Hello all. I hope this is the right place to post this. However I've been writing an RPG script for a long time now. I started it out as a hobby RPG Maker XP game compiling of lots of random bits from here and there about 4 years ago and then decided the story had potential with the addition of lots of backstory, history and deeper meaning. So I've been writing up appendixes, story scripts, mission scripts, timelines, summaries and character bios, and hopefully one day I can make use of it. Recently I've decided the word summoner (in an RPG sense) relates too much to Final Fantasy, or, to me anyways, being a fan of the series myself. One of the main characters is next in line to become the leader, high priestess or whatever you'd like to think of it for now. So I no longer like the term 'summoner'. I've been trying to come up with an alternative however cannot think of anything that does the term any justice. Basically how summoning works in this game (and it is entertwined with the story heavily) is that there is another world where aether or spiritual matter exists, and the 'summoners' are able to open a rift from that world to the world where the game takes place. This spiritual matter, upon entrance to the game's world takes physical form, and the form of the will of the 'summoner', therefor, it is a 'summon'. I hope it makes sense anyhow. I'd like to run (hopefully a successful) brainstorm session to help me find another word I could use in its place. If anybody finds a word in particular (anything at all, any ideas) I would be very grateful. Also, if you got the name from somewhere (book, site, some mythological reference etc) could you link me to where you found it so I can further research it? Thankyou for your time. :) I hope we can find a better term than 'Summoner'

*snickers at "arouser"* Personally I think of Dofus first when I hear the word summoner, but it still might be nice to invent a new term. This concept of spiritual matter is interesting. If the mage is physically shaping this spiritual matter it might be like sculpting, or like making wrought iron, or like weaving. Aetherwright is a fun word, and spiritsuclptor isn't bad. Aetherweaver and spiritweaver also both sound okay.

On the other hand if they are not physically shaping this stuff, they might be 'calling' it instead - the root meaning of 'summoner' refers to the idea that a magician is commanding a spirit to appear, and the command is usually verbal reinforced by a ritual; sometimes also a price is required to be paid or a pentagram/circle is required to contain the dangerous spirit. So you could use various words related to talking (caller, singer, chanter) or a noun for a job related to talking (bard, herald, chanteuse) and combine that with one of many synonyms for the word spirit.

The relevant activities are:

Opening the Rift
Pulling the gunk out
Shaping the Gunk at will

So, depending on what your focus is, you could call them either a rift opener or a ether shaper:

Rift, Breach, fissure portal, hole, split, chasm, passage, puncture

Ether, spirit matter, spirit element

Shaper, sculptor, master, commander, artist, creator


If they can also travel to the spirit realm, maybe they are walkers or travelers?



One direction you may think about is that there are very few phrases for things that are coined and static per group of people. So the real question is, what do the various people in your world call these summoners?

Maybe one group calls the spirit realm "the other side" so they might call a summoner an "othersider." Maybe another has a more analytical approach, and call them an Ether Architect or Ether Engineer. Maybe another group thinks what they are doing is dangerous or evil, so they coin a darker term like "chasm dabbler", or "fissure witch".

Creating a name by understanding how it is used inside the story world

I think like Pete above. The main purpose of a name is to identify. Therefore you would consider how the people in your world would identify the skill by knowing the role, actions and results of the skill. You could also consider whether summoning is an ancient skill. The more ancient it is the more likely that it would have a metaphorical name.

The word "summon" means to call. Usually to "summon" is to call an entity from another dimension, as in asking the gods to appear in your world. Therefore what you have aren't summoners.

Consider the role of "summoners" in your world. What role do they take in the society? Are there different ranks? Are they respected people? Do they treat spiritual matter spiritually? Do people normally respect spiritual matter? What do spiritual matter mean to the other people in your world?

If it's such an important element in your story, aren't there any cults/magic circles/conclaves about it? I mean, you can just make a word up. Like Aes Sedai.

How about the word "summon" in another language? (see the bottom):

Quote:
summon in Dutch is aanschrijven
summon in Finnish is kutsua
summon in French is appeler, convoquer, convoquez, convoquons
summon in German is auffordern, vorladen
summon in Italian is chiamare
summon in Latin is appello, voco, arcesso; accerso, invito
summon in Norwegian is kalle
summon in Portuguese is chame, chamar

Also Evoco is summon for latin (http://www.geeknative.com/1965/latin-spell-names-for-dd-3rd/)

Hey, thanks guys, this is really helpful stuff. I don't know why I didn't try to relate it to opening the rift itself. I'm going to either go with a 'custom' name that really describes how they control the rifts and extract things from them, or try and use one from another language.

The summoners in the game have an ancient language that is no longer used, however their sacred places are still named in the ancient language, so perhaps they should be also.

Thanks for your help everyone, a really effective brainstorm session! :D Hope I can return the favour one day.