Aurora Consurgens: on magic

Magic does exist in this setting, but it is pretty much a human-only method of power. This isn't to say others can't learn it, but mostly they don't need to because they've power enough already. It's based on the theory that information is superior to matter and energy (see Ed Fredkin for an overview on that) and allows one to cheat the universe by manipulating that. Which isn't near as grand as it sounds, since Omegas essentially do that without trying just by existing.

The use of magic tends to be rituals and words/symbols of power used as shorthand for a much longer mental equation designed to change the world. Small, local scale effects that take time, energy and serious amounts of effort to replicate what Omegas do for a very brief period. The other kind, the one that's considered actually dangerous, is said rituals, with energy costs involving human sacrifice and so forth, that punch holes in the universe and allow Things into it. Which is dangerous since what immune systems the universe has don't catch such entities and they can do pretty nasty things -- if they get through, which happens very, very rarely.

This illustrates the big danger of magic, in that it involves manipulating the universe, but the universe is ~90% dark matter, aka: we don't know where it is. So trying to manipulate a system you barely understand, and are a small fragment of, can be quite dangerous at the best of times. (Some magicians believe Omegas embody the so-called dark matter, but that's neither here not there.)

In game example: Aalim Jabar had a magical knife, and protections on his home. Damien pretty much vanished it without effort. Magic might do minor things, but that is generally all it does without a cult, a lot of dead people and an insane amount of determination. Which is pretty much what the Red King cult seems to be about, though what they're trying to do seems to be an unknown, thus far, but is worrying enough that the people really in charge of the country want it stopped.

OOCLY, magicians are pretty rare (few are self-taught and those often accidentally kill themselves) and they aren't that powerful, even at the best of times. It's really only the mass human sacrifce meaning bad stuff (and the human sacrifice angle in general) of the nastier sory of magician that leads to them being stopped.