Per the third anniversary it has been decided that 7 users shall write about their characters in a featured page, I am one of these users and have decided to dedicate it to my character Shadow Diamond. I will attempt to give a basic rundown of her story so far, the changes to the character and attempt to give a timeline, as well as my own opinions about it.
The Creation/Beginnings
During the time I created Shadow Diamond, there were very few Diamond OC's that were allowed to stay, and there were a lot of votes dedicated to the debate if Diamond OC's should even be allowed on the wiki due to their specific characteristics. This has made Shadow Diamond a mild subject of debate if she would be able to remain a Diamond.
One of Shadow Diamond's first iterations was a bit of a troublemaker which I hadn't poured much thought into. This led to a pretty... mediocre character, at best. I struggled a lot with what I wanted the character to be, most of the Diamond tropes had already been filled out by the other roleplayers in one way or another, which also made it mildly difficult to even find a basic idea I could follow. It didn't help that I wasn't on very good terms with the rest of the users, which made relations a struggle. This happened during the early Shadow Diamond, if I remember correctly it was during early 2016, and maybe late 2015.
The Journey/Struggles
After realizing the problems with Shadow Diamond, I had decided that I wished to fix the character and make them presentable, as well as usable in the roleplays. This lead to a lot of changes to the character, primarily in her personality and a major overhaul in her appearance, so practically everything was changed. This change led to the character being more used in the roleplays, due to removing some of her more fatal flaws which just made her boring to RP with.
The big change that appeared in-character is the fact that Shadow Diamond started working under the main Diamonds as an apprentice, primarily under White Diamond. This actually gave the character a task, something she could strive to achieve. Along with this change, she joined one of the main groups of roleplayers in the wiki, consisting of about 4 users, including me. She became good friends with an Indicolite and gained a few others from the group. The largest changes occured in mid-2016, but continued into 2017. Even now I still continue to change things about Shadow Diamond, as I feel I have quite completed the character just yet.
The Rise to Power
Eventually Shadow Diamond ascended to becoming a Diamond in the trinity, originally this was due to White Diamond resigning from her position and giving it to Shadow Diamond, this was generally regarded as a bad move. At this point in time, Shadow Diamond had still not learned much from her apprenticeships and was thus thrown into a position in which she only had minimal experience.
Regardless, this led to a lot of unintended drama. One of these events is when the old roleplayer for Yellow Diamond declared war on Shadow Diamond, which ended up being a stale and unintuitive time on the wiki, as the chat got crowded with a RP that had nothing poured into it. In the end, Shadow Diamond came out as the victor of this confrontation, leading to further gains of power. However, very few people enjoyed this. I felt as if this rise to power was dull, and lacked substance. It seemed to just be power for the sake of power, there was barely anything to it except mindless assessments.
Thankfully, this soon came to an end. And once Shadow Diamond came back as a character, White Diamond had regained her position as the main Diamond. This lead to Shadow Diamond becoming more of a "minor" Diamond, however she still had her district. In a lot of ways this was my preferred way of doing it, as she could still be a major character but have authority which befitted her.
At this point in time I also decided which kind of Diamond I wished for her to be, turning into a more diplomatic Diamond, acting as a middle ground between the citizens of Homeworld and the Diamond's in the Authority. However, she still primarily prioritized Homeworld among the two. This is the most recent change to Shadow Diamond, which occured in mid to late 2017.
Acts in the main story of SURP
Shadow Diamond has done a few things in the SURP lore which could classify her as a major character. These acts include her former conflict with Blue and Yellow Diamond, as well as her tutelage under White Diamond, gaining power on Homeworld and cementing herself as a Diamond. Along with this she's undergone a lot of development due to other characters, the biggest compartment in this being the character she is currently shipped with.
Summary
Shadow Diamond is a character who has undergone a lot of changes during the years, and has been a subject of debate in the Diamond OC drama. The changes have definitely been for the better, and I'm at a point where I can feel comfortable with using this character. If there are any questions, I will answer them to the best of my ability.