Artificial Worlds

Artificial Worlds are real inhabited worlds deliberately created, prepared, or transformed through the intervention of Gods.

They differ from Natural Worlds primarily in their origin.

Although they are artificial in origin, they are not illusions, simulations, or false realities.

Overview

Artificial Worlds became increasingly important after the destruction of many ancient Natural Worlds.

Gods discovered that instead of competing endlessly for influence over already inhabited worlds, they could establish worlds whose populations developed under their own guidance.

These worlds could then become stable sources of Faith.

What Makes a World Artificial?

The term Artificial World refers to a world whose habitable state was deliberately produced through divine action.

This can include worlds directly created by a God or lifeless worlds and planets that were heavily modified until they became capable of supporting life.

The exact method depends on the God involved, the environment, the resources available, and the intended purpose of the world.

Artificial Does Not Mean Unreal

An Artificial World is fully real.

Its land, oceans, atmosphere, inhabitants, civilizations, ecosystems, and history genuinely exist.

The word Artificial describes the origin of the world's habitable condition, not the reality of its existence.

Creation and Transformation

Gods do not necessarily need to create an entire world from nothing.

One common method is to locate a lifeless world or planet situated in an environment where life could potentially exist.

The God can then invest power into changing its conditions until it becomes suitable for living populations.

Once the environment is stable enough, populations from other worlds can be transferred there.

Basic Development Process

A simplified Artificial World development process can be represented as:

Lifeless World → Divine Modification → Habitable Environment → Population Transfer → Population Growth → Faith Generation

The actual process can vary considerably depending on the creator and the reason for the world's construction.

Environmental Quality

Artificial Worlds are not automatically equal to naturally formed worlds in environmental quality.

In theory, a naturally formed world can possess stronger natural conditions, including richer ambient Mana.

Artificial Worlds often require direct divine investment to reproduce those same conditions.

Mana Density

The Mana density of an Artificial World depends heavily on how much power its creator is willing to invest.

A God who only needs a stable world capable of supporting mortal life may create an environment with relatively modest Mana levels.

Another God may invest vastly greater amounts of energy to produce a world with extremely rich Mana.

Therefore:

Artificial World ≠ Automatically Low Mana

However, reproducing the natural richness of an exceptional Natural World can require a significantly greater divine investment.

Divine Investment

The quality of an Artificial World depends on several factors.

• The amount of energy invested by the creator.
• The original condition of the world or planet.
• The creator's objective.
• The desired Mana density.
• The amount of life the world is expected to support.
• The long-term importance of the world to the God.

A world intended only to sustain a stable mortal population may require less investment than one intended to support extremely powerful Mana-based civilizations.

The Main Reason for Their Creation

One of the most important reasons Gods create Artificial Worlds is Faith.

Gods rely heavily on Faith for power, recovery, stability, and restoration.

A world developed directly under the influence of a God gives that deity a major advantage over competitors.

Faith-Producing Domains

Artificial Worlds can effectively function as large-scale Faith-producing domains.

A God who establishes a world can guide the development of its societies, religions, traditions, and beliefs from their earliest generations.

This makes it much easier for the population to recognize the creator God as its primary divine authority.

In practical terms, such worlds can be considered Faith Farms.

Why Faith Matters

Faith is not merely symbolic worship.

Gods can actively make use of it.

It can contribute to their power, recovery, continued existence, and ability to restore themselves.

Because of this, a stable population capable of producing large amounts of Faith represents an extremely valuable long-term resource.

Humans and Faith

Humans are particularly valuable to many Gods because the Faith they generate is unusually pure.

This has contributed to Humans receiving greater divine attention than many other mortal races.

A Human-dominated Artificial World can therefore become an especially valuable source of Faith.

Artificial Worlds and Divine Control

Artificial Worlds are easier for Gods to influence than already inhabited Natural Worlds.

A population introduced into a newly prepared world can be guided from its earliest generations.

Religious traditions, temples, divine myths, and social structures can all develop around the God responsible for creating or preparing the world.

This allows the creator to establish a much stronger religious presence than would normally be possible in an already contested world.

Faith Competition on Natural Worlds

Gods can also collect Faith from Natural Worlds.

However, this has historically been much more complicated.

In ancient times, multiple Gods could compete for the right to receive Faith from the same population.

A successful civilization could therefore attract several divine powers, each attempting to increase its own influence.

Divine Rivalries

Competition over Faith could lead to conflict between Gods.

The issue was not necessarily control of the physical world itself.

The more important question was often:

Which God would receive the Faith of its inhabitants?

This made already inhabited Natural Worlds valuable but politically difficult sources of Faith.

A Different Solution

Rather than constantly competing over existing populations, many Gods chose a more controlled approach.

They searched for lifeless worlds or planets with conditions suitable for future habitation.

These locations could then be transformed without immediately competing against another established divine religion.

Once prepared, populations could be brought in from elsewhere.

Population Transfer

Gods could move living populations from existing worlds into newly prepared Artificial Worlds.

These settlers would then establish new communities and reproduce over generations.

As the population increased, the total Faith generated by the world could also increase.

Population Growth

Gods could assist early populations during the establishment of a new world.

Their goal was not merely to keep the initial settlers alive.

The population needed to become self-sustaining and large enough to support stable civilizations.

Once this occurred, the world could continue producing Faith across many generations.

Religious Development

The religion of an Artificial World can begin before the population becomes large.

Early settlers may already know the identity of the God responsible for their survival and settlement.

Their descendants can then inherit those beliefs as part of the world's culture.

This gives the creator God a major advantage in maintaining religious dominance.

Past and Present Divine Intervention

The ability of Gods to directly intervene in mortal worlds has changed over time.

In the past, they could act much more openly.

This allowed them to establish religions, compete for influence, guide populations, and directly support the development of new worlds.

Current Limitations

In the current era, direct divine intervention is considerably more difficult.

The Gods are restricted in their normal interaction with the mortal world.

A major reason is that much of their attention and power is currently dedicated to containing the threat posed by the Devils.

This makes the creation of new religious influence inside existing worlds more difficult than it was in ancient times.

Why Established Artificial Worlds Matter

Because current divine intervention is limited, already established Artificial Worlds can be extremely valuable.

Their religious systems may continue producing Faith even when the creator God cannot directly appear or communicate normally.

A stable religious tradition therefore allows Faith production to continue through mortal society itself.

Artificial Worlds Are Not Always Created for Faith

Faith is one of the most important reasons for creating Artificial Worlds, but it is not necessarily the only one.

A God may create or transform a world for other purposes depending on its plans, priorities, or long-term objectives.

The exact reason must therefore be determined individually for each known Artificial World.

Artificial Worlds and the Gods

The existence of Artificial Worlds demonstrates the enormous capabilities of powerful Gods.

They can alter entire planetary environments, establish ecosystems, relocate populations, and influence civilizations over extremely long periods.

However, these actions require energy.

The greater the desired quality of the world, the greater the potential investment.

Artificial Worlds and the Outer Gods

The Gods responsible for creating Artificial Worlds should not automatically be confused with the Outer Gods.

Outer Gods are associated with the conquest, domination, and exploitation of entire universes.

Although they attempted to use Faith, they were unable to properly make use of it.

This is one of the major differences between them and the Gods native to the principal universe.

Faith and the Outer Gods

The inability of the Outer Gods to use Faith is particularly significant.

They have conquered or dominated many universes and accumulated enormous power through other means.

Despite this, Faith remained something they could not properly reproduce or exploit.

This made the Faith system of the principal universe an unusual and valuable phenomenon.

Artificial Worlds and Natural Worlds

Mana and Divine Investment

These categories are descriptive rather than formal classifications.

The exact result depends on the creator and the world being modified.

Known Advantages

• Greater religious control.
• Reduced competition with rival Gods.
• Ability to guide a population from its earliest generations.
• Long-term Faith generation.
• Customizable environmental conditions.
• Ability to relocate populations from other worlds.

Known Limitations

• World preparation requires divine energy.
• High Mana environments require greater investment.
• Population transfer may be necessary.
• Early populations may require direct assistance.
• Current divine restrictions make new projects more difficult.

Unknown Classification of Major Worlds

Not every currently known world has been officially classified as Natural or Artificial.

The following worlds should therefore remain unclassified until their exact origins are revealed:

• César's current world.
• César's original Earth.
• Alex's original Earth.
• Lucius's original Earth.
• Nilo's original Earth.

Unanswered Questions

• The exact energy cost required to create or transform a world.
• The upper limit of Mana density an Artificial World can support.
• Whether every God is capable of creating Artificial Worlds.
• The minimum conditions required to transform a lifeless world.
• The exact methods used to transfer large populations between worlds.
• How long full planetary transformation normally requires.
• How many Artificial Worlds currently exist.
• Which major known worlds are Artificial.
• How much Faith a complete world can produce.

Common Misconceptions

“Artificial Worlds are fake.”

Incorrect.

They are fully real worlds whose habitable conditions were deliberately created or modified.

“Every Artificial World has weak Mana.”

Incorrect.

Their Mana density depends heavily on the energy invested by their creator.

“Artificial Worlds are always weaker than Natural Worlds.”

Not necessarily.

Natural Worlds may possess stronger conditions without requiring divine creation, but a God willing to invest enough energy may produce an exceptionally powerful Artificial World.

“Gods cannot collect Faith from Natural Worlds.”

Incorrect.

They can, but competition and current limitations make it much more difficult.

“Artificial Worlds exist only for Faith.”

Incorrect.

Faith is one of their most important known purposes, but a God may create one for other reasons.

“A God must create the entire planet from nothing.”

Incorrect.

Lifeless worlds or planets can be transformed into habitable Artificial Worlds.

“Outer Gods use Artificial Worlds to farm Faith.”

Incorrect.

The Outer Gods attempted to use Faith but were unable to properly exploit it.

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