Are the actions items and character do when your off the island pre-determined?

When i get back to Phantom Island sometimes i get messages like my Merchant gained some Bol, some of my objects gained Mana or my Fusionist helped an object gain mana.

I am wondering if these actions are just random or if they are pre-determined by not only my actions but also by the type of character/object that is doing the action (ie. does Merchant only generate Bol or can it generate Mana for itself like a Rock or generate mana for someone else like a Fusionist does to objects)