Energy Sourcing: Shelby Method

Energy Sourcing

In the Shelby Method of wizardry, a wizard draws energy for his/her spells from themselves and also from their surroundings. The more energy they can get from their surroundings, the less they use up their own energy and the more powerful they can be. Energy comes from auras, but the problem is that there is only weak static aura in most general surroundings, providing very little to draw from.

However, sometimes a wizard is able to fine and use more powerful sources of energy and use them to his/her advantage. White Mercury for example is both a source and a conductor, allowing wizards to draw in a lot more power a lot more easily.

Often times there will be certain sources, which will correlate with a wizard’s own aura. Some wizards can draw more energy from the flame of fire, other’s can draw from a storm, or high winds, some can get energy from flowing water others from a growing tree.

Also most wizards can draw energy from life forms. In desperate measures, a wizard’s horse might be used as an aura source, or a stray dog or captured rabbit. Usually the larger, more complex and more powerful a life is, the stronger their aura will be and a better source they can provide.

Drawing energy from people can be very dangerous. Even with good intentions and a willing source, a wizard could anciently do serious damage by using a person as an energy source. This is not only because of the physical and lethal risks, but also because having a wizard draw upon one’s aura can do all kinds of emotional and mental damage, leaving a victim traumatized or insane.

However, some wizards will still risk sourcing from each other. If both the wizard and the source are trained and working in a carefully controlled situation, they can collaborate to perform much more powerful spells, which neither would have been capable of alone. Sometimes, whole groups of wizards will collaborate to perform especially powerful spells. This is called collective casting.

If a wizard is going to draw from another human being, it is safest to do so from another wizard, because then the source will usually be able to stop the flow of power if they need to and can also draw in energy from the surroundings, effectively stabilizing the process.

The act of drawing in energy from a source will usually involve physical contact between the wizard and the source. The amount of power able to be draw in depends on the conductibility (usually the closer in similarity the auras are the easier it is for the energy to transfer,) and the strength and power of the source’s aura (a person will have a much stronger aura than a sparrow or a flowing stream.)

When a wizard draws power from a person, the victim will usually feel it immediately. Firstly, they will feel the connection as cold and tingling. The cold will grow and spread throughout the body and turn into a painful ache, which will gradually increase to a more intense pain throughout the body. They will start feeling weak, dizzy and very short of breath, then loose strength and movement in their limbs. Next their sight will fade and finally the victim will loose consciousness. If the wizard does not stop, the victim will die shortly afterwards. During the whole process, starting out very faint and then growing in intensity the source will feel a psychic and emotional panic and/or anguish, which is not connected to any physical symptoms.

Physical recovery from being an energy source usually doesn’t take long. Even if they were used up to the very edge of death, a source can often recover full physical strength in only a day or two. However, the emotional and psychic trauma could take months or even years to recover from, if the victim is able to recover at all. There have been cases where victims end up in a vegetative coma. Their bodies may be perfectly fine, but their mind will be completely and irrecoverably gone.

Drawing from energy sources is a very basic, almost instinctive magic for anyone who uses the Shelby Method. Their ability to source from other people causes a good deal of controversy and fear in normal people and has led many government to make it illegal to draw energy from any human being, who is not a fellow wizard and a willing participate. This rule is often strongly impressed upon wizards who attend government sanctioned magic schools.