twisted wonderland : zone
1/? of a series on worldbuilding. this post is about oceanic geography and how it compares to other DRs. i touch a little bit on mer culture, but for the most part that'll be its own post.
so i mentioned this before in my previous post: in this DR, the Coral Sea does not comprise the entire ocean. it's a subregion of the Great Ocean; while landfolk (and even Coral Sea denizens, actually) often use "Coral Sea" as a synonym for the Great Ocean, they're two separate entities.
anyway, the Great Ocean is the entire world's ocean, basically; it's considered one whole entity, unlike the oceans of our world. this is largely for philosophical reasons: everything in the ocean—and nature in general—is connected, as aspects of a larger whole, and it's kind of disrespectful? irreverent? to imply otherwise.
the Great Ocean does contain several (unofficial) subregions, though, and the topic of what counts as a subregion is quite divisive.
(i'm going to number them to help keep track of things, but there's no actual numbering... no one can even agree on which subregions "count", much less rank them...)
first is the Coral Sea!
as stated in-game, it's located at the bottom of the ocean—but that's not all. there are districts in both shallow and deeper waters (though deep-water districts don't go any deeper than the bathypelagic zone; in fact, that's considered "deep" for the Coral Sea). architecture is heavily-dependent on the population/citizens of a region (and vice-versa), since different mer subtypes prefer different environments.
there's a lot of variety w/in the Coral Sea; i'd compare it to US/port cities in how varied the different cultures are + how they mix/intermingle. bony fish-, tropical/temperate-, and shallow/meso-type mer (mer types + biology can get their own post/s considering their complexity) dominate Coral Sea society as a whole for historical + climate-based reasons, but they're far from the only merfolk there.
some ppl, predominantly non-academics, recognize the Coral Sea as the only valid subregion (which i personally disagree with but yk..)
(i think [thorne] is the only DR for which i've talked abt the Coral Sea at any length, but generally, the Coral Sea is the only ocean, w/ several subregions. or less commonly, it's one of several oceans. this reality [zone] is an outlier, with the Coral Sea as a subregion itself.)
second is the Abyss!
it's not the only hadal zone area in the Great Ocean, but it's by far the largest, and also in close proximity to the Coral Sea. it's not very popularly recognized as a subregion, but i'm listing it second because i'm from there :)
there's not a lot to speak about architecture/culture-wise, since... no other mer live down there... it's a lot of sand, silt, and (non-sapient) sea creatures. the Abyss itself is a giant, vaguely-scythe-shaped chasm just off the Coral Sea's southern border. a popular mer legend is that it's a literal scar on the world.
the shallow end/"surface" of the chasm is fairly ethereal, considering bioluminescence, but as you go deeper the ocean gains a much more treacherous vibe. i personally prefer to stay on the deep end (unless i'm visiting ppl on the surface), because it's very peaceful; you're kinda forced to take things slow/not overthink to conserve energy, and the hydrostatic pressure feels (at least to me) like an enthusiastic hug.
(the closest things i can compare the Abyss to in other realities are either deeper Coral Sea subregions, such as in the case of the Frigid Deep or the Depths, or the deep ocean here. tbh it shares more similarities w/ this reality than other twst realities, though, since the latter are more populated/have a more... magical? whimsical? vibe than the Abyss, which is pure subaquatic horror.)
third is the Valley!
short for the Valley of Currents, which basically tells you all you need to know abt the geography... jokes aside, it roughly spans the distance between the Sunshine Lands and Land of Dawning. and is a literal valley. of currents
generally, currents act as kind-of highways for mer, except they're very frequently in flux/have no standard configuration. the Valley itself is a sort of hub for these "roads"; it's not the only hub (it's not even the largest, or most condensed, hub), but it's the largest hub with a residential area. idk if it's considered a proper "city", though.
it's not super-populated; most residents only stay there for part of the year (usu for the climate that suits them best). even the permanent residents/households move very frequently; they don't tend to stay in one building, swapping them out as suits them (like a game of musical chairs).
(if the Valley was twisted from a medium in this reality—and i'm still not confident that it isn't—i feel like it'd be twisted from Finding Nemo. idk why, maybe just vibes? anyway, it's p common among DRs that currents are used for movement/transportation, but the Valley is the first i've seen of a residential hub attached to one...)
there's a lot more that i'm missing, but i don't feel like going over them all... plus everyone names different regions different things / categorizes them differently and it's just. too much to keep track of