To work on a sort of timeline, I'll use B.S.U (Before Steven Universe) as a measurement of time, since that's how the timeline on the wikia works for me to get an idea on when a set of events happen. Since Before Steven Universe marks the timeline as before Canon begins (I.e. the show), I'll use that.
5,500 B.S.U.
Yellow Diamond's Ship
With a satisfied expression of her 'magnum opus' so to speak having been completed, Yellow Diamond continued to carry her personally made gem with her before finally setting her Citrine gem down on her nearby console table, its size vastly dwarfing her Citrine gem's stature; with her project finished, Yellow could return back to homeworld and continue working on her incoming reports of various colonies under her control, while periodically seeing how well Pink was doing in controlling her own colony.
As Yellow sat down in her chair within the bridge of her ship, she noted that her new gem she had placed beside her on the nearby console table was earning curious gazes by the Nephrites within her Ship's Bridge; Oh sure, her Nephrites were diligently working on getting the ship into the air, and eventually ready for take off, but occasionally Yellow would catch a few or so gems throw curious looks at the new Citrine gem beside her. She couldn't fault the curiosity, but she would not accept any slacking off or distractions.
So far, none of the gems were slacking off, and the curious glances were just that, thus Yellow allowed the slight curiosity of her Nephrite pilots to give her recently emerged gem passing glances while they worked; afterall, the curiosity would pass with time, and the Nephrites would go back to focusing solely on their duty.
As the ship began to head into outer space, Yellow crossed her legs and rested her chin on her fist while resting her other arm on the armrest of her chair; she waited and watched as her Nephrites work on calibrating the ship's gravity engine and the Form Calibration for the ship's entire crew on board. Unlike an instance where a ship's entire crew is made up of a singular type of gem, and its form calibration for faster than light travel is to be engaged for said gem type, Yellow's ship is bigger and houses multiple types of gem rather than one type of gem; thus with its size and crew that is aboard the space faring vessel, some time is needed for the ship to be properly calibrated for its gravity engine to be properly dial to the correct calibration of settings for the ship's crew to properly work without their form being too distorted in its faster than light travel.
Yellow Diamond minutely glanced off to the side to see how well her Citrine gem as acclimating herself to her surroundings, and noticed how she was staring wide eyed and seemed to be taking in everything slowly; not a peep was uttered out of her Citrine gem, and Yellow chalked it up to her project's preprogrammed knowledge pouring into her mind. Off to the side, beside her chair, Yellow Diamond glanced to see her Yellow Pearl was sneaking glances at her Citrine as well.
'Honestly, is my little project of a Citrine Gem that interesting?' Yellow thought to herself with amusement.
Tanya
Sitting atop what she could only assume was the enormous woman's console desk, Tanya began to feel an influx of information rush into her mind. While the giant yellow woman was glancing elsewhere other than her, Tanya couldn't help but wince as information continued to be somehow fed into her memories; it didn't feel like her memories were being replaced by something else, it was more like something was feeding her information on everything she looked at.
Tanya brought her hand up and felt at her chest where there was now a Facet cut Citrine of a gem, she could feel the onrush of power and information feed from the focal point of the gem. In her mind, she was constantly being bombarded with more information than what a normal human could handle. Tanya continued to feel up to her head, and felt through her hair; she pulled and found that her tuft of hair was eerily reminiscent of what she had in her second life.
As information continued to feed into her mind, Tanya finally realized who the giant woman was and what kind of new sort of society she was part of. The Giant Yellow Woman is Yellow Diamond, and for all intents and purposes, Tanya was a Citrine gem that was made to serve within a caste system, at the moment however, none of the information has yet to explain what part of the supposed caste system she was in. She could only grouse and curse her luck, oh sure, she'd panic, but Tanya didn't live a long second life to react so violently so easily by now.
With her hands now both plopped down on the surface she sat on, Tanya began to glance around her and try to come to grips with her situation; the information that continued to feed into her mind did help in making her understand her situation, but it didn't help her come to grips that she was now in a situation where there was essentially no upward mobility…
Then again, as more information that was essentially flowing into her memories, she was learning more about herself that led her to finally realize that her duty was to act as an extension of Yellow Diamond…Her Diamond to be precise, seeing as how every gem speaks in a certain way towards the Diamonds that exist within the Diamond Authority. Most often, 'my' is used in a way when referring to a gem's owner and/or superior. Case and point, Tanya was to address Yellow Diamond in a respectful manner as 'My' Diamond, seeing as how Yellow is essentially her progenitor that made her.
More information continued to feed into Tanya's mind, one such detail gave her a glimpse of how many Diamonds exist so far; at present, there are four, and each one is different in color. White Diamond is essentially the head Matriarch of the Diamond authority…well, that's what Tanya thought to herself. On the whole, the entire race of gem society is genderless, but at the same time everyone is practically coded as female; thus, Tanya can only presume that the Diamond Authority is ruled by a matriarchy until she can fully understand her situation more and correctly categorize what sort of Empire she was now part of.
"Quite the curious look you got there, my little Citrine." Yellow Diamond said, bringing Tanya out of her thoughts, and making her blink before she looked up from her sitting position.
Blinking a few more times, Tanya pursed her lips before speaking up in a short stutter. "I-I-It's all new…my-my-my Diamond." Tanya spoke in a nervous low tone of voice.
"Hmm." Yellow Diamond made a hum of thought from her lips while looking down at her newly made gem, "I suppose it is, all new, in a sense." she quirked a lip of amusement as she glanced around at the insides of her updated yellow arm and hand ship. "But, seeing as how you just emerged, I must imagine you're still acclimating yourself to the knowledge of who you are and your standing within the Diamond Authority."
A slow nod from Tanya, "Yes…I am…getting a sense of what I am…" she worded out as she was still feeling quite overwhelmed by her situation.
Yellow Diamond smiled down at her as the ship began to finally initiate it's faster than light travel, "Good, I'll see about getting you a Pearl once we arrive at homeworld, before we get you on your first assignment." Her Diamond told her.
Tanya blinked, and hoped she could wrack her mind on what Yellow Diamond meant by getting her a Pearl; everything was still so new and off putting to her, but after a moment's time, Tanya was finally able to grasp what Yellow Diamond meant by getting her a Pearl. As more information fed into her mind, Tanya was able to understand that Pearls essentially function as attendants to high-ranking Gems, with several more functions.
Before Tanya could speak up or make another thought, the ship began to shift reality around it and create a gravitational singularity point to use its massive gravitational pull to warp space-time around it. Tanya felt an odd feeling as the ship sped through outer space, and when she dredged up what she could glean on what was happening, the ship was essentially constantly creating a gravitational singularity that evaporates in nanoseconds in front of it, which basically causes Yellow Diamond's ship to continuously fall towards the singularity and allow it to travel faster the light through outer space
"That look on your face, I can only presume your mind is being fed information on what is going on right now, correct?" Her Diamond asked of her with a curious gaze down at her, prompting Tanya to look up with an unsure look on her face.
"It's-er, yes." Tanya spoke up, hoping she wasn't being out of line in how she was acting in her situation so far, "You'll…have to forgive…me..my Diamond, I'm still coming to grips with my position as your right hand." she tried to explain herself.
Yellow Diamond curled an amused smile down at Tanya as she rested her cheek on her fist, "That's an interesting term, my Right hand…yes…" Yellow Diamond mused and lifted her cheek off her fist and used her hand to rub her chin in thought, "Quite the appropriate term for you, my little Citrine." Yellow spoke with a chuffed expression, before giving her Citrine a dangerous look. "Now…where's the salute? Surely that isn't missing in your memory bank." she mused with a small frown.
Tanya looked down and thought inwardly, before looking back up at Yellow Diamond with an unsure expression; Bringing up her arms, Tanya formed a sort of Rhombus with her arms and hands. "This-this is what you mean, my Diamond?" Tanya asked with an unsure look on her face.
Yellow diamond smiled at the speed at which her Citrine was learning, "Good, I am glad your settings are acclimatizing quite fast compared to most gems." she mused, all the while the soft hum of the ship's engine could be heard in the background as it sped faster than light towards its' destination, Homeworld.
Present, 4,500 B.S.U
Homeworld
After coming to the Aristocratic district of Homeworld, Yellow Diamond had her Carnelian Arbites work in conjunction with her Peridot gem bots in flushing out every Noble Gem and have them be processed in an impromptu shakedown within one of the aristocrat's many auditoriums. While Yellow Diamond stood and waited with her arms crossed till every aristocrat gem was brought to the auditorium that she was in, she couldn't help but make a contented smile.
She had to give her Citrine props in her proposal in using the Carnelian Gems as a planet's supposed judicial force, essentially a law enforcement to enforce the Diamond Authority's law on even the aristocratic caste. Yellow's Citrine had even given the suggestion of calling them Arbities, as essentially an Arbiter was a singular being and Arbities was its plural given form.
Yellow would have pondered where her Citrine gem was coming up with all her various new ideas, but then she had to remind herself that she herself had made her personal Citrine; so it stood to reason that her little Citrine would come up with such good ideas, she was afterall, her gem, created with her own essence; so it stood to reason that Citrine Facet 74ny4 would be able to come up with new ways to manage the Empire as a whole.
Bringing herself out of her thoughts, Yellow Diamond watched as her Carnelian Arbites could be seen herding every Aristocrat Gem on homeworld. An attendance would be put into effect, and whichever Pyrope was not in attendance, that was where she'd begin to know which Pyrope was pulling the strings over on Planet F78. By all accounts, every Aristocrat gem was supposed to be on homeworld for the Empire's quarterly review of how well the aristocrats were managing their colonies they were put in charge of.
However, with the recent debacle that was the incident within the Northern Quadrant, some aristocrats from said quadrant might have gotten the message a bit late since the Northern Quadrant was just now released from being blockaded for the sole purpose of her Citrine combing the quadrant of any more rebels. Yellow Diamond frowned in distaste, the Pyrope from the memories analyzed from the rebel gems, she would get to the bottom of this and analyze the memories of every aristocrat's memories and see if any of them were in cahoots with the traitorous Pyrope gem.
As the Carnelian Arbites finished herding in the remaining noble caste of gems, and said gems began taking standing positions within the auditorium, Yellow Diamond glanced across the crowd for the expressions of every aristocratic gem. Some ranged from curious to confused, only a few however looked nervous and a shy few had fear written on their faces. Well now, it seems some of them are either doing something they should not be doing, they are in cahoots with the traitorous Pyrope, or they were in the midst of doing something bad as well.
No matter, Yellow was sure to make sure to show the noble caste why she was not to be lied to, and show what happens to traitors. She would make sure the noble caste knew that just because Blue was shirking her duties, that they could think that they were above repercussions of their actions. Oh yes, she'd make examples out of the traitors she'd no doubt find with her own memory analyzer she had on hand. Already, she could see a few noble gems fidget in fear as the room quieted down and allowed her to begin discussing why she had every Aristocrat gem on Homeworld brought to the auditorium that she was in.
AN; And now, here some more silly short omakes :3
Omake 1
A coffee shop in Beach City 4
Coffee Shop
Tanya kept a close eye on Jasper, hard at work in preparing coffee drinks for the customers that filed in to get their early morning top quality coffee. The quartz gem was coming to terms with her stance on needing a break from being a commander; she didn't betray or desert the Diamond authority, she just needed a 'long' time to recoup herself after working endlessly for nigh five thousand plus years. Jasper had accepted her reasoning, but insisted on staying on Earth to stick by her side at the very least.
Standing with her arms crossed behind the counter and cash register, Tanya quirked an amused small smile at Jasper's outlook perspective towards her; they both essentially fought on the same side for countless eons against multiple rebellions, Tanya could accept the fact that Jasper, after losing 'Pink Diamond', she saw fit fill the void of her loss with fighting alongside her in her many campaigns under the banner of the Great Diamond Authority. Tanya essentially filled the void of Jasper's loss, but never replaced the fact that Pink diamond was gone.
Tanya had to work her logic in telling Jasper to not attack the Crystal Gems, she explained that Homeworld had essentially won against Rose quartz at a cost; her reasoning also compounded by the fact that Steven's gem that once belonged to 'Rose Quartz', did not in fact mean he was Rose. Tanya had to go into great detail into how and why Rose was no more, and Steven as her son was all that was left.
She didn't bother to try and explain how Rose was essentially Pink diamond that played both sides of the practically first gem rebellion in Gem history; That interesting tidbit had Tanya reeling at the fact that Pink Diamond. At the end of the day however, Tanya could help be thankful as a former human that Pink Diamond had stood up against the Diamond Authority for the safety of Earth.
If anything, Tanya still ponders why she used the facade as Rose Quartz and not as a Diamond herself. She would've had an enormous backing behind her of every gem wanting freedom under the one Diamond that promised to allow every gem under her rule to live how they saw fit. Shaking her head to remove herself out of her funk, Tanya exhaled a tired sigh as she watched a few more customers enter her coffee shop.
Raising a brow of intrigue, she watched as who she assumed was one of Steven's friends, Connie Maheswaran; The young girl walked in, curiosity present on her face as she looked around and landed her eyes on her. With an excited but nervous expression, Connie made her way over with a notebook tucked under her arm. "Hi…um, Citrine was it?" Connie asked as she approached the counter where Tanya stood at.
With her elbow resting on the countertop as she leaned over to address Connie, Tanya tilted her head a bit to the side in curiosity. "I…suppose you could call me Citrine, but you can call me by my facet name, Tanya."
With her one brow raised in piqued curiosity, "Your actual Facet name is Tanya?" She asked with a curious and confused expression.
"No." Tanya responded with a purse of her lips in amusement, "It's actually Tee, four, en, seven, four." she remarked back as she leaned on the countertop to briefly speak with the young girl.
Connie gasped in realization and giggled with amusement, "Oh, I get it." she mused, before continuing on to speak with the Citrine gem in front of her while being her notepad out from under her arm and a pen in hand. "I know this is sudden, but I'd like to ask a few questions about life within Gem society of the diamond Empire…if that's alright with you." she shyly asked with blushing cheeks at the end.
Tanya checked the time, she had an hour till the lunch rush arrive. "I suppose I can spare some time, till the lunch rush." she said, indulging the young curious girl in knowledge about life outside of Earth. "Pearl, you mind taking over for a little?" Tanya cupped her mouth and hollered to the back of the shop.
Exiting out with a tray of supplies in hand, Orange Pearl smiled as she set aside her tray and marched her way over to her Citrine. "Certainly!" she responded with her hands clasped together, "Oh, hello there!" She waved to the human girl.
"Hi" Connie responded back with stars of wonderment in her eyes, "I've always wondered what other Pearls would look like." she remarked with a look of curiosity directed at Orange Pearl. "You look quite stunning, compared to the other Pearl I know."
Orange Pearl giggled back while waving her hand, "Oh please, if anything, we all have our differences between each Pearl, but we do come out in a predetermined style depending on who we imprint on first." she informed Connie with a blush and sly look directed at Tanya.
Connie began writing down in her notepad, and directed her attention back at Tanya. With a smile, "This is great! I'll be the first human to document how life is within an alien society." She remarked.
With her lips pursed once more in amusement, Tanya quirked her lips. "Well, take a seat somewhere, I'll join you in a minute." she directed Connie to an empty booth.
"Sure thing!" Connie responded.
Later
With her mind astonished, blown away, and some of her innocence dashed, Connie had a troubled look on her face as she wrote down in her notepad while sitting on her side of the booth. Across from her, Tanya sat with her elbows resting on the table, her fingers interlocked together and her chin resting on top of them. "I see…I never would have thought a galaxy spanning empire would have so many problems that bad." Connie mused while jotting down notes in her notepad.
Tanya let out a tired sigh, "Yes, suffice to say, the great Diamond authority is rife with conflict with itself, most oftentimes, you have the aristocrats to blame." she responded back with an annoyed look on her face.
"Tch." Jasper let out an annoyed grunt as she brought over a small plate of cookies and milk for Connie's order she put in a bit ago, "That ain't the half of it little human girl." Jasper said in a small clipped tone as she sat the plate down in front of Connie, "It was bad enough when someone low in the caste system was trying to stir up trouble, it was practically offensive to our whole society that those higher up in the caste system were playing both side of the conflicts that I've took part in." Jasper spat in anger, before taking her leave to resume working behind the counter.
"...right…" Connie said with a worried look on her face, while Tanya looked amused with a sideways glance at Jasper's back. "You'll have to forgive her…she's still coming to terms that Rose Quartz doesn't exist now any more, and her gem was essentially passed on to Steven."
Connie nodded in understanding, "how'd you explain that topic to her?" she asked Tanya with a furrowed brow of curiosity.
With a shrug, "Even I don't know the full specifics of it, but I've done enough analysis to come to the fact that Steven is not Rose Quartz. He is simply a gem Hybrid with Rose's gem." she answered with a calm and laid back expression.
With a shake of her head to snap herself out of her funk, "Anyways…what was that one theory of yours, how your race was made from a precursor race, and how gems are essentially magical A.I.?" Connie asked with a reinvigorated look of star struck curiosity.
Tanya lifted her lips into a smile of amusement at the young girl's burning curiosity, it was cute actually to see her childish mind was still prevalent for such a smart young girl.
Omake 2
Citrine get caught Dancing
Homeworld
After another exhausting round of giving an in-depth report to Yellow Diamond, Tanya was given a grace period in her private domicile near Yellow Diamond's office. It wasn't much, but it Allowed Tanya to unwind and relax; with pep in her steps, Tanya had her hands clasped behind her back as she marched herself into her quarters, walking behind her was Orange Pearl trailing behind.
The reason for Tanya's good mood today, was the fact that Yellow Diamond gave her a day of rest…that is to say, her superior had given her the order of being on standby for a good amount of the planet's rotation; that was, give or take, the equivalent of forty eight hours on Earth.
Right as Tanya entered her Domicile, she could not help but preen and chuff with excitement, "Heh!" she made a mirthful sound escape her lips, before she giggled in excitement and began twirling around in a circle across the floor like a ballerina with her arms out wide, then pulled them in to twirl faster.
With a celebrity lunge, Tanya leaped daintily across the floor and landed gracefully back down and continued to laugh to herself. "Um…" Her Pearl tried to get her attention with a shy look given at how well her Citrine was dancing.
Tanya continued to twirl and dance with a few dainty steps in between her celebratory ballerina-esque dance, "Can you believe it Pearl!?" She sang out while she continued to dance by herself. "One rotation free until the next assignment!" Tanya giggled to herself.
"That's…" Her Pearl tried to get her attention while subtlety looking up behind her to their extra witness to Tanya's rather beautiful dance.
"Think of all the things I can do in my free time!" Tanya gushed while she twirled on one foot and tucked her other leg up to spin faster, and stopped to face her Pearl with an excited expression…only to drop what she was doing and give an embarrassed look at the second audience member of her little impromptu dance.
As fast as she could, Tanya straightened up and made the Diamond Salute, "My Diamond…p-p-pardon my behavior…" She tried to explain to a bemused looking Yellow Diamond.
Said Diamond had her fingers clasped on her chin in thought while resting her elbow in her hand in a gesture of thought, "Oh…carry on, my little Citrine." she mused with chuffed expression at her embarrassed Citrine gem, "Perhaps I should see if you'd make a good duet dance with my Pearl in one of her songs she sings for me." Yellow Diamond mused.
While Tanya had the grace to try and explain herself at being caught red handed in acting such a way.
Orange Pearl however had objections to Yellow Diamond's suggestion, but didn't voice them but did think them. "Over my cracked gem! If anyone's going to dance with my Citrine. It'll be me!" Orange Pearl thought to herself with blushing cheeks, and thought back to how well her Citrine could dance in such a way
Omake 3
The Great Orange Pearl Rebellion
"Pearl! what have you done!" Tanya yells in worry and sadness in the turn of events of her Orange Pearl Rising up in such a fashion. She's not against it, but she couldn't let things happen like they did on Earth...corruption.
"I have secured a war for a future for our love! no longer shall someone steal you from me!" Orange Pearl defended herself
"Pearl!" Tanya barated from opposite of her, "My Allegiance is to the stable Diamond Authority, not this unstable socialism uprising!"
"From my point of view, the Authority is the unstable one! They are in the way of our relationship!" Orange Pearl protested back
"Then you really are lost if you think Communism can work after overthrowing the current ruling authority!" Tanya yelled back vehemently
Omake 4
Steven Universe Future | Homeworld Election
Homeworld
As Steven enters the Diamonds' palace where he once held a ball in an attempt to talk to White diamond, he could see in the distance where two Quartz gems talk about an upcoming election, while an Aubergine Pearl gives a tour to a group of Gems in the background. Steven could see three holoprojections of the electoral candidates.
From the Jasper on the right of the conversation, she has her fists on her hips in disapproval. "I can't believe half of Homeworld gems are gonna vote for that Diamond stooge, Zircon." she bemoans in disappointment, before smiling and gesturing to the other image of a blue Zircon. "Now Zircon, that's a face you can trust!" she boasts.
"Are you kidding me!" another Quartz gem says, as she interjects in on the conversation, it was a Rose Quartz gem, one of the many former Hoplite gems that was 'rescued' and brought into Citrine's service rather than be stuck in a bubble for more than four thousand years if her Citrine hadn't protested as much to Yellow Diamond in such a convincing manner and provided so many cons to release her and her fellow sisters into her armada.
The Rose Quartz gem preceded to gesture at Tanya's image, "forgot those two, now Citrine, that's a leader that knows what she's doing!" she gushed, "Most of the colonies support her." she chided the other two quartz gems, "You homeworld gems seem to forget often that the colonies count as well."
Meanwhile with Steven, he shrugged to himself, "huh, that's why she's disappeared for a while." he mused.
Elsewhere on homeworld where Tanya was discussing politics with Orange Pearl, and reasons why she needs to make sure Homeworld and its colonies become a stable democracy, she couldn't help but panic inwardly. "Blast it! I was only explaining how a democratic system works, I didn't realize it'd lead to me throwing my hat in the ring…okay, relax, at least I emphasized that a democracy is held up by a term limit leader." She thinks to herself, not realizing that a set time year limit was not fully discussed, which would lead to a hundred year term limit later on.