"White Diamond hasn't been on Homeworld for millennia. Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond have disappeared without a trace. Naturally, full command of the Empire falls to the recently reclaimed Pink Diamond.
Or rather, it falls to Steven."
— From the fanfic summary
Diamond Authority is a Steven Universe fanfiction written by pharmakon
. It can be found here.
Tropes in this work include:
- Alien Invasion: Very rare at best according to Morganite, who states that there are only a handful of sapient races they know of besides humans and gems, and that none of their planets are currently being colonized.
- And as it turns out in Chapter 9, she was either lying or mistaken, as Yellow Diamond has recently authorized an Alien Invasion of a world with sapient life. Steven is Not Happy when he finds out.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When he first meets her, Steven learns that Morganite has been accused of “’high treason, aiding and abetting a fusion, administrative negligence, setting a bad example to gems of lower classes, fomenting rebellion, defying a direct order by a superior gem, sending a sarcastic message to a superior gem, and calling a superior gem an 'anti-innovation, close-minded pebble’.”
- Bad Boss: As it would seem so far, this is the reputation of Agates.Steven: Um, are all Agates like that?Amethyst 8XJ: Nope! Some of them are worse.
- Benevolent Boss: Steven, being Steven, is very kind and benevolent as the reigning Diamond, treating those under him with respect and helping loyal gems like Morganite, a Lapis Lazuli, and a Desert Glass from being shattered.
- Pink Morganite likewise is a benevolent boss, allowing a Lapis Lazuli and a Desert Glass to fuse (though claiming purely for productivity reasons) and when found out tries to take the blame and punishment. Even after being removed from her post and being made one of Steven's personal assistants in running Homeworld, Morganite still takes the time to secretly call her former command to check up on them, with the Gem who answered her call stating how they all miss her.
- Blackmail: Chocolate Pearl's former Agate is doing this to Chocolate in order to gain info on Steven/Pink Diamond. Chocolate isn't happy about this.
- Compelling Voice: A theory that Aquamarine has for how Topaz was so quick to nearly commit treason after knowing Steven for such a short time is because all gems are created with the purpose of following the Diamonds, thus Topaz was instinctually following the orders of a Diamond without even knowing it.
- Decadent Court: With the exception of the Pink Court, which Steven leads (and has less than a hundred members as of Chapter 8, even counting the Famethyst, Betas, and the Crystal Gems), the aristocrats of the Courts as a whole appear to be this.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Apparently the fate of what happened to a colony near the one the Diamonds went to, and happened once in the backstory when the gems tried to invade a world with sapient life.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Many of the higher-class gems who are more villainous just can't understand Steven.
- Green Thumb: Steven can not only create sentient vegetables like Pumpkin and the Watermelon Stevens, but can also control plants he grows as seen when he has some morning glories he'd grown form a hand that followed his own movements.
- Have You Told Anyone Else?: Subverted, when Steven tells the Agate who tells him the other Diamonds disappeared that she doesn’t have to shatter anyone, just that she shouldn’t tell anyone else.
- Honor Before Reason: A villainous version, as it turns out; even if they increase efficiency or help production vastly, fusions are automatically imprisoned or killed if they’re caught, typically.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: Steven is not familiar with how Homeworld works as a whole (he doesn't even know how to read or speak Gem), meaning that his assistants Morganite and Chocolate Pearl tend to do a lot of things for him.
- It Is Dehumanising: At least a few gems refer to Pearls as “it” instead of “she”. And Paxtulent River Agate also refers to “organics” this way.
- Kangaroo Court: Apparently, this is what usually happens in many Gem courts if someone gets thrown in front of the Diamonds, though Steven thankfully averts it with Morganite and Sea Glass as well as the Zircons from "The Trial".
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: Connie, Garnet, Pearl, and Bismuth all stay behind on Earth, as well as the Off-colors. Steven and Amethyst, meanwhile, head to Homeworld.
- Never My Fault: Inverted in Morganite’s court case - the prosecution tries to blame Morganite for the colony she was working on being far behind schedule and horribly disorganized (even though it’s also stated that she just took it over and the Hessonite previously assigned to it had been subject to You Have Failed Me by higher-up gems for the poor job).
- Nice Job Breaking It, Herod: Star Sapphire says that if River Agate isn't stopped, her actions will indirectly start a chain of events that will destroy the entire Gem Empire.
- Nigh-Invulnerable: Lars. He survives being dropped from the stratosphere by Turquoise, and is able to use his portals for 30 minutes to find and crash into her as a blazing comet. Then punches her once they both hit the ground.
- Prophetic Dream: Steven has a vision in Chapter 3 of what appears to be his mother emerging and being greeted by the other Diamonds.
- Reluctant Ruler: Steven really wasn’t too interested in taking command of Homeworld by himself at all, let alone without any of the other Diamonds to help, since any big changes he makes will likely only last till they return.
- Shrouded in Myth: The Crystal Gems are apparently this on Homeworld - comparing some of the stories about them to what actually happened and the ones we know, it’s very clear there’s a lot of propaganda and flat lies obscuring the truth.
- Small Name, Big Ego: River Agate is convinced her Diamond will reward her for outing a "traitor" (Steven). It's more likely that Yellow Diamond or Blue Diamond would kill her for hurting Steven.
- Taking You with Me: The race mentioned above in Earth-Shattering Kaboom, upon realizing they would lose in the long term, destroyed their world and all upon it, gems included, to ensure that the Authority would reap no benefits from their death.
- Tempting Fate: Right before the Diamonds all vanish, Steven’s decision is: After all, Steven reasoned, there was no reason he'd have to go over there in person, since he'd promised to stay on Homeworld for the Diamonds' absence. It would only be a few days.
- Unishment: Pink Morganite, for the “crimes” she commits, is basically promoted by Steven to be his personal assistant in managing Homeworld.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Most of the Homeworld gems tend to be Entertainingly Wrong about Steven. For instance, Paxtulent River Agate, Chocolate’s former owner, believes that Steven is an organic who put a piece of Pink Diamond inside himself. She’s correct that Steven isn’t exactly Pink Diamond and has her gem, but besides that…
- You Are in Command Now: After Blue, Yellow, and White Diamond all vanish during a trip, Steven is left as the only Diamond on Homeworld, which makes him the highest-ranking gem left.
