#continued war au

[pyralart]

Continued War Steven for @florescentvibes!

[skoopedy]

So, now that this lad has been seen, it’s about time I introduce him!

CONTINUED WAR AU

“The war between homeworld and the rebelling Crystal Gems has been going on for thousands of years. 10-year old Steven Universe grew up knowing that he is half-gem, but does not quite know what that means about him or his future. The mystery surrounding his mother comes to haunt him when two gems save his life from an attack and say that they were friends with Rose Quartz.”

More under the cut!

In this AU of Steven Universe, the war between Homeworld and the rebelling Crystal Gems never ended; rather, it lasted for thousands of years, being prolonged for both sides after the mysterious disappearance of Pink Diamond. It was assumed that the Crystal Gems had somehow overthrew her and held her hostage, but nothing has ever been confirmed. The diamond leader had just simply vanished. With no idea of where she is or what could have happened to her, the diamonds kept sending troops to Earth as both soldiers and search parties to continue in their efforts of finding the lost gem, and fighting the rebels that get in their way. It goes on like this, in repetition, for eons… Steven Universe was born into this world. He grew up in a very small farm town that resides in the middle of the country, far away from the zones where the creatures called gems tended to fight. He was raised all alone by his father, Greg Universe, since his mother, Rose Quartz, gave up her form to have him over ten years ago. He likes to help around with the other farmers, and likes to go on walks along the dirt roads and the forests! He likes hitching rides on the horse drawn carriages to nearby settlements, and to walk down to the lake to swim or fish! He also likes to cause mischief around the place if the day calls for it! His simple life couldn’t be more simple for a simple ten year old boy. Right…? Except, Steven knows that he isn’t simple. He’s half-gem…and gems don’t exactly have a good reputation amongst humans. The townspeople know that he’s a hybrid and love him enough, but it’s not like they can tell him anything about his heritage of his mother’s gem. Rose Quartz is gone, and she didn’t exactly leave a lot of info to his dad about what to expect before she passed away. Was he going to inherit her powers? Was his destiny, if it exists, tied to the other gems that come from the sky and from the zones? Is he going to have fight too, someday? His little questions were left unanswered - until one day, his little town is attacked by a group of gems and their flying ship that have wandered too far inland. They wreak havoc amongst Steven’s town and hurt his fellow people, driving them out of their lifelong homes. Steven, having lost his father amongst the chaos, is about to be hurt by a soldier as well. However, a slender gem with a spear and a tall gem with gauntlets step in, and save his life…   ~~~ That’s about all I’ll give for now! I hope you guys like it! I really, really want to turn this into a fanfiction someday - I already have so much worldbuilding planned, and the beginning of the outline is already pages long. The last two doodles of my Steven was made in a drawpile with other members in the SU Server that I’m in! I’m currently making designs for Garnet and Pearl as well, and I’ll post them too when I’m done! Thank you so much for reading!

[skoopedy]

Some memes that I made for my Continued War AU a little bit ago!

I gave a baby a weapon. This a threat.

I'm posting these simply because I'm not on a drawing rampage anymore, so I've been taking longer and longer to work on Pearl and Garnet's designs, as well as Amethyst's redesign. Thus, that's leading to less active posts, which means I am stepping right back to old habits of being Inactive again!! I don't want to just die off, and I'm unsure of which WIPs and doodles I want to post, so I have resorted to my talent of making memes to fill up the time between my last bit of art and the next one. I'm not used to trying to be active, so Forgive me for my weird pacing!!

Besides That: Steven has a gun, and homeworld, for the first time in thousands of years, has discovered what deep, usettling, soul shaking FEAR means.

[skoopedy]

Since I designed Steven for my Continued War AU, I also decided to try and design all the other characters to go along with him!

Meet Amethyst, when was a Homeworld gem! She’s no longer a soldier fighting in the war for either side, as she has decided to go rogue and live by her own “Amethyst made rules”, but she was at one point a fighter for Homeworld! She doesn’t care much for Earth or humans (or at least, that’s what she wants), and she finds this whole war deal kinda whack to be honest. However, the rebellion has given her a chance to live her best life as a totally free gem - neither Homeworld or those Crystal Losers can tie her down again!

She also had a kind of spiteful-respect rivalry with Jasper when she was with Homeworld…

But, this is just Amethyst with her HW design! I realized faaaar too late that she would’ve gone rogue, so this is all I have for her in my AU so far, nwjwkmakwkdkd! I’m going to be giving her a proper redesign, most likely after I finish Garnet and Pearl! So, keep an eye out for it 👀

[skoopedy]

CONTINUED WAR UPDATE: PEARL'S DESIGN

I will admit. This one took a LOT longer to draw. I immediately knew what kind of look I wanted to give Pearl for this AU, but I wasn’t expecting the behind leg to be so complicated to line!! I legit got so frustrated with it that I wasn’t able to complete this drawing for two months! But after taking a step back, I decided “Fuck it”, and went back in without caring about how it looked in the end. I just wanted to get this done! And it payed off!

More info about the design and the AU under the cut:

Pearl’s design had a lot of thought put into it. When it came around to sketching design ideas for her, I immediately knew what I wanted and what it would represent. I changed some things along the way, but this Pearl, while still OUR Pearl, has some very notable differences. Some are physically represented that gives information about her character :3c

I wanted to give Pearl an outfit that was a mixture of her old design from the in-canon rebellion, and combine it with a more “Damsel” approach via more flowy and loose clothing! She’s still a badass and a fighter through and through, but after undergoing an extended war and experiencing her second worst nightmare, she’s not the exact same as her canon counterpart.

Also, here’s a sketch of what her outfit looks like from above and when it moves:

I hope you guys like her design! It’s my favorite out of the original CG’s! I’m currently redesigning Amethyst and fixing up the final ideas for Garnet, but when they’re done I’ll show them off too! I still have yet to finish the planning stages of Continued War’s plotline, but so far I already have a LOT figured out. Until the first chapter is complete and posted, I’ll do my best to continue giving y’all some TASTY content!

For those of you who don’t know this AU: “The war between homeworld and the rebelling Crystal Gems has been going on for thousands of years. 10-year old Steven Universe grew up knowing that he is half-gem, but does not quite know what that means about him or his future. The mystery surrounding his mother comes to haunt him when two gems save his life from an attack and say that they were friends with his mother, Rose Quartz.”

- Continued War SU AU

[skoopedy]

CONTINUED WAR TANGENT

I’m gonna go on a tangent about my Continued War SU AU, with worldbuilding and all that. I’ve been thinking about this AU for a month now, and I haven’t given too much information about it, so:

This entire story centers around the rebellion, and about the question of what if Homeworld never stopped fighting back. That’s the jist of it, but the depths of what I have planned isn’t going to be just about the themes of “War is bad.”

Everyone knows that war is bad.

Rather, this AU is about the fact that war is damaging, and it affects everyone.

I keep mentioning little facts here and there about the world that Steven grows up in in this AU. I mentioned in the first post that Steven lives on farmland, and that he rides in horse drawn carriages on dirt roads. I made a joke in an ask about Steven obtaining a gun about how it was possible since guns were made in the 1300′s (100% joking - he isn’t gonna get an actual gun at any point). That wasn’t me saying that this world takes place in the past.

In fact, far from it! This story takes place in the present, around the same time that Season 1 would begin!

This story doesn’t take place in the past, it’s just that this world has been so technologically hindered that their science is...what we would consider to be 1800′s era tech. Trains are relatively new, and reserved for people with money. The first cars aren’t even a thing in most people’s minds. Roads are still dirt paved, and farming is mostly done by horses or by the farmer’s hand.

This is a world where continued gem interference, though not completely direct, Messed Shit Up on an international level. Humans mostly don’t even know about the war, but they know what Gems are. They know that some come from space, and that those who do can and will destroy their livelihoods, or worse.

Steven wouldn’t live near the ocean in this AU, due to that fact alone. Living alongside the ocean is a trap if you just so happen to catch the eyes of the wrong kind of Gems. Boats aren’t fast enough, and can’t carry a lot of people. You have one escape route - land - and that could easily be blocked if you aren’t fast enough. Living beside the ocean could be extremely dangerous...and that’s why Steven Universe lives in the middle of nowhere, inland.

Beach City does not exist. It would never even get the chance to. Even the world most likely doesn’t look at all like what canon’s map look likes...

This is a story I really want to delve into deeply. Not only does it change the canon story and world completely, but Rose and her connections end up different as well. Steven has to go on a waaay longer journey before he ever reaches the end. Characters have to go through more intense development when faced with the devastations of fighting innumerable enemies and supposed allies...

Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, Greg, BISMUTH, Lapis, Peridot, etc...

Each of them are similar to their canon counterparts, but are also so DIFFERENT in dramatic ways. I can’t wait to write out each of their parts for this story when I get around to them. This story is such a big passion project now, and I really want you all to read it someday!

[skoopedy]

CONTINUED WAR AU UPDATE

I've been drawing less frequently lately, and have been going between commissions, gift art, and this AU when I have been doodling. Thus, why there hasn't been many updates so far to my CW AU--

But!! So as to not let it die off, have a sketch of Pearl in an Alternate Outfit that I considered for her! I wanted to test out a certain theme of a Knight/Royalty combo, showing off how elegant she is, but keeps up with her Swordfighter motif. I was inspired by both Mega Pearl and Homestuck for this idea! But ultimately, it's not what I went with, and this isn't her Final Design.

That ISN'T to say that this outfit is off the table - it just doesn't suit Pearl for the beginning of the story 👀

[skoopedy]

Please, please, PLEASE tell me CW AU Steven gets an actual gun sometime during the story.