Triphane (ACiAR)/Biography

## Biography

Long before the world's decline, but nevermore the utopia of mineral resources, Bios-Krystallos dabbled in space travel and world conquests. Though a few Gems could fly between planets, and early commuter ships proved viable, time was still a major concern, especially weighing in space-time distortion and the threat of space debris. A nearly exhausted vein of Spodumene proved to hold the answer, as a quirky yellow-and-green Gem emerged with a resonant thunder. This mighty yet meek creature, who insisted not to be called "Spodumene" at any cost, ate the dirt from which he emerged, yet still shone with a great potential, bringing even the Olivine Order to attention. The Olivines accepted the unusual mineral, calling him Triphane for his three-sided gem cut, and trained him in Gem sciences. The Olivines were merely commissioned for the design of a better spacecraft, but Triphane excelled in propulsion and space-time navigating to the point of myopic focus, to the Diamonds' joy and the Olivines' annoyance; for one, even though they were specifically programmed with the task of building technology, unlike the faulty programmed Triphane, the Diamonds ordered the Olivines to follow *him*, as his unusual perspective on the problem of Gem travel piqued Diamond interests. To add more discomfort, Triphane was a scatterbrained coward who would abandon his Olivine minions in the case of a rebellion just to save his brain. After 100 years of work to building a superior space fleet, the original Olivine order dwindled to only a shrunken Forsterite, a spindly Kirschsteinite, and a gigantic Peridot. Though the few ships built were successful, the Olivines were deemed a failure, to be shattered for their carelessness. Though the Olivines fled to fates unknown, Triphane survived to take credit for their work, though he only contributed ideas and designs for the engines and propulsion arrays.

As Triphane grew in popularity for his mastery of space travel, his knowledge grew as well, as if in inhaling the dust of his fallen Olivine assistants, he ingested their wisdom and souls, at the expense of his mental and physical health. He suffered from "crunchrock", the strain on his brain altering his gemstone subtly and incrementally. Though this inadvertently expanded his mental capacity, it also increased his tendency towards reckless self-preservation, not to mention his geophagy. It was during stuffing iron ore pebbles down his gullet that he dreamed of transmitting matter as if it were a light beam. Using glass platforms with microscopic cybernetic inclusions, Triphane tried to transmit himself from Gallium Arcadium to Aluminum Coils; though it didn't take him to his destination, it reconfigured his body for flight through space. Not quite what he wanted, especially as he interrupted the airspace of Lapises and Pumices. It took half a millennium to refine the Warp Pads to working order, to the Diamonds' surprise and accolade.

Spaceships were obsolete immediately; only "tool ships", used to manipulate galactic structures, remained in use in parts of the cosmos. Warp Platforms were easy to install anywhere across the universe, and though they were fragile, they were easily repaired as well. In spite of, or likely because of, his monumental success, Triphane's mutations grew worse; though he stopped eating dirt after taking to the air, the caterpillar had not yet become the butterfly, and instead spent some time as a slimy newt. His cowardice giving way to misanthropy and paranoia, Triphane hid from the public eye to preserve his precious resources and priceless ideas. He kept private for a while, but the creation of a gigantic Olivine cluster from a strange sneeze brought him again to the public eye, this time as a menace. He had no choice but to flee, flying straight up into space while watching the hideous Olivine conglomerate beast struggle to survive in a world desperate for order.

Triphane's flight took him to Mercury during a bitter winter, where he spent some time thinking about all that had happened to him during his life. Somehow, losing the dust of Olivine in his system removed much of his knowledge, but not his skills; he couldn't remember the science behind a Warp Pad, but he could easily build a working pad with materials on hand. He also thought about why what he did brought him such accolade, though he struggled to make sense of the impact of what he thought was a logically progressive invention. On took of that, he took again to dirt-eating, though this stopped as soon as the sun of Mercury made it's surface unpalatable. He flew to a cooler, more stable planet, not knowing that it once held a horrific war between life preservationists and destructive colonists, now deemed unsuitable for Gem life, no exceptions.

Triphane loved the planet, especially as he found the verdant plants far tastier than mere dirt, but his eating spree came to an end when discovered by a Blue Garnet and his accomplice Almandine. The Garnets believed this Gem to be a misguided terraformer, and tried to fight him off the greenery. Triphane scrambled to get away, flinging shapes and beams like an early computer graphics demonstration to defend himself. The Garnets realized this Gem had no antagonistic intentions, and if he did, he was no fighter. Instead, the Garnets fused and overpowered him, taking him to see their leader, Rhodolite, whose mental defects made Triphane seem sane.

Seeing a kindred spirit in the ditzy genius Triphane, Rhodolite welcomed him into her ragtag bunch of misfits, on the condition that he use his powers purely for good. Since then, Triphane has grown to understand the impact of his actions as hazardous to the entire universe; rather than struggle to make amends, however, Triphane still believed technology could solve anything, often building gadgets and summoning shapes to help the Gem 16 in their efforts to protect themselves and their world. Though he's easy to fall into the hands of rival Earth Defense teams, he only wishes to protect all of Earth's life, even if he soon finds himself in the middle of a struggle between teams he innocently believes should be allies.

## Behind the scenes

Triphane was meant to be the ACiAR counterpart to canon Peridot, intending to remove some of the needless quirks from the character. Instead, Triphane became a justifiably quirky character, perhaps worse than Peridot in mental health. The Gem 16 love him nevertheless.

## Source

* SU Gem OC Reference - Triphane on deviantART