Nephrite

Nephrite (specifically Nephrite Facet-413 Cabochon-12), also known as the Centipeetle Mother in her corrupted state, is a formerly-Corrupted Homeworld Gem that debuted in "Gem Glow". Before her corruption, she was the captain of a squadron that served Pink Diamond and a Hessonite commander. She was sent to Earth 5,750 years ago in a ship to colonize Earth, and later was trapped on Earth during The Rebellion. She currently resides in her old ship after being reunited with her crew mates in "Monster Reunion". In "Legs From Here to Homeworld", Nephrite was uncorrupted temporarily by Yellow Diamond, Blue Diamond, and Steven, with seemingly no memory of being corrupted afterwards. However, she was later uncorrupted permanently in the episode "Change Your Mind".
== Appearance ==
=== Corrupted ===
The Centipeetle Mother's Corrupted form is that of a giant centipede-like creature. She is composed of roughly thirteen (visible) dark-green segments (excluding the head and the rear) that each bear one pair of similarly colored legs. The final segment bears no legs, but what appears to be a pair of mandibles. Each of these segments is covered on the top side with a hard crystal covering. Her head is composed primarily of a gigantic pair of jaws/mandibles with a gem in the back of the "mouth". This gem is circular in shape and colored light green with dark-green contour lines surrounding the circumference of the gem, connecting to a circular shape. Her gem seems to act as her iris, being in the middle of what would rationally be a sclera. It also features a green crystal protuberance on the base of the head that forms a broken horn-like structure. She has a flowing, light-cream colored mane immediately behind her head.
=== Small ===
After being released from the bubble in "Monster Buddies" and regenerating, she appears in an all-around reduced form. Her body is reduced to only two segments, and her mane, head, and secondary mandibles have been reduced in size as well probably indicating that she has to grow over time. This can be seen as the Centipeetle Mother grows throughout the episode. Her gem now comprises the entirety of her whole eyeball instead of just the iris, and the gem on her head is now gone.
=== Semi-Corrupted ===
While her mind is still damaged by the Diamonds, her form takes on a more humanoid appearance thanks to Steven's healing. Her body appears more humanoid, and her head is slightly different than her fully corrupted form, her eye is no longer inside of her mouth. She also has what appears to be a sort of pincer on her rear. She wore torn-up light gray clothing, and what appears to be a bodysuit similar to Pearl's in "Space Race".
===Uncorrupted===
With the combined efforts of Yellow Diamond, Blue Diamond, and Steven, Nephrite was uncorrupted temporarily. The bodysuit she wears is almost identical to the one she wears in her semi-corrupted form, now with a Pink Diamond insignia on the center of her chest. Much like her semi-corrupted form, her face is green, and she has plump lips similar to Amethyst's. Additionally, her white hair is significantly reduced, now a flipped out bob cut – tufting both inwards and outwards. Her black-and-green bodysuit now has a light green coat tail, two white tufts of fur on her shoulders and she now wears a black skull cap over her hair. Her boots and gloves are dark brown.
== History ==
===Pre-Corruption===
Centipeetle and her squadron were ordered to travel to Earth on an Ancient Gem Colony Ship with the plans of colonizing the planet. Once the Rebellion had begun, Centipeetle and her crew fought in the war, but Centipeetle eventually got split up and was on her own. Centipeetle's commander ordered all the Gems to retreat either through the ships or warp pads, but she had been left behind, unable to escape. She was then corrupted, along with nearly every other Gem that remained on Earth, by a weapon activated by the Diamonds.
=== Corruption ===
In "Gem Glow", Centipeetle attacks the Crystal Temple along with a bunch of little Centipeetles that she summons. Once the infestation appears to be over, Centipeetle returns, and Steven, in order to prove himself worthy, and to protect his loved ones, throws his Cookie Cat refrigerator at Centipeetle, electrocuting her, and Centipeetle is poofed and bubbled.
In "Monster Buddies", Steven accidentally pops Centipeetle's bubble and she transforms into a smaller, less menacing version of herself. When the other Gems come to protect Steven from the apparent threat, Steven defends Centipeetle, and the Gems let him try to train her. Steven eats Chaaaaps, which attracts the Centipeetle, and Centipeetle displays enjoyment for Chaaaaps. When a seagull comes to try and take the chips away, Centipeetle comes to Steven's rescue and attacks it. Later, Garnet explains that Centipeetle could be used on a mission to retrieve the Shooting Star. Traveling through the ice caves, Centipeetle easily uses her corrosive liquid to erode the cave walls and get to the Shooting Star. When the cave is about to collapse, Centipeetle pushes Steven out of the way of a falling icicle and sacrifices herself. She is bubbled once more.
In "Monster Reunion", Steven's healing spit is back and he convinces the Gems to let him try and heal Centipeetle with his power. He does so, but Centipeetle transforms into a semi-corrupt form, gaining humanoid arms and legs but the inability to speak properly. Steven convinces the Gems to let Centipeetle stay, and later, Centipeetle and Steven communicate through art. Centipeetle tells Steven her backstory, and then begins to revert into her corrupted form. Steven tries to heal her again, but to no avail. Centipeetle tries to use the warp pad but cannot, so she reveals to Steven that she wants to go to her ship. Steven takes her there, and on the way, Centipeetle reverts back to her corrupted form completely. Inside the ship are other Centipeetle that look exactly like herself, and it is revealed through Centipeetle's writing (which is in the Gem language) that it was her crew members that were waiting for her to return home. Centipeetle is currently living inside of the ship with her crew.
In "Legs From Here to Homeworld", Steven shows Nephrite to Yellow and Blue Diamond as a result of what their attack did. After convincing them to help her, Steven, Yellow, and Blue combine their powers and transform Nephrite back to her normal state. Upon seeing Yellow and Blue, Nephrite apologizes for not being able to retreat in time of the attack and believes that they finally returned to Earth and avenged Pink Diamond by destroying Rose Quartz, revealing she has no memory of her time corrupted. Upon hearing this, Yellow and Blue let go of her, causing Nephrite to revert back into her monstrous Centipeetle form. Yellow tells Steven that in order to permanently heal Nephrite and the other Corrupted Gems, they need help from White Diamond.
===Post-Corruption===
In "Change Your Mind," Nephrite is one of the first gems Steven and the Diamonds uncorrupt permanently. In her Centipeetle form, she dives after some Chaaaaps that Amethyst throws into Rose's fountain and emerges healed, where she and Steven gleefully greet each other.
== Abilities ==
Nephrite possesses standard Gem abilities and traits.
=== Fusions ===
* When fused with Turquoise, they form Purpurite.
=== Skills ===
* Piloting: It was revealed in Monster Reunion that she was a space captain. She shares the ability to pilot Homeworld ships with Peridot, Pearl and Ruby (Doc).
=== Corrupted Form Abilities ===
While corrupted, Nephrite is capable of eating with her mouth despite her eye blocking her throat, thus making it so that there are no visible means of having the ingested food reach any stomach.
* Hybrid Arthropod Physiology: Due to having the appearance of two arthropods, specifically a centipede and a beetle, the Centipeetle Mother has the innate abilities of both organisms.
** Chilopodan Physiology: Like a centipede, the Mother uses her jaws to attack enemies or prey. Both employ deadly substances in their attacks. The centipede uses venom while the Mother uses a corrosive liquid.
** Coleopteran Physiology: Like a beetle, the Mother's defenses are increased due to the hard gem-like covering each segment possesses.
** Climbing Skills: She is able to climb vertical walls and sheer cliff faces.
* Creature Creation: The Centipeetle Mother has the ability to produce and command Centipeetles that aid her in battle.
* Corrosive Liquid Generation: She can produce an extremely corrosive substance that can easily erode various materials, ranging from wood to stone to ice. She can use this corrosive substance as a projectile to attack from afar or assault enemies with a constant torrent of the substance to easily break down their defenses.
** Rotative Spitting: In "Monster Buddies", the small Centipeetle Mother is seen to be able to rotate her head many times. She utilized this in that she spun her head rapidly and sprayed her corrosive substance, showering the immediate area in a manner extremely similar to that of a sprinkler.
== Relationships ==
=== Steven Universe ===
Initially, Nephrite is presented as an antagonist to Steven, with she and her underlings attacking the Crystal Temple and the Crystal Gems. When she saw the Crystal Gems, she was more terrified because she was being "attacked" by them. Nephrite was a Corrupted Gem, and as such, she had animalistic behavior, and so the Crystal Gems were not close to terms with her. Such behavior causes Steven to electrocute and poof her to protect the Crystal Gems.
However, when Steven accidentally releases her from her bubble and decides to train her, she is enticed by the aroma of Chaaaaps which allows her to trust and form a bond with Steven.
Nephrite is seen to be protective and motherly towards Steven, as when Steven is harmed by any threat Nephrite sees, such as the Seagull who bit him in "Monster Buddies", she spits acid at them to save her friend. She is even willing to risk her life for Steven, such as when she sacrificed herself to save him from a falling rock.
After being healed by Steven and entering her semi-corrupted form, Nephrite, at first, does not appear to remember him. However, after Steven opens a bag of Chaaaaps, her memories begin to return, and she starts remembering him, and her memories of before she was corrupted. Steven helps her reunite with her crew, showing the bond between them. Nephrite appears to be very friendly towards Steven, retaining this feeling even after reverting to her fully corrupted form.
Upon being fully healed in Change Your Mind Steven happily greets Nephrite who appears to recognize and remember him upon seeing him again. Later on, she and Steven were conversing with the now-Uncorrupted Watermelon Tourmaline, Snow Monster, and Biggs Jasper  when Jasper finally emerged from the healing waters. Some time later, Nephrite and Steven are still talking with one-another as most all of the Corrupted Gems are now cured.
===Crystal Gems===
Nephrite's relationship with the Gems was antagonistic at first. They did not have a clear interaction because of Nephrite's hostility. At some point, she gained fear of Garnet's gauntlets even when she summoned them for other purposes. After being healed by Steven, Nephrite made drawings regarding the events of the war in Gem language that only the Crystal Gems decoded, one of them being the whereabouts of her crew.
Nephrite's current relationship with the Gems is unknown, but she is likely on good terms with them, just as she is with Steven.
===Nephrite's Crew===
Nephrite's former crew also turned into Centipeetles. They were with Nephrite when they came to Earth. As her subordinates, they presumably respected her authority and followed her orders. Nephrite and her crew appear happy to be reunited in "Monster Reunion", all currently living at the Ancient Gem Colony Ship.As of "Change Your Mind", Nephrite and her Crew were greeted by Steven who showed them to White Diamond as Steven and Blue Diamond came up with a plan to uncorrupt the Nephrites along with all of the other Corrupted Gems. They were then led to Rose's Fountain as the Diamonds planned to bathe in the waters and use their energies to uncorrupt the Corrupted Gems en masse, seeing as the first Corrupted Gems began to return to their original selves, Nephrite's crewmembers scurried into the pool and bathed in the Diamond-infused waters returning to their normal selves again as Amethyst tossed in the bag of Chaaps that their captain was chewing on into the pool near them as Nephrite dived right in and became uncorrupted and warmly greeted by Steven. They then soon saw as Watermelon Tourmaline emerged from the pool near them, soon followed by Biggs Jasper, whom was happily tackled back into the pool by an exuberant Bismuth, glad that her best friend was returned to normal again.
===The Great Diamond Authority===
Before her corruption, Nephrite served the Diamonds, and Pink Diamond in particular.
In "Monster Reunion", the half-corrupted Nephrite demonstrates knowledge that she was corrupted by the Diamonds' attack, and becomes traumatized when recalling the event.
In "Legs From Here to Homeworld", Nephrite appears to recognize Blue and Yellow Diamond even while corrupted, as her jaw drops shortly after noticing them. Upon being uncorrupted, Nephrite expresses typical Homeworld Gem loyalty to them and joyfully assumes that they destroyed Rose Quartz.
== Trivia ==
* Her confirmed instrument that plays in her themes is the Synth Gamelan."We're aivi & surasshu, the music composers of Steven Universe. Ask us anything ♫" – r/stevenuniverse on Reddit
* When Nephrite was reforming herself after she escaped from the bubble, she briefly took a humanoid-like form before taking her latest form.
** It was revealed in "Ocean Gem" that the Nephrite, along with most of the monsters previously fought, used to be humanoid Gems. Unfortunately, the Gems became corrupted, turning them into the monsters they are now.
** Nephrite is the first Corrupted Gem to be shown and the first that Steven defeats. She is also the first to be released from her bubble, be (temporarily) healed, and to display some level of higher intelligence.
* Her gemstone bears resemblance to a PokéBall from the popular game series developed by game freak; Exclusively for Nintendo's handheld systems, Pokémon.
* Her corrupted form's name ("Centipeetle") is a portmanteau of the words centipede and beetle.
* When semi-corrupted, her gemstone's design slightly differs than when she is corrupted.
* Nephrite serves as the antagonist of the iOS game, Crystal Gem Smash.
* Nephrite is the only Corrupted Gem so far to ever reform onscreen.
* As shown in "Monster Reunion", Nephrite is literate in the Gem language even while she is still semi-corrupted.
* Nephrite's semi-corrupted form bares resemblance to the villain "Zorak" from the Space Ghost metaseries.
* Nephrite's fully-corrupted form bears resemblance to a Magtail, a type of monster from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, including a centipede-like body shape with a single eye in the center of its mouth. However, unlike Nephrite, the Magtail's jaws open horizontally.
* Nephrite (as the Centipeetle Mother) shares the same voice with a mouth part available in Spore that appears with three other members during the Tribal stage."Steven Universe to Spore Comparison. Centipeetle Voice." – via YouTube
* Although stated by the Crewniverse that a Gem cannot change the location of their gemstone, Nephrite's gem has moved from her oropharynx, in her corrupted form, to her face, in her semi-corrupted form, although it functions as an eye in both forms. This means that through corruption a Gem may be able to change their gem's location.
** However, this may be due to her physiology in her corrupted from, as she does not have a defined face in said form.
* When she is uncorrupted, her gemstone appears to be the largest in relation to body size of any other type of gem shown so far.
* According to Yellow Diamond, Nephrite is a "perfectly adequate" Gem when uncorrupted.
* Before Steven helps Yellow and Blue Diamond heal Nephrite temporarily, Nephrite repeats "No, please, no! No, no, we're all gonna be-". This is most likely what she said immediately before being corrupted.
* Nephrite's voice actress Aparna Nancherla also voices the Jades and their fusion in "Together Alone"
** As nephrite is a type of jade in real life, the Jades and Nephrite sharing a voice actress may imply that Nephrite-type Gems are types of Jade in the series.
* Nephrite's identification, facet-413 cabochon-12, is likely a reference to the webcomic Homestuck, where the numbers 413 and 612 are symbolically important; one of the storyboard artists for the episode where these numbers are given, Danny Cragg, is a close friend of Homestuck's author, and his spouse Shelby was responsible for the in-character drawings of one of Homestuck's key characters, Calliope.
== Gemstone ==
Category:Gems
Category:Canon Gems
Category:Canon Characters
Category:Corrupted Gems