Amethyst, Princess of Gem World
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Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld was a series of comic books by DC Comics published in the 1980s. They followed the adventures of a young girl named Amy Winston who discovers on her 13th birthday that she is in fact the princess from a magical world. Amy also learns that the parents that she has known are not her real parents; her real parents are dead, and a dark figure from Gemworld is out to destroy her. Now Amy must travel to Gemworld, becoming older through the voyage (since time moves differently in Gemworld, Amy ages into a woman in her early twenties while there) and fight the evil that is attacking her.
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[edit] Publication history
She first appeared in a teaser story in Legion of Super-Heroes v2 #298 (April 1983). Her origin began shortly afterward in the limited series Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld. Later storylines established that she was a Lord of Order. Initially Amethyst appeared in a 12-issue limited series by DC in 1983. Following from that, there was the sole annual issue in 1984 and the on-going series that lasted 16 issues. That was wrapped up with the Amethyst Special in 1986 and the character's solo career ended in 1987 with a 4-issue mini. The series was oriented initially for younger female readers, but took on a more aggressive and darker tone over time.
[edit] Limited series
Written and created by Dan Mishkin & Gary Cohn with Ernie Colón as the artist, the initial 12-issue limited series (identified by DC Comics as a "maxi-series") establishes Gemworld, who Amethyst is and introduces several of her villains that she will face again later. Amethyst faces the evil Dark Opal. Amethyst is trained in her powers and learns more and more about Gemworld, of which she is apparently the ruler. According to the series, the Amethyst family are the most powerful magic users in all of Gemworld. They were the natural rulers until Dark Opal arose and slew Amethyst's parents. After that, the family's friend and a rather powerful witch herself, Citrina, whisked Amethyst off to Earth to be raised by the Winstons. The problem is that Amethyst was discovered, dragged back to Gemworld, and discovered her magical powers. Amethyst, while looking like a full-grown woman, still has the mind of a 13 year old girl; she decides that Gemworld deserves to be free of Dark Opal's oppression. She tries to gather allies from each of the 12 kingdoms, each named after stones, but some have chosen to ally themselves with Dark Opal.
[edit] Plot
The Gemworld is one of the magical realms of the fictional DC Universe. It was the setting of the Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld comic book series.
The dimension where the Gemworld is located was originally owned by the Lords of Chaos. However, thousands of years ago, when magic began to drop in its levels on Earth due to a change in the alignment of the stars (due to a star going nova) the sorceress Citrina went there and struck a deal with the Lords of Chaos so she would be allowed to create a realm there for those wizards who wanted to emigrate from Earth. This deal was kept a secret from most of Gemworld's inhabitants. The Gemworld proper was at first depicted as a continent that floats in the sky, with a "Sun" that orbited around it, obviously reflecting ancient beliefs of Earth being flat, but it was eventually retconned into an actual planet. It contains a variety of terrains, and it was settled by cultures from all around the world. Magical creatures such as faeries also live there.
The Gemworld's level of technology is medieval, and it is divided into Twelve Royal Houses, each represented by a birthstone; the Houses take turns ruling the Gemworld. By tradition, all members of each House's Royal Family are named after the House' gemstone (so, for example, Queen Emerald had two daughters, both named Princess Emerald.)
All of Gemworld's inhabitants can use magic, though most only at a very pedestrian level (fishermen use spells to help them fish, for example.) However, each realm contains a vein of the appropriate birthstone, and its fragments are mined to make their Royal Family's jewelry. These jewels increase their magic powers enormously.
Time moves at a different rate in Gemworld; a Gemworlder raised on Earth will change into an older form if brought back after several years, only to change back to normal if returned to Earth. The reverse is also true - a human raised on Gemworld will de-age on Earth.
Thirteen years before the start of the series, the evil Dark Opal, ruler of the Dark Opal House, killed the King and Queen of the House of Amethyst (which was the rightful ruling House at the time) and set himself up as permanent ruler. However, the infant Princess Amethyst was taken to Earth by Citrina, to be raised there. Thirteen years later, Amethyst returned (transformed into a 20-year-old woman by Gemworld's magical nature) and led a rebellion that eventually killed Dark Opal and restored freedom to Gemworld.
However, some time later, during the war between Order and Chaos, the Lords of Chaos decided to reclaim Gemworld, and sent the Lord of Chaos called The Child to do so. Amethyst was only able to stop him by merging with him, and then merging both of them with the Gemworld itself, effectively trapping them both.
Gemworld still exists and is occasionally seen in the DC Universe. For example, it appeared in Neil Gaiman's Books of Magic and in the Hunter: The Age of Magic spin-off series, where Timothy Hunter went to a wizard's academy there. It was later renamed Zerox or the so-called "Sorcerer's World" in the 30th Century.
Recently, Amethyst has re-appeared in the DC Universe during the Infinite Crisis storyline. She was first seen battling the Spectre on Gemworld in Infinite Crisis #2 and was apparently either powerful enough to repel his assault on the planet or simply clever enough to escape him. She appeared later on as one of many magical beings summoned to aid in the reconstruction of the shattered Rock of Eternity in the Day of Vengeance Special. Amethyst departed from the Rock of Eternity in the aftermath of her battle with Doctor Fate, and was seen once again in Infinite Crisis #6, where she and the other sorcerers of the DC Universe pooled their powers to summon the restored Spectre to Stonehenge. She is currently the only known surviving Lord of Order or Chaos in the Tenth Age of Magic. What this will mean for her future remains unclear.
[edit] The 12 Royal Houses
- Amethyst - The house of Amethyst is the most powerful house and, until Amy's return to Gemworld, it remained without a leader. As Amy returned, it set matters into motion that would change Gemworld forever.
- Topaz - Initially, Prince Topaz was Amethyst's love interest and staunch supporter. As time progressed and the series took a drastic change, Amy abandoned all hopes for a relationship with Topaz and allowed him to find comfort in the arms of Turquoise.
- Emerald
- Moonstone
- Sapphire
- Diamond
- Ruby - The Ruby Kingdom lies to the north of Ruby Lake. Its northern end has long been claimed by the Sardonyx Empire, which habitually launches incursions across their disputed border.
- Opal
- Garnet
- Sardonyx
- Turquoise
- Aquamarine
