Consider Penrose's "Angular momentum: An approach to combinatorial space-time" (math.ucr.edu/home/baez/penrose/Penrose-AngularMomentum.pdf)

Hence, we have a way of getting hold of the concept of Euclidean angle, starting from a purely combinatorial scheme

...

The central idea is that the system defines the geometry. If you like, you can use the conventional description to fit the thing into the ‘ordinary space-time’ to begin with, but then the geometry you get out is not necessarily the one you put into it

It seems that euclidean space, at least, can be derived as a limiting case from simple combinatorial principles. It is not at all clear that general relativity does not have kolmogorov complexity comparable to the cellular automata of your "aether universes".