Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The facts regarding gemkind and feral gemkind as seen by man are ones that bring mild confusion at best and extreme bafflement at worst. The fact that feral gems (a.k.a members of the Petramus genus) existed even before sapient gemkind have for millions of years - possibly eons - really adds to the daunting sense of gem longevity. Therefore cataloguing the history of feral gems is impossible to fully delve into, let alone sapient gemkind. And the genetic diversity present in gemkind also complicates studies into xenology and psychology. Humanity may never know the origins, evolution, and genetic timeline of prehistoric, feral gems. Fortunately, with the help of a few individuals (as well as unfortunately when regarding the catastrophe that befell the gems in the Perseus Arm), a few snippets of the feral gems’ history, xenology, and psychology are known.

The producers of this encyclopedia would like to thank the variety of different individuals, human and gem alike, with the assembly of this encyclopedia. Including, but not limited to: Markus Shepherdson, Lei Ting, Xian Zheng, and Greta Shulz, as well as the Crystal Gems, Blue Pearl, Yellow Pearl, and Emerald Pearl, as well as the International Xenological Study Committee.

Chapter Text

Gemkind is, in simplistic terms, a highly intelligent, highly powerful viral lifeform. The bodies that they infest are the many different varieties of celestial formations - moons, rocky planets, gaseous planets, asteroids, the list goes on. Previously thought to be something that was developed when gems became an advanced intergalactic empire, it has come to man’s attention that this parasitic trait has roots long before becoming an empire.

This surprising knowledge was given to us by two gems that proved to be highly detrimental to the success of our study: Blue Pearl and Yellow Pearl. The two escaped in tandem from the Diamond Authority seeking to regain freedom - freedom that was banned when the Authority abolished personal liberties after a short, liberal phase of the Empire. Blue and Yellow Pearls’ extensive knowledge of gem history was bestowed from them by their Diamonds, Blue and Yellow Diamond respectively. The Diamonds, as the Pearls claim, would often relay ancient gem history to them during plights of boredom. They would retell ancient folktales and legends that were told even before they came to power. These secondhand accounts of gem prehistory proved to be highly valuable sources - considering, of course, they are currently the only historical sources. And considering gemkind’s longevity and innate capability to accurately remember past events, these “legends” may be more factual than at first glance.

(*Note: these feral, prehistoric gems are unrelated to the gems of the Petramus genus that we see today. Petramus gems are gems with slight genetic differences from sapient gems that is partially the result of a super-weapon accidentally discharging during the Gem Rebellion, effectively reverting the intellect of millions of gems into an animalistic state. More information on them will be elaborated in the following segments.)

When gems were feral and primitive, as the legends say, they still would traverse between planets, albeit by a more primitive means. Gems travelled to planets by inhabiting asteroids, with the hopes that they crashed into a celestial body to infest. Thousands of certain type of gemstone, called the “starter gemstone,” were purposely embedded into those asteroids. The gemstones comprised a variety of different gem varieties, and were highly durable to withstand the extremes of space and collision with planets. If the asteroid happened to make impact, the gemstones imbedded into the asteroid would regenerate into fully-formed gems and quickly expand into their new home.

These “starter gems” would quickly conquer whatever unfortunate planet they made landfall onto during the invasion process. Being highly durable beings, they proved to be a worthy match to any native lifeforms they battled, quickly topping the food chain. Gems were highly omnivorous, eating everything from flora, fauna, to even abiotic materials like rock and metal. The gems prolifically bred gemlings, often creating litters of a dozen strong to help the gem population thrive (also, as the maturation process for archaic gems took ~80 years, in order to assure at least one of the offspring made it to maturity. This feature is shared with modern Petramus gems). This process of invasion would continue until the gems overwhelmed and decimated the native biosphere (if life was present on the planet they encountered) or if all valuable nutrient and mineral sources had been completely depleted.

Now having exhausted the nutrients of that planetoid, the gems would do an astonishing act comparable to mass migrations on Earth. Inherent instinct would prompt all the gems on a planet into gathering at one place on the planet, preferably someplace that is wide open and flat. Then they would all fuse into a colossal fusion, ones that were “wider than entire spaceship fleets” and “taller than the tallest Homeworld structures,” as Blue Pearl and Yellow Pearl claim.

These “hyper-fusions” existed to serve only one purpose: to restart the parasitic gem process. As all gems have some sort of ability to manipulate matter around them (whether it be being able to summon weaponry or manipulate certain elements) the hyper-fusions had one as well. They had the power to create life itself, using the nutrients and minerals gathered by the gems during the invasion process to formulate starter gemstones.

Having possessed this extraordinary ability, the hyper-fusion could now restart the gem parasitism. First the being would traverse through the planet, spreading starter gemstones into the earth like seeds. Now having uniformly distributed the gemstones, the hyper-fusion could begin turning the planet it inhabited into gem-infested asteroids. Owing to its immense size and strength, the being would literally rip its planet apart into chunks, until all that remained were the planet’s fragments. In the final act, the hyper-fusion would fling the gemstone-infested chunks off into space to become perpetuators of gem parasitism. Now having used up all its nutrients to create starter gemstones, the colossal being would unfuse, its gems quickly withering away in empty space. But it served its purpose: to create more infesting gems to spread throughout the universe.

It is currently unclear as to when gemkind abandoned this primitive means of infesting planets, but it could have very well been replaced millions of years ago with the contemporary gem colonialism we see today.

Chapter Text

The term “Petramus“ refers to the genus the feral gems of the Perseus Arm are classified in. Existing only in the Milky Way’s Perseus Arm, they stem from sapient gems who attempted colonizing the area millennia ago for the Diamond Authority’s empire. However, their existence isn’t the result of natural evolution - something that doesn’t seem apparent in gemkind. Rather, their origins are much more tragic: their existence is solely the result of an accidental discharge of a super-weapon that caused their ancestors to mutate.

Near the conclusion of the Rebellion - a thousand year long conflict over the Diamond Authority’s control over Earth, as well as a reaction against the rigidness and immobility of Homeworld society - the Diamonds attempted to launch a super-weapon at Earth. It was the forerunner to the Corrupting Beam, and was a singular device rather than the combined powers of the Diamonds (who later learned how to control this power themselves). Rather than corrupting the body and mind of a gem, the decaying effects of this weapon only applied to a gem’s central nervous system. En route to Earth, this proto-Corrupting Beam accidentally discharged at a spaceport in the Perseus Arm, warping the minds of millions of gems and turning them into feral hominids.

These animalistic, mentally corrupted gems can be classified as a separate genus from sapient gemkind owing to genetic, physical, and behavioral differences between the two. Genetic differences in Petramus gems are the result of two things: molecular manipulation and cross-breeding. When the proto-Corrupting Beam poisoned the gems of the Perseus Arm, they turned them feral by rewiring the molecules in their gems (which is where a gem’s genetic information, mind, and life-force are concentrated). This rewiring of the gem makes them distinct enough from sophont gems, but that isn’t the only reason. No longer restricted from the unyielding hierarchy of intelligent Homeworld society, Petramus gems had no qualms intermingling with gems of different cuts and types. This crossbreeding further manipulated the gems’ genetic information.

Physical discrepancies between sapient gems and Petramus gems also cement their division. As previously stated, interbreeding among gem races created gems that exhibit both co-dominance and incomplete dominance in their traits. In examples of co-dominance, some mixed gem offspring looking like mosaics of their parents, e.g a lapis/amethyst hybrid sharing both purple and blue colorings and mixed gemstones. Gems with incomplete dominance also exist, e.g a ruby and a pearl creating a pink-toned pearl gemling.

If anything could be utilized to show how Petramus gems are different from sapient gemkind, it’s their behavior. Unquestionably feral and animalistic, Petramus gems are a far cry from the highly advanced nature of other gems. They even perform long-abandoned actions like eating and sleeping, something the manufactured gems discarded once they advanced and stopped breeding manually. Petramus gems are also shown to not be able to summon weaponry - which makes sense, as the proto-Corrupting Beam’s toxin rewired gemstones to the point where it was effectively impossible to.

As the centuries wore on the biological distinctness between sapient gems and Petramus gems only grew. Each subsequent Petramus generation grew more and more distinct as different gem races crossbred and as the proto-Corrupting Beam’s presence magnified through the passing of corrupted genetic information onto offspring. Soon it became clear to Homeworld gems that these brutish gems would be of no more use to the Empire. Blue and Yellow Pearl notified researchers that the Diamonds orchestrated a genocide. During and after the Rebellion, Homeworld pursued a vendetta to wipe out the Petramus gems, viewing their former comrades and subjects as creatures that had to be put down. Their toll is still apparent today, as biological evidence shows that there used to be many more feral gems on Petramus-inhabited planets, and the gems remaining were the ones that managed to escape Homeworld’s holocaust.

It’s unclear when Homeworld finally ended their mission to liquidate Petramus gems, and Blue and Yellow Pearl only were told that they had stopped many years after it ended. Maybe Blue Diamond’s sympathy got the better of her and she managed to convince the others to stop the slaughter. Maybe the Diamonds agreed that their mission was pointless and that reconquering the colonies that were lost wouldn’t be worth the trouble. Whatever the reason, the Petramus genus survived and continues to among the ruins of Homeworld’s derelict settlements and their planet’s unconquered wildernesses.

Chapter Text

Stage 0 begins when the geode first starts to form in the carrier’s gem, and lasts until the gemlings form from their geodes. This stage, unlike others, is usually divided in two: the time the geode clutch is spent forming within the carrier, and the time the geode clutch spends incubating after being spawned by the carrier. The forming process takes around 4 months, while the incubating process takes up 7 months.

Stage 1 refers to Petramus newborns, or “hatchlings.” Infants enter this stage as soon as they hatch from their geodes, and remain in this stage for 2 or 3 years. Their eyes initially remain closed until they near the beginning of Stage 2. Their hearing is weak, but improves halfway through their progression to Stage 2. They seldom move around, usually inching along inside their nest. Stage 1s are able to express sounds, usually only chirrs. They are most vulnerable at this stage, and need to be fed every week. Are strictly breastfed.

Stage 2, or the “infant” stage, lasts 7 years and begins as soon as the gemling is able to move around substantially by crawling. They can move out of their nest now, but don’t venture very far, usually being restricted to the boundaries of their den, cave, burrow, tree, or abandoned gem structure. Their eyesight and their hearing improves. Stage 2s express more of a variety of sounds, and can finally utter growls. They need to eat every week and a half. Still are breastfed but begin to eat mushy foods.

Stage 3, the last stage of early Petramus development, refers to the “baby” stage. Lasting 11 years, it is marked when Petramus young finally evolve from moving by crawling to moving by scampering. By now they can see and hear at a normal level. They can move beyond their home now, but still stay within familiar territories. Not only can they chirp and growl now, but they also begin using more advanced verbal communications, such as whining and more diverse expressions of happiness, fear, and anger. They now are fed every two weeks. Rarely ever breastfed, eat mostly mushy foods, and begin to eat drier, harder foods.

As time progresses the gemlings gradually grow in size, with Stage 3 gemlings usually 2-3x the size they were when they were in Stage 1. They also become more lively and playful, as their energy increases. Runts mature at a slower rate than their more developed siblings, and in Stage 3 are usually ≤2x the size they were in Stage 1. Throughout Stages 1-3 gemlings don’t develop the sclera or iris yet, so their eyes are basically two large corneas. Their ears also have yet to fully develop, rather they rely on internal hearing devices like the ones found in snakes. Once they have hatched gemlings tend to stick close to their mothers, and still are practically always supervised by at least one of the parents until Stage 4. The size of a gemling clutch usually doesn’t effect the maturing rate, but on rare occasions large clutches mature at a slightly faster rate than the average clutch size of averagely-built gem species (which is around 7). Smaller gem species - such as Petramus thalassius - often will have larger clutches and thus mature at a faster rate, and vice versa.

Chapter Text

The current Era 4 Homeworld propaganda claims that the subordination and inferiority of certain gems to others is a natural, flawless construct that shouldn’t be tampered with. That pearls are only meant to be lowly accessories, jaspers to be formidable soldiers, and diamonds to be infallible rulers. But is this truly natural? Could one assume that this is a mere artifice that was artificially created in order to maintain a status quo or an empire? For years now, scientists and xenologists have debated this, with both the two main past and present theories being elaborated on in this compendium.

It should be stated that caste systems aren’t foreign to the natural world. Ants, bees, and termites all have naturally evolved hierarchies, with different members of their species divided to fill different purposes within their species. For example, worker bees build and maintain a hive, soldier ants defend their territory, and queen termites create new termites to prolong the colony. Gemkind may have gone under convergent evolution to end up resembling the eusociality of these insects, as xenologists used to claim. If prehistoric gems lived in eusocial societies (societies characterized by the division of a species based off of the ability to reproduce and the communal upbringing of young), then it wouldn’t be too far off to say that gemkind progressed while retaining an eusocial order. Now, however, division is dictated upon service to the Empire and not reproduction, and communal raising of young has long been abandoned with the development of Kindergartens.

However, this convergent evolution theory has been disregarded now that xenologists had a chance to really think about this theory’s deductions. In species with castes, those in their respective caste are almost incapable to think outside of their niche. The only times such insubordination happens is usually during catastrophic events, such as a case of Colony Collapse Disorder or infection by a parasitic disease like the Cordyceps fungus. But gemkind has examples of many different gems who act outside of their assigned roles - most famously the Crystal Gems - who aren’t known to be adulterated by any sort of psychological or disease-like defect. Gemkind is also proven to possess high degrees of intelligence, problem-solving abilities, and emotion - something that shouldn’t be widespread in a caste-based species that should have varying levels of intellect. Such intelligence seems to show that gemkind wasn’t always divided in a caste system.

Analysis of ancient gemstone residue also backs up this claim. During the prehistoric gem parasitic process, once a hyper-fusion has completed its purpose and its essence is spent up, its many different gemstones wither away into dust. Not dissipating into the cosmos, these gem dust fragments conglomerate, usually at the previous site of the planet they had infested. These “gem dust swirls” are often several miles wide and are iridescently colored with the remaining dust of spent gemstones. They often prove to be highly valued in ancient gem research, whose dust is used to determine a gem’s age, a gem’s composition, and a multitude of other things.

Modern gems have a high degree of variation among themselves, with great differences in their powers, attitudes, and personalities. However, studies of gem dust swirls revealed that all prehistoric gemkind had nearly identical neurotic wiring in their gems. This means that in regards to behavior and mindset ancient gems behaved very similarly, as they would’ve needed to be if they were to operate as an efficient parasitic species. They all shared the same survivalist, parasitic, and invasive mindset that was hellbent on infesting other worlds.

With clear evidence proving that gemkind used to be pretty similar, a new question arises: if gemkind used to be fairly homogenous and generalist in nature, how could it be assumed that a caste system would have always benefited them? A hierarchy that is heavily niched with the roles of technicians, terraformers, soldiers, servants, builders, and guards nonetheless? This would naturally require a heavy amount of diversity within a species - something that while prehistoric gemkind possessed physically, they didn’t have mentally. Work therefore had to be made in order to brainwash and mold gems into thinking exclusively in line of their respective roles. So, ironically, the inherent intelligence of gems that was previously stated only happened because of the need to fit a fabricated caste system.

Ironically, this brainwashing ultimately backfired. Turns out, making people behave differently from one another greatly increases chances of questioning authority and subsequent rebellion. Sure, gems were drilled that their purpose was to serve the Diamond Authority, and that straying from this purpose was morally wrong. However, this was eclipsed by the new differences in purpose and personality among gems. Basically, in order for gems to fit into the caste’s molds their personalities had to be manipulated. For example, Peridots, as technicians, were made to be intellectual; Larimars, as sculptors, were made to be artistic. Gems now had vastly different purposes when compared to prehistoric gems, whose universal purpose was to infest planets and breed.

Such discrepancies among thinking gradually led to higher chances of free-thinking and “off-color” mindsets among gems. This built up to such a point that the revolutionary Rebellion managed to erupt in this tightly-controlled society. And even in the current Era 4 - which is especially brutal and repressive in an effort to force gems to forget the progressivism of Era 3 - gems are found defecting to live among human society, where they can think freely. Past and current events in gem history signify the inevitable undoing of the Diamond Authority’s caste system, no matter what Homeworld wants you to believe.

Now that this is all said and done, yet another question remains: why bother with a caste system? Why create one if there would’ve been a lot of effort needed to create it and would cause the likelihood of wayward-thinking to increase dramatically? To this, xenologists and alien sociologists have come to a fairly generic conclusion, one that is likely to change as new discoveries in gem history are made. They state that, somehow, gemkind realized that they could operate more efficiently as a parasitic species by colonizing their infested planets, rather than destroying them entirely. This would prove to be a more complex process than simple parasitism, so some gem(s) (possibly White Diamond and/or somebody else) must’ve agreed that dividing gemkind among specific jobs for colonization would ease stress. How long this process took, or what exactly happened to make it work, is something scientists don’t have the answer to yet. But great strides in gem history and biology are being made every day, so the answers to this may appear sooner than you think.

Chapter Text

“Gaah!”

“Mree! Mree! Mree!”

A tiny hand suddenly grabbed hold of its holder’s nose. The gemling chirped joyfully as she tugged at the green nose, amused by the sounds its holder was making. The baby tugged again, chirring again as the green being made another noise.

“Eeuugh, Lapis, get it off! It won’t let go!” a nasal voice pleaded.

“Mree! Mree!”

A certain blue gem chuckled at her spouse’s needless fright. “Peridot, it can’t hurt you, it’s just a toddler,” she reasoned.

“Y-you don’t know that! For all we know it could be trying to lull me into a false sense of adoration! Please, j-just take it away!”

Another green gem approached Peridot. “Here, just stay still,” she calmly commanded.

Peridot froze as Emerald Pearl gently pried the cub away from her, who protested her removal with fidgeting and squealing. Nonetheless the lithe gem managed to gently restrain the gemling in her grasp by rubbing her hand along the cub’s back. The baby gradually ceased her squirming and purred in this new gem’s hold.

“I have never heard of an amethyst toddler poofing or shattering an adult gem before,” Emerald Pearl noted in a slightly amused tone while fawning at the adorable gemling resting in her embrace.

Peridot scoffed, embarrassed. “Well, I-I didn’t know that!”

Lapis snorted, laying a hand on Peridot’s shoulder. “Hey, you’re supposed to be the recorder for this mission - so take some notes on this highly dangerous baby,” she taunted in a faux dramatic tone.

The short green gem grumbled over her wife’s playful gibes before regaining a scholarly attitude. Peridot paced around the rocky alien outcropping they found the cub in, reviewing what she was to say. Then she swiped on a wearable touchscreen on her wrist, causing a blue holographic screen to pop up from it.

“Peridot of the Crystal Gems, recording information about a lone Stage 4 amethyst cub found on Liesarius-06 on July 11, 2240 C.E,” Peridot began, speaking into the screen as it wrote down her words. “File this recording under ‘File #106: Information to be Researched for the Encyclopædia Gemannica - First Edition.’

“Which is an utterly ridiculous title for a compendium, if you ask me,” Peridot remarked while looking playfully over to Lapis, who began giggling. Emerald Pearl only scoffed (who was starting to get real sick of Peridot’s constant feeling of intellectual superiority).

“Despite this planetoid’s overall desolate exterior there still is fauna to be uncovered, such as this lone amethyst cub. The cub we found weighs approximately seven pounds and is fourteen inches long, judging by these scanners’ measurements. Like most amethyst gemlings she displays an animated and foolhardy personality. This observation is backed up as, embarrassingly, it took us twenty minutes to actually catch her for observation while she scampered fearlessly through the sharp and narrow outcroppings of this rocky planetoid.”

“More like you tip-toed after her because you didn’t wanna fall flat onto your gem, while Emerald and I actually tried nabbing her,” Lapis reminded teasingly.

Peridot grumbled, but resumed recording. “She currently seems to be alone, as oddly no adult amethyst scent was picked up by my scanners. Therefore she could have undergone abandonment or the loss of her mother. Her condition seems to be relatively stable, except for the likelihood of an illness being present.”

As if to confirm this, the purple gemling in Emerald Pearl’s arms coughed wheezily three times, like an old dusty dog toy pulled out from under the couch.

Emerald Pearl hummed in sympathy. “Aw, poor thing - we will bring you to a veterinarian as soon as possible.”

“What?” Peridot exclaimed as she waved away the holographic recorder. “This isn’t a part of the mission! We’re only supposed to study a couple specimens and leave!”

The lithe green gem scowled. “She’s sick! Do you know that the odds of a sick gemling surviving an illness is 38%?” she retorted with concern.

“How can she get sick? She’s a gem, isn’t she?” Lapis questioned lightly.

“She is a Petramus gem, she is not like us,” the Pearl explained. “The Corruption Song the Diamonds had accidentally unleashed millennia ago transformed their gemstones to a state similar to the somewhat organic state of ancient gemkind. Therefore, like many organic creatures, they are susceptible to contracting illnesses.”

“Emerald,” Peridot protested. “You are fully aware of what the ramifications will be if we just bring a feral creature onto the shuttle - with no proper equipment and no words to our supervisors in advance!”

“But I - we have to take her! She’ll die!”

“Emerald, we can’t do this!”

“NO!” Emerald Pearl yelled, practically begging at this point. “You know what I have been through, what I have done to these creatures!” she exclaimed. “I have torn apart countless innocent families and doomed countless innocent gemlings to becoming mere pets to humankind.

“I just,” she paused, glancing downwards at the ingenuous baby she held, tears building in the corners of her eyes. “I just, have to make up for what I’ve done. I’m a terrible person and - I’m sorry, this sounds pathetic, I know.”

Peridot and Lapis listened to her, fully understanding what was behind her reasoning. For they themselves had done things that would ruin the planet they call home, with how Lapis tried stealing the ocean and Peridot attempted assisting the Cluster’s disastrous formation. While both were empathetic to Emerald Pearl’s plight, they possessed varying levels of sympathy towards it.

“Oh, Emerald, I understand how you’re feeling,” Lapis sympathized earnestly as she stepped towards her. “It must feel terrible knowing you can’t change what you did in the past. Believe me, I felt like a monster about many things I did,” she said, remembering how she had stolen the ocean, forced Jasper to fuse with her, and left Peridot in the dust when she took their barn into space.

“But with help from my friends and myself,” Lapis resumed, “I’ve moved past who I used to be. And look where I am now - I’m married, I have lots of friends, and I’d like to think that I’m less closed-off than I used to be.

“What I’m saying is, you shouldn’t feel bad about making up for who you once were. But you shouldn’t beat yourself up about it.” Emerald Pearl went silent for a moment, busy thinking over what Lapis had said.

Peridot remained on the sidelines watching the scene unfold. The part of her mind that also felt guilt towards what she’d done to Earth compelled her to talk about her redemption arc and to take Emerald’s side. But the more methodical part of her mind beat her emotional part to the punch.

In the ensuing silence Peridot seized her opportunity to speak. “Look, I understand that you care deeply for these creatures and want to right your wrongs, but we just can’t bring her with us.” She attempted reasoning, a little more gently in light of Emerald Pearl’s sudden outburst. “This would just cause far too many complications, with transportation, feeding, catering-“

Lapis fully understood Peridot’s motives against taking the amethyst cub. But she sympathized more with Emerald Pearl’s plight of redemption for past wrongdoings. And perhaps prior experiences with a person she cared deeply about also influenced her decision to override Peridot’s judgement. “Steven wouldn’t care.”

Peridot froze after hearing Lapis’s remark, staring back at her. “. . . What?” She asked despite fully understanding what she said.

Lapis sighed, turning ever so slightly towards Peridot. “Steven wouldn’t have cared if helping someone would be a hassle - he would’ve wanted to help no matter what,” Lapis sadly stated in a knowing tone.

“He always cared about people, even if it was never his job to. He cared about us, Peri!”

The blue gem was now fully facing Peridot, and stepped closer until she was a few feet away from her. “Shouldn’t we try spreading his kindness?” She persuaded, clasping her hands on top of Peridot’s.

Peridot met her wife’s gaze with a conflicted expression. Deep down she knew she would receive hell from her human supervisors if she followed through with this. But gazing back into Lapis’s eyes, feeling the warmth in both her stare and her hands, she finally relented.

“. . . Fine. But we absolutely need to do this quickly-”

“Yes!” Emerald Pearl exclaimed, having a grin from ear-to-ear. “Thank you Peridot, your assent will save this little one’s life!”

She summoned a kennel from her gemstone and calmly beckoned the little amethyst inside. Fortunately, gemlings are notoriously curious beings and the cub eagerly scampered inside.

Lapis smiled. “You just made her day, Peri. Thank you.”

Peridot blushed. “Aw, well, you know I can’t say no to you.”

The water gem gave Peridot a peck on the cheek, turning Peridot’s already dark turquoise blush into a teal. “Alright,” Lapis said as Emerald Pearl picked up the kennel. “Let’s get moving!”

The trio-turned-quartet trudged on through rocky grey spires, bounded over abysmal inky-black crevasses, and scaled sheer purple cliffs on this incredibly hostile and dismal planet. All the while the amethyst baby mewled excitedly in her kennel in-between coughs. After all, amethysts are a versatile race and actually like experiencing new places. Soon the quartet could see the extraction site in the distance, marked with high-tech flares that outlined its perimeter.

After arriving at the extraction point Emerald Pearl set down the gemling’s kennel and went away furiously inputting their coordinates into a transmitter for their retrieval. Peridot had stated that she was going to jot down some notes on the bits of local flora she managed to notice growing on the mostly decrepit planet, with Lapis saying she would tag along.

As they trekked through the jagged wilderness Peridot reviewed how the team would explain to their supervisors the sudden addition of their companion. “Okay,” she began pondering, “when our supervisors start demanding questions I can back up our decision with arguments based on logos while Emerald could argue utilizing ethos and Lapis -“

Her train of thought was interrupted by Lapis sighing forlornly. “He would’ve loved this, y’know?”

Peridot didn’t have to ask what she meant by “he.” “Yeah, he would’ve,” Peridot agreed, a wistful look in her eyes.

“How long has it been, Peri?”

“. . . One-hundred forty-eight years, two months, and fourteen days.”

They both started walking slower now, both lamenting over the death of the person who changed their lives forever.

Peridot quit her mourning upon noticing Lapis’s face flushing and her eyes misting. “H-he was half-human, after all,” Peridot said in an effort to fix the mood with logic. “It . . . it was inevitable.”

Lapis sniffed. “I know, I know, but it still doesn’t seem fair. He’s also half gem, shouldn’t that mean he would be partially immortal . . . ?”

She trailed off. “Nevermind, that’s a stupid idea.”

“No, no, it makes sense. I don’t blame you for missing him - I do too,” Peridot reassured, rubbing the blue gem’s arm.

She managed to smile through the grief. “Thanks, Peri, you always know what to say.”

The pair walked on in silence until it was once again interrupted by Lapis, only now it was with her rage and not her sorrow.

“Those . . . fucking Diamonds! They only stopped their reign of terror to please Steven, only to do a fucking 180 and go right back to being dictators once Steven died! They never reformed, they never actually wanted to change - all of it was only for Steven!

“I mean, don’t you miss not living in constant fear? Fear of the Diamonds deciding that they should finally wipe humanity and gems like us off the map, especially now since more gems are defecting to live freely with us than ever before?”

She paused. “I haven’t felt this scared since-“ She paused once more, pushing down a sob. “. . . Since I fled Earth with the barn . . . “

Having spent so many years with Lapis, Peridot knew it was unwise to interrupt Lapis during her vents, so she waited patiently until she had an opening to comfort her properly. Now that Lapis was on the verge of sobbing she took her chance.

“Lappy, I know it’s been tough for a while now, with Steven being gone, the Diamonds back to their old ways, and-“

“Is this supposed to be helping me?” Lapis interrupted, accompanied by a shaky laugh that was struggling to keep down tears.

“I’m getting there! But I - so that means - well, hypothetically - uh -“

“You forgot what you were gonna say, didn’t you?” Lapis pointed out.

“. . . Yes.”

A smile finally broke across Lapis’s face, accompanied by a chortle. “You always do know how to make me laugh,” the blue gem said, sniffling.

“Heh, yeah - no, wait! I remembered!”

“Okay, shoot.”

“Yes, well, look,” Peridot reiterated. “We’ve been married for over two-hundred years now, and we’ve been through many obstacles. So I can state with unwavering certainty that as long as we’re together, and as long as we love each other, nothing can overcome us. Not even the Diamonds.”

Lapis tried looking away, a deep blue blush spreading across her cheeks. She was caught off guard and hadn’t expected such a heartfelt message from Peridot, especially as they were walking through such a snaggy and almost deathlike landscape.

“Aw, Peri . . . thank you. That means so - I mean, I just - I wanna say - “

“Did you forget what you were trying to say?” Peridot teased with a grin.

Lapis snorted mirthfully. “Shut up, Peri!” she said with a light punch on Peridot’s arm.

“I just wanna say, I love you. I’m so glad we get to work together as a couple.”

The green gem felt butterflies in her chest and her face flushing also. Even after so many years she can still get flustered by the gem she’s chosen to spend the rest of eternity with.

She snuck a hold onto Lapis’s hand and squeezed. “I love you too, Lapis Lazuli.”

Chapter Text

Field Report #001

Location: Artemis k7 (primarily temperate climate moon, mostly open and semi-closed forest)

Date: 1st July 2240 C.E - 8th December 2240 C.E

Mission: Detail general facts about the Petramus genus, as well list any information regarding their infant forms, notable behavior, and how they interact with their environment

Study Specimen(s):
(1) A multi-species clan comprised of agates, amethysts, and jaspers
(2) A family consisting of a lapis lazuli, a peridot, and their nine gemlings in Stage 2
(3) A lone lapis lazuli
(4) A family of aquamarines
(5) A clan of mature jaspers
(6) A polyamorous family made up of a lapis lazuli, a pearl, a ruby, and their offspring in Stage 1

Scientist(s) Involved: Bismuth (of the Crystal Gems), Pearl (of the Crystal Gems)

~

-Most Petramus gems live in immediate families - a carrier, a sire, and their kin - but they will also occasionally congregate in clans. This usually happens when two or more families integrate to form one, usually when their kin are teenagers and able to be exposed to gems outside their immediate families. Clan members spend much of the time socializing with one another. A ruling oligarchic body comprised of the alphas of each of the families seems to dictate the clan.

-Various species of the Petramus genus have been seen to coexist side-by-side one another relatively peacefully, with excursions only ever breaking out over territorial violations, mating rights, or in defense of young. And, since Petramus gems rarely eat (around once every 2-3 months), there is likely little fighting over food. A multi-species clan was even spotted atop a rocky hill in the Orgneshkev Forest, consisting of six amethysts, five jaspers, and three agates of various ages.

-Because Petramus gems rarely need to eat they can afford to get by through scavenging, so they occupy the position of scavengers in local food webs. They are highly successful in this role, being able to subside even off of bones, owing to their ability to expertly extract mineral nutrients. If they covet a carcass freshly killed by a predator they’ll use their high intelligence, physical durability, and notorious ferocity in order to muscle over kills from predators, as we observed a Petramus onychinis (a.k.a a lapis lazuli) doing.

-Contrary to popular belief, geodes do not develop in egg-based pregnancies, but rather inside the carrier’s gemstone. Carriers also don’t lay their geodes, but rather have them summoned from their gemstone after a period of internal development. Carriers still can suffer miscarriages, even though their geodes develop inside their gemstones. When the carrier goes through a particularly stressful and traumatic event some of her geodes could become malformed under such pressure, and could either degenerate inside the gemstone or be spawned stillborn in their geodes.
—Once the geodes are spawned the gemlings develop inside them in two different ways: amniotic and light. In amniotic geodes gemlings develop in a way much resembling other animals in egg-based developments, surrounded by goopy yolk. They exit the geode much like a chicken would an egg, breaking through the shell and coming out covered in amniotic fluid. Light geodes can also occur. In light geodes - rather than amniotic goop surrounding a developing gemling - pure light incubates the gemling. When the time comes gemlings don't hatch from light geodes, but instead the geodes dissolve into shards of pure light, which the gemling becomes covered in.

-Gemlings signify that they are about to hatch in a peculiar way. Not only will motherly instinct notify parent gems when the geodes are about to hatch, but the geodes will also dramatically rise in temperature and begin to glow brightly. The geodes have evolved this ability in order to discourage empathetic parents from attempting to help their gemlings hatch, as attempt at doing so can cause birth complications. This phenomenon is less common in amniotic geodes and more common in light geodes.

-Gemlings are born being much more developed than human newborns. They have complete sets of hair, and even have rudimentary forms of teeth at birth. The teeth are mostly incisor-shaped and very sharp (possibly to act as rudimentary deterrent against predation by ensuring predators a painful bite) but develop into complete adult teeth as they mature.
—However, the forms of newborn gemlings are still relatively underdeveloped in contrast to adult gems. Their ears have yet to develop. Their heads are the size of their torsos. Their eyes are squeezed tightly shut and will remain so for 2-2.5 years. Their limbs are stubby nubs that often remain scrunched close to their bodies and in that set position for hours. They can do little other than wriggle blindly in their nest and chirp for their mothers and sisters or for the heck of it.

-Gemlings, like mature gems, express drastic differentiations in size. Newborn gemlings - taking into consideration the size variety of Petramus gem species - range in size from half a human thumb to larger than a human baby, although the range may be even wider than this.

-Stage 1 gemlings also move differently than human babies, as well as older and more matured gemlings. For the first four to six months of their lives Stage 1 gemlings remain completely stationary, the only movement coming from them in the form of squirms. Even after four to six months they still rarely move around, owing to their weak strength and large and heavy head. In order to combat this, after four to six months they’ll adopt an interesting pattern of movement. Their movement somewhat begins bearing a resemblance to inchworm movements, in the sense that their torso curls up and flattens in order to provide a meager sort of momentum to get their body moving. The action often resembles a sort of “inchworm army crawl,” as humans refer to it as.

-The behavior of many species of the Petramus genus parallels that to felines. Many species prowl around like big cats, and smaller gems slunk around like house-cats. They also growl and purr like felines. Subsequently, young gemlings often behave in a manner like kittens - curious and playful beings . Once they enter Stage 3 they’ll prance and scamper around like kittens. They’ll often create mewling and chirring sounds to communicate with their parents. Newborn Stage 1’s, being so fresh to life, often possess little sense of danger and are often completely blind to peril if they cannot smell it.

-Gem families reside in a variety of locations. These include caves, dugouts, trees, abandoned gem structures, and other places suitable to build nests, depending on the size of the gems. Petramus thalassius - aquamarines - will often be spotted nesting in trees or atop derelict structures, while the larger Petramus jaspidis - jaspers - will often nest in caves or dugouts.

-It was only seen once, so it can be assumed that this is a rare phenomena, but a polyamorous family was spotted inside the dense Morgu Rainforest: a pearl, a ruby, and a lapis lazuli, and their fourteen offspring of various mixed and garden-variety gemlings.
—It can be noted that lapis lazulis are a common Petramus species sighted in many Perseus Arm planets. Many Perseus Arm planets under Homeworld control were colonies in the midst of terraforming, which explains the high percentage lapis’s take up in population charts.

-It has been discovered that Petramus gems can have their physical forms dissipate and reform like normal sapient gemkind. This was uncovered after witnessing a member of the multi-species clan - an amethyst- fall down a tree onto its head. When it fell on its head its body disintegrated into a small cloud of mineral dust. All that was left of it was its gemstone. Its clan mates immediately retrieved it and took it inside a burrow, whereas a week later it was spotted roaming again.
—Two weeks after witnessing this, we began studying the peridot/lapis family and discovered another rule of gem regeneration. An animal endemic to Artemis k7, the small, omnivorous, raccoon-like Machotesus rusesa was spotted creeping into the peridot/lapis den at night, presumably while the family was sleeping. Minutes later a shrill, pained squeak was heard, and the Machotesus rusesa sprinted out of the den with an tiny peridot gemstone between it’s teeth-like external bones. The lapis rushed after, and managed to subdue it and kill it with a swift bite between the shoulder blades. Afterwards, she looked at the tiny gemstone - which was still intact - with great sadness, and gingerly picked it up in its mouth and brought it back into the den. What can be identified as crying was soon heard. The next morning the lapis and peridot exited the den with the now fragmented peridot gemstone and buried it near the entrance. Based off of this experience, it can be decided that very young gemlings do not yet possess the ability to regenerate their physical form after being poofed. Their parents, out of mercy, shatter the gemstone to spare their baby the eternity of existing only within the confines of their gemstone.