Acolytes (group)

The Acolytes (or Acolyte Gems) are the titular protagonists of the upcoming "Acolyte Gems" series. They are a group of young gems made on earth who currently reside in Beach City with their adopted human parents. The Acolytes attend a school and train with the Crystal Gems part time, going on missions with them occasionally.

The group first received it's name from Garnet after it's original members pledged all their loyalty to her in exchange for her teaching them how to fight and use their powers and about gem culture.

Characteristics
After being discovered by their adopted parents the Acolytes lived their entire lives among humans and being surrounded by human culture. Jordan and Kitty grew up in the oppressively conservative town of Lionheart, Georgia. Daphne/Carnelian grew up in the chaotic free for all metropolis of Empire City. All three of them grew up knowing nothing about their heritage, and nothing about their powers except what they could discover by experimenting. They didn't know what Gems were before coming to Beach City but vaguely understood that they weren't human beings.

They were discovered in the form of babies and seem to age at the same rate as the humans around them (though this could have a psychological explanation). Because of their social conditioning the Acolytes have a hard time accepting the idea that their gender is an illusion.

The Acolytes are each powerful in their own way but because of their age and lack of experience they are much less capable fighters than the Crystal Gems. They usually need to work together to defeat a corrupted gem and almost always need the help of the Crystal Gems to defeat a Home-world soldier.

Members
So far there are three members of the Acolyte Gems.

Jordan Walker "Obsidian"
Jordan/Obsidian represents the spirited part of the soul. He is hot-blooded and macho. His ego won't let him turn down a challenge or walk away from a fight and he's pretty easy to trick. On the plus side he has a strong sense of honor in that he always repays his debts, keeps his promises, gets angry when he perceives an injustice being done and always tries to take revenge on friends/families honor. In Lionheart he was constantly fighting redneck human bullies and winning but his victories made him cocky. His first week in Beach City however he got poofed by a corrupted gem. Jordan swallowed his pride and sexism to ask Garnet to train him so he could become stronger.

Jordan personally identifies as a male but the Crystal Gems and Carnelian refer to Jordan as a she. Steven is the only member of the Crystal Gems who refers to Jordan as a he.

Kitty Campbell "Alabaster"
Kitty/Alabaster represents the logical part of the soul. She is timid, antisocial, and pragmatic. She views the world in statistics of gain and loss and is the youngest but also most intelligent of the trio. Kitty lacks her brothers bravery and will avoid danger if she can help it. Prior to coming to Beach City she never had any strong female role models and she saw herself as a useless girl who always needs to be rescued by her brother. She agrees to train with the Crystal Gems to gain confidence.

Carnelian "Daphne Parker"
So far the only Acolyte who prefers her Gem name over her human name. Carnelian represents the appetite part of the soul. She is feminine, vain, self indulgent, and materialistic. She is ruled over by a myriad of selfish desire for short-term gain that include pleasure, money, comfort, and physical satisfaction. She agrees to be an Acolyte on a whim because she thinks it could be fun but unexpectedly find Garnet won't allow her to quit.

In spite of her many, many flaws Carnelian is nothing if not loyal to her friends and through her time as an Acolyte and her friendship (and later romance) with Jordan she becomes a better person. She refers to Jordan as a she to annoy him/her and refers to both her comrades by their gem names.

Relationship with the Crystal Gems
Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl each have a favorite and least favorite Acolyte. Garnet's favorite is Jordan because of his/her nobility and her least favorite is Kitty because Garnet senses an ugly streak of cowardice in her. Pearl's favorite is Kitty because she is studious and polite and her least favorite is Carnelian because of her short-sighted and self-indulgent behavior. Amethysts favorite is Carnelian because she knows how to have fun and her least favorite is Jordan because of how seriously he takes himself.

In addition to being teachers the Crystal gems also act as disciplinarians and punish the Acolytes for misusing their powers or picking fights with humans. Garnet is the most dedicated to her role as a disciplinarian and is much harsher on the Acolytes than she is on Steven. Amethyst is the least dedicated to her role as a disciplinarian and can easily be bribed into looking the other way.

Jordan has an awkward time interacting with Ruby an Sapphire while their unfused because he has some homophobia he's trying to overcome. Carnelian is much more disrespectful to Ruby and Sapphire than Jordan, as Carnelian infantilizes the couple. Garnet makes sure to exact retribution on anyone who disses her fusion components.

Relationship with Steven
Their relationship with Steven Universe is a bit more complicated as he and the Acolytes are semi-equals. Steven certainly seems to think their equals even though he obviously has more skill and experience.

Jordan's first introduction to Steven was seeing a video of Steven in a dress singing "Haven't you noticed (that I'm a Star)", which Jordan thinks is some kind of cruel joke but Steven doesn't understand what's so funny or embarrassing about it. Jordan starts out seeing Steven as his inferior until they fight and Steven defeats him. Every-time Steven does or says something Jordan finds unmanly the embarrassment of knowing he's unable to beat this kid gets worse.

Kitty/Alabaster originally starts out just friends with Steven as he's the only boy her own age she feels she can really talk to but eventually Kitty develops a crush on Steven but has no idea how to express her feelings. Garnet has told Kitty that she and Steven don't have a future together, when it comes to this the usually calculating Kitty develops a blind-spot in her logic.

Carnelian for her part is jealous of the awesome life that Steven Universe has, he doesn't have to go to school he gets to be raise by other Gems and go on adventures with the Crystal Gems all the time. Carnelian is also jealous that Steven has better control over her powers even though he looks younger.

Trivia

 * Just like the Crystal Gems all represent different stages of dependency the Acolytes represent Plato's three part theory of the soul.
 * Jordan is the spirited part
 * Carnelian is the appetitive part
 * Kitty is the logical part
 * The fusions between the Acolytes each represent a different type of love/relationship
 * Howlite is a fusion between siblings and thus represents familial love
 * Amber represents Phillia which is friendly love
 * Hematite represents Eros which is romantic love.
 * Based on their gem type each of the Acolytes have certain abilities/instincts built-in that don't always match their upbringing and base-line personalities.