Magic Sipon
The Memoria, masters of technology and rulers of the Mortal Lands for thousands of years, could not wield the land's greatest gift for themselves; Magic. So they used technology to manipulate it for them. Amongst their mechanical marvels was the siphon, a simple tool in and of itself, but one that would end up holding a great deal of importance in history.
History
The Siphon was used as a research tool for thousands of years. Most of the Siphons were discharged, shut down and abandoned at the end of the age of the Memoria. 'Most' being the operative term. A siphon that had been left in an abandoned laboratory was left to quietly chug its way through the centuries, all the way to the end of the Ageis kingdom. It was during the twilight years of the kingdom that the siphon was discovered by, if not the man himself, someone related to Vizar Quelar. How the siphon was carried from its home in the lab to Quelar's secret lair remains a mystery, but the Siphon was used by Quelar for several years to study the nature of Magic. After the fall of the Ageis kingdom and Quelar's death, the siphon was left in the bottom of the lair for centuries more. It was the Siphon's magic, matched with a warding spell cast by Quelar, that protected the underground lair form all matter of decay for centuries, until the lair was rediscovered by adventurers in the early 1920s. Sadly the siphon was destroyed during the expedition, but enough of its remains are left to reconstruct what was a simple yet world-changing tool for the Memoria and now, the Mortal Lands.Utility
The Siphons were used in research labs for a combination of tasks. Chief of which was siphoning magic from the air to hold in huge reserve tanks. The Memoria attempted to use them on Sources, only to discover that the Sources themselves were regulators for ambient magic, and that to tamper with those regulators would have devastating effect on the local wildlife.
The Siphons were used to hold magic as well. Mechanicals could take the magic from the siphons and manipulate it for a variety of research tasks. A small amount of magic was all that it took to power the siphons themselves, so it was very rare for a siphon to shut itself down due to lack of power.
The Memoria
Ancient travelers from beyond the stars that first came to the Mortal Lands thousands of years before otherwise recorded history. They held the secrets of the universe in their hand, only to be laid low by their inability to create progeny to carry their legacy. Their technological Marvels, the Mechanicals, were shut down after their deaths until the modern day when the technology of the Mortal Lands caught up enough to activate them on their own.
Access & Availability
Every research lab dedicated to magic had a Siphon attached, as even Mechanicals struggled to gather magic in the quantities that satisfied the Memoria. This being said their construction was closely guarded and restricted to the research labs. No need for the civilians to try and use an unknown force, after all.
Complexity
The Siphon itself was a relatively simple construction; Two large pumps connected to a large tank, or series of tanks depending on the needs of the lab. The two tricks that changed the pump from moving water to moving magic dealt with Mystm's Bane, a metal recently discovered that repelled magic, and a condenser. A small disc of Mystm's bane sat between the two pumps, spinning rapidly. Placed in a particular location, the disc disrupted the stream of magic, redirecting it into two pumps, then into the storage tank. The Condensor, made of a material that has not yet been identified by any modern scientist, managed to condense the magic into a visible and more malleable form from its ambient state.
Discovery
The ability to pull ambient magic from the air was first discovered by the Memoria. Unable to use magic themselves, they used technology and Mechanicals to manipulate it for them. One of the many mechanisms they used were Siphons, to pull magic from the air and store it in reserves. Once it was discovered that magic flowed through the air like water, a clever young engineer created a pump that pulled the magic from the air and stored it in its own little well. the simple creation was soon refined and expanded, becoming a standard fixture in magical research laboratories.
Related Species
I like these guys, didn't just despair but made use of it anyway.
Too low they build who build beneath the stars - Edward Young