Melanite

Melanite is an unaligned Gem currently living in The Fortress on Mars.

## Appearance

Melanite is a large Gem compared to other single Gems, being a head taller than the fusion Garnet. Her eyes are pale gray. She has long black hair that covers her left eye, and full lips.

Melanite wears a black dress with a gray bodice and a flowerlike design for the skirt, with black sleeves and white trim along the neck and skirt. She also wears white gloves.

Melanite's Gemstone is large when compared to her body, and is located on her chest. It is faceted in a teardrop shape.

## Personality

Melanite is withdrawn and inert, often spending days in one spot. She tends to speak to others without looking at or facing them, and the Gems who know her swear she hasn't smiled at all since Hessonite's death. Despite being clearly unhappy much of the time, she will actively resist attempts to cheer her up, even becoming angry if someone persistently tries.

Despite seeming calm, Melanite is known to have a violent temper. When angered, she will start shouting and swinging her weapon, though not necessarily at anyone specifically. When she calms down, she tends to tearfully and profusely apologize before running away.

## History

Melanite was assigned to Pink Diamond and sent to Earth in its early days of colonization as a peacekeeper. She was given a small squadron of twenty Obsidian enforcers, which was intended to grow with the creation of a specialized Kindergarten on Earth. However, the Kindergarten failed miserably with only one highly defective Gem emerging at all. As if to add to Melanite's troubles, the Rebellion started and Gems started to defect. After just a couple years, all twenty of Melanite's Obsidians had either defected and joined the Crystal Gems, or been shattered (mostly in accidents) trying to stop Gems from defecting. Melanite requested reinforcements from other Melanites, but they denied her on the grounds that Obsidians had a mysteriously high defection rate, even when compared to Gems of other types. Instead, she was assigned to work with Hessonite and her Quartz battalions. Together, they witnessed even more Gems defecting to the rebels' side, this time from Hessonite's own ranks, and the two eventually found common ground over these betrayals and developed a friendly bond.

After Pink Diamond's "shattering," Melanite was called by Hessonite to one of her drop ships to consider their options. Suddenly, the vessel was hijacked and flown away from Earth before crash-landing on Mars. The ship was totaled, but most of the Gems involved were able to walk away from the wreckage unharmed. She worked with Hessonite to gather the panicking soldiers and lead them to Yellow Diamond's outpost in an attempt to call Homeworld for assistance. Their calls went ignored by their grieving superiors, and all their contact with Homeworld got cut off when the entire star system was abandoned.

Having lost her entire squadron, her purpose, and even the colony she was intended to protect, Melanite was a wreck at this point, with Hessonite becoming her only solace. Over the millennia they remained stranded on Mars and slowly came to accept their new home, and their friendship evolved into love. While this distracted her from her losses, it made Hessonite's sudden death much harder for her to bear.

## Abilities

Melanite, as an Era 1 Gem, presumably has standard Gem abilities such as shapeshifting, superhuman strength, and agelessness.

### Fusions

* When fused with Hessonite, they formed Mali Garnet.

### Skillset

* **Scythe Proficiency:** Melanite's Gem weapon is a scythe, which she can use almost effortlessly.

### Unique Abilities

* **Intuitive Polygraphy:** Melanite can determine whether or not a Gem is telling the truth just by observing their face. This is an ability typical of her Gem type.

### Tools

* **Scythe Rejuvenator:** A tool issued to her by Homeworld in the early days of the Rebellion. She stores it in her Gemstone when not in use, and can use it to "reset" Gems by slicing into their physical form. Due to its nature, its blade can cut through summonable weapons with ease. Since it is shaped similar to her own weapon, she can use it without needing to change her fighting style. Regardless, she seldom used it during the Rebellion, and has not used it at all on Mars, due to a personal distaste for the memory-wiping nature of the weapon.

## Relationships

### Basalt

Basalt was made for Melanite, who quickly determined that the "Obsidian" did not have telepathy and was therefore useless as an Obsidian. She decided it would be best for Basalt to be shattered before Rose Quartz intervened. Melanite happily allowed Basalt to be removed from her ownership and transferred, trusting her Diamond's judgement over her own.

### Hessonite

Melanite and Hessonite had fallen in love some time after taking refuge on Mars. She still has not recovered from Hessonite's shattering, and seems to constantly be thinking about her.

### The Progressives

Melanite was an active member of the Progressives prior to Hessonite's shattering. However, when the group ruled Hessonite's death to be an accident and not a murder, Melanite broke off from them completely.

### Tiger's Eye

Melanite bears a grudge towards Tiger's Eye for her inaction towards Hessonite's death, and partially blames her for the tragedy due to her apparent failure to protect her superior.

## Trivia

* Melanite, like some other Mars AU characters, was first made as a Gem version of an original character.
	+ Melanite was chosen as her Gem type due to its use in Victorian mourning jewelry; while it was initially suggested as a joke, the idea stuck.
* Melanite is one of several Mars AU Gems associated with a Major Arcana tarot card; specifically, "The Hermit."
	+ This is due to her self-induced isolation and quiet nature after Hessonite's death.
* Melanite has some hypothetical fusions.
	+ If she somehow fused with Tiger's Eye, they would form a Cat's Eye Diopside.

## Gemology

Gemstone Information

* Melanite, sometimes referred to as "titanian andradite," is a glossy black variety of garnet. It is one of the three varieties of rare andradite garnet, being closely related to the very rare and valuable green demantoid garnet.
* Garnet, in general, is the traditional birthstone for January and a zodiacal stone for Aquarius.
* Melanite has a chemical formula of Ca3Fe2(SiO4)3. However, it also contains titanium, which gives melanite its signature color and luster.
* During the Victorian era, melanite's black color made it a popular gemstone for mourning jewelry.
* Melanite, as a garnet, is associated with positive feelings, self-confidence, stability, and creativity.

## Gallery

Melanite's original concept sheetMelanite's original pallet