Nephrite

## Professional Status

### Affliation(s)

Gem Homeworld (formerly)Pink Diamond (former superior)Hessonite (former commander)

### Occupation(s)

Captain (formerly)Teacher (currently) Pilot (currently)

### Alignment

Homeworld Gems (formerly) Little Homeworld

## Personal Status

### Family

Pigtails Nephrite, Puffy Nephrite, and Bun Nephrite (all sisters)

### Friend(s)

Steven Universe, Navy Kunzite, and Kokora I. Jade

## Media

### Voice Actor

Aparna Nancherla (uncorrupted),Frank Welker (corrupted; "Gem Glow", stock sound effect) & Dee Bradley Baker (corrupted)

**Nephrite Facet-413 Cabochon-12,** also known as the Centipeetle Motherin 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 used to reside in her old ship after being reunited with her crewmates in "Monster Reunion" until "Legs From Here to Homeworld", where Nephrite was uncorrupted temporarily by Yellow Diamond, Blue Diamond, and Steven, with seemingly no memory of being corrupted afterwards. She was later uncorrupted permanently with her memories intact in "Change Your Mind". Now being healed and restored, she is currently living at Little Homeworld, partaking in Little Homeschool before becoming a teacher and additionally returning to be a pilot.

## Biography

### Emerging and Learning to be a Pilot

Nephrite was created before the Rebellion for Pink Diamond. After her creation, Nephrite was sent to the Gem Homeworld Piloting Academy where she learned her skills to pilot. After learning piloting skills, she proved herself to be a good pilot with her pilot skills being expertise and efficient, making her one of the best pilots the Academy had seen, and was considered by many as one of the best pilots in The Pink Diamond Following. With her extreme efficiency she was promptly promoted to be Captain by her Diamond and Hessonite.

### The Gem War

Nephrite 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, Nephrite and her crew fought in the war, but Nephrite eventually got split up and was on her own. Nephrite's commander, Hessonite, 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 power used by the Diamonds, turning her into a giant centipede-like creature. She would stay in this state for thousands of years.

### Attack On The Crystal Temple

Thousands of years later in 2013, she attacked the Crystal Temple along with a bunch of little Centipeetles that she summoned. Once the infestation appears to be over, Centipeetle returns. To prove himself worthy, and to protect the Crystal Gems, Steven Universe threw his Cookie Cat refrigerator at Centipeetle, electrocuting her, and poofing her, before being bubbled.

### First Time out of the Bubble & First (And Only) Mission

After being bubbled for a while, Centipeetle was unintentionally set by Steven, and she transformed into a smaller, less menacing version of herself. When the other Gems came to protect Steven from the apparent threat, Steven defended Centipeetle, and the Gems let him try to train her. During her training, Steven ate some Chaaaaps, which attracted her, thus beginning her enjoyment for chips. Later when a seagull tried and take the chips away, Centipeetle came to Steven's rescue and attacked it. Following her brief training and proving herself a little bit, Garnet explained Centipeetle could be used on a mission to retrieve the Shooting Star. Traveling through the ice caves, Centipeetle easily used her corrosive liquid to erode the cave walls and get to the Shooting Star. When the cave was about to collapse, Centipeetle pushed Steven out of the way of a falling icicle and sacrificed herself. She was bubbled once again.

### Second Time out if the Bubble and Return to her Team

Sometime later, Centipeetle was let out of the bubble, and was healed by Steven's healing saliva, transforming her into a semi-corrupt form, gaining humanoid arms and legs but still not being able to speak properly. After Steven convinced the Crystal Gems to let her stay, Centipeetle and Steven communicate through art. During their art communication, Centipeetle told Steven her backstory and then began to revert to her corrupted form. Steven tried to heal her again but to no avail. Centipeetle attempted to use the warp pad but was unable to, so she revealed to Steven that she wanted to go to her wrecked ship. Steven took her there, and on the way, Nephrite reverted to her corrupted form completely. Inside the ship were other that look exactly like hers, and it was revealed through Centipeetle's writing (which was Gemglyphics) that it was her crew members that were waiting for her to return home.

### Brief Uncorruption

Later in 2018, Steven, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Bismuth, accompanied by Blue and Yellow Diamond came tot he wrecked ship so Steven could show his diamond aunts a result of what their attack did to gems with Centipeetle. After convincing them to help her, Steven, Yellow, and Blue combined their powers and transformed Centipeetle back to her normal state as Nephrite. Upon seeing Yellow and Blue, Nephrite apologized for not being able to retreat in time of the attack and believed that they finally returned to Earth and avenged Pink Diamond by destroying Rose Quartz, revealing that she had no memory of her time corrupted. Upon hearing this, Yellow and Blue let go of her, culminating in Nephrite to revert into her monstrous Centipeetle form. Yellow told her nephew, that in order to permanently heal Nephrite and the other Corrupted Gems, they needed help from White Diamond.

### Uncorruption

A few days later, she was lured into the Rose's Fountain after being lured in by some Chaaaaps that Amethyst threw into the waterr and emerged healed, where she and Steven gleefully greeted each other, alongside her sisters and cousins, reuniting with them.

### Planning of Little Homeworld

After being uncorrupted, Nephrite, and the rest of the uncorrupted gems were left with no home on Earth, so they all decided to stay in the Crystal Temple. After living in the Crystal Temple for a few weeks, Pearl explained to all the corrupted gems that they couldn't stay in the temple forever and that they all needed to find somewhere else to live as the remodeling beach house could not accommodate for nor fit all of them. However this gave Steven an epiphany: build a Homeworld for the uncorrupted gems to live on. After talks, Nephrite agreed, and she joined the Crystal Gems with the planning of Little Homeworld. Later down the line, she and the rest of the uncorrupted gems began constriction on Little Homeworld.

### Brief-Head of the Construction.

Construction was a tough job for Nephrite, as she had to carry a lot of equipment and help with the buildings. Unfortunately for her, the job was going to get tougher as the Crystal Gems had to deal with Pyrope and Demantoid, Bismuth put Nephrite in charge of the construction of Little Homeworld. Even though she was nervous and hesitant, Nephrite agreed to take charge of the duty, but was met with some disastrous results with a building frame falling over and breaking, cement accidentally being poured into the wrong pit, and a recently finished building accidentally getting damaged by a beam being moved. Nephrite was frustrated and felt like she couldn't do her job properly with these construction mistakes happening left and right.

While she frustratingly munched on some Chaaaaps, one of her sisters, Pigtails, came up to her and asked if she was okay. After being asked if she was okay, Nephrite told her sister that she was frustrated with what was occurring, explained that she felt like she couldn't do her job properly, and said that let Steven and Bismuth down, believing they were going to be dissatisfied with her for the lack of progress and the construction accidents happening. Pigtails however told her older sister that she remembered back then they were in their squad, and when their youngest sister, Bun didn't feel confident after Hessonite yelled at her for not being able to do proper work, Nephrite comforted Bun and told her that everyone makes mistakes. Nephrite then realized that everyone makes mistakes and that accidents do happen. And after that realization, Nephrite then came to terms and realized that she had to do her job, and she promptly went back to her job and she managed to do it correctly and they managed build a good portion of Little Homeworld, then the Crystal Gems returned and construction on Little Homeworld after the defeat of Pyrope and Demantoid.

### The Threat on Earth

Two years later, Little Homeworld was almost finished and Nephrite was already in talks with Pearl and Bismuth to be one of the teachers at Little Homeschool, while also being a part-time student. However things were put on hold when a Gem Rejuvenator came down to Earth and smashed onto the mountain near the Crystal Temple, which Nephrite was then informed by Bismuth that a gem named Spinel had bought the rejuvenator down and threatened to destroy Earth. However the Crystal Gems were able to help Spinel, and the Rejuvenator exploded. Nephrite then helped people rebuild Beach City after it was destroyed.

### Little Homeworld and Present Day

After Little Homeworld was done, Little Homeschool began with Nephrite working as a teacher. She currently teaches numerous classes including mechanics and auto-shop. However she was cocnvredn for Steven, upon learning the issues he was having, and she was horrified when she saw him turn into a giant monster, but was relived after witnessing him return to normal. Later when Steven left, she said goodbye to him at Little Homeworld. Throughout 2020 and 2021, she continued to teach class and began her journey to become a pilot once again. In 2022, Nephrite returned to be a pilot, but only as a transporter pilot.

## Appearance

Nephrite has a humanoid- appearance with a green complexion, has plump lips, with white hair that is a flipped out bob cut, tufting both inwards and outwards. Additionally in her forms both pre and post corruption she always wears a black skull cap over her hair.

### Pre-Corruption Outfit

Her outfit before she was corrupted, was a black bodysuit with green accents, brown boots and gloves, a light green coat tail, and the Pink Diamond insignia on the chest of the jumpsuit. This outfit was also worn when she was briefly

### Corrupted

Nephrite's corrupted form is that of a giant centipede-like creature, known as a "Centipeetle". She is composed of roughly thirteen dark-green segments (excluding her head and rear) that each bear one pair of similarly colored legs. The final segment bears no legs, but what appears to be a pair of claw-like cerci. Each of these segments is covered on the top side with a solid crystal covering. Her head is composed primarily of a large pair of jaws/mandibles with her 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 Corrupted

After being released from the bubble and regenerating, she appears in an all-around reduced form. Her body is reduced to only two segments, and her mane, head, and cerci have been reduced in size as well probably indicating that she has to grow over time. This can be seen as Nephrite 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 from her fully corrupted form, her eye is no longer inside of her mouth. Her posterior exhibits an insect-like abdomen, which is tipped with claw-like cerci. She wears a torn-up light gray midriff that tapers off of her right shoulder, brown gloves and boots that reach her mid-calf, and what appears to be a black bodysuit with green accents.

### Post-Corruption Outfit

After bring uncorrupted in Rose's Fountain, Nephrite now wears a black sleeveless shirt with a forrest green belt with a bit of her tail coat, darkish green mini-shorts with black leggings underneath and wears dark green-brown boots. Additionally, she has six short, conical spines on her upper arms, dark green-brown arm-sleeve-like bloated forearms, signifying they are corruption scars.

## Personality

Like nearly all corrupted Gems, Nephrite was aggressive, disoriented, and practically feral. She did show to form a strong and trusting relationship with Steven when she was still corrupted, however. When she was initially uncorrupted, she appeared very nervous and shook up, only calming down with Steven’s help and calming touch. When she was able to speak she showed herself to be a strong and loyal character, addressing the Diamonds in a professional way.

She continues her strong and loyal personality as a teacher at Little Homeworld.

## Relationships

### Steven Universe

Initially, Nephrite wass 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 caused Steven to electrocute and poof her to protect the Crystal Gems.

However, when Steven accidentally released her from her bubble and decided to train her, she is enticed by the aroma of Chaaaaps which allowed her to trust and form a bond with Steven. Nephrite appeared to be protective and motherly towards Steven, as when Steven was harmed by any threat she saw, such as the Seagull who bit him in , she spat acid at them to save her friend. She was 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 greeted 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, Ocean Jasper, and Biggs Jasper when Jasper finally emerged from the healing waters. Sometime later, Nephrite and Steven were still talking with one another as most of the Corrupted Gems were now cured.

### Pigtails, Puffy, and Bun

As the eldest of her three younger sisters, Nephrite is a wonderful sister to all three of them. Even when corrupted, they were still happy together.

### Navy Kunzite

Nephrite met Navy Kunzite through his job as the technician on the ships for the Pink Diamond Authority.  He additionally taught her technician skills.  As of today, Nephrite holds a good friendship with him.

### Kokora Jade

Although they only spoke a few times until they became friends in Era 3, Nephrite has a happy friendship with Kokora Jade.  Additionally when everytime she sees Nephrite, she hugs her and says, "Nephy!".  Furthermore Kokora calls her “Neph” or “Nephy”.

## Gemstone

Nephrite's gemstone is located where her eye is supposed to be and serves as one. When corrupted this function remains. However, the location moves to her oropharynx. It is a green spherical cabochon with a black band-like structure around it which forms an eye-like ring at the front.

## Abilities

Nephrite possesses standard Gem abilities with bubbling, shapeshifting, fusion, regeneration, agelessness, and superhuman strength/durability.

### Skillset

* **Piloting**: Nephrite learned these and became a Space Captain. She resumed her piloting skills in 2022.
* **Technician & Mechanics:** Nephrite was taught this through Navy Kunzite. Additionally in 2022, she remembered her technician and mechanical skills to teach mechanics and auto shop classes.

## Trivia

* When Nephrite was reforming herself after she escaped from the bubble, she briefly took a humanoid-like form before taking her corrupted form
* It was revealed in "Ocean Gem" that Nephrite, along with most of the monsters previously fought, used to be humanoid Gems. The Corrupting Light, an attack launched by the Diamonds around 4,500 years ago that was intended to obliterate all gems on the planet, corrupted the Crystal Gems and stranded Homeworld Gems alike.
* 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 a resemblance to a Poké Ball from the Japanese franchise *Pokémon*.
* Her corrupted form's name ("Centipeetle") is a portmanteau of the words "centipede" and "beetle".