Decagon's "Radiative Consequences"

This blog is dedicated to my alternate universe story for Steven Universe, set around a very special Gem colony! Asks, requests and feedback are always welcome!

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I’ve always wanted to make a bunch more variants of existing gem types, so I decided to draw three more Peridots alongside my original one. Each so has their own designation and nickname, as shown above. These Peridots were one team, assigned to work together to do tasks and maintain Kindergartens around the galaxy. The first Peridot in the lineup is “Trapedot”, nicknamed for her trapezoidal hair. She’s a quieter part of the team, cautious and collected in the face of adversity. She prefers the quiet hum of machine equipment rather than confrontation, rarely speaking out of turn or contesting her orders.

The second Peridot is nicknamed “Coney”, based on a joke from other Peridots that she had vaguely cone-shaped hair. No-nonsense and seemingly incapable of cracking a smile, Coney is usually the one telling others to get on with the job already. However, despite her cold exterior, she’s fiercely protective of the others.

The third Peridot, my original Peridot, was nicknamed “Shorty” by the leader of the group. She can be eager to chat to the others while they work and sometimes during inappropriate times, namely meetings with superiors. This attitude faded over the years and she became much less excitable, until she was finally assigned to Parisite.

The fourth and last member of the team is the designated leader and mentor, an Era 1 Peridot nicknamed by her subordinates as just “Boss”. She rules over her tiny empire with an iron fist, never hesitating to put Era 2 Peridots in their place. She hated having to deal with the “lesser” Peridots, seeing them as mere imitations of Gems grown back in the “good, old days”. Still, over time, she softened her stance against them... but she’d never admit that out loud.

So yeah, that’s my little group of ‘Dots, along with my interpretation of an Era 1 Peridot. I really enjoyed making them and writing a little backstory for them all! :D

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Hey, it sure has been a while, huh? Sorry about that, I was overcome with art block for the past... 3 months, was it? Something like that. I only recently overcame it, so I’m back at the whole drawing fusions thing again! :D

This is Larimar, a fusion between my rebellious Sapphire and my Lapis Lazuli. She’s a cryomancer through and through, able to create, mould and sculpt almost anything she can imagine out of ice that never melts.

Despite the cold she wields, Larimar isn’t short of warmth in her demeanour. An artisan at heart, she will often go out of her way to sculpt ornaments for her friends and colleagues. Larimar uses Sapphire’s future vision to know exactly who will be where and when, allowing her to know exactly when to spring the surprise of a decorative present on them.

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Here’s something that I should’ve completed a month ago, but at least it’s finally finished. :P

This is the fusion “dance” (or at least, the stack they make at the end of it) for the formation of Spectrolite, the gigantic fusion created during the battle for the capital. Thought it’d be interesting to draw the characters in another position for once, hah.

It also comes with a complimentary second panel:

I hope y’all like it!

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I found some inspiration so I decided to give my Lapis Lazuli a new outfit, based partly on Turquoise’s outfit and some other inspiration too.

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This is a character I’ve had in the works for a while, Blue Quartz! Blue Quartzes are rarer kinds of quartz soldiers, but are often used in the same way as Amethysts, with similar sorts of abilities. This particular Blue Quartz is rare even among her own kind, to the point of being considered Off-Colour, or defective.

Instead of summoning a weapon, or having inherent fighting capability, Blue Quartz has more non-combat abilities, including being able to make, maintain and transport a significant number of stasis bubbles even in the heat of battle. This relegated her to a battlefield rescue role, gathering up the gemstones of fallen allies and getting them back to safety. At one stage, Blue Quartz had been partnered up with a Rose Quartz that displayed healing capabilities, reducing battlefield losses by a significant amount... at least, until the Quartz pair was ambushed and their efforts were rapidly cut short.

Blue Quartz survived, but she never saw her friend again.

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Been a little while, huh? Well, I’m back with a new addition to the roster of my story, Orange Star Diamond.

Some time after the events of Change Your Mind but before the events of the Movie, a mysterious giant arrives on Homeworld. A Diamond, to be sure, but not one any of the current Authority had any knowledge of. Orange Star Diamond gave White, Yellow and Blue a choice; either submit to her will, or be destroyed. Their decision mattered little to Orange, however, and the three Diamonds were subdued. 

Some time later, the entire galaxy-wide warp network goes offline, cutting off every colony, allowing only localised warping. When the network came back in due time, it was silent. The once-excited buzzing of communication across the former Gem Empire was reduced to a hushed hum, as Homeworld once more took charge of its assets. During this time, two messengers were sent out.

One messenger was sent to Earth, to invite Steven, as the former Pink Diamond, to a meeting with the new Star Diamond Authority. A second messenger was sent to the Prime Radioactive Colony, delivering the same invitation to Green Diamond. Both lost Diamonds would be called to the great palace on Homeworld, to meet with the new head of the Empire.

Arriving by warp in the courtyard outside the palace, Green Diamond and her followers meet up with Steven and the Crystal Gems.

“I was never able to meet Pink, but I have heard much about you,” Green Diamond said. “Although I doubt the others would have let anything slip about me. I am Green Diamond.”

“I’m Steven Universe, but you can just call me Steven,” said Steven. “Nice to meet you!”

“Likewise.”

They exchange some more words about their respective backstories, interrupted by the arrival of a guard contingent consisting of Rubies and Topazes. Strangely enough, however, they were all... orange. The lead guard motions for the arrivals to follow. 

Soon, they would all arrive at the palace entrance. Only Steven and Green were permitted to continue inside, the rest told to wait outside. Within the great hall, the four giant chairs for each of the diamonds had all been replaced with a single one. Upon it sat the new leader of the reformed Empire, Orange Star Diamond. She held an orange bubble in her right hand, containing the gemstones of White, Yellow and Blue.

“Welcome, lost ones. Welcome to your new life as one of my underlings,” Orange said, emotionlessly. Steven and Green stopped in their tracks. The giant chamber’s side doors opened to flood the room with Gems of all descriptions, statures and statuses... all orange. Green held up a hand, forming a crackling green javelin in her grip; Steven summons his shield. Orange smirks slightly.

“You think your powers are any match for mine? They thought the same.”

Orange holds up a hand to the surrounded pair; with the flick of her wrist, the shield and javelin both turn orange, detaching themselves from their owners and flying to Orange’s side. They tried to resummon their respective weapons, but were unable to.

“I’ll be taking those. Guards, bring me their gemstones.”

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To be continued

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Do you have a twitter?

Nope, never really touched the site much at all, personally. I’ve always been a bit awkward with social media, heh

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This is Pietersite, a fusion between Hematite and my Lapis Lazuli. She’s one of the fusions that I made on a whim, and haven’t gotten around to giving her some backstory or lore relevance. Still, I’m happy with her design as it stands and I wanted to share it. :3

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This is Spectrolite, canonically formed during Andradite’s invasion of the Prime Radioactive Colony’s capital city, ready to kick the butts of any and all soldiers that attempt to breach the Temple at the heart of the city!

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This is Ammolite, the furiously colourful fusion of Brown Topaz and Lepidolite. Her stunning array of colours is a proud representation of the two relationships existing within, outwardly shining happiness. She bears all of the weapons and abilities of her component Gems and fusions, with some being amped to new levels. Her aura projection ability rivals that of the Diamonds, used to great effect on amping up allies and pacifying enemies. Ruby’s fire is easily combined with Lepidolite’s limb enhancers, creating powerful flamethrowers capable of unleashing volcanic devastation upon her foes. Despite this, she always prefers peace over war, but when push comes to shove, she’s not afraid to stand against any that seek to destroy her or those she loves.

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Coming back around to doing fusions after some trouble with art block!

This is Turquoise, a fusion between Little Brown Topaz (and by extension, Ruby and Peridot) and Lapis Lazuli. Being able to wield both water and fire, she can truly explode into battle with all the power of a geyser, using the superheated steam in all sorts of ways to win the day. Her control over these elements also allows for fun things like clouds you can sit on, weapons fashioned out of hot ice, and a powerful control over the local weather.

Out of combat, she’s a carefree spirit, enjoying the little things and entertaining her friends. Just like Lapis, she is able to create a set of wings, but these are made of water vapour, giving them a cloud-like appearance. She is also able to use her superheated steam as jets to propel her in any direction, allowing for a signficant speed boost or a way to dodge attacks at a moment’s notice.

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This is my Sapphire, one of the many Homeworld Gems captured and bubbled by the rebels. Although normally rigidly loyal to Homeworld, Sapphire was eventually released and persuaded to act as envoy to the rest of the Diamond Authority on behalf of Green Diamond.

Despite her convictions, she’s empathetic and does feel the rebels have a cause worth fighting for. Originally sent by Andradite to act as a rebel and infiltrate the rebellious Gem colony, Sapphire saw the rebels for what they truly were: scared hopefuls that would try to carve out their own existence, rather than the one imposed by an empire that discarded them. This realisation causes her to eventually join them in their fight for freedom.

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This is Hematite, or rather, a “normal” Hematite. Specifically one that was purposefully created, rather than the Hematite I made before. As such, she has a more normal gemstone, modelled after a quartz-style gemstone.

Hematites are naturally strong, even by Gem standards, and are used alongside Bismuths to build cities on every planet conquered by the Empire. Their ability to easily shapeshift, with seemingly little effort, makes them incredibly useful on construction sites throughout the colonies. Most tend to have a friendly and approachable demeanour, as well as a passion for perfection in all things they create.

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Here’s a little story I’ve been working on, happening sometime later in the RC timeline. The way it goes is this: Soddyite, Thorite, Parisite, Uraninite and Hematite have managed to find an old ship in one of the many abandoned hangars on their home planet. They reactivated and piloted it into space. During an FTL jump, they were intercepted by a Gem warship and promptly shot down. ________________________ “...they punched a hole in our primary engine, we’re dead in the water,” came the call from the engineering deck as Uraninite was frantically trying to keep the engine core from exploding. Soddy was piloting the ship, trying her best to use the secondary thrusters to avoid a second salvo from the warship.

“We’re falling into the local gravity well,” Thorite reported from the console on the right, glancing towards the captain’s chair where Parisite sat. Soddy grumbled, her control slipping as another blast rocked the ship.

“They’re not pursuing us... maybe they think we’ll crash,” Hematite said, sitting behind the console to the left of the pilot’s station. “Can we even... survive a crash...?”

“We’ll find out soon enough. Urani, re-route all available power into the integrity field. Soddy, see if you can glide the ship as much as possible,” Parisite ordered.

“I don’t know how much you think we have left of the ship, but we ain’t gliding this bucket of bolts,” Soddy growled, a feeling of dread falling over her as the viewscreen became wreathed in flame from the atmospheric entry.

The ship groaned as it plunged into the atmosphere of this mysteriously green planet. Paris ordered the crew to abandon their stations and gather around the captain’s chair, before activating a powerful forcefield around it. She hoped that would be enough; the fast-approaching ground would answer that.

On the ground, the night was peaceful, with calm waves of a blue-tinted ocean lapping gently at the golden sands of this planet’s coastline.

The tranquil night air was split by the fire ball hurtling towards the ground at catastrophic speeds.

The ship comes to an abrupt, cataclysmic stop as it touches down. Fires raged across its broken hull as it came apart, covering the area in metallic debris. The inside of the ship was filled with smoke, the crew scattered around the bridge haphazardly. They had survived the impact thanks to the protective barrier, but it didn’t stop them from being thrown about.

“...ow...” Paris groaned, finding herself draped over the pilot’s console. She pushes herself off, squinting through the acrid black smoke that poured out of the engineering deck below. “Is... is everyone in one piece...?”

“Just about,” Soddy called out, pushing a large slab of metal off Thorite. Uraninite had fallen down into the engineering deck, with Hematite clambering to her feet after being slammed against the front wall. A large chunk of the bridge’s roof had been torn away, exposing the glittering stars in the cool night sky beyond. “We must have fallen onto the night side of the planet... it’s so dark out there...”

“No time for speculation, we need to get out of here before the core blows,” Uraninite said as she climbed out of the hazardous lower deck. Paris nodded, noticing some movement above. Was something climbing on the roof of the ship?

“There’s something moving out there... are you sure this planet is devoid of life?”

“The records didn’t say anything about this place,” Thorite said, glancing towards the blocked corridor leading towards the nearest exit. “We need to get this stuff out of the way if we’re gonna get out of here.” Hematite ran over and together with Thorite began moving debris out of the way. Soddy turned to Paris.

“I can squeeze through, I think... I’m gonna see what’s going on outside... maybe we could find someone to help us.”

“Alright, just be careful,” Paris told her. Soddy nodded, clambering through a small gap in the wreckage. Soon enough, she found herself outside, flopping down onto the wall of the trench the ship carved in the landscape. The air out here was clear, much more than the atmosphere back home, despite all the fires. She could hear footsteps nearby, climbing up the side of the veritable crater to peek over the edge.

“Hello? Is there anyone-” Soddy found herself staring at three figures in the dark, only partially illuminated by the raging fires from the ship. “Oh my...”

______________________

To be continued (probably) :P

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In a mostly non-canon RP I am part of, Mega Iolite was able to successfully attack and kill four of the rebel Gems. Thorite, Uraninite and two of the three Rubies from Parisite’s old Ruby squad were shattered by Mega Iolite before Green was able to take her down. This inspired me to make this piece for that ordeal.

I have to admit, shattering my own characters really broke my heart a bit, hah.

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I’ve redrawn and redesigned the Iolite Twins! They were an older pair of characters that looked rather... meh, but I’m actually happy with how they look now, much more in line with the rest of my characters. I’ve also gone ahead and done their signature fusion, Mega Iolite.

Iolite Gems are employed as bounty hunters, plain and simple. Their ability to disrupt and cripple a Gem’s physical form is perfect for retrieving rebellious and rogue Gems that have fled their positions. Most Iolites work alone, or with an Aquamarine counterpart, but the Twins are different.

The Iolite Twins, Io and Lily, emerged together. It quickly became apparent that they shared more than a hole in the wall; their powers seemed inextricably linked, getting stronger if they were together. While Lily was more adept at disrupting forms, Io had the unique ability to mentally “stun” a Gem, paralysing them for long enough to capture them. When they first fused into Mega Iolite, their powers combined and quadrupled in strength, making them the strongest Gems of their entire caste. Since same-Gem fusion wasn’t as frowned upon, as with Rubies, the usefulness of such an overwhelmingly powerful asset was realised and the Twins became a branch upon themselves, a personal arm of the Diamonds themselves.

Gems that find themselves in the Twins’ sights and survived to tell the tale have come to call their fusion “The Huntress”. Unfortunate Gems that get between the Huntress and her prey usually rest in pieces.

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This is Little Brown Topaz, a smaller and friendlier version of Brown Topaz and with two fewer Rubies. She’s comprised of Peridot and leg Ruby, and is a way more fun character to be around. She’s around half the size of the original Brown Topaz, and slightly smaller than Lepidolite even, making her one of the smaller fusions. Despite her size, she’s tenacious and bears a childlike fun-loving attitude no matter the situation. She’s able to create and manipulate fireballs, although unlike her larger counterpart, does not have the ability to create gauntlets.