Spiritualist

The proper title for someone who is capable of summoning aeons, spiritualists are said to have toppled empires and challenged gods. In ancient times, they were both venerated as saviors and feared as destroyers. Marked with sigils of starlight, these gifted few can call forth the likes of demons, dragons, angels, and elementals—but only the strongest among them can actually control the forces they unleash.

While many who dabble in the arcane can become adept at beckoning entities from the farthest reaches of the planes, none are more skilled at it than the spiritualist. This practitioner of ancient magic forms a close bond with one particular entity, known as an Aeon, who gains power as the spiritualist becomes more proficient at their summoning and their bond becomes stronger. While a spiritualist’s power comes from within and is truly their own, in the most dire and dangerous of circumstances they must be able to rely on their Aeon companions to help them pull through-- for while a spiritualist and their Aeon may function as individuals, their true power lies in what they are able to accomplish together. It is said that the two are forever linked, each sharing a shard of their own essence in a Pact that cannot be broken.

All spiritualists are marked by a Starlight Sigil, which first appears whenever they form their Aeon Pact. These distinct markings have lead to the spiritualists being called "star-touched", and have at different times in history been worn with great pride and tremendous shame. They can appear anywhere on their body, and are typically no larger than the size of a palm of the hand, though exceptions have been known to occur. A matched marking also appears on the aeon's form, though sometimes there are slight variances in angle, scale, or pigmentation. A spiritualist’s Starlight Sigil glows whenever they utilize their powers-- most commonly, whenever they are summoning their Aeon or issuing them commands in battle.

Aeons themselves are viewed as some of the most powerful and deadly creatures to have ever existed in Sharum Mal'Kari. By extension, the spiritualists who are able to call upon them have traditionally been revered as nobility in recognition of this strength-- but during the reign of Kaiser Radegonde von Aegir, attitudes shifted towards fear as spiritualists were conscripted and forced to serve as weapons of war. After all, even in times of peace, spiritualists had always been known to be very versatile and capable combatants; since they have the potential to make a Pact with such a wide variety of entities, their resulting abilities are extremely unpredictable and enable them fill a wide variety of roles on (and off) the battlefield. In the years that followed the bloody and merciless War of the Heavens, a series of witch hunts were carried out to eradicate spiritualists and all who supported them.