Nephrite

"I'm sorry for my failure to heed my Hessonite's evacuation orders. My team and I tried our best to make it out before the attack, but... but you're here, it must've worked. You finally avenged Pink Diamond! You destroyed Rose Quartz!"

Nephrite Facet-413 Cabochon-12, known in her corrupted state as the Centipeetle Mother, is a Corrupted Homeworld Gem that debuted in "Gem Glow". Before her corruption, she was the captain of a squadron that served Pink Diamond and a Hessonite commander. She was sent to Earth 5,750 years ago in a ship to colonize Earth, and later was trapped on Earth during the Rebellion. She currently resides in her old ship after being reunited with her crew mates in "Monster Reunion". In "Legs From Here to Homeworld", Nephrite was uncorrupted temporarily by Yellow Diamond, Blue Diamond, and Steven, with seemingly no memory of being corrupted.

Corrupted
Nephrite's corrupted form is that of a giant centipede-like creature, known as a "Centipeetle". She is composed of roughly thirteen (visible) dark-green segments (excluding the head and the rear) that each bear one pair of similarly colored legs. The final segment bears no legs, but what appears to be a pair of mandibles. Each of these segments is covered on the top side with a solid crystal covering. Her head is composed primarily of a large pair of jaws/mandibles with a gem in the back of the "mouth". This gem is circular in shape and colored light green with dark green contour lines surrounding the circumference of the gem, connecting to a circular shape. Her gem seems to act as her iris, being in the middle of what would rationally be a sclera. It also features a green crystal protuberance on the base of the head that forms a broken horn-like structure. She has a flowing, light-cream colored mane immediately behind her head.

Small
After being released from the bubble in "Monster Buddies" and regenerating, she appears in an all-around reduced form. Her body is reduced to only two segments, and her mane, head, and secondary mandibles have been reduced in size as well probably indicating that she has to grow over time. This can be seen as Nephrite grows throughout the episode. Her gem now comprises the entirety of her whole eyeball instead of just the iris, and the gem on her head is now gone.

Semi-Corrupted
While her mind is still damaged by the Diamonds, her form takes on a more humanoid appearance thanks to Steven's healing. Her body appears more humanoid, and her head is slightly different from her fully corrupted form, her eye is no longer inside of her mouth. She also has what appears to be a sort of pincer on her rear. She wears a torn-up light gray midriff that tapers off of her right shoulder, brown gloves and boots that reach her mid-calf, and what appears to be a black bodysuit with green accents similar in style to Pearl's in "Space Race".

Uncorrupted
With the combined efforts of Yellow Diamond, Blue Diamond, and Steven, Nephrite was uncorrupted temporarily. The bodysuit she wears is almost identical to the one she wears in her semi-corrupted form, now with a Pink Diamond insignia on the center of her chest. Much like her semi-corrupted form, her face is green; the back of her head is black. Her mouth has plump lips similar to Amethyst's. Additionally, her white hair is significantly reduced, now a flipped out bob cut – tufting both inwards and outwards. Her black-and-green bodysuit sports similar tufts on its shoulders. Her hands and feet are colored a deep brown, though it is still indiscernible whether these are gloves and boots or her skin color.

Pre-Corruption
Nephrite and her squadron were ordered to travel to Earth on an Ancient Gem Colony Ship with the plans of colonizing the planet. Once the Rebellion had begun, Nephrite and her crew fought in the war, but Nephrite eventually got split up and was on her own. Nephrite's commander, a Hessonite, ordered all the Gems to retreat either through the ships or Warp Pads, but she had been left behind, unable to escape. She was then corrupted, along with nearly every other Gem that remained on Earth, by a weapon activated by the Diamonds.

Corruption
In "Gem Glow", Nephrite attacks the Temple along with a bunch of little Centipeetles that she summons. Once the infestation appears to be over, Nephrite returns, and to prove himself worthy, and to protect the Crystal Gems, Steven throws his Cookie Cat refrigerator at Nephrite, electrocuting her, and Nephrite is poofed and bubbled.

In "Monster Buddies", Steven accidentally pops Nephrite's bubble, and she transforms into a smaller, less menacing version of herself. When the other Gems come to protect Steven from the apparent threat, Steven defends Nephrite, and the Gems let him try to train her. Steven eats Chaaaaps, which attracts Nephrite, and Nephrite displays enjoyment for Chaaaaps. When a seagull comes to try and take the chips away, Nephrite comes to Steven's rescue and attacks it. Later, Garnet explains that Nephrite could be used on a mission to retrieve the Shooting Star. Traveling through the ice caves, Nephrite easily uses her corrosive liquid to erode the cave walls and get to the Shooting Star. When the cave is about to collapse, Nephrite pushes Steven out of the way of a falling icicle and sacrifices herself. She is bubbled once more.

In "Monster Reunion", Steven's healing spit is back and he convinces the Gems to let him try and heal Nephrite with his power. He does so, but Nephrite transforms into a semi-corrupt form, gaining humanoid arms and legs but still not being able to speak properly. Steven convinces the Gems to let Nephrite stay, and later, Nephrite and Steven communicate through art. Nephrite tells Steven her backstory and then begins to revert to her corrupted form. Steven tries to heal her again but to no avail. Nephrite attempts to use the warp pad but cannot, so she reveals to Steven that she wants to go to her ship. Steven takes her there, and on the way, Nephrite reverts to her corrupted form completely. Inside the ship are other Nephrites that look exactly like herself, and it is revealed through Nephrite's writing (which is in the Gem language) that it was her crew members that were waiting for her to return home. Nephrite is currently living inside of the ship with her crew.

In "Legs From Here to Homeworld", Steven shows Yellow and Blue Diamond Nephrite as an result of what their attack did. After convincing them to help her, Steven, Yellow, and Blue combine their powers and transforms Nephrite back to her normal state. Upon seeing Yellow and Blue, Nephrite apologizes for not being able to retreat in time of the attack and believes that they finally returned to Earth and avenged Pink Diamond by destroying Rose Quartz. Upon hearing this, Yellow and Blue let go of her, causing Nephrite to revert back into her monstrous Centipeetle form. Yellow tells Steven that in order to permanently heal Nephrite and the other Corrupted Gems, they need help from White Diamond.

Abilities
Nephrite possesses standard Gem abilities and traits.

Skillset

 * Piloting: It was revealed in "Monster Reunion" that she was a space captain. She shares the ability to pilot Homeworld ships with Peridot, Pearl, and Doc.

Corrupted Form Abilities


While corrupted, Nephrite is capable of eating with her mouth despite her eye blocking her throat, thus making it so that there are no visible means of having the ingested food reach any stomach.


 * Hybrid Arthropod Physiology: Due to having the appearance of two arthropods (while corrupted), specifically a centipede and a beetle, Nephrite has the innate abilities of both organisms.
 * Chilopodan Physiology: Like a centipede, Nephrite uses her jaws to attack enemies or prey. Both employ deadly substances in their attacks. The centipede uses venom while Nephrite uses a corrosive liquid.
 * Coleopteran Physiology: Like a beetle, Nephrite's defenses are increased due to the hard gem-like covering each segment possesses.
 * Climbing Skills: She can climb vertical walls and sheer cliff faces.
 * Creature Creation: Nephrite can produce and command Centipeetles that aid her in battle.
 * Corrosive Acid Generation: She can produce an extremely corrosive substance that can easily erode various materials, ranging from wood to stone to ice. She can use this corrosive substance as a projectile to attack from afar or assault enemies with a constant torrent of the substance to easily break down their defenses.
 * Rotative Spitting: In "Monster Buddies", the small corrupted Nephrite is shown to be able to rotate her head in a complete circle. She utilized this ability when she spun her head rapidly and sprayed her corrosive substance, showering the immediate area in a manner extremely similar to that of a sprinkler.

Steven Universe
"You love chips, and I love chips! We love chips from Chaaaaps!" Initially, Nephrite is presented as an antagonist to Steven, with she and her underlings attacking the Crystal Temple and the Crystal Gems. When she saw the Crystal Gems, she was more terrified because she was being "attacked" by them. Nephrite was a Corrupted Gem, and as such, she had animalistic behavior, and so the Crystal Gems were not close to terms with her. Such behavior causes Steven to electrocute and poof her to protect the Crystal Gems.

However, when Steven accidentally releases her from her bubble and decides to train her, she is enticed by the aroma of Chaaaaps which allows her to trust and form a bond with Steven.

Nephrite is seen to be protective and motherly towards Steven, as when Steven Universe is harmed by any threat Nephrite sees, such as the Seagulls biting him, she spits acid at them to save her "friend" and even willingly sacrifice herself for him by getting crushed by anything, no matter the risk.

After being healed by Steven and entering her semi-corrupted form, Nephrite, at first, does not appear to remember him. However, after Steven opens a bag of Chaaaaps, her memories begin to return, and she starts remembering him, and her memories of before she was corrupted. Steven can help her reunite with her crew, showing the bond between them. Nephrite appears to be very friendly towards Steven, retaining this feeling even after reverting to her fully corrupted form.

Crystal Gems
Nephrite's relationship with the Gems was antagonistic at first. They did not have a clear interaction because of Nephrite's hostility. At some point, she gained fear of Garnet's gauntlets even when she summoned them for other purposes. After being healed by Steven, Nephrite made drawings regarding the events of the war in Gem language that only the Crystal Gems decoded, one of them being the whereabouts of her crew.

Nephrite's current relationship with the Gems is unknown, but she is likely on good terms with them, just as she is with Steven.

Nephrite's Crew
Nephrite's former crew have also turned into Centipeetles. They were with Nephrite when they came to Earth. As her subordinates, they presumably respected her authority and followed her orders. Nephrite and her crew appear happy to be reunited in "Monster Reunion", all currently living at the Ancient Gem Colony Ship.

The Great Diamond Authority
Before her corruption, Nephrite served the Diamonds, and Pink Diamond in particular.

In "Monster Reunion", the half-corrupted Nephrite demonstrates knowledge that she was corrupted by the Diamonds' attack, and becomes traumatized when recalling the event.

In "Legs from Here to Homeworld", Nephrite appears to recognize Blue and Yellow Diamond even while corrupted, as her jaw drops shortly after noticing them. Upon being uncorrupted, Nephrite expresses typical Homeworld Gem loyalty to them and joyfully assumes that they destroyed Rose Quartz.

Trivia

 * Her confirmed instrument that plays in her themes is the Synth Gamelan.
 * When Nephrite was reforming herself after she escaped from the bubble, she briefly took a humanoid-like form before taking her latest form.Centatransform.gif
 * It was revealed in "Ocean Gem" that Nephrite, along with most of the monsters previously fought, used to be humanoid Gems. Unfortunately, the Gems became corrupted, turning them into the monsters they are now.
 * Nephrite is the first Corrupted Gem to be shown and the first that Steven defeats. She is also the first to be released from her bubble, be (temporarily) healed, and to display some level of higher intelligence.
 * Her gemstone bears a resemblance to a Poké Ball from the video game franchise Pokémon.
 * Her corrupted form's name ("Centipeetle") is a portmanteau of the words "centipede" and "beetle".
 * When semi-corrupted, her gemstone's design slightly differs than when she is corrupted.
 * Nephrite serves as the antagonist of the iOS game, Crystal Gem Smash.
 * Nephrite is the first Corrupted Gem to reform onscreen.
 * As shown in "Monster Reunion", Nephrite is fluent in the Gem language.
 * Nephrite, although unable to communicate properly through speech while corrupted, was able to state where her crew was in the Gem language's writing system legibly.
 * Nephrite's semi-corrupted form bears resemblance to the villain "Zorak" from the Space Ghost metaseries.
 * Nephrite's fully-corrupted form bears resemblance to a Magtail, a type of monster from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, including a centipede-like body shape with a single eye in the center of its mouth. However, unlike Nephrite, the Magtail's jaws open horizontally.
 * Nephrite (as the Centipeetle Mother) shares the same voice with a mouth part available in Spore that appears with three other members during the Tribal stage.
 * Although stated by the Crewniverse that a Gem cannot change the location of their gemstone, Nephrite's gem has moved from her oropharynx, in her corrupted form, to her face, in her semi-corrupted form, although it functions as an eye in both forms. This means that through corruption a Gem may be able to change their gem's location.
 * However, this may be due to her physiology in her corrupted from, as she does not have a defined face in said form.
 * Nephrite is the first unfused Gem that has an appearance that wouldn't allow it to pass for human (other than the Diamonds, who resemble most Gems but are extremely tall). While the same could be said of a Sapphire, a Sapphire's singular eye is almost always covered by their hair.
 * Nephrites are the only known gem type to lack variation in gem placement, since their gemstone functions as their eye.

Gemology

 * Nephrite is a green gemstone, one of two gems (with jadeite) that are classified as "jade".
 * The name 'nephrite' was derived from the Greek word for 'kidney', which refers to its supposed ability to cure kidney disease.
 * Nephrites can be located and mined in caves in China.

Gemstone
Madre Ciempiés Centipeetle Mother Rengeteglábú anya Scaramillo Madre Stonogożuk Centípoda pt-br:Centípoda Centipeda Мать стоножек Çiyan Annesi