#dark quartz is such a generic name u could rlly apply it to any quartz in a certain range of shades tbh

[almightyhamslice]

Crystal Gems that defected from Deep Dream Diamond’s court! Chrysocolla may seem smaller or weaker than her teammates, but she is in charge because she can heal the other gems, keeping them together physically and metaphorically! All these characters use she/her pronouns. They’re pretty average gems, though Alphonso does not have legs.

I reckon Chrysocolla was meant to be tortured by Serendibite for treason, but instead of actually going through with it, Serendibite just flew both of them away so they couldn’t be found. The 3 Mangoniums were originally janitorial staff for one of Deep Dream’s communication towers, but they left because the other gems on site (be they staff or visitors) would belittle Alphonso for being ‘defective’. The tower was powered by Uranium, who begged the trio to set her free (and in return, she’d use her nuclear energy to power the escape pod they planned to use). They obliged, and eventually their escape pod was guided to Chrysocolla’s hideout-- Amrapali saw Serendibite flying through space with a recovered Dark Quartz, and steered the escape pod to follow her. She was moved by Serendibite’s compassion; usually Serendibites TOSS other gems into space, rather than rescuing them!!

The larger gems all have a sort of protective relationship over the Mangoniums; they think they are very cute and friendly!! All the gems hold a general respect for Chrysocolla, but I think Serendibite is the most agreeable/well liked gem of the bunch (after all, she did -inadvertently- bring the whole team together!). Chrysocolla warns Uranium to be extra careful since she isn’t sure how she might heal her,  on account of her radioactivity. Dark Quartz is fond of Uranium, and often likes to ‘borrow’ energy from her gem-- Uranium finds this a bit irritating, but is glad to release excess energy every once in a while.

Regarding Uranium’s radiation: when gems are exposed to it, it has a similar effect to Corruption: It transmutates the surface and physical body of the gem slowly, and it’s very difficult to heal (or scrape off...). Chrysocolla knows how to operate on her fellow gems if Uranium’s capsule should be cracked somehow, but she cannot heal herself or repair the capsule. Uranium’s radioactivity also amplifies her light attacks; making them stronger (and also hotter... ow!) and larger so they can hit more targets. Uranium herself doesn’t really like to fight, though.

Regarding Dark Quartz’s ‘light independence’: She is not obligated to get her energy from light and is one of the few gems immune to Uranium’s radiation! So she can actually benefit from it and isn’t above using radioactive power to increase the efficiency of her weapon (I imagine it’s some kinda drill?) or her attacks. Also, her ‘spin dash’ attack appears like a black hole rather than a ball of light.

Bonus material under the cut:

Isolated version with Serendibite, Chrysocolla, and Dark Quartz.

Isolated version of Uranium. This is how she’d look if she removed her gem from its capsule!