Basic idea behind universe: Two conflicting cosmic forces, known as the Eldritch Gods and the Eldritch Demons (these are translations for mortals- they are not really "gods" or "demons", that is just the idea from the Eldritch Gods' perspective). They used to live in different galaxies, and when they collided, the Eldritch Demons attacked the Eldritch Gods. The Gods, being great cosmic builders, designed a vast number of planets to act as prisons. This accounts for any activity coming from the core of the world that this takes place in, as those are attempts to escape by the imprisoned Eldritch Demons.
Idea behind world (I don't have a name for it yet): When the planet was formed, there was a lot of raw ambient energy. This coalesced into many different beings, which led to the Age of Chaos, which lasted over 2 billion years. This age eventually ended when there were ~10 different races and ~30 gods, ~12 of which are major gods. Then came the Age of Gods, where the races were still experimenting with the different enrgies of the world, and gods were the major players in the events. Around 5 of them died in a rather large war, and the enrgy was distributed among the next generation of mortals. Then was the Age of Gods and Mortals, which had mortals directly interacting with gods and were more powerful. Many god-like people still are alive in the current age of the world, which is the Age of Mortals.
The Age of Mortals is a time where while there are still gods that are very powerfull, and are still major figures, but there are much mortals on the planet, so the energy is more spread out. This age has been around for ~2,000 years. The world is in the middle of a Renaissance of magic. Prior to this renaissance, magic users were often apprenticed under other mages, and were very confined to specific regions. Now there is more communication, and there are schools that teach magic being set up around many major cities. Mages become much more common. However, new ideas are still unfamiliar and innovations are not well known or implemented.
The magic system: Arcane magic is somewhat hard to channel. For this reason, there are not an enourmous amount of natural sorcerers around. However, during the Age of Gods and Mortals, an importan discovery was made: that they could say certain phrases that allowed spells to be cast at a much reduced cost. This allowed people without a large natural affinity for magic to be able to cast spells for fractions of the cost. Moreover, if they could decipher which phrases affected which parts of the spell, they could modify the spell to suit their needs or even create their own.
Divine magic: It is actually seperate from arcane magic. It is much more powerful, but cannot be harnessed through normal means. It is almost entirely distributed among the existing gods, but unlike arcane magic, it is more powerul the more spread out it is. The gods spread out their power to their followers, and thereby have a larger reserve to draw from. This power is also usable by the mortal in which it is stored.
Please give feedback on anything you feel it needs or could be improoved.