James checked again the result of his latest experiment, an innocuous looking pendant on the table of his workshop, and grinned widely as the enchantments were exactly as expected. The boy was a self-proclaimed genius of the magical arts, and the new piece of jewelry he create was to become his masterpiece, the catalyst to raise him to the level of a famous mage and beyond. Because while he was very intelligent, James unfortunately was lacking in the pure power department, and he struggled to use the more intensive spells.
This was the unfortunate truth of the magical communities in the world: more often than not the affinity of a wizard or mage was determined at birth, with the least talented always treated as second class citizen by the ruling class.
At the end of the day power made might into the magical side of the world, disregarding the accomplishments of the so called ‘lesser’ mages, that surely with their feeble attempts at magic they would never contribute anything decisive. This is what had happened already in one of James’s previous research group, where the far less brilliant but extremely gifted witch Amelia took and published as hers their discoveries, threatening the other members into submission when they opposed her unilateral decision, probably backed by her family too.
After all it would be very difficult for a person of lower affinity to contest her claim, the racism was so widespread that the entire affair would be described in the news as a smear campaign against an upstanding citizen from a jealous researcher, without even mentioning what the family or the ‘upstanding citizen’ would do to a second class citizen that didn’t heed the warnings.
A mage that didn’t follow up on their threats is a pushover in their society. And this new project… had the potential to change the status quo and topple the old families from their secure positions.
A problem that no mage recognized was that only one in ten gifted persons were accepted into the magical side, while the other nine were considered not worthy enough for an education. Of course, this was a gross oversimplification, but it was useful to understand the mentality of the old generation, and a critical mistake in thinking.
Nine out of ten that could interact with the mystical force were left ignorant, living all their life in anonymity, squandering their potential in their ignorance. So what would happen if somebody, like James for instance, could somehow absorb their wasted energy to boost himself? In the past many tried to do this, but it was deemed not time efficient, considering that you would need at minimum a week to break the natural protection of the affinity, and another one to suffuse the subject with your power to use the other human as a battery, for a small improvement in affinity. Compounded by the fact that you needed to do the deed in person, and the fact that the newly created battery must remain alive for the original wizard to reap the many benefits, no one did it anymore. This is why multiple medallion were crafted in his workshop and spread through the world, with an additional enchantment to automatically find the next host.
Power, intent and imagination. That were the three precept of magic, and it was intent that was his focus on this matter. The medallion would seek a potential mage and absorb their own affinity to function, granting a few minor abilities, while emitting a field of the creator’s energy. The more one used a medallion, the more James had control of it and the victim, and the clever compulsion in the pendant to crave the abilities of the medallion and not divulge his existence was his method to ensnare even the most reluctant. After that… well, those unlucky to find one of his trinkets were to be maintained alive, but they would not be allowed to casually spread their brief adventures with magic… as luck would have it James bought with his savings an abandoned farm in a rural area far from prying eyes and it was almost ready to welcome its new denizen, and the new animals that would soon follow after…