Carbonado

"Life is merely a phantasmagoria."

Carbonado / Diamond-(1/2)
Affiliation	Kaphi SDS Foundation
Occupation	Head of New Technologies at TERAPRO Director of SDS Site-31
Biographical information
Homeworld	Theia
Date of birth	680 BCE (Diamond {1} and Diamond {2} 665 BCE (Carbonado)
Place of birth	Kaphi, Ancient Lilaci'ah
Date of death	392 CE (Carbonado) 408 CE (Carbonado, entered Eos)
Place of death	Fourth Dimension?
Physical Description
Species	Kaphi'si
Gender	Genderfluid
Nationality	Kaphi
Pronouns	He/Him
Height	1.9 m
Eye colour	White
Other
Created by	Peter

Carbonado is a Kaphisian research scientist who is the head of New Technologies at the TERAPRO facility. The sole gem of their class, Carbonado is one of the pre-eminents, a group of 10 gems that form the leadership of Kaphisian society. Unlike most pre-eminents, they can unfuse - becoming Diamond {1} and Diamond {2}. Notably, he was part of the group who, alongside Andrei and Cormac Varady, escaped Yata during the Insurgency, after they and their fellow Kaphisians Ruby, Jade, Sapphire, and Lapis Lazuli's expedition shuttle crashed in Nuan Krovh.

Since his delivery to TERAPRO, Carbonado had been orchestrating the elaborate plan to cross into the fourth-dimension and obtain immense power. Being one of the pioneers of the TERAPRO project, Carbonado was responsible for developing and overseeing the construction of the Dark Fusion Reactor and the AI GILbERT, the former of which formed part of his scheme. TERAPRO's constant failures has led to many people, including his peers, to doubt his credibility as a true research scientist, however, nonetheless he was considered a world-class one, if not more.

Following a planned incident at the TERAPRO reactor, Carbonado's soul was shattered across spacetime leaving two selves across two dimensions, one of whom went on to develop the Digiverse project with Isla. Ultimately, the reunification of the two selves following the destruction of the World Machine allowed him to slip into fourth dimensional space - allowing him to attempt to seize control over time. However, he was ultimately defeated and killed by a fourth-dimensional Cormac and permanently banished to the Realm of the Forgotten. His constituents, Diamond {1} and Diamond {2}, were defused from his body. They originally held only their pre-665 BCE memories, but were given access to works and documents pertaining to Carbonado's legacy that filled the nearly 1,000 year gap of lost memories. Carbonado however, along with the entire realm came to Eos in 408 CE as a result of Guinevere's machinations, preserving his life on a planet he could not leave. The two Diamonds were unaffected by this.

First era

Diamond {1} and {2} gained consciousness in 680 BCE. Having formed from the same crystal cluster, they grew an especially close, sibling-like bond. From a young age, both were incredibly intelligent - {1} was noted for their intuition whereas {2} was a highly pragmatic being. This drew the attention of Hecate, who led suzerainty over the nation of Kaphi at the time. Acting as a mentor to the two, she trained the diamonds to harness their innate powers, allowing the two to become incredibly strong, formidable warriors and thinkers, even as teenagers. On the 15th birthday of the diamonds, Hecate oversaw their fusion, creating Carbonado. Until the destruction of the World Machine had passed, they would never unfuse again.

The first gem of their kind, Carbonado became the 10th and last pre-eminent of Kaphisian society at only 15 years old. This initially took no toll on them as the Kaphisian hierarchy was devoid of any power under Hecate's rule, but it allowed them to befriend many of the other pre-eminents, notably Black Opal. Through Hecate's guidance, Carbonado honed in on his scientific skills, which attracted the attention of Nihilantis, whose Aquilean denizens were preparing for the TERAPRO project. In 657 BCE, at the age of 23, Carbonado was "gifted" to Nihilantis as an act of friendship, much to their dismay.

A new life in Aquilae

After their "gifting," Carbonado was stationed in a disused radio outpost south of the West Trentonia plateau, near a small cave opening (now part of West Plateau Caves National Park.) Despite his lack of knowledge of the project, Carbonado functioned as the de-facto project leader due to the real project leader's absence, during which he developed a distinct interest in the TERAPRO project. After multiple mining expeditions to find a suitable location for the facility, Carbonado led an expedition into the caves, where they discovered an entrance to a huge cavern - where TERAPRO is now situated today.

Second era

The Yata Expedition

In the year 200 CE, Yata was evacuated due to the Insurgency. Having received news of its abandonment, Black Opal demanded that Carbonado be granted temporary leave from TERAPRO to help lead a "reconnaissance expedition" to Yata. After returning to Kaphi, Carbonado continued his fusion experiments, fusing Sapphire and Jade together to create a more practical "diplomat" for the expedition. Following the successful creation of Slade, Carbonado continued to operate within the Kaphi leadership framework as preparations began for the invasion of Yata. Dissenting voices such as Samnsonite raised concerns about the hostile conditions on the planet, noting the presence of Yomtach hordes and the unpredictable effects of their technology. Carbonado, while not openly opposing the invasion, was a mere subordinate participant to the scheme rather than a decision-maker. His compliance reflected both loyalty to Black Opal and the institutional constraints within Kaphi society.

Upon arriving at Yata, the invasion force encountered immediate complications, most notably the interference caused by Yomtach laser towers, which disrupted navigation systems and led to catastrophic crashes across the planet. In the aftermath of one such crash near Nuan Krovh, Carbonado emerged as one of the few survivors alongside Ruby, Emerald and Slade. This sudden isolation from the broader Kaphi command structure altered his circumstances considerably. Separated from Black Opal and thus stripped of direct oversight, he was forced to operate independently.

Following an arduous adventure across the Yatan wastelands, Carbonado reunited with Black Opal, who was still willing to treat Carbonado as a tool for operational purposes rather than an equal despite the cirumstances. Despite this, Carbonado was entrusted with operational responsibilities and accompanied Black Opal toward the black engine tower, one of several critical Yomtach structures targeted by various factions during the Insurgency.

Incidentally at the black tower, Carbonado had a chance encounter with Andrei Varady and Cormac Connolly, two human survivors whose journey across Yata had equally brought them to target Yomtach infrastructure to escape the planet. Their meeting was initially tense, with Black Opal reacting aggressively to their presence. Carbonado, however, introduced himself and attempted to gather information about the whereabouts of Lazuli and Emerald, who had since disappeared. When the conversation shifted toward his personal connections, Carbonado's priorities became clear - he was less concerned with the immediate conflict and more focused on locating Emerald and Lazuli.

Together, the group decided to initiate a self-destruct sequence within the tower to demolish the infrastructure that kept them trapped on the planet. In the ensuing crisis, and with the system locked under an administrative override, Carbonado volunteered to undertake a dangerous mission to manually sever the control cable on an external catwalk suspended high above the ground, although highly endangering himself doing so. His success in severing the connection enabled the activation of the self-destruct sequence, ultimately leading to the destruction of the black engine. Following the escape from the collapsing tower, Carbonado reunited with Emerald, and set out with the group to find Lazuli and eventually escape Yata.

The SDS-001 Events and the Revenant

After returning to Theia following the Insurgency, Carbonado resumed his work at the TERAPRO facility. Preceding the SDS-001 incident, Carbonado was operating as both an advisor and a technical authority in matters relating to containment procedures and anomalous phenomena alongside the SDS. When reports emerged that an SDS-001 incident had been declared, the facility was immediately placed under indefinite lockdown, transforming it from a research facility into a closed, self-sustaining society. As conditions worsened outside, Carbonado’s role primarily involved monitoring satellite feeds, identifying environmental threats such as the spread of radiation from destroyed facilities like Ingalina, and ordering Nadia, Oliver and Isaac to undertake a "suicide mission" to replace the reactor fuel cells.

Following the end of the SDS-001 incident, later known as the "Daybreak", conditions in TERAPRO did not necessarily improve - marked by rolling power cuts, mandatory censuses, and increasingly authoritarian administrative measures. Carbonado maintained his position as a key technical advisor. Anomalies in the facility's lower levels were detected, specifically within the abandoned sections of the TERAPRO cave system known as the "colonic fistula." These areas, which extended deep beneath the main facility, had long been sealed off following the deprecation of ANTER, TERAPRO's predecessor installation. Carbonado was one of the few individuals who actually knew what existed down there, and as such was qualified to investigate. As he descended into the lower levels to address the critical circuit breaker failures that had emerged, he encountered the Creature firsthand - a pale, emaciated humanoid figure of indeterminate origin, possessing physical capabilities that exceeded human norms and exhibiting behavior that suggested instinctual predation.

Carbonado's main priority remained the restoration of the facility's power systems, which required him to navigate the same corridors and shafts where the Creature lurked. During his descent to the circuit breaker systems, Carbonado found himself actively chased by the Creature. The entity demonstrated remarkable persistence, tracking him through multiple levels of the facility, however the knowledge of his own creation aided him in outrunning it. Arriving at the laboratory that housed the circuit breakers, Carbonado found signs of life in and near the provisions area. Upon entering a freezer, Carbonado discovered Jimmy Navarro's mutilated body in the corner and a woman who was on the verge of death next to him. She succumbed to hypothermia moments later - his attempt to save her having failed. Analysing the situation in the breaker room, Carbonado realised that the facility's heating systems had failed, and that the backup generators were additionally offline, likely due to the creature's presence. An ensuing flood due to the failing structural integrity led to a desperate climb back to the upper levels. Behind him, the Creature was sealed, yet notably left alive.

The Divine Resurgence and first "death"

Many years later, the Divine Resurgence would occur at the behest of Sakura and ultimately Wisteria. Absent for the majority of the upheaval on Theia, Carbonado and Sakura met to deal with another impending crisis with the TERAPRO reactor. Within the operation room, Carbonado directly encountered manifestations believed to be the spirits of the gods, expressed through orgone energy, and marred by fragmented speech, warnings, and an overwhelming sensory experience that overwhelmed them both. Ultimately, they both learnt that the reactor was absorbing incessant amounts of orgone energy in order to operate, a design "flaw" that had gone unnoticed for centuries, and was about to hit a critical point in which it would explode.

---

Meta: Why did Carbonado (have to) die?

What follows next is uncertain - at some point Carbonado fell into the reactor core causing his "death" but whether this was intentional or not is ambiguous. At it's core, Carbonado’s first recorded “death” is shrouded in ambiguity and paradox, with multiple accounts suggesting that it was not a conventional termination but rather a form of displacement or transformation. Conflicting timelines regarding this incident imply that this event may have involved external interference, possibly from unknown actors with similar objectives, or a version of Carbonado himself from another timeline. Subsequent discussions indicate that his death could not be attributed to an impostor version of himself, suggesting the involvement of a third party operating outside known frameworks.

Although the exploration of his "alternate" version following this point suggests that this version had supplanted his own existence through apparent backward time travel, this segment of his life is intentionally vague to demonstrate that, although the interference is a possibility, it is not a certainty. As such, it offers some metacommentary on the nature of free will and determinism within the Yata story. Following this meta-point, any references to "Carbonado" until the end of the third era is thought to be an "impostor Carbonado" as a result of this incident. This is elaborated upon later, but the veracity of these claims indicates that although this Carbonado was likely an impostor, they also could have been genuine. Take it with a pinch of salt, as the author (Peter) intended!