Within this universe, there is such a thing as magic. The source of this magic comes from the Allmaker Herself, the Grand Goddess of All, and what us mere mortals use are simple remnants of her power.
Magic comes from one main source: cosmological background radiation, often referred to as CBR or “radia”. When the universe was created, a huge amount of everything came out of a very small nothing. As deities and objects coalesced and grew, the energy used to create this universe was extraordinarily hot and temperamental. Over time though, this ambient heat and energy cooled down alongside the rest of the universe.
It is this ambient energy that is used to create and cast magic.
Of course, this energy can’t be used raw. The same way one must process starlight into electricity and fuel, cosmological background radiation must be properly collected and converted in order to be harnessed.
The easiest way to do so is to simply leave inanimate objects out in orbit, allowing them to soak in radia without any atmospheric interruption. The only issue is brining these inanimate objects back, as space, even just outside a planet’s atmosphere is a very, very large space and things tend to get lost.
Once one’s inanimate, irradiated objects have been returned, they need to then be purified, decontaminated and then put through a process that gives the object a metaphysical elemental property, normally just called an element. These elements are based on natural parts of existence, such as fire, water or air, as well as more complicated elements like electricity, gravity or even psionics.
The purification process requires that the irradiated objects be placed inside a sealed chamber then vacuum-pressed and cold-heated to destroy any contaminants that may have been picked up on re-entry. This process is slow and needs to be done carefully (generally over the space of a month) and temperatures cannot exceed 50 Celsius or go under 10 Celsius, as any extreme changes in temperature may affect the object’s elemental property.
When the objects are ready, they are then exposed to Controlled Elemental Statuses, in order to give the object its proper element. This involves placing the object in direct exposure to the desired elemental energy, for a minimum of 4s and a maximum of 400 hours. For example, magical fire objects are held in an open flame for 40 seconds while magical water objects are bathed for four minutes in pods of salted water. When the object is properly saturated, it is then sealed inside a ball of heat-resistant glass and can finally be used for magical purposes.
The most common material used in the process of creating magical items is Gallium Neraid, an alloy made from gallium, an elemental metal that is liquid at room temperature. Gallium Neraid is a metal that is liquid at 25C, freezes at 0C and evaporates at 200C. Its strange properties make it a perfect candidate for creating various salves, potions and more, while also neatly freezing while in the depths of space, making collection and storage simple.
As to what magic can do, well, unfortunately most mortals can only create small, elemental explosions. The majority of magic is used in places which lack space-faring technology, normally as an alternative to superconductor batteries or high energy solar power.
To make matters worse, it is extremely difficult to get past the purification stage in the first place. Due to more common elemental statuses requiring specific amounts of time, it is very easy to have an entire shipment of magical objects be turned into gravity magic, fire magic or ice magic, simply in the process of transporting potential magical matter. In fact, gravity, fire and ice make up a strong 56% of all magical items, although these types are somewhat beneficial, as they can be used for transportation, heating and cooling with ease.
Another issue is that the majority of objects are automatically unsuitable for magical use. 99.9% of common planetary materials simply cannot absorb enough radia to allow them to give perceivable magical effects. While Gallium Neraid is the best material for such magic, it is difficult to produce, especially when gallium is more heavily required in other areas, such as computing and creating superconductive materials.
It is possible to find naturally magical objects, namely in the form of meteorites, but these are rare and are easily damaged over time. Because of how expensive it is to even begin producing magical objects, most races will quickly abandon magic once they have a more sustainable technology.
That being said, there are some species that are naturally capable of using magic, but these beings are generally too… hostile and uncivilized to properly communicate with…