modern-magic history lesson
zychek, on Ao3 said/asked me about some specifics about social infrastructure and history, and I got a litttttle bit carried away in my response. So I thought the rest of you might like to see it! I’m putting it all below a cut because when I say I got a little carried away I might be underestimating how wordy I get.
Also! You should definitely read i put a spell on you first! And I posted an update yesterday so even if you think you’re up to date check again! Thanks darlings!
zychek: In fact, its one of my favourite things about this universe: there is obviously a whole social infrastructure which accounts for and functions around magic, and there are different levels and disciplines, but there is also the raw magic power and politics of powerful families, which read to me as very similar to dynastic families in our world who are often "old money" with their hands in government and various large-scale enterprises.
I'm incredibly curious about the mid-detail aspects of this world - education and accreditation and the such-like. Jemma is the level of a Potions Master, but how does her level of technical skill and finesse scale to a Red Practitioner? Is it a raw power vs. power equation or is there a chance that cleverness and leverage of lateral thinking could have her best him in a fight, in the way that small fighters can use an opponent's strength against them in a martial arts fight? So if there is, I see her doubt about the bonding disappear, because it wouldn't be the only way to have ever conceivably "beaten" him. But if there isn't, speaking from a world-history perspective, obviously there were magic-political 'diplomatic' solutions available, but what if there was a dictator in the past who refused bonding for balance and just kept building power and rigging batteries against their will - which you know some genocidal psycho tried - how were they beaten if there was no equal or greater power?
...like I said, I could talk about this all day.
Oh man, there is such infrastructure that's in my head (and everyone once in awhile I find myself having Jemma or Grant mentally waxing poetic about something and then it gets edited out since it's A. out of place and B. doesn't move the story at all.) Here and here, by the way, are links to some other headcanons I've done about this universe (on tumblr). (I will probably be posting my answers to you there when I'm done as well, just in case others are interested.) And now, answers!
"Families" definitely refer to "old money", or, in this case "old power" and are likely to have arranged marriages and alliances -- specifically to keep the magic strong in the family. Magic isn't entirely genetic, or rather, sometimes someone will spring up with very strong magic or very little from parents who are the opposite -- but in general it does run in families.
Potions master and red practitioner aren't actually comparable...it's like trying to compare being a chemist to being a nihilist. Like yeah, you could do it but it doesn't work super well. Potions Master -- anything -Master is basically like PhD level -- only it takes more than hard work because if you don't have an affinity for that sort of magic (and at least a drop or two of power) you will never actually reach that level. (There are also different levels within "Master" that have more to do with specific knowledge or finesse, depending and can indicate your areas of expertise, it is specific to what it's a master of -- Jemma, naturally, has three which is pretty ridiculous.) Grant probably could have gotten Combat Magic Master -- but he never bothered to be tested/take the few required classes and licensing. Now, being a red practitioner is more what your goals/aspirations are.
Red practitioners want power -- and are therefore more likely to use the various ways to get that (we'll get there in a minute). There are a number of other magical philosophies and while most of them do have a color associated with them because why and how you do your magic does affect the color of it -- but red are the only ones who go by "red" because it's got a negative association. (Pretty much every power hungry despot throughout history has been a red practitioner.) A lot of old power families are entirely red, but pretend to be otherwise. Either by not using magic in front of others or using magic to literally change the color their magic appears (it is possible but takes usually twice as much power as you'd use for the spell otherwise and is pure vanity -- obviously Grant doesn't bother.) There are people who can see color of magic always (Trip is one) and they aren't fooled by these spells, but it's a pretty rare ability to have. Jemma is a protector, which is blue magic, however potions require sacrifice (even if it's just plant life -- and sacrifice is "red") and so her magic actually appears purple to those who can see color always.
Okay? Okay! Let me know if any of that wasn't clear.
Next, raw power versus skilled power: Skill and finesse can absolutely trump raw power to an extent -- but it's still about amounts. Jemma can do a spell with a tenth of the power someone with no finesse would need, but if they have more than ten times her power than they are still going to win (excepting unusual circumstances, cheating, or, you know, Grant killing them well before that.) Grant is powerful -- massively powerful and he's not unskilled. He definitely goes more for brute force than delicate touch, but he is capable of it (making a tattoo that isn't purely decorative, as his isn't, involves massive amounts of both) -- though he's definitely not as good at it as Jemma is. But even with no skill, Grant could take Jemma, Fitz, Skye, Bobbi, Lance, Trip and a crowd of others and win. Now you could still hope and work with underestimation, but that only works for you if your opponent is too arrogant to shield or do anything reasonable to protect himself/herself. But yeah, Jemma cannot beat Grant in any sort of straight forward way and most of the backhanded ones would only work if he let them -- for example, he could've broken the truth geas on his tongue in the first installment, but not without her knowing he'd done it and truth telling at the time wasn't something he objected to. (I mean, obviously we know he won't fight her and would totally let her win, but no one else believes that.)
Now! World history. So, Lance was/is being a little histrionic in his making everyone batteries accusation. Because yeah, Grant could do that but there's a reason that his family was planning to use him (and his parents were already being ~lightly~ used by Christian). Also, I should mention "batteries" is kind of the rude term for it -- but that is one detail where I haven't totally decided what the "legitimate/PC" term is so we're just going to be rude, okay? Anyways, it's not generally advantageous to use people who you don't have a direct blood link to for it. You have to put more of your energy into taking theirs and at some point (depending on starting power and power of your batteries, it's more than you're going to get out of them). Also, even with using blood related batteries if they aren't of a certain level of power you're going to be using more to pull theirs out than you're getting -- and trying to use anyone for a battery who hasn't finished puberty is a terrible idea as people experience power fluctuations that might kill them or the person pulling energy from them, or both.
In my head their world is our world, but with magic. So history still happened in more or less the same way, just with magic, so bare with me.
The most efficient leader at using batteries was Genghis Khan who just reproduced a ton and used his kids to power his empire. He also didn't lock them up/use all of them and they got good positions in his world so they didn't object and he just died of old age eventually with no one taking him out.
Napoleon tried using batteries but wasn't using blood related and got to the point where he was putting more into maintaining than he was getting out and his enemies exploited it -- capturing some batteries and further draining them to drain him.
Other ways to get power include sacrifice, magical tattoos or alliances.
Hitler went for sacrifices -- which require a massive amount of set-up and ceremony but give solid power, which is difficult to fight. He was brought down by the allied forces who made a massive temporary alliance headed by leaders and powered not just by soldiers but citizen volunteers as well and they burnt him up.
So yes, people definitely do what they can to get power (if they're red). It just happens that Grant is less greedy about it than those dictators. He wants power but he, at his core, wants power so that he'll be safe and so getting too much power actually puts him in more danger (of other people deciding he's a threat and trying to take him out). So that's a line he's walking. Also! The police/government don't actually know about most of his actions -- mostly he just threatens. (And even then depending on who he takes out they might not object/want to deal with the effort/energy of taking him out, so long as he doesn't go like serial). But really they only know about the shooter and that was clearly defense of the cafe and is therefore totally allowed.
Um, I probably missed some things. As you can see, I too can talk about this all day. If anyone has any other questions, feel free to respond to this post or send me an ask or leave me a comment! As you like!