"What the hell is cluster fusion anyway, you goddamn gem death addict?"[]
Basically
cluster fusions are what the fusion experiments / cluster gems / artificial fusions / whathaveyou are called in lesoverse.
the concept itself is referred to as cluster fusion
if you for some reason have no goddamn clue what that shit is: a bunch of different gem shards merged together into one very suffering entity against their will for the sole sake of "ha ha geoweapon"
So Anyway How Does The Act Itself Even Work Here[]
Pretty much the same, you shatter a bunch of gems, attach the shards together, boom, done. Doesn't require the idiots to sit underground for any amount of time, can be done on-table, though letting that sweet gem-made horror beyond even your own comprehension sit underground tends to somewhat increase quality
there are many ways to create a cluster gem. Mostly it's the above method and several alternative variants of it, (b.s. like attaching shards to intact / live gems, etc) though. Other methods include injecting liquified gems into a live gem's gemstone (Nailtail says hi), using certain dimensional anomalies to forcefully merge gems, and the good ol' code control (see: Coded Clusters section)
What Is The Whole Quality Thing[]
That shit determines how "succesfull" (=normal gem-like + powerful at the same time) a cluster fusion is. There are 4 main quality levels.
Okay But How Do You Incerase It[]
A lot of things. Some cluster fusion methods produce better results than others. You can let the idiot sit underground for a while before it forms to somewhat increase the quality. Using a currently live gem as a base for the whole thing does that too. Oh, and there's the "mess with literally everything inside the shards to mold the result to your liking". Works the best, but requires a shitton of stupidly advanced equipment or very, really specific abilities to do. Dig out a not yet formed gem and attach shards of the same gem type to it. Hell, clusterfusion the living fuck out of a permafusion. Works wonders.
And code control. That too.
Increased affinity with Gelireis increases the quality of cluster fusions you create, but only because Gelireis has decided to directly help you out with that. You're part of his Undertale Amalgamate army, deal with it.
Nice, Now Tell Us About The Cluster Fusions Themseles You Idiot[]
Cluster fusions vary quite a lot in appearance and abilities, which are mostly determined by their components (gems used to bring forth that horrid atrocity of a being), quality level, and, rarely, the method used to create them.
A key feature they all share is the fact that they're in constant excruciating pain due to the state their gem, if you can call a mess of glued-together shards a gem, is in.
They also tend to be rather unstable. In a lot of ways, mostly mind-related ones.
Oh, and yes, the whole randomly reoccuring thoughts about finding their other pieces thing. That's a thing too. In fail clusters and a lot of mid-quality clusters, that has a tendency to become a literal urge. Attacking / grabbing and probably yoinking literally everything that has a gem included.
What Are The Four Quality Levels You Idiot Just Tell Us Already[]
ok hang on
Utter Unfunctional Dogshit © Karin, Spectrolite Facet-1VEC Cut-WYK, 2023[]
A cluster that was made by such a stupid idiot that has no idea what they're doing that it just straight up can't function. Just a useless pile of glued shards that is now slightly more 'conscious' than normal shards laying on your table. Shitty work, shatter it and do it again. At least get a dummy manual and read it this time.
Fail Clusters[]
You know those random cluster gems shown in the actual SU? That's a prime example of what fail clusters are. Disfigured, unstable messes of random limbs with about the same level of intelligence as a pile of shards on the floor. Abilities are rarely preserved in this case. These get agressive to literally everything the second they see/sense/whatever i don't know another gem, because the whole desperate attempts at locating their other pieces thing. Not that i blame them. Heck, if i was a forced fusion of about 69420 random people stuck in one body in constant excruciating pain, i'd probably start shanking shit too.
Some bits of the components' consciousnesses are preserved. Emphasis on some.
Their forms also tend to be stupidly non-durable, though that varies from cluster to cluster