Talk:Summon Assassin/Names/@comment-24438839-20150914142632/@comment-16533050-20150915200837

Realized I forgot to reply to your query...

I guess I kinda approach story-elements in games the same way I approach them when writing my own fics.

With my own stuff, I set up scenes as one would a play – setting, time of day, and most importantly placement of the characters. While I know there are some constraints to realism such as the Outsider’s supernatural element, and that Dishonored IS a game that has to follow different rules, there are things about Summon Assassin which just does not make sense.

First, where ARE these assassins who get summoned by Daud? Nearby? Far away? A secreted locale? The Void? To just have them waiting around near Daud as you say makes sense to some degree, but what if something happens while they are there waiting? Perhaps they get engaged with an enemy and start fighting… what then? Do they teleport mid-blow? Does any assassin come into a Summoning wounded? Or short on ammo if they were firing bolts at the enemy?

If they are not engaged, then WHERE are they? We never see them. They could be hidden somewhere say off inside a building, but then if the Summoning does have a range these hidden assassins have to keep up with Daud as he moves across whole districts… AND they have to remain hidden during this time. While plausible to some degree, this just wouldn’t make sense from a logistical POV, as they would then have to jaunt about after him remaining unseen the entire time.

Also as they are summoned, they look about and (if unengaged in combat) offer some quip about the area. This suggests that they are a bit surprised as to where they have ended up, so that seems (at least to me) to negate the ‘they are nearby’ suggestion.

Second, the Summoning never fails (unless Daud is shy of mana). This suggests that Daud KNOWS the summoning will work. He has to have some sort of link with those assassins he summons and be able to tell their readiness to act upon his will. Again, this suggests that Daud has them kept in a secured area where they can’t be bothered or harassed, always prepared to do his bidding.

Third, if defeated in combat the Summoned Assassins “will seemingly disappear by blinking” according to the trivia on the Summon Assassin page. Where exactly do they go? The bodies I mean? This has always bothered me since the Prolog mission with Corvo. The bodies don’t turn to ash like the Shadow Kill ability, and the prolog of The Knife of Dunwall DLC shows Daud waving his assassins to attack as opposed to using the Summon Assassin ability. So again, where do the bodies of these fallen assassins go?

This would, once more, indicate some type of preparation taken in advance, maybe a ritual or something wherein the assassins who get summoned have their bodies returned to a specific point/area. This place would have to be hidden or secured so that wandering eyes would not fall upon it. It would also suggest an area that Daud or the other assassins could get to without being harassed. If it were close to where Daud was when he summoned them, the risk is run that he wouldn’t have time to evacuate the bodies.

Again, I propose that this area is far away, like a summoning circle or ritual site where the assassins wait to be summoned and then can again be returned (either alive or dead) to be used once more. It seems much more plausible and carefully thought out, such as one would expect with an a master assassin as meticulous as Daud. Having his lesser assassins just following him about seems a bit random and offers too many unneeded risks.

In my own fanfiction this is how I have it set-up, so I guess you could say it’s just my head-canon on it, but I have tried to think up many variables to explain it. The fact that I have taken Advanced Logic courses and studied Logistical Management also skews my views to a degree.

Anyway, once again TL/DR.