Dry, Cracked, Earth

My, its quite dusty in here isn't it?
Don't be rude.
"It's been like this quite a while, hasn't it."
That it has, that it has.

...We should do something, shouldn't we?
Perhaps, perhaps not.
We could leave it be. Let it go its way.
"But something does need doing."

"And that something is?"
To strike the barren earth.
"To crack the ground, and plant a seed."
To water the earth and, if needed, tend the bud.

...

We've known this for a long time. Why haven't we?
A fair question. Distance. Exhaustion. Nerves.
A general disdain for burdens, real or imagined.
"We've made our peace. Haven't we?"

Shush. All of you. Let's start again, from the beginning.

There is, let me think... A pond, yes. Crisp, clear waters. Vibrant, full of life.

Singular.
A point of reference.
Full of potential.
"Hardly a story though. Barely counts as raw material."

Give it time. We have nothing else.

...It could use a hook.
But a simple one. We're out of practice.
How about: Is the pond real, or a metaphor?
"Bit vague. Should we ask for more?"

It will do.

You've heard the chorus. Will the pond be literal, or metaphor? We will await the answers, even one.

Too much, too soon?
Too little, too late.
That's fine. Isn't it?
"We'll split the difference, then; half and half."

Not wholly one thing or the other. An Ocean then, or Space.
A material body amidst something greater.

An ocean world in a vast sea of stars.
Brimming with life awaiting definition.
"It'll need a name of course."
Aquaregia.

Perhaps. One for the querants, or time to decide.
Will Aquaregia be the worlds name, or something else?

Two days passed.
And we return.
Aquaregia it is, by default.
"Perhaps we'll revisit the matter later."

Or we'll find confidence and make it work.
Now Aquaregia is a lovely marble in a sea of stars, but it remains lacking.
It needs something, somewhere for a story to happen.
Oh we could try making a story out of geological processes; but there's a certain something we lack to do that justice.
Places.
We need a cast, an ensemble... But to do that, we need to know who they are. What they are.
Its a bit too early to answer that question, given a lack of where they ought to be.
But, one worth thinking on now all the same.

Right, our next question: Above or below the Ocean?
Floating islands, matted kelp rafts, coral forests reaching from ocean to sky.
Or abyssal caverns, volcanic cities, whole communities built in and on the beasts of the deep.
I suppose they aren't exclusive, but we do need a point to focus on.

Lets give the question three days, this time.

Three days, one hour, and change.
Getting to be a bit of a pattern, that.
If not an exact one.
"It helps provide a sliver of structure."

Our focus will take place below the sea.
Perhaps we'll get wishy-washy later and drift above, but for now we will remain below.

Now, here's where the waters get a bit murky; without a people to focus on (do still keep thinking on what they ought to be), we get to decide what its like down there.
Ocean floors, geothermal abyss's, whalefalls. Messier than the usual questions, more open-ended by necessity.

Lets give it Four days, this time.

I think it depends how deep down you go. I'd imagine there are cities brightly lit in blues and purples by the bioluminesce of their residents, but that none of those beings would have ever seen the ocean floor. I think perhaps there's a point beyond which people do not return. And below that darkness and who knows what.

Mhm. A colorful place, but not always a safe one.
There is mystery in the deeper depths. Danger. Uncertainty.
But above all, that raw material we crave: Potential.

Yes, I think we can work with this.
Truly? Certainly?
Its already done.
"Well go on, show them already."

...Have you seen a piece of kelp in your life?

No.
Nor, admittedly, is doing so needed.
Think of this as our guiding star in the night; we don't need to see the suns molten surface to depict it, abstract is enough.
And here, well. Its nice to keep a rough idea of where things are.

Now, for the next step... Perhaps a short story, while I think.

Once, elsewhere, was a different kind of forum game: A god-game!
I'm sure we've had a few of those here in past, but this one was different.
A game of dice, puns-a-plenty, elements chosen by all to form the world, and a handful of gods to shape it each era.
And, perhaps, a smidgen of mortality.
It was an exhilarating thing, How we rejoiced at the peoples victories! How we mourned their failings.
How we, in our ineptitude, brought joy and grief, as often by design as by poor roll of the dice.
And when the curtain settled,
We wanted more.

And perhaps you, the reader(s?) will too.
But Aquaregias tale is not that one, even if it shapes today in its own way. We'll continue its tale another time.

For now, todays questions: People shape the world, and so too does the world shape them.
To change and be changed is our nature.
We adapt to fit our environs,
And adapt our environs to fit us.
"Aside from Crabs, those funny outliers."

We have an idea of where the people don't live, and a bit of where they do.
That they glow, and illuminate their homes as such.

But what are they, and how do they live?
Cliff side homes, woven kelp abodes, reclaimed shells of great beasts?
The two are entangled, and on this trajectory the answer to one will sculpt the other-

Oh, I'm over-complicating this. We'll make it work, whatever the answer may be.
Five days, this time.