“ |
The Earth was Pink Diamond's colony. Everything was going smoothly at first. Kindergartens were incubating their first soldiers. Big, warm pieces of Quartz, like this mountain over here, were being created from its rich minerals with great success. Then — bam! One of Pink Diamond's very own Quartz soldiers started a rebellion and took it too far. |
” |
—"Eyeball", "Back to the Moon" |
Earth, also known as "Crystal System Colony Planet Earth", is an abandoned Gem colony planet and the primary location of Steven Universe and Steven Universe Future. Earth contains many native species, with the dominant species being humans. This Earth exists in an alternate universe, and while it is apparently similar, there are many differences.
Colonization Era[]
About 6,000 years ago, Pink Diamond was granted her first colony named Earth. Under her leadership, Homeworld Gems traveled to Earth in Era 1 Colony Ships and began to build a variety of structures all around the planet, such as spires, arenas, temples, and other buildings. Homeworld Gems also created Warp Pads, which allowed Gems to travel from place to place on Earth quickly. Warp Pads even allowed Gems to travel off-planet to other Gem colonies and the Gem Homeworld itself. A base was constructed on the Earth's moon, which was used by the Diamonds and other Gem elites to monitor and plan the Earth's colonization progress.
The primary purpose of establishing a Gem colony on Earth was for Homeworld Gems to use the planet's rich and unique organic minerals to manufacture new Gems. The first Kindergarten on Earth, referred to as the Prime Kindergarten was established to serve the purpose of creating new Gems. With great success, the Prime Kindergarten efficiently produced new Gems, many of them being of the Quartz variety. Pink Diamond also used the Earth's materials to create a whole new class of Quartz Gems: Rose Quartzes.
Sometime during colonization, Pink Diamond wished to personally meet her Quartz soldiers but knew that she would get in trouble if Yellow and Blue Diamond found out. Her Pearl suggested that she disguise herself as one of them and thus the persona of Rose Quartz was created. While touring the Earth with Pearl, she took note of how Gem colonization was becoming harmful to the Earth and its vast population of humans and other species. She begged the other Diamonds to let her halt colonization to spare the lives of the organics living on the planet, but they refused and created the human zoo in an attempt to satisfy her desire to preserve organic life.
After they refused to let her halt the colonization process, Pink Diamond rebelled under her Rose Quartz persona. While she only intended to scare all gems off the planet at first, seeing Garnet form for the first time caused her to fight for the rights of other gems as well as for the life already on Earth. This led to the formation of the Crystal Gems. They agreed with Rose Quartz's beliefs that the Earth was unique and worth protecting, and they fought in the Rebellion, a 1,000-year-long war against the Homeworld Gems. The war ended after Pink Diamond faked her own death in order to live out the rest of her life as Rose Quartz. However, the Homeworld Gems, including the Diamonds, were not aware of this and continued to seek vengeance on Rose Quartz for shattering Pink. After Pink Diamond's alleged demise, the remaining Homeworld Gems attempted to abandon the Earth. The Diamonds then sent out the Corrupting Light as a final resort, regardless of the evacuation status.
During the Rebellion, Homeworld Gems remained mostly dominant and were thus able to continue creating Gem structures, such as the Pyramid Temple. However, halfway through the war, Homeworld Gems struggled to keep up with Rose Quartz's army, since Rose Quartz could heal her wounded allies. They created the Beta Kindergarten to quickly generate more soldiers on the ground, which made the Beta Kindergarten a rushed job, and many of the Gems manufactured there came out defective.
After Pink Diamond's alleged shattering, Homeworld Gems no longer saw Earth as a viable colony, due to the powerful Crystal Gems defending the planet. As a last resort, according to Garnet's story in "Your Mother and Mine," Yellow, Blue, and White Diamond launched the Corrupting Light on the Earth, corrupting all the rebellious Gems as well as loyal Gems who failed to evacuate the planet in time (such as Nephrite and her crew). Rose Quartz, however, protected Garnet and Pearl under her shield. Then, unbeknownst to the Crystal Gems, Homeworld collected the shattered remains of fallen Crystal Gems, with the goal of fusing all of the Gem Shards in a power weapon dubbed 'The Cluster'. The Cluster was planted to incubate in the Earth's mantle and would eventually destroy the Earth from the inside out. Homeworld Gems created some prototypes for the Cluster and stored them in the Prime Kindergarten Control Room.
As previously stated, the Crystal Gems ultimately warded Homeworld Gems off the planet, with only 5% of the colony completed (according to Peridot). If the colony was finished, many more structures would have been built, including 89 Kindergartens, 67 spires, and several Galaxy Warp stations. Also, the Earth was to be hollowed out down to the core, with large sections of the crust removed to make the most of its resources. However, due to Pink Diamond's alleged shattering, this plan was abandoned and replaced with the plans to create the Cluster.
Differences[]
Geographical[]
Maps of the globe seen in the show consistently depict significant geographical differences from real-life Earth:
- The Floridian Peninsula of North America, named the "Floridian Archipelago", is a series of small islands cut off from the mainland. Otherwise, the physical outline of North America on maps has not changed as drastically as some of the other continents.
- The entire Central American area is fragmented in a large group of islands. Mexico is named "Aqua Mexico".
- The eastern side of South America — loosely corresponding to Brazil — is noticeably larger than in real life, jutting out east into the South Atlantic. South America as a whole is named "Pangea".
- The United States is missing 11 states, only having 39, as mentioned by Steven when he tells Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst that he's leaving Beach City.
- West Africa is joined with South America.
- A large island and two smaller islands can be seen off the South Atlantic coast of eastern South America, forming an island chain between it and Africa (ending around where Nigeria would be).
- Iceland does not exist.
- Greenland, named "Blueland", is slightly further east than in real life, making the Baffin Bay larger.
- Russia is missing a huge chunk of land area in the middle of Siberia — the size of Europe. Conspicuously, it is shaped like a neat circle, and a Gem facility (the Galaxy Warp according to Steven Universe: Art & Origins) is in the very center of it according to the map in the moon base.
- This Gem facility is at the same place as the Tunguska event (a presumptive meteor airburst in 1908). Steven Universe: Art & Origins indicates that the body of water is appropriately called the Tunguska Sea.
- The Indian Subcontinent, named the "Indian Islands", has been almost bisected horizontally by the ocean, in effect making the southern half a separate island (separated from the mainland only by a long but narrow inlet).
- Similar to India, Australia has been bisected vertically by the ocean, splitting it into two separate islands. The coastlines of the eastern island are what they are like in real life (except for the new western coast), but the ocean has flooded much of the western island. The larger island to the right retains the name "Australia", while the smaller island on its left is named "New Australia".
- The ocean has flooded much of southern China's coast.
- The Balearic Islands look remarkably different, and they are located near the northern coast of Africa, instead of the southern coast of Spain.
- The Great Lakes seem to be more interconnected.
- Japan's islands seem fused together, with the northernmost (Hokkaido) forming a land bridge to mainland Asia through Sakhalin, but it is not clear if they are intentional or just due to the outlines of land masses appearing blurry on a large world map in this animation style.
- The Philippines appear to be much further west, almost touching Borneo.
- The coastline of Eastern Asia has drastically changed.
- The Polynesian islands are in many different positions. Indonesia and Malaysia are slightly closer together, and there are multiple new islands.
- As seen from the Moon, the shadow and light from the sun on Earth meet at the equator, which may imply the planet has an entirely different rotation and axis than real life. In other episodes, the shadows are normal. This is possibly due to animation errors.
- The South Island of New Zealand is almost 50% longer, and Stewart Island is further south.
- The continent of Antarctica isn't shown in white but in green.
- The Kaliningrad Oblast appears to have been flooded by the Baltic Sea.
- Much of western Greece appears to be submerged underwater. The country of Albania also appears to have become a peninsula thanks to this, possibly drifting closer to Apulia, Italy with time.
Facets[]
Homeworld Gems appear to have divided up the Earth into different sections, labeling them as 'Facets'. Each Facet name is followed up with a number that differentiates the several Facets. One of the Colony Plans was to have a Galaxy Warp in each Facet.
- Facet 5 – The Prime Kindergarten is located in Facet 5.
- Facet 6 – Eyeball states that she was in Facet 6 halfway through the Rebellion when Jasper formed.
- Facet 9 – The Beta Kindergarten is located in Facet 9.
Social/Political/Historical[]
There are several historical differences between Earth in the show and Earth in real life.
- Delmarva is a state, in which Beach City is located. In real life, this is just a term for the large peninsula on the east side of Chesapeake Bay, because it is shared by the states of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.
- In real life, the U.S. state of Pennsylvania is nicknamed "the Keystone State". In the Steven Universe world, it is officially named "Keystone" (though otherwise, it has the same borders as real-life Pennsylvania).
- Kansas is a major hub of the movie industry, with Kansas being Steven Universe's analog for Hollywood.[1] It could also be that, because state names in the U.S. are different, Kansas may be the name of California and vice versa. Or could be a reference to Strataca, a salt mine museum in Hutchinson, Kansas, owned by the Hutchinson Salt Company. The company is internationally known for its highly protective, secured storage capabilities, including being home to the original camera negative of many famous movies.
- There are only 39 states in the U.S. different than 50 as ten states merged together.
- The real-life state of "New Jersey" is named simply "Jersey".
- The real-life state of "New York" is named "Empire State" (as seen on official road signs). As with Pennsylvania/Keystone, "the Empire State" is the official nickname of New York state in real life.
- The real-life state of "Florida" is named "Florida Island", due to the fact that in the show it is not a peninsula, but a cluster of islands off the coast of what would be Georgia.
- Major American cities include Charm City,[2][3] Wilmingmore,[4] and Empire City.
- Charm City is a real-life nickname for Baltimore, Maryland.
- Wilmingmore is a portmanteau of the names of Wilmington, Delaware and Baltimore, Maryland.
- Empire City is its direct geographical analog of New York City. "Mr. Greg" confirmed that it contains locations like Brooklyn and Bowery, areas in real-life New York City. Culturally/historically, however, "Empire City" is sort of "a fusion of New York City, Paris, and Las Vegas".[1]
- The currency appears different in this timeline: some coins have segmented snake symbols or pictures of a woman resembling Pearl. $1 bills have images of an upward-pointing diamond on the left and a segmented snake symbol on the right. $3 bills also exist in this world. The snake symbol appears to be a combination of the Gadsden flag's coiled snake and the segmented snake of Benjamin Franklin's Join, or Die political cartoon.
- Instead of the FBI, there is the Department of Justice: Federal Bureau. Their symbol has 12 stars instead of 13, and instead of a shield surrounded by laurels, there is a snake resembling the one from the Gadsden flag, accompanied by a waning crescent moon symbol.
- The Canadian flag is green and white, instead of being red and white.
- Canada's name is heavily implied to be the "Great North". As seen with Pennsylvania/Keystone and New York/Empire State, the name "Great White North" is a nickname for the country.
- Well-known holidays such as Christmas or Halloween do not exist as such in this world (though there are some generically similar holiday periods).[5]
- Judaism still exists in this world, although the previously mentioned lack of Christmas calls into question whether the other Abrahamic faiths (Christianity and Islam for instance) are practiced.[6]
- Korea exists and shares the same flag as South Korea, though it is unknown if it is split into North and South governments like in real life.
- Bulgaria is mentioned in "Sadie Killer", indicating it still exists and apparently produces a certain type of horror film enjoyed by an underground audience.
- While European Russia is intact, it is unknown if Russia exists as a solely European entity.
- Ghana is confirmed to exist.[7]
- An airliner seen flying over Beach City in "Steven Floats" with the airline "Dhawar Airlines". In real life, Dhawar is a settlement in India, which may imply that "Dhawar" replaces India on this earth.
- However, because the livery on the tail subtly references the remaining Diamonds, it's possible "Dhawar" may just be a pronunciation of "The War" and a reference to it as well
Environmental[]
Environmental influences either caused by the Gems or by geological differences.
- Pears are not very appreciated and are also very uncommon, growing only on the coasts of Eastern Europe and North Africa.[8]
- The mass production of durian juice would imply that the durian is much more common.
- A few unique fauna and flora exist, including the masked fish of Mask Island, giant strawberries, and gem lizards. The exact explanation for these species is never stated and it remains largely unsolved because aside from Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond, Gems as a whole rarely manipulated organic life.
Gallery[]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Empire City is a fusion of New York, Paris and Las Vegas; the SU world's "Hollywood" is Kansas City..." – ian jq on Twitter
- ↑ https://keepbeachcityweird.tumblr.com/post/101402614981/was-there-an-anime-convention-in-beach-city
- ↑ The Future
- ↑ File:Tumblr mvz62cBqss1smn4pqo1 500.jpg
- ↑ "The holidays don't exist, but we've tried to do episodes that evoke the feel of those times of year." – Burnett on Twitter
- ↑ "A SKY FULL OF G.U.Y.S.". Third picture down – Keep Beach City Weird on Tumblr
- ↑ http://ianjq.tumblr.com/post/84367436324/starheartshooter-there-no-doubt-in-my-mind-that
- ↑ "Pepe and Pear". Ronaldo's fanfiction of Crying Breakfast Friends! and Pepe's Burgers on Tumblr