World

The World (世界) is used to refer to the concept of the planet Earth. The use of the term "world" as by magi usually refers to the universal rules that can be manipulated or taken advantage of by mankind. Others may use "world" to refer to the two distinct Counter Forces of the Earth, Gaia and Alaya-shiki.

Unlike other celestial bodies in the Solar System, there is no clear Aristotle for Earth. The creature closest to being the Aristotle of Earth is Archetype Earth.

History
The Earth was initially formed from molten magma and gas. Life did not emerge until the inhospitable planet cooled and settled. The creation of the primordial Earth is attributed to the God Ea. This infernal landscape has also become part of the genetic memories of all creatures on Earth, and humans drew from this imagery when they created the concept of Hell.

The time before the modern era is referred to as the jindai (神代), during which mankind was less populous and Divine Spirit were either more common or more active. This period is marked by a greater proliferation of Phantasmal Species such as the True Ancestors and Gorgons, and greater interaction between gods and mortals. This is the age of heroes and mythology, when rules of mankind and the laws of the world were different right down to the fundamental level, but this period ended many years ago. Even Magecraft itself is described as being closer to Magic in this era and Caster's abilities reinforce this concept.

The Age of Gods ended completely, five hundred years before the 5th Century. The demise of, the King of Magecraft (魔術の王ソロモン) has accelerated the decline of Mystery (神秘). With the age of mystery had ended. The coming age is the era of civilization, the Age of Man (人間の時代).

The current age is identified as the Age of Man, where the gods disappeared from everyday life and the progressive decline of magecraft began. Satsuki Kurogiri introduced the theory that the decline, beginning toward the end of the Age of Gods, may have come about due to the extinction of the Unified Language, which may have been common during the period. Gilgamesh insinuates that the world was more antagonistic towards humanity in the previous era, noting that even he could not afford to needlessly slaughter people. During that period, humanity was closer to its origin and the power of Alaya was more concentrated, augmenting the weight of each human soul in comparison to modern humans.

Counter Force
The Counter Force (抑止力) is the safety device formed by the collective unconsciousness. The concept of Counter Force is central to Nasuverse, and consists of two components: Gaia and Alaya. Gaia is the will of the Earth, the planet's intrinsic wish to survive and prosper. Alaya, on the other hand, is the collective unconsicious will of mankind to avoid extinction. As humans are creatures of Earth, Alaya was a component of Gaia. However, as mankind begins to develop independent of nature, it became independent of the Gaian system. With this divergence, Alaya is no longer aligned with Gaia and potential conflict can result.

Despite being called "the will of the planet/mankind", the Counter Forces bear no emotions. They are described as passive spirals of energy that respond to threats of planet destruction or human extinction. The Counter Forces are always active, constantly steering mankind and the planet away from potential danger. Usually, the Counter Forces act indirectly. For instance, Shiki Ryougi was driven by the Counter Force to eliminate the threat that is Souren Araya, while historically, Joan of Arc is also named as one who was empowered by the Counter Force.

Although Gaia and Alaya are intangible forces of will, each does enlist physical agents to deal with events too threatening to address with indirect intervention. The agents of Gaia are called Beasts of Gaia, which primarily consist of Spirits and creatures of the Earth, examples include True Ancestors and Primate Murder. The agents of Alaya are called Beasts of Alaya, which include human spirits pledging their eternal service to Alaya in return for favours during their life time. Counter Guardians are examples of Beasts of Alaya, and Archer is one of the Counter Guardians. Shirou Kotomine brought forth a miracle, he utilized the power of the Counter Force in order for the possibility of victory that should have been impossible.

The Counter Forces have immense power at their disposal. However, only the appropriate amount is unleashed to address a particular event. If the threat possesses an amount of power equal to X, then the Counter Force will deploy an amount of power just enough to snuff out X and eliminate the threat. The amount of power can be as small as nudging individuals into place through "coincidences", but it can also be as great as sinking an entire continent.

Alaya
Alaya (アラヤ) is the collective unconsciousness of mankind, the drive for survival. Alaya constantly steers mankind away from extinction. It takes central stage in Kara no Kyoukai as the driving force leading to the event in Paradox Spiral.

Usually Alaya interferes indirectly by guiding and empowering an individual to eliminate a threat. Such individuals include Shiki Ryougi (and characters associated with her) and Joan of Arc. When indirect intervention is insufficient, Alaya will deploy the Beasts of Alaya. Counter Guardians are examples of Beasts of Alaya. Archer from Fate Stay Night is a member of the Counter Guardian. The deployment of Counter Guardians is by no means subtle, as the threat will be eliminated with the surround, inflicting much collateral damage. Touko Aozaki hinted that the sinking of was the work of Alaya.

Alaya is of particular relevence to magi, as those close to reaching Akasha are deemed threatening by Alaya. Many of them go to extreme length to avoid or hide from Alaya. For instance, Araya Souren attempted to hide his approach to Akasha by containing his experiment in a boundary field close to a Reality Marble, essentially masking his work by internalizing it.

Gaia
Gaia (ガイア) is the planet's will to survive. Gaia protects all creatures on Earth by using Spirits and creatures of the Earth, but as mankind becomes independent, Gaia increasingly perceives humans as a source of threat due to their reckless destruction of the environment.

Gaia's response to the human threat is producing beings that can cull or rule mankind. Primate Murder was created to quickly eliminate humans. The True Ancestors are great Faeries modelled after the Crimson Moon, introduced by Gaia to rule over mankind.

It appears Gaia's various attempts will lead to failure, as storylines of several Type Moon works such as Fate/EXTRA, and Notes depicted Earth either as a planet in distress or already dead.

Future
The future of the planet is undetermined, with many possible outcomes available depending on the conditions present in the parallel worlds. The Mana Depletion of the world of Fate/Extra is caused by the Aylesbury Valesti producing a pole shift that began the depletion of mana. The world of Tsuki no Sango experienced a similar pole shift and the decline of the human race rather than magecraft. The world of Notes died entirely, and humanity still occupied its corpse. Gilgamesh saw a future where, following the wishes of the Çatalhöyük, humanity outgrows the planet and reaches for the light millions of lightyears away.

Fate/Grand Order
Due to anomalies in time, it has been shown that humans will go extinct in 2016. The future was previously established so that humans would prosper for the next century, but that future has become unobservable. Using Grand Orders, the Chaldea Security Organization plans to correct the anomalies and save the human race.

Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA
The parallel world of the Ainsworth family in Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA has experienced a shift in the axis of the world and the start of the depletion of its magical energy through a cause unknown to humans. This has brought on changes in the environment like abnormal weather and changes to the coastlines, such as Japan experiencing cold weather and snow during the summer. Plant life has declined, causing a decline in the animal life that feeds off the plants, and it has reached the human population as well. The process for the depletion of energy will take several hundred years, and the humans will not last more than ten generations before the world's destruction.

While science will allow humans to prevail in the short term even with the miracles of the world vanishing, the rules of the world being rewritten make it a surety that humans will perish. "Dry spots" are beginning to appear around the world in places where the energy has been completely exhausted, and an unknown particle unlike magical energy is spreading through those areas. Acting as a poison to wipe out everything alive under the current rules of the planet, the current inhabitants cannot exist in the new world. The Ainsworths plan to use the Holy Grail, Miyu Edelfelt, to use the remaining energy on the planet to make humans into beings that can survive in a new world, similar to the A-Rays and Liners of Notes.