Minor mutations seen in Gems are unusual but harmless features that might come up in a Gem's physical form as a result of a change or mutation in her gemetic information before she emerged from the ground. Some (but not all) of these conditions are named after similar conditions seen in humans and animals, but are not biologically the same.
Minor mutations do not significantly affect a Gem's mannequin or her ability to work. They are only visible in the physical form, and the gemstone will look the same whether she has the mutation or not.
More of these will be added as I come up with them. If you wanna make a Gem who has one of these mutations, go ahead.
Albinism and Leucism[]
Named for their similarities to the conditions seen in humans and animals, these present in Gems as an inability to have darker colors in their physical forms.
An albino Gem can't have colors that are darkened from her base color. For example, an albino Amethyst would not be able to have black or purple that's darker than her gemstone anywhere on her form.
A leucistic Gem can't alter any of her colors to anything darker than her base color, usually has faded colors overall, and can't add tints to her colors. For example, a leucistic Ruby can only be red, pink, and white, and cannot have any purple or orange tint.
Melanism[]
Despite the name, melanism in Gems has nothing to do with melanin because Gems don't have that. However, its effects are the same: The Gem who has this condition will only be able to present colors much darker than her base color, and her skin tone will be much darker than her gemstone as well.
For example, a melanistic Amethyst will be entirely black and dark purple.
Melo Syndrome[]
Named for the first Gem observed to have this condition, a Melo Melo Pearl. Alternatively, named for the fact that melo melo pearls in real life look like balls of fur. Gems with Melo Syndrome have short hair completely covering their skin.
If the Gem would naturally have markings on her skin, the color of the body hair varies in those areas; for example, if Jasper had Melo Syndrome, she would have mostly white hair that changes to a more orangish-pink color over where her stripes are.
In Gems that are already especially hairy, such as zircons, Melo Syndrome presents as additional hair covering parts of their bodies that should not have hair already and a slight increase in the thickness of the hair that should be there.
Form Asterism[]
Unlike gemstone asterism, a real-world phenomenon which is visible on the gemstone itself and only present in certain types of Gems, form asterism is present only on the physical form itself and can occur in Gems that can't normally have gemstone asterism such as Pearls.
Form asterism presents as a set of 2-6 thin pale stripes on a Gem's physical form extending from the gemstone's location. It affects the color of skin, clothes, and hair. The length of the stripes depends on the location of the gemstone; a hand Gem with form asterism will have shorter stripes, while a back Gem will have very long stripes.
Thick Skin[]
Sometimes, a Gem's mannequin will appear completely normal, but her form will be much thicker--as if she has extremely thick skin or a lot of fat. This can vary in intensity, from being only a few millimeters thicker than average to having a physical form so greatly inflated that it's non-functional.
Gems with obvious thick skin are generally marked as off color, but as of era 2 they are only actually culled if the mutation makes them unable to do their work. A fighting Gem (such as a Quartz or a Ruby) with thick skin may not be marked as off color at all unless her fighting ability is brought down by it, as the extra thickness protects the structure of the Gem's physical form--making her more durable.