saw people on twitter were drawing characters/ocs with the cartoon network/cmyk + white color palette so drew a moon phos (agate legs uncovered because they’re cool)
The gems in Houseki no Kuni have a body that differs from ours. They are insensitive to cold or disease, and are largely unresponsive to things humankind generally finds pleasant, like food or direct physical contact. They are numb to bodily pain, and the only nourishment they need comes from sunlight. At night, they sleep and during the colder months they hibernate; to avoid dealing with the exhaustion from lack of sun exposure. They have no sense of taste or touch, and their sense of smell has never being mentioned either.
All of this is reflected in their ascetic lifestyle. Kongo has taught the Lustrous to never take more from the world than what is needed to survive. Of course, he meant it as avoiding living in excess, avoiding self-indulgence in a world that lacks the resources to back it up, and not as in depriving yourself of basic needs.
However, Phosphophyllite, and Gemkind as a whole, has developed a fucked up relationship with their body as a result of trauma. The physical breaks they sustain from the constant Lunarians attacks taught them to neglect their basic physical needs, and the War affects each of them deeply, albeit differently depending on their hardness/brittleness.
For some of the stronger gems, their attitude towards their body is strikingly utilitarian. They are an armor to defend their home, a weapon to fight back with. Their body is something that they would prefer to be functional because it helps them and the others survive, but also something they can distance themselves from to protect themselves from fear, and the grief of losing their friends.
It's something that was shaped by someone else, something that belongs to them but not fully a part of themselves.
I've theorized a bit about how strong emotions have a significant effect on the lustrous' bodies, which might explain (in part) why they avoid painful or emotionally difficult confrontations. It's a vicious cycle that bred a culture of silence and emotional immaturity, even among their youngest.
And in light of that, it is any wonder that the gems use their bodies to harm themselves?
Diamond's brittleness makes them unable to fight, which is their purpose as a patroller. They are not a shield: they are shielded. They are not a weapon, they're a liability in a fight, a shiny decoy that attracts more Lunarians that they can fend off alone. Their hardness is Diamond class, but when it's time to prove it, they fail at every turn.
It's no wonder that Diamond is the first gem in this story to introduce the concept of change to our protagonist.
Dia dislikes their own body. In gem's culture, what you do is who you are, and that's the end of the matter. It's how the gems understand the world around them, how they cope with the meaninglessness of the War, and how they interact with each others.
Again and again, we've seen the gem's sense of self crumble once their purpose is taken away. We've seen their body unable to bear the burden of it without falling apart.
Dia's lack of purpose contributes to a general sense of dysphoria, a separation of self that feeds to their sense of disunity and instability of identity. They don't want to be who they are. They don't want to have anything to do with their body, and would kind of just rather it wasn't… What it is. Their body becomes a shiny decoy, an accessory, and often an inconvenient one, no matter what they try and no matter where they go.
Deep down, Dia would rather be Bortz, and failing that, they would rather leave be somewhere where they don't have to think about Bortz, and failing that...
(All this deep, molting red hatred they feel towards themselves is redirected towards Bortz because on some level, they believe that Bortz can take whatever violence they throw at them; that Bortz's body and soul is unbreakable. Just like Phosphophyllite turns their fury and frustrations toward Kongo.)
And that's not the only thing Diamond and Phosphophyllite have in common: they are foil to each others.
Phosphophylite was born with a weak body in every sense of the term, too fragile for their goals and too fragile to be needed. They wanted to change, lost more and more parts of themselves, consequently felt like their body was, in some way, no longer their own.
They learned how to fight, they learned what losing parts of themselves meant. They learned to expect arrows from the sky. That's not how it used to be. Because of their low hardness, they used to break when someone so much as brushed past them, and yet, they used to spent their days taking naps hidden in the grass. They used to complain and be very noisily, conspicuously upset when Kongo wouldn't allow them on patrol.
Their body changed, and there’s basically none of that anymore as far as fighting, physical breaks and emotional suffering goes. They gain new arms and new legs. They loose Antarctictite, and their guilt grows exponentially. They shut off, become a living ghost, got stuck somewhere between alive and gone. The things that happens to their body are only vaguely related to them. They happens, often they are unpleasant, but it's only sort of relevant.
It's relevant in terms of continuing function and being able to keep going/surviving, but comfort/discomfort and their senses of both have become more than screwed.
They don't sleep anymore, become insomniac (and when on rare occasion they manage to nod off they have nightmares, which only adds to their sleep problems) They focuses on Kongo and keep putting themselves in danger. They neglect their physical needs as a self imposed punishment. (though one they don't fully, consciously realize, I believe.)
Since they've taken upon the goal to understand their enemy, they have to keep going: how can they not take these risks? Gems are in danger of abduction every day, and Phosphophyllite should do everything they can (and if sometimes they feel tired, if sometimes they wish for everything to end, they don't deserve rest anyways.)
After gaining Lapis' head, their senses get sharper: hearing, sight, everything that helps them figure out the truths of their world. And yet, their body keeps getting number as their path become muddier.
They also internalize the idea of anticipation/expectation of pain as just a thing that happens, so at least if they're controlling how it happens it's better. This self-harm habit will intensify as the story goes on because their tolerance for gem pieces' loss and memory loss gets higher and higher, and their sense of what’s “bad” has a much higher threshold as well, so what seems extreme to other gems to them is less of a big deal.
Most of this is absolutely on part with the older gems' history, be it earth or moon gems. Euclase becomes an insomniac, and refuses to hibernate for two centuries. Yellow Diamond breaks their own body on the moon, again and again and again, for lacks of anything else to do. Alexandrite asks to be used, to erase their own self temporarily, if it can help Phosphophyllite (the Lunarians) achieve their goals. Padparadscha rips away the piece that keeps them conscious to stop Rutile from throwing Phos into the sea.
If the gems are what they do, if their soul's worth is summarized by their work, and if their body literally falls apart when their sense of self crumbles, is it really any wonder that, once they were brutally crushed by Phosphophyllite, once Kongo crumbled, and once they failed to do what they were meant to do, they chose to part away from their weak, useless bodies?
Is it truly any wonder that they chose to become true physical equals to each others and to Kongo? To become Lunarians?
The gems in Houseki no Kuni have a body that differs from ours. They are insensitive to cold or disease, and are largely unresponsive to things humankind generally finds pleasant, like food or direct physical contact. They are numb to bodily pain, and the only nourishment they need comes from sunlight. At night, they sleep and during the colder months they hibernate. They have no sense of taste or touch, and their sense of smell has never being mentioned either.
All of this is reflected in their ascetic lifestyle. Kongo has taught the Lustrous to never take more from the world than what is needed to survive. Of course, he meant it as avoiding living in excess, avoiding self-indulgence in a world that lacks the resources to back it up, and not as in depriving yourself of basic needs.
However, Phosphophyllite, and Gemkind as a whole, has developed a fucked up relationship with their body as a result of trauma. The physical breaks they sustained from the constant Lunarians attacks taught them to neglect their basic physical needs, and the War affected each of them deeply, albeit differently depending on their hardness/brittleness.
For some of the stronger gems, their attitude towards their body is strikingly utilitarian. They are an armor to defend their home, a weapon to fight back with. Their body is something that they would prefer to be functional because it helps them and the others survive, but also something they can distance themselves from to protect themselves from fear, and the grief of losing their friends.
It's something that was shaped by someone else, something that belongs to them but not fully a part of themselves.
I've theorized a bit about how strong emotions have a significant effect on the lustrous' bodies, which might explain (in part) why they avoid painful or emotionally difficult confrontations. It's a vicious cycle that bred a culture of silence and emotional immaturity, even among their youngest.
And in light of that, is it any wonder that the gems use their bodies to harm themselves?
Diamond's brittleness makes them unable to fight alongside Bortz. They are not a shield: they are shielded. They are not a weapon, they're a liability, a shiny decoy that attracts more Lunarians that they can fend off alone. Their hardness is Diamond class, but when it's time to prove it, they fail at every turn.
They resent their own body. Their lack of purpose contributes to a general sense of dysphoria, a separation of self that feeds to their sense of disunity and instability of identity. They don't want to be who they are, and would kind of just rather if their body wasn't… What it is. They feel like an accessory, and often an inconvenient one, no matter what they try.
In gem's culture, what you do is who you are, and that's the end of the matter. It's how the gems understand the world around them, how they cope with the meaninglessness of the War, and how they interact with each others.
Again and again, we've seen the gem's sense of self crumble once their purpose is taken away. We've seen their body unable to bear the burden of it without falling apart.
Diamond is a shining example of this. Deep down, they would rather be Bortz, and failing that, they would rather be somewhere where they don't have to think about Bortz, and failing that...
(All this deep, molting red hatred they feel towards themselves is redirected towards Bortz because on some level, they believe that Bortz can take whatever violence they throw at them; that Bortz's body and soul are unbreakable. Just like Phosphophyllite turns their fury and frustrations toward Kongo.)
In light of that, it's fitting that Diamond is the first gem in this story to introduce the concept of change to our protagonist.
Phosphophyllite was born with a weak body. They were too fragile for their goals and too fragile to be needed.
They decide to change, loose more and more parts of themselves, consequently feel like their body is, in some way, no longer their own.
They learn how to fight, they learn what losing parts of themselves means. They learn to expect arrows from the sky. That's not how it used to be. Because of their low hardness, they used to break when someone so much as brushed past them, and yet they'd spend their days taking naps hidden in the grass. They used to complain and be very noisily, conspicuously upset when Kongo wouldn't allow them on patrol.
Their body changes, and there’s basically none of that anymore as far as fighting, physical breaks and emotional suffering goes. They gain new arms and new legs. They loose Antarctictite, and their guilt grows exponentially. They shut off, become a living ghost, got stuck somewhere between alive and gone. The things that happens to their body are only vaguely related to them. They happens, often they are unpleasant, but it's only sort of relevant.
It's relevant in terms of continuing function and being able to keep going/surviving, but comfort/discomfort and their senses of both have become more than screwed.
They don't sleep anymore, become insomniac (and when on rare occasion they manage to nod off they have nightmares, which only adds to their sleep problems) They focuses on Kongo and keep putting themselves in danger. They neglect their physical needs as a self imposed punishment. (though one they don't fully, consciously realize, I believe.)
Since they've taken upon the goal to understand their enemy, they believe they have to keep going: how can they not take these risks? Gems are in danger of abduction every day, and Phosphophyllite should do everything they can (and if sometimes they feel tired, if sometimes they wish for everything to end, they don't deserve rest anyways.)
After gaining Lapis' head, their senses get sharper: hearing, sight, everything that helps them figure out the truths of their world. And yet, their body keeps getting number as their path become muddier.
They internalize the idea of anticipation/expectation of pain as just a thing that happens, so at least if they're controlling how it happens it's better. This self-harm habit will intensify as the story progresses because their tolerance for pieces' loss and memory loss gets higher and higher, and their sense of what’s “bad” has a much higher threshold as well, so what seems extreme to other gems to them is less of a big deal.
Most of these symptoms are absolutely on part with the older gems' history, be it earth or moon gems. Euclase becomes an insomniac, and refuses to hibernate for two centuries. Yellow Diamond breaks their own body on the moon, again and again and again, for lacks of anything else to do. Alexandrite asks to be used, to erase their own self temporarily, if it can help Phosphophyllite (the Lunarians) achieve their goals. Padparadscha rips away the piece that keeps them conscious to stop Rutile from throwing Phos into the sea.
If the gems are what they do, if their soul's worth is summarized by their work, if their body literally falls apart when their sense of self crumbles, is it really any wonder that, once they were brutally crushed by Phosphophyllite, once Kongo crumbled, and once they failed to do what they were meant to do, they chose to part away from their weak, useless bodies?
Is it really any wonder that they chose to become physical equals to each others and to Kongo in a literal sense? To become Lunarians?
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