#topaz analysis

[finisnihil]

Hello pookies let’s talk about Aventurine and Topaz

Penacony spoilers+Analysis ahead

Let’s start off the bat, I personally like Aventurine more than Topaz and the main reason is because Topaz willingly works for the IPC while Aventurine doesn’t. Some people have pointed out in other posts of mine that Topaz didn’t voluntarily join the IPC. Her planet was dying and the IPC bought it, she joined because it was required of her, but here’s the difference. She chooses to stay.

She emphasizes in her talking with Bronya and the Trailblazer than she doesn’t stay with the IPC just because she has to or because she needs a paycheck. She stays because she likes working for them.

Also, she sees what was done to her planet as a good thing. In her eyes, the IPC saved her planet, in her eyes it isn’t exploitation. She tries to force the same thing on Jarilo-VI to the point she attacks the Astral Express for trying to stop her after Bronya declined the contract. She felt entitled to Jarilo-VI and when she was told no she ignored it. To her, the IPC are the best. It’s no wonder either, as far as we know she hasn’t seen the truly ugly side of the IPC yet because the IPC need her. In her character stories other IPC constantly hype her up, she’s a prodigy, she makes the IPC more efficient. She raises the success rate from 63% to above 80%. Even in her early days we see her breaking rules and getting away with it because the IPC value her too much to lose her.

They don't even question her calculations. Adding to this, when Aventurine is first introduced, it's after she's punished for her actions on Jarilo-VI.

He gives a lot of context about Topaz's power in the IPC. She "dodged a bullet there", implying she theoretically should've got a stronger punishment than being demoted a rank and losing some bonuses she's mentioned she doesn't care about. He even mentions that somebody is "looking out for her". Topaz has backing. He also mentions Jarilo-VI was a high-risk low-reward situation and that her "kind heart" was a liability. Topaz has the room to take on such cases and exercise her "kind heart" because she isn't at risk of losing everything if she screws up. There's little consequences to her actions, there's powerful people protecting her, and the IPC need her. Topaz can leave at any time, she choses not to because she likes the IPC. You see this power dynamic in her character trailer.

A throne is strong imagery and she's surrounded by money, the real representation of power in the IPC.

So let's talk about Aventurine and why I think he's interesting and why I like him more than Topaz.

Let's start with his power dyanmic within the IPC, or more so, his lack of one.

Aventurine has a serial number on his neck and Dr Ratio specifically calls him a "thrall". The term thrall in this context seems to imply he's a captive of some sort of the IPC*, to them he's a product. We can feel his lack of power in the way people talk to him.

Sparkle speaks to him in a super derogratory way and belittles him by implying he had to humiliate himself to influence Sunday. Meanwhile Dr Ratio writes him off as ruining everything before he gets to really do anything.

He gets power by gambling for it. Power is fleeting and he can lose it easier than most.

At one point he talks about how much money he loses wasting ten minutes. Ten minutes is nothing for Topaz but to Aventurine it's lost money and if he's not making the IPC money he's useless and viable to be cast aside. He can't afford it because he has no power. Compared to Topaz, he can't leave. He has less room for screw ups.

Onto friendship.

When friendship comes up, he keeps the idea at a distance. He asks how friends benefit him. Sparkle says he treats friends like bargaining chips and when he's talking with Dr Ratio he says that "Friends are weapons of Avgins". To him, friends are used for or against you.

He doesn't have any real friends, he's always on his own. He has no backing. He can't trust anybody because he's in such a vulnerable state and everyone around him looks down on him because of his heritage. Dr Ratio even tells him he causes too much trouble to have freinds, likening him to a peacock with a jarring call.**

Finally I want to analyze this conversation between him and Topaz. When asking for her help, he calls her old friend, implying he's planning to use her. The thing about Aventurine is that compared to Topaz, he's more ruthless because he has to be, he doesn't have the wiggle room she does, even Black Swan notes this saying he'll go to extreme lengths to maintain an advantage. Right now, that's what he's doing because he's being thrown to Penacony as a sacrifice. For the reasons above he seems to be the most expendable Stoneheart. He notes Penacony is a lost cause and Topaz is shocked that the mission isn't given to a higher ranking Stoneheart. He eggs Topaz into being his project manager with the idea she'll recover what she lost on Jarilo-VI. What he's really doing is using her to shield himself. With her involvement the IPC will be less likely to cut their loses with him, because they need Topaz and if he puts his eggs in her basket to care for they're less likely to be left to break by the IPC. If things go wrong he takes the blame… unless he has Topaz to sofen the blow. He's gambling on her power in their dynamic.

*My personal theory as of 2.0 is that the Sigonians and Avgins had a war and the IPC backed the Avgins for a benefit of their victory, assuring it. Aventurine was a captive or some sort of "war prize" hence the serial number and Dr Ratio calling him a thrall. It also explains the negative view of Sigonians and the very favorable view of Avgins among other lore we've gotten about it. I may do a seperate post of this theory.

**Sparkle and Dr Ratio liken Aventurine to a peacock frequently. Male peacocks use their feathers to attract the attention of female peacocks. This matches Aventurine's very flamboyant and charismatic character and his place in the story.

Feel free to add discussion, have a great day, mwah!

[somethingsomethingstarward]

so like. here is the thing, about topaz and complicity.

i think topaz knows, on some level, what she's doing. i think she is at least aware of the fact that the ipc is not always good or kind, and that sometimes their "help" isn't help at all, and she chooses to advocate for accepting that help anyway. i think she knows that jade ruins lives just as much as she benefits them, and even knowing that, she still looks up to and admires jade. she might not know the full extent of the ipc's crimes, or exactly what oswaldo schneider's done, but i think she does know that bad things happen in the ipc--that the ipc does bad things--and she supports them despite that. her work enables the ipc to do its work, and the ipc's work has destroyed people. topaz justifies it to herself, but i think she recognizes that fact. i think in every way that matters, when it comes to what the ipc's done, topaz said yes.

because, in the only way that matters, she couldn't say no.

topaz has been an employee of the ipc since before she was old enough to even understand what that means. there's every possibility she's been an employee of the ipc since the day she was born. yes, she chose to jump in with both feet; yes, she chose to work her way up the ranks; yes, she chose to become one of their best employees, and ultimately, a stoneheart. but in that first choice--in the question of "do you want to work for the ipc or not"-- she didn't have a say at all.

humans don't do well when we don't have a choice in things. when we are stripped of agency, we turn on ourselves. it is painful, to not have control over our lives.

so i think topaz chooses to stay, because she can't choose to leave. and part of that is that the ipc did, in fact, save her. her planet was dying until they came in, brought it back to life, and offered her a way out. every opportunity she's ever had has come from the ipc, and everything she's experienced beyond her home planet is because of them. at this point, she's enmeshed: she's a stoneheart, she's one of their best employees, and they do in fact treat her well. and this is what she's found purpose in doing! it lets her do something she finds worthwhile and take care of her animals! part of it is that she does think the ipc allows people to do, on average, more good than bad, and she's established a place for herself with them. but i think another part of it is also that if she ever did try to leave, she would have to acknowledge that she can't. she does not have that power. there is no ending a lifelong contract with the ipc. and if she ever did say "i'm quitting and i don't want to do this anymore" . . . what would she do if they said no? what would they do to her?

yes, topaz is complicit. she's not just an ipc employee, she's one of their finest, and she's absolutely done things to people that range from questionable to actively life-ruining. she's a debt collector. but she's also someone who didn't have a say in signing away the entirety of her life to this company, and who has no way to meaningfully leave said company. she's an enabler of the ipc and she's a victim of it.

and i think she's lying to herself about it, because it's easier to tell yourself you had a say than to admit that you've been hurt. i think she tells herself she's making her own choices, because for the most part, she is--except for the fact that she's never had the choice to walk away, and if she ever tried she would find out just how much the ipc owns her.

because the thing about topaz and complicity is that there are perks to being a good employee. the ipc gave her a future. and as long as she never tries to leave, she never has to find out if they wouldn't let her.