From a Whateley Universe perspective, this is mostly a nonsense question. Spirits in the WU have little to no ability to influence the physical world due to the "power charge" of crossing out of your 'home' realm/plane/dimension. For a 'spirit' to cross over into the physical world takes a massive amount of energy. Once here, the spirit/entity has to expend energy to stay here (and it doesn't necessarily get an automatic return home when it runs out of energy... a spirit that flips over into the physical world with no way home that runs out of energy before getting a way home CAN and usually DOES die). And in most cases, while here in the physical world, the spirit is 'lesser'... it takes more 'oomph' to manipulate the physical world than they are used to and they also don't have innate abilities to just relax and go to sleep to recover their strength.
This is why, with all these spirits running around, you don't see tons of possessions in the WU. At least, not by 'spirits'. It has to be very very important to the spirit to commit to spending their energy to manipulate the physical world. Of course, they can get some mage to pay the crossover charges by performing a summoning ... that's one way to 'work' the system. It's also possible for a spirit to be given a 'benefits package' as part of a summoning - something that supports their presence in this world, maybe even makes it more like they are a native so that what the spirit does doesn't cost it a lot of its own life force. But no free lunch... SOMEONE is still paying the bill. Usually the summoner, directly or indirectly.
It's also why a spirit getting hosted by an avatar is such a good deal for a spirit. The Avatar's Hallow exists in their world. So not only do they get to interact with the physical world indirectly, they get to do so without any of the risk or expenses of crossing over. And it comes with room and board in the spirit realm equivalent of a fortress. Ya, ok... most of them also expend some of their energy to ensure that their host is going to be safe and inclined to the sort of activities that they personally enjoy. But they can afford to at that point, because for the lifetime of that host, they've got it made.
Gods, on the other hand, are very different. It's true that gods in the WU can transcend the physical body. But they are not spirits. They're not external entities in the 'cost of doing business on the physical plane' game. Unless they are a god from outside. Gods that started here get to keep their home court advantage after they transcend... gods that transfer in have all sorts of problems until they adapt (or impose their nature on the world). The source and nature of a gods power is quite different. And while you can draw analogies between the life force of a spirit and its power, the essence of a mage and its manipulation, and the power of a god and how it is used... these three things are not the same 'type' of energy. Can you use one in place of the other in certain situations? Yes. All situations? No. Can you convert one to one of the others? Yes. Always? No. Are there exceptions? Probably.
There aren't any specific 'rules' in the WU regarding the occupation of territory in the sense of a location being like the Hallow of an Avatar. To go that route would put far more importance on the idea of ownership of land. If anything in the WU did work that way, it would probably be a far bigger deal that Gizmatik or Paramount created their own kingdoms. After all, if expanding their territory control raised the power of a god or gave it more authority over that part of the physical world... at some point, physical ownership and domination over land by a mortal would have to trigger an elevation to godhood... that power potential would have to go 'somewhere'. And in such a universe, nations would almost inherently rise as theocracies... because land held 'by the people' or by an abstract concept or a group of people temporarily would either result in the creation of many weak gods or make that land susceptible to a strong leader who people followed charismatically despite the abstract laws behind him resulting in that leader becoming the embodiment of that nation in godhood.
Is there a potential foundation for a story in the idea? Yes. But it would be a vastly different world than earth or the WU, unless the world only just today changed to work that way. In which case, it would be absolute collapse and chaos. As an experiment in how leadership and political systems might evolve differently if the strength of one's leadership resulted in actual godhood and the accumulation of greater natural power? Could be worth reading. There would be little reason for militaries or war as we know it... because the only real way to change any balance of power would be for the leader to take control of a territory that they previously did not have control over. And that would require one leader to defeat the leader who held that territory... transferring power to the victor. You would have to determine how much the support of the people and the land itself gave to its leader in the process of those 'fights'... because if the land and people held strong and remained determined to be led by their leader, that god couldn't be 'defeated' even by a more powerful one with a larger nation and more people. ie the will of the land is that it be led by Joe... then Joe will lead it... even if Ted is so powerful that he runs everything else.
And then, you would have an interesting series of stories about the leap into space. Does the sheer distance traveled break any possibility of a god on Earth also claiming the territory of Mars? or Europa? or the third planet of the Bernard's Star system? Does everyone hop in scout ships and hope to be the first to find new spectral bodies because of the ability to park in orbit and say "I found this. This is mine." and suddenly be a god with dominance over an entire planet because there is no one else to challenge their claim? Or would they be limited? A mere mortal might 'claim' godhood over an entire planet, but they can't actually extend control over anything much than a few hundred square miles at first, because they simply aren't mentally built that way yet. And that to really claim a planet in that way could take hundreds of years of growing into it.... though with enough space out there, it could still be possible to do so unchallenged.
In fact, this might be done intentionally. Specific types of people put in scout ships for the specific intent of seeding planets with a terraforming god, followed up by small teams of scientists and others who don't have the personality types of challenge the seed-god specifically to give the god followers and boost its power such that they can terraform the world for regular colonation.
*looks around* Now where the hell have I wondered to... Malady? WTF?!
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