Alter Aeon The Great Library

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Note - as with any topic, researchers should question the reliability
and veracity of these texts.  The library's aim is to preserve
documents, not verify accuracy.

AABN:  10521
Title: a book entitled, 'Evocations, Conjurations, Summonings and Teleportations, Volume 2'

Evocations, Conjurations, Summonings and Teleportations, Volume Two

A treatise on the interactions of evocations and transportation magic and
their reaction on the planes.

by Lady Nora, Knight Commander of the Order of the Nymph

The text is extremely detailed and increasingly becomes very complex. 
About midway through the book is this dog-eared page:

Planar Interactions of Evocations and Summonings

A question that has puzzled young spellcasters as they learn about these
magic schools is this: why is it easier to evoke fire from the very, very
distant fire plane than it is to summon a being from a few feet away?  The
answer goes like this:

Evocations and conjurations ride the eddies of dimensional boundaries to
complete their magic.  Summonings and teleportations rely on the intangible
magical currents already present in a plane.  It is a simple fact of the
universe that dimensional boundaries contain more potential to act as
magical conduits than the invisible flows of magic within any given plane. 
Crossing that planar bounder empowers a spell.  It gives that extra boost,
above and beyond any possible transportation magic contained within a
single plane.

If one had the means of entering the fire plane and not being scattered to
atoms, one would find that evocation and summoning works exactly like it
does on the prime material plane.  It would be easier to, say, evoke a
chunk of earth from Alter Aeon than it would be to summon a fire elemental
from one part of the fire plane to another.  You would be able to conjure
an elemental from Alter Aeon (if any elemental would answer the beacon).  A
teleport spell could transport you all over the fire plane, but you would
not be able to leave the fire plane via teleportation.

This is why a summoning must be performed by a more experienced and
skillful spellcaster than an evocation.  The summoner must supply the
means, willpower, and mana to accomplish the task.  The cosmos will not aid
him.

Nevertheless, distance is a factor in both evocations and summonings.  With
regards to evocations and conjurations: although the distance of all planes
from Alter Aeon is astronomical, the crystalline plane is farther away than
the lightning plane, which is farther away than the ice plane, which is
farther away than the fire plane, which is farther away than the shadow
plane.  This is why the shadow plane can be accessed via channeling instead
of casting, and why casting fire elemental spells is easier than ice,
lightning or crystal spells.

The same principle is enforced for summonings.  It is easier to project a
beacon with precision over a short distance than it is over a longer
distance.  Summoning from or to somewhere very far away can be next to
impossible.  Teleportation circumvents the restrictions on distance at the
cost of inprecision.