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Need Opinion on What Term to Use

Karousever

Karousever

formerly known as Jaketiger1116
Okay, so I'm working on a magic story, and there's several different categories of magic and such, and I've decided to take one and split it into two similar categories. The names I've come up with are Summoning and Conjuring, one is to be used to bring forth creatures and demons and the like from another realm to assist the user, while the other is for transporting objects through space instantaneously.

But the problem is I don't know which term to use with which category. The reason I split them up in the first place is because the method for each was completely different, so I decided there wasn't much of a reason to keep them together.

If it's helpful at all, here's a more in-depth explanation of each method:

For the creature/demon thing, the magician will have met the creature, usually through a friend (since magicians rarely if ever travel to the realm the creatures are from), and make an agreement. The creature agrees to lend its services, and whenever the magician needs them, he'll pay a small fee, usually pricking his finger and wiping a drop of blood onto a coin, tossing it into the air and speaking the creature's name for it to come forth. Some powerful creatures require a larger payment, but this is all it takes for most. The coin will vanish and in its place the creature will have appeared.

For the transporting objects thing, the magician will design his own sort of "seal", which will be some sort of design inside a circle (always inside a circle). For an object he wishes to transport, he will draw his seal on it (or a container containing it), speak the word "Open" (in the magical language, of course), assign the object a name, and then speak the word "Close." Then, whenever he wishes to transport it, he will draw his seal wherever he needs the object, speak its name, and it will magically transport to the location of the new seal.

So, what do you think? Which term should go to which method? Also any other comments you have may be helpful, if you have any suggestions or the like. Please and thank you!
 
Summoning is associated with getting things, not sending them. Conjuring is simply making it appear, which doesn't perfectly conform to what it would be used for, but is closer to it than "Summoning." Summoning should be used to describe the appearance of the demons, then, and conjuring should be used to describe the sending of an object to another place.
 
I've always interpreted summoner as being more of a summoning living helpers, whereas conjuring is more like creating nonliving things. So I think the terms should go to them in the order you described them -- you summon a supernatural being (or a perfectly normal friend) to assist you, and you conjure a table that you have previously put a mark on.
 
Majora said:
Summoning is associated with getting things, not sending them.
Click to expand...

Well to clarify it sort of works more that way anyway. Say you etch your seal into the back of your phone and name it "phone" in the magical language (pretending there would be a word for that, they don't use technology). One day, you go to school, and you realize you forgot your phone. So you're sitting in your first class, you can draw your seal on the desk, whisper "phone," and feed the required amount of magical energy required to transport your phone. And your phone then materializes on top of the seal on your desk. You're usually on the receiving end of the transportation (until you need to put it back), which is why I considered summoning still relevant. Like, you know, summoning your phone from its original location.
 
Oh! That makes sense, then! Still, I'm going to stick with what I said before; Superbird brings up a good point, in any case. And Conjuring (or whatever you decide to call it) involves sending at one point, at least!
 
Superbird said:
I've always interpreted summoner as being more of a summoning living helpers, whereas conjuring is more like creating nonliving things. So I think the terms should go to them in the order you described them -- you summon a supernatural being (or a perfectly normal friend) to assist you, and you conjure a table that you have previously put a mark on.
Click to expand...

I think the opposite - when they're put together, I associate summoning with inanimate objects and conjuring with living objects. Maybe I'm weird, though!

Either way, I think your readers will understand it well enough as long as you're clear about which is which.

Also, you can always change the name. My current story has about 10 different terms for the same thing, because I can't figure out what to call it. You'll get it by the end!
 
Sandstone-Shadow said:
I think the opposite - when they're put together, I associate summoning with inanimate objects and conjuring with living objects. Maybe I'm weird, though!

Either way, I think your readers will understand it well enough as long as you're clear about which is which.

Also, you can always change the name. My current story has about 10 different terms for the same thing, because I can't figure out what to call it. You'll get it by the end!
Click to expand...
Well, summoning has a more organic connotation, since you can summon a person! You could probably conjure a person, too, but I don't think you can summon an inanimate object. It's up to the reader's discretion, I suppose.
 
Well I think I've finally settled on the terms to use. I took all my categories of magic and gave them -mancy names. Although...a quick Google search told me that -mancy doesn't mean what I thought (and that a lot of people are using it wrong). Is it still okay to use it the wrong way, then? I mean, it's new meaning has become so much more popular than the old.

Anyway, the two new terms are Vocomancy and Locomancy. I mean I guess they almost mean the same thing, but I like them as they are. Voco, to call, and loco, place, or from place to place. Vocomancy for Creatures, Locomancy for objects. I just hope they aren't too confusing...

EDIT: Okay so apparently -kinesis is what I want, not -mancy...but that's harder D: Locokinesis? Vocokinesis? Ehhh. Doesn't sound right. Does anyone else have any input? And for the record, I'm looking for the commonly used fantasy terms for these suffixes, not the literal ones. Apparently -mancy is all about divination, so a pyromancer is one who divinates from fire, not controls it. Does it matter if I ignore that and say a pyromancer is one who manipulates magic energy and produces and controls fire anyway? Urgh.

Another EDIT: Urgh! Look! See, even here! And they say that -kinesis is usually for psychic powers and the like, and now that I think about it, yeah...and my characters are magical, not psionic.
 
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I must admit to not being a fan of -mancies and such. Seems to me that you could solve the name problems by having separate names for each direction - Summoning/Banishing and Conjuring/Sending.
 
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