the Summons to take it over. How and why the PCs get involved is up to them.

One problem: since there have been so many versions of the Summons (Odin, for example has at least two different, but kickass, origins) I'm going to have to choose a specific background for each.

Hence this thread. What do you think about the idea? Which Summons (and which version of them) should be used? Do you even like the concept of Summons? Feel free to comment.

Note: The reason I post this here and not in the RP Forum is that I'm still only *considering* doing it. I need to form the plot well and do research. once I feel I have something solid, I'll offer it there. Feedback is appreciated.

edited 20th Sep '11 4:36:33 PM by Sijo

Ultima(Virgo) is the 12th Scion. Zodiark(Ophiuchus), the 13th, is way more powerful and also the only Scion that can be called not-evil with 100% certainty. Some other Scions(like Famfrit, Hashmal, and Cuchulainn) are closer to being morally ambiguous.

edited 20th Sep '11 4:59:03 PM by JotunofBoredom

I have had an idea for a summon-based story, but it's not really similar to what you described and I dunno if it would work all that well for an RP...

I can't say I know much about the plot justifications for the summons, just the gameplay. As far as that goes, though, Bahamut all the way.

...I read the thread title, thought that was the name for a new FF game, and came prepared with a joke about Jury Duty.

Bah.

Also, I suppose they'd fall under Legacy Character.

edited 20th Sep '11 6:58:54 PM by RocketDude

Let's see, plot justifications for the summons...

• III: None that I know of.
• IV: They seem to just be powerful entities that exist in the world, although I don't know if they're given a real justification...
• V: They again just seem to be powerful entities that exist throughout the world, although with less story importance than in IV.
• VI: They are beings from the land of Espers, and pretty important to the plot.
• VII: They aren't really given any justification at all. They're just another type of Materia.
• VIII: Again they play a fairly important role in both gameplay and the plot. Apparently the Ultimania went into a lot of detail about the how Guardian Forces work.
• IX: Pretty important to the plot once again. They can be controlled by summoners and take the form of jewels.
• X: With the whole fayth thing, possibly the most detailed justification for summons.
• XI: No idea.
• XII: They are scions banished from the heavens, or something along those lines, I think?
• XIII: Guardian spirits that appear to l'Cie when they are in need.

Yeah, there's so many takes on them that I've decided to go with just the basics for my game. They're seen as deities because they're immortal and they can grant mortals the ability to summon them. Of course their powers run the gamut from the mighty Bahamut to the lowly Imp.

As for Ultima, I've been thinking of making her (him?) the villain because I read somewhere that it was banished from the Land of Summons for creating dangerous magic (the Ultima spell). The parallels to Lucifer are obvious.

Ultima as in the one from XIII and Tactics?

Okay here's the in-game explanation for Espers/Scions:

"Beings of strange form and appearance made by the gods in ancient times. Favored with great strength and intellect, the Espers knew power far beyond that of men, but their power made them proud, and at length they sought to challenge the gods. Seeing this, the gods were angered and struck down their blessed children, and binding their souls and flesh with the Glyph of the Beast, they stole their freedom for all eternity. Now they are bound to live only when summoned by their Glyph, to serve whosoever called them forth."

Ultima lead the Espers(save Zodiark, who presumably just kept to himself) in their rebellion. Nothing about her having created a spell though, you might be confusing her with Ragnarok from FF 6(the Esper you can obtain the Ultima spell from).

I'm pretty sure I read something about Ultima and Magic somewhere; in any case, for my RP, I'm not bound by the conditions of any of the games- I'm basically picking from the various interpretations of the characters the ones that make most sense or are the most interesting to use. Again, the parallels between Ultima and Lucifer are there. Plus, one art piece of (her?) I saw had the whole fallen-angel look.

In Tactics, the Ultima spell is a secret ability only Ramza can learn through either Ultima or one of her demons. It's not a forbidden spell or plot point. It's just there in the game.

Also you can probably just look this all up on the FF wiki.

I remembered a plot justification for Scions and Espers in A2. There wasn't much (only a sidequest), but basically, Espers are the things summoned by Summoners (referred to as gods), and Scions are their lords, an order of magnitude above them. Which of course means they do what you want.

I don't remember there being any such explanation. Where are you guys getting this info? Are you accidentally combing a bunch of plot points from the different Ivalice games?

In Ivalice, Esper is just a catch-all term for any magical creature you can summon. The Scions weren't originally Espers, but were cursed to be Espers as punishment for rebelling against their creators.

I don't know about the rest, but I *am* combining plot points from all the games- my RP is an Alternate Universe thing where all the characters from all the games co-exist. It's just that with the Summons I have to be more selective since obviously their multiple origins cannot all apply. I'm trying to decide which version for each Summon is best and/or more logical. For example, which Shiva is your favorite?

Final Fantasy X should've had more summons and unique abilities amongst them.

Maybe an underwater temple with Leviathan?

So, what's your plan regarding naming conventions for the summons as a collective? Between the Espers from VI and XII, the Eidolons from IX and XIII, the GFs from VIII, the Aeons from X...

It does seem odd that, of the four elements present in X, Water seemed to get the proverbial shaft with regards to summon representation...

Eidolons is used in IV, IX, and XIII, which makes it the most frequently used, but Esper is recurring too, so I think it could work just as well.

And then there are the Totema from FFTA, where the Summons/Scions/w/e that appear are related to the different races. *

@Jotun: It was a pretty unimportant sidequest (of the "ask Lezaford" variety) called "To Whom Gods Bow".

To reflect the fact that these are my version and not any particular game's, I'm thinking of calling them simply Summons, though it does sound a little awkward. Perhaps "The Summoned?" (Note that their priests are the Summoner Class- in this setting, every Job Class is a specific guild, complete with uniforms.)