Rowen has four gemstones, two for the month of October, one for being an Ox, and a fourth for being a libra! I was completely unaware that Chinese Zodiac also had a gemstone associated with them! I mentioned before I'm always slow to finding out cool things. Rowen's four gemstones are tourmaline, opal, lapis lazuli and aquamarine. Half of them are heavily influenced by the water, which is interesting since he is not the warrior of water by any means. On the other hand, I'm a big fan of gemstones and meanings. I did a ton of research on this kind of thing once upon a time for a novel (which I'm working on). So, this kind of thing is very close to my heart.
Aquamarine
Aquamarine is largely associated with the water and was once believed to protect sailors at sea. In general, keeping one with you while you traveled at sea was supposed to appease the sea god and promote safe travel. It was believed to be able to protect from sirens. The dream of an aquamarine is supposed to signal new friendships. It is well attributed to cleansing spiritual energy and expressing truths. It is the birthstone for the month of March (which is why I know too much about it). I wonder if keeping an aquamarine with him would help traverse dealing with Cye sometimes. Would that work? I don't know but the idea of making stormy waters easier to get through make sense to me! In terms of Rowen, I can't grasp where this might have meaning except for as a steady and guiding force that keeps him calm and composed.
Lapis Lazuli
The deep blue lapis lazuli instantly reminds me of Rowen based on color. It is one of the gemstones for Libra. It is connected to cosmic or heavenly energies (wait, this sounds familiar). In fact, sometimes its speckled with gold and helps to enhance wisdom, power, wealth, respect. But this is probably my favorite idea, "Lapis lazuli activates a life of more intelligence, success, and an unshakable inner balance and power that is rooted in ancient connections." As far as Rowen goes, he is very intelligent, successful, and he tends to keep his mind and energies balanced as a warrior. I'm interested in this idea as a whole for the idea that the Strata armor could be based in something. It's interesting to me to think that they share color and embody similar things. Although, the key difference would be that Lapis Lazuli is associated with the water while Strata is associated with the sky!
Opal
Opal is one of the two birthstones for October. It also happens to be the birthstone for Libra. Intrestingly enough, in the past it was believed that this gemstone could make you invincible. The opal is associated with finding true love, attracting good luck, relieving depression, improving finances, calming emotions, strengthening eyesight, and giving hope. Of these traits, I find the most amusing (and useful) ones to be strengthening eyesight and giving hope. As an archer, Rowen relies greatly on eyesight. Perhaps having an opal with him would allow for even truer shots? Assuming of course, he ever missed a mark! Second, Rowen's golden arrows often work as a connecting ray of light that give hope and connect ideas. I don't know that Opal can make you invincible, but the traits it does have collectively might make you feel pretty dang close. Which might be one reason everyone things he's so clever and dangerous? Perhaps it's his mentality that makes him seem like he can't be beaten!
Tourmaline
Tourmaline has many health related benefits. Of which include detoxing effects and the ability to help increase blood circulation. First I'd like to use this opportunity to point another reason Sekhmet and Rowen never fought (the first has to do with the golden bow). The second would be that perhaps he'd have a certain amount of immunity over the venom wielder (in which my mind theater marks up two wins for Rowen and zero for Sekhmet). AHEM! Moving on, the second thing I wanted to address was the irony of blood circulation when Rowen has low blood pressure. Perhaps this tiny point can be made that the circulation has less work to go through and thus produces a lower blood pressure over all. Anyways, tourmaline has more colors than there are stars in the sky (not really, but it does have a lot). I'm amused because it has so many colors and I can just see them all collected together sparkling like stars. Inspiring? Maybe not, but I enjoy it.
Sources: The World of Opal, Find your Birthstone and Astrologial Stone, Lapiz Lazuli, Benefits of Tourmaline Gemstone
