"Any technology we had was rooted in our magicks. They were the core of our society." His lips twitch. "There are no longer any extant records, but I remember it. We had enough aether to create anything we needed, though we had a system in place to make sure creations didn't run rampant across the star. Then man was forced to go back to zero..."

Perhaps it'd be better to get off this line of thought, lest he end up dumping the entire story onto the poor man. "Well, most magicks back on our star require an incantation, but there are ways to truncate or skip the chanting that have been developed. A certain element of channeling one's will is required too, though, so it's a little of both."