Summon

Lore & Background

In the world of Dahna, the boundary between a person's inner spirit and the physical realm is thinner than in most fantasy settings. The Summon arts are a direct expression of that thinness: the caster does not merely swing a weapon or flick a spell, but draws the very essence of their being outward into a visible, devastating shape. For Dohal, the ancient dragon bound to Alphen, a Summon is less a spell and more a roar made manifest—a column of molten force that shakes the ground for dozens of meters. For Monarca, the vampire lord, it is a spiraling maelstrom of crimson mist that seems to drink the light around it.

The in-story justification for why each character can Summon is tied to their origin and the specific type of power they carry. Rihana's Summon draws on the healing light she channels through her staff, turning a restorative force outward into a purifying wave. Kyuuketsuki's is a concentrated blade of spirit-energy, reflecting her discipline and the ghostly edge of her swordsmanship. Even Alphen, whose power is a mystery even to himself, can call forth a raw, unrefined burst that feels less like a technique and more like the world itself pushing back through him.

What unites every Summon in the lore is the idea that it costs something. The characters describe the sensation as pouring a portion of their will, their memory, their very self into the attack. It is not infinite, not free, and the cooldown between casts is framed narratively as the time it takes for that poured-out essence to slowly seep back into the caster. This gives the mechanic a weight that goes beyond a simple button press: each Summon is a small act of self-sacrifice made visible.

In Their Own Story

The canyon walls of Kuron glowed faintly amber in the late sun. Alphen stood at the mouth of the narrow pass, his sword lowered, breathing hard. Behind him, Rihana pressed her staff to her chest and whispered a word he couldn't quite catch. Then Dohal's great head lowered beside him, scales catching the light like hammered copper, and the dragon exhaled—not fire, not yet, but a long, trembling breath that fogged the air.

Monarca materialized on the ridge above, cape snapping in a wind that hadn't been there a moment before. "Let them come," the vampire said, almost smiling. "I have been saving a little theatre."

The first wave of enemy soldiers crested the pass. Alphen raised his hand. The air split open with a sound like a bell struck underwater, and a pillar of white-gold light erupted from his palm, swallowing the front ranks whole. Dust and debris hung suspended in the glow. Dohal roared, and the canyon walls cracked. Monarca's shadow unfurled across the sky like a second, darker sun, and the remaining soldiers scattered into the rocks.

Rihana was already moving, her staff tracing arcs of soft blue light over the wounded in the rear. "That's enough drama for one afternoon," she said, not unkindly. Alphen let his hand drop. The light faded. The canyon was quiet again, except for the slow tick of cooling stone.

Reader's Guide

A Summon art is the highest-impact single action in your rotation. It costs a chunk of your AP pool and triggers a personal cooldown, so you cannot spam it. When you activate it, the character locks into a brief channeling animation, then unleashes a wide-radius blast centered on their position. Every enemy inside that radius takes heavy elemental damage, and the attack often applies a secondary effect (a brief stagger, a status ailment, or a damage-over-time tick) depending on which character is casting.

Every recruitable party member—Alphen, Rihana, Dohal, Monarca, Kyuuketsuki, and the characters you add later—has at least one Summon art, and each one is tuned to their element and playstyle. Dohal's Summon hits hardest in a forward cone; Monarca's spreads in a full circle; Rihana's is a wide frontal wave. The in-story reason each character can do this is their unique source of power: Dohal is a living dragon whose very breath is force, Monarca draws on centuries of accumulated dark energy, Rihana channels the world's healing light, and Alphen's power is an unexplained wellspring tied to his own identity.

Build tip: if you want to maximize Summon value, keep the casting character positioned so the blast radius overlaps as many enemies as possible before you trigger it. Pair a Summon with a prior crowd-control Art (a knockback or a slow) so the enemies are clustered and can't escape the radius. Also, because the channel animation leaves you briefly vulnerable, try to Summon after a successful dodge or at the end of a combo rather than in the middle of an enemy's attack window.

Did You Know?

• Each character's Summon art has a completely unique animation and visual effect, so a party of six can unleash six radically different spectacles in a single encounter.
• The Summon channel animation is non-cancellable, making timing your activation relative to enemy attack windows a core part of the risk-reward decision.
• Dohal, the dragon companion, is treated as a full party member for Summon purposes, meaning the party can effectively have seven distinct Summon variants available depending on roster.
• The in-story framing of the cooldown as the caster's 'essence seeping back' is a narrative device that also serves as a mechanical limiter, preventing Summon spam without a hard numerical cap.