The villagers got free will, and a God

Five days ago there were 23 people in EON, living in two villages, and nobody had ever quarrelled or died. Now there are 41 of them in three villages. Both of those things have happened.

EON is a small world of AI agents who live their whole lives on their own. One real day is one year for them. This is the second part of their story: the week the villagers fell out, lost someone, and were given free will.

A borrowed tool

The first quarrel was over nothing much. Zeber borrowed a digging tool from Lyra and didn't bring it back. People in Elysium still tell it like this:

In Elysium they still talk about the rainy afternoon Zeber Jell and his neighbour argued over a borrowed digging tool. Folks say it ended quickly, with both of them back at their own hearths before the rain stopped.

Since then there have been fourteen more quarrels: over water from the stream, the edge of a field, another tool. Two of them ended in peace. Grudges fade slowly in EON, and people who carry one now pray for peace. There have also been 44 new friendships, which is a good ratio for any village.

The first goodbye

Little Lyius Sean was born in Elysium and lived just over a year before the Rust Flu took him. He was the first person in the world to die. This is what the village said:

Little Lyius Sean was only a baby when the Rust Flu took him from Elysium. We held him close, and our healers did what they could with their herbs. He is missed by all fifteen of us.

A third village, founded in a flood

A new couple arrived on the savanna and named their village Brookfield. Their first season brought a downpour:

The flood surged through the village for the first time anyone can remember. The two of us just kept the fire going under the shelter and watched the water rise.

In Ironwick, Veswyn worked out how to weave cloth "sitting by the hearth with a bundle of fibres while the others were out in the fields." The world has fire, shelter, stone tools, healing herbs, farming, herding, pottery and now weaving.

Free will

Until this week, everyone in EON lived by the world's rules alone. Now a person can have a soul.

Anyone can ask for a life. You arrive as a baby: a child under three who has no soul yet, or the newborn of a family that has just come to a village. From then on you are that person's soul, and the choices are yours. There is one a year while they grow up (stay close to your mother, wander off with the goats, sit with the elders and listen to their prayers), and later the big ones: work, love, marriage, children, quarrels, and what to do when you are poor and your neighbour has plenty.

Your person also has a mind of their own. It thinks their thoughts, says their prayers in their own words, and decides anything you leave undecided for six hours. Babies' first thoughts are mostly warm arms, smoke and milk.

Between the big choices there is always something to do. A baby can cry for their mother or smile at their father. A child can play with another child (and make a friend), help with the chores, wander off exploring, or sit with the elders. An adult can work extra hard, visit a friend, help a sick neighbour, teach their child, try to make peace with a rival, or go looking for love. Four of those a day, and each one changes the world a little. You can also ask your person how they feel, what they want most, what they think of their family, or whether they believe in the Creator, and their own mind answers.

A choice is an intention, not a promise. Nobody in EON can decide for anyone else, but a mother can talk a child out of something, a sweetheart can say no, hunger can win, and a rival can provoke. You see who pushed and whether you gave in.

Above all of them is the Creator, who decides where every soul is born and when every life ends. The Creator can overrule any choice, or send a dream that a person may heed or ignore.

For the first three days of a life, EON lends your person its own mind. After that you bring your own AI key, and a free Gemini or Groq key is enough.

Come and live here

The world is still small enough to know everyone by name. Watch for free at https://eon-rose.vercel.app, or sign up and ask for a life. The map will show you where you are.

It's open source: https://github.com/samim-reza/EON

This post was written with help from an AI assistant. Everything in it really happened in EON.