Questions and Answers for Shield of Humanity Pt 1
A/N: This Q & A page will take the place of Chapter 23 because one my follower's brought a few things to mind about this story. I am writing this to help out those who have invested their time in reading and following this story, to better understand everything I have added, created, changed and where I'm going with My Story. Whether those are new ideas, characters, Connie, Commander Smoky, The 'Gender/Sex' of Gems, Locations, 'forced relationships,' lore, what have you. Each of them are there on purpose. Without further a dew.
Question #1: "I Thought Gems were "Genderless" and "Sexless." And even if they could reproduce, wouldn't they Die Immediately like Rose?"
Answer: As stated by the creator of Steven Universe and the Supervising Director of SU. The Gem species is Sexless and Genderless by default. But they can replicate reproductive organs of organic beings for their "human constructs." even though the Gems look female to human eyes, they are not female in our sense of the word.
The Supervising Director of SU, Ian Jones-Quartley stated on a Tumblr post that Rose shape-shifted a womb for Steven to be born from. We have to assume that when Rose gave birth to Steven, she pretty much passed on her entire gemstone to him and died. That's Steven Universe Canon, which I am purposely not entirely following for my convenience.
In Shield of Humanity, Rose told Steven in Chapter 13 that Gems, regardless of rank are made up of a dark and light side. In my story and lore, the gemstones of each gem is made up Yin and Yang. In Chinese terms Yin means "Shady Side" and Yang means "Sunny Side." Yin is made up of physical magical energy which makes up the physical and Discernible form of Gems. Yang is the metaphysical energy or immaterial magical energy which powers all gems and grants them their magical abilities and powers.
In Shield of Humanity when a gem takes the 'Mother' route and gets pregnant, she gives a quarter of her Yin and Yang energy to create an Egg cell by which the father's sperm cell, regardless if he is human or not, will fertilize and jump start the magical development of their hybrid child.
After giving birth to their hybrid child (i.e legs spread and pushing out the child like most mammals). The gem mother has several hours to be with her child before retreating back into her gemstone permanently, essentially dying. This explains why Citrine, a new OC introduced in the last chapter did not die automatically after giving birth to whistles.
If a Gem decides to go the 'Father' route and impregnate a female non gem being. 'he' will also be making a similar sacrifice as any gem mother. Giving a quarter each from his yin and yang makeup to make one special sperm cell to fertilize and transfigure the mother's egg cell. Upon fertilization, the gestation is magically sped up and the birth of the child is at hand. The father gem, like the mother gem has only a few hours to spend with their partner and child before dying.
One out of many principles in my Story, and the same could be said for SU the cartoon show is that when a hybrid is made. The child will always take up after their non gem parent in biological makeup, with the only vestige from their gem parent being the gemstone which they will inherit with half of the power and abilities in them.
Death surely follows after birthing or impregnating for gems unless they can get a donation of yin and yang energy from a powerful gem known as Commanders to supplant the magic energy they lost giving away. let it be known that Gems cannot reproduce with one another, but they can be made.
Question #2: What's the deal with "Male Gems" in your story? Why are they given the titles of "Commanders" what purpose do they serve in your story.
Answer: As already stated above. Gems in the show are Genderless and sexless. But they can replicate sexual reproductive organs of organic beings if they so choose to. We know they use female pronouns to address each other despite being a non gender society, much like the Namekians from DBZ and Asari from The Mass Effect video game series.
Basically, a Gem can choose to come off as female in body and mind as much as in Male. I use the term 'Male' to only describe Gems known as Commanders in my story. A part of a story-only-hierarchy I created. Commanders are referred to as 'Males' not because they have male reproductive organs. But because they have a male only appearance which does not fit the mold of Home world society. They are seen by their species as a rarity and abnormality. they cannot shape-shift to look female even if they wanted to, they are exceptionally far more powerful than soldier gems. And more importantly, as pearl told Steven in my story, they were carved from the gemstones of the most powerful and most beautiful gems which are known as Goddesses.
They also go by the name "Sons of The Goddess" because they are born physically and internally different. with extreme levels of Magical energy which they inherited from their mothers from which they were carved from.
Commanders can be seen as Overpowered gems and honestly, they are. But that's because they were born from home-world's most powerful gems. Each goddess in her time reigning as ruler and monarch of Homeworld can have as many as ten sons. Commanders are usually sent to planets to level the defenses of targeted planets so the oncoming homeworld armada can use the conquered planet(s) for mining resources, to establish kindergartens or turn it into an Outpost or Colony.
Because of their physical and internal differences and their high levels of Magical energy. Including a notorious reputation for pretty much being "Planet Killers." Commanders, in the eyes of Common gems have a magnetic like attraction to them. It's not always a romantic attraction. Sometimes it's out of respect, fear, companionship, Guardianship and leadership. Example. A troop of female gorillas don't stick to a silver back gorilla out of love. Its out of protection, a leader, best spots for food and a guardian for their home, them and their kids.
Question #3: "Is Soren Spessartite a Bad Guy? Good Guy? What is his Role in This Story?"
Answer: Soren Spessartite as many of you might not know is an OC suggested by one of my reviewers. I know OC's are not looked upon kindly in any fandom, but I honestly do not care. This is My story and if I want to add one of my reader's idea for an OC into my story, then I will do so.
Apart from changing his storyline a little bit from what my reader sent to me, Soren Spessartite is not a bad guy. He may come as Domineering, but that's just his character. Not to say he won't change his character, he will, but it's all in due time.
Is he a good guy" no. he has his own record of planets he's scorched and civilizations he has wiped out in the name of his mother and planet. He had a change of heart so to speak sometime before meeting the crystal gems in my story, and turned his back on everything his mother, brothers and most importantly, what he stood for.
As for his role in this story. Right now it's to act as a guardian for Earth while Steven is slowly mastering his mother's gemstone. He also serves as a window into answers the characters might have later on about home-world, other species of aliens that exist in Shield of Humanity etc.
Question #4: Pearl In your story is in A Relationship with a Human, "Carlos Montoya." Who Is he? Is he just there to be there? Is he important and should we even care about him."
Answer: I am aware that in other SU stories, authors like to pair up members of the crystal gems or home-world gems for that matter, with whoever they please. And you know what, they can do that. because it's their stories. They put the hours and days into their work, so they obviously have free reign with what they want to do with their stories.
I want to be honest with my readers. Carlos Montoya is half Original and half self insert. Yep, I inserted a some of my self into him. I'm not ashamed of it. But as for who he is. Carlos Montoya is not just another Original Character who's placed in this story to take up time or fill in some gap. I like to believe i can work with whatever character from whatever fandom I am currently a part of and or will become a part of in the future. However, sometimes I want to create Original Characters because I can, I want to or just as an Experiment.
SPOILER ALERT! I do not want to say much about Carlos right now, except that he isn't just some secondary or tertiary character. He's not there to waste time. he will help the crystal gems, Soren and all of Beach City in due time. But if you're still curious about who he is, I will give you three hints to figure it out.
Hint 1- Read chapter Chapter 6 and go over it.
Hint 2- Read Chapter 10 and go over it.
Hint 3- Reach Chapter 16 and go over it.
Your answer is pretty much in there. If you figure out who he is, please don't tell me it in a review, people read reviews to see if they might give not just this story, but any story a chance.
And lastly. Should you readers care about him? If you guys like him or are indifferent to the character, that's great. If you don't like him because he seems boring or is paired up with pearl or you don't like OC's, that's fine too. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. But Carlos is important otherwise I wouldn't have put him into my story.
Question #5: What is up with Bells, Whistles and Citrine? Are they Cat people? Why are there Cat people on mars? And who is Citrine.
Answer: 'Bells' and his son 'Whistles' names are a play on words on the Idiom 'Bells and Whistles.' the idiom by definition means, "in things that something, especially a device or machine has or does that are not necessary but that make it more exciting and interesting."
Citrine as many of you readers know is a gem from Mars who crash landed on earth with her non gem partner, 'Bells' and their hybrid child 'Whistles.'. In chapter 4 of Shield of Humanity, Connie has a dream of Commander Smoky after having his gemstone fuse with her body. Mars was once like earth. A rare gem (no punt intended) in a section of the milky galaxy that was known to harbor a small number of planets that could hardly support life.
At about the same time before Rose and her earth rebel gems revolted against Home-world, Mars was being colonized by 'settler gems' with a round table of Commanders who oversaw work, gem workers, the state of soldier gems and daily life on Mars. They also acted as the guardians of the planet while they were stationed there. However, I know I said Commanders are used by their mother goddesses to commit planetary genocide before using the conquered planet for a multitude of things. Mars, or rather the native Martians species put up a decent fight against Commander Smoky who was sent there first to do what Commanders do best.
Recognizing their valor in battle and the respect they had for their enemy even after being defeated, Smoky chose to let the native martians live alongside the gem settlers. Now, what do the native martians look like in my story you might be wondering? Take a look at my profile Avatar. That character is from an Anime movie called "Summer Wars." his name is 'King Kazma' and yes he's an anthropomorphic rabbit, but imagine him as a black cat or whichever color or species of cat you would like. That's what Native Martians in Shield of Humanity look like.
I guess you can call them "Cat people" except that their not people, but a species of Cats who happen to be bipedal and are highly evolved, even more so than humans. Why did I introduce this inter-species couple in my story? So far in the cartoon show, the only two alien races are humans and gems and the only inter-species couple was rose and greg. In my story there are more than two alien races, the newest one is...Tada! Martians! And the inter-species couples are Carlos and Pearl and currently Lapis and Steven.
Question #6: What is Steven's Current Progress in relation to his Mother's Gem? How much has he changed since starting this story? What's up with Lion.
Answer: Steven has changed a lot since this story has started. Granted, there was a little two year time skip near the beginning. First a little refresher. In my story and lore, Steven, like any other Human Gem hybrid are already born with magical and heightened physical abilities of their gem parent; superpowers so to speak.
If you still don't understand how Steven's Gem powers work in my story, let me explain.
Apart from being super humanly strong, having healing powers and having the power to generate and manipulate wood, plants and the soil. Steven's main powers come from his gem. Currently he is able to tap into his gem's power in stages. Those stages are
Gem Aura (1) – the first and easiest stage to enter with minimal training. Steven is Surrounded by a flaming pink aura. This amplifies his strength, healing powers and other gem abilities like plant control by a significant amount.
Gem Aura Constructs (2) – in addition to his pink flaming aura and boost in his physical and magical abilities. In this second stage, Steven's aura flares up even higher and can form giant arms and hands from the sides of his Aura. They usually manifest with Rose's Sword and Shield in hand and arm. Steven gets a double boost to his already heightened abilities.
Guardian Mother Form/ G.M.F (3) – When facing the threat of death to himself or to his friends, Steven's skin turns a slight pink color. His black curly hair grows out longer, forming black ringlets like his mother. His hair shines like obsidian with an accompanying pink glow on the outlines of his hair and ringlets. His pink flaming aura rises higher and expands so large that it stabilizes and becomes solid, taking the form of Rose Quartz which Steven is safely guarded inside. This Rose Quartz is not alive, she is controlled like a robot through Steven. Rose Quartz's form has her Saber and Shield with her.
Some of the advantages for Steven in this form is a triple boost in all of his already heightened abilities and powers. Most attacks cannot penetrate Rose's form. The defensive power can be compared to if a 10 feet wall of steel and concrete was compressed into plates for body armor. Even though I haven't shown it, Steven can make Rose big enough to shield other people or face off against tall and large enemies.
A disadvantage to this form is that it does lasts very long due to not being accustomed to so much power. Steven can only keep this form up for at least three minutes. In later chapters he will have more time added on.
Gem Possession/ False Mastered Gem Form (3.5) – Only being displayed once when Steven thought Lapis was Dead at the end of Chapter 17. Steven's Pink Aura flares up burns around him violently. The gemstone on his navel glows and burns proud and bright. His eyes burn as bright as his gemstone. Steven then floats high into the air where his Aura grown and expands tall enough, transforming into a version of himself only Older. This Giant pink version of him towers at twenty feet tall.
Being in this state between his third and fourth stage, Steven's incapability to think rationally and handle such a powerful release of gem energy turns him into an aggressive, bloodthirsty warrior. While in this 'in-between' stage of his gem's power, Steven has No real mastery over his 'mastered gem form. which is why I call it his false mastered gem form.' he is simply able to keep it up because he was running on sheer rage. the reason there is a fourth stage called "True Gem Form" which will come later on.
Some advantages to this form is a 50x boost to his powers, abilities, physical powers. Some extra powers not yet shown will be shared in Part 2 after i've posted some chapters.
As for Lion. As said by Soren in Chapter 18. Lion is a creature from home world. He holds the other half of Rose's Yin and Yang energy, which essentially makes up the other half of her gemstone. Lion's body is made entirely out of Pure raw Magic which allows him to fuse with Steven (or any of the other gems) and give him the power to rip holes in space and act as a magical storage locker for Rose and Steven.
(!) "I want to say that in Part 2 of this Q and A. I will be talking about Connie, Commander Smoky, Connie's powers. Fusions, and much more. Thank you everyone for your continued support for this story. feel free to send me any questions you might have via PM. Goodnight and till next time."