How much of Fantastica remains the same between iterations?

Question

Each time a human comes to Fantastica, the whole world is essentially 'rebooted'. We see this in chapter 13, where Bastian and the Childlike Empress start off in total empty nothingness, before he begins to make wishes and the world begins to be (re)created around them.On the other hand, some features of the world remain unchanged. Not only the Childlike Empress herself; also, for example, Atreyu and Falkor, or the country of the Sassafranians (mentioned in both halves of *The Neverending Story*, before and after Bastian's arrival).This raises the question: was there really total nothingness before Bastian started to make wishes? Did Atreyu, Falkor, the Sassafranian country, and so on exist only because he wished for them? (If so, Atreyu has a remarkable amount of free agency for someone recreated only through Bastian's will.) Could anything he remembers from the previous Fantastica be recreated? (But that would include many things that had been swallowed by the Nothing.) In short:##**How much of Fantastica survives between iterations - what and why?**_{Informed and supported speculation, based on the text or other good evidence, is acceptable.}

Answer 1

The answer to this question may very well depend on the detail and extent of his wishes. If the wish(es) called for an irradiation of all previous memories, then probably not very much if any. However if the wishes, as stated, did not call for the previous Fantastica to be erased then some may have inadvertently remained. This is evident in the fact that some features of the world remained unchanged. While there may have been a nothingness in the beginning, it is evident that there wasn’t necessarily the case between wishes(it did not go back to nothingness).