Summoning

Summoning is a future skill set to be released in January 2008. Its exact nature is currently unknown, and will likely remain so until released. Before it is released, Jagex plans to release four mini-Development Diaries and three wallpapers detailing the process of developing the skill. One wallpaper and one development diary have been released.

History
In the early days of RuneScape, life rune images were found in the image database, although they were never added into the game. Jagex moderators have confirmed that life runes did once exist in what is now referred to as RuneScape Classic, however they were unobtainable and removed them completely from the game. Many players believed that these runes were to be used for Summoning, although some thought they may have been intended to perform the same purpose as soul runes, which later replaced them.

Summoning in RuneScape
There are some degrees of Summoning already in RuneScape, both from NPCs and players. Many NPCs summon monsters and other magical energies; for example, Malignus Mortifer summons weak undead monsters (and sometimes fungi), and the wizard Grayzag, at the top of the Wizard's Tower, used to summon imps to fight for him when he was attackable.

Players can "summon" certain creatures after completing the Tower of Life quest by doing Creature Creation. At the time, some players speculated that this was all there was going to be to a players' summoning ability.

After the Tower of Life quest came out Mod Ash stated on the forums that this was not summoning and that it was more of a test to see how the servers would handle summoning. He also stated that there was more to come in this area.

Some people believed that Summoning would never be introduced into the game, due to the fact that a Jagex moderator once said that it probably won't make it into RuneScape, because it's too controversial. However, it is indisputable that Summoning will enter the game in 2008, barring an unexpected halt in its development.

Development Diary 1
The 1st development diary has been released.

Wallpaper 1
The first wallpaper has been released. It has concept art for the wolpertinger and spirit wolf, as well as a strange pile of rocks and concept for what appears to be a summoner.