Untold years in the past, Gem culture as fans would know it came into being. Details are thin, but it seems likely that White Diamond, despot of Homeworld and the vast Gem empire, emerged first from the cosmic abyss. Soon after, Yellow Diamond, Blue Diamond, and Pink Diamond came into being, and the Great Diamond Authority was born.
This epoch would come to be known as Era 1. The four Diamonds might have squabbled, Pink, as the youngest, being particularly prone to fits of temper, but they were an intact foursome and their rule was as steady as it would ever be. Colonization was the order of the day, those planets brought under Gem control conquered, dismantled, and stripped of their resources to create ever more Gems. Norms became codified: Cross-Gem fusions were established as abominations, “off-color” Gems were seen as useless blights on society, and a rigid caste system developed according to White Diamond’s self-serving vision of “perfection.” Every Gem knew their purpose, which Diamond they served, and exactly where in the hierarchy they belonged — and that deviating from any of this meant being shattered, the Gem equivalent of death. Thousands of years passed this way, filled with Pearls who never knew anything but servility, Rubies who only ever guarded those seen as more precious, and Amethysts whose entire lives were spent building for the sake of the Diamonds and their empire.
Written by: Looper