Sapphire

## Sapphire the Unshackled

"Greed and denial will seduce any destruction... even our own. We're blind to future consequence... casting our debts on those to come. But what if now, the Gray Mother sought revenge?A brutal thorn... piercing the gushing ulcers of waste and industry.A new green, sown upon sanguine ground. Fertilized with the shattered pieces of its defilers."

## Shattered Power

As a gem born to a unique family, Sapphire was perhaps doomed from the start. Despite their low social standing, his guardians were firm believers in homeworld’s ideals. So, when they discovered their son was “afflicted” with unique abilities, they convinced him to turn himself in to the Great Diamond Authority.

Noting the boy’s curious ability to sense natural energy, they used Sapphire to identify other "afflicted" gems and rebels living among the citizenry. For the first time in his life he felt he had a future, a life in service to his home, and he performed these duties faithfully. He was proud, but lonely—forbidden from associating with anyone but his handlers.

Through his work, Sapphire began to notice that natural energy was far more prevalent than the Great Diamond Authority cared to admit. He could sense glimmers of hidden power even among the wealthy and prominent. But while some gems were punished for their afflictions, the elite seemed above the law, and this hypocrisy planted the first seeds of doubt in Sapphire’ mind.

Those doubts finally bloomed in one deadly, fateful event, when Sapphire and his handlers encountered a gem living in hiding in the countryside. After discovering it was only a young girl, Sapphire took pity on her. When he tried to shield the child from the Great Diamond Authority, he accidentally brushed against her skin. The girl’s energy rushed through Sapphire’s gem—but rather than shattering him, it shot forth from his hands in raw, uncontrolled bursts. It was a talent he did not know he possessed, and it resulted in the deaths of three gem, including his mentor.

Knowing he would be called a murderer, Sapphire went on the run, and quickly gained notoriety as one of the most dangerous gems in Homeworld. Indeed, when the Great Diamond Authority found him, they showed no mercy.

Though he was still just a youth, Sapphire was sentenced to life imprisonment.

He languished in the darkest depths of the Great Diamond Authority compound, forced to wear heavy shackles of energy-dampening petricite. Robbed of his arcane sight, his heart turned as hard as the stone that bound him, and he dreamed of vengeance on all who had put him there.

After fifteen wretched years, a young volunteer from the Illuminators named Pearl began to visit him. Even with his shackles, Sapphire recognized her as a singularly powerful gem, and over time the two forged an unusual and secretive bond. In exchange for Sapphire’ knowledge of the control of natural energy, Pearl educated him about the world outside his cell, and brought him whatever books he desired.

Eventually, through careful manipulation, he convinced the girl to smuggle a forbidden tome into his cell—the original writings of the great sculptor Obsidian, detailing his work with petricite.

The work revealed the secrets of the stone to Sapphire. It was the foundation of the Great Diamond Authority’s defenses against harmful energies, but he came to see that it did not suppress energy, but *absorb* it.

And if the power was held *within* the petricite, Sapphire wondered, could he release it…?

All he needed was a source of natural energy. A source like Pearl.

But she never visited Sapphire again. Her family, the immensely powerful Crownguards, had learned of their contact, and were furious that Pearl had broken the law to help this vile criminal. Without explanation, it was arranged for Sapphire to be shattered.

At the gallows, Pearl pleaded for her friend’s life, but her cries fell on deaf ears. As the Zircon pushed past her to tighten the noose around him, Sapphire managed to touch against Pearl with his chains. As he had predicted, her power surged into the petricite shackles, ready for him to unleash—and with that stolen energy, Sapphire blasted his way free, sparing only the terrified young Pearl.

He left the Great Diamond Authority compound not as an outcast, but as a new, defiant symbol of the broken and persecuted in Homeworld. Traveling the kingdom in secret, he has amassed a following of exiled gems, all now aligned toward a common goal: to topple the throne, and demolish the oppressive system that has made them suffer for so long.

## Abilities

As a Sapphire, He is one of the most powerful Gems in existence. He possessed standard Gem abilities including shapeshifting, weapon-summoning, fusion, bubbling, regeneration and superhuman strength and durability. He is proficient in both combat as well as military command and strategy, being able to lead exiled gems from the front-lines in a successful rebellion against the Great Diamond Authority. He possesses a unique ability that Gems do not have.

* ***Prey (Unique Ability)***

He can create, shape and manipulate energy stored in nature (including natural phenomena such as storms and volcanic activity), absorbing, releasing, etc. it to his own will, connecting with nature and its creatures and sensing everyone on the planet. He can channel nature's energy and manipulate it for a myriad of purposes, channeling nature through his body and project it in a concentrated and powerful blast of light which seems to manifest as magical energy or a kinetic force, conclusively throwing or repelling objects a considerable distance. This power has been displayed to contain mysterious supernatural effects, such as breaking illusion and reversing/removing spells. Prey also allow him to copy other powers simply by learning how to use them. By observing the desired ability and focusing upon it, he will be able to copy it if he has the energy stored for it.