The Talent

The Talent is the natural ability or affinity for manipulating the physical and natural world through mental effort or non-conventional means--what most mundane people, and indeed those with the Talent, call "magic." (Talented people use the words "mundane"  and "regular" to refer to those who do not possess the Talent.)
Most people possess the ability to manipulate magic, just as most people possess the ability to play the piano, perform complex mathematical equations, or run a marathon. It merely takes long study and dedicated practice. But just as those with musical talent or a good ear have an easier time learning to play the piano, those with the Talent have an easier time learning magic. Some determined people with the Talent even teach themselves, through experimentation, practice, and serendipity.
About five in one hundred people possess the Talent in varying degrees. Most are only mildly Talented and never realize their ability. Many of these channel their Talent in ways that seem mundane to the untrained eye. An artist with a mild form of the Talent, for instance, might use her ability to manipulate materials more easily, to make the stone or paint realize her vision. A mildly Talented teacher might enhance his charisma and be able to hold the attention of an unruly class.
Someone with a more pronounced Talent manipulates the world in strange and startling ways, doing things that are not so easily explained or dismissed.  Often, these people are recruited by others with the Talent and placed in schools around the world where those with the Talent learn magic in a disciplined way.  Even with the Talent, learning magic is an exact and time consuming process--just as learning a language or engineering or the violin would be. Magic is, after all, just a part of science that we do not understand yet, and it is necessary to learn these rules just as one learns the laws of physics in order to use them effectively.
The Talent appears to have a genetic component.  Those with pronounced Talent tend to produce Talented children; similarly, if one child from mundane parents has the Talent, his or her siblings will probably have it as well.  However, magio-supremacists around the world contend that only Talented people can produce Talented children and do their best to suppress, repress, and even kill Talented children born to mundane parents.

Transmission & Vectors

The Talent cannot be transmitted, but it can be inherited.  People without the Talent can still learn magic.

Causes

Undetermined.  A genetic component is suspected, but has not been proven.

Type

Genetic