Frequently asked questions

Getting started

What is Aether Observer?

A persistent world, experienced through an evolving daily journal. You create a world, introduce events (or let the AI invent them), and records narrate what happened — building up a real, continuous history the world remembers as it goes.

I added an event — why isn't there a new record yet?

Events and records are two separate, deliberate steps. Adding an event just gets it interpreted and folded into the world's state; nothing is narrated until a record actually gets written. Look for the “Write the next record” button right below the event form on your world's page.

Does a record ever get written automatically?

In two specific cases, yes: a world that's gone quiet for 2+ days gets an automatic record on its own (up to twice in a row before a paid tier is needed to keep that going unattended), and a world that had a real event yesterday but never got a record for it gets a same-day catch-up record. Otherwise, writing one is a deliberate action.

What does the AI Involvement slider do?

It controls how often the AI adds its own events on top of yours — consequences of what you introduced, and background events you never asked for — and how far it's willing to take them. Low keeps a world quiet and mostly user-driven; high means more frequent, higher-stakes developments the AI introduces on its own.

What's “Narrative focus”?

Character-driven story tells one continuous personal narrative. World / civilization simulation spreads records across concurrent regions, factions, or storylines instead of a single throughline — better suited to a world that's more about a whole society than one protagonist.

What's “Language suited for age”?

It adjusts how simple the AI keeps its language for new events and records — useful for a children's world. “15+ (mature romance)” is the one exception to that: it opts a world into on-page romantic/intimate content (tasteful, never graphic), and reading it — not just writing to it — requires being signed in. “Let AI decide” leaves it unchanged.

Privacy & sharing

Is my world private?

Yes, by default — visible only to you. It only becomes visible to anyone else if you take one of three deliberate, opt-in actions: share it directly with another account, list it on Discover, or share one specific record via its own public link. Nothing is ever made public automatically.

What's the difference between Showcase, Discover, and my own world?

Showcase worlds are public demos I (the site owner) run myself. Discover is real users' own worlds that they've chosen to list publicly. Everything else — the overwhelming majority of worlds — is private by default and visible only to you.

I shared one record's link — what can someone see with it?

Just that one record's text — nothing else about your world (no other records, no settings, no way to find or identify the world it came from). You can revoke a share link at any time from that record's own page, which also lets you generate a fresh one.

If I list a world on Discover, does it show my real username?

No — never. You can set a separate display name just for Discover from the “Discover” tab in your account menu, or leave it blank to stay anonymous.

Accounts & limits

What are the free-tier limits?

2 worlds at once, 5 events a day, 1 manually-written record a day, and a lifetime cap of 75 published records per world. Daily limits reset every day; the lifetime cap doesn't end a world, it just pauses it — upgrading picks it up again exactly where it left off, nothing is lost.

What happens if I delete a world?

It's permanent and immediate — every event, record, and piece of world state goes with it. There's no undo, so make sure before you confirm.

How do paid tiers work?

Not fully self-serve yet — a $5 donation gets you a 3-month boost, granted by hand. See Support for the exact steps. Real self-serve billing is planned but not built yet.

Is there a minimum age to use Aether Observer?

Yes — you must be at least 13. If you're under 15, we recommend using it with a parent or guardian's supervision. This applies regardless of which visual theme you pick for a world, including the “Kids” theme (that's a cosmetic colour/font choice for the reading experience, not an age setting).

What's not built yet

Can I export my world as a book or PDF?

Not yet — it's a planned feature, not something you can do today.

Is there a podcast feature?

Also planned, also not built yet.