Dwellers

"Dwellers" are the term given by Prof. Lawrence to the higher-level entities residing in the Veil (or noosphere), a dimension created by and containing the sum of all human thought. They are responsible for empowering Ultra-Influencing Works of Any Media (UIW-AMs), and were instrumental in the creation of Lila.

## Overview

In the "General Guide to the Creation of UIW-AWs", Prof. Lawrence theorizes that the noosphere is populated by a number of entities created by the collective thoughts of humanity. These 'Dwellers' are sentient and sapient beings with their own thoughts and motivations, and interact with humanity through the propagation of memetic works such as art, music, and other cultural artifacts. The most powerful of these artifacts are UIW-AMs, which have the potential to reach and influence millions of people, thereby strengthening and propagating their 'species'.

Prof. Lawrence also refers to the Dwellers in the "General Guide" as 'deities', implying that the Dwellers have served at some point in human history as gods.

## Creation

Prof. Lawrence states that Dwellers arise naturally from the process of human collective thought due, mainly by the collective imagination of a core concept connected by a shared image. For example, a single person can, in theory, create an individual 'tulpa' named "Zeus". If multiple people believe in the same concept of Zeus, and share the same image of Zeus, then the tulpa becomes elevated to a Dweller in the noosphere.

He also states in the "General Guide" that Dwellers can be purposefully induced into existence using the "Lawrence Process", a modified ritual originally created by the Dogon people of Africa. The ritual involves guiding multiple people to create a single 'tulpa', assisted by the influence of psychedelic drugs (i.e. the Tet mushroom).

Through this method, an artificial noosphere Dweller can be brought into existence.

Notably, Prof. Lawrence gives a stark warning against creating a Dweller based upon already existing archetypes. While the specific archetypes are censored in the "General Guide", they are heavily implied to refer to Carl Jung's **Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious**. A Dweller created from these archetypes, he warns, would have enormous power over all of humanity due to the Archetypes' collective presence in all humans from birth. Prof. Lawrence notes that Archetypal Dwellers have been created in the past, resulting in disastrous consequences for humanity at unspecified points in human history.

## Behavior and Abilities

Dwellers are capricious and unstable beings, with personalities as varied as the possibilities of human thought. In "Who's Lila", the Dwellers have a rather parasitic relationship with humanity, holding humanity in mild contempt at best and viewing humanity as opportunistic prey at worst. Dwellers and their creations are shown to bring out the worst of human impulses, including lust, greed, and violent behavior.

Speculatively, this may also be a consequence of the starkly negative social and cultural environment of 'Who's Lila". Dwellers are shown in the game seen as showing compassion and even affection towards humans (albeit rarely), and Dwellers may have a different relationship with humans in a more mentally stable environment.

Greatest of the Dweller's abilities is the creation of UIW-AMs, through which they are able to influence the world and large and increase their strength. These artifacts can take the form of any work of art, most notably the "Dada Dog" (a cartoon dog that has been co-opted by a Dweller to propagate violent extremism a la 'Pepe the Frog').

Additionally, Dwellers are able to possess the physical bodies of humans. Reasons why a Dweller might choose to possess an individual are varied; in some cases the human might provide a physical outlet to help further spread UIW-AMs, out of a sense of survival, or even due to simple jealousy.

## List of Known Dwellers in "Who's Lila" (list incomplete)

* Lila
* The Emperor (aka The DAEMON)
* The Empress
* The Stranger

## Trivia

* Dwellers seem to have a lot in common with polytheistic depiction of gods, especially the Greek gods that were famous for their capriciousness and jealousy