#gemstone hive

OKAY SO. in turtleshell's journal, on the very first page, we get this:

I have recently completed the collection of remnants from the old gemstone hive, intended for analysis by the chief scientists at Reaching Gardens. Fossil aims to utilize these remnants to assist in adapting the genetic makeup of our burgeoning population of bestial citizens for compatibility with our terminals, thereby minimizing potential health issues. [...] Push has arranged for me to meet with other head researchers to investigate a cultural phenomenon observed in the wild districts, termed "Lawless Kings" by the hive's previous residents. Allegedly, their queen was defeated in combat by one of these kings, prompting them to integrate into inner-society for their survival. I can empathize – a tough exterior goes a long way out there, but staying organized is key to surviving our harsh environment. Besides, the grief they must be experiencing likely leaves them feeling profoundly lost; after all, that queen was their mother.

(source)

while we don't have a lot of information on the "gemstone hive", we actually do have art of what these objects look like, courtesy of the environment art category on the objectified website:

(source)

notably, this art is of onyx marketplace in specific. while there's a lot we don't know about onyx marketplace or even paradise as a whole, one thing we DO know is that it has a notorious child abduction problem:

(sources one and two)

so, here's what we can gather about paradise:

there was a hive of gemstone objects with insect assigned animals in the wild district that has been destroyed after the death of the queen at the hands of a lawless or false king;

these objects have sought refuge specifically in onyx marketplace;

onyx marketplace has a notorious child abduction problem;

somehow, fossil suspects the remnants of the gemstone hive could aid in coding terminals.

the combination of insects, the word "hive", terminal mentions and child abduction certainly reminds me of the parasites in the rings; they're programmed to be printed by infected terminals, form giant hives made of flesh, and interact uniquely with lawless/false kings (we can assume the queen of the gemstone hive was likely a lawless or false king). interestingly, gems or gem shapes do crop up a few times in relationship to parasites, most notably in hivecores:

(source)

as well as in the hazard symbol for ID_SYMBIOTE:

(source)

and this is maybe a stretch, but if we presume the 'glass one' morrigan mentions in vampiric gambits pt. 1 is ID_SYMBIOTE (which we do have reason to believe), it's important to note that some "gemstones" are actually a type of glass, examples being obsidian or moldavite:

(sources one, two and three)

(one of the objects in the onyx marketplace artwork also appears to be made of glass beads, but it could also simply be gemstones cut into a round shape. impossible to fully be sure of this one)

this is an awful lot of parallels and repeating symbols for a coincidence, but what could we glean from this?

initially, my theory was that the queen of the gemstone hive was in fact ID_SYMBIOTE herself, given her seemingly large size if we assume she's the figure in this image:

(source)

but muffiln my friend muffiln pointed out this is likely impossible, given ID_SYMBIOTE seems to have "spawned" as late as episode 32:

(source)

this doesn't necessarily mean she was created/assimilated during this episode, but it's the first time she's mentioned directly in the comic (her first "appearance" so to speak is three episodes later in hide and seek), so it probably wasn't too much earlier than that.

then i thought maybe ID_SYMBIOTE was in fact the lawless or false king who attacked the hive to begin with, but for similar reasons i don't think this is the case either. instead, i have a theory that's a little bit wilder... i think ID_SYMBIOTE may be a gemstone hive object that was abducted from the market and possibly experimented on by whoever programmed the terminal virus originally. if the gemstone hive and its residents were indeed the basis for the terminal virus, it would explain why they're specifically insects, why hivecores are crystalline in structure, and why ID_SYMBIOTE seems to be the only parasite with a diamond pattern. this makes even more sense if you assume pushpin's suspicious "nephew" is behind it all, because he'd be close to fossil, the leading terminal technician in the region of paradise. not only would he be close geographically, but he'd be close to one of if not the leading terminal technician in the entire world of objectified! he could've stolen their research on the gemstone hive and modified it into a virus that mutates objects.

(another theory i actually considered was that push's nephew was the one who destroyed the gemstone hive initially, but considering we have a sense of scale and he appears to be the size of a normal object, i believe we can disregard this possibility as well. it'd also be nearly impossible for him to do this without witnesses, even if he weren't a false king)

(source one and two)

EDIT TO ADD A HUGE UPDATE: confirmation in the morrigan entry that whoever is abducting children seems to be specifically targeting the gemstone hive, which seems to make my theory more likely:

Here in Reaching Gardens and the neighboring marketplace, morale has been grim. Several more children have gone missing– many of them from the gemstone hive. A pattern seems to be emerging: whoever is behind this has a preference for bestial children, though they’ll take anyone. Ten hominid children have also been recorded missing, and not a single body has been recovered. Most are now presumed dead, and Push has thrown herself entirely into trying to uncover what’s going on.

(source)

also, possibly related in the case pushpin's nephew did develop the parasites, we get this bombshell:

[...] Pushpin was over the moon to discover three new species of beetle that aided in this process and relied on the decaying matter of both the plant and the husks to survive. Their presence suggested this suicidal ritual had been going on for generations, long enough for the beetles to adapt decaying synthetic proteins into their detritivore diet.

(source)

this is EXACTLY what we see with parasites! i can't imagine why this would be included if it wasn't meant to imply this exact thing. it's just too deliberate to be a coincidence. (i would also include the usage of fear, but we've seen that that appears to be a later mutation caused by the assimilation of false kings rather than a purposefully included trait of parasites inserted by their creator).