Magic (Nexia)

Magic (or at least one type) is a closed network. In order to maintain this system energy from other systems must be converted.

This has created two groups of people, one acting as a religious cult. They perform ceremonies at the "temples", which are huge devices that supply them with their energy.

The other faction is hunted as heretics in some lands. The leaders of the religion, however, know that they are just another group who understands how the devices work.

Because of this religion, many people do not trust anyone who uses magic, since they see only two types of magic, clerical, and everything else.

The machines, after being abandoned for so many millennia, are imbued with a type of consciousness. However, since they have never interacted with an intelligent humanoid, the aspects of their personalities are like those of animals or tangents of the human psyche. They are god-like, but very transient in the physical world. In fact, they hardly ever show themselves unless an entity comes near it, and only then if a person knows what to look for will they notice it. All of the lesser known personalities are located deep within the earth, or high upon mountains (or even mobile cloud constructs).

Though some of these have followers, there are even older entities in Nexia. By those who know of them, they are call "True Gods" or the "Star People".