I think I have found my approach to some of this.
First: Magic
The various Galactic cultures and civilizations are aware of magic, but they don’t trust it. Magic, as opposed to certain psychic powers that primitive cultures may confuse and mix with magic, temporarily changes the local characteristics of the universe so that the intended effect of the spell is what happens naturally. Afterwards, the normal rules reassert themselves, but sometimes things don’t snap back all the way. Repeated use of a particular form of magic in an area will slowly make magic of that sort easier to perform, but may also cause malfunctions in advanced tech as the governing rules change. It can also make it easier for beings from other dimensions/planes/whatever to enter this reality as the local properties/laws/constants more closely match those of their point of origin.
It generally takes widespread use before this becomes an issue. But there is a history of magic-based societies, like the Moon Kingdom, ending up over run with horrors from beyond as the Moon Kingdom did. Even ones that don’t end like this tend to become more isolated as Galactic Tech becomes unreliable in those star systems, while the most advanced magic of these societies isn’t reliable outside of their home system. The stereotype known to most galactic citizens is of a monster infested sword-and-sorcery world ruled by wizards and priests of strange gods where not even the most basic firearms work.
So magic, to the average space faring entity, is like chemical/biological/nuclear weapons to us. You don’t touch that stuff unless it’s all gone to hell already.
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No, I don't believe the world has gone mad. In order for it to go mad it would need to have been sane at some point.
First: Magic
The various Galactic cultures and civilizations are aware of magic, but they don’t trust it. Magic, as opposed to certain psychic powers that primitive cultures may confuse and mix with magic, temporarily changes the local characteristics of the universe so that the intended effect of the spell is what happens naturally. Afterwards, the normal rules reassert themselves, but sometimes things don’t snap back all the way. Repeated use of a particular form of magic in an area will slowly make magic of that sort easier to perform, but may also cause malfunctions in advanced tech as the governing rules change. It can also make it easier for beings from other dimensions/planes/whatever to enter this reality as the local properties/laws/constants more closely match those of their point of origin.
It generally takes widespread use before this becomes an issue. But there is a history of magic-based societies, like the Moon Kingdom, ending up over run with horrors from beyond as the Moon Kingdom did. Even ones that don’t end like this tend to become more isolated as Galactic Tech becomes unreliable in those star systems, while the most advanced magic of these societies isn’t reliable outside of their home system. The stereotype known to most galactic citizens is of a monster infested sword-and-sorcery world ruled by wizards and priests of strange gods where not even the most basic firearms work.
So magic, to the average space faring entity, is like chemical/biological/nuclear weapons to us. You don’t touch that stuff unless it’s all gone to hell already.
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No, I don't believe the world has gone mad. In order for it to go mad it would need to have been sane at some point.