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The Gem Empire ([[IncrediblyLamePun Gempire, if you will]])- an ancient, ageless civilization, incomprehensible to the outside world... and also the native nation of our main cast.
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The Gem Empire ([[IncrediblyLamePun ([[{{Portmanteau}} Gempire, if you will]])- an ancient, ageless civilization, incomprehensible to the outside world... and also the native nation of our main cast.
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* Fictionary: While gemsong remains a StarfishLanguage for the most part, there's also a number of Gem-specific words and concepts that pepper the vocabulary of Gems and Gem-adjacent folks in a GratuitousFrench fashion.
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* Fictionary: {{Fictionary}}: While gemsong remains a StarfishLanguage for the most part, there's also a number of Gem-specific words and concepts that pepper the vocabulary of Gems and Gem-adjacent folks in a GratuitousFrench fashion.
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[[/folder]]
to:
----
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* PhysicalScarsPsychologicalScars: Since mind dictates the body in the case of Gems, scarring and physical warping only occurs in cases of mental disturbance or trauma.
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[[index]]
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* OutsideContextProblem:
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* OutsideContextProblem:OutsideContextProblem: Gems went through their entire space age without actual first contact and their society, technology, and even psychology are borderline incomprehensible to other species.
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[[folder: In General]]
* AbsurdlyHugePopulation: Asteria Diamond mentions off-hand having "67 trillion kids", aka citizens in the Empire. [[JustifiedTrope It actually makes sense upon further inspection]] considering that Gems, the majority population, are TheNeedless, and that old Gem production practices involved exploiting the total life potential of a planet. Combined with the hundreds (if not thousands) of colonies there are, and how long the Empire's been active, 67 trillion may be a ''tame'' number.
* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: The Empire generally keeps to itself as a neutral party, but other nations, whether on the planetary or intergalactic scale, are ''absolutely terrified'' of their involvement in any conflicts, since their technology and overwhelming numbers mean they'll be impossible to stop once they've made their judgement.
* BazaarOfTheBizarre: The bonemarket (read: Gem market) is a nomadic barter-only market and the primary way that goods change hands between Gems and other species. It's apparently infamous for selling unusual/esoteric products, up to and including bones, hence the name.
* Fictionary: While gemsong remains a StarfishLanguage for the most part, there's also a number of Gem-specific words and concepts that pepper the vocabulary of Gems and Gem-adjacent folks in a GratuitousFrench fashion.
* HegemonicEmpire: The Era 3 Empire, thanks to Asteria Diamond's influence, operates on this method, using diplomacy, trade, and general charity in interactions with other nations to establish good relations and have a good image to others. Of course, [[TheGoodKingdom this is largely out of genuine kindness]], but it has the happy side effect of making others far less willing to lose their goodwill.
* HoldYourHippogriffs: Many Gem colloquialisms are related to rocks and cosmology.
* TeamSwitzerland: So far the Empire has acted like a neutral party since its introduction, only really caring about outside conflict when it affects them personally and trying to maintain friendly relations with as many parties as possible, even if said parties have problems with ''each other''.
* OutsideContextProblem:
* TimeAbyss: Gemkind is around 10 billion years old, with the current Empire being at least 4 billion years old.
* TruceZone: The Empire has been shown to enforce neutrality on their guests and intervene when anyone tries to act on outside legal authority.
* YouAreNumber6: Every citizen, Gem or otherwise, is given a facet number upon birth or naturalization, which is considered to be their legal name. It does not need to be their ''only'' name, however, as conventional names are still allowed with species who use individual names, and nicknames are completely acceptable forms of address.
[[/folder]]
* AbsurdlyHugePopulation: Asteria Diamond mentions off-hand having "67 trillion kids", aka citizens in the Empire. [[JustifiedTrope It actually makes sense upon further inspection]] considering that Gems, the majority population, are TheNeedless, and that old Gem production practices involved exploiting the total life potential of a planet. Combined with the hundreds (if not thousands) of colonies there are, and how long the Empire's been active, 67 trillion may be a ''tame'' number.
* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: The Empire generally keeps to itself as a neutral party, but other nations, whether on the planetary or intergalactic scale, are ''absolutely terrified'' of their involvement in any conflicts, since their technology and overwhelming numbers mean they'll be impossible to stop once they've made their judgement.
* BazaarOfTheBizarre: The bonemarket (read: Gem market) is a nomadic barter-only market and the primary way that goods change hands between Gems and other species. It's apparently infamous for selling unusual/esoteric products, up to and including bones, hence the name.
* Fictionary: While gemsong remains a StarfishLanguage for the most part, there's also a number of Gem-specific words and concepts that pepper the vocabulary of Gems and Gem-adjacent folks in a GratuitousFrench fashion.
* HegemonicEmpire: The Era 3 Empire, thanks to Asteria Diamond's influence, operates on this method, using diplomacy, trade, and general charity in interactions with other nations to establish good relations and have a good image to others. Of course, [[TheGoodKingdom this is largely out of genuine kindness]], but it has the happy side effect of making others far less willing to lose their goodwill.
* HoldYourHippogriffs: Many Gem colloquialisms are related to rocks and cosmology.
* TeamSwitzerland: So far the Empire has acted like a neutral party since its introduction, only really caring about outside conflict when it affects them personally and trying to maintain friendly relations with as many parties as possible, even if said parties have problems with ''each other''.
* OutsideContextProblem:
* TimeAbyss: Gemkind is around 10 billion years old, with the current Empire being at least 4 billion years old.
* TruceZone: The Empire has been shown to enforce neutrality on their guests and intervene when anyone tries to act on outside legal authority.
* YouAreNumber6: Every citizen, Gem or otherwise, is given a facet number upon birth or naturalization, which is considered to be their legal name. It does not need to be their ''only'' name, however, as conventional names are still allowed with species who use individual names, and nicknames are completely acceptable forms of address.
[[/folder]]
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* HoldYourHippogriffs: Many Gem colloquialisms are related to rocks and cosmology.
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!!In General
to:
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* MeaningfulName: Jet is a type of organic stone that isn't considered a mineral or crystal but is still considered a "precious stone". 'Jets', the non-Gem citizens of the Empire, are not Gems, but are valued the same as any Gem citizen would be.
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* ArtificialIntelligence: There's allusions throughout the series that there are multiple types of beings (such as the wall and statue "Gems" seen in the show, the Prisms, and AI such as SHELL) who are not ''Gems'' but are made with Gem-like methods, and occasionally of enough intelligence to have full person rights.
* MeaningfulName: Jet is a type of organic stone that isn't considered a mineral or crystal but is still considered a "precious stone".'Jets', ''Jets'', the non-Gem citizens of the Empire, are not Gems, but are valued the same as any Gem citizen would be.
* MeaningfulName: Jet is a type of organic stone that isn't considered a mineral or crystal but is still considered a "precious stone".
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* ArtificialHybrid: The largest demographic of Jets appears to be Steven's various accidental creations over the years, and their descendants. He mentions at one point that he's directly responsible for at least three evolutionary lines.
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->''"Ten billion years of our eternal empire, reduced to a few sentences."''
-->--'''Sunrose Diamond'''
The Gem Empire ([[IncrediblyLamePun Gempire, if you will]])- an ancient, ageless civilization, incomprehensible to the outside world... and also the native nation of our main cast.
----
!!In General
[[folder: Gems]]
Tropes concerning the Gem race in general.
----
* AlienFairFolk: In-universe, Gems are conflated with figures of various human myth, even occasionally being referred to as such, due to their presence influencing human culture. When Steven visits the Maheswaran family in India, he's called a ''rakshesha'', a Hindu folkloric creature used as a slang word for Gems due to the similarity.
* TheAgeless: Gems do not age in the mortal sense, and will not die of it, but a Gem's appearance is dependent on their mental state, and thus a Gem's body can reflect mental aging to an extent.
* BeePeople: Though not insectoid by any means, Gemkind and their society is vaguely eusocial in structure, with division of labor between biological castes with drastic dimorphism, the sterile general populace, and how reproduction relies on a very small caste. The Diamonds, the royal/reproductive caste, are also the largest Gem type, similar to insect queens.[[note]]The sole exception to the size rule being Steven, who is still tall by human standards and outranks all other Gems in ''strength''.[[/note]]
* BizarreAlienReproduction: New gems are made by collecting the aura of all the Diamonds and inserting it into the ground of planets that bear organic life.
* BizarreAlienPsychology: ImpliedTrope. Gems, over the course of the series, hint at a psychology that is at odds with how humans function.
** Biologically driven concepts like sexuality and beauty are incomprehensible to them- "beauty" as Gems know it is defined by the unique skills, personality, and experiences of an individual.
** A Gem in ''Aliens Steal Cable'' is shown to have trouble understanding concepts like theft or trash.
** Not even Steven is safe from this, showing a slight disregard/non-understanding of human government authority in ''Diamond Drop'' (emphasizing that the general populace approved of his actions) and a benign [[WellIntentionedExtremist The End Justifies The Means]] attitude (if everything was fixed in the end and people are safe, does it matter what happened?)
* CapitalLettersAreMagic: Gems are always written as a proper noun.
* GenderRarityValue: Steven is the only Gem with a biological gender, as well as the only one that defaults to male pronouns.
** The Diamonds, the only Gems that can create more Gems, are 4 in number.
* HardLight: Gem bodies/clothing/summoned weapons are made out of solid light projections emitted from their gemstone.
* HeartDrive: The gemstone of a Gem functions as their CPU, forming their thoughts and bodies.
* HiveCasteSystem: Gems have an extensive variety of biological castes.
* HoldYourHippogriffs: Many Gem colloquialisms are related to rocks and cosmology.
* HordeOfAlienLocusts: The Gem race cannot sustain themselves, requiring the resources of life-bearing planets, essentially behaving as parasites to all life in the universe. This manner of lifestyle has presumably ended with the advent of Era 3.
* NoBiologicalSex: As Gems do not reproduce through sexual means, they possess no primary or secondary sex characteristics.
* OneGenderRace: Or rather, ''no''-gender race. Though some Gem types superficially resemble human women, and gemsong translates their pronouns as female.
* PraetorianGuard: It's subtly implied, both in story and by WordOfGod, that the Era 3 Crystal Gems serve this function to "Asteria Diamond's" court, operating as his trusted council, guard and secret service all in one.
* RaceNameBasis: Gems are usually referred by their gem type, though there's seemingly some subtle distinction between individual Gems in gemsong, since it's shown that people can use the exact same name to call for different Gems without any confusion. Even Steven is referred to by his gem type by most people.
* ScaryTeeth: Revealed in ''Like A Word, A Sound, A Song'' to have ''semi-retractable fangs'' strong enough to cut metal, with some Gems having multiple pairs.
* StarfishLanguage: The Gem language, gemsong, is a whalesong-like psychic language with no discernible structure. Due to its psychic nature, it can translate itself into the language of its listeners if a Gem so desires. Listening to it for long periods of time, however, [[BrownNote can lead to sickness]].
* TechnicallyNakedShapeshifter: The clothes they wear is part of their projected bodies.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Most Gems can shapeshift, though some castes made in Era 2 do not possess the ability due to resource scarcity.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Jets]]
An umbrella term for non-Gems who are Gem citizens or under the Empire's protection.
----
* AlienAbduction: The zumin (Zoomans in SU canon), who make up a decent chunk of the Jet population, are descended from misguided conservation attempts to save the human race from the effects of Gem colonization. After Era 3, the zumin were freed and given independent rights as citizens of the Empire.
* MeaningfulName: Jet is a type of organic stone that isn't considered a mineral or crystal but is still considered a "precious stone". 'Jets', the non-Gem citizens of the Empire, are not Gems, but are valued the same as any Gem citizen would be.
* UpliftedAnimal: Some Jets, such as Lion and Wolf, did not come from inherently sapient species, but became sapient due to unusual circumstances, and were given personhood rights to reflect such.
* VoluntaryVassal: The Skrull and the Tantalog were formerly landless refugees who surrendered themselves to the Empire for protection against larger powers.
* WasOnceAMan: Other Jets were once normal people but became "unbroken" (magical creatures like Lion and Lars) due to medical intervention.
[[/folder]]
-->--'''Sunrose Diamond'''
The Gem Empire ([[IncrediblyLamePun Gempire, if you will]])- an ancient, ageless civilization, incomprehensible to the outside world... and also the native nation of our main cast.
----
!!In General
[[folder: Gems]]
Tropes concerning the Gem race in general.
----
* AlienFairFolk: In-universe, Gems are conflated with figures of various human myth, even occasionally being referred to as such, due to their presence influencing human culture. When Steven visits the Maheswaran family in India, he's called a ''rakshesha'', a Hindu folkloric creature used as a slang word for Gems due to the similarity.
* TheAgeless: Gems do not age in the mortal sense, and will not die of it, but a Gem's appearance is dependent on their mental state, and thus a Gem's body can reflect mental aging to an extent.
* BeePeople: Though not insectoid by any means, Gemkind and their society is vaguely eusocial in structure, with division of labor between biological castes with drastic dimorphism, the sterile general populace, and how reproduction relies on a very small caste. The Diamonds, the royal/reproductive caste, are also the largest Gem type, similar to insect queens.[[note]]The sole exception to the size rule being Steven, who is still tall by human standards and outranks all other Gems in ''strength''.[[/note]]
* BizarreAlienReproduction: New gems are made by collecting the aura of all the Diamonds and inserting it into the ground of planets that bear organic life.
* BizarreAlienPsychology: ImpliedTrope. Gems, over the course of the series, hint at a psychology that is at odds with how humans function.
** Biologically driven concepts like sexuality and beauty are incomprehensible to them- "beauty" as Gems know it is defined by the unique skills, personality, and experiences of an individual.
** A Gem in ''Aliens Steal Cable'' is shown to have trouble understanding concepts like theft or trash.
** Not even Steven is safe from this, showing a slight disregard/non-understanding of human government authority in ''Diamond Drop'' (emphasizing that the general populace approved of his actions) and a benign [[WellIntentionedExtremist The End Justifies The Means]] attitude (if everything was fixed in the end and people are safe, does it matter what happened?)
* CapitalLettersAreMagic: Gems are always written as a proper noun.
* GenderRarityValue: Steven is the only Gem with a biological gender, as well as the only one that defaults to male pronouns.
** The Diamonds, the only Gems that can create more Gems, are 4 in number.
* HardLight: Gem bodies/clothing/summoned weapons are made out of solid light projections emitted from their gemstone.
* HeartDrive: The gemstone of a Gem functions as their CPU, forming their thoughts and bodies.
* HiveCasteSystem: Gems have an extensive variety of biological castes.
* HoldYourHippogriffs: Many Gem colloquialisms are related to rocks and cosmology.
* HordeOfAlienLocusts: The Gem race cannot sustain themselves, requiring the resources of life-bearing planets, essentially behaving as parasites to all life in the universe. This manner of lifestyle has presumably ended with the advent of Era 3.
* NoBiologicalSex: As Gems do not reproduce through sexual means, they possess no primary or secondary sex characteristics.
* OneGenderRace: Or rather, ''no''-gender race. Though some Gem types superficially resemble human women, and gemsong translates their pronouns as female.
* PraetorianGuard: It's subtly implied, both in story and by WordOfGod, that the Era 3 Crystal Gems serve this function to "Asteria Diamond's" court, operating as his trusted council, guard and secret service all in one.
* RaceNameBasis: Gems are usually referred by their gem type, though there's seemingly some subtle distinction between individual Gems in gemsong, since it's shown that people can use the exact same name to call for different Gems without any confusion. Even Steven is referred to by his gem type by most people.
* ScaryTeeth: Revealed in ''Like A Word, A Sound, A Song'' to have ''semi-retractable fangs'' strong enough to cut metal, with some Gems having multiple pairs.
* StarfishLanguage: The Gem language, gemsong, is a whalesong-like psychic language with no discernible structure. Due to its psychic nature, it can translate itself into the language of its listeners if a Gem so desires. Listening to it for long periods of time, however, [[BrownNote can lead to sickness]].
* TechnicallyNakedShapeshifter: The clothes they wear is part of their projected bodies.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Most Gems can shapeshift, though some castes made in Era 2 do not possess the ability due to resource scarcity.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Jets]]
An umbrella term for non-Gems who are Gem citizens or under the Empire's protection.
----
* AlienAbduction: The zumin (Zoomans in SU canon), who make up a decent chunk of the Jet population, are descended from misguided conservation attempts to save the human race from the effects of Gem colonization. After Era 3, the zumin were freed and given independent rights as citizens of the Empire.
* MeaningfulName: Jet is a type of organic stone that isn't considered a mineral or crystal but is still considered a "precious stone". 'Jets', the non-Gem citizens of the Empire, are not Gems, but are valued the same as any Gem citizen would be.
* UpliftedAnimal: Some Jets, such as Lion and Wolf, did not come from inherently sapient species, but became sapient due to unusual circumstances, and were given personhood rights to reflect such.
* VoluntaryVassal: The Skrull and the Tantalog were formerly landless refugees who surrendered themselves to the Empire for protection against larger powers.
* WasOnceAMan: Other Jets were once normal people but became "unbroken" (magical creatures like Lion and Lars) due to medical intervention.
[[/folder]]
