In this world, called Urash ("Earth" wink by its inhabitants, magic has always existed alongside and even before technology. Here, magic is the energy of order continuously generated by living creatures out of chaos. It isn't exactly life-force, however, because rather than a pool of water, it is more like the light put out by a flame. Whatever is not immediately directed to some use dissipates, and if you snuff the flame, the light disappears. Living creatures generate magic in rough proportion to the complexity of their existence, with sentient beings at the very high end. This also means that while the magic generated from person to person can vary between the equivalent of a match and light bulb, there are no orders of magnitude in the difference, and in absolute power, each person can only produce a small light (here used literally) on their own. The key to gaining greater power is to form a circle of like-minded individuals who create semi-permanent conduits between themselves such that any given member can call upon the combined power of the group when necessary. A person can be in more than one circle, but their power will be unavailable while any of the circles is in use. Animals can also be tapped for power, but their lower cognition level means that they are much more distractable and a less reliable source.
People use magic by concentrating their will, almost like meditation, but for larger spells or spells of longer duration, they may use incantations, gestures, drawings, and other patterns as conduits to direct the magic. Technology was developed in order to better direct and use magic, having built-in conduits that are permanent yet disconnected, such that a group of entirely unconnected people can operate it together simply by sitting in the designated seats. There are magisteriums that provide courses of study in theoretical and applied magic and technology, along with everything else that educated people are expected to know. Because magic is available to everyone and does not have to (indeed, cannot) be hoarded, life is not so harsh as it was in our world, though it is by no means easy.
One other notable thing, however, is that magic is needed in the creation of new life (in terms of reproduction, not Frankenstein), and more of it the more complex that new life is. Kind of like lighting one candle from another. Animals, plants, and all lower organisms do that automatically, but the thing with sentient creatures is that both parents must choose to become parents. Offspring retain a magical affinity with their parents, and to a lesser extent with other relatives depending on degree of relatedness, such that permanent conduits already partially exist between them at birth. This results [skipping a lot of biological reasoning here] in the lot of women being greatly improved and means that family organizations common in this world can be very strange to our eyes. The repercussions echo all the way up to governance, where it is truly a royal family that rules and not a single monarch and their consort. The entire government forms a circle that powers some magical law enforcement.
All of this is not to say that nefarious things can't happen/be done. Evil individuals can always band together, and it is also possible--though extremely difficult--to join a normal circle through deception and use some of the magic generated to confuse and sedate the other members' minds. This second option leaves the evildoer noticeably weaker than a normal circle of equivalent size, though, so it isn't often practiced.
Razareil Community Member 
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