Steampunk pendant nb2

Size = 3,5 cm. Brass, PMC silver, and cold enamel
Updated image (oct 09)
For sale [link]

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"The Antikimena deflector is an essential part of any occult traveler's kit -- not only does it repel vampires and dispell ghosts,
it also absolves me from sins and shortens my Purgatory time!" Tim Powers
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Excerpt of Myron Salazar Drake's Journal

Vienna, 1875

After a couple of years I came to realise that the creature that had "attached" itself to me was no alone. Others like her were clinging to fellow humans, the signs were obvious. I decided to act upon this and turn the spear around. From a helpless albeit willing victim I was going to get some advantages from the situation.
...
Most victims had no idea about the power that this unholy association held. They only gained the "frisson" and a total dependance on their parasites. I found out by careful experimenting that there was a way to determine the intimate nature of a host-parasite relation and impose my will onto it. This allowed me a certain control over the succubus.
...

The device I designed to that effect while I was in self-imposed exile at the Wiltshire Manor, was crude but it served it's purpose splendidly. You needed the host's blood as a catalyst, and a ring of pure silver engraved with the proper symbols for the reading. By analysing the alignement of the symbols I could read the nature of the dual relationship to ...

... by intervening, discreetly or not, depending on my intentions, I could either "persuade" the human host to relinquish some of his riches, or the inhuman parasite to relinquish a part of it's magical powers. I do realise that I am confiding the secret to my extraodinary powers, but I doubt anyone else will ever be able to find out what I have.