The Gem 16

**The Gem 16** are a team of rebel Gems living on Earth, and the main focus of A Course in Advanced Rebellion.

The function of The Gem 16 is to rally defector gems and even humans into protecting the Earth from danger, usually from Homeworld or otherwise extraterrestrial forces, by providing resources and training necessary for becoming an elite fighting force.

In spite of this focus, the team is notoriously casual, spending its off-hours on recreational pursuits and platonic bonding. One could argue that this makes The Gem 16 stronger for the support between members and high morale, though other such "friendly" rebel organizations, such as the Dazzling Gems, have similar bonds between members, and without the need for frivolous activities to maintain morale.

## Members

Contrary to the name, The Gem 16 does not consist of 16 members, the exact number having varied over the centuries between 5 and 240. Trying to associate any of the team with numbers 1-16 fails to account for the lax membership standards of the team. At any rate, there are only 5 steadfast core members:

* **Leader:** Rhodolite
* **Second-in-Command:** Almandine
* **Technician:** Triphane
* **Security Officer/Skirmisher:** Blue Garnet
* **Artillery:** Bloodstone

Second to this core team are the recurrent members, not completely committed to The Gem 16 and its activities, but ready and willing in case of an emergency:

* **Special Forces:** The Tisch Family (headed as of 2015 by Harold Gervais Tisch)
* **Historian/Specialist:** Grossular
* **Skirmisher:** Spessartine
* **Archer:** Melanite

In a category all her own, Landscape Agate has provided aid to The Gem 16 and their operations on occasion, in return for their protection from Homeworld forces pursuing her; however, her vast powers and ambivalence towards anyone claiming to be Earth's defender peg her more as a last resort, when all other forces fail.

**TO BE EXPANDED**

## Homebase

Unlike other Gem rebel teams on Earth, The Gem 16 has no specific homebase. The most common bases of operation include houses owned by the Tisch family, former sites of other rebel Gem organizations, and even rented apartment buildings. Like the perpetually wandering Rhodolite, it is The Gem 16's destiny to stay mobile, never resting until all Gems can live freely on any world.

At times, The Gem 16 have extended their reach as far as the dwarf planets on the edge of the Solar System, but as of recent taken over an abandoned Gem relay station and maintained it as a communications and storage center.

## Philosophy

Like other Earth-based rebels, The Gem 16 care deeply for any expression of life, be it mineral, animal, vegetable, or otherwise. However, unlike the Sparkling Gems and their *laissez-faire* attitude towards organics, The Gem 16 go out of their way to include organisms into the picture, especially humans, to whom they feel indebted for their species-wide hospitality and cleverness.

Of Gems, they believe that it is up to the individual to reprogram themselves, and oppose brainwashing and especially recycling of gemstone materials. The Gem 16 are collectively the most adaptable gems for these beliefs, second perhaps only to the main troupe of the Dazzling Gems. Not bound to any specific role, a technician gem can provide air support, or a human can fight on the main lines armed with borrowed gem weaponry.