Here's a miniature update until the next chapter is posted. The next chapter will be posted on the 20th of October.

Since this takes place during that ancient time of early Era 1, I took some liberties in what the characters would look like. Things are going to change so these things will not be permanent. There will be multiple chapters of these breakdowns that will serve as updates for any characters that change their appearances and or abilities/powerset.

For anything I reference, I do not own. The only thing that I own are my own thoughts.

As I said before, since Spinel was designed to mimic the older stretchy style of the cartoons. So I decided that the Metaloidians would also be designed after some comics and cartoons art styles, this being the designs from the Golden Age of Comics and the comic superhero style like the typical Saturday Morning Cartoon kind of superheroes. This certain style of animation and character design is what the Metaloidians are going to be styled after. I tried to write in some stuff where they had some 40's-ish nature or speech patterns because their supposed to be living in a society with the look of a speculative future designed in the 1940's, but I had no idea how to do that. I'm going to add in some stuff but I'm still trying to get a hold of how it would go. All this ended with the idea to encompass some older media like older sci-fi movies into the designs. The armor and clothing of the Metaloidians will have some aspects of Retrofuturism, Atompunk, and Rocketpunk, because of this there will be some things that will only be added because they add to the theme rather than being designed off characters. An example of this is Ferric Steel, based of an old cartoon and a character from Fallout, which is honestly the best at this kind of design.

All references can be found on my profile.

Metaloidians

Noric Steel- He was the first of the characters that I had thought of, exactly how he would look was another story. The body of Noric is the build of 1941 Superman. The difference is that he has the metal coloring of steel. His skin the color of normalized steel with the hair being in a coiffed hairstyle and the blue color of tempered steel. He has an Active Combat Form, a Soldier Form and a Civilian Form. His eyes are a purple red color of anodized steel. The active combat form is meant for dealing with, well, active combat. This form is styled after a retro futuristic soldier, I couldn't really think of the proper design so I thought that the 1942 version would suit the character the best REFERENCE #2 (don't know how I'm supposed to but shoutout to u/swedishplayer97 for the really cool stuff that they posted.) The differences to that design and what I thought would be best is that the helmet has a visor of red glass and the color of the armor is black. This active combat form is made standard for the military of Metaloidia. The Soldier form for Noric is akin to the Courier from Fallout New Vegas, of course the difference is that the main coloration is black. The trench coat that the Courier has is a dark grey and is a lot like a very thick metal foil material with the insignia of the Metaloidian Empire. The civilian form is to be revealed soon.

Ferrou-Giant Form- The face of the Giant form of Ferrou takes a similar appearance to Jim Hammond in Marvel Comics. The form has an anodized Damascus steel pattern all throughout the form including the skin and hair. His headpiece in this form has a face covering akin to a Trojan helmet, and in place of a crown is a set of short triangular spikes that begin near where the hairline would start and ends in downward facing scales near the back of the neck. His abilities in this form are as wide as the variety of metals that his body is made out of. The appearance of his body is one fit of an old warrior king. He has dual pauldrons on his soldiers that run down to spiked gauntlets. The gauntlets cover up to the back of his hand, with his fingers not covered. He has a cape that covers his shoulders and is the coloration of a nickel and copper Damascus. The edge of the cape has links of chains that run fully to the ends. Abilities that have been witnessed by Metaloidians include, size control through compression, dexterity in altering the shape of his form, and of course there is the whole strength, speed and stuff like that.

Ferrou-True Form- Anodized Titanium coloration. His skin is the color of High Polish Titanium and the hair of Oil Slick Titanium. His true form has never been truly revealed, just a blank form with spikes among his headpiece. His headpiece is a simple crown made in the style of the headpiece of his Giant Form, just without the skull portion. Not much is known or even remembered about him. His abilities are unknown as a typical match for the title of Ferrou usually ends with him being able to outsmart and outmaneuver his opponent, although it is rumored that he gained the ability of absorption from his reign as Ferrou. Rumor has it that he absorbs disorderly Metaloidians.

Nickolai Cuprum- This character is the one described to have the mask of a warm metallic silvery color, with the full helmet being riveted together with a fin going across the top and the dark pieces of glass for eyes. The mouth being five vertical rectangular slits. Basically this guy is designed to look like the original Rocketeer. He is a soldier turned historian that has access to a Soldier Form, Historian Form, and a Civilian Form. His Soldier form was the first that Nickolai had when it came to combative capabilities. This form is similar to the original Rocketeer in some ways, like the helmet and the jetpack, however his coloration is entirely the color of Nickel. The jetpack however does not run on gasoline or jet fuel since neither exist on their home planet. It initially was an opening for compressed air that Nickolai had accumulated within his form, now it is a combination of a compressed air and a magnetic field manipulator that allows Nickolai to fly for long periods of time, just as long as the field manipulator is charged. However Nickolai does keep a significant amount of compressed air within his form, whether for the purposes of flight or just that he was formed significantly smaller than the rest of the average population. His actual clothing is different as the gloves that the Rocketeer wears are replaced with gauntlets that allow compressed air to be expelled to assist in steering. These gauntlets also can be used to suck in the air from around him to replenish his supply. The historian form is not so different as it has the jet on his back being retracted into his body with the gauntlets also being retracted and the fin on the helmet being shortened. His civilian form is just the helmet being retracted.

Hyden Gyrum- I couldn't think of any other guy that this would suit so I'm just planting Robert Patrick in his full silver look. The forms that he has are Active Combat Form, a Soldier Form, and a Civilian Form. The Active Combat Form is when he takes the appearance of the T-1000 prior to selecting a physical appearance. Since he doesn't focus on what he looks like he has a wider range of shapeshifting attacks. He was able to have this form due to the special nature of his body and his high ranking in the Metaloidian military. His Active Combat form is interesting as it was his first form, all others came later. His Soldier Form is the look of the T-1000 like this REFERENCE #3 .The difference is that he has the uniform of an Army Lieutenant General. His civilian form is yet to be revealed. He is the fourth crewmember with his headpiece resembling the heads of the Gort from the film "The Day The Earth Stood Still'' (1951). The reason for this is that the material that he is made of is naturally not durable. But his mask is a negative heat generator that can lower the temperature of certain parts of his body. This allows his durability to increase and decrease at will.

Space suits- To find the right idea for suits from a place that only has metal and glass was quite difficult. REFERENCE #1 These suits were almost exactly what I was looking for. Almost. I decided to replace the helmet with a tall cylindrical glass helmet that you can find if you look up Mr. Freeze's helmet from Batman The Animated Series

Volfram Stens- This character is the one described to have the blank mask. His mask was specifically designed after the faceless mask that The Question wears, just a metal color instead of flesh. His appearance is the same facial design as the original The Question. Being a historian he only has the form for his standing being the Historian Form and a Civilian Form. Active Combat Forms are regulated to active military personnel only. His Historian Form does allow combat capabilities, just not the same as one of active military. The Historian form that he possesses is one similar to The Phantom Stranger, this builds upon his civilian form that resembles Vic Sage without his mask in his first appearance in Charlatan Comics, this form was granted to him when he became a historian. His suit in coloration is built upon layers of differently polished Tungsten. The first combat form that he acquired from his composing was altered from its original design to accommodate his new job, although he still can turn into it from time to time. He was one of the first to defect to Ferrou's growing empire on Metaloidia. For this reason he did not have the standard Combat Form that many Metaloidians have.

Gems

According to the Steven Universe Wiki, Era 1 has architecture that mirrors Art Deco and Roman style. I took this as very early Homeworld would have a Greco-Roman style of architecture before building the Art Deco style around the previous buildings. To go along with that the Gems that would inhabit Homeworld would also have some Greco-Roman style to their forms. I mainly decided to style the Diamonds to resemble Greek and Roman Goddesses since their standing in Gem society would match deities. Of course this will change over time.

White Diamond- The Head of the Diamond Authority reflects her empire. Since this particular fic takes place during the ancient times of Era 1 I decided that White Diamond would be running things solo for some time. Her appearance resembles that of a monochrome version of Athena. The obvious difference is that she's not wearing the helmet and her star shaped head is more of a shining silver rather than blinding white. Since she has been running things on her own and has been preparing her empire for expansion I would imagine that she would want her subjects to view her the same as a militaristic ruler from ancient times would. Strong, beautiful, powerful, and a goddess on earth. It is her appearance and will that dictates what the rest of Gem society will look like. Her appearance will change over time. -First Change-The first change from this finds her becoming more militaristic than before. The monochrome Athena design evolved to match the changes coming to her empire. This means more of the Art Deco style coming in to slowly phase out the Greco-Roman design. The dress changed from being a solid white to more of a white with dark pinstripes. The armor is more flattened and has a star-studded pattern across. There are now full arm gauntlets that run from pauldrons on her shoulders. These gauntlets run up to her wrists where they cut off, she has got those nails as she did in the show, but the color is silver with stars. The pauldrons have large white diamonds on the front and the back, these are the standard diamond shape and always have a glow to them.

Agates- The Agates of the ancient times of Era 1 resemble the Magistrates of Roman society so their attire will reflect that. The white diamond insignia is placed in a slightly lower position on her chest as the one in the series. A layered toga adorns their body as a cord runs from their shoulder to about thigh height. Their appearance will change. -First Change-

Garnets- The Garnets in early Era 1 would be adjusting into the roles of being in charge of certain cities on the planet. The insignia of white diamond is wherever they wish. Their attire would be extravagant as they wished with their attire resembling high ranking aristocrats. Their appearance will change

Peridots- These Peridots are fully formed without the flaws of the Era 2 Peridots. These Peridots are tall with the ability to morph their hands and fingers in many ways to interact with technology. Their attire resembles a light tunic with a scaled skirt, with the white diamond insignia in a similar spot as the Peridot that we all know. Their appearance will change.

Jades- Their appearance resembles slightly close to a mix of the Peridots and the Agates. With a long light toga tucked into a scaled skirt, and the white diamond insignia in the center of their chests.

Topazes- Since the Topazes are the bodyguards to several elite Gems they will look akin to the Praetorian Guard. They have the white diamond insignia on a higher part of their chests. With the armor and all, just with the feather plumes atop are replaced with a solid and thin piece of crystal, of course, this is not permanent.

Rainbow Quartz-This is the first of many Rainbow Quartzes to come. This particular Gem wears armor akin to a Roman general, just with her weaponry more on the ranged side. The white diamond insignia is on one of her shoulder pauldrons. This will be changed later as the story progresses.

Rubies- The Rubies appearance resemble that of common soldiers with the armor an all not being too different. Of course some of the stuff like the middle of their chest plate is a white diamond in the center.