Secrets of Planeta Divitiarum by Francesco Griffin, chapter six:
(Francesco Griffin is an investment trader, mainly concerning himself with interplanetary commodities markets. He has extensive knowledge in what makes commodities valuable and is an important contributor to the Commodities Project on the Wealth Channel. When not running his highly successful business, Griffin is at one of this many homes on a plethora of planets.)
“The most common question I get asked is what is Planeta Divitarum (PD) like? What makes it the Planet of Riches? What makes it so special? Why do so many people speculate about it and hunt for this planet when there are so many planets in the cosmos?
“Let me answer your questions. PD is unlike any other planet for many reasons. The legend and mystique that has built over the thousands of years since the Ancients’ civilization ended has enhanced what might have otherwise been a mediocre and not unique story of a city or civilization of enormous wealth.
“But the mystique isn’t what makes it special; it’s the scope of the story. PD is not just a city, it is a planet. A planet dripping in jewels of unimaginable wealth, size, and prominence.
“Just picture it: streets lined in red beryl emeralds, brilliant sapphires, alexandrite, and other jewels of every color and size as we would border a street in stone or concrete.
“Towering buildings glistening in the sun as the jewels sparkle from the tiles of roofs and balconies. People dripping in glistening wealth, which clung to every nook and cranny of their bodies for not only were the jewels used as decorations and attractors, but also part of the very fabric of their clothing. Their clothes are woven from the most precious of metals, as we would weave fine linen. Even the meanest of garments is worth more than an affluent neighbor could make in their collective lifetimes of work were they to try to buy or make the same garment anywhere else in the universe.
“The jewels, which are both sewn into the glistening garments, which shown bright and beautifully in the full power of the sun, and draped and layered across the wearer, are just as stunning as the clothing. It probably takes a dozen men months of polishing to bring out the hidden qualities these gems aren’t willing to reveal to anyone not willing to give them the blood, sweat, and tears they deserve.
“Every single jewel worn by these people is a priceless work of art any collector would be willing to sell their families to possess. But on this world, every person is lucky enough to own these gems. Every person is a collector of art and beauty. Every person rich beyond imagining.
“The possibilities and situations one can come up for the use of these gems are infinite and never ending. This society would probably use gems for anything and everything including their electronics, energy generation, and perhaps even food replication.
“The wealth this planet flaunts and uses so unthinkingly is beyond anything we could ever comprehend. I imagine that some of the things they do with their gems would shock and be abhorrent to us just as things we do with some of our everyday objects would be objectionable to them.
“The very fact they are so gem abundant probably has something to do with their planet’s placement within their solar system. I’d imagine that they live closer to the sun, but with a thicker atmosphere which enables them to survive. Their planet is also mostly water such as ours and most likely had a very volcanic phase which enabled some gems to form in such abundance that they use them as we would rocks.
“In fact, such abundance might mean they don’t see themselves as wealthy, just burdened with lots of shiny rocks. I know everyone reading this might say that this very thought is wrong and likely sacrilege, but we know from experience that people who have an abundance of something, such as water, take it for granted that it will always be there and don’t properly appreciate it unless something happens to lessen the supply.
“Who know how these people treat their ‘shiny rocks’ and we’ll never know until we find the PD.”