#marti rambles

I’m gonna go on a tangent about my Continued War SU AU, with worldbuilding and all that. I’ve been thinking about this AU for a month now, and I haven’t given too much information about it, so:

This entire story centers around the rebellion, and about the question of what if Homeworld never stopped fighting back. That’s the jist of it, but the depths of what I have planned isn’t going to be just about the themes of “War is bad.”

Everyone knows that war is bad.

Rather, this AU is about the fact that war is damaging, and it affects everyone.

I keep mentioning little facts here and there about the world that Steven grows up in in this AU. I mentioned in the first post that Steven lives on farmland, and that he rides in horse drawn carriages on dirt roads. I made a joke in an ask about Steven obtaining a gun about how it was possible since guns were made in the 1300′s (100% joking - he isn’t gonna get an actual gun at any point). That wasn’t me saying that this world takes place in the past.

In fact, far from it! This story takes place in the present, around the same time that Season 1 would begin!

This story doesn’t take place in the past, it’s just that this world has been so technologically hindered that their science is...what we would consider to be 1800′s era tech. Trains are relatively new, and reserved for people with money. The first cars aren’t even a thing in most people’s minds. Roads are still dirt paved, and farming is mostly done by horses or by the farmer’s hand.

This is a world where continued gem interference, though not completely direct, Messed Shit Up on an international level. Humans mostly don’t even know about the war, but they know what Gems are. They know that some come from space, and that those who do can and will destroy their livelihoods, or worse.

Steven wouldn’t live near the ocean in this AU, due to that fact alone. Living alongside the ocean is a trap if you just so happen to catch the eyes of the wrong kind of Gems. Boats aren’t fast enough, and can’t carry a lot of people. You have one escape route - land - and that could easily be blocked if you aren’t fast enough. Living beside the ocean could be extremely dangerous...and that’s why Steven Universe lives in the middle of nowhere, inland.

Beach City does not exist. It would never even get the chance to. Even the world most likely doesn’t look at all like what canon’s map look likes...

This is a story I really want to delve into deeply. Not only does it change the canon story and world completely, but Rose and her connections end up different as well. Steven has to go on a waaay longer journey before he ever reaches the end. Characters have to go through more intense development when faced with the devastations of fighting innumerable enemies and supposed allies...

Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, Greg, BISMUTH, Lapis, Peridot, etc...

ARRRGH

WAIT. OH GODD. OH NO. OH FUCK.

I FORGOT TO COLOR SOME OF THE LINES ON PEARL.

That means that planning for Continued War was put on the wayside for now.

Now that the final episodes of SUF have been announced, I'm going to try and put more effort into finishing the planning stage and starting a genuine outline. I'm probably going to start asking for second opinions from close friends now in order to speed up the process.

I genuinely want to make this au, from beginning to end. I haven't been this excited about an au since TUA, which I also might be getting back into soon now that the 2nd season has been teased!

Thank you to all of the people who have supported me thus far. The asks that I've gotten and the continued love has made me so happy these past few months. It might take me a while to really get things started, but I really love this project so far. Until then, thank you, everyone ❤

AHH, hello, yes, you're quite right on that one, fam--

But, Continued War AU has two posts now, actually! And I'm slowly but surely working towards making a third post, where I show off Pearl's design for the AU! They can be found in the CW AU tag!

Aside from that, however, Cryptid Steven AU is just a fun little idea that I'm playing with right now! It's definitly not as big of a project as Continued War is, and thus isn't as big or as thought out as said AU. It's more of a play of my own original idea of a POPULAR "what-if" that's been going around the fanbase for a while now, so I wasn't really as keen on sharing it until I at least fleshed things out more - which would take a bit since it's on the backburner. It's also not as plot driven, and really it's just an AU that I wanna mess around with for the hell of it rather than to tell a story.

I also have some ideas for multiple other AU's, like my Stranded Blue AU (where Blue Diamond gets stranded on Earth during one of her secret trips to Pink's palanquin, and thus has to wait for homeworld to find her so that she can go back home...and she waits...and waits.), but those are all on an even FURTHER backburner!!

To put it into a numerical list of just how much content each AU has and how invested I am into an idea:

1. Continued War AU (two posts - over 11+ pages of worldbuilding and outlines, multiple drawings made. I am into this idea the most.)

2. Cryptid Steven AU (No posts - a few pages worth of outlines and a few WIPs.)

3. Stranded Blue AU (No posts - A single page of a measly outline. No doodles.)

4. Everything Else - ABSOLUTE FUCKALL

I hope to someday make one huge post for Cryptid Steven too, but I want to wait until I actually have more content to show! I'm willing to talk more about the idea, if you or anyone else is curious! I don't plan to make anything big from it like CW AU, so I don't have worries about telling y'all spoilers! If you'd like to know more, shoot me an(other) ask c:

prepare for one massive tantrum