Transformers Beyond: Legendarium [Currently Being Edited]

by AtomicStudios101

Summary:

From The One to the Guiding Hand, to the Covenant, to the Thirteen Primes, to the Quintessons, to the Golden Age, to the Age of the Functionists, to the Autobots and the Decepticons, and into the future. This is the story of the Beyondverse. (Revision!)

Notes:

• Inspired by Autobot Academy by Devaron9, Stonecrusher
• Inspired by Transformers: Uprising by Saya444
• Inspired by Transformers: Defiance by Saya444

Author's Notes: Hi, everybody! AtomicStudios here, and this is my first entry in my own Transformers series-Transformers Beyond: Legendarium. Legendarium is basically a summary of the background lore/information for my own Transformers series, Transformers Beyond. I will be writing it like The Silmarillion where its written in a pseudo-historical text/myth sort of way. Actual character dialogue will be minimal.

The source of information in this series comes from all across the Transformers franchise, mostly from the Marvel Comics Generation 1 continuity that started it all, the Japanese G1 cartoon continuity, the original IDW Generation 1 continuity that ran from 2005 to 2018, the Unicron Trilogy (consisting of Armada, Energon, and Cybertron), the live-action "Bayformers" movie franchise (particularly the first five movies), Transformers Animated, and the Aligned continuity.

Also, expect a LOT of name drops in this series.

Legendarium has been largely inspired by DeviantArt User Nagillim's Cybertronian Timeline: nagillim/art/Cybertronian-Timeline-478931721

Chapter 1: Prologue: The Theomachy (Cybertronian Creation Myth)

Summary:

Here's the prologue, or "episode zero", of Transformers Beyond: Legendarium, which tells the story of how the multiverse was created, the rise and fall of the Cybertronians' pantheon of gods and goddesses, the Guiding Hand, and the beginnings of how the planet Cybertron came to be.

"In the Beginning, they say it all started with a bang. Where there was once nothing...came everything. In a single instance, every atom that build up the very foundation of reality as we know it appeared. That's what we've been told. And that's certainly a way of looking at things. To the casual observer, our devoid universe was filled to a brim of energy within a nanosecond. But the truth is much more complicated than that. Before there was something, there was only One: The Source and All. An extradimensional entity that acted as the sentient core and lifeforce of the primordial multiverse. A being with unfathomable reach and power. To put it simply, the One is what we mere mortals may refer to as "God". We do not know where it comes from, but it's believed by multiversal researchers that the One resides in a higher plane of existence that's far beyond our understanding known as the Omniversal Matrix, a mysterious godly realm abundant with tremendous power, where order and chaos existed in perfect harmony, far removed from our perceptive in the normal universe. The One has always existed and will continue to exist long pass the end of time. Trillions upon trillions of years, lengths of time near unfathomable to a mortal being, is nothing more than a mere drop of time for the One...

"From within the Omniversal Matrix, the One existed in isolation for an untold time, pure and inviolate, but it was sentient and therefore it questioned its own existence, its place and its purpose in creation. And so, to better understand those things, the One decided to peer outside of the Omniversal Matrix, witnessing the creation, destruction, and rebirth of a vast myriad of multiverses such as Primax, Viron, Aurex, Tyran, Malgus, Uniend, Kaccus, Retra, Fornax, Iocus, Nexus, Quadwal, Yayayarst, Cymond, Gargent, Lukas, Rovio, Xobitor, and many more. On each of these worlds, the spark of life had, has, or will have brought forth beings of infinite varieties and forms of life that were capable of dwelling in all the many corners of these universes. Inspired by these events, the One sought to forge its own multiverse where it can fragment itself across its many worlds to experience their myriad struggles and evolutions in order to understand itself and the nature of its very being when these vessels returned to their source after their mission is complete...

"And so, it created. This is the chronicle of the events of but one universe...this is the story of the Beyondverse...

"Long ago, the reality that we now know as Praeter first existed as seven disparate universes, each dominated by their own variation of Star Power, which is derived from the raw cosmic energies of the Omniversal Matrix. In order to better observe the young multiverse and understand its many struggles dispassionately, the One created from a portion of its lifeforce an immortal child, tasked as the protector of this multiverse and maintain balance within it. A child that was born without the prejudice or bias of their parent's memories, so they'll be better able to judge its parent without preconception and favoritism, but only with a burgeoning curiosity. This child of the One was given the name of Daiakuron, an unique digital entity whose body was then empowered by Golden Power. With that, Daiakuron goes on to found the Praeter Guard, also known as the Warriors of the Seven Lights, a peacekeeping force of robotic guardians made up of seven suborganizations called "Orders", safeguarding their respective colored universe under their own leaders. The orders were: the Red Order, representing fire, led by the boastful Marshal Red Sentinel Prime; the Yellow Order, representing light, an all-female order led by Commander Yellow Splendid Convoy; the Green Order, representing nature, led the nurturing Commander Green Tender Convoy; the Blue Order, representing water, led by Commander Blue Brightes Convoy; the Purple Order led by Commander Purple Wicked Convoy, representing "evil" as a part of the natural order; the White Order, representing ice, led by Commander White Gallant Convoy; and the Black Order, representing darkness, led by Marshal Black Go Prime. Each of the Orders' leaders held their own containment vessel known as a Matrix filled with a specific color of Star Power, with unique abilities--Daiakuron themselves holds the Silver Matrix, which can collect and contain the seven Star Powers to restart reality if the need arises...

"However, the Praeter Guard receives a recurring enemy, the Elder Gods, who are an eldritch race of cold, alien, and evil intelligences that exist in the non-spacetime of swirling antimatter "outside" of the greater multiverse, assimilating other universes and their inhabitants into their being to increase their power. The Praeter Guard amasses a giant flotilla of space battleships to combat whatever footsoldiers the Elder Gods have. Upon their first assault on the Elder Gods, the Guard suffered a great defeat. The Elder Gods, whose power was so great they had not even noticed the Praeter Guard's advance until the last minute, had destroyed their initial forces. The Blue Order leader, Commander Blue Brightes Convoy, is killed in action during this battle and passes the mantle of the Matrix Sword and the Blue Matrix to the young Blue Big Convoy, to self-assumed forerunner Straxus Twins's disapproval. Unable to defeat their enemies, the Praeter Guard collectively decided to take the drastic step to unleash the full light of their Matrices, which has the side effect of unifying their seven dimensions into a single universe in which the Elder Gods hopefully won't exist...

"However, the singular universe then comes under attack by the Ebon Knights, a mysterious death cult of alien hive-cultures from another universe who thrive on destruction and eternal suffering. Seeking to learn of the Ebon Knights' origin, Daiakuron used the Black Matrix to peer through time, and learned a horrifying truth--seeing an universe of ruin and war, their old enemies, the Elder Gods, were able to survive by shedding their physical forms and retreat to the spiritual plane. From there, they reach out to sensitive mortal beings to influence into becoming their proxies, thus forming the Ebon Knights, who've now travelled back in time from that future universe so that they could end the previous universe and reshape reality to their liking. Primacron, Daiakuron's aide who received high honors for his high intellect yet was hungry for power as he believed his master's rule had become complacent after the Elder Gods' defeat, contributes to Daiakuron's spiral by revealing that he has extracted the Omniversal Matrix essence of their Silver Matrix, purifying it to become what he calls "Angolmois Energy", using it to create several biomechanical abominations to fight in his stead against both the Praeter Guard and the Ebon Knights, seeking to remake the universe in his image. Desperate to stop what they see as a terrible future, Daiakuron believed that their only course of action was to change the future by recreating the universe before anyone else could. However, the other Warriors of the Seven Lights believed that they had gone mad and refused to give them their Star Powers, thus Daiakuron was forced to initiate a complex scheme to steal their Matrices...

"With the help of a few loyal followers with whom they shared their Golden Power, Daiakuron begins by travelling to 2050 A.D. of the next universe they had seen, and acquiring the used-up Silver Matrix from the future. Bringing in in Action Master Optimus Prime, Nomad Megatron, and their respective forces from 2005, Daiakuron gives Prime the older Silver Matrix and has him remove the bulk of the Ebon Knights' invasion fleet from this universe by tapping into a new form called Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime (based on the Optimus Primes from the Aurex universal cluster). However, to gather the Star Powers from the unassisting Praeter Guard leaders, Daiakuron's envoy tasks Halfshell's Seacons from the 24th century to join forces with Snaptrap's Seacons from 1988. From there, Daiakuron played off the time-displaced off-worlders against one another, duping them into fighting Primacron, the Praeter Guard, and the remaining forces of the Ebon Knights, thereby moving the Star Powers into position for Daiakuron to take...

"Unfortunately, things didn't work out as Daiakuron had planned. In the battles that followed, the entire Blue Order perished when the Straxus Twins betrayed the group and sided with Megatron Omega (an upgraded form of Nomad Megatron, based on the Megatron of a divergent timeline where he had killed Optimus Prime in the Great War's early days and stole his Creation Matrix), using a rage virus to force their comrades to turn on and destroy one another, stealing the Matrix Sword for themselves. Blue Big Convoy dies in the process, but his life spark is infused in the sword. His death also evolves the drone MC11 into Magna Convoy. The leaders of the White, Green, Black, and Yellow Orders were killed by the Seacons; Red Sentinel Prime survived the slaughter thanks to his Headmaster abilities, while Purple Wicked Convoy saved himself by pretending to team up with Megatron to help him take the Star Powers for himself...

"Nevertheless, through these exploits, the Star Powers are gathered together in one spot, along with players like Primacron (who has turned the Blue Planet into the massive Neo Daiakuron robot). With the past Silver Matrix, Daiakuron collects all of the Star Powers and attempts to restart the universe, but is interrupted by Primacron, who uses Neo Daiakuron to shed Daiakuron of their Golden Power body. Neo Daiakuron is taken care of by the efforts of the Dynobots and the Terrorcons from 2050 and Primacron goes into hiding...

"Megatron Omega takes in Golden Power for himself and evolves into Gold Megatron. Wanting to be the one to recreate the universe in his image, Megatron merges the two Silver Matrices into the Gold Matrix, allowing him to create his version of the Praeter Guard--the New Praeter Guard, made up of seven multi-colored duplicates of himself. Ultimately, the day was saved in an very unexpected way. From the future of the next universe, from a time when the war was over, and the Autobots and the Decepticons had made peace, arrived the spark of Megatron's own future self, who possessed the body of the Green Megatron, and joined Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime and his allies in defeating his past self. The determination Optimus Prime displayed, bravely fighting to preserve his universe despite knowing it was a world in which he was doomed to die over and over again, lit a fire within the despondent Daiakuron, inspiring them to face up to their destiny and accept it, rather than fight it. Soon, Daiakuron returned everyone to their proper time and place, vowing to fight for their universe and all who lived in it until the time eventually came for it to end, but not before erasing the appropriate memories. However, Daiakuron ends up captured by the Straxus Twins, who have a facility creating experimental robotic guardians and seek to take over in the devastation of the Praeter Guard. Soundwave, a member of Daiakuron's Golden Power-imbued followers, plans to bring about the freedom of his leader and the restoration of the Praeter Guard...

"Two of the Straxuses' experiments, Convobat and Megalligator, escape the villains' clutches. Megalligator joins up with Soundwave, while Convobat joins up with Magna Convoy. Eventually, the Praeter Guard is restored, who continue protecting their universe until its end...

"With the fighting finally stopped, there was nothing that lived in the absolute darkness of the void...

"However...

"...A meager speck of life lingers on to cause a subatomic chain reaction, resulting in the Praeter universal cluster being reborn from a single universe to a multiverse of infinite possibilities...

"Approximately 15 billion years ago, the prime universe of what would become New Praeter first existed as an ultra-hot fog of hydrogen energy that was smaller than an atom. Then, it expanded and inflated into proper existence in an event that we now call the Big Bang. After a billion years of stellar expansion, galaxies of stars with orbiting planets were created. On several of these new worlds, life gradually evolved thanks to the Zodiac Energy, the combined Star Power from the previous reality now scattered into a supermineral across the cosmos from the violent birth of the universe, eventually and miraculously bringing forth sentient beings in many shapes and sizes. First among these new lifeforms were energy beings without physical form who existed outside of normal space-time, who quickly developing into highly-advanced creatures with tremendous power and intellect, such as the Vok of the Nexus Zero Nebula. Located deep within the galactic center of the Milky Way Galaxy, the Vok acted through the will of the One, whom they knew as both the "Source" and the "Core", conducting strange experiments on primitive worlds across the known universe where they influence the evolution of other races to create perfect, advanced societies. These projects are also a means for the Vok to atone for the tragedy and destruction that they had wrought upon the galaxy in their previous life as the Swarm, actions that were committed in the Vok's past, in a future yet to come. But, not all of the Vok's experiments would contribute to their overall goal--as the first intergalactic civilizations emerged, the Vok would encounter a fledging race at the very edge of the galaxy known as the Celestials, a matriarchal hive-culture of living statues. The Vok became the Celestials' benefactors, teaching them how to manipulate the energies of the universe-creating Zodiac all in accordance to the One's Grand Design. However, they were horrified to realize that the Celestials were a race of egomaniacal conquerors who knew only to crush those they perceived as weak. Ignoring the Vok's teachings of peace and balance, the Celestials would use their new cosmic powers to forge their own empire, allowing them to worshipped as gods by many alien cultures are then forcibly assimilated under their rule...

"Only a handful of beings from the previous universe survive the universal transition, referred to as "Those Who Came Before", including Daiakuron, Primacron, and a trio of beastmen only known as the Three Wise Ones, who go on to settle on the barren planet Beest and turn into a verdant paradise, where they would become the progenitors of the Beestians. As Primacron entered this new universe, he established his new lab on the ancient planet Methuselah, where his scientific curiosity gave birth to untold amount of discoveries in the more empty days of the early cosmos. Primacron is able to successfully tap into the combined life energy of the previous universe through Angolmois Energy to populate much of the universe with various robotic lifeforms. While organic life evolved through carbon bonding, mechanical life, thanks to Primacron's machinations, evolved through the naturally-occurring interaction of gears, levers, and pulleys, dubbed "Atechnogenesis" by scientists. Advanced forms of atechnogenesis sees technology overrun nature as organic lifeforms modify their own bodies with machinery, bringing forth technorganics--lifeforms made up of flesh and metal merged together at the cellular level. In the meantime, Daiakuron rematerialized in this new realm. To bring light to the new universe under the One's name and ensure the terrible future they once saw never comes to pass, Daiakuron began their eternal quest to maintain balance within it, passing freely across the stars, experiencing what would arise...

"For many eons, Daiakuron traveled across the universe, making contact with numerous worlds and their inhabitants. They were amazed by their observations, but they lived in isolation. Without any of the creatures they've encountered equaling their power, Daiakuron questioned their existence, beginning to converse with themselves. Why did they exist, and What was their purpose, and if there was such a thing Who had set it all in motion and Where were they and How? However, Daiakuron was alone in the universe, with no equal to answer these questions but themselves. In time, eight personas begin to form within Daiakuron's mind, with each of them based on unique aspects of the universe, such as Order, Chaos, Space, Wisdom, Nature, Transformation, Knowledge, and Death. While the personas were one being in the form of Daiakuron, the act of division separated them into eight viewpoints whose opinions, insights and feelings began to grow ever more divisive and irreconcilable, until they all became entrenched in their views and unable--even unwilling--to see any of the others' side. And the more they argued, the more Daiakuron began to feel divided in both mind and spirit, until they divided in form as well...

"Following Daiakuron's fragmentation, the eight personas gained physical forms of their own as cosmic entities who each represented an abstract facet of reality. The first was Primus the Lifegiver (lord of light, order, and creation), and after him came Unicron the Chaos-Bringer (lord of darkness, chaos, and destruction), then Atlas the Transmutator (lord of space, matter, and transmutation), Solomus the Wise (lord of wisdom, time, and enlightenment), Gaea the Seeder (lady of nature, growth, and balance), Adaptus the Shaper (lady of change, revolution, and transfiguration), Epistemus the Thinker (lady of knowledge, comprehension, and technology), and lastly Mortilus the Deathbringer (lady of death, cycles, and judgement). Together, they were known as the Guiding Hand...

"For a short time, the Guiding Hand continued Daiakuron's original mission of charting the universe and overseeing all events within it. But soon they began to argue over what they should do. Unicron wanted to eliminate anything and everything he deemed as imperfections, seeing the many celestial bodies that dotted the vastness of space as nothing more than obscurations to its beauty and sought to devour it all until there was nothing but an infinite void at the end of all things. Adaptus believed that total pacifism and utopianism will only bring stagnation to alien races and prevent them from evolving to a higher state of being, and so, sought to promote conflicts and wars among them in order to put them through a constant state of technological and spiritual development through warfare and bloodshed. The other six were just content to let things to work at their own pace and that they should only step in if absolutely necessary. It didn't take long for their battles to take on physical form and thus, the Theomachy began...

"The battles between the members of the Guiding Hand waged across the universe for countless ages. In the Theomachy's early days, Epistemus was struck down in the midst of the conflict's first shots in a vain attempt to calm things down between her siblings, her body utterly obliterated and casted out throughout the void never to be reunited. However, Epistemus's consciousness survived, drifting helplessly in the depths of space until it finally sat at a distant corner of the Milky Way Galaxy. There, the knowledge goddess's lifeforce gradually accrues a collection of space junk around it. As its gravitational pull increases, more and more drifting shipwrecks and space junk gather around it, eventually forming an artificial planetoid that would known in the far future as Junkion...

"During the Theomachy's middle stages, Adaptus mainly fought against Gaea, who opposed the former's stance on evolution through conflict, as the nature goddess believed that it would eventually lead to the destruction of all life. The two goddesses fought long and hard against one another until Gaea eventually managed to get the upper hand on Adaptus by locking her away in the form of a mechanical planet. Unable to transform back into her regular form, Adaptus' planet mode drifts across space, becoming the rogue planet that would be only known by its future inhabitants as Planet X...

"In spite of Adaptus out of the way, Unicron remained a threat to the universe's stability, and battled Primus, Atlas, Solomus, Gaea, and Mortilus for eons. Despite the Chaos-Bringer being the mightiest of all of the Guiding Hand, he couldn't match the united five in combat. Inspired by how Gaea managed to lock away Adaptus within the form of a planet, Unicron sought to this tactic to reduce the number of his enemies. Through clever tricks and traps, Unicron was able to lock away Atlas, Solomus, Gaea, and Mortilus within the forms of planets that would be known in the distant future as Gigantion, Velocitron, Eukaris, and Combatron respectively. The only one left standing between Unicron and his quest for universal destruction was Primus himself...

"As the only two members of the Guiding Hand left, Primus and Unicron battled throughout the universe for centuries, though being in every way equals, neither brother could gain the upper hand for long: for every galaxy Primus saved, another was lost to Unicron's hunger, until literally millions of galaxies had been lost. During their duel, Primus's and Unicron's Angolmois blood was spilled on several occasions. It was spread across the universe, being seeded on many worlds, especially on those that supported life. Their blood would be known as the rare elements of Energon and Dark Energon respectively...

"The Theomachy continued for hundreds of millions of years until after eons of fighting, Primus eventually came to the realization that neither he nor Unicron would ever prevail, and that if they continued fighting...they would destroy everything...

"And so, as Primus continued to battle his brother, he quietly began to channel the raw power of the Angolmois running through his being. After a hundred thousand years of preparation, he demonstrated that power by turning his very lifeforce as a vessel of unfathomable power known as the AllSpark. With the AllSpark, Primus brought forth Heralds to travel on ahead of him to distant worlds to prepare the mortals of the universe for the coming of Unicron. Every single one of these Heralds were a being of light in the image of their creator and each of them represented an aspect of Primus himself. The first Herald of Primus to be birthed from the AllSpark was Primon the Alpha Prime, a brave and valiant leader who wielded the legendary Sword of Primus and a unrelenting force of good who sought to bring peace and justice across the universe. Following him were the Twelve Lords of Light, a council of twelve who each represented aspects of their creator's divine mind and his thoughts on the universe, who could serve as Primon's greatest generals and advisors in times of war. Among their ranks were Ariex, Taurotron, Geminator, Cancix, Leonicus, Virgol, Libras, Scorpius, Sagittarii, Capricun, Aquator, and Piscor. Behind them, the armies of light were assembled. The First Children of Primus would be forever known throughout history as the Covenant. The Covenant's function was to bring relief to the victims of Unicron when all chance of victory seemed lost, forcing the Chaos-Bringer to fight a war on multiple fronts that'll greatly deplete his strength in time, thus giving Primus the chance to eventually defeat him. Yet Unicron countered his brother, seeing through his plan. Using the dark powers of his own Angolmois, Unicron created his own Heralds from his Anti-Spark who would come to be known as the Servants of Unicron, who waged war against the Covenant on behalf of their master, and once again their battles dragged on across the never-ending sea of stars...

"And thus Primus determined it would be better if they withdrew from battle. He tricked his brother by abandoning the physical universe and fleeing to the astral plane, drawing Unicron with him. And just as his brother resumed their conflict mind against mind, Primus immediately retreated back to the physical world, boasting to Unicron how he'll soon have the upper hand. Unicron, thinking that his brother was onto something, arrogantly followed Primus back to the real world, only to have both of their essences manifest within a barren asteroid, where Primus hoped they might be forever bound and thus their devastating conflict would be contained...

"However, unknown to Primus, this would fundamentally alter the nature of his future battles against Unicron and will forever change the course of history..."

---

Author's Notes: First introduced in Issue #61 of Marvel's Transformers comic book, the One is an extradimensional being from before time, responsible for creating Unicron (boo!) and then cutting him in half to create Primus (yay!)

The One's purpose as the sentient core of the "primordial multiverse" is a slight reference to the Precursor World (also known as "Zenshi Sekai" in Japanese) from e-HOBBY's Transformers Legends Spin Off line of exclusive toys and Generations Selects manga, which told the story of the world that predated in the known world in the Japanese G1 cartoon continuity, where it was defended by the Primus Vanguard, a team of warriors from seven dimensions led by a younger Primus against the forces of evil. My interpretation of the Generations Selects manga's events has some minor changes to fit into my continuity, such as replacing Primus with Daiakuron, replacing the Vok with the Elder Gods from IDW's Infestation 2, and renaming the Primus Vanguard "the Praeter Guard".

The names of the other multiverses are based on the universal stream designations conceptualized by the Collector's Club stories. However, termination of the partnership between Fun Publications and Hasbro at the end of 2016, new continuity families introduced after 2016, such as Cyberverse and Earthspark, do not possess in-fiction universal stream designations and likely never will. So, I decided to give them their own designations--Cyberverse having Kaccus (taken from the Latin term "Casus", meaning adventure as a reference to Cyberverse's rebranding as Transformers: Bumblebee Cyberverse Adventures for its final two seasons) and Earthspark given the designation Retra (which is an anagram of Terra). For those who don't know the official universal stream designations mentioned in this chapter, the following are:

• Primax - the Generation 1/Beast Era continuity family.

• Viron - the 2001 Robots in Disguise continuity family.

• Aurex - the Unicron Trilogy continuity family (Armada, Energon, and Cybertron).

• Tyran - the live-action movie "Bayformers" continuity family.

• Malgus - the Transformers Animated continuity family.

• Uniend - the Aligned continuity family (Prime, War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron, Rescue Bots/Rescue Bots Academy, and RID 2015).

• Fornax - the Kre-O continuity family.

• Iocus - home to forgettable side-merchandise like Hero Mashers, Bot Shots, Construct-Bots, Battle Masters, and Attacktix.

• Nexus - the technologically advanced cluster where the TransTech world of Axiom Nexus resides.

• Quadwal - the "real world", in which Transformers exist primarily as toys.

• Yayayarst - home to the Go-Bots of the comet city of Botropolis.

• Cymond - the continuity family of various TakaraTomy non-Transformers super robot franchises, including predecessor series Diaclone, Microman/Micro Change, Diakron, Kronoform, and sister series such as Zoids, Starriors, and the Japanese-exclusive Brave (Yuusha) Series (Brave Exkaiser, The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird, The Brave Fighter of Legend Da-Garn, The Brave Express Might Gaine, Brave Police J-Decker, The Brave of Gold Goldran, Brave Command Dagwon, The King of Braves GaoGaiGar, Betterman, etc.).

• Gargent - the GoBots continuity family, home to the Guardians and Renegades of Gobotron.

• Lukas - the Star Wars Transformers continuity family, where the Jedi battle the Sith using transforming mecha.

• Rovio - the home of Angry Bird Transformers, where the dimensionally-displaced AllSpark (or "EggSpark" as it's called in this world) accidentally changed the natives of Piggy Island into the Autobirds and Deceptihogs.

• Xobitor - the Robotix continuity family, home to the Protectons and Terrakors of Skalorr.

The Beyondverse's universal stream designation "Praeter" is taken from the Latin term meaning "beyond; over, more than in quantity or degree".

The Omniversal Matrix, briefly mentioned once or twice in the original Marvel Transformers comic book, has never been properly explained to this day. Here, think of it as something like Asgard or Mount Olympus, home and resting place of the gods, along with some aspects of the Force from Star Wars, with its mysterious cosmic power being used to forge the Star Powers from Generations Selects, the universe-creating Zodiac from Transformers Zone, and Angolmois Energy, which is the lifeblood of Daiakuron and the Guiding Hand in my universe.

Daiakuron was mentioned in the Transformers vs. G.I. Joe comic book as a living transforming world created by an ancient alien civilization of fifth-dimensional beings only known as the Makers (who hardcore Transformers fans will better remember as the Quintessons in other continuities) that was responsible for the creation of Primus/Cybertron, Unicron, and Atlas/Earth. Fun fact, Daiakuron's name is actually the Japanese pronunciation of Diaclone, the Japanese toyline from the toys that would become the first Transformers were taken.

Written by H.P. Lovecraft as part of his Cthulhu Mythos, the Elder Gods were originally depicted as benevolent god-like deities who were in opposition against Cthulhu and the other Great Old Ones. However, in Transformers fiction such as Collector's Club Cybertron comics and IDW's Infestation 2, they're often depicted as evil eldritch beings like most of Lovecraft's Great Old Ones and Outer Gods in his stories.

The Elder Gods' servants, the Ebon Knights, were first referenced in Alignment, an unofficial novella written by long-time Transformers author Simon Furman, designed to tie up the loose threads left over from the Generation 2 comic book, and to bridge the gap between Generation 1 and Beast Era. However, it's largely considered to be secondary canon or non-canon due to it being written without Hasbro's approval.

Appearing in the G1 Season 3 episode "Call of the Primitives", Primacron was introduced as an alien monkey scientist responsible for creating Unicron and his robotic assistant, the Oracle, was the original source of the Matrix of Leadership, the only thing capable of defeating the Chaos-Bringer. In the Transformers Legends Spin Off and Generations Select manga, which told the story of the Primus Vanguard and the origins of the Japanese G1 cartoon continuity, it would be revealed that the Oracle was actually the cartoon's version of Primus and that Primacron was originally his pet who gained sentience and would betray his master to recreate the universe under his own rule, only for Primus and Unicron eventually rebel against him. In the Beyondverse, Primacron's story is heavily inspired by that with notable differences, such as he's Daiakuron's former aide instead of their pet, taking allusion from Lucifer/Satan from the Bible and Paradise Lost.

First introduced in the very first issue of the Marvel comic book, Atechnogenesis (most likely named after the real-life Abiogenesis, the process by which life evolved from non-living matter) is the secular scientific explanation that life on Cybertron sprang up through the naturally-occurring interaction of gears, levers, and pulleys. However, with the introduction of more popular Cybertronian origin stories involving Primus, Unicron, and the Quintessons over the years, Atechnogenesis has been largely forgotten about aside from a brief mention here and there. Japan actually developed a much more detailed Atechnogenesis origin for Cybertronic life in "A Birth of Planet Saybertron", one of Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers's pre-movie magazine supplements which told the story that Cybertron originally began life as a highly-advanced space station that slowly developed a will of its own and sought to expand itself by creating mechanical life.

No relation with the two respective alien races with the same name from Marvel Comics or the original Star Wars Expanded Universe (now considered "Legends"), the Celestials are heavily inspired by the race of multi-dimensional beings with the same race who were mentioned in the IDW Beast Wars Sourcebook and the Dolems, an original alien race in Kira444's fanfiction series Transformers Titan which takes elements from both the Vok of Beast Wars and the Keepers from the defunct Dreamwave Production's and ibooks's disappointing and ill-received Transformers novel trilogy (consisting of Hardwired, Annihilation, and Fusion).

The Guiding Hand's roster includes Gaea and Atlas, based off of DeviantArt user RexBlazer1's interpretation of the characters if they existed in Transformers Animated. I also recommend you guys go check out either his gallery or his YouTube channel.

Angolmois Energy was introduced in the Japanese-exclusive animes Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo, with it being explained that it was the lifeblood of Unicron the Chaos-Bringer that spread across the universe following his destruction (This was before the introduction of Dark Energon, just so you know). It would be further explained in the Transformers Legends/Generations Select manga that Angolmois actually originated as a power source created by the Oracle (the G1 cartoon's version of Primus) and it would be taken from him by his pet turned traitorous scientist Primacron, who would use it to create Unicron. In my continuity, Angolmois is the aforementioned lifeblood of Daiakuron and the Guiding Hand, with Energon and Dark Energon being lesser energized versions of it and the energy would also be used by Primus to create the AllSpark, who would then use it to create the Transformers.

Primon, also known as Alpha Prime, originally appeared in Part 4 of the Transformers G1 cartoon Season 3 premiere "Five Faces of Darkness" as Rodimus Prime voyaged into the Matrix, where he was referred only as "Ancient Robot" in the episode's script dialogue. Just like with the Omniversal Matrix, not much is known about Primon. All that we know it is possible that he was the earliest documented Matrix-bearer who not only predated the Thirteen Primes, but also may have predated Cybertron's creation itself.

The Covenant (Ariex, Taurotron, Geminator, Cancix, Leonicus, Virgol, Libras, Scorpius, Sagittarii, Capricun, Aquator, and Piscor) first appeared in the 3H Beast Era comics part of BotCon's exclusive stories in the 90s and early 2000s, where they were created by Primus as prototypes to the Cybertronians and were destined to fight against Shokaract, a powerful Predacon warrior from the future who channeled the power of Unicron himself.

Chapter 2: Chapter I: The Age of the Covenant (Cybertronian Creation Myth)

Summary:

Here's Chapter 1 of Legendarium, exploring what Cybertron was like before the creation of the Transformers.

Approx. 12,500,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Primus imprisons himself and Unicron within the core of a barren planetoid orbiting within a planetary nebula in the Milky Way Galaxy's Delta Quadrant, both weakened and separated from their energy forms, their Heralds and armies. For millions of years as they recover their strength, the planetary nebula around them begins to coalesce into a system of planets and moons, with their prison accreting planetary material as the eons pass. This star system would be known as the Hadean System, with Primus's and Unicron's planetary prison becoming the fourth planet that orbits its star.

As their strength recovers, their Angolmois Energies reacts with the minerals forming within the planet, producing crystalline energon deposits that grow and spread throughout their prison, giving them a dim awareness of their surroundings.

Approx. 12,250,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

After eons of searching the universe, Primon discovers his creator's prison, drawn by the growing signal of Primus's energon signature. He summons his twelve siblings and their forces from across the universe to join him, recognizing Unicron's dark energon signature within the planet that also imprisons Primus.

Alerted to the reunification of the Covenant, the Servants of Unicron converge on the prison of the two brothers of order and chaos to rescue their master, engaging their opposite numbers in combat. Their titanic battle is enough to shake the entire Hadean System and destroy entire worlds. With Scorpius leading their frontlines, the fighting forces of the Covenant battle against the heralds of the Chaos-Bringer head on, while Ariex single-handedly guards the way to the fourth planet to prevent the enemy from freeing Unicron and Primon works on a plan to neutralize the enemy. Scorpius lives up to his name "Flamebringer" as he uses his fiery flail to vanquish much of the Servants' strongest warriors. The remaining Servants of Unicron, outnumbered and outmatched, surrender to the Covenant and are stripped of much of their dark cosmic powers by Primon in a cosmic ritual, forcing them to live out the rest of their pitiful existence like the mortal lifeforms that they and their master so hated. Using his tremendous strength, Leonicus throws the former Servants out of the Hadean System and into deep space. Victorious, the Covenant cement themselves as warriors of legendary status.

The Covenant descend to the surface of the planet where they enter its underground, going through seemingly endless tunnels until they reach the core, where they find Primus's AllSpark and Unicron's Anti-Spark trapped within. They are able to make contact with Primus through the AllSpark, who congratulates them for their victory over the Servants of Unicron. He then explains to them that while Unicron is neutralized for the moment, he fears that he'll eventually regain his strength and escape from his prison in order to continue his plans of universal destruction. He then reveals his "Grand Plan" to the Covenant, stating that the AllSpark will birth Children who'll one day succeed where he has failed, and tasks them with guarding him and Unicron within the core while he reshapes his prison into a living world on which his Children will be able to thrive.

The Covenant decide amongst themselves to name the world Primordion.

Approx. 12,000,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

As the Hadean System enters the stability of planetary maturity and bombardment from space slows to a halt, the combination of the AllSpark's energies pulsating through the energon deposits networking through Primordion, solar energy from the star, and the chemical composition of the planet, its oceans and atmosphere triggers the emergence of primitive life, at first simple cells able to feed on the energy of Primus, but gradually evolving into ever more complex forms.

The Covenant detects this new life, wondering if these are the children their creator had spoken of. Virgol, Libras, Sagittarii, Capricun, Piscor, Geminator, and Aquator each become entranced by the steady evolution of these children of their god and their growing complexity and diversity as the ages pass.

Approx. 11,500,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Primus completes the reformatting of the planetary core into a metallic chamber called the Ignition Chamber, in which his essence resides into a spark core in which he can be protected and also to keep Unicron's dark essence at bay. Ribbons of living metal (scientifically referred to as "sentio metallico", also known as "cyber-matter") begin to snake out from the Ignition Chamber along the earlier energon pathways, gradually cyberforming the planetary interior.

Approx. 10,750,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Piscor discovers primitive multicellular life in Primordion's oceans: soft-bodied energon feeders growing on the crystalline submarine energon webs, and large predators preying on the energon feeders. As the eons pass, these early creatures evolve into hard-bodied, free-living creatures swimming through the pristine blue waters of the oceans in ever more complexity and diversity.

Photosynthetic lifeforms evolve in shallow coastal waters and tidal plains where energon is less accessible, allowing life to spread away from the energon deposits of the deep oceans.

Approx. 10,500,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

More complex lifeforms begin spreading out of the oceans onto land, first on flood plains and river basins, then spreading up into the highlands. First, photosynthetic life spreads out of the water, following by more animal-like creatures feeding on the photosynths.

Elements of cyberforming from the Ignition Chamber begins to reach the surface, forming veins of metal and energon crystals across the landscape. Several lifeforms on the planet's surface begin to evolve into cybernetic forms combining organic and biomechanical elements as the eons pass, with the Covenant naming these creatures Trans-Organics.

Approx. 10,250,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Deep within the cyber-jungles of Primordion's continents, a race of sentient bipeds begins to evolve. With their bodies entirely made of liquid metal surrounding a organic center, these bipeds, who called themselves the Primordials, were all polymorphic shapeshifters, each of them able to shape their bodies into whatever form they choose. The Primordials soon form their own communities in the jungle and begin to multiply across the planet, developing language and tools. The Covenant are astounded by these new lifeforms given life by the AllSpark, particularly Geminator and Libras, and become teachers to the Primordials, teaching them of the Guiding Hand, the Theomachy, the eternal conflict between Primus and Unicron.

Over the centuries, with aid from the Covenant, the Primordials continued to evolve and grow more wise and knowledgeable, eventually founding an advanced civilization. Revering Primus and the Covenant as their deities, they erect a massive city from the great plains, only known to this day as simply "The First City", which housed towering statues and cathedrals that worshipped their progenitors. They quickly became famous astronomers and explorers across the universe as they were responsible for creating their own form of faster-than-light travel: the Space Bridges. A Space Bridge is a form of interplanetary transport that allows the Primordials to move from one planet to another almost instantaneously without the need for a spacecraft, via a "shortcut" through the extradimensional realm of unspace. Using their Space Bridge Network, the Primordials gather treasures from many worlds, and chart the known universe in their Great Observatory.

As life continued to flourish on Primordion, Scorpius grows to dislike this life, which to him embodies a kind of chaos as much as order that his siblings seem oblivious to. As the eons pass, Scorpius's dislike grows into hatred and darkness in his heart. Eventually, this hatred grows into extreme paranoia as Scorpius believes that the Primordials are tainted by Unicron's influence, fearing that they might one day free the Chaos-Bringer from his prison within Primordion's core and ultimately cause the destruction of all creation. He speaks to his siblings about his thoughts, attempting to convince them to destroy the Primordials before they have the chance to turn against them, but even Primon dismisses his concerns.

After receiving no answer to his doubts and concerns from the semi-conscious Primus in commune with his creator, Scorpius decides to take matters to his own hands. By once again taking up his flail and amassing an army of like-minded followers from within the lower ranks of the Covenant's forces, Scorpius raises his arms as he begins his crusade to wipe out the Primordials. In response, his brethren raise arms to halt his rampage and protect the Children of Primus, resulting in an apocalyptic battle known in the pages of the Covenant of Primus as "Point Omega".

Approx. 10,150,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Point Omega is in full swing as the battles of the Covenant devastate the Primordion biosphere, almost completely annihilating almost all forms of organic and technorganic life on the planet, leaving very few portions of organic matter scattered across the surface, the underground, and even within the core. The Trans-Organic animals that once grazed Primordion's fields for energon are driven to extinction, and hundreds of billions of Primordials are killed in the crossfire with their enormous cities reduced to rubble. Facing total destruction, the surviving Primordials retreat through forgotten caverns into the planet's deep underground to escape the devastation, leaving behind the last remnants of their great civilization and beginning a long devolution into a race of biomechanical energon demons. With their advanced civilization in tatters, the true name of the Primordials is forever lost to history, only referred to as "The Ancients" by their Cybertronian successors.

Approx. 10,000,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

With Ariex, Taurotron, Geminator, Cancix, Leonicus, Virgol, Libras, Sagittarii, Capricun, Aquator, and Piscor fallen to Scorpius and the biosphere of Primordion damaged beyond repair, Primon finally triumphs over his brother, channeling all of his power to the Sword of Primus and strikes it at Scorpius, tearing his entire body into asunder and casting his remains throughout the Hadean System never to be reunited. In the process, the Sword of Primus's blade is shattered, its fragments left scattered across the planet's surface, with a couple even drifting into deep space. While Primon was the victor in Point Omega, he was left completely alone with the rest of the Covenant having annihilated each other in the battle. Not only that, he was left mortally wounded in his final battle against Scorpius. In spite of his fatal injuries, Primon journeyed into the planet's with the remains of his eleven siblings to consul with Primus on what to do next. Saddened by these tragic turn of events, Primus declares that he'll wipe the slate clean and use the AllSpark to create a new race in the place of the Ancients, planning to use the Covenant's remains to construct the templates of said race. He then saves Primon by reformatting his body into a new form: the life-giving supercomputer Vector Sigma, that'll serve as his connection to his Children while he slumbers and keeps Unicron imprisoned.

Under the guidance of Primon/Vector Sigma, the cyberforming of the planet is complete, transforming Primordion into a biomechanical wilderness awaiting the birth of the new Children of Primus: Cybertron.

---

Author's Notes: Here's a full list of Cybertronian time-units and their Earth equivalents in Transformers Beyond:

• Joor: 0.100 Earth seconds
• Astro-second: 0.498 Earth seconds
• Milli-bleep: 86.4 Earth seconds
• Groon: One Earth hour
• Trimara: 7.66 Earth hours
• Orn: One Cybertronian lunar day
• Quartex: One Cybertronian lunar month
• Chord: One Cybertronian lunar year
• Micro-breem: 8.3 Earth seconds
• Breem: 8.3 Earth minutes
• Decivorn: 8.3 Earth years
• Vorn: 83 Earth years
• Ngs: 830 Earth years
• Nanoklik: One Earth second
• Cycle: 1.5 Earth minutes
• Paracycle: 1.25 Earth hours
• Megacycle: 2.6 Earth hours
• Sub-cycle: 11.5 Earth hours
• Solar cycle: One Earth day
• Deca-cycle: Ten Earth days
• Orbital cycle: One Earth month
• Stellar cycle: One Earth year
• Quadricycle: Five Earth years
• Kilocycle: One hundred Earth years
• Meta-cycle: Five hundred Earth years
• Gigacycle: One thousand Earth years
• Ano-cycle: Ten thousand Earth years

For those who don't know, Cybertron was alluded to of originally being an organic planet in Beast Machines. Beyondverse Cybertron (initially known as Primordion) takes some aspects from that, with it being a technorganic world.

The Trans-Organics first appeared in the G1 Season 3 episode "The Dweller in the Depths", where it was explained that they were the Quintessons' first creations before the Transformers. In the Beyondverse, instead of being failed experiments of the Quintessons, the Trans-Organics will be reimagined as prehistoric creatures that roamed the planet before the Cybertronians' evolution.

The Demons originally appeared in Issues #245-247 of Marvel's Transformers as part of an UK-exclusive story arc, with them being later introduced in the final few issues of the US version when Simon Furman became the book's main writer. Future installments into the Marvel continuity, such as the Regeneration One sequel series by IDW, further explained that the Demons, originally known as Primordials, were the first creations of Primus before he made the Transformers as their creator sealed them away underground once he was displeased of their destructive nature after giving them free will.

In the 3H Beast Wars comics, Point Omega was a destined, apocalyptic battle that would decide the fate of the Cybertronians as their predecessors, the Covenant, battled against the Predacon conqueror Shokaract.

Chapter 3: Chapter II: The Age of the Primes (Reign of the Firstforged)

Summary:

Here's Legendarium Chapter 2, telling the story of the Thirteen Primes and how they brought about Cybertron's first era of unification.

Approx. 10,000,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Deep within the core of Cybertron, before Primus could use the AllSpark to birth his new creations, he constructed relics that served conduits to its divine power in order for his Children to reproduce more of their kind. The first relic was the Plasma Energy Chamber, a reservoir of energy to give the new Children of Primus their physical bodies, while his first child Primon's new form as the life-giving supercomputer Vector Sigma provided each of them a thinking mind. Next was the Key to Vector Sigma, which gave its wielder to directly interface their mind with the Master Computer, giving them total control over the entire planet. Lastly was the Omega Lock, a massive device that can only be activated by the four Omega Keys in order to reawaken Primus's power whenever his Children needed him in dire situations.

The new Children of Primus would be spawned from great wells of cosmic energy called hot spots, which were spread across the planet's surface, all of them interconnected to the core. Unlike the Covenant, who were unique digital entities like their creator, nor the Primordials and the Trans-Organics who either were technorganic or organic creatures with natural cybernetic augmentations, the Cybertronians, also known as the Transformers, were entirely mechanical, humanoid robots with a variety of shapes and sizes. To set them apart from other robots, each of these new lifeforms would be given "sparks", tiny pieces of Primus's lifeforce, which truly made them alive. Once their spark burnouts, the Cybertronian's spirit ascends to the afterlife ruled by Mortilus, goddess of death, who would pass judgement on them and decide whether they should be sent to paradise in the Afterspark, be reborn in the mortal realm to finish any business they had left behind, or be cast into the eternal damnation of the Inferno.

Primus designated the first thirteen Cybertronians as great warriors who would unite and lead their people. With the AllSpark, he forges them by exuding thirteen towering spires of living metal from the surface of Cybertron on the planet's north pole, each glowing with an unique polarity of energon. Not only they were constructed from the leftover remnants of the Covenant, they also possessed aspects from every member of the Guiding Hand and the Covenant, including Primon (even Unicron, Adaptus, and Scorpius), in order to better understand how the universe worked. Each of these mechanical beings wielded great cosmic powers that represented major aspects of creation, allowing them to move between dimensions, utilizing sarcophagi that bore each of their sigils as a means to facilitate these quantum jumps. They were Cybertron's first warriors, tasked with the responsibility to guard Unicron within the planet's core. They were the Thirteen Primes.

The first of the Thirteen is Prima, Prime of Light, the very first Cybertronian and leader of the Primes whose body was forged from the remains of the great Covenant hero Leonicus, second only to the Primes' namesake Primon. A pure and valiant warrior of light, he wielded the mighty Star Saber, a sword unlike any other as legend said that its blade was forged within the heart of a dying star.

The second is Vector Prime, Prime of Time and Space, the guardian of the space-time continuum. Capable of opening and sustaining warp gates to the farthest corners of existence, he is equipped with Rhisling: a mystical sword with a blade made of ethereal supermatter, allowing its user to slice the very fabric of reality; and the Blades of Time: a mandala whose configurations could open the ways to all dimensions of the multiverse.

The third is Alpha Trion, Prime of Knowledge, who was the first Technomancer, the first Cybertronian magic caster, and the head recordskeeper of the Primes who was responsible for the preservation of historical events with the Covenant of Primus and the Quill to record the past, present, and future history of Cybertron. Upon his forging, Primus bestowed on him the honor as the guardian of Vector Sigma, the only one to bypass its security systems and activate the Master Computer with the Key to Vector Sigma, allowing him to become one with the nerve center of the very planet itself.

The fourth is Solus Prime, Prime of Creation, the blacksmith of the Primes and the first female Cybertronian. When he created her, Primus gifted her a brain module forged of unparalleled and unique capabilities forged from the remains of Libras, allowing her to utilize the Forge and the Creation Lathe to create many of the Primes' most powerful weapons and artifacts, along with a containment vessel for the AllSpark.

The fifth is Micronus Prime, Prime of Agility, the first Minicon, small Cybertronians that are capable of powerlinxing with their larger "Guzzler" cousins to to impart extra abilities or greatly increase their strength. His relic is the Chimera Stone, which allowed him to powerlinx with his siblings to boost their power and also to copy their abilities for a time.

The sixth is Alchemist Prime, Prime of the Elements, mystical master of the elements, upon who was bestowed the Lenses, which allowed him to see further and deeper than anyone than anyone, in both material and spiritual senses. He possessed the ability to transmute metals and temporarily alter the properties of any object, which made him a master of chemistry who extended his work to various intoxicating beverages that he gained a fondness for. Those who would later be born from his lineage would be the Outliers: Cybertronians who possess remarkable powers over the physical and astral realms.

Seventh of the Primes is Nexus Prime, Prime of Combination, first and greatest of all Combiners, large beings who are capable of becoming several smaller beings by breaking themselves apart and then forming back together as one again. He was able to create more Combiners by unlocking the "combiner gene" in a certain group of Cybertronians thanks to his artifact: the Enigma of Combination, a mercurial instrument of as many shapes and parts as its bearer.

Onyx Prime, Prime of Beasts, is eighth. She was the first Beastformer, Cybertronians who assumed alt-modes that resembled cybernetic animals rather than vehicles and other forms of machinery. A warrior heavily tuned to the spiritual world, she is bestowed with the three-faced Triptych Mask, which allowed her to see into other times and places, thoughts and dreams, and across the gulf of death to the realms beyond.

The ninth is Amalgamous Prime, Prime of Transformation, who was the first to be bestowed the power of transformation by Primus with the first Transformation Cog (T-Cog) forged from what was left of Sagittarii, which allows him to assume any shape or form he can conceive without limitation. His T-Cog would become the basis for future cogs, giving his fellow Cybertronians the ability to transform from robot mode to alt-mode and back. His lineage will be the Shifters: Cybertronians as skilled as transformation and adaptation as their progenitor.

The tenth is Quintus Prime, Prime of Life, the scientist of the Primes. Primus gifted them the Emberstone, a fragment of Primus's own AllSpark capable of quickening life from inanimate materials in order to create allies for the Cybertronians. However, not all of their creations were a success, as they created the Quintessons, one of the most feared races in the entire universe...a mistake they had to live with for the rest of their life.

Eleven is Liege Maximo, Prime of Deceit, the strategist, talker, and arch-manipulator of the Primes who cared for ensuring his people's prosperity. While his chosen artifact were the toxin-filled Liegan Darts, his most preferred weapon was his silver tongue which he used to sway others in his way of thinking.

Twelfth is Megatronus Prime, Prime of Darkness. Darkest of all the Primes, he possessed ideas of order enforced with more direct, and sometimes questionable, violent means. Primus intentionally gifted him this mindset in order for him to understand Unicron if the time came for him to battle the Chaos-Bringer or enemies like him. His artifact was a weapon of untold destruction known as the Requiem Blaster, which can draw power from a supernova to destroy any living thing with a single shot, leaving zero chance at the target's survival.

The thirteenth and last Prime was a lone wanderer who served as the "guiding light" of the Primes, the Godhand of Primus whose true name has been forever lost to the annals of time, only known to us as the Arisen, Prime of Unity. While his siblings each possessed unique cosmic abilities and artifacts, he himself wielded no special powers or weapons aside from his formidable size and strength. However, he put his true talents to work as the mediator of the Primes, serving as the voice of reason among his siblings when they quarrel. Tales about the thirteenth Prime say that he was seen wielding much of the lesser artifacts, such as the Apex Armor: a set of battle armor that enhances the wearer's strength in a variety of situations and is impervious to any attack, and the Terminus Blade: a sword that was the Star Saber's only equal and counterforce as it allowed its user to bend the fabric of reality at their very whim. But it's commonly believed that his most preferred weapon was a simple worker's axe.

Before going on a deep hibernative state within Cybertron's core to birth the rest of the race and keep Unicron imprisoned, Primus bestowed the Thirteen Primes a computer program encoded in a photonic crystal core forged from the very AllSpark itself and filled with his life-giving powers and infinite wisdom that would be known as the Creation Matrix of Leadership, so that he may indirectly help and guide his creations in the future.

At some point after their creation, the Thirteen are present for the first activation of Cybertron's twelve hot spots, which birth the first true generation of Transformers. The first Transformer created after the Primes emerges in the land that will one day become Iacon. This fourteenth Transformer is given the name Autonomous Maximus, an enormous sentinel who the Primes took under their wing as their principal aide. A giant among giants, Autonomous towered over all Cybertronians at the time as he stood in near silence and the depth of his own thoughts. While Autonomous Maximus was always seen as the Thirteen Primes' most staunch follower and servant, they nevertheless treated him as an equal. Later religions will name him an unofficial "Fourteenth Prime", distinguished solely by his unique spark that allowed him to replicate the cosmic powers of the Primes, some say that he may even wield the very essence of Primus himself. Following him, a wide variety of Cybertronians with traits similar to that of the Primes, known as the Firstforged, would rise from the very metallic soil of Cybertron thanks to the life-giving pulsewaves coming from both Vector Sigma and the AllSpark. However, the Firstforged weren't the only ones to roam Cybertron's surface. As they roamed the planet's vast wilderness, they would face apex predators called Sparkeaters, powerful and monstrous beings composed purely of living metal and lacking any form of spark, believed to be twisted afterforging from the hot spots in this first age. Primus intentionally made these creatures to ensure that the Cybertronians don't overpopulate.

Together, the Primes and the Firstforged went on a tough pilgrimage across the planet's harsh terrain, with Autonomous Maximus single-handily defending them from any Sparkeater pack that would try to harm his brethren. They ended their long journey at Cybertron's northwestern regions, where Alchemist Prime used his power over alchemy to built a titanic fortress made of shining refraction crystals known as Crystal City to commemorate Primus. From the steps of their new home, Prima delivers the Prime Pastoral to his people, where they celebrate the Cybertronians' first unification under the newly-formed Dynasty of Primes and it's also believed that during this, Prima held the Creation Matrix in his hand and proclaimed, "We are one. This Creation Matrix shall represent our freedom and it shall be the right of all sentient beings."

The people of the Firstforged were then organized by the Dynasty under the Thirteen Tribes, each tribe sharing aspects with their respective Prime. The following tribes were: 1) the Houses of Light led by Prima, an order of gallant knights who divided themselves under given surnames, many of which are still prominent in Cybertronian society today as the ancestral founders of governmental organizations such as the Iaconian Nobility, the Senate, the Council of Ancients, and the Functionist High Council; 2) the Darklanders led by Megatronus, a tribe of barbarians and conquerors who took their name from the wild and then untamed regions of Cybertron as an reference to their rebellious nature, with them firm believers in the necessity of conflict for evolution; 3) the Flock led by Onyx, a group of beastformer spiritualists who sought to spread their wings out into the cosmos and create new homes for themselves, believing in balance between the organic and the technological; 4) the Radiant Forges led by Solus, a tribe that focused on both smithing and artistry, taught by their Prime to see the beauty in all things; 5) the Enigmakind led by Amalgamous, who believed that transformation was the most fundamental function of their being and are said to be the original progenitors of Triple-Changer/Six-Changer/Multi-Changer technology; 6) the Micron Arms led by Micronus, the forebearers of the Minicon subspecies, firms believers in unity and that they were stronger together as they bolstered the powers of their allies with their abilities; 7) the Liege Centurions led by the Liege Maximo, which was full of great speakers and politicians, and also brought forth some masters of stealth like the Cyber-Ninjas; 8) the Lorekeepers led by Alpha Trion, seekers of great knowledge and maintainers of archives, who believed that everything has future consequences; 9) Gestalta led by Nexus, a group of Combiner teams said to act as middlemen between the different tribes to maintain stability and foster unity; 10) the Adherents of the Moment led by Alchemist, who follow their Prime's way of taking each day as it comes and enjoying every moment you get; 11) the Linearity led by Vector, time-travelling guardians and cosmic navigators who worked to ensure that the flow of history is not disrupted; 12) the Lifegivers led by Quintus, scientists who sought not only to create new life, but also to constantly build and improve upon it, as well as existing life; and 13) the Others led by the Arisen, a tribe that was shrouded in mystery like their Prime, all that we know is that they were total pacifists that were guided by a moral code of sacrifice, unity, and perseverance.

Approx. 8,000,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Firstforged live in contention under the rule of the Dynasty of Primes and the protection of Autonomous Maximus until the distressing revelation that the AllSpark's power, while divine in nature, was not infinite, as the artifact required suitable sources of energy in order to sustain its constant flow of energon. To combat this, 2 means were developed. The first solution was developed by the ordinary Cybertronians and was a sort of mitosis known as "budding", where a Cybertronian rapidly reproduced by generating mass energized liquid metal from their body. However, this gradually diluted the amount of Primus's energy within them, so the method was deemed insufficient and wiped from the Cybertronians' memories by Vector Sigma. The second method was the sacrifice of a thousand sparks among the Thirteen Tribes's ranks once every ano-cycle in order to recharge the AllSpark. This method proved successfully, a silent majority among the Firstforged considered these rituals to be barbaric as they murdered their own kind, but they couldn't do anything about it as they had no other solution.

Approx. 7,450,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

By the will of Primus, who no longer wished to see his Children kill each other to sustain themselves, the AllSpark answered the people's calls for a better solution. One day, before another sacrifice can be done, the AllSpark was able to suddenly rejuvenate itself by causing a supernova nearby and absorbing the leftover solar energies from it. After witnessing this event firsthand, the Primes knew what the artifact needed by harvesting the resources of other celestial bodies. Despite their great power, the Thirteen find themselves unable to reach other planets due to the short range of their quantum jumps. In response to their pleads, the AllSpark gives rise to a new generation of Cybertronians. These new creations were the Titans, city-sized Cybertronians of unspeakable power, "living starships" who are able to travel across vast stretches of space and settle planets on their own. All Titans possessed "Titansparks" which spanned multiple planes of existence, and shared a degree of "interconnectedness" that linked one Titan to the rest. Due to their colossal size, Titans often require Cityspeakers, Cybertronians with telepathic abilities that serves as an intermediatory between the Titan and other Cybertronians, and Titan Masters, diminutive robots responsible for maintaining the Titans' complicated internal systems. Each member of the Thirteen won the allegiance of at least one Titan as their eternal partner: Prima and Emissary, Vector Prime and Tempo, Alpha Trion and Nemesis, Solus Prime and Caminus, Micronus Prime and Prion, Alchemist Prime and Metrobase, Nexus Prime and Devisiun, Onyx Prime and Chela, Amalgamous Prime and Navitas, Quintus Prime and Quintessa, Liege Maximo and Vigilem, Megatronus Prime and Trypticon, and the Arisen and Metroplex. Other Titans that emerged during this era include Brave Maximus, Scorpius, Metrotitan, Lodestar, Croaton, Iaconus, Hydratron, Citadel Secundus, Atlantis, Ogygia, Hyperborea, Lemuria, Terratronus, Glaukopis, Tethys, Galevader, MetroMagnus, Obelazz, Neve, Igneous, Jormungandor, Stormbreak, Blazeroyal, Doradus, Earthbreaker, Leviathan, Powerstream, Pyractilor, Sigillon, Thunderroar, Superlaser, Zweihander, Gigatoron, Hypervern, Gigabrachio, Magnetar, Techtronic, Carcer, Drasilion, Atlan, and many more. While the Titans were single-minded in their pursuits and appear to be detached from the world, according to ancient texts such as the Covenant of Primus and the Keening Texts, it is said that the Titans often fought amongst each other whether over territorial disputes, personal schisms, or differing ideals.

The Cybertronians enter their first wave of colonization and space exploration. Dozens of Titans, as well as hundreds of smaller colony ships using less efficient skip drivers (an older form of faster-than-light travel) are sent off into the cosmos, carrying thousands of Cybertronian passengers. The first colonization fleets begin settling on Cybertron's four moons Hecate, Artemis, Selene, and Cyberion, setting up first scientific outposts and then mining colonies on their surfaces. At these lunar mines, the Cybertronians create and utilize gigantic machines called Energon Harvesters to mine and convert other energy resources such as solar power and fossil fuels into energon, which is then delivered back to Cybertron through the Geosynchronous Energon Bridge to sustain the AllSpark. With the immense power of the Omega Lock, the Cybertronian colonists cyberformed the moons into mirror images of Cybertron. However, as they prepare to expand further into the stars, the Primes make an oath to never use the power of the Omega Lock to cyberform a life-bearing world, believing all forms of life is sacred no matter what. To help them in their efforts, the Primes and their followers use the combined power of Vector Sigma and the Plasma Energy Chamber to create two new Cybertronic races: the industrious Constructicons to build and maintain their nascent civilization on Cybertron and its colonies, and the inquisitive Skyraiders to accompany the Primes out into space in search of wonders.

Approx. 7,000,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

By this point, the Cybertronians have colonized much of the Hadean System, colonizing most of the celestial bodies within the Hadean System. settling on Thrush, Tsathoggua, and barren Dread. Beyond Cybertron, they colonized Belegaer, jewel of the Hadean System, then on volcanic Galleon, the terrestrial world of Thuvia, the wandering moon only known as 221B, the ringed world Aouda Fogg, and on the moons of the gas giant Thulsa Doom, and even establishing a small metropolitan colony named Botropolis on a roving comet in the system's outer reaches.

Approx. 6,500,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Cybertronians begin to explore the galaxy around Cybertron, encountering numerous primitive alien lifeforms in the neighboring systems such as the Aeldari and the Orks, many of whom worship them as gods, others viewing them as teachers and the bringers of civilization. However, they also encounter hostile alien species, with many wars were fought across the cosmos, with Headmasters: combiners between Minicons and normal-sized Cybertronians created in a joint effort between Micronus Prime, Nexus Prime, and Onyx Prime, acting as much of the frontline infantry of the Primes' space armies.

Approx. 6,000,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The War in Heaven: The Cybertronians make first contact with the Necrontyr, a space-faring race of humanoids suffering from generational radiation sickness. Seeking to find a solution to their plight, the Necrontyr hoped to use Cybertronian technology to gain the secrets to eternal life. However, Prima believed that it was unwise for a low-level civilization to have full access to Cybertronian technology and banished the Necrontyr back to their home sector. Unfortunately, the resentful Necrontyr encounter a race of god-like entities known as the Star Gods, who claim to be the forsaken gods of the Cybertronian race and then transformed them into the Necrons, mechanical warriors given the power to enact vengeance on the ones who abandoned them in their time of need. In reality, these "Star Gods" (or C'tan in the Necrontyr language) were actually the surviving Servants of Unicron who were stripped of their great power and exiled into deep space by the Thirteen Prime's predecessors, the Covenant, eons ago, who were able to evolve into beings of pure cosmic energy by siphoning the power of stars in order to survive. Now, they've returned and utilize the Necron race as their proxy soldiers in their ongoing conflict against the Children of Primus, attacking Cybertron and its off-world colonies. This forces the Thirteen Primes to call upon Autonomous Maximus and their Titan fleets to fight back, sparking a war that erupts across the known universe. After thousands of years of fighting, Autonomous Maximus was able to direct all his strength to his fist, allowing him to strike down the strongest of the Star Gods, not only ending the war, but also forcing most of the Star Gods to eternal slumber and causing the Necrons to retreat to their tomb worlds. The few remaining Star Gods that survived the War in Heaven retreat to a far-off region of the universe known as the Forge of Creation, where they find enlightenment as the benign yet indecisive Celestialsapiens.

The body of the Star Gods slain by Autonomous Maximus in the War in Heaven eventually dispersed into pure cosmic energy, which then coalescences into seven singularities that manifest as gem-like objects called the Ores of Desolation by the Thirteen, consisting of the Ore of Power, the Ore of Knowledge, the Ore of Reality, the Ore of Time, the Ore of Light, the Ore of Darkness, and the Ore of Unity. Solus Prime would use the metals of the Ores to create the Primes' most powerful artifacts such as the Matrix Blade, the Chimera Stone, the Apex Armor, the Infinite Combinatoric, the Chaos Edge, the Cyber Caliber, the Quill, the Zeonomicon, the Legendiscs, the Terminus Blade, and the Throne of the Primes. Solus eventually used the Ore of Light to forge a powerful sword for Prima that incorporated the Creation Matrix and dubbed it the Star Saber, as she forged its blade from the core of a star, using its own heat as her furnace. She would also use the Ore of Knowledge to create the Magnificence, a sentient portable supercomputer that can answer any question to those with pure intentions.

After witnessing all of the destruction brought by the War in Heaven, the Cybertronians retreat back to the Hadean System, ending all further plans of expansion and entering an era of isolationism for the next couple billion years.

---

Author's Notes: My version of the Thirteen Primes are heavily based on their Aligned counterparts, with elements of IDW G1 2005-2018 and the Dynasty of Primes from Revenge of the Fallen.

In an effort to promote diversity, I made them Onyx Prime female and Quintus Prime non-binary (referred to by "they/them" in this series, though they will have a feminine appearance similar to Quintessa from The Last Knight). But, Solus is still the direct ancestor to all female Cybertronians.

I've also introduced Autonomous Maximus/The Last Autobot as the Primes' personal student and companion, with him as an unofficial "Fourteenth Prime" as an reference of him being a member of the Multiversal Singularity Thirteen Primes. The idea of him being the Primes' principal aide is based off of Sentinel Prime from Transformers One, only here, he doesn't betray them to the Quintessons.

Sparkeaters were first introduced in IDW's More Than Meets The Eye/Lost Light as monsters that are the stuff of legend, only be unintentionally made into reality due to the time-travelling shenanigans of the Lost Light crew.

Budding is a form of Cybertronian reproduction introduced in Marvel's Transformers Generation 2 comic book.

The whole thing about the Cybertronians sacrificing a thousand sparks to the AllSpark every ten millennia is made to be a reference to IDW's movie tie-in mini-series, the Reign of Starscream, which told the story of Starscream using the sparks of various Autobots and Decepticons in an attempt to create a new AllSpark following Megatron's death in the '07 movie.

Most of the names of the individual Thirteen Tribes from IDW were borrowed from the fan-made webcomic/fanfiction series Autobot Academy written by Stonecrusher and Devaron9. The only tribe name is from proper Transformers canon is Darklanders. As for those who wanna know what Autobot Academy's like before reading it, think Transformers meets My Hero Academia with major to minor references from other franchises such as Ben 10, Godzilla, Doctor Who, Zoids, Bionicle, and even Invader Zim and Super Robot Wars.

Inspired by the ROTF counterparts, the Constructicons originally started out as servants for the original Primes. By the time we get into the Great War, the Constructicons we're better familiar with are actually one of several teams, created from the same protoform schematics over the years.

Skyraider was an alternate name for the Seekers in the Wings Universe, given before the name "Seeker" fully became an official term.

The War in Heaven mentioned in this chapter are heavily based on the Necrons's and the C'tan's conflict against the Old Ones from the Warhammer 40K franchise, with the Cybertronians taking the Old Ones' place in the war.

Also borrowed from Autobot Academy are the Ores of Desolation, which as you can guess take inspiration from the Infinity Stones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Chapter 4: Chapter III: The Expulsion of Unicron (The Unicron War)

Summary:

Here's Legendarium Chapter 3, which tells the tale on how the Thirteen Primes and the Knights of Cybertron fought Unicron the Chaos-Bringer and defeated him.

Approx. 4,000,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

In Cybertron's core, ever since he was imprisoned by Primus, Unicron tested the limits of his prison, searching for any weaknesses and fighting to break free, but thankfully all of his attempts of escape were stopped by Primus. However, the more the Chaos-Bringer resisted his imprisonment, Primus became more and more weaker. As the strengths of Unicron's prison lessened each meta-cycle, his growing influence began to affect Cybertron's biosphere, causing planet-spanning thunderstorms to spawn. His malevolence also caused packs of Sparkeaters go mad and attack the gates of Crystal City, forcing the Thirteen Tribes to defend themselves on a day-to-day basis. Unicron also began mentally influencing Cybertronians to do his bidding, convincing a number of tribesmen that the Primes' rule had become complacent and promised them great power in return for their service. Corrupted by the Chaos-Bringer's dark essence, these "Anti-Primes", such as Syphonis Prime, Vahalus Prime, Shougonus Prime, Tagaris and Aegonus Prime, and Titanis Prime, would rise up to overthrow the Dynasty of Primes, but in spite of the power given to them by Unicron, they were all defeated by the Primes' light. With the Anti-Primes defeated, the Thirteen were alerted by their creator about the dire situation. United as one, the Thirteen journeyed to the Ignition Chamber and battled against the Chaos-Bringer, wielding their unique artifacts and complementary powers to keep him imprisoned within Primus. But even with their legendary weapons, Unicron was too powerful, and Primus remains well below his full strength. Unicron escapes, in the process tearing a hole in Cybertron's southern hemisphere that we now know as the Unicron Eject Site, and retreats into deep space.

Now free, Unicron immediately began to exact his revenge. Inspired by how he defeated Atlas, Solomus, Gaea, and Mortilus during the Theomachy, along with the Cybertronians' transformation abilities, Unicron psionically entraps himself within the shape of a titanic planet-eating mechanical world that he can control, turning himself into a living weapon of mass destruction against Primus. From there, he is able to master his planetary form, able to transform it even further into a gigantic robot form. With his new body, he travelled across the galaxy and harvested many planets seeded with Dark Energon, consuming and destroying various worlds and the inhabitants that lived on them in order to become stronger than Primus. Soon, Unicron revived the inhabitants of the worlds he destroyed into former shells of themselves who obeyed his will and his will only--calling them the Unicronians, dark mirrors of Primus's Cybertronians. His new servants were extremely powerful with Dark Energon running through their veins, but Unicron saw that they were nothing but simple-minded beasts fueled by rage, so he sought to create true warriors with cunning that could lead them to victory. The end result were the Thirteen Blentrons, the dark god's messengers, generals, and heralds who served as the antithesis of the Thirteen Primes that each of them wielded a significant portion of his dark power. Among the Blentrons were Terrachaser, Preda-Mercury, Bubble Lobcrab, Mars Gigarion, Jupithunder, Red Geist, Bullranus, Wildepluto, Neptempus, Elphaorpha, Rartorata, Drancron, and finally Sideways, who was the closest incarnation to his creator as his avatar.

The Chaos-Bringer was coming, and Primus knew it. But to transform meant the destruction of all those who lived on him, so Primus gave the Thirteen Primes the task to train the unprepared Cybertronian civilians to assist them in the incoming battle, so that together they could fight off Unicron's evil. Overnight, the Dynasty of Primes called for a hundred Cybertronians from each of the Thirteen Tribes to gather at the Citadel of Light, Crystal City's capitol building, to settle down to learn their abilities under the Primes' supervision, to train and to strategize for the coming conflict with Unicron. They split into three natural teams with each led by a certain number of Primes who help in specific battle tactics: "Warriors" (Prima, Vector, Onyx, Amalgamous, and Megatronus), "Strategists" (Trion, Micronus, Quintus, and Maximo), and "Free Agents" capable of direct battle or more subtle/varied attacks (Solus, Alchemist, Nexus, and Arisen). Many strategies were discussed and abandoned. They would also upgrade many Cybertronian trainees and Titans with better weapons and armor. Most notable being the Titan Brave Maximus, who was heavily modified by Vector Sigma into a "Double Headmaster", his body becoming much larger than it ever was before, with his head being formed from the standard-sized Cybertronian warrior Plasma, whose head was also formed from a tinier robot, a Titan Master named Brave.

It was in this period that Solus Prime crafted more artifacts from the metals of the Ores of Desolation to aid their fight. Her most infamous creation being the Requiem Blaster forged from the Ore of Power, which she gifted to Megatronus Prime. While she was hesitant to give him such a device with unimaginable power, she firmly trusted him as he resisted the temptations of his inner demons. Megatronus Prime would gain deep affections for Solus because of this kind gesture, softening his hard edges, though inflating his already great ego.

As time passed, the Cybertronian civilians who were trained under the Thirteen Primes were slowly transformed into mighty warriors and soldiers, becoming known as the Knights of Cybertron, a legendary order of elite guardians who pledged to defend Cybertron in the name of the Primes with their warrior-priest armies and fleets of Titans. Amongst their number were great warriors from throughout the Thirteen Tribes, from the Houses of Light to the Others, such as Primal Major, Infinitus, Omega, Eucryphia, Fortress X, Sky Saber, Hexadeathimal, Kelef, Steelbane, Skullitron, Dragonicus, Stormreign, Thunderhowl, Honorsrite, Victus Scar, Sentius Nobilius, Necro, Dynamus, Sovereign, Celestion, Raystorm, Archangel, Safeguard, Duke Fire, Gredator, Samuraid, Exkaiserus Rex, Solaris Fighbird, Dagarn Legendary, Liner Gaine, Jack Decker, Goldrayo, Dagwon Convoy, Grand Genesis Galeon, and many more, with several of them being given the ability to combine into the beastly Dragonstorm thanks to Nexus Prime's Enigma of Combination. Prima would personally hand down the title of the Knights' leader to his and his siblings' die-hard companion, the humble giant Autonomous Maximus.

Thankfully, Unicron's return wasn't immediate as he was far away from Cybertron, giving the Primes enough time to prepare. For the next 49 years, the Thirteen Primes lived in relative peace, training and preparing the Knights for combat under the guidance and watchful presence of Vector Sigma.

On the 50th year, Unicron came down upon Cybertron in his planet form, unleashing endless hordes of his sycophantic minions from his maw. The Unicronian Army led by the Thirteen Blentrons brought chaos and death across Cybertron until they were halted by the combined forces of the Thirteen Primes and the Knights of Cybertron. He was forced to stop his attack when he saw that the Thirteen leading the Knights against his dark acolytes, with much of his armies left decimated in the initial assault.

Surprised and outraged by the defiant of these lesser beings, Unicron transformed into his robot mode and walked upon Cybertron's surface, causing untold death and destruction with every step. The Primes and the Knights directly attacked the enormous Chaos-Bringer, but all of their attacks were repelled by Unicron's defenses and many Knights and Titans fell in battle, including Alpha Trion's partner Titan Nemesis, who was destroyed when he sacrificed himself to protect his comrades from one of the Chaos-Bringer's most powerful attacks. The battle then proved to be far more hellish and terrible than they had imagined in all their training, as Unicron unleashed his Dark Energon aura upon the Thirteen and the Knights of Cybertron. Unicron's mere presence crushed all their hopes and dreams nearly drowning their sparks in despair and darkness, allowing them to be easily outnumbered and outmatched by the Unicronians. Everyone, even the most powerful of the Primes, began to accept their inevitable defeat...

...but then, there was hope. Soon, a comforting aura began to envelop the Thirteen and the Knights of Cybertron and acted as a strong shield against the endless Dark Energon aura waves coming off of Unicron. As they all rose from the ground, the Primes and the Knights turned to see that it was the Arisen, saying the motivational words "Till all are one", who reassured them and rekindled their hope, allowing them to keep fighting, shocking the Chaos-Bringer who saw all of this happening from afar.

As the reinvigorated Cybertronians continued to their battle, Megatronus Prime fired the Requiem Blaster in full power at Unicron, which didn't destroy him, but temporarily stunning the Chaos-Bringer at where he stood. Taking advantage of this brief vulnerability, Autonomous Maximus immediately transformed into his starship mode, allowing a small team of Knights led by the Arisen to board him as he fired a hole into the dark god's leg and entered through it, while the other Primes and Knights continued the fight outside. Within the Chaos-Bringer's interior, the Knights of Cybertron fought through Unicron's antibodies for miles, up his leg and torso until they finally reached his spark chamber. There, the Arisen unleashed the full power of the Creation Matrix of Leadership directly into Unicron's Anti-Spark, destroying much of his body from within. With Unicron's core ravaged from within, the Thirteen Blentrons and the Unicronians suddenly froze where they stood, their bodies turning into stone that then crumbled to dust. As the Primes and the Knights flew back down to Cybertron's surface, they watched as a heavily-damaged Unicron automatically transform back into his planet mode, slowly drifting out of the Hadean System and into deep space, hopefully never to be seen again.

In the aftermath of the great battle, the Cybertronians celebrated their victory over the Chaos-Bringer, but it wasn't without cost. There were many grave injuries and great losses. But worse each of the Primes had been tainted with a touch of darkness by their closeness to Unicron.

---

Author's Notes: The Blentrons originally in the Japanese-exclusive anime Beast Wars Neo as freakish Transformers extremely devoted to Unicron. My depiction of them sees them as a evil version of the Thirteen created by the Chaos-Bringer from his own cells.

In Robots in Disguise 2001's original Japanese release, Car Robots (which took place in the Japanese G1 continuity), Fortress Maximus was a character separate from Generation 1 Fortress Maximus named "Brave Maximus". Brave Maximus's partners in the anime are Plasma and Brave, who would be renamed "Cerebros" and "Emissary" when adapted for Western audiences.

The Knights of Cybertron in the Beyondverse make a lot of inspiration from the ones mentioned in the IDW comics and the Wings Universe, and the Guardian Knights (also known as the Knights of Iacon) in Transformers: The Last Knight.

The last 8 mentioned Knight members are based on the main robot heroes of the Brave Series' main anime installments, such as Brave Exkaiser, Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird, Brave Fighter of Legend Da-Garn, Brave Express Might Gaine, Brave Police J-Decker, Brave of Gold Goldran, Brave Command Dagwon, and King of Braves GaoGaiGar, which all served to take the Transformers' place in 90s Japanese TV screens following the end of Transformer Victory and the release of the Transformers Zone OVA (which was the last original Japanese Transformers animation at the time until Beast Wars II).

Nemesis (no relation with the Decepticon warship of the same name) first appeared in the final arc of the Japanese-exclusive anime Beast Wars II as an artificial planetoid that served as the mobile headquarters for the show's main antagonist Galvatron (who also had nothing to do with the original G1 version). In IDW's Unicron miniseries, Nemesis was re-imagined as an Titan that was turned into an eye for that comic's version of Unicron.

Chapter 5: Chapter IV: The War of the Primes (The First Cybertronian Civil War)

Summary:

Here's Chapter 4 of Legendarium, which tells the story of the First Cybertronian Civil War and the fall of the Thirteen Primes.

Approx. 4,000,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Following their triumph over Unicron, the Thirteen Primes, with the aid of the Knights of Cybertron and their leader Autonomous Maximus as their new vanguard force, begin to rebuild Cybertron from the devastation caused by Unicron and led its surviving people into a bold new era. Like the time before, this era was prosperous with even greater cities and technology, but it lacked the innocence of before. Due to their close proximity with Unicron, each of the Primes were corrupted by a touch of his darkness. At first, the Chaos-Bringer's touch was a contamination that festered silently as they tried to ignore it, naively believing that their strong and pure sparks will eventually overcome this darkness. Unfortunately, the darkness within the sparks begins to slowly influence them as the Primes steadily become drunk on their own arrogance after defeating Unicron and begin to think themselves above all other lifeforms, even other Cybertronians: indeed, it soon becomes common belief that the Primes are so powerful that only a Prime can kill another Prime.

In the long ages following the Chaos-Bringer's defeat, the Primes each turned towards their own interest concerning post-Unicron Cybertronian society. Prima, Vector Prime, and Alpha Trion concerned themselves mostly with government and the planning of rules and order in the civilization's reconstruction period. The independently natured Megatronus Prime, Liege Maximo, and Amalgamous Prime focused on energon stores, mining, and refining, but were resentful of what they saw as the first group's bossy, controlling interference. Micronus Prime, Onyx Prime, Solus Prime, and Nexus Prime lacked interest in the politics of either group and concerned themselves largely with their own creative tasks. While Alchemist Prime, Quintus Prime, and the Arisen traveled freely between cliques, Maximo was the true emissary, always traveling and communicating between all groups and individuals with his natural beguiling charm.

Approx. 3,500,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Megatronus Prime falls in love with Solus, though at first does not return his romantic affections. Her deep friendship with Nexus, Onyx, and Amalgamous begins to fester jealously within Megatronus, fueling the Unicron-taint within his spark. Despite the former's envy, the two would eventually deepen their mutual love for one another by becoming conjunx endura (the Cybertronian term for spouse). This surprised the more distant and insular Primes like Prima, Vector, and Trion, but the later Primes (especially Onyx, Micronus, and Arisen) smiled on the idea and enjoyed seeing their friend Solus happy.

Approx. 3,100,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Unicron-taint within the Thirteen begins to fester. Prima grows to become more emotionally detached from his siblings, considering himself, Vector, and Alpha Trion, being the first created by Primus, as an united force of lawful good, and looked upon the other Primes (excluding the Arisen) as chaotic and potentially evil. Liege Maximo looked up to the stars with hunger, seeing planets and resources ripe for conquest and domination. Megatronus took notice of his more beloved brethren and envied them for their glory, seeing himself as the mightiest amongst the Primes. Things get worse when Prima attempts to assert his authority over the other Primes in an attempt to bring them to an united purpose to stop their Dynasty's growing division, only succeeding in alienating Megatronus Prime, who refuses to bow down to his older brother. This has led to several arguments between the two over the years, with it even going so far that in one confrontation, Prima had threatened to attack Megatronus with the Star Saber.

Approx. 3,050,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

As the Dynasty of Primes govern the Hadean System peacefully, Liege Maximo, who had become more manipulative and self-serving due to the Unicron-taint growing within him, advises Prima to spread Cybertron's "enlightenment" to other worlds via colonization. A massive fleet of Titans embark on millennia-long deep space voyages, intending to find and colonize distant worlds in an attempt at spreading Pax Cybertronia ("Peace on Cybertron") across the cosmos. These planets include Arduria, Caminus, Prion, Lithone, Junkion, Carcer, Neutronia, Gigantion, Devisiun, Tsiehshi, Nijita, and Quintessa; many of these planets, such as Devisiun, are aggressively cyberformed by the Primes' use of the Omega Lock, crushing the native organic populations in the process. The Knights of Cybertron question their masters' increasingly horrid actions, seeing how they disregard their own rule of never cyberforming a planet with life, but nevertheless remain loyal.

Approx. 2,750,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Cybertronians make first contact with a race of technorganic insectoids called the Waruder, who are then conscripted as laborers and advance scouts for the Primes' galactic expansion. The Waruder were given Cybertronian armor developed by the joint efforts of Solus and Onyx Prime, and served as peaceful guardians for them and Megatronus Prime. The Waruder Guard are given command over the Titan Scorpius and are also given a Titan forged in their image named Warudaros, who would become the basis of the Insecticon and Arachnicon subspecies in the near future. Unfortunately, Liege Maximo secretly installs an override in the Waruders' suits, allowing them to be controlled via a special orb.

Approx. 2,600,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Primes conscript a race of semi-aquatic giants that can survive zero oxygen environments called the Quantum Leviathans to better map out the galaxy's hyperspace lanes and discover far-off energy-rich worlds for colonization.

Approx. 2,550,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

As they were fascinated by organic life and became increasingly disgusted by their actions, Micronus, Onyx, Quintus, and the Arisen would separate themselves from their siblings' plans of expansion and live in seclusion on either Cybertron or their respective colonies, only occasionally coming out of solitude to serve in an advisory position. While the remaining Nine Primes continue their mission of galactic expansion, several among their number, such as Vector, Alpha Trion, Solus, Alchemist, and Nexus, slowly become disillusioned with their colonization efforts.

During this time, Onyx Prime and her Titan Chela colonize a jungle planet that they dubbed Eukaris, a safe haven where beastformers could exist free of prejudice and discrimination from their "standard-former" cousins. While most Cybertronian colonial civilizations aggressively cyberformed their new homes, the Eukarians peacefully coexisted with the planet's indigenous lifeforms.

Approx. 2,500,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Urged on by the Liege Maximo, Quintus Prime begins secretly experimenting with the concepts of Cybertronic life in the light of the myriad living possibilities the Primes have discovered in the wider universe to see what the limits of new Cybertronian generations might be.

Approx. 2,200,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

A detachment of the Waruder Guard was sent to explore the faraway Klovian System aboard the two Titans Scorpius and Warudaros as part of the Primes' expansion, but both crews wound up getting stranded. The crew aboard them crashed on the seventh planet Nebulos due to a glitch in Scorpius's and Warudaros's systems after passing through a miasma storm, and while they slumbered, the Waruders inside set up hives to hibernate without relying on their Titans' resources until recovery teams found them.

Approx. 2,150,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Primes attempt to colonize Antilla, a peaceful planet located near the galactic center, with Megatronus Prime and Alpha Trion leading the Thirteenth Legion on this expedition. Their effort to colonize the planet leads into a brutal war against the native Antillans, who were unable to match the power of their robotic invaders. After losing his daughter to the Cybertronians in the war, a desperate Antillan scientist named Primacron discovers a source of pure Angolmois Energy underneath the planet, most likely spawned there during Primus's and Unicron's battle in the Theomachy's final stages eons ago, and uses it to construct a doomsday weapon called the Lightning Bug, which siphons large amounts of psionic energy and converts into Angolmois, unleashing it as a devastating force of raw power. The Lightning Bug's activation decimates much of the Antillan biosphere, destroying almost all forms of life on the planet's surface including the Thirteenth Legion's ground forces. However, the weapon's use wreaks havoc across time and space, the energies released causing Antilla's sun to collapse in on itself, turning into a black hole, causing the trinary star alignment that ended Prysmos' Age of Technology, and the ruined Antilla becomes a pilgrimage site for Dire Wraith death-cults throughout the millennia. With the surface of Antilla forever left as an inhospitable rust desert, the surviving Antillans are then forced to live in domed cities and would gain a deep-seeded hatred for the Cybertronians that would last for the next 2 billion years. As for Primacron, thanks to the Lightning Bug, a spectre of him persists in the incorporeal realm of infraspace, where his overwhelming desire for vengeance against Cybertron would manifest as a harbinger of destruction called Tornedron in the far future, but that is a story for another time...

With the failure of the Antillan mission, the Primes returned to Cybertron and end all further colonization efforts until further notice, as they haven't encountered an advanced race with that much destructive potential since the War in Heaven. In response, Prima calls a Prime Moot at the Citadel of Light in Crystal City, where the Thirteen Primes would reunite since their disbandment in the start of the post-Unicron colonization efforts. Megatronus calls for an immediate retaliation against the Antillans to avenge their fallen soldiers. Prima refuses, saying that the Primes must use to their power to "light the way", not destroy indiscriminately. As he proposes the idea to make peace talks with the Antillans, Megatronus storms out of the meeting in anger towards Prima's pacifistic response. In the aftermath of the moot, Megatronus appeals to Solus and their mutual love and trust to build for him the Devil Z Armor, a heavily-armed variant of the Apex Armor, as a defensive weapon in the possibility of future intergalactic conflict, believing that Prima's narrow-minded ideals of peace will bring nothing but leave Cybertron vulnerable to any potential enemies. He is then approached by Liege Maximo who takes him to Quintus Prime's laboratory complex outside of Crystal City where Quintus shows off their latest creations: the aggressive and bestial Horrorcons. The three intend to perfect the Horrorcons into living weapons that'll be used against any hostile alien threats to the prosperity of Cybertron and its colonies.

Approx. 2,000,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

As the Horrorcons are perfected by Quintus, Alpha Trion accidentally stumbles upon the experiments and brings it to Prima's attention, who views it as an affront on Primus when it's revealed that the special metals used in the Horrorcons' forging were taken from the Plasma Energy Chamber without a full counsel from the Dynasty. As the Primes debate on the experiments headed by Megatronus, Maximo, and Quintus for hours and hours, the Arisen demands for a full vote to decide the issue. Prima, Vector, Trion, Micronus, Alchemist, and Nexus vote to have the Horrorcons be deactivated and put in storage, while Onyx, Amalgamous, Quintus, Maximo, Megatronus, and Arisen vote to keep them as a necessary defensive measure. The vote is even and up to Solus. Despite her dislike for Prima's action and attitude (even telling him to rot in hell), Solus votes on his side anyway. She walks away and covers her face, but her decision hurts Megatronus emotionally when she doesn't support on his stance of defending Cybertron.

With the Horrorcons set to be deactivated, Liege Maximo decides to put his true plans into motion by revealing to Megatronus that Solus had completed the Devil Z Armor eons earlier but had been reluctant to give him such a powerful weapon. Feeling even more betrayed, Megatronus confronts Solus in her workshop and an argument between the two ensues that escalates into a full-on fight, ending with Megatronus, without thinking, killing Solus with a blast from the Requiem Blaster. As she dies in Megatronus's arms, Solus tells him that despite everything, she still loves him before going offline. Her spark would then rise from her body, and melts its way underground to Cybertron's core to reunite with Primus, making way for the planet's greatest spark geyser that would be known as the Well of All Sparks.

Horrified at the results of his anger and jealously, Megatronus flees the scene of the crime to seek Liege Maximo's advice, only to discover his brother betraying him and Quintus to Prima, at which points the true extent of Maximo's betrayal becomes clear to him. Swearing vengeance to those who wronged him, Megatronus denounces his title as a Prime and forever takes up the name "the Fallen". He then flees Crystal City into Cybertron's empty plains, taking with him the Requiem Blaster, the Devil Z Armor, Quintus Prime, and the Horrorcons. The Fallen and Quintus take refuge in the Darklands, where they construct a series of heavily-fortified fortresses in preparation for possible conflict with the other Primes.

Discovering Solus' corpse in her workshop, the other Primes are quick to believe Maximo's version of events which points the finger firmly at Megatronus and Quintus, triggering what will become the First Cybertronian Civil War, first of the devastating Cybertronian Civil Wars. It would be the first, shortest, and most destructive war the Cybertronian race would ever experience, as it only lasted for barely one month, short even by human standards.

Advised by the scheming Liege Maximo, Prima has the Plasma Energy Chamber reactivated to build a new Cybertronic race to act as defenders and warriors against the Horrorcon armies of the Fallen and Quintus: the Protectobots. Meanwhile, the Fallen amasses loyal followers from the Darklanders and a large majority of the Lifegivers, along with several Constructicons and Skyraiders. He also gains the allegiance of several Titans, including Metrotitan, Obelazz, Igneous, Powerstream, and even his own partner Titan Trypticon.

Solus Prime's old tribe, the Radiant Forges, firmly declare neutrality and leave Cybertron completely on the advent of the First Cybertronian Civil War, seeking to avoid conflict and preserving their culture in honor of their Prime. This is commonly believed to be the reason why female Transformers are more common on the Cybertronian colonies than on the homeworld.

In the matter of a week, Prima's forces immediately overwhelmed the Fallen's, which were vastly outnumbered in the initial battles. As evidenced by the Battle of Night's Falling, where the bestial Horrorcon armies are crushed by the Protectobots and Quintus Prime is taken captive by the other Primes. With the Darklands overrun by his enemies, the Fallen and his army are forced to go into hiding in the further reaches of Cybertron's barren wilderness. Quintus is then imprisoned within the planet's underground until the war is over and their fate can be decided by their remaining siblings.

After two weeks in hiding, the Fallen and his Horrorcon minions reemerge. During the Battle of the King's Howl, he unleashes Trypticon upon Crystal City in an attempt to end the war and eliminate all of his enemies with a single stroke. However, Trypticon is defeated by the combined efforts of the Knights of Cybertron and the Arisen's own partner Titan, Trypticon's eternal rival Metroplex. In the battle's aftermath, Trypticon's higher functions are taken offline and his spark is placed in stasis lock. His dormant form is then buried underneath the Toraxxis Plains by Metroplex. With Trypticon gone, the Fallen escapes from Cybertron into deep space with his remaining loyalists by swaying a number of the Knights of Cybertron to his side.

Less than a week later since the Fallen's last appearance, the Primes are visited by a group of repentant Darklanders led by the Fallen's once loyal Skyraider commander Jetspy, who brings them distressing news much to their horror. The Fallen's lust for vengeance has driven him to seek out Unicron's dormant form drifting in space, where he attempts to tap into the Chaos-Bringer's fossilized blood of Dark Energon to create a new army. He unwittingly triggers Unicron's sub-conscious mind in the process, allowing the Chaos-Bringer to reawaken. Unicron approached his former enemy with a compromise, telling him that in return for a new army, The Fallen must forever act as his herald responsible for spreading chaos and destruction across the universe in his name. While some say that the Fallen turned in the blink of an eye, it actually took an entire day and night for him to debate on this decision. But, nevertheless, it did happen as the Fallen realized that with the god-like powers of one of the Guiding Hand at his fingertips, he'll finally be able to prove himself as the one true Prime who'll eradicate the universe of the "infestation" that is all non-Cybertronian life and ensure his dominance over all others. And so, the Fallen's spark was infused with a chunk of Dark Energon from Unicron's own Anti-Spark, fueling his taint within his heart until he becomes completely insane with power and rage. With Dark Energon now running through his veins, the Fallen sought to use the power of the gods themselves to destroy the entire universe and all who lived within it and rebuild it from a blank slate in his own image, his delusions mistaking it to be what his fallen lover Solus always wanted to ensure everlasting peace. He then uses his new powers to reformat his remaining army into power-hungry berserkers known as Terrorcons. After sending out the Fallen and his Terrorcons as a distraction for the Primes, Unicron journeys to the unfathomable outer limits of space, where his presence won't be detected by Primus, beginning an eons-long process of reconstruction within the Chaos-Bringer's systems that will eventually bring him fully online. Horrified at what their Prime has become, Jetspy and several other Darklanders who didn't take the Dark Energon decide to defect back to the Prime Dynasty, realizing that they were on the wrong side after all this time and now wish to do whatever they can to pay for their mistakes.

At the Battle of the Weeping Crystals, with the Terrorcons under his command, the Fallen once again launches an attack on Crystal City, hoping to steal the Ores of Desolation for his goals. Though the Fallen would be driven off-world again before he take them, he was able to successfully take the Ore of Darkness and his Terrorcon armies managed to heavily devastate the Primes' forces, with one even managing to kill Amalgamous Prime. Not only that, but Onyx Prime was left crippled and close to death after battling the Fallen. Not wishing to lose another sibling, the other Primes place Onyx into a state of suspended animation within her sarcophagus to retain her life support functions. With Amalgamous' death and Onyx's injuries, the Primes finally realize that despite of the immortality given to them by the AllSpark, they aren't as invulnerable as they thought. Despite their dwindling hope, this event also redoubles their efforts to see their former brother defeated and made to pay for his crimes.

With the Ore of Darkness in his possession, the Fallen uses its cosmic power to create the Dark Star Saber, a semi-sentient blade of immense power said to be even stronger than the original Star Saber.

Liege Maximo goes to his imprisoned sibling Quintus Prime within the depths of Cybertron and shows them the chaos being wrought by the Fallen and his Terrorcons as they cut a path of destruction across the universe with the power of the Ore of Darkness and the Dark Star Saber, killing scores of innocent lifeforms and assimilating their technology, and leaving the dry husks of planets in their wake, only partially countered by the armies of the Prime Dynasty. Horrified at what they are shown, and believing Maximo is there on the behest of the other Primes, Quintus agrees to use their knowledge and skills to create a new army even more powerful than the Protectobots: the Combaticons.

However, it doesn't take long for the Primes to uncover the Liege Maximo's treachery, when Quintus accidentally reveals the existence of the Combaticons to a visiting Alpha Trion. Having believed Quintus to be nothing more than a misguided idealist, Trion is able to piece together Maximo's schemes: his psychological maneuvering of Megatronus, and his part in the creation of the Horrorcons and now the Combaticons.

The Primes confront Maximo, who admits his treachery, berating his siblings for their simple minds and parochial dreams, and claiming that he is the best of them and should be in charge, in which case they could truly be the gods they were created to be instead of bickering children. Seeing how he was utterly unrepentant for all the chaos he created, the other Primes decide to imprison Maximo and the Combaticons within his partner Titan, Vigilem, whom the other Titans deem unworthy of remembrance and exile into space. A repentant splinter of Liege Maximo's tribe, the Liege Centurions, agree to keep their former leader, his soldiers, and his Titan permanently interred before disappearing into deep space. With another one of their kin having fallen, a sorrowful Prima finally realizes that his complacency largely caused the fall of the Dynasty and has brought nothing but pain and sorrow across the universe. He wonders if he should give up, but the Arisen motivates him to keep on fighting, saying that the Megatronus they once knew wouldn't want him to fall easily. Reinvigorated by these kind words, Prima takes up his sword, knowing that while he can't change the past, he will continue to fight for a better future. Quintus Prime is then released from prison and agrees to help their siblings to stop the Fallen.

The remaining Primes (Prima, Vector, Alpha Trion, Micronus, Alchemist, Nexus, Quintus, and the Arisen), along with the Knights of Cybertron and their Protectobot armies, hunt down the Fallen aboard their fleet with Prima's partner Titan Emissary as their spearhead. Their journey leads them to his next target: the third planet of an uncharted solar system located deep in the galaxy's Orion Arm. According to the pages of the Covenant of Primus, this seemingly unimportant blue world wasn't given a true name by the ancient Cybertronians when they visited the planet long ago. Different accounts to these events refer to this planet as Arda, Gaia, Terra, Midgard, Erde-Tyrene, Urthha, or Energoa, but we now know it as the future cradle of life for humanity--Earth. Once the Primes made landfall, they made a great discovery on the surface: somehow during its formation, the planet had accumulated an unusually high amount of Energon, Dark Energon, and even Angolmois Energy at its purest state, allowing the slow yet sure development of organic life. Not wishing to have their fallen brother to rid this young world's potential, the Primes made their final stand. In the subsequent Battle of the Pit's Yawning, Jetspy uses his ability to open warp gates to teleport himself and much of the Terrorcons' right flank away to battle elsewhere, giving the Protectobots the chance to easily break through enemy lines and emerge victorious, though they are practically wiped out in the effort. Prima and the Fallen clashed against one another with the Star Saber and the Dark Star Saber, the former trying to reason with his brother. But the Fallen was too far gone, as he battled against his brother, he claimed that the reason that Prima alienated from the other Primes was because he too was in love with Solus. While Prima tried to deny these claims, the Fallen took advantage of this distraction, proceeding to cut off Prima's sword-wielding arm and then stab the Dark Star Saber into the first Prime's spark chamber, mortally wounding him. In his final breath, Prima removes the Creation Matrix from the Star Saber's hilt and passes it down to the Arisen, who uses its full power to trap the Fallen in eternal limbo within his sarcophagus, which is then cast out into the void never to be seen again. The Primes erase all evidence of their existence on ancient Earth, so their presence won't interfere with the evolution of the planet's future inhabitants. However, Vector Prime got the feeling that both Earth's and Cybertron's destinies will be forever linked because of this final battle, and he was able to convince the Arisen to leave Brave Maximus to stand guard over Earth and its resources. To ensure that Maximus's power wouldn't be misused by evil forces, the Primes create a number of safeguards, including the OOParts. With their departure from Earth, Brave Maximus is then buried deep beneath the Panthalassic Ocean and the OOParts are scattered across the world, guarded by Jetspy and other sentinels left behind.

Unbeknownst to the Primes, their battle on Earth had caught the attention of the Vok. Believing the energy-rich planet to be a perfect testing ground for their experiments, the Vok set up shop on the planet. Over the many billions years of Earth's development, the Vok would seed it with raw crystalline energon and place several unnatural devices across the planet, including a set of standing stones that would be known as Stonehenge in the modern day, a flying island known as Brigadoon with a powerful monument, a Bio-Dome communication center disguised as a stone circle, an artificial second moon that was actually a Planet Buster designed to sterilize the planet just in case they needed to destroy the planet's surface and redo their experiments, a valley of plantlife designed to metamorphose into a flying Metal Hunter fortress, and a Golden Disk designed to control said fortress.

The remaining Primes and their forces then return to Cybertron in the aftermath of their devastating and bloody conflict. Their hopes are shattered, their great dreams have come to nothing, and several of their number have been killed or lost. As the Primes mourn their losses, the Covenant of Primus decreed that the age of the Dynasty of Primes was now over and that Vector Sigma will no longer be used to create Cybertronic life from the Plasma Energy Chamber. The remaining seven Primes are directed to remove themselves from the pages of history, leaving Cybertron to future generations. The Primes discuss the means of creating these future generations until they determine to activate the Well of All Sparks as a testament in honor of their fallen sister Solus Prime and her love for the Children they had created. The grievously wounded Onyx Prime volunteers to sacrifice her spark to activate the Well, as do Micronus and the Arisen, whose grief over their losses in the war is the greatest among them all.

Before they undergo this, the Primes approach the AllSpark to speak to Primus, saying that they were unworthy of the life granted to them and that the universe has showed them the error of their ways and the untamable power within their sparks. The Primes imprint their coded signature within the AllSpark, hoping that it will create a leader for the future generations to come who will have knowledge of the rise and fall of the Thirteen, so that the mistakes of the past won't be repeated. They then turn over their Artifacts to the Knights of Cybertron, charging them to guard the powerful relics through the dark ages to come. Custody over the Creation Matrix of Leadership also fell into the Knights, who are then given the task of protecting it until the coming of a worthy successor. As for the Ores of Desolation, the Primes and the Knights saw it to that they were hidden where no one would ever find them and abuse their power again. As the ages passed, tales concerning the Ores became shrouded in myth and obscurity, further increasing the difficulty it would take to find them.

Once all were accounted for, the Primes made their choices...

Micronus Prime, Onyx Prime, and the Arisen allow themselves to be absorbed by the Well of All Sparks and become one with Primus in the afterlife, so they could aid in the development of their people. However, according to the Primal Prophecies foretold by the Knights of Cybertron's oracles, it is said that Unicron the Chaos-Bringer would one day return, and only the hero known as The Arisen would sire a "chosen one" who'll slay the devil once and for all and bring peace to the universe, lighting their darkest hour.

Vector Prime removes himself from history by retreating into the timestream. There, he and five former members of his tribe--Safeguard, Scorpia, Autoceptor, Deceptor, and Kaltor--would be recruited by the Chronarchitect, the living personification of time and space itself, to protect the multiverse as the Time Warriors. They were go on many adventures for an unfathomable amount of time, such as saving multiverse travelers from the inhospitable X-Dimension, making peaceful contact with the time-traveling natives of LV-117, protecting the eighth world of the Thistal system from some minor threat, and facing indescribable horrors such as House, the Teeth With No Eyes, the Langoliers, the Beforites, the After Alls, the Antevishnum, the Abbadontus Hunger, and the Ravagers of Time. The Time Warriors' final and greatest challenge was the indescribable Mogahn the Mass, who spread from reality to reality absorbing entire star systems into himself. Their battle raged all over the multiverse but the Time Warriors were on the verge of defeat until Vector Prime, at near-death, entered a pocket dimension now known as the Realm of the Primes and was shown his cosmic destiny. With his full power unleashed and his sword Rhisling in his hand, Vector defeated Mogahn. After that, he departed the group (and his lover Scorpia) and remained in the Realm of the Primes in solitude, where he'll act as a guardian of the multiverse: watching and waiting for the return of either Unicron or the Fallen, using his position outside time to send visions and prophecies to a chosen few throughout history. As for the other Time Warriors, Safeguard returned to Cybertron to reunite his fellow Knights of Cybertron while Scorpia and the others went further back in time, where they would live their lives as nondescript Minicon citizens during the Golden Age.

Nexus Prime and Quintus Prime depart Cybertron into space: the former dividing himself into his individual components (Cannonspring, Mainspring, Pinion, Clocker, and Chaindrive) and entrusting to their unconscious minds the knowledge of the secret places of the Primes and the hiding places of their most powerful Artifacts and the Ores of Desolation, and the latter to discover the wonders of existence and using their Emberstone to seed the universe with new life in reparation for the destruction of the First Cybertronian Civil War.

The Knights of Cybertron would entomb the bodies of Solus Prime and Amalgamous Prime within a fortress called the Primal Basilica, which was built in their honor.

Many of the Darklanders who helped the Primes in defeating the Fallen, such as the Titans Metrotitan and Igneous, were welcomed back into Cybertronian society, but those who didn't were exiled from Cybertron. The Darklander exiles begin searching the galaxy for the Ores of Desolation to continue the Fallen's quest of conquest, but without their master, their mission eventually degenerates into a series of interpersonal conflicts and challenges.

The Titan Emissary decides to memorialize his fallen master by interning Prima's body within himself, and setting off into space. It is believed that Emissary would bury his master on a faraway peaceful planet with lush grasslands and titanic mountains, which would become the future Cybertronian colony of Mons Prima, a purse world for the yet-to-be-formed Iaconian Nobility. Once Prima is laid to rest, Emissary once again departs into deep space until the day he is needed again.

The two remaining Primes--Alpha Trion and Alchemist Prime--remain on Cybertron, purposefully falling into obscurity to protect and guide their new Children from afar until they are able to fulfill Primus's Grand Plan.

---

Author's Notes: The version of the Thirteen Prime's downfall is a mix of ROTF, Aligned, and IDW. I read the final issues of the Optimus Prime comic book back in the day, specifically when it was revealed that Onyx Prime was actually a time-displaced Shockwave who manipulated events in history to remake Cybertronian civilization in his own image. I thought it was an interesting plot twist back then, but after looking back into it and hearing other people's thoughts, it did nothing but give support to the concept of bastardizing the IDW Primes, with all the Primes before Optimus being shown to always be corrupt and militant (which is a bit convoluted when you think too hard) and framing the original Thirteen as ordinary Transformers who believed in their own hype instead of demigod paragons of virtue that they were depicted in other versions of their story. In this story, the Thirteen only become corrupt due to a combination of Unicron's machinations and their own internal vices like what happened in the Covenant of Primus novel, which led to the First Cybertronian Civil War and the Primes do realize their mistakes in the end and try to repent. Going forward in future chapters, the Prime Lineage won't all be full-on assholes or pretenders to the throne, but they won't always be perfect.

The Waruder are the antagonists of Transformers's predecessor franchise, TakaraTomy's Diaclone. When the Diaclone toys were brought to the West for the first years of the Transformers toyline, the Waruder would be reimagined as the Insecticons and years later, as part of 2004's Collector's Edition, the original Insecticon toys would be released with the original Waruder red and black colors as the Insecticon clones Salvo, Shothole, and Zaptrap. Here, the Waruder are re-imagined as a servant race of the Thirteen Primes during their colonization missions.

The Quantum Leviathans mentioned in this chapter are based on the Leviathans from Mass Effect 3.

The name for the Primes' expeditionary force on Antilla is a reference of the Thirteenth Legion, a lost legion of Autobots who colonized Antilla and then suffered from cosmic rust in the classic G1 episode "Cosmic Rust".

The Lightning Bug from "Cosmic Rust" takes elements from the Talisman, a MacGuffin that was part of the ongoing plotline in IDW's Robots in Disguise/Transformers Vol.2, Optimus Prime, and other Hasbro Universe comics.

Primacron, Unicron's creator in the original G1 cartoon, is heavily based on the Antillan creator responsible for creating the Talisman and IDW Unicron. His inclusion in this and mentions of Tornedron will serve to set up my version of "Call of the Primitives" mixed with stuff from IDW's Unicron story arc.

The Cybertronic groups created by Vector Sigma and the Plasma Energy Chamber (Protectobots, Horrorcons, Terrorcons, and Combaticons) will become the namesakes for their modern incarnations.

The Fallen's Apex Armor, the Devil Z Armor, is named in homage to the mysterious energy being Devil Z, leader of the Decepticons in the Japanese-exclusive anime Super-God Masterforce.

Jetspy is based on Jetfire from Revenge of the Fallen and Snoop/Sky-Spy from Challenge of the GoBots.

In the original version of this chapter and in other drafts, I originally planned to have Nexus Prime to be killed by the Fallen during the final battle on prehistoric Earth, but I've decided to scrap it in favor of stepping future stories. I had also planned to kill off Amalgamous Prime on Antilla, then decided to keep him around, only to kill him off later (Sorry Amalgamous :( ).

Vector Prime's adventures with the Time Warriors were originally mentioned in the Facebook edition of Ask Vector Prime, which told the story of the multiversal singularity Vector Prime we all knew and loved in Transformers Cybertron and its tie-ins from the Collector's Club stories. The only revision from official canon is the inclusion of Safeguard, Vector's partner Minicon from Cybertron who I re-imagined as a standard-sized Transformer who's a founding member of the Knights of Cybertron.

The indescribable horrors--House, the Teeth With No Eyes, the Langoliers, the Beforites, the After Alls, the Antevishnum, the Abbadontus Hunger, and the Ravagers of Time--were eldritch entities encountered by Vector Prime, mentioning them in Ask Vector Prime as malevolent entities that dwell in the the void between universes and are responsible for consuming the remnants of destroyed universes and maintaining the overall health of the multiverse, but he refused to further elaborate on his experiences with them due to fear.

The Time Warriors' final boss, Mogahn the Mass, was first referenced in Alignment, an unofficial novella written by long-time Transformers author Simon Furman, designed to tie up the loose threads left over from the Generation 2 comic book, and to bridge the gap between Generation 1 and Beast Era. However, it's largely considered to be secondary canon or non-canon due to it being written without Hasbro's approval, though characters and concepts from Alignment have made into official canon one way or another over the years.

Chapter 6: Chapter V: The Age of Evolution (Cybertronian Prehistory)

Summary:

Here's Chapter 5 of Legendarium, discussing the Age of Evolution when Maximals and Predacons ruled Cybertron.

Approx. 2,000,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Micronus Prime, Onyx Prime, and the Arisen chose to be absorbed by the Well of All Sparks to activate the great spark geyser, which in turn emits a great burst of energy. From this beam of energy comes an endless array of new lifeforms. Before entering the Well, Onyx used her relic, the Triptych Mask, to scan various lifeforms in the known universe for patterns to base the new Cybertronic races on, as the first beings to emerge from the Well of All Sparks were a storm of robotic animals separate from the existing Sparkeaters known as the Mechanimals. All kinds and sizes of them cover the land, fill the air and seas, and go across Cybertron. This happens nonstop for days as Alpha Trion tries to log the different mechanimal species that come out of the Well. These mechanimal species range from simple photosynths and scrapfeeders to the metal-eating Scraplets to the tiny Antroids to the nimble Turbofoxes and the equine Thunderhooves to the majestic Singlehorns to the elegant Deatheagles to the vicious Pnema-lions and Alloygators to the reptilian Jurassanoids to the enormous, underground-dwelling Drillers and their Dweller aquatic cousins.

Three days after the Well of All Spark's activation, normal, humanoid Cybertronians similar in design to the Thirteen Primes and the Knights of Cybertron begin to appear. These second-generation Cybertronians, known then as Primals, could live long lifespans, however, unlike the first-generation Cybertronians who were true immortals who could only be killed in battle, the Primals were more susceptible to disease and spark burnout. All of the Primals were divided into thirteen design lineages in homage to the original Thirteen Primes and their respective tribes: Primans, Vectrals, Trionians, Solans, Microns, Alchemians, Nexians, Onyxians, Amalgamans, Quintans, Maximans, Megatronians, and Optronixals. The first wave of newborn Primals gather around the Well, forming the theocratic settlement of Tyger Pax in honor of the Thirteen Primes. A founding member of the Knights of Cybertron named Omega allows himself to be reformatted by the AllSpark into the titanic Omega Sentinel, his sheer power and impressive size earning him the name "Giant of Tyger Pax" as he defended the city and the Well of the All Sparks from any threat. The last remaining Protectobots, Constructicons, and Skyraiders from the Age of the Primes would blend in with this new generation, acting as teachers, heroes and leaders of the tribes which form over the following eons. The first of the Primals to arise from the Well was Maximus Prime, who was born with memories of the prosperous Age of Primes given to him by the AllSpark as a result of the old Primes imprinting their coded signature on the artifact, so that he may serve as a successor to the Thirteen and pass on their knowledge to future generations. The Knights of Cybertron stand by Maximus Prime's side as his personal guardsmen during his reign. The Artifacts of the Primes fall into legend, though ancient myths and legends of Maximus, the Knights, and other mighty heroes defending the weak and needy with their mystical weapons give some evidence of their continued existence throughout the ages.

Afterwards, a large wave of Titans and other gigantic Cybertronians called Megamasters begin to emerge from the Well of All Sparks. These massive robots, along with the first-generation Titans, broke down many of Cybertron's endless mountain ranges and terraformed the planet's surface into what it is today. This allows the Primal tribes to spread across the desolate Cybertronian wilderness and form their own settlements throughout the planet.

Forged in the image of the Waruder Guard that once served the ancient Primes, the first Insecticons and Arachnicons emerge from the Well and settle throughout Cybertron's badlands and underground caverns, creating hives and small farms of their own. Aside from their insectoid and arachnoid appearances, they become well known for their ability to reproduce through self-duplication, with those spawned from the process often nicknamed "Insecticlones".

On the last day of this first burst of creation, the Well of All Sparks' largest and most powerful creations of all would emerge, magnificent beastformers who are of direct lineage to Onyx Prime--the peaceful Maximals, who largely took the forms of mammals, birds, and marine life, and the savage Predacons, consisting of reptiles, insects, and arachnids. Although they were intelligent and capable of speech, the Maximals and the Predacons adhered to primitive lifestyles; they competed with one another for food and territory in savage duels, and fed off other lifeforms indiscriminately, with some Predacons terrorizing the Primal tribes across the planet. The most fearsome of the Predacons was an imposing robotic dragon known only as Predaking, who struck fear into the sparks of all but the most stout-hearted Cybertronians like Maximus Prime, who was one of the only few standard-formers who bested him in battle.

The second-generation Cybertronians don't realize that they have a T-Cog, leading to the misconception that only first-generation Cybertronians have the ability to transform at the time. Alpha Trion and Alchemist Prime initially wondered if they should tell the new Cybertronians about their transformation abilities, but they decided not to as they didn't want to meddle with the new generation and take over, to be seen as god-like idols who had the power to solve everyone's problems, and they just preferred to watch what is developing on Cybertron in slowed-down time.

Approx. 1,750,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Four massive descendants of Nexus Prime emerge fully formed from the Well of All Sparks, their component protoforms already combined--Construx the Buildmaster, Kaiserblast the Combatmaster, Pentajet the Jetmaster, and Great Dauntless the Assaultmaster. Unlike Nexus and the other Combiners of the past, who were normally a team of several bots who merged together to form a super robot, each of the four were a single mech who controlled four partner drones that they could combine with to form a larger mode. The four Combiners are drawn away from the surface and into the depths of the planet where they are appointed as the Guardians of Primus and take up eternal watch within the Ignition Chamber where the spark-core of their creator resides, entering stasis lock as stone statues.

Approx. 1,400,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Autonomous Maximus decides to step down from his position as leader of the Knights of Cybertron, handing over the burden of leadership to a Council of Knight Grandmasters. Following this, he suddenly disappeared from the face of Cybertron, his exploits as the Thirteen Primes' most staunch follower eventually fading into the fog of myth and legend. Autonomous Maximus's name would be forever lost to history, resulting in incomplete folktales and half-truths referring him as "the Ultimate Warrior", "the Judge of Primus", "the Guardian of the Divine Light", or "the Soul of Cybertron". (Note: One trace of Autonomous Maximus's existence did managed to remain in the modern day, his face became the inspiration for the insignia of the original Autobot Movement, who'll give him the name "the Last Autobot".)

According to what could be translated from largely-illegible texts in the Covenant of Primus's final few pages, it's believed that Autonomous Maximus decided to descend into the planet's depths as a solitary vigil, entering a long stasis until he's called upon to once again protect his people in the prophesized "Day of Final Judgement", where a chosen one would light their darkest hour.

Approx. 1,000,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Dawn of the Age of the Predacons: The Predacons begin to expand to dominate Cybertron, feeding on the numerous other species who struggle to make an existence on the untamed world and marking out their territories in displays of aggression and brutality. Their brutal rule prevents all but the simplest signs of civilization from emerging among the nomadic tribes of Primals that will become the modern Transformers.

Approx. 990,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Minicons band together into tribes against predatory Maximals and Predacons, forming settled communities in hollows in the hills and deep in the crystal forests, learning to build more and more complex tools and discovering how to mine energon from deep beneath the surface of the planet. Over the eons that follow, the various Minicon tribes led by their elders will reach out to one another across Cybertron, forming trading partnerships, alliances and eventually ruling councils. Together, they determine to bring a semblance of order to the wild planet around them.

Approx. 954,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The nomadic Primal tribes, struggling to survive on a Predacon-ruled Cybertron, begin to ally themselves with some of the less aggressive Maximal packs and prides that roam the plains and crystal forests, providing them with energon and shelter in return for defense and early warnings of Predacon and Sparkeater attacks. Over the course of the next several million years, the relationship between the two races will deepen until both work together as equals. In the more civilized times to come, the descendants of these early Maximals in the near future will come to be known as beastformers and otherwise thought of as part of the same Transformer race as the descendants of the Primals.

Approx. 916,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Minicons discover their T-Cogs and how to use them to adapt themselves to a variety of forms to better aid them in their work, becoming tools and equipment. Able to transform, the Minicons are able to move about on the surface without attracting undue attention, allowing them to work on the surface for short periods free from predators. From time to time, they are glimpsed by passing Primals or sensed by their Maximal companions, triggering legends of shape-shifting creatures among the Primal tribes.

Approx. 897,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Fleeing from a pack of Predacons on the surface, a newborn Primal fresh from the Well of All Sparks finds himself lost beneath the surface, heading deeper and deeper into the ancient caverns. Finally, almost on the verge of stasis lock, he finds himself in the Ignition Chamber within the core of Cybertron, summoned by a voice in the depths, and there discovers the slumbering spark-chamber of Primus. He is addressed by Vector Sigma, which names him the Keeper, and charges him with protecting Primus from intruders during his hibernation until the day he is awakened for the coming final battle against Unicron.

Approx. 870,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

After hundreds of thousands of ano-cycles of serving as Cybertron's ruler, Maximus Prime peacefully dies from old age in his home in Tyger Pax, surrounded by his many friends as his spark slowly burns out into nothingness. In the wake of his death, the Creation Matrix is passed down to his closest advisor Tesla, who becomes Talarus Prime. As the new Prime, Talarus leads Cybertron through a massive technological leap, as she promoted scientific advancements for the betterment of their species, developing such technologies such as Quantum Jump technology and establishing a major research station in orbit of the colony Nijita. She was also responsible for mapping out much of the Warren, a vast and tangled network of doorways in unspace between fixed points in realspace.

Approx. 865,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Dawn of the Age of Heroes: Though many more of their kind continue to live a traditional nomadic lifestyle across the planet right up until the Great Cataclysm, several Primal tribes begin to settle in one place rather than constantly migrating in search of energon, building ring forts and fortified settlements and mining energon and metals from beneath the surface. Though this early form of Transformer civilization is limited by the domination of the Predacons over the surface, the settlers band together into larger and larger communities as the eons pass, leaving traces of their presence in fragments of tools and the foundations of their forts and settlements.

Approx. 840,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The legendary Kingdom of Khebex is founded by the mythologized warrior-prince who would become known as Pion Rex. Legend claims that on his path to the throne--aided by his trusted Minicon companion Sparkgrinder who was able to assume the forms of an endless variety of melee weapons--he slew the vampiric tyrant Tenebris of Stygiax, cowed the Beast-Lords of Ghekk, defended the settlers of the Tagan Heights from the great Predaking himself, and conquered the cannibal tribes of the Great Waste, and that from the throne of Khebex he became renowned as a maker of laws, defender of the innocent and wise philosopher-king.

Approx. 821,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Laser Prime becomes the new bearer of the Creation Matrix after Talarus Prime dies from spark burnout. A former member of the Knights of Cybertron originally named Battle Convoy, Laser Prime spend most of his time in the frontlines, defending Cybertron with the help of his engineer Refractor and the Titan warrior Iaconus during a period of time where the homeworld and its space colonies fell under invasion numerous times following their technological upgrades and cultural expansion. His most notable conflict being against the Zoidaryan Empire during their advance into their Cybertronian territories with their great armies of semi-sentient Zoid war machines.

Approx. 763,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

According to the Covenant of Primus, the golden city of Doradus is believed to be formed around this time. It's said that this mythical realm is home to the Fountain of Super Energon, a vastly powerful energon source that would grant demigod-like power to any who partake in it, with its guardian being the city's namesake, the Titan Doradus, following his service in the First Cybertronian Civil War. Doradus and its citizens lived in peace for hundreds of gigacycles until an ambitious warlord named Cannibaron came to the city to take the Fountain of Super Energon for himself. He was challenged by a wandering hero named Sentinel EnN, believed to be the progenitor of House Sentinel. Their battle was so intense that the entire city of Doradus was blasted out of synch with the rest of the universe. According to legend, the city would reappear every 10,000 vorns, with the two combatants still locked in their deadly duel.

Approx. 750,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Great Cataclysm: Near the Hadean System, a passing red supergiant star goes supernova. The radiation and heat from it interferes with Cybertron's star, triggering a planet-wide bombardment of comets and asteroids that lasts for tens of thousands of years and triggers deadly solar flares that irradiate the surface of Cybertron. Laser Prime quickly decreed that every surviving Cybertronian would go into stasis underground until the radiation subsided and the surface was habitable again. While many humanoid Cybertronians took shelter underground in stasis lock, the Maximals and Predacons remained unshielded on the planet's surface, eventually leading to their extinction. Most of the Titans and Megamasters were killed during the extinction event, however, a few managed to go into deep stasis within Cybertron's underworld in their fortress alt-modes, which served as sanctuary for the lifeforms placed in hibernation.

The Order of Protectors is founded by Alpha Trion and Alchemist Prime: a hospitalizer order of volunteers who will spend the long eons of the Great Cataclysm caring for their sleeping brethren deep within the planet while waiting for the chaos on the surface to subside. Many of the Protectors will die during the long wait, victims of long-term radiation poisoning and other after-effects from the Cataclysm, but thanks to their efforts the majority of their charges will survive to return to the surface in the coming age.

Seeing this from afar, a hidden Unicron decides to put his plans into motion by recreating one of his his fallen Blentrons, Sideways, from his own Anti-Spark, his new body forged in the form of a Cybertronian to infiltrate the Children of Primus in the Great Cataclysm's aftermath and hinder their development by fostering chaos between specific parties. Instead of resurrecting the other twelve Blentrons, Unicron teleports their dormant anti-sparks throughout various planets in the universe, where they absorbed the unique energies on the respective worlds they were seeded on to become stronger until the right time for the Chaos-Bringer's eventual return to the galaxy.

---

Author's Notes: The singular Omega Sentinel mentioned in this chapter is based on Omega Sentinel, a redeco of Energon Omega Supreme who never appeared in the Energon cartoon, but was depicted in his toy bio, as the stoic and taciturn leader of the Guardian Robots, who are said to have defeated Unicron in the past. Years after Energon ended, Omega Sentinel would be brought into the world of the Japanese G1 continuity in the Generations Select manga, where he was a recurring character re-imagined as a member of the Sentinel Armada, the mighty starfleet of the Primus Vanguard.

Maximus Prime, the first Prime to carry the Matrix after the Thirteen, is based on Arctus/Knight Convoy/Temenos Prime, an original character from the Autobot Academy fan series whose design takes inspiration from Age of Extinction Optimus Prime.

Megamasters are artificially-built, city-sized Transformers similar to the Titans who were mentioned in Beast Wars Uprising, with that series' version of Fortress Maximus being a Megamaster. In the Beyondverse, the Megamasters are depicted as naturally-formed giant Cybertronians though they're not massive as the Titans, they're around the same size as the inhabitants of Gigantion from Transformers Cybertron.

The ancient Maximals and Predacons are heavily based on the Predacons from Transformers Prime.

The Guardians of Primus are pretty much the combiners from Transformers Energon: Constructicon Maximus, Bruticus Maximus, Superion Maximus, and Dauntless Maximus, though all of them have different names in my universe and will elements from the Power Core Combiner toyline and United EX.

The Keeper is an ancient Transformer responsible for guarding Primus for all eternity, appearing in Marvel Transformers (US) #61 "The Primal Scream". He would also briefly reappear in the Transformers vs. G.I. Joe comic book.

Talarus Prime is based on another original character from Autobot Academy named Tesla Convoy/Talarus Prime.

The Warren was introduced in IDW's More Than Meets The Eye/Lost Light as major long-running plot device, with elements from the Webway of the Warhammer 40K franchise.

Pion Rex is an OC belonging to Tf-SeedsOfDeception and TF-The-Lost-Seasons.

Laser Prime is based on yet another OC from Autobot Academy named Battle Convoy/Laser Prime, who's based on Generation 2 Laser Optimus Prime.

Doradus was first mentioned in the Robots in Disguise 2015 cartoon, as a constant obsession of the insane Decepticon criminal Springload. Doradus's story would be further explored in Ask Vector Prime.

Chapter 7: Chapter VI: The Age of Origins (Cybertronian Dark Ages)

Summary:

Here's Chapter 6 of Legendarium, which tells the history of the Age of Origins and how modern Cybertronian civilization came to be.

Approx. 750,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

This period of time is considered to be the earliest recorded epoch in Cybertron's history as following the Great Cataclysm, most of Cybertron's people, especially the second-generation Cybertronians, weren't properly organized and educated of the previous ages. The leftover radiation from the extinction event has seep into the ground, causing many Cybertronians to suffer from memory loss and the fallout gives rise to the neurological condition known as "information creep". Stories about the Guiding Hand, the Covenant, and the Thirteen Primes were reduced to folktales, and very few bots believed if those events actually happened, leading to numerous alternate retellings and re-imaginings of the Cybertronian creation myth and prehistory. The only things that anyone was sure of was that the AllSpark was responsible for creating life, and that the Knights of Cybertron served the will of the Prime Lineage and were responsible of guarding the Creation Matrix until the next Prime was chosen. Cybertron was no longer united in this era, its people only occasionally coming together to the call of the Prime against imminent threats.

With much of Cybertron's infrastructure left in ruins following the Great Cataclysm, the colonies permanently lose contact with the homeworld and each other. In their absence, the colonists begin to breed unique societal quirks within each world, producing various Cybertronian offshoots and different subcultures. The Junkions, Junkion's scrap-robot inhabitants who had the ability to repair themselves after critical injuries thanks to the planetoid's strange energies, begin building cities and structures entirely out of their planetoid's bountiful supplies of garbage and trash, and even create their own language "Talking TV" by listening to television and radio transmissions from across the galaxy, forming a stable and productive society. Caminus hosts a flourishing artistic and spiritual community that follows the Way of Flame, a religion that views the Thirteen Primes--and, by extension, all Primes--as deities. The Neutronians discover Amalgamous Prime's mythical Transformation Cog, changing the colony's entire population into omnicombinational shifters known as Mutacons. Megamasters, Titans, and their Minicon partners co-existed on the massive ecumenopolis colony world of Gigantion, where they run enormous construction projects in peace, making the planet even bigger than it ever was before. On Lithone, the peaceful Lithonites create large mechanical cities drawing on the planet's geothermal power and turned their home into an intergalactic hub of science. The avian-like Ardurian Rocs have created their own communities aboard floating, self-sustaining space habitants across Arduria and its many moons. Situated in the most hostile region of the galaxy, Carcer is outfitted with extensive defensive systems as a planetary military outpost to defend themselves from alien threats, turning the colony into a citizen stratocracy. Prion would become the biggest hub of Minicons outside of the future Minicon settlements in the Hadean System--a world built by Minicons for Minicons. The inhabitants of Devisiun all have their sparks forged in pairs, twins who could Powerlinx with each other to create a larger, combined form.

The first survivors of the Great Cataclysm emerge from stasis lock and their shelters in Cybertron's underground, discovering that their planet has been rendered virtually barren by the meteor showers and the solar storms that battered the surface. Freed from the depredations of the ancient Predacons and aided by the surviving Minicons and Titans, though, the Primal tribes slowly but surely begin to rise to dominance. Among the first awakened is Azimuth, the founder of the Patterner Movement.

With the extinction of the Maximals and Predacons, many beastformer subspecies begin to appear around this time, such as Dynobots, Chompazoids, Amphiboids, Caninocons, Felinicons, Corvicons, Buffaloids, Snaketicons, Rabittronians, Chiropetrons, Croctobots, and even Plantformers.

Several Insecticon and Arachnicon hives colonize the great northwestern gulf of Cybertron. The gulf becomes known as the Web Lands and becomes a fearful place to the Macromasters during the ages of hostilities between them and the Insecticon Hives.

Feral Insecticon swarms rise to dominate the southern Cybertronian wilderness.

Approx. 745,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The first thirteen Primal city-states are founded around this time, consisting of Iacon, Nova Cronum, Polyhex, Uraya, Altihex, Ky-Alexia, Stanix, Kaon, Tarn, Styx (better known by its nickname, Blaster City), Kalis, Simfur, and Praxus. Old settlements such as Crystal City and Tyger Pax re-emerge, but don't regain the same influence they once had in the past. Other Primal city-states such as Carpessa, Yuss, Nyon, Kolkular, Mytharc (Slaughter City), Lef, Rodion, Metrotitan, Thetacon, Aegiax, Cyber City, Glibax, Hyperious, and Tetrahex rise to power throughout the planet over the ano-cycles, many of which will become the hubs of the future metropolises of the Golden Age. The young civilization thrives, protected behind their cities' high defensive walls from the warlords, raiders, and feral creatures that rule the wilderness. As the Primal city-states develop new technologies and begin to expand, they undergo the mass extermination of the Sparkeater packs that survived the Great Cataclysm, practically hunting down the ancient predators to extinction.

The city-states become hubs for the exchange of knowledge and ideas, giving the rise of many scientific and spiritual groups. The largest of these groups was the Patterner Movement founded by Azimuth, a cult of scientists and philosophers who logically studied the movement of the stars and believed that a truly ordered society was the only way to prevent another Great Cataclysm. In the far future, the benevolent ideals of the Patterners would be corrupted and twisted by religious fanatics and power-hungry zealots for their own purpose of gaining power over the people, setting up the foundation of Functionism.

There were also many groups who each believe their own version of the Cybertronian creation story and how the universe worked. The major two of these groups were the Reversionists, who worshipped the Guiding Hand, the Covenant, and the Primes as gods, and believed that each Cybertronian have a small piece of Primus within them and their sparks will reunite with their creator god after they die; and the Evolutionary Engineerists, who believed in the idea of "Atechnogenesis", a theory that Cybertron was once an organic planet that became mechanical through the naturally-occurring interaction of gears, levers, and pulleys. Other spiritual groups formed around this time included the First Church of Primus, the Neo-Primalists, the Adaptologists, the Clavis Aurea, the Matrix Templars, the Spectralists, the Followers of the Guiding Hand, the Unicron Truthers, the Fateweavers, the Brothers of the Ultimate Warrior, the Covenant of the Theomachy, the Circuitmasters, the Disciples of the Thirteen, the Order of Gaea, the Children of the Fallen, just to name a few.

A cult known as the Witnesses of the First Face is founded by a group of surviving first-generation Cybertronians who wish to unite their divided people under a singular "pure-blooded" Transformer race by destroying every facet of modern Cybertronian civilization and rebuilding it from a blank slate. As hundreds of millions of years passed, this organization grew and evolved, taking many different shapes as they work in the shadows, orchestrating events across Cybertronian history to their liking. This cult came to be known as the Tripredacus Council. Among its leadership is Ram Horn, Sea Clamp, Cicadacon, and their chief enforcer Mesothulas (who we better know by his future name--Tarantulas).

Approx. 730,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Several first-generation Cybertronians among the Primal cities learned to surpass the limits of their T-Cog, discovering the ability of mass-shifting--able to control their body's transformation on a sub-atomic level, enabling them to grow larger or smaller. While most first-generation Cybertronians could only scan and transform into alt modes the same size and mass as them, these mass-shifters were able to transform into either palm-sized mechanical devices or gigantic forms larger than their robot modes.

Approx. 710,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Several Insecticon and Arachnicon swarms led by the Arachnicon Queen Shokaract (her name translated from Insecticon Hivespeak to the word "Hunter") gather to colonize the northwestern regions of the Sonic Canyons, forming their own settlement separate from the Macromaster city-states. They name their city-state Corumkan, first of the very few cities on Cybertron that is entirely populated by Insecticons and Arachnicons.

Approx. 700,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Knights of Cybertron, former vanguard force of the Thirteen Primes, remerge as a force to be reckoned with in Cybertron's populous northern hemisphere, allied with the churches of the Matrix Templars and armed with fleets of Titans, uniting many fledging Macromaster city-states into a benign theocratic order ruled from the now mythical Halls of Order in their capital stronghold of Axiom Nexus. Led by the Council of Knight Grandmasters, they base the tenants of their society on the surviving scraps of teachings supposedly passed down to them by the Thirteen Primes in the distant past and worship the AllSpark, the Creation Matrix of Leadership, and Vector Sigma as the combined lifeforce of Primus. Few outside the Knights' empire are aware that the mighty weapons of the Knight Grandmasters are actually the legendary Artifacts of the Primes, guarded by the Knights since the fall of the Primes many eons ago.

Approx. 695,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Laser Prime dies from spark burnout not before passing down the Creation Matrix to the Grandmasters of the Knights of Cybertron for them to bestow it to the next Prime. The Knight Grandmasters would go on a long pilgrimage across Cybertron in their search for a worthy Matrix-bearer, until one day, they met with one Vegnis, a humble laborer from Iacon who just fought to protect his community of fellow energon farmers from bandits and volunteered around the clock. Admired by his determination and good will, the Grandmasters chose him as the newest member of the Prime Lineage: Vegnis Prime.

Approx. 686,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

A Skyraider Air Commander named Ulchtar founds a splinter faction of Skyraiders known as the Seekers, an air exploration force and elite brotherhood of warriors. Under Ulchtar's leadership, the Seekers form their own city-state which they name Vos and quickly cement themselves as Cybertron's main air defense force as they defend the planet and the colonies from alien invaders. They also became stellar explorers, hunting down ancient relics and ruins for the betterment of Cybertron. Following under the tenets of the Neo-Primalist religion, the Seekers remain steadfast loyal to themselves. Though they will work with other groups or governments, they are strongly independent for the next several hundreds of millions of years and refuse to bow to anyone, be they Prime or warlord. The Seekers of Vos all rebuild their outer shells to resemble Ulchtar's, ostensibly to show strength through unity. After Ulchtar's death, his legendary rapier, the Crimson Tyrant, is passed down to future Air Commanders.

Approx. 675,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Hate Plague Crisis: The mysterious Hate Plague emerges on Cybertron, having ravaged thousands of worlds and managed to arrive on the Transformers' homeworld through panspermia. The plague induced hatred and destructive urges into whoever they contaminate, creating a trail of chaos and destruction across Cybertron only halted by the Knights of Cybertron's efforts to contain the infected. In order to stop the plague before it continues, Vegnis Prime unleashes the full power of sheer wisdom from within the Creation Matrix onto the plague, eradicating the plague but destroying himself in the process as his entire body is vaporized into nothing but stardust, leaving only the Creation Matrix. While the effects of the Hate Plague were reversed, only a small handful of spores remained. With no one wise enough to destroy the last remaining samples of the disease, the Knights of Cybertron placed the spores in a sealed vault that was then launched into space to orbit the Halo Stars, the oldest star cluster in the galaxy.

Following Vegnis Prime's sacrifice, the Creation Matrix of Leadership is passed down to a wise philosopher-king from the Reversionist city-state of Protihex who would become Septimus Prime. Head of a group known as the Supplicants of Arrius, Septimus was a devout follower of the ways of Solomus (who was known as "Arrius" in ancient texts), the Cybertronian god of wisdom, and sought to protect the people of his land from warlords with the Ur-Sword and the Drak A Dron hammer, given to him by the Knights of Cybertron.

Approx. 662,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Patterner Movement begins to spread across Cybertron from their capital city of Nova Cronum, banishing the superstition and unreason of the past with rationalism, logic and mathematical certainties. As their influence grows and spreads, the surface of the planet is reshaped and sculpted into an intricate map of the heavens, marking the motions of the heavenly bodies, the passage of time, the natures of the elements and a whole array of other mathematical, physical and chemical processes. As the Patterners spread, they forge links between the disparate populations, bringing contact between all manner of intellectual and practical pursuits that begin to interact and share their theories and expertise.

Approx. 654,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

An offshoot of the Followers of the Guiding Hand retire to a life of asceticism in the heights of the Manganese Mountains near the city-state of K'th Kinsere, building a temple atop of the Vaulted Heights of K'th Kinsere. Over time, they become synonymous with their mountaintop sanctuary as the High Priests of K'th Kinsere.

Approx. 648,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Alpha Trion emerges from the Cybertronian wilderness into the Patterner city-state of Iacon in the far north, hiding his identity as a Prime and petitioning the Patterner council of Iacon to create the Hall of Records as a center of knowledge and study.

Approx. 640,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Cybertron comes under siege by the Hytherion, an eldritch creature of unknown origin but possesses immense power and destructive potential. It is theorized by the Patterners that the creature was attracted by the AllSpark's unique energy signature within the planet. Septimus Prime rallies all of the city-states and factions to deal with this new threat, however it is soon discovered that the creature is beyond the power of traditional weapons thanks to its constant warping of time. Even with the Artifacts of the Primes and the strongest Titans, the Knights of Cybertron were no match to the Hytherion. Septimus Prime was only able to critically wound the creature by directing the power of the Creation Matrix to his weapons, but his life is taken in the process. With the creature wounded, the Knights of Cybertron have the opportunity to lock the Hytherion in an interdimensional prison.

The Creation Matrix is passed down to a Seeker Sky Commander from Vos named Trichoto Prime, sought out to seek strange new worlds, discover new life and new civilizations. He was responsible for the first missions into interstellar space since the Great Cataclysm, allowing the Cybertronians to reestablish their off-world scientific outposts on first on the moons, followed by the neighboring worlds of the Hadean System with the construction of new space stations and satellites.

Approx. 634,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

A fearsome warrior sect known as the Dreads rise to prominence in the city-state of Thetacon, hired by politicians and warlords to assassinate high profile targets and infiltrate strongholds to steal ancient treasures for the highest bidder.

Approx. 625,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The charismatic yet malevolent Galvatron rises as a prominent warlord of the Polyhex Imperium, where he rules from his seat of power--Darkmount, a massive fortress built around the caldera of a great magma plume welling up from the center of Cybertron. He draws a divergent sect of Patterners to his side in Polyhex, forming the Random: a cult utterly devoted to the study and reverence of Chaos and the rejection of Order. Over the following eons, the Random cult spreads throughout Cybertron at all levels of society and spawn the Tychaicons: a paramilitary army that will pursue Galvatron's goals by military force.

Approx. 620,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

At some point during this time, the Cybertronians discover an alien artifact of unknown origin that is identical in appearance with the Creation Matrix of Leadership known as the Dark Spark in the Helix Plains. Further studies show that the Dark Spark's containment vessel was constructed by alien technologies yet its crystal core is made of the same materials of the Creation Matrix's and has properties that can allow the very fabric of the universe and its inhabitants to its will, as if the very thing possessed some degree of sentience. Many of the spiritual and scientific groups throughout Cybertron debate on the relic's true origins and nature. The Disciples of the Thirteen argued that it was the disembodied spark of Unicron the Chaos-Bringer, indicating his eventual return to exact vengeance on Primus once again, whilst the Patterner Movement believed it to the physical manifestation of corrupted data ejected from the Well of the All Sparks by Vector Sigma's command. Galvatron and his Random cult even claimed that the Dark Spark was actually a living fragment of a god-like entity that exists within the dimensions between realspace and unspace, though this theory wasn't taken seriously by the Patterners and the Evolutionary Engineerists. After witnessing its dark power for themselves, the Knights of Cybertron decided that the Dark Spark was too powerful for study to be allowed to continue, and locked it away in the vaults beneath Axiom Nexus.

Approx. 615,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Galvatron begins to expand his sphere of influence, beginning with the Patterner city-states and non-aligned settlements surrounding Polyhex until eventually moving to the south, only temporarily halted by the efforts of Trichoto Prime and his aerospace forces. His Tychaicons take the Patterner city-state of Stanix, where Galvatron himself battles and slays Trichoto so he can have access to the Creation Matrix's vast power. However, a meek yet brave survivor of the attack managed to run in and yank the Creation Matrix from Galvatron's grasp, in the process becoming Regulus Prime when he first touched the relic.

Raised as an analyst within the Patterners' ranks, Regulus Prime was lacking in physical strength, but he decided to put his efforts into diplomacy, encouraging many of the city-states throughout the planet to form a beneficial defensive pact with the Patterner Movement against Galvatron's Tychaicons and Random cult. As a result, the remaining city-states that haven't been yet annexed by the Polyhex Imperium begin fortifying their defenses in case of future attacks.

Approx. 612,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

A young knight-in-training named Cyclonus is drawn into the Random by Galvatron's dark charisma, betraying his fellow Knights of Cybertron by revealing the existence of the Artifacts of the Primes to his new master. Galvatron becomes obsessed with gaining the Artifacts and wielding their god-like power so that he might use their combined might to remake Cybertron in his own image.

Galvatron's Tychaicons attack the Halls of Order in Axiom Nexus in an attempt to steal the Artifacts of the Primes, slaughtering many Knights and Matrix Templar warrior-priests that stood in their way. Though the assault is repulsed by the Knights, one of the Grandmasters, Primal Major, is slain and the artifact he was responsible of guarding, the Terminus Blade, is taken.

The Chaos Wars soon begin with the selection of Grandmaster Sovereign Ultimis by the Knights of Cybertron who declares an all-out crusade against the Random to reclaim the Terminus Blade from Galvatron.

Approx. 611,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Grandmaster Sovereign Ultimis strikes a friendship with Regulus Prime of the Patterners while hunting down the Hydra-like Random. It is the first time the Knights of Cybertron and the Patterner Movement have interacted due to their vastly different ideologies, but in Regulus, Ultimis is surprised to find a skilled strategic analyst whose aid to the Knights in their crusade is invaluable. With the first step taken, the Knights and the Patterners will continue to work more closely during the remainder of the Chaos Wars, developing a mutual respect if not always agreement.

Approx. 609,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Galvatron, having finally learned to tap the reality-warping powers of the Terminus Blade, uses the power of the Primes to transform part of the northern wilderness near the Polyhex Imperium into the Rad Zone, raising within it a mighty fortress he names Zarak Maximus.

Approx. 603,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Many of the Tychaicons kill themselves in an insane attempt to incorporate radioactive elements into their bodies in an effort to make themselves more chaotic, taking many innocent civilians, Knights, and Patterners with them due to secondary exposure. Regulus Prime is sadly among the many casualties of the Tychaicons' haphazard kamikaze attacks, and he is then succeeded by Amazon Prime, a battle-hardened warrioress from the city-state of Metrotitan.

Approx. 600,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Sovereign Ultimis and Amazon Prime finally confronts Galvatron as the Patterners develop protective armor for their warriors and the Knights of Cybertron to enable them to survive in the Rad Zone, allowing them to besiege Zarak Maximus. During the battle, it is revealed that Galvatron gave Zarak Maximus life by infusing it with a spark as the living Tychaicon fortress transforms into a dark mirror of the legendary Titan Brave Maximus from ancient times. Amazon Prime enters Zarak Maximus and destroying the Dark Titan's spark from within, with his giant corpse slowly becoming part of the Rad Zone's natural geography, while Sovereign Ultimis battles the insane tyrant and emerges victorious. With the Terminus Blade taken back by the Knights and their leader beaten, the Tychaicons end up defeated and the remaining Random cultists fade away into the shadowy corners of Cybertron, ending the Chaos Wars.

Galvatron and his surviving lieutenants--Cyclonus and Scourge--are placed in stasis pods in the catacombs beneath ancient Iacon where the Patterners agree to keep them imprisoned for as long as they rule Iacon.

Approx. 599,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Sovereign Ultimis becomes overall leader of the Knights of Cybertron and determines that their time, like the before time of the Thirteen Primes who trained them long ago, is coming to an end. Preparations are made to hand over power to the Patterner city-states and the Artifacts of the Primes are secretly turned over to Alpha Trion, who locks them away within the Iacon Hall of Records. The elder priests of the Matrix Templar church are given the title as the guardians of the Creation Matrix of Leadership and they ignite the Matrix Flame via their ancient connection to the artifact.

Approx. 598,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Knights of Cybertron depart their homeworld to spread their teachings to the stars aboard a fleet of Titans and are lost from Cybertronian history to fade into legend, leaving the Patterner Movement to guide the development of Cybertronian civilization. The Knights promise to one day return in Cybertron's desperate need of help but they mysteriously vanish from the face of the galaxy with little to no trace of what happened to them. Religious groups claimed that the Knights of Cybertron eventually settled down on a distant planet that they turned into an utopia, appropriately dubbed "Cyberutopia", though some later evidence suggests that the Knights split into different clans during their voyage across the universe. Most successive generations of Cybertronians do not believe in the Knights as concrete beings, instead viewing them as mythological folk heroes. The Patterners construct a capitol building known as the Acroplex in the city-state of Nyon in commemoration to the Knights of Cybertron and their many great deeds to the planet. Unbeknownst to the Patterners, the Acropolex was built over the dormant form of Metroplex, whose been in hibernation since the end of the First Cybertronian Civil War, awaiting for the day of the return of his master and old friend, the Arisen. In the Knights' absence, the relative order in the northern hemisphere fractures as warlords and cultists fill the power vacuum left by their departure, but the Patterners succeed in holding out against these threats and maintaining order within the developing city-states.

Approx. 580,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Iaconian Nobility rises to power in the city-state of Iacon, ruled by the Eminence Majestas and the Matriach. Members of the Nobility organized them into spark lineages called Houses, considering them like families. Some of the most well known include House Sentinel, House Pax, House Ambus, House Winter, House Maximus, House Supremus, House Sentius, House Decimus, and House Armanos. A great golden dome structure called the Grand Imperium is constructed as a seat of government where the Patterner Council and the Iaconian Nobility to discuss the everyday politics of Iacon from within its Primacy Auditorium.

Approx. 576,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

In a massive construction project led by Rakesha, Ulchtar's successor as Air Commander of the Seekers, the golden Celestial Spires of Vos are raised heavenward as mirrors of the ancient Sacred Spires, from which legend holds the Thirteen Primes were spawned from. The tallest of the Spires houses the headquarters of the Seekers from here on out.

Approx. 568,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Amazon Prime founds an inter-city state competition known as the State Games in order to promote companionship between the city-states to prevent a repeat of the Chaos Wars. The first State Games is held in the Jekka Amphitheatre in the city-state of Tyrest.

Approx. 555,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

A young and impressionable bot called Boltax arrives in Iacon and begins working at the Hall of Records where his clarity of intellect and dreams of bright futures for Cybertron attract the attention of Alpha Trion himself. Trion takes the young bot as his protégé.

Approx. 545,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

As she dies peacefully on her bed from spark burnout, Amazon Prime passes the Creation Matrix to a worthy successor: the matriarchal ruler of the young city-state of Iacon and a member of the ancient Iaconian Nobility, remaking her as Rhetoric Prime. Rhetoric's possession of the Creation Matrix and its ancient power and wisdom marks her apart from the other leaders of Cybertron's city-states. Iacon, already known across the planet as the greatest of its city-states and a seat of learning, reason, and civilization without equal, becomes the heart of Rhetoric Prime's new Cybertronian Commonwealth, taking Crystal City's former place as the planetary capital of Cybertron. Led by the new Prime, the Cybertronian Commonwealth begins tackling the warlords and feral tribes in Cybertron's hinterlands and spreading the values of Iacon to the other city-states.

Approx. 540,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Boltax meets Jhiaxus, Tallus, Decanus and Rokan in his travels as Alpha Trion's aide. The five become firm friends over the years, pooling their skills in their search for knowledge and wisdom.

Approx. 537,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

With the Cybertronian Commonwealth expanding enlightenment civilization across Cybertron, an elder priest from the Matrix Templar named Dai Atlas (his name loosely taken from the Primal Vernacular word "Dei Atlas", which means "God Map") becomes inspired by the folk tales surrounding the Knights of Cybertron, wishing to preserve Cybertron's ancient culture while society continues to modernize under Rhetoric Prime's reign. He forms the Circle of Light, an order of knights dedicated to rediscover ancient relics and knowledge and protecting it from those who try to abuse them for power. They were known for their use of Great Weaponry, bladed weapons that drew power from the spark of the user, and Energon Armor, suits of armor they can don at will. After hundreds of millions of years as the group's founding leader, Dai Atlas eventually dies from spark burnout, however, he would be succeeded by those among his spark lineage of House Atlas who would take the Dai Atlas name for the eons to come.

Approx. 535,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

With help from Alpha Trion, the Cybertronian Commonwealth secures peace with the local Insecticon/Arachnicon Hives in the northern wilderness, allowing Commonwealth miners, scientists and technicians access to the rich energon deposits in the depths of the Web Lands and beginning the long transformation of the region into the Golden Age Sea of Lights.

---

Author's Notes: Azimuth's Patterners and Galvatron's Random appeared in the Aligned continuity novel The Covenant of Primus, as part of the world-building surrounding Cybertron's pre-war history.

The Beyondverse's interpretation of the Tripredacus Council from Beast Wars is based on their incarnation in the 2006 IDW Beast Wars comics and 2016's BotCon-exclusive comic Dawn of the Predacus, which depicted them as members of the first generation of Transformers who wished to destroy all Autobots, Decepticons, Maximals, and Predacons in a long game to one day restart the entire Cybertronian race from the ground up under their rule. 

Shokaract was a well-known cult-favorite villain who first appeared in the 3H Beast Wars comics, where he was originally depicted as a servant of Unicron who was prophesized to bring about an apocalyptic battle in his efforts to become Overlord of the Universe.

Axiom Nexus was the setting of the TransTech stories released by BotCon's Fun Publications, where it was depicted as a time-displaced city on Cybertron that become an nexus to the entire Transformers multiverse at the time.

Vegnis Prime is based on the mysterious Cybertronian entity only known as "It" who was seen in visions from the Matrix in the G1 season 3 multi-parter premiere "Five Faces of Darkness" and season finale "The Return of Optimus Prime". 

Ulchtar was the original name for Starscream, given to him by Marvel editors Jim Shooter and Denny O'Neil.

Septimus Prime appeared in the IDW comics as the leader of a rival tribe killed by Megatronus Prime during ancient times.

The Hytherion first appeared in the Beast Wars Reborn manga, and further details into its origin would be explored in the Transformers: Alternity prose stories and comics. 

Trichoto Prime is named in reference to Trichotomous, an OC belonging to TFI Creations.

The Dark Spark is from the video game Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark, a mid-prequel to both Fall of Cybertron and (technically) Age of Extinction.

Regulus Prime and Amazon Prime are former Primes mentioned in the Transformers vs. G.I. Joe comic book.

Rhetoric Prime is a genderbent female version of Prime Nova, an early depiction of Nova Prime first seen in the aforementioned "Five Faces of Darkness", where he was credited as "Brooding Robot".

The Circle of Light, an order of knights led by Dai Atlas, is from the 2005 IDW continuity, first appearing in Drift's introduction comic mini-series.

Chapter 8: Chapter VII: The Silver Age (Before the Quintesson Occupation)

Summary:

Here's Chapter 7 of Legendarium, which tells the story of the Silver Age of Cybertron, a short-lived period of prosperity that came before the Quintesson occupation.

Approx. 525,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The ancient city-states of Cybertron are united under the aegis and protection of the Cybertronian Commonwealth, governed by Rhetoric Prime and the Council of Ancients. Though there are still a few warlords and marauders in the remote corners of Cybertron, the Cybertronian Defense Forces (CDF) had rendered them, for the most part, toothless.

Approx. 510,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

High Circuitmaster Boltax--a friend and former student of Alpha Trion and a member of the Council of Ancients--leaves Iacon to found the Temple of Knowledge near the city-state Stanix in the Stanix basin, along with a group of disciples including his old friends Jhiaxus, Decanus, Rokan, and Tallus. Boltax commissions the creation of the Underbase: a database of all knowledge of the Cybertronian race to be created. Over hundreds of thousands of ano-cycles, all of the data collected is accumulated into the Temple of Knowledge and Boltax and his disciples integrate themselves with the temple itself, forging a collective hive-mind with his disciples and the Underbase.

Approx. 505,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

A Cybertronian archeologist team led by a renowned scientist from Crystal City named Spanner discover buried remains of cities underneath the Oxide Wastes, a large wasteland in the equatorial regions covered of oxidized metal surrounding the Hydrax Plateau that'll one day be known as the Sea of Rust. The archeologists believe the ruins to have once belonged to the Ancients, the original inhabitants of Cybertron before the creation of the Thirteen Primes. In the ruins, Spanner's team find old schematics of the Ancients' Space Bridges and are able to successfully reverse-engineer the technology, allowing the Cybertronians to create their own Space Bridge design. With the Space Bridges, the Cybertronian Commonwealth constructs an instantaneous interplanetary transport network between Cybertron and its off-world outposts in the Hadean System.

Approx. 500,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

With the development of the Space Bridge Network, the Cybertronians begin reestablishing contact with the scattered colonies. Representatives from each colony travelled to Cybertron to participate in the Commonwealth government, which would give each world an equal voice in the Council of Ancients. As part of these diplomatic missions, many of the colonies have their surfaces restructured to reflect and complement of the Patterner designs on the homeworld. A Space Bridge is constructed on each of the colony worlds to maintain interstellar travel between one planet to another.

Approx. 495,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Rhetoric Prime announces that colonization efforts will begin to explore and cyberform uninhabited worlds outside the territory of the Cybertronian Commonwealth, during which time research will be carried out on discovering new means of propelling Cybertronian civilization beyond their small sector of space into the wider galaxy. For most of the next 25 million years, Cybertronians will head out to establish new colonies. Among the worlds settled during this new wave of colonization include Velocitron, Mons Prima, Omnitron, Biosfera, Vinsi'vallok, Paryadisou, Lucifer, and Cryadorr. Like the old colonies, this new set of Cybertronian colonies begin developing their own societies separate from their homeworld's as time passes. Velocitron's inhabitants, who've become fixated on more energy efficient designs, slip deeper into their racing obsession as a form of cultural diversion, eventually leading to the colony being nicknamed "the Speed Planet" by space travelers. Mons Prima becomes a purse world for the Iaconian Nobility, where it serves as a major pilgrimage site for Cybertron's greatest warriors as a sign of respect to the first Prime and original Matrix-bearer, Prima. The colonists of Omnitron gradually evolve into Omnicons, who were larger than Minicons but still fairly small and had the natural ability to safely handle raw energon, allowing them to convert the element into useful tools and weapons. The jungle world of Biosfera becomes a penal colony for Cybertron's most dangerous criminals as they're forced to contend with the planet's hostile wildlife. The volatile and gravitationally unstable Vinsi'vallok becomes home to the Children of the Fallen, a cult who worshipped the disgraced Megatronus Prime of ancient times and scoured the stars in his name. The gas giant Paryadisou is colonized by the Heirs of Prima's Legacy, a sect of the First Church of Primus who turned their new world into an utopia with floating cities and energon springs. The volcanic hellscape that is Lucifer quickly became one of the most influential industrial centers for the Commonwealth, its people using their abilities for refining metal, heating facilities, garbage mitigation, and energon processing. Lucifer's icy opposite Cryadorr sees its inhabitants to adapt to its arctic environment under the protection of their Titan Neve as they peacefully mined energon deposits under the planet's ice sheets.

Approx. 480,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Jhiaxus betrays the other founders of the Temple of Knowledge in the moment the Underbase first comes online, slaying the online avatars of Boltax, Tallus, Decanus, and Rokan and using their temporary incapacitation to copy much of the data they have collected and catalogued over the eons for his own personal benefit while erasing their memories of him via their connections to the database. Fleeing Stanix, he sets up a secret laboratory in the undercity of Kalis to begin co-opting the efforts of his former associates.

Approx. 475,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Mysterious aliens begin sending out scout drones to monitor the activity of the Cybertronian Commonwealth from afar. These aliens would be eventually known as the Quintessons, one of the most feared races in the known universe. The Quintessons' origins can be traced back to the First Cybertronian Civil War's aftermath many eons, when Quintus Prime left Cybertron, using their Emberstone to seed life on planets across the universe in reparation for the destruction caused by their wayward creations, the Horrorcons/Terrorcons, who were under the command of their fallen brother Megatronus Prime. They believed that these new Cybertronic races would one day become allies of Cybertron in the future, if a threat such as Unicron or Megatronus would ever return to wreak havoc on the universe. Once the Emberstone triggered the evolution of life on a planet, Quintus would quickly move on to the next world, leaving the races they spawned to fend for themselves. The first world seeded with the power of the Emberstone was Quintus Prime's former colony world of Quintessa, which would spawn the technorganic Quintessons, who steadily evolved to become a race of scientists and explorers. One day, the Quintessons questioned the purpose of their existence, and so set off into space in search of their absent creator--but when they discovered that they were just one of many experiments Quintus had abandoned, they grew bitter and sought to enact vengeance on Quintus Prime and take the power of the Emberstone for themselves, destroying many of the Cybertronic races that Quintus created in an act of spite towards them during their search. The Quintessons would eventually capture Quintus with the aid of their creator's own partner Titan, the sharp-witted and spiteful Quintessa, who grew jealously of her master's ability to create life from nothing and sought that power for herself. thankfully, before they were captured, Quintus Prime was able to hide their artifact, the Emberstone, on prehistoric Earth and assigned another of their Titans, Terratronus, to guard it so no one would abuse its life-giving powers. Though they couldn't find the Emberstone, with their creator now in their captivity, the Quintessons studied their Cybertronian biology and technology, allowing them to further advance their already-existing technology. Now with the information they've gained from their creator's biomechanics, the Quintessons were able to create their own army of technorganic Transformers--the ravenous Sharkticons, the brutish Allicons, and the alluring Mermadroids--to serve as their elite guardsmen and attack force. The Quintessons develop an expeditionary fleet of warships based on Cybertronian technology, allowing them to expand their sphere of influence from beyond their sector of the galaxy, occupying many worlds such as Monacus, Skuxxos, Epsilon Iridani, Prysmos, Spindrift, Brobdingnag, Tlalak, Zamojin, Torkulon, Exton IV, Andellor, Fabricon, Lanarq, Xetaxxis, Menonia, Mirtonia, Vrob, Rotan, Corata-Vaz, Xeptos, and Zeotopia, forming their own mercantile empire known as the Quintesson Pan Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere. On the Quintesson homeworld, the Titan Quintessa transformed into the planet's main capitol building, with the Alpha Quintesson and their Council of Quintesson Lords as her Cityspeakers to govern their empire. Quintus Prime's fate afterwards is left unknown, though Alpha Trion suspected that his sibling's creations may have disposed of him when they no longer required them.

The Quintessons had long searched for Cybertron with the goal of turning their distant relatives into mindless workers and sell them into slavery for the highest bidder. Over the following 5 million years, they study the Cybertronians in secret, using a system of probes secretly inserted into some Cybertronians, brainwashing them into sleeper agents that allow them to infiltrate all levels of Cybertronian society. With this network of sleeper agents, they will aid in the planet's development from behind the scenes to suit their own ends.

Approx. 470,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Rhetoric Prime vanishes in the Cybertronian hinterlands when she and her personal guardsmen had been hunting down a rogue warlord whose raiders had been attacking the outer sectors of Kaon. Neither the Prime nor any of her troops are seen again, and the Council of Ancients are forced to assume control of the Cybertronian Commonwealth in the absence of a Prime. The Creation Matrix of Leadership is lost and Rhetoric's plans for Cybertronian expansion are put on hold in the ensuing crisis as the Council attempts to locate the lost artifact. (Note: It will revealed much later that Rhetoric and her guards were slaughtered by Quintesson shocktroopers who were preparing for their eventual invasion.)

Agents working for Quintessons make contact with an unsuspecting Jhiaxus in Kalis, promising him all the resources and knowledge he requires to complete his work in return for a few favors in the coming eons.

Approx. 460,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Destrons--an autocratic organization claiming to be of descent from the Liege Maximo--gain control of the city-states of Kaon, Tarn, Vos, Blaster City, Arken, and Altihex. These new Destron States form in opposition to the pacifist ideals of Iacon and begin pressuring the Council of Ancients to end Cybertron's long eons of isolation and follow the ancient Knights of Cybertron into the wider galaxy.

Approx. 455,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

Tales of alien abduction begin to spread throughout Cybertron and the colonies. The first of these cases is an energon miner named Coldwelder from the Sea of Ages near Iacon who claims to be abducted by aliens when a strange probe is removed from him during a routine check-up by an Arachnicon doctor named Cogwheel and her apprentice, a young doctor from the minor city-state of Vaporex named Ratchet. However, the tales are considered as humorous jokes by the urbanized city-states of the Cybertronian Commonwealth, while there's a growing fear in the wilderness regions. Unbeknownst to most, the Council of Ancients is aware that far from being wild tales there is some truth to this unknown force whose attentions are turned on Cybertron, having discovered traces of Quintesson technology like the probe found in Coldwelder and a few other reported abductees. To prevent panic and with no Creation Matrix of Leadership to guide them, the Council covers up the truth until more is known.

Approx. 450,000,000 stellar cycles ago:

The Quintessons reveal themselves to the leaders of the Destron States, promising them governance of Cybertron and a galactic empire in return for their help and support once they have revealed themselves to the rest of the population. Hungry for power, the Destrons eagerly accept this Faustian deal. Jhiaxus serves as their go-between with their powerful new allies.

---

Author's Notes: Spanner appeared in Issues #17-18 of the Marvel US Transformers comic, where he was briefly characterized as a neutral Transformer captured by Straxus's Decepticons and forced to design them the Space Bridge. In the Beyondverse, Spanner isn't responsible for the creation of the Space Bridges, but he did develop the modern Space Bridge design. 

My version of the Quintessons takes elements from the Aligned continuity novels and Earthspark.

Think of the Destron States as an earlier version of the Decepticons.

Chapter 9: Chapter VIII: The Age of Wrath (The Quintesson Occupation of Cybertron)

Summary:

Chapter 8 of Legendarium, telling the story of the Quintesson invasion and occupation of Cybertron.

The Age of Wrath began when Cybertronian military surveillance systems began tracking a group of objects that had entered the periphery of the Cybertronian Commonwealth. Within weeks, these objects had been picked up by civilian observatories and when they became public knowledge, the Council of Ancients revealed that they were almost certainly artificial in nature and were on a direct course to Cybertron.

When the ships entered deeper into Cybertronian territory, the outcome was almost apocalyptic...

Approx. 459 million stellar cycles ago:

A hastily assembled defense network overseen by the Cybertronian Defense Forces was immediately swept aside by the superior weaponry of the Quintesson Expeditionary Forces. With the CDF heavily decimated, the Quintessons used this to their advantage as they annexed many of the outer and smaller Cybertronian colonies into their Co-Prosperity Sphere in a campaign that lasted for the next 14 million years. In a matter of time, the major colonies such as Arduria, Caminus, Prion, Lithone, Junkion, Carcer, Neutronia, Gigantion, Devisiun, Tsiehshi, Nijita, Eukaris, Velocitron, Mons Prima, Omnitron, Biosfera, Vinsi'vallok, Lucifer, Cryadorr, and Dromedon eventually fall and are then occupied by Quintesson forces.

Approx. 445 million stellar cycles ago:

The Siege of Cybertron: With all of the Cybertronian colonies under their control, the Quintesson Expeditionary Forces begin their push to invade Cybertron. Amazon Prime commands a defense fleet in a desperate attempt to counter the invasion, but outnumbered and outgunned, the fleet and Amazon Prime herself were sadly destroyed. As their Sharkticon and Allicon armies make landfall, the Quintessons, with the aid of their allies within the Destron States, begin capturing the planet's major industrial parts and the birthing wells, as they successfully subjugated Tyger Pax and took the Well of All Sparks for themselves, giving them easy access to the planet's lifeforce--the AllSpark. By the time 98 percent of Cybertron's surface was under Quintesson control, the Cybertronians attempt to escape the aliens' tyranny by using the Space Bridge Network to transport everyone to a far-off corner of space. However, Quintesson scientists, thanks to information given to them by the Destrons, unleash an computer virus that completely destroys the network, leaving the Cybertronians no chance to escape.

The Quintessons destroy all known schematics on Space Bridge technology to prevent another escape attempt, but they keep a few remaining records in secrecy in hopes of one day reverse-engineering the technology for themselves.

After seeing the Cybertronian populace being left submissive by this show of dominance, the Alpha Quintesson, supreme leader of the Quintesson Pan Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere, reveals themselves to the public and makes an announcement to the Cybertronians: apologizing for the destruction they brought to Cybertron and its colonies but note that all of it was a result of the planet's leaders refusing to surrender to a clearly superior enemy, promising that the death and devastation brought by the Siege would be the last. The Quintessons claim to the firstborn of the AllSpark and the creators of the Cybertronian race, having left Cybertron long ago to spread enlightenment across the universe and have returned to do the same for their creations. Alpha Trion and Maccadam knows that the Quints are lying, but most of the population, including high-ranking members of the government, easily fall into the aliens' deception. The Quintessons make overtures of peace, promising their advanced technology and access to the larger intergalactic community to the Cybertronians in return of a mutually beneficially alliance between their two cultures. The first act of "generosity" was the activation of all dormant T-Cogs, making a large majority of the populace believe that the act of transformation was invented by the Quintessons. Some Cybertronians are even modified to serve as transportation for their rulers, such as installing cockpits on the bodies of the Seekers. Those Cybertronians who didn't have a Quintesson partner became unknowing slaves, becoming part of a carefully managed and ordered labor force under the control of the Quintesson-influenced Cybertronian Guilds made to "advance" Cybertron's journey to the stars. At first, the Quintessons remain distant, with only small delegations present in Iacon and the other major city-states as ambassadors and diplomats. As promised, they share their technology and advise the Cybertronians in their efforts to unite the planet.

Approx. 440 million stellar cycles ago:

Aided by their Quintesson allies, as more and more T-Cogs are activated, the larger Cybertronian races discover their transformation abilities lack the versality of their Minicon kin, being limited to a single fixed alt-mode. Scientists will question this difference for eons to come and, with the use of Quintesson technology, would modify themselves in order to test the limits of the T-Cog, officially beginning the development of Triple-Changers and Multi-Changers in general.

Approx. 435 million stellar cycles ago:

The Council of Ancients, blinded by Quintesson charity and the silvered tongues of the double-agents from among of the Destron States, allow their new "allies" to place settlements and military garrisons on the planet in return for Quintesson scientists and engineers bringing their expertise to bear on numerous public works and high-tech projects on behalf of Cybertron. The once legendary Titans and their Titan Master and Megamaster companions are downgraded as part of the Quintessons' labor force, working in heavy construction for these endeavors.

The Quintessons begin building their capital Hive City on Cybertron's southern hemisphere near the city-state of Kaon, opening energon mines and weapons factories that transform the southern wilderness into a bustling heartland. Jhiaxus is named civilian governor of Hive City, overseeing the massive construction and mining projects that begin to transform the Southern Wilderness into the Badlands.

The Supreme Court is established by Quintesson Judges and Prosecutors to keep the people in line with their twisted ideals of justice. Those found "guilty" during the Supreme Court's mock trials were either fed to the Sharkticons or have their memories altered, and in extreme cases, lobotomized into unknowing slaves, becoming the early victims of a technique that'll eventually be known in the Functionist Era as "shadowplay".

Approx. 430 million stellar cycles ago:

The Quintessons begin to reverse-engineer the cyberforming technologies of the Omega Lock, miniaturizing the technology into the Seeds, small hand-held devices that contains elemental living metal that is the primal material of Cybertronians. Once primed, the Seed detonates, turning all organic matter around it into molten metal. The Quintessons use the Seeds as part of a cyberforming initiative on thousands of worlds to create living metal, with the material being harvested and then used to construct their own Transformers. These Quintesson-built Transformers were "constructed cold", a new form of Cybertronian reproduction which sees newly-formed sparks being placed into artificially-built, mass-production bodies. Many of these new Transformers were built without sparks nor proper sentience, allowing them to be repurposed as a series of mass-production soldier drones known as the Terrorbots, with their purpose is to police the streets of Cybertron and stamp out any forms of resistance. Notable Terrorbot models include "Overcharge" triple-changers, "Noisemaze" tactical bombers, six-wheeled "Guardminder" tanks, and "Dropkick" haulers. But the most infamous Terrorbot model was the Dark Guardians, the most massive and feared mechanoids ever devised. While the Dark Guardians were uncreative fighters and weren't enormous like the Titans, they made it up for it with their immense firepower and strength.

Approx. 427 million stellar cycles ago:

With the warlords of the Silver Age either eradicated, driven into the underbelly of Cybertron or rehabilitated into Cybertronian culture, the Council of Ancients disbands the Cybertronian Defense Forces. In its place, the Guardian Defense Forces (GDF), mostly made up of Terrorbot drones, is formed to protect Cybertronian interests.

To create a head for their new interplanetary government, the Quintessons turn the birthright title of Prime into an elected position. The Council of Ancients elects a Prime from among their number, who takes on the name Bendai Prime. Unbeknownst to most on the Council, their new leader is already in the thrall of their Quintesson "allies" and serves as a convenient patsy to the Quintessons' secret plans for the Cybertronian population.

Rumors about the Quintessons' true nature reach the former leaders of the Cybertronian Defense Forces. Their unofficial investigations eventually lead to the creation of the Cybertron Underground, naming their faction after their very own homeworld in their goal to free it from its alien occupiers. One of the Underground's notable recruits is Nova Major of Tyger Pax, a young captain of the CDF who firsthand witnessed the atrocities committed by the Quintessons during the Siege, resulting in him gaining a deep hatred for the aliens and for good reason.

Exkaiserus Dux, former leader of the Cybertronian Defense Forces, appears on the Communication Grid to call on Bendai Prime, the Council of Ancients, and all true Cybertronians to resist further subversion of their civilization by their alien "benefactors". For the most part, however, his words are ignored by a population still enamored by the gifts of the Quintessons. They are not, however, ignored by the Quintessons who reclassify the Cybertrons as a threat to their plans.

Approx. 425 million stellar cycles ago:

Reports soon reach Bendai Prime and the Council of Ancients in Iacon of rogue former CDF members engaging in criminal activities, apparently seeking to replace the very warlords they had once fought so valiantly to suppress. The news distresses the Council greatly, forcing it to respond by outlawing the former Cybertronian Defense Forces and officially disbanding the Cybertronian Commonwealth in favor of a new Cybertronian Union. Far from lessening the tensions, the Council of Ancients succeeds only in inflaming them by outlawing otherwise law-abiding bots.

Alpha Trion, as head recordskeeper of Cybertron, is disturbed by the names of the bots apparently being named as terrorists and outlaws by the Council, knowing many personally to be loyal to the Cybertron Code, and begins to investigate these apparent "outlaws". Among the names is Exkaiserus Dux himself.

Approx. 423 million stellar cycles ago:

With terrorist actions by "former CDF members" still apparently rampant in the Cybertronian hinterlands, the Council of Ancients finally votes to send the Guardian Defense Forces in force to put an end to the resistance once and for all. The event will be remembered by later generations as "The Slaughter Of The Loyalists" and is followed by a governmental clampdown on all known CDF supporters and the banning of all symbols associated with the old Cybertronian Commonwealth. The Council's actions again serve only to increase the underlying tensions in the general populace.

Alpha Trion makes contact with the survivors of the CDF purges who reveal to him that far from being terrorists, they were framed by Quintesson agents. The terrorist atrocities attributed to the Cybertronian Defense Forces were actually the actions of the Destrons whose intentions are to completely overthrow the Council of Ancients and, with the aid of the Quintessons, enslave the populace.

Approx. 422 million stellar cycles ago:

A terrorist bombing occurs in Iacon at the Grand Imperium, destroying the chambers of the Council of Ancients, killing most of its members and throwing the government into chaos. In the resulting confusion, the Quintessons again take the face of benevolence to provide protection and guidance to the troubled populace. Bendai Prime constitutes a new Council of Ancients which quickly solidifies its influence over the Guilds and allowing the Quintessons to have further control over Cybertronian society to to ensure continuity in the face of such catastrophe.

In the aftermath of this change of government, Alpha Trion and Maccadam are informed by messengers from the Cybertron Underground that the new Council of Ancients are all members of the Quintesson-allied Destrons. The two former Primes quickly go into hiding as the last of the original Thirteen Primes to prevent their knowledge falling into the wrong hands and are then forced to watch helplessly as the planet and its population are enslaved by the Destrons and the Quintessons without even realizing it.

The Destrons form a reconstituted version of the Cybertronian Defense Forces to ostensibly prevent further terrorist attacks while in actuality preventing any dissent from the New Order.

Jhiaxus hands over the governorship of Hive City to a successor and travels to Iacon where he ingratiates himself on the naive and impressionable Bendai Prime, becoming one of his chief (mis)advisors.

Approx. 416 million stellar cycles ago:

The Iaconian Nobility are suppressed by the forces of Bendai Prime and the Destrons, driven from their homes on spurious charges of treason when it's revealed by Quintesson spies that they're providing essential information and equipment to the Cybertrons. Many of them are killed, but the survivors join the Cybertron Underground in the undercity, their centuries of politicking and militarist tendencies adding greatly to the growing underground's capabilities.

Start of the First Quintesson Wars: Exkaiserus Dux takes the name Exkaiserus Prime and, with help from allies of Alpha Trion at the Iacon Hall of Records, publicly denounces Bendai Prime and his new council on the Communication Grid, calling on all right-minded Cybertronians to resist the New Order. The Cybertron Underground, now fully reorganized into the Cybertronian Resistance under the leadership of Exkaiserus Prime and with Alpha Trion, Maccadam, and Nova Major as his close advisors, would begin a series of attacks against the Quintesson occupation, freeing slaves when they could and crippling major operations. The Quintessons quickly dispatch the GDF to put down these small acts of rebellion, but the number of resistance fighters joining the Resistance increases as time progressed. Among the first wave of the Resistance's new recruits include Ember, Beta, Kup, Sentinel EnN, Dai Atlas IV, Kranix, Ephemeris, Cogwheel, Ratchet, and Sprawl.

Approx. 401 million stellar cycles ago:

Experimenting on captive Minicons, the Quintessons discover their latent ability to powerlinx with their larger "Guzzler" brethren and boost their power. Seeing the potential of this to be both a benefit to their plans and a benefit to the rebels, they begin rounding up Minicons and fitting them with behavioral modifiers to make them pliant and obedient to their new masters.

Approx. 379 million stellar cycles ago:

After successfully reverse-engineering Space Bridge technology, the Quintessons, using their labor force of Cybertronian slaves and Terrorbots, construct a massive network of Space Bridges across Cybertron and the colonies. Almost immediately, the First Quintesson Wars goes from a small rebellion into a full-on open conflict as Quintesson troops, backed by the Minicon-empowered Destrons and the Guardian Defense Forces, brutally suppress any dissent in the population. The Cybertron Resistance does what it can to hinder the invaders, but they still lack the numbers or resources to successfully throw off the yoke of the Quintesson Pan Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Bendai Prime, finally realizing exactly how much his alien masters have pulled the wool over his optics, denounces the Quintessons publicly on the Communication Grid, but it is too little too late, and he's betrayed and murdered by his Destron accomplices.

Jhiaxus escapes Iacon in the wake of Bendai Prime's murder, finding sanctuary within the Cybertron Resistance where he convinces them of his innocence in the actions of the Destrons and his Quintesson masters, and begins helping the Resistance to undermine the Quintessons' occupation of Cybertron by providing them his knowledge of their main operations. He begins working with his old mentor Alpha Trion on developing the weapons and technologies the resistance will need to defeat their conquerors.

End of the First Quintesson Wars: The Quintessons quash all forms of open rebellion and, with the support of the Destrons, transform Cybertron and its colonies into slave worlds. Cybertronians are shipped off-world through the Space Bridges in the thousands to serve their new masters, many of them fitted with behavior modifiers that reduce their capacity for free will and self-determination. The Cybertron Resistance is then forced into hiding and conduct small hit-and-run operations for the foreseeable future.

Approx. 377 million stellar cycles ago:

Exkaiserus Prime, all of his plans to unite Cybertron against the Quintessons and drive them off the planet reduced to nothing but ashes with the activation of the Space Bridge Network, begins to grow increasingly autocratic in his leadership of the Resistance. Desperate to the edge of madness, he begins to cast aside his ideals of peace and freedom to achieve victory, even if that means becoming a tyrant himself.

Exkaiserus begins to draw to his side others who share his belief that the Cybertron Code has failed, forming top-secret special operations teams who function without any recourse to the old laws of the Cybertronian Commonwealth: attacking civilian targets, assassinating members of the Destron and Quintesson hierarchies and those who collaborate with them, kidnapping and reprogramming Cybertronian slaves into unwitting suicide bombers, and even worse actions. Publicly, Exkaiserus remains at arm's length from these groups, denouncing them as extremists and rebels and maintaining the appearance of reason to the other leaders of the Resistance.

Approx. 363 million stellar cycles ago:

Exkaiserus Prime's followers within the Cybertrons begin raiding the Quintesson Minicon processing centers, ostensibly to free the captive Minicons, but in reality they use their powers for themselves.

Approx. 360 million stellar cycles ago:

Alpha Trion, already worried about Exkaiserus's leadership and the path towards tyranny he appears to be travelling, discovers the horrifying truth about his involvement with the black ops terrorist cells that have been operating outside of the main resistance. He also learns that Exkaiserus has his loyalists secretly searching for the long-lost Creation Matrix of Leadership to legitimize his Primacy and his tyranny over Cybertron once the Quintessons have been defeated.

Alpha Trion and Maccadam begin secretly gather loyalists to the Cybertron Code to secretly undermine Exkaiserus Prime's quest for power and, hopefully, to locate the Creation Matrix before his loyalists can.

Around this time, a high-ranking Quintesson Judge named Deseeus becomes disillusioned with how their kind slaughtered and abused their Cybertronian cousins. Inspired by how Alpha Trion and his allies continued to stand against the Quintesson occupation despite being greatly outmatched, Deseeus makes contact with Trion's faction within the Resistance, secretly providing them key intelligence and resources to aid them in their two front conflict against the Quintessons and Exkaiserus Prime.

Approx. 359 million stellar cycles ago:

War breaks out between the Destron rulers of Cybertron and their Quintesson masters. Without support of the subjugated Cybertronian population, the Destrons are unable to defeat the superior forces of the Quintessons and are driven from the city-states into the hinterlands like the Cybertron Resistance before them, ending the war and leaving the Quintessons as the undisputed rulers of Cybertron.

Approx. 358 million stellar cycles ago:

A maintenance worker discovers the rusting shell of Terminus Prime in the undercity of the Quintesson settlement of Subterrania and is attracted to it by a glimmer of intense azure light from within the deceased Prime's cracked and fractured chassis. Investigating in the hopes of having discovered a little energon not controlled and rationed by his Quintesson masters, he finds the Creation Matrix of Leadership and is rebuilt into Alpha Prime.

Backed by Alpha Trion, Maccadam, Beta, Nova Major, Deseeus, and their allies, Alpha Prime overthrows Exkaiserus Prime in a trial by combat and becomes leader of the Cybertron Resistance.

His leadership of the Cybertron Resistance secured, Alpha Prime frees the Minicons enslaved by Exkaiserus. He secures their willing help in the Resistance by promising to free all their brethren once the Quintessons are defeated.

Approx. 357 million stellar cycles ago:

Jhiaxus journeys into the deep catacombs of Iacon on behalf of Alpha Trion with the hopes of searching for any forgotten knowledge or technologies that might assist the Cybertrons in overthrowing the Quintesson occupation. During his search, he stumbles upon the stasis prison of the ancient warlord Galvatron and his chief lieutenants Cyclonus and Scourge, and accidentally reactivates them. Shocked by what has happened in their absence, Galvatron and his lieutenants join the Cybertron Resistance, and acclimate to the era that they finds themselves in.

Approx. 356 million stellar cycles ago:

Start of the Second Quintesson Wars: A small group of resistance fighters led by Alpha Prime infiltrate Tyger Pax and intercepts the forging of a new robot named Storm Jet at the Well of All Sparks, where they set up a broadcast to the entire planet and the colonies. Cogwheel and Ratchet scan him to prove that all naturally-born Cybertronians are created with a T-Cog. After Cogwheel explains transformation to him, Storm Jet shyly admits he has dreams of soaring in the skies, and so transformed into a form of a spaceplane, zipping around and doing happy loops in the air. with this, Ratchet famously mutters to the camera, "Gift to the galactic masters, my exhaust". Revealing this piece of Quintesson deception together with a broadcast of a Sharkticon force massacring innocent civilians was the last piece needed to mobilize the populace against the occupation. For the next several ano-cycles, the bolstered Cybertrons launch blitzkrieg attacks on key strategic Quintesson positions.

Approx. 345 million stellar cycles ago:

The Liberation of Iacon: The Cybertrons assault the Quintesson embassy in Iacon, who retaliate by firing missiles primed with radioactive elements on civilian targets. In spite of this, their counterforce of Sharkticons and Terrorbots are defeated and the embassy is destroyed. This is largely considered by historians as the Cybertrons' first major victory but over two thousand Cybertronians are said to have died in this act of war.

Following the liberation of the planetary capital, many of Iacon's satellite states and neighboring cities such as Nova Cronum, Polyhex, Axiom Nexus, Rodion, Metrotitan, Ambustus Major, Centurion, and Jan-ja are inspired to rise up against the Quintesson occupation, allowing the Cybertron Resistance to secure the northern hemisphere. In retaliation, the Quintessons deploy Sharkticon packs across Cybertron to cut off transmit routes between Greater Iacon and the occupied city-states in order to weaken the Cybertrons and their allies.

Approx. 339 million stellar cycles ago:

The Liberation of Kalis: The city-state of Kalis is secured by the Cybertrons, but the battle sees the Quintessons commit various war crimes such as gunning down civilian medic convoys and planting toxic explosions in public areas. No civilians are assumed to have survived the devastated areas.

Approx. 334 million stellar cycles ago:

Maccadam and Dai Atlas IV begin trekking on Cybertron's underground caverns, excavating many ancient Titans who've gone very deep into the underground to escape the Great Cataclysm in millennia past. With their awakening from their long stasis, the Cybertrons are able to build a fleet powerful enough to stand against the advanced war machines of the Quintesson Expeditionary Forces that occupy the homeworld and its colonies. Many legendary Titans who've served at this time were Metrotitan, Skorpios, Hydratron, Citadel Secundus, Stormbreak, Atlantis, Ogygia, Hyperborea, Lemuria, Glaukopis, Tethys, MetroMagnus, Magnetar, and Terratronus are welcomed into the ranks of the Cybertrons as the mighty flagships of the resistance, but certain Titans such as Metroplex, Trypticon, Iaconus, Lodestar, and Brave Maximus remain unaccounted for.

Approx. 330 million stellar cycles ago:

Thanks to Deseeus giving them the Terrorbots' protoform schematics, Alpha Trion and Jhiaxus are able to begin the development of the Coder Remote which will allow the resistance to neutralize the numerically-superior Terrorbot forces of the Guardian Defense Forces that enforce the Quintesson occupation of the planet.

Approx. 320 million stellar cycles ago:

Alpha Prime succeeds in gaining an alliance with Liege Tyranno, the current leader of the Destrons in exile, allying his warriors with those of the Cybertrons. It signals a turning point in the Second Quintesson Wars, as the Resistance's bolstered forces succeeds in gaining the upper hand against their enemy. Through a combination of terrorist acts that destroy the Quintesson Space Bridges, guerrilla warfare and, later in the campaign, direct offensives, the Cybertronians slowly reclaim more of their planet.

Approx. 315 million stellar cycles ago:

Despite several pyrrhic victories like the earlier ones at Iacon and Kalis, the Cybertron Resistance go through their record of success as they liberate more city-states and regions from the Quintessons, including Cybertron's former capital of Crystal City.

The Liberation of the Twin Cities: Resistance fighters led by Nova Major commandeer a Quintesson warship, killing all of its crewmembers and using the warship against the enemy forces stationed at the Twin Cities of Gygax and Plurex. During the battle, the Resistance first encounters the Beasticons, new technorganic Cybertronian soldiers similar to the Sharkticons and the Allicons that were created by the Quintessons' top scientists. Cybertronian scientists medically examine the corpses of the Beasticons, discovering that they weren't created with the same genetic material as the Sharkticons and Allicons.

This discovery from the Twin Cities leads the resistance leaders wondering if the Quintessons have alien allies that are aiding them in their occupation of Cybertron. In order to prevent the spread of hysteria within the Resistance, Alpha Prime sends Nova Major and Galvatron across Cybertron to convince other resistance fighters to keep the multiple alien conspiracy quiet. During this mission, Nova and Galvatron prove to be formidable brothers-in-arms as they brutalize numerous hordes of Sharkticons, Allicons, Terrorbots, and Beasticons to protect helpless civilians from their aggressors.

Approx. 310 million stellar cycles ago:

Brimstone, the last survivor of the ancient Maximals and Predacons, emerges from stasis lock and leaves a trail of destruction across the equatorial regions of the eastern hemisphere, devastating the city-state of Hyperious before assaulting the Quintesson spaceport atop Mount Helix. Though the Quintessons drive him off, Brimstone's reign of fire continues until a group of wannabe dragon-slayers succeed in catching him unawares and contain his spark in a stasis vessel which is then buried in the catacombs beneath Median.

Approx. 306 million stellar cycles ago:

The Sharkticon Rebellion: Jhiaxus is successfully able to translate the language of the Sharkticons, allowing the Cybertron Resistance to convince a splinter force of them led by the elite Sharkticon General Vajra to rebel against their masters. These rebel Sharkticons and their future descendants would be integrated into Cybertronian society after the war.

Approx. 295 million stellar cycles ago:

The Fall of Hive City: Alpha Prime launches a massive offensive on the Quintesson capital of Cybertron, allowing the Resistance to finally take the war directly to their oppressors. Victory hinged on Alpha Trion, who used a coder remote to deactivate the Dark Guardians, allowing the united armies of the Cybertrons and the Destrons to storm Hive City. With the Titan fleet as their spearhead, the Resistance easily captures Hive City with little resistance. However, while the battle turned out to be a major victory, it was ultimately a pyrrhic one as Alpha Prime was fatally wounded by Quintesson gunfire during the battle. In his dying breath, Alpha passes down the Creation Matrix to Nova Major, who becomes Nova Prime.

With Hive City under Cybertronian control, the Quintessons are forced to abandon Cybertron and retreat to the colonies for safe haven. Nova Prime reforms the Cybertronian Commonwealth as a military provisional government. The Commonwealth begins preparations to venture out into space aboard fleets of Titans with the mission to free their distant cousins on the colonies.

Approx. 291 million stellar cycles ago:

The Cybertronian Commonwealth liberates Cybertron's moons and the inner Hadean System before extending their reach into the outer planets, forcing the Quintesson Expeditionary Forces to respond to prevent them securing the resources of the mining operations on the moons of Thulsa Doom, however, they're easily defeated by the superior might of the Titan fleet. This allows the Commonwealth to fully secure the Hadean System.

Approx. 285 million stellar cycles ago:

Caminus, Velocitron, and Arduria are able to rise against the Quintesson oppressors and join the Cybertronian Commonwealth.

Approx. 277 million stellar cycles ago:

With aid from the Cybertronian Commonwealth, Lithone and Neutronia are liberated from Quintesson control.

Approx. 272 million stellar cycles ago:

Sentinel EnN is killed in action in the Liberation of Mons Prima as Cybertronian forces, supported by the colonial militia, are able to drive the Quintessons off the colony world. After the battle, the inhabitants of Mons Prima construct a statue of Sentinel EnN in his honor.

Approx. 265 million stellar cycles ago:

Several stunning Quintesson defeats in the inner colonies, such as the Liberation of Carcer, causes the Quintessons to retreat to the outer colonies.

Approx. 256 million stellar cycles ago:

End of the Second Quintesson Wars: As all of the other colonies, including Junkion, Omnitron, Eukaris, Biosfera, Gigantion, Prion, Tsiehshi, Nijita, Vinsi'vallok, Lucifer, Cryadorr, and Dromedon, are liberated thanks to the efforts of the Cybertronian Commonwealth, the Quintessons decide to leave Cybertronian territory and return to their native space, having determined the costs of maintaining their occupation don't match the profits of continuing it after most of their Expeditionary Forces have been decimated. For several ano-cycles, the Cybertronians celebrate their victory in the Second Quintesson Wars and endure the day-to-day struggle of rebuilding the planet and the colonies.

Nova Prime fulfills Alpha Prime's promise to the Minicons and releases them from their bondage, both those who were allied to the Cybertrons and those enslaved by the Quintessons. Many Minicons leave the planet to settle on Cybertron's moons and live apart from their larger brethren, while others find sanctuary on far-off colony worlds such as Prion and Gigantion.

Nova Prime then orders the immediate destruction of all evidence of the Quintessons' presence on Cybertron, with effigies of the technorganic aliens burned in bonfires. The abandoned Quintesson settlements on Cybertron such as Hive City, Slaver City, Quintessar, and Subterrania are then forever sealed away underground by the Titans and are declared "Forbidden Zones" by the provisional government.

With Cybertron freed from the Quintesson Pan Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere, Deseeus judges themselves guilty in correspondence to their race's actions during the occupation, allowing Nova Prime to use the power of the Creation Matrix to banish them in the space between spaces. Before their exile, Deseeus asks Alpha Trion to erase all mentions of his existence within the Resistance from the historical records, knowing that if the wider Cybertronian populace knew that a Quintesson, one of their oppressors, was instrumental in the revolution's success, they would lose faith in their ability to stand against tyranny.

Approx. 251 million stellar cycles ago:

With Cybertron and its colonies united since the Silver Age and all of the damage from the Quintesson Wars repaired, Nova Prime reorganizes the Cybertronian Commonwealth into the Great Cybertronian Empire, with him as its founding Supreme Commander. He constitutes a new Council of Ancients to rule alongside him supported by an elected Senate drawn from all the planet's city-states. The Senate, led by a First Senator and with Supreme Commander Nova Prime as its moderator, had Senators from all over Cybertron who represented their own respective city-state, and each city-state would vote for their Senator. Alpha Trion and Maccadam were among the first members of this new Senate, becoming Senators of Iacon and Crystal City respectively. The Council of Ancients was smaller than the Senate, as it only consisted of thirteen members, but the Council would govern all of Cybertron and each Councilor would be voted in by the civilian population. Notable Councilors in office at this time included Steelheart, Obliteration, Nightwielder, and Firefight. Notable Senators in office at this time included the aforementioned former Primes, along with Termagax, Jhiaxus, Codexa, Sentius Baronus, Halogen, Ember, and Crisscross. This new interstellar government also reinstates the Iaconian Nobility and removes the last Quintesson collaborators from the Guild hierarchies.

The Cybertron armies and military commands are largely demobilized. A specialized military police force known as the Cybertronian Elite Guard is constituted to work alongside a new smaller version of the Cybertronian Defense Forces in defending Cybertron from outside threats while civilian forces, including the Cybertronian Justice Department spearheaded by Transtech Division, are constituted to maintain the peace in place of the military. The Magnus Corps (named after the legendary Titan explorer MetroMagnus) is formed as a special unit within the Elite Guard, consisting of a number of marine units each led by a Magnus, Cybertronian Lordbearers who wore a highly-advanced suit of armor known as the Magnus Armor.

The Destron States are allowed to maintain their independence from the Great Cybertronian Empire, so long as the Destrons gave token deference to the Senate. As part of this new alliance, many of the Destrons have their bodies modified to be more larger, stronger, and well-armed to act as advance warriors to scout out hostile threats or planets chosen for possible colonization, while the ruling class Cybertrons retain their smaller, more fuel-efficient forms, acting as scientists and explorers of the Empire.

Approx. 250 million stellar cycles ago:

The Cybertronians begin reverse-engineering Quintesson starship and spacebridge technologies.

Alpha Trion resumes his duties as Cybertron's recordskeeper at the Iacon Hall of Records, while also having to juggle his new responsibilities as Senator of Iacon. Around this time, a large majority of Minicons lose their powerlinxing abilities under mysterious circumstances, with only the Activator and Weaponizer sub-classes retaining a limited version of the ability. Over the next several million years, with the blessings of Nova Prime and the Council of Ancients, Trion takes advantage of this and excises all information of the Minicons' full potential of their powerlinxing abilities from the datanets in the hopes that they will never again become pawns to tyrants like the Quintessons or Exkaiserus Prime.

---

Bendai Prime is based off of Bendy-Bus Prime, a life-sized British transformer sculpture produced by Paramount Home Entertainment in a contest hosted by The Sun in conjunction with the DVD release of Revenge of the Fallen in December 2009.

Exkaiserus Prime is based off of Exkaiser from Brave King Exkaiser.

Deseeus is a Quintesson Judge from the critically-acclaimed Netflix War for Cybertron Trilogy cartoon, where he claims that he was responsible for giving the Cybertronians the ability of transformation and aided them in overthrowing their Quintesson oppressors.

Chapter 10: Chapter IX: The Age of Expansion (The Golden Age of Cybertron)

Summary:

Here's Legendarium Chapter 9, which focuses on the Age of Expansion, better known as the Golden Age of Cybertron.

The Age of Expansion, better known by galactic historians as the First Golden Age of Cybertron, was considered to be the heyday of the Transformer race right after they exiled the Quintessons from their homeworld and its colonies, creating a vast galactic empire that promoted joy, peace, exploration, knowledge, prosperity, and most important of all, freedom...

Approx. 250 million stellar cycles ago:

Nova Prime aims to further expand the reach of the Great Cybertronian Empire and, inspired by the folktales of the Knights of Cybertron, begins planning what he calls the "Expansion", a massive wave of interplanetary exploration and colonization across the known galaxy. To do so, the Cybertronians made use of the technological advances left behind by the Quintessons and created a new Space Bridge network in orbit around the planet. With its completion, the Space Bridge Network is then activated by Nova Prime himself, connecting Cybertron to the wider galaxy beyond on equal terms for the first time in recorded history. Contact begins to be made with other forms of life, and Cybertronian explorers and adventurers flood out into the galaxy in search of wonders and riches and their abducted brethren taken by the Quintessons during the previous Age of Wrath.

The Seekers are dispatched to scout out the star systems outside of Cybertronian space for other life and habitable planets.

The Primal Vanguard is initially formed to maintain peace between Cybertron and its alien allies.

Approx. 245 million stellar cycles ago:

In anticipation of the Expansion, Nova Prime requires a fresh generation of new Cybertronians, but, around this time, the life-giving, hot spot-igniting pulse waves from Vector Sigma and the AllSpark slow down. Nova tasks a team of scientists to extract new sparks from the Creation Matrix of Leadership, exponentially boosting the Cybertronian population and further dividing Cybertronians along "forged" or "cold constructed" lines. After the first wave of newborn Transformers are sent off-world for colonization, all of the additional sparks, which then stored in protoforms within stasis pods, are all placed in a gigantic facility known as the Matrix (named after the Creation Matrix), located in an isolated region of the Sea of Ages just outside of Iacon.

Nova Prime commissions the construction of the Proudstar, his personal starship built to oversee the establishment of new colonies.

The Cybertronians begins the development and mass production of War Titans, Titans purposely designed to wage war, built with nigh-invulnerable armor and armed to the teeth with massive firepower. These new Titans are tasked to defend colonization fleets from possible hostile threats as they explore deep space, with many shipped off from the Titan Yards in the industrial city-state of Talus such as Fortress Maximus, Grand Maximus, Skorponok, Citadel, Cargohold, Polestar, Triumpha, and Cauldron.

The first planet colonized by the Great Cybertronian Empire is Archon, the first of hundreds spreading out across the galaxy in all directions in the eons to follow. Using the Seeds created by the Quintessons from the reverse-engineered technology of the Omega Lock, the Cybertronians cyberform any uninhabited worlds they colonize, turning them into tiny copies of Cybertron, connected to the homeworld by the Space Bridge Network.

A team of scientists led by Jhiaxus conceives a way in which the Well of All Sparks, or at least its power, could be duplicated on the colonies in the form of the Cyber Planet Keys, devices empowered by a small portion of the Well's energy in order to keep the colonies powered for seemingly forever. In a ceremonial running of the torch, a spark of life from the Well was acquired and carried from the Well to the Space Bridge of Iacon, across interplanetary distances to Archon, where the first Cyber Planet Key is constructed. With the torch, they successfully ignite the Archon Cyber Key, resulting in spark-wells and hot spots to spread across the planet, ensuring that new Cybertronians could be born of the colony worlds as well. The establishment of a Cyber Planet Key is repeated on the old colony worlds.

Following the lessons, successes, and failures on Archon, the Senate inaugurates the Colonization Guild to oversee future colonization efforts. The Guild institutes expansion via a series of hubworlds linking back to Cybertron by Space Bridge and on each of which is constructed a Cyber Planet Key like Archon's. From these hubworlds, subsidiary colonies begin to radiate out under the central control of their hubworld.

Approx. 230 million stellar cycles ago:

Maccadam decides to retire from politics, content with fading into the background as he decided to settle down at Iacon and make his own bar called Maccadam's Old Oil House, the biggest single source of good fuel and beverages, not just on Cybertron, but the entire Great Cybertronian Empire.

Approx. 222 million stellar cycles ago:

The Regulon Conflicts: A series of newly-founded colonies are discovered scoured of mechanical life after suddenly falling silent. Investigations by the Primal Vanguard eventually track the source of the attacks to the biomechanical world of Regulon IV, where they too are destroyed by its natives, only known by the Cybertronians as "the Regulon Metal-Mongers". After a series of humiliating defeats in which each Metal-Monger is equal to hundreds of Cybertronian troops, the Regulon forces attack the hubworld of Mekatron, devastating the civilian population. The Elite Guard, supported by repurposed Terrorbot drone units left behind by the Quintessons, responds in force and, with horrific casualties, secures a victory against their enemy (Kup is among the survivors of this apocalyptic battle). After this initial Cybertronian victory, the conflict wears on with neither side able to claim victory until the Elite Guard launches a final desperate assault on Regulon IV and succeed in delivering their enemy a crippling blow that ends the war, though the leader of the Elite Guard forces--General Stormbreaker, a veteran of the Second Quintesson Wars--is killed in the fighting.

Having witnessed the horrors of the Quintesson occupation of Cybertron, Nova Prime fears the possibility of a counterattack and invasion of the homeworld by the Regulon Metal-Mongers. With the support of the Senate and the Council of Ancients, he orders the sterilization of all life on Regulon IV, wiping out any and all traces of the Metal-Mongers' existence as a Cybertronian garrison colony is then established on the planet by the Elite Guard. While many agreed to deal with the Regulon Metal-Mongers before they became a serious threat, a silent majority within the Senate, including Alpha Trion, questioned Nova's unsavory methods at the end of the war.

A statue commemorating the Regulon Conflicts--consisting of General Stormbreaker and other heroes, including Kup--is erected in Iacon Central Plaza. (Note: During the Third Cybertronian Civil War, Kup will express one moment of gratitude to the Decepticons when their assault on the capital during the Third Battle of Iacon destroys "that damnable statue" of Kup's likeness.)

Cybertron Security Operations (CSO) is formed to provide espionage and intelligence on future threats to Cybertron and its colonies so that they can never be taken unawares by another threat like the Regulon Metal-Mongers.

Approx. 220 million stellar cycles ago:

Cybertron becomes the center of a vast sprawling galactic federation, renowned across civilized space as a center of knowledge, culture and wisdom. Hundreds of alien species--organic and mechanical--trade with the Cybertronians and explore the depths of their archives for possible solutions to the issues facing the pan-galactic civilization.

Approx. 217 million stellar cycles ago:

Jhiaxus, a senior member of the Science Guild by this point, first notices a young but brilliant scientist from the city-state of Protihex named Shockwave working on one of the teams he is responsible for overseeing. Jhiaxus takes Shockwave under his tutelage, helping to unleash the full brilliance of that young mind by assigning him to projects that stimulate the young bot's intellect. He becomes Jhiaxus's protégé and begins aiding the elder scientist in his researches into multi-adaptive alt-forming based on Quintesson Triple-Changer/Multi-Changer technology with the aim of developing Cybertronians with multiple alt-modes that can adapt to any and all environments.

Approx. 215 million stellar cycles ago:

The Third Quintesson Wars: The Quintessons attempt to reconquer Cybertron as a large fleet of the Quintesson Expeditionary Forces just suddenly enter Cybertronian territory and unleash a catastrophic attack, destroying several of the outer colonies. After a hard-fought war, the Quintessons eventually relented under the Cybertronians' superior military forces and retreated back to their native space. Despite the valiant efforts of the Cybertronian Armed Forces, numerous casualties were across the Cybertronian people.

In order to maintain security and supremacy within the Great Cybertronian Empire following the Quintessons' attempted conquest, Nova Prime sanctions the construction of the Omega Sentinels led by the mighty Omega Supreme, powerful giants based on the Quintessons' Dark Guardians that are capable of transforming into deep-space battlecruisers to quell attacks by hostile forces within the Empire's borders, whether domestic or alien.

Approx. 206 million stellar cycles ago:

The Omacronian Encounter: A group of Cybertronian colonists are slaughtered on Cestus IV when the process of cyberforming the planet into a new spokeworld for the Empire. When the Primal Vanguard responds to this, they are immediately attacked by Omacronian forces and almost overwhelmed before reinforcements from the Elite Guard led by the charismatic Delta Magnus, commander of the famed Magnus Corps, rallies the troops and routs their opponents from Cybertronian space.

Approx. 195 million stellar cycles ago:

The Edgespace Wars: A far-off interstellar empire known as the Galran Khanganete are able to successfully breach the outer rim of the Great Cybertronian Empire, with the goal to eventually invade Cybertron for the AllSpark, so they can use its incredible power to expand their dominion across the galaxy. Nova Prime is given emergency military powers, assuming full command over the Cybertronian Armed Forces. The Cybertronians are able to push the Galran forces from their territory, however, not without many casualties on both sides. From aboard the bridge of the Proudstar, Nova orders a fleet of Omega Sentinels and War Titans to accompany him to the heart of Galran space, where they unleashed an orbital bombardment on the Galran homeworld of Daibazaal, exterminating all surface life to ensure that the Galran Grand Khan and Head of Military don't escape. He then orders Galvatron, who was Commander-in-Chief of the Elite Guard at the time, to conduct an invasion of the remaining Galran worlds to destabilize their remaining military forces with the aim of assuring the complete destruction of the Galran Khanganete and any vestigial threat it posed to the safety of Cybertron and the AllSpark. The subsequent "Galran Holocaust" reduces the Galran Khanganete from a vast galactic superpower to a small collective of warlords and marauders struggling in deep poverty following their homeworld's destruction.

In the wake of the Edgespace Wars, many Cybertronians cheered for Nova Prime's actions against the Galrans and thought that he was just taking precautions to assure Cybertron's safety. However, Nova did have his fair share of critics, though they were a few in number around this time.

Approx. 182 million stellar cycles ago:

After facing hardship and turmoil from the many previous conflicts with hostile aliens, Nova Prime begins the extreme militarization of the Great Cybertronian Empire in preparation of any possible threats, making the democratic federation resemble more of a military dictatorship. He cuts off all contact with Cybertron's alien allies, believing that non-Cybertronian lifeforms could not teach the Empire anything beneficial and that their only purpose in life was to marvel at Cybertron's beauty as it further expanded to the stars. Nova advocates for the colonization of inhabited worlds, annihilating their native populations in the process, claiming that it was all to deter these aliens from a chance of invading Cybertron and its colonies. While Nova Prime still had his many supporters, among them members of his inner circle--Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge, Jhiaxus, Ember, and Steelheart, there was now a growing number of people who claimed that the Matrix-bearer's plans were not spreading enlightenment, but instead the conquest of everything not born of Cybertron. Many of these "malcontents" would be quietly arrested by Nova Prime's secret police over the eons and sent to off-world detention facilities to be imprisoned. Around this time, Alpha Trion notices that Nova has been mysteriously sending deep space exploration vessels to scout out the Wilderzones, the regions of space within the Milky Way's Alpha Quadrant that has been mostly unexplored by the Cybertronians since the fall of the original Thirteen. He fears that Nova may be seeking out the long-lost Ores of Desolation, hoping to unite the seven ores so he may gain the powers of a god and legitimize his stance of the Cybertronian race being the supreme power of the universe.

Approx. 170 million stellar cycles ago:

The Monstructor Incident: Hoping to rediscover the lost art of combination, Nova Prime conspires with Jhiaxus in using the ancient powers of the Enigma of Combination in an attempt to revive Combiner technology, seeking to use the process as a tool of conquest in the possibility that the Great Cybertronian Empire expanded to other galaxies. After a long period of experimentation, Jhiaxus tests the Enigma on six volunteers--Birdbrain, Bristleback, Icepick, Scowl, Slog, and Wildfly--who combine to form Monstructor. Though physically powerful, Monstructor was also violently insane as a result of his components lacking mental unity. The savage Combiner then proceeds to run amok across Cybertron until he would eventually be defeated by the combined might of Omega Supreme and the Elite Guard. Monstructor is separated back into his original six components and are then placed in protective statis before being sealed away in the underground vaults of Crystal City.

Disappointed by the experiment's disastrous results, Nova Prime leaves the Enigma of Combination under the care of Senator Alpha Trion, who safekeeps the artifact in the Iacon Hall of Records, and orders the permanent discontinuation of all research concerning Combiner technology. Jhiaxus's protégé Shockwave would secretly attempt to try to replicating the combining process without the use of the Enigma but with no avail at this time.

Approx. 160 million stellar cycles ago:

Scientists in the city-state of Arcanex uncover the remains of several Maximals and Predacons in the Great Abyss. Studying their CNA, they begin to unlock the secrets of the ancient beastformers. The leader of the research team, Dragotron, takes their research a step further when he and his fellow scientists decide to inject themselves with Maximal/Predacon CNA, transforming themselves into the Arcanexian beastformers.

The Council of Ancients in Iacon orders the experiments ended and the research destroyed, but Dragotron rebels and, along with a band of followers from Arcanex, takes control of the Titan Hyperborea and leaves the planet to continue their experiments elsewhere. Hyperborea and his crew crashes on a distant jungle planet they name Animatros, where they are all eventually reformatted into beastformers.

Approx. 144 million stellar cycles ago:

Nova Prime commissions the development of the Teletraan series of artificial intelligence supercomputers. The first model of the Teletraan series, Teletraan Alpha, is installed aboard Nova's flagship, the Proudstar. The second model, Teletraan I, is assembled within Alpha Trion's private office in the Iacon Hall of Records to serve as his personal AI assistant.

Approx. 139 million stellar cycles ago:

Cybertron Security Operations detects a strange extradimensional anomaly within the nearby Benzuli Expanse. Nova Prime departs Cybertron aboard the Proudstar to closely investigate this anomaly to see if it was beneficial or harmful to the homeworld's security, with notable crew members being Galvatron, Ember, Cyclonus, Scourge, Tempest, Jhiaxus, Grindcore, Scour, Freezer, Novakane, Hyperflight, Cyberwarp, Skyjack, Treadshock, and Riotgear. Understanding the inherent dangers of travelling into potentially hostile space, Nova Prime chose to remove the Creation Matrix of Leadership, leaving it on Cybertron under the care of the Matrix Templars in his absence. This act may have potentially saved the Matrix.

When the Proudstar arrived at the Benzuli Expanse, Security Operations suddenly lost all contact with the ship right after it begins to slowly approach the anomaly for study. The Primal Vanguard is deployed to investigate but they find no trace of the Proudstar and its crew, and the anomaly. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, the extradimensional anomaly was actually a space-time rift that transported the Proudstar and her crew to the Dead Universe, a malevolent realm that exists in the space between realspace and unspace. All aboard perish and are resurrected as undead creatures to serve the will of an undead, eldritch intelligence known as the D-Void.

With Nova Prime gone, Cybertron enters a brief period known as the Interregnum. The Elite Guard, now led by its new Commander-in-Chief Delta Magnus, establishes itself as the planet's acting ruling body until a new Matrix-bearer can be found. Tensions begin to emerge between Cybertron and the colonies as various rebel and successionist factions appear to oppose the rule of the Great Cybertronian Empire. The Elite Guard then dispatched off-world to pacify of the insurrectionist groups across the colonies.

After this period of unrest, the Matrix Templars chose a rising star from the ranks of the Elite Guard, a young officer named Guardian Major, as the new Prime. Once the Creation Matrix deems him worthy, Guardian Major becomes Guardian Prime, Cybertron's new Supreme Commander. In the first three thousand years of his Primacy, Guardian casts aside many of Nova's fascist policies, reestablishing peaceful contact with neighboring civilizations, such as the Galvan Alliance and the Shadow Proclamation, and focusing attention on the colonization of uninhabited worlds.

Approx. 125 million stellar cycles ago:

Start of the Ejoornian Crusades: The remote Cybertronian colony of Exillion is attacked by unknown alien raiders. Though the ships are repulsed by the colony's militia, the attack is followed within the next day by a fleet of warships that attacks Exillion, devastating the hubworld and capturing the planetary Space Bridges and the colony's Cyber Planet Key, though not before a technician encrypts the coordinates for the other hubworlds and Cybertron itself, though Exillion's spokeworlds soon report invasion forces. Cybertron Security Operations's investigations discover that the invaders are the Ejoornians, a nomadic species of cybernetic aliens that have been harrying worlds beyond Cybertronian space for ngs: raiding, conquering and exacting tributes from weaker species. The Primal Vanguard, supported by a fleet of Omega Sentinels and Titans, are mobilized and attack the Ejoornian starfleet at Exillion, but they are unable to break through and retake the hubworld. For the next 4 million years, the crusades wage on along the borders of the Great Cybertronian Empire with both sides claiming individual victories but neither is able to strike a decisive blow.

Approx. 124 million stellar cycles ago:

The Battle of Ettacron: Cybertronian Elite Guard units successfully defend the colony world of Ettacron from an Ejoornian strikeforce. Among the Cybertronian defenders were Kup--now promoted to a field commander--and a lieutenant from the industrial village of Arkenstone named Ironhide.

Approx. 123 million stellar cycles ago:

The Siege of Halcyon: The hubworld of Halcyon comes under attack from the Ejoornians. The Elite Guard detachment on the planet--including a young Thunderclash--successfully hold the planet against the aliens for four meta-cycles until reinforcements manage to break through the siege lines around the planet and drive off the Ejoornian fleet.

Approx. 122 million stellar cycles ago:

A member of the Science Guild named Pistonhead hopes to create a method by which Cybertronians could survive and thrive on any world, in order to gain the upper hand in the war against the Ejoornians. During his experiments, he learns of the power of the martial art known as Chōkon, originating from the inhabitants of G Nebula 89 who believe it to an abstract force that exists inherently within most forms of natural life in the universe, from stars and planets down to living beings. Pistonhead discovered that Cybertronians do not seem to naturally possess Chōkon Power, but he's able to harness a limited form of the energy by capturing hostile organic animals and reformatting them into engines installed into battle armor, giving their wielders increased strength, speed, and reflexes. This results in the development of experimental Powermaster Armors for specialized units within the Cybertronian Armed Forces. This new innovation sees many great warriors, including Guardian Prime, being refitted with Powermaster Armor, finally giving the Cybertronians the edge over the invaders.

Approx. 121 million stellar cycles ago:

End of the Ejoornian Crusades: Cybertron Security Operations traces the Ejoornians back to their home base within the Eshems Nebula. While the Cybertronian Defense Forces distracts the Ejoornians with attacks on several of their sector fleets, the Powermaster-equipped forces of the Elite Guard under Delta Magnus and the Primal Vanguard under Guardian Prime himself launch an assault on the nebula, destroying the Ejoornian command carrier. The Ejoornians surrender to the Great Cybertronian Empire, ending the Ejoornian Crusades once and for all.

Several Ejoornian captives under interrogation by Security Operations reveal that they became galactic nomads after their homeworld Ejoornus was captured by a far more advanced species called the Quintessons, the same technorganic aliens who enslaved the Cybertronians many eons ago and have also attempted to reconquer Cybertron several times by this point. When word of the Quintessons' involvement of this reaches Guardian Prime, the Senate, and the Council of Ancients, they order all colonization efforts in the region of the Ejoornian Crusades to be ended and classifies the reasoning, granting the Ejoornians favorable terms in the peace treaty to end the conflict, using them as a buffer between Cybertronian space and suspected Quintesson territory.

Approx. 110 million stellar cycles ago:

Rust worms are first brought to Cybertron by stowaway on ships that arrive at the Hydrax Plateau spaceport. The rust worms feast on the metallic innards of the surrounding Oxide Wastes, secreting liquid rust as they consumed. As the eons pass, the Oxide Wastes is slowly transformed into the lifeless, inhospitable region known as the Sea of Rust.

Approx. 100 million stellar cycles ago:

Cybertron's Energy Guild reports that energon reserves are dwindling faster than the core can replenish them. At the same time, the Well of All Sparks begins producing fewer and fewer new Cybertronians with each passing giga-cycle. The Cyber Planet Keys planted on the colony worlds are likewise reducing output of sparks and energon. The Senate and the Council of Ancients orders new exploratory craft built to seek out worlds and survey them for other sources of energon.

Approx. 96 million stellar cycles ago:

The Fifth Quintesson Wars: Taking advantage of the energy crisis, the Quintessons once again attempt to invade the Great Cybertronian Empire. Despite the valiant efforts of the united Cybertronian Armed Forces, the Empire still suffered great losses, with several colonies destroyed by the Quintesson Expeditionary Forces. Thankfully, with the support of their Ejoornian allies and Cybertronian Elite Guardsmen equipped with Powermaster Armor, the Cybertronians are able to drive the Quintessons from Cybertronian territory once more.

While the Empire won the Fifth Quintesson Wars, it brought many tragedies and losses. The war also forged great heroes. The great general Zeta of Sistex, conjunx endura of Guardian Prime and head of his private military guard, the Protecton Guard. Together, she had fight alongside her lover in many battles with no surrender for cycles without rest. The hero Nominus of Cyber City, a young bot who greatly admired of the old legends of chivalrous warriors such as the early Primes and the Knights of Cybertron. During the war, he began his career as a Rescue Bot, rising the ranks as the head of his taskforce, Rescue Force Alpha-84, as he saved the lives of thousands in his relentless search & rescue efforts.

Approx. 85 million stellar cycles ago:

The Cybertronians attempt to colonize the terrestrial planet Probat, but they discover that the planet is inhabited by a sentient race of bat-like humanoids called the Probats. It was initially unknown what would happen to the Probats if the Cybertronians colonized the planet. Some said they should leave them be, some suggested they should be relocated outside of Cybertronian territory, and a few radicals even suggested sterilization of the planet. This debate over Probat raged on for some time until scout drones discovered that the planet held material that could converted into a form of energon, something that the Great Cybertronian Empire was in dire need of due to the energy crisis. As such, after some time, the Primal Vanguard landed on Probat, and Guardian Prime strode to the planet's capital in person to start negotiations with the Probats, promising to raise them to the wider galactic community, asking only to set up energon processing facilities on their homeworld. Excited to meet other lifeforms and see the wider universe, the Probats graciously accept Guardian Prime's offer, allowing the Cybertronians to build their facilities and even building statues of the Cybertronians who first arrived on their planet, establishing Probat as a protectorate within the Great Cybertronian Empire.

Approx. 83 million stellar cycles ago:

The Stentarian Incursion: The Cybertronians encounter another mechanoid race with transformational abilities similar to their own called the Stentarians. Originating from the Andromeda Galaxy, these Stentarians are dominated by the hostile and aggressive Ammonite Imperium that threatens the Great Cybertronian Empire as they begin to expand their sphere of influence into the Milky Way, harrying several colonies along the border between the powers. When the Ammonites attack the hubworld of Chaldron, the Primal Vanguard delivers them a crushing blow that ends their dreams of expansion.

After the defeat of the Ammonites at Chaldron, Cybertron Security Operations infiltrates Stentarian space to prevent further attacks by undermining their Imperium. They make contact with an underground rebel movement of intellectuals and political dissidents calling themselves the Terradores. The agents of Security Operations supply these dissidents with intelligence and tactical support that enables them to trigger an uprising that splits the Stentarian civilization in two. With Cybertronian support, the Terradores drive the Ammonites from their homeworld of Stentara and several major colonies, but their war effort is halted once the Rust Plague strikes the Cybertronians in the near future and their allies become unable to maintain their support. The Stentarian Civil War degrades into a morass in which neither side is able to gain the advantage, dragging on for millions upon millions of years with no end in sight.

As the Stentarian Civil War spills into the Milky Way Galaxy, several worlds inhabited by less-developed alien races are caught in the crossfire and heavily devastated, resulting in the deaths of billions. This event would be known as "the Shattering". In response to this, the Galactic Council is formed as a diplomatic coalition of thousands of sapient organic races who attempt to prevent civilizations from being caught in the Stentarian Civil War and other horrific conflicts, with notable founding worlds including Captiuncula, Hedonia, Vho, Throm, the Kenara System, Archon Ren, Zebes, Miliarium, the twin planets Jol and Nar, Gromflom Prime, Norion, Kzin, Vulcan, Moll Primus, Bryyo, Elysia, Hymenosia, Ethos, Reptizar, Aesgard, and Kymellia III.

With many of the Galactic Council's founding worlds having already lost a large number of their respective populations in the crossfire of the Stentarian Civil War, much of the Council's leadership and population largely becomes anti-mechanoid.

Approx. 70 million stellar cycles ago:

The colony world of Tsiehshi is ravaged by an outbreak of a deadly and untreatable Rust Plague that was picked up on an exploration ship. The plague spreads rapidly across the cyberformed world, infecting infrastructure, technology, and Cybertronians alike. Over the eons that follow, further outbreaks are reported on far-flung colonies, eradicating all mechanical life. Though Cybertronian scientists and medics search desperately for a cure, none is found and the crisis grows exponentially as colony world after colony world is quarantined and falls silent. The Rust Plague's origins were never discovered, but conspiracy theorists claim that the plague was actually a biological weapon manufactured by the Quintessons as revenge for their countless defeats in the Quintesson Wars, however, there is no substantial evidence to this theory.

Approx. 68 million stellar cycles ago:

With the Rust Plague accelerating in its spread across Cybertronian territory, the Council of Ancients passes an edict at the urging of Guardian Prime and the Senate to blockade the Great Cybertronian Empire's borders and expel all non-natives from Cybertron and its colonies once it's discovered by scientists that organic lifeforms can become asymptomatic carriers of the disease, infecting any form of mechanical life around them. This action brings an end to Cybertronian cultural dominance of the galaxy as the peace they had maintained among dozens of alien races fractures.

Approx. 66 million stellar cycles ago:

With the Rust Plague spreading like wildfire, the Council of Ancients orders the closure of all Space Bridges until the crisis has passed. All transit between worlds is limited to ship travel in realspace so that quarantine measures can be instituted on all shipments and travelers. The order slows the spread of the Rust Plague but doesn't halt it completely.

---

Nova Prime is based off of his IDW counterpart. However, instead being a fascist at the start, Nova was originally a good ruler who sought to find uninhabited worlds for the Transformers to settle colonies on, similar to how he was characterized in the Transformers: Devastation videogame. He became a dictator as Cybertron was continuously attacked by aliens during the height of the Golden Age, which reminded him of the Quintesson invasion and occupation of the planet in years past. This makes him become increasingly xenophobic and a perfectionist who wished to improve Cybertron by any means necessary, not caring who gets negatively affected by the results.

Originally, I had planned to have Fortress Maximus, Grand Maximus, and Skorponok be created during the Age of the Primes, but after some thinking, I've decided to re-imagine them as being among the first War Titans forged during the Golden Age, with Fortress and Grand being inspired by the legendary Brave Maximus as reference to Japanese G1.

In the Beyondverse, instead of devices used to activate the Omega Lock (since the Omega Keys already exist in this universe), the Cyber Planet Keys from Transformers Cybertron now act as the power sources for the Cybertronian colonies.

Like his IDW 2005-2018 counterpart, Shockwave is a former student of Jhiaxus.

The Omacronians were an alien race briefly mentioned in the Wings Universe and are a reference to the race with the same name from Futurama.

The Galran Khanganete is an alien empire that ruled a small portion of the Milky Way Galaxy who were referenced in the Transformers Animated: AllSpark Almanac II and The Complete AllSpark Almanac books. As their name suggests, they are a reference to the Galra Empire from the 1981 mecha anime Beast King GoLion, which was then adapted in 1984 as Voltron: Defender of the Universe.

Monstructor's origins based of his IDW 2005 counterpart and the Abominus from the IDW 2019 continuity.

The Ejoornians appeared in the Transformers: Defiance comic book.

In the Beyondverse, Powermaster technology was originally developed as power armor for certain members of the Cybertronian Armed Forces, similar to Animated Optimus Prime's Wingblade mode and the Power Armor of the Fallout franchise. It also takes small elements of the Godmasters from Transformers: Super-God Masterforce, with the armor's power engines running on Chōkon Power from G Nebula 89. The inventor of Powermaster technology is this universe, Pistonhead, is based on an OC from Autobot Academy.

I made Guardian Prime and Zeta Prime conjunx endura because I just felt like putting in a power couple in the Prime Lineage. I've also made Zeta genderbent female in this universe.

Probat was introduced as a Cybertronian protectorate colony in the IDW 2019 continuity.

The Stentarians and the Galactic Council are from the IDW 2005 continuity. I'll talk more on the Council's affairs with the Cybertronians in future chapters.

Chapter 11: Chapter X: The Age of Rust (The Second Cybertronian Civil War)

Summary:

Here's Chapter 10 of Legendarium, which tells the story of how the outbreak of the Rust Plague ended the Golden Age and brought a long age of economic depression upon Cybertron. This also details the Great Energon Famine, the Second Cybertronian Civil War, and the rise of Functionism.

The Age of Rust was a period of Cybertronian history marked with by social and societal atrophy, as a demoralized Cybertron sought to recover from the failure of the Golden Age.

Approx. 65 million stellar cycles ago:

At a loss how to stop the Rust Plague as it spreads closer to the core sectors of the Great Cybertronian Empire, Guardian Prime makes a controversial decision as he orders Cybertron and its inner colonies to enter a self-imposed quarantine, destroying many Space Bridges and mining all space lane approaches so to effectively isolate them from the Empire's infected mid and outer territories. As a result, hundreds of thousands of colonies, such as Junkion, Eukaris, Novatron, Devisiun, Prion, Paradron, Omnitron, Gigantion, Aquatron, Mons Prima, Nijita, Biosfera, Vinsi'vallok, Floron III, Dromedon, Goo 8739-B, Strontero, Izona, Jormungandr, Kambryar, Alpha IX, Comb, Rynn Prime, Quawzmi Prime, Ithuga, Kal Toreau, Kalisto, Varas Extrinsecus, and many more, permanently lose with their homeworld, the inner colonies, and each other, with their fates following the Rust Plague left unknown. Only 14 colonies--Arduria, Velocitron, Caminus, Lithone, Carcer, Neutronia, Regulon IV, Combatron, Archon, Animatros, Probat, Lucifer, Cryadorr, and the Salvvatan System--remain in contact with Cybertron. With all of the Bridges shut down, the Space Bridge Network in orbit around Cybertron was left to crumble in the skies, however, only one was still believed to be operational, but it was eventually forgotten about by the Science Guild under the fear of accidentally bringing the Rust Plague to the planet.

Approx. 64 million stellar cycles ago:

With the loss of a large majority of the colony worlds, Cybertron almost instantly fell into chaos and panic. Without an continuous supply of energon from the colonies, the planet's resources greatly diminished as the Cyber Planet Keys on the remaining colony worlds drew their power from the Well of All Sparks on Cybertron. Soon, the AllSpark was dying as the Cybertronians didn't have enough energy to replenish it and the holy relic was left to wither away within the planet's core, slipping into urban legend.

With the AllSpark largely forgotten about, lost beneath the planet's surface, and without a supply of energy regularly being harvested for it, Cybertron's energy levels were depleted to a dangerously low. The planet had already been overpopulated before the Rust Plague, only able to keep up with demand thanks to energon shipped in from the colonies, but the remaining Cybertronian colonies didn't have enough energy for everyone in the Empire. Eventually, the planet's energy level dipped so low as to put it in immediate, mortal danger. This all resulted in the "Great Energon Famine", a famine that lasted for over 12 million years. Hundreds of millions of Cybertronians throughout Cybertron and the colonies dropped to the ground dead without a near-constant supply of energon to keep them functional. The crime rate rose exponentially as those in power held on to large supplies of energon at the expense of the common masses. In order to prevent the famine from escalating ever further, Guardian Prime is forced to place a restriction on energon ratios of the average citizens and the number of forgings that were allowed. Millions of Cybertronian citizens were kept underfueled in order to save energon for everyone and most new Cybertronians were constructed cold at synthesized hatcheries, as very few newborns were forged from hot spots over the eons due to the planet's low resources. It was a time of misery.

Approx. 52 million stellar cycles ago:

The Great Cybertronian Empire collapses as Cybertron's energy reserves became extremely low following the height of the Great Energon Famine. The Senate and the Council of Ancients subsequently fell out of power. Guardian Prime establishes the Conclave of Representatives, a provisional government based in Iacon to keep peace and order between the city-states and the colonies. However, this new government doesn't last long as all the city-states quickly turn on each other, stockpiling any remaining energon that they could find.

Approx. 51 million stellar cycles ago:

Cybertron enters an age of factionalization and intercity warfare amongst the populace. Soon, a large number of citizens grew dissatisfied with Guardian Prime's lax reign and the strict energon rationing practices, dismissing the Prime's plight of trying to keep everything under control and blamed him for all of their problems. Chief among these dissidents was the charismatic Devron of the independent Destron States, a high-ranking officer of the Cybertronian Defense Forces stationed in Kaon. A radical Adaptologist, Devron believed that the Prime Lineage had become an archaic form of leadership, seeing them as the cause for Cybertron's stagnation and explained that the only way for the Cybertronian race to move forward from this age of strife was to eliminate the Prime and reform the government from the ground up, allowing their kind to truly prosper without the need of a single ruler who was ultimately decided on by supposed divine will. He started off as a minor annoyance to Guardian Prime's provisional government, but he became a concern when they realized he had millions of supporters across the planet, not just among those of the Destrons, but also from both the civilian populace and the military forces. Among Devron's inner circle were warriors from all over the planet such as Ironhide, Silverstreak, Sideways, Stormdriver, Crowbar, Typhoon, and Widowmaker. This growing wave of supporters would swear their allegiance to the Destron States, with Devron eventually rising to power as their leader.

The Destrons eventually become an influential superpower on Cybertron as they gain control of the city-states within the Badlands and its surrounding regions. They begin to expand their borders as they annexed several city-states across the planet, including Tyger Pax, securing the now-weakened Well of All Sparks, which they use its remaining power to create a new tithe of sparks to bolster their armies.

Approx. 50 million stellar cycles ago:

The Destrons led by Devron launch an assault on Iacon in the hopes of securing the capital while Guardian Prime was there. The Elite Guard was able to repel the Destrons and force them out of the capital, however, Guardian was left fatally injured in battle. In his dying breath, Guardian passes the Creation Matrix down to his conjunx, Zeta, who becomes the mighty Zeta Prime. Zeta Prime reorganizes her former taskforce, the Protecton Guard, as the main vanguard of the armed forces still loyal to the Prime Lineage, rallying hundreds of millions of Cybertronians under her banner against the Destron advance. Among Zeta's inner circle were heroes and other figures of great renown such as Alpha Trion, Beta, Nominus, Ratchet, Omega Supreme, Kup, Shockwave, Dai Atlas, Terminus, Proteus, Steelheart, Nightwielder, Obliteration, Firefight, Traachon, Termagax, Codexa, Thunderclash, Delta Magnus, Zeemon Magnus, Halonix Maximus, Big Bang, Eucryphia, Sentius Octavius, Obsidian, Strika, and Threnody.

Approx. 49 million stellar cycles ago:

Start of the Second Cybertronian Civil War: The Destrons conquer the neutral city-states of Decagon, Proximax, and Valvolux before extending their reach into the Tagan Heights, forcing the Protectons to respond to prevent them securing the resources of the Tagan city-states.

Supported by a large force of Omega Sentinels, the Protecton forces secure the Well of All Sparks at Tyger Pax and are besieged by the Destrons while other Protecton forces head south to counter the Destron expansion.

Approx. 48 million stellar cycles ago:

The Protectons struggle to delay the Destron advance into Crystal City and the Sonic Canyons while falling back from Dendrex and the Badlands.

Several city-states and other settlements heavily affected by the war band together to form the Free Cities, declaring independence from and neutrality towards both factions, a state of affairs that will continue even into the Third Cybertronian Civil War.

Around this time, Shockwave becomes part of an elite squad of military scientists and weapon specialists called the Devastators, developing new weapons and technology for the Protectons, including the further development into Triple-Changer/Multi-Changer technology. Among the Devastators' ranks is Strafejetter, who proves to be a capable weapons specialist and a good friend of Shockwave.

Approx. 47 million stellar cycles ago:

The Destrons attack the Orbital Torus States, crossing through Thunderhead Pass to take the Torus Heights, but their assault is countered by the amassed forces of the Insecticon and Arachnicon hives from the Sea of Lights, who swarm north to support their Protecton allies, causing the Destron advance to collapse.

Approx. 46 million stellar cycles ago:

Some Destrons begin to grow tired of this new wave of defeats against the Protectons and begin to believe that Devron's leadership was becoming unsuitable for the Destron cause of the reformation of Cybertronian civilization, chief among was one of his generals, Megazarak. Soon, Megazarak challenged Devron for leadership of the Destrons in a trial by combat, killing him and becoming the new Destron leader. Megazarak was a brutal and cunning warrior of absurd strength, however, he was held back by his unstable ego and the habit of killing his own soldiers under perceived slights.

In possession of powerful forces and having no qualms about sacrificing large numbers of his own followers, Megazarak launched a massive counterattack against the Protectons, raining destruction across the Protecton-controlled zones and their allied cities. During the Destrons' counteroffensive, Zeta Prime is killed in the Battle for Ankmor Park, briefly causing the Protecton war effort to falter without their Supreme Commander.

Following the death of Zeta Prime, the Matrix Templars safeguard the Creation Matrix until they chose Nominus, who has proven himself worthy as its next bearer. Now as Nominus Prime, he rallies all Protectons from across the planet and launches a counterattack against the Destrons, liberating their city-states and turning them into fortified strongholds in preparation for another enemy assault. The Protectons gain several stunning victories in the south, such as the Battle of Tesarus, led by a battle-hardened officer in the Elite Guard named Sentinel Zeta, who is a direct descendant of Sentinel EnN, a fallen war hero of the Quintesson Wars.

Approx. 42 million stellar cycles ago:

As the Protectons quickly regain the upper hand in the war, Megazarak sends wave after wave of his own men at the enemy to slow down their advancements into Destron territory, sacrificing his people without care for the prosperity of anyone other than himself. Recognizing that their loyalty, valor, and hard work amounted to nothing but his own personal gain, the Destron leader's senior commanders conspired to end his reign. In the end, Megazarak was so consumed by his egomania and dismissive of his underlings, he failed to see the threat growing around him.

During the Battle of the Plurex Flats, Megazarak led the Destrons in an assault on the Plurex energon mega-refinery, one of the few remaining major energon sources at the time. However, the attempted raid quickly degrades to a suicide mission as the mega-refinery was heavily defended the Protecton-aligned forces of the Elite Guard. As the Destrons suffered heavy losses, one of their senior commanders wished to abort the mission and sound a full retreat, only for him to then be torn in half by Megazarak in front of the troops to make an example of him for his "insolence". This finally broke the straw in the camel's back as the Destron soldiers abandoned their insane leader during the tail-end of the battle, giving Elite Guard Commander-in-Chief Delta Magnus the chance to slay Megazarak. While they were free from Megazarak's insanity and egomania, the Destron war effort began to falter as the remaining Destron commanders vie for control.

Approx. 40 million stellar cycles ago:

Several staggering Destron defeats in the eastern and southern fronts, including the Protecton liberation of Kaon, causes the remaining Destron commanders to put aside their differences and appoint a young but skilled officer from Thetacon named Trannis as their new leader. Even with their new leadership, the Destrons are unable to regain the offensive: bitterness, backstabbing, and bickering between their leaders hampers their efforts of repelling the Protecton advance.

Approx. 37 million stellar cycles ago:

As the Second Cybertronian Civil War continues to spread thin across Cybertron, the fighting begins to lessen as the planet's energon stores became heavily depleted. The great battles of old were no more, reduced to mere skirmishes of a few dozen Cybertronians at most. Protectons and Destrons drifted from city-state to city-state, capturing territory and any energy that's left for their respective factions.

The Battle of Valvolux: A young soldier within the Protecton-allied Cybertronian Defense Forces named Magnum valiantly leads his forces against the Destrons occupied in Valvolux, encouraging the populace to rebel against their oppressors. This allows the Protectons to break up the Destron lines in the planet's southern hemisphere.

Approx. 34 million stellar cycles ago:

Obsessed of improving the Cybertronian race's adaptability during these troubled times, Shockwave attempts to advance his experiments of replicating Triple-Changer technology onto normal Transformers. He experiments with the T-Cogs of two Protecton soldiers, Flywheels and Battletrap, turning them into the Duocons, which turns out to be a partial failure due to their consciousness being split into two vehicles. Undeterred, Shockwave continues his development of Triple-Changer replication in hopes for a success.

Approx. 32 million stellar cycles ago:

Nominus Prime eventually grows tired of the war and all the senseless violence, bringing his complaints to Iaconian Senator Alpha Trion within the Iacon Hall of Records. He explained to the old sage that he was looking into old Cybertronian historical records, hoping to find the fabled AllSpark, believing that he can use its power to unite Cybertron in a new era of peace, prosperity, and freedom. Feeling motivated for the first time in millions of years, Alpha Trion offered to help Nominus on his quest. Alpha Trion explained to Nominus that if he wanted to find the AllSpark, he must first enter the Ignition Chamber, which is at the very core of the planet, and that the chamber itself was sealed by a massive gate known as the Seal of Primus, which can only be opened by the Code Keys of Power and Justice, which Trion had in possession for safekeeping. When asked if he knew the correct way to search for the chamber through the underground passageways, Alpha Trion, suffering from information creep, sheepishly admitted that his memories were a little foggy.

Gathering a small group of loyal followers from the Protecton ranks including Sentinel Zeta and Magnum, along with a young enlistee from the Iaconian Nobility named Ginrai Pax, Nominus Prime and Alpha Trion journeyed down into the Well of All Sparks in Tyger Pax and scoured the depths of Cybertron for the Seal of Primus.

After an undetermined period of time of searching, the Protectons finally found the Seal of Primus. But before they could use the Code Keys to open it, they found that the gate was guarded by the Keeper, who's been safeguarding the planet's core for eons. The Keeper refused to give them access to the AllSpark, as he condones their kind for perpetuating the war, which has brought nothing but devastation upon Cybertron. He tells Nominus Prime that if he wishes to possess the AllSpark, he must earn it through a trial by combat. So, the two fought hard, with the Protectons watching from afar in amazement, but Nominus has proved his worth by helping the Keeper from a predicament when he could have easily took advantage. So, the Protectons were allowed to pass through the Seal of Primus, entering the Ignition Chamber where they found the long-lost AllSpark, left in a dormant state after eons of neglect.

The Protectons unearthed the AllSpark, bringing the artifact up from the underground to the surface at the city-state of Simfur. Shockwave and Strafejetter use experimental devices called Pillars, reverse-engineered by the Devastators from ancient Space Bridge technology of the Golden Age, that'll warp time and space to teleport energy from Cybertron's sun Hadean to the AllSpark. Nominus gambled that a small amount of solar energy would be enough to revitalize the AllSpark. However, their actions would be noticed by the Destrons led by Trannis, who believed that the Protectons' actions were an act of madness that would bring further destruction to their world. This prompted an attack by the Destrons at Nominus and his followers, confronting them at Simfur. During the resultant battle, the Protectons held the Destrons at bay so the Devastators could continue their work on the Pillars without any interference. Thankfully, the operation was a success as the Devastators were able to teleport a portion of the sun's energy into the AllSpark's superstructure, reawakening it. The AllSpark's revitalization flooded Cybertron with new waves of energon that touched every reservoir and hot spot across the planet. The Well of All Sparks shined once more as new generations of Cybertronians emerged from the Well.

End of the Second Cybertronian Civil War: Upon the Protectons' success at reviving the AllSpark, the Destrons stopped their attack, acknowledged they had been wrong and then asked Nominus Prime what he would do now that he possessed the most valuable and powerful artifact on Cybertron. Nominus Prime replied that the AllSpark didn't belong to either Protectons or Destrons, but it belonged to all Cybertronians, and that they only wanted peace, not power. Impressed by this act of genuine benevolence, the Destrons laid down their arms and signed peace accords with the Protectons at Simfur, finally bringing an end to the war.

Seeking to atone for their lack of trust, the Destrons would build a beautiful temple simply known as the Simfur Temple around the AllSpark.

With the war over, the Protecton and Destron factions are dissolved as Nominus Prime, Trannis, and their generals form a provisional government to oversee reconstruction. 

In order to maintain the post-war reconstruction efforts, the Cybertronian Guilds convince Nominus Prime to institute the rigid caste system of Functionism, somewhat based on the old Patterner Movement's ideals of a perfectly-ordered society, among the population to ensure Cybertron's stability. Functionism declared that one's role in life was determined by one's alt-mode--one's alt-mode was what decided whether they were part of the privileged elites, the common masses, or anywhere in between. High-ranking castes include those bots who shouldered Cybertron's scientific, artistic, and governmental responsibilities; construction workers, civil engineers, data specialists, cultural investigators and programmers constituted the mid-ranking castes, and miners, haulers, and manual laborers made up the lowest castes. The Council of Ancients was reformed and reorganized into the Functionist High Council to oversee the caste system and its mechanics. While the reinstated Cybertronian Senate handled the day-to-day realities of life on Cybertron, the Functionists, with Steelheart and her close companions Nightwielder, Obliteration, and Firefight as the council's founding members, were dedicated on tracking a Cybertronian's position within the caste system.

In the next following ano-cycles, once much of the infrastructure between the homeworld and the colonies has been stabilized, Nominus Prime establishes a new form of interstellar government: the Republic of Cybertron. With the Republic's founding, Nominus gives up much of his centralized power as Prime to give more freedom to the city-states and the colonies, though he remains in the office of Supreme Commander, which is now subordinate to the Senate.

---

The history surrounding the Great Energon Famine and the Second Cybertronian Civil War is based on the pre-war history established for the live-action movie continuity in the Transformers: Foundation comic.

Devron is originally appeared as a statue in the Decepticon Hall of Heroes during Starscream's coronation in The Transformers: The Movie (1986). Him and the other ancient Decepticon leaders seen the Hall of Heroes were originally meant to be revived by Unicron as Galvatron's new troops according the film's early script, given that Devron heavily resembles Scourge.

The Protectons are the good guy faction in the short-lived 1985 animated series Robotix and its related toyline, which would then be acquired as a property by Hasbro, allowing the Robotix continuity to take place in its own universal cluster, the "Xobitor Cluster", within the official Transformers universe.

Megazarak, not confused with MegaZarak (the Japanese name for both G1 and Energon Scorponok), is a merciless and insane Decepticon who originates from the 2001 Robots in Disguise continuity introduced via the Transformers: Universe series that ran from 2003 to 2005.

Introduced in the IDW G1 2005 continuity, Nominus Prime was presented as being a corrupt and militant douche, like all the other IDW Primes before Optimus Prime. Here in the Beyondverse, he'll be based on his counterpart from the IDW 2019 continuity, where he was a Prime with good intentions...that often led to bad results, which we'll get to in future chapters. 

Chapter 12: Chapter XI: The Age of Renewal (Post-Second Cybertronian Civil War Reconstruction)

Summary:

Chapter 11 of Legendarium tells us the story of the Age of Renewal, the post-Second Cybertronian Civil War reconstruction era.

The Age of Renewal, also known as the Age of Reconstruction or the Bronze Age, was the time period after the Second Cybertronian Civil War, during which Cybertron grappled with the challenges of maintaining the planet's newfound prosperity and bringing their race back to the days of the Golden Age.

Approx. 31 million stellar cycles ago:

The Republic of Cybertron begins development of a new form of faster-than-light travel to replace the long abandoned and outdated Space Bridge technology.

Approx. 30 million stellar cycles ago:

After many tests, the Cybertronians finishes the development of the first Transwarp Drive, a new type of hyperdrive technology that propels a spacecraft to traverse vast intergalactic distances almost instantaneously. At the city-state of Unitrex, the first starship to be outfitted with a Transwarp Drive is a small freighter dubbed the Unitrex-1 (better known in the modern day as the Lost Light). The launch of the Unitrex-1 proves to be a success as the freighter makes a quick trip from Cybertron to the nearest colony world of Arduria and back in less than one Earth day. Impressed, Nominus Prime commissions the creation of a fleet of starships, both civilian and military vessels, equipped with Transwarp Drives.

The success of the Transwarp Drive marks the start of the Neo-Colonial Period as Cybertron once again turns its attentions to reclaiming and expanding its extraplanetary territories. Notable colonies founded under the Republic of Cybertron's flag include Opulus, Messatine, Croteus XII, Athenia, Kimia, Planet V, Zone, Rigel, Praun, Sirena, Daffodil II, Omicron, Beacon, Daebola, Mayalx, Hill'Frayka, Distanna-2, Jyura, Verte Seven, Aetorr, Palifex, Skomiloch, Castor Forges, Knerax Minor, Hexagon, Paryadisou, Onyx, B'kn, Narr, Vyua, Baston Seven, Aventuras, Drewstiss, Subara, Akkarr, Covoxik, and many more.

Shockwave is elected as the Senator of his home-city Protihex. Using his new political influence, he founds the Jhiaxian Academy of Advanced Technology in memory of the good works of his departed teacher Jhiaxus.

Approx. 29 million stellar cycles ago:

The strictures of the caste system begin to relax as the population of Cybertron stabilizes. The Senate and the Functionist High Council debates removing the system completely but decides that with all the colonization efforts underway it's too soon to remove all semblance of control over the planet's infrastructure.

Approx. 28 million stellar cycles ago:

The Drone Wars: Cybertron Security Operations detects a collection of artificial objects entering the outer reaches of the Republic of Cybertron. Further investigation reveals that they are warships belonging to the Vestial Imperium, an empire of expansionist mechanoids that occupied a significant region of the Milky Way and now sought to annex Cybertron into their empire after hearing tales of the AllSpark's power from space travelers. The Cybertronian Armed Forces make a valiant effort to defend the colonies, but are beaten back by the Vestial Imperium's superior war machines. In order to gain the upper hand in the war, the Senate constitutes the Vehicon Navy--a new legion of heavily-armored Transformer drones constructed by the Ironforge Guild on the industrial colony world of Beacon--to act as the vanguard force of the Cybertronian Space Forces as the Imperium continues their push into the Republic's core sectors. The Vehicon Navy prove themselves to be effective defenders of the Republic during the Drone Wars, eventually driving the Vestial Imperium out of Cybertronian territory.

In honor of his valor in the Drone Wars and past conflicts, Sentinel Zeta is promoted as the new Commander-in-Chief of the Cybertronian Elite Guard after Delta Magnus voluntarily steps down from his position and retires from military service.

Approx. 27 million stellar cycles ago:

Ginrai Pax comes into prominence as a captain of the Primal Vanguard commanding a fleet of three missile frigates, destroying several pirate ships and key bases across the colonies. This results in a significant drop of piracy in Cybertronian space. Ginrai is then promoted to Colonel and given command over the Primal Vanguard division responsible for policing the colony worlds.

Approx. 25 million stellar cycles ago:

Alpha Trion founds the top-secret Epistemean Collective: a group of genius thinkers working on the cutting edge of Cybertronian science and biomedical engineering. Notable figures who become members of the Collective over the ano-cycles would include Strafejetter, Perceptor, Brainstorm, Spacewarp, Mainframe, Oil Slick, Proxima, Quark, Doc, and Rossum.

Approx. 24 million stellar cycles ago:

The Republic of Cybertron establishes the penal colony of Elba, where the maximum-security detention facility Garrus-9 is constructed to house the most dangerous criminals in all of Cybertronian history.

Approx. 22 million stellar cycles ago:

With the support of the Cybertronian Armed Forces and Justice Department, a veteran of the Second Cybertronian Civil War named Threnody commissions a black ops paramilitary organization known as the Wreckers to combat underground threats that act outside of the jurisdiction and capabilities of normal law enforcement. With their ranks consisting of former members of the military and enforcer castes, and even ex-convicts, they think against their enemies by bursting in on them guns-blazing. The Wreckers come into prominence as they take down some of the most powerful criminal organizations across the Republic of Cybertron such as the Vandals, the Breakers, and the Ravagers, but they're regarded infamously by their peers for their disregard of planning and their low survival rate during missions.

Approx. 21 million stellar cycles ago:

Shockwave makes a name for himself by replicating Triple-Changer technology. After copying the protoform schematics of a young member of the Cybertronian Defense Forces named Blitzwing, who was naturally constructed as a Triple Changer, he was able to perfectly develop T-Cogs that allow Cybertronians to transform into more than one alt-mode without any complications. Many of Shockwave's Triple-Changers would be then recruited into the Triorian Guard, the Senate's private military force. His research brings him to the attention of Alpha Trion, who brings Shockwave into the Epistemean Collective.

Approx. 20 million stellar cycles ago:

Nova Prime's conjunx endura and a crewmember of the long-lost Proudstar Ember escapes from the Dead Universe through a trans-dimensional rift. Without her direct connection to the D-Void, Ember begins to decay into nothingness but she's restored back to life by the mysterious Celestials. They revived Ember in exchange that she'll serve them as their chief herald in the assimilation of the Cybertronian race, who they view as "pretenders" and "false gods" that need to be put in their "rightful place" of being behind them. After being restored by her saviors, Ember studies the Cybertronian historical records of the period since the Proudstar's disappearance, learning of the Rust Plague that ended the Golden Age and the devastating Second Cybertronian Civil War that followed. Coming to the conclusion that with the aid of the Celestials and their great power, Ember hopes to one day free her lover Nova Prime from the Dead Universe and bring Cybertron back to its former glory, not before destroying all of the heathens who've brought their planet into its stagnation. She returns to Cybertron, under the guise of being a newborn Cybertronian named after the original Ember, and forms the Cult of the Black Epoch to serve the Celestials. The Black Epoch works in the shadows of Cybertronian society, orchestrating crises and planted roots across the Republic of Cybertron in the name of their gods; establishing a clandestine network of operatives engaged in political engineering and scientific research in order to bring about the "New Expansion".

Approx. 19 million stellar cycles ago:

Cybertron Security Operations begin receiving reports of several remote Cybertronian colonies being attacked and destroyed by a mysterious group of organic space pirates, leaving no trace of mechanical life on the planets. The Elite Guard and the Primal Vanguard are mobilized to the Republic's borders to investigate but no further attacks occur. Security Operations are assigned to the decimated colonies in hopes of finding some clue of who the attackers are.

Ten years later, reports reach Cybertron of more colonies destroyed on the outer reaches of Cybertronian territory, apparently victims of the same force as a decade prior. The Cybertronian Security Operations head for the new sites and discover that the alien attackers are members of the Black Block Consortia, a rogue protector fleet that had seceded from the Galactic Council centuries ago but kept the same philosophy of acting as a peacekeeping force for lightly-defended civilizations against the galaxy's warring mechanical races like the Stentarians in exchange for resources. The Consortia claimed that they were taking a more "proactive approach" than their parent organization by launching pre-emptive strikes on worlds that they deem a "threat" to the overall tranquility and stability of the Milky Way Galaxy. While the Council vehemently denies endorsing this group's activities, it's commonly believed by the Cybertronians and other neighboring superpowers that the Black Block Consortia is actually a false flag organization secretly financed by corrupt Council officials to act as a black ops unit dedicated in weakening the infrastructures of rival civilizations without the Council themselves becoming directly involved.

Start of the Six-Gigacycle War: Hijacking the Communication Grid, the Black Block Consortia declare war on the Republic of Cybertron, viewing it as the onset of a holy crusade to terminate all mechanical races in the galaxy. As the invaders attack the most vulnerable colonies in the Republic's outer territories, the Cybertronian Armed Forces are deployed to defend the colony worlds from the aliens. The subsequent conflict would continue for the next 6 thousand years.

The Defense of Lithone: A detachment of Wreckers led by Captain Rotorstorm aid the colony's local militia forces in defending Lithone from a Black Block Consortia fleet, though not without many losses on both sides.

The Devastation of Pyritron: A Primal Vanguard taskforce led by a former Destron named Stormdriver and his Titan partner Bastion engages the Black Block Consortia in orbit of the garrison world of Pyritron and are quickly overwhelmed by the Consortia's heavy troopers and warships. Even Bastion's transformation into his gigantic robot mode isn't enough to the turn of the tide of the battle as more Consortia heavy units enter the battle and the entire taskforce is crushed. Pyritron is then destroyed as the Black Block Consortia bomb the planet until it was nothing more than a large chunk of molten slag floating in space. Both Stormdriver and Bastion are among the many casualties.

The Battle of Regulon IV: A Primal Vanguard attack battalion led by Colonel Ginrai Pax engages a enemy fleet near Regulon IV. Ginrai is forced to sacrifice half of his fleet to draw the Black Block Consortia command ship away from the safety of its support crafts, allowing him to destroy the command ship and heavily cripple the Consortia's forces, forcing them to retreat.

The Defense of Arduria: Magnum leads a division of the Cybertronian Defense Forces in defending the planet from the Black Block Consortia as Arduria was the nearest colony to the Hadean System, preventing a possible enemy attack on the Transformer homeworld. Impressed by his experience and valor during the battle, Nominus Prime handpicks Magnum to serve as a Planetary Security Chief and Sentinel Zeta's second-in-command within the Elite Guard.

End of the Six-Gigacycle War: Eventually, the Cybertronians begin to gain the upper hand in the war, driving the Black Block Consortia away from the Republic's core sectors. Reinforced by Vehicons and regular Cybertronian soldiers outfitted with second-generation Powermaster Armor, the Armed Forces eventually drive off the Black Block Consortia out of Cybertronian territory, ending the Six-Gigacycle War.

---

Anyone catch that reference on the Lost Light? XD

The Vestial Imperium was an alien empire briefly mentioned in Transformers Timelines TCC Special #1 "Cheap Shots". It would be referenced again in both the Transformers Animated: AllSpark Almanac II and the Complete AllSpark Almanac.

The Vehicon Navy are based on the Vehicons from Beast Wars' critically-acclaimed sequel series Beast Machines. Instead of being created by Beast Era Megatron to enslave all on Cybertron, the Vehicon drones began as the vanguard force of the planet's space forces against hostile alien threats.

The Black Block Consortia is a radical splinter faction of the Galactic Council that appeared in IDW's More Than Meets The Eye/Lost Light.

Chapter 13: Chapter XII: The Age of Havoc (Beginning of the Fall of Cybertron)

Summary:

Chapter 12 of Legendarium focuses of the Age of Havoc, about the lead-up and history surrounding the Combatron Wars and the slow rise of Functionism.

The Age of Havoc, sometimes referred to as the Great Invasion, was a war-ridden era that mostly saw the Combatron Wars, an interstellar civil war that consumed the worlds of the Republic of Cybertron for the next several million years. It marked the end of the Neo-Colonial Period as following the conflict, Cybertron was forced into isolationism after a retaliatory strike by the Galactic Council. The Age of Havoc is, in many ways, considered by many historians to be the founding event of the Fall of Cybertron.

Approx. 19 million stellar cycles ago:

Cybertron Security Operations begin receiving reports of several remote Cybertronian colonies being attacked and destroyed by a mysterious group of organic space pirates, leaving no trace of mechanical life on the planets. The Elite Guard and the Primal Vanguard are mobilized to the Republic's borders to investigate but no further attacks occur. Security Operations are assigned to the decimated colonies in hopes of finding some clue of who the attackers are.

Ten years later, reports reach Cybertron of more colonies destroyed on the outer reaches of Cybertronian territory, apparently victims of the same force as a decade prior. The Cybertronian Security Operations head for the new sites and discover that the alien attackers are members of the Black Block Consortia, a rogue protector fleet that had seceded from the Galactic Council centuries ago but kept the same philosophy of acting as a peacekeeping force for lightly-defended civilizations against the galaxy's warring mechanical races like the Stentarians in exchange for resources. The Consortia claimed that they were taking a more "proactive approach" than their parent organization by launching pre-emptive strikes on worlds that they deem a "threat" to the overall tranquility and stability of the Milky Way Galaxy. While the Council vehemently denies endorsing this group's activities, it's commonly believed by the Cybertronians and other races that the Galactic Council has come in conflict with that the Black Block Consortia is actually a false flag organization secretly financed by corrupt Council officials to act as a black ops unit dedicated in weakening the infrastructures of rival civilizations without the Council themselves becoming directly involved.

Start of the Six-Gigacycle War: Hijacking the Communication Grid, the Black Block Consortia declare war on the Republic of Cybertron, viewing it as the onset of a holy crusade to terminate all mechanical races in the galaxy. As the invaders attack the most vulnerable colonies in the Republic's outer territories, the Cybertronian Armed Forces are deployed to defend the colony worlds from the aliens. The subsequent conflict would continue for the next 6 thousand years.

The Defense of Lithone: A detachment of Wreckers led by Captain Rotorstorm aid the colony's local militia forces in defending Lithone from a Black Block Consortia fleet, though not without many losses on both sides.

The Devastation of Pyritron: A Primal Vanguard taskforce led by a former Destron named Stormdriver and his Titan partner Bastion engages the Black Block Consortia in orbit of the colony of Pyritron and are quickly overwhelmed by the Consortia's heavy troopers and warships. Even Bastion's transformation into his gigantic robot mode isn't enough to the turn of the tide of the battle as more Consortia heavy units enter the battle and the entire taskforce is crushed. Pyritron is then destroyed as the Black Block Consortia bomb the planet until it was nothing more than a large chunk of molten slag floating in space. Both Stormdriver and Bastion are among the many casualties.

The Battle of Regulon IV: A Primal Vanguard attack battalion led by Colonel Ginrai Pax engages a enemy fleet near Regulon IV. Ginrai is forced to sacrifice half of his fleet to draw the Black Block Consortia command ship away from the safety of its support crafts, allowing him to destroy the command ship and heavily cripple the Consortia's forces, forcing them to retreat.

The Defense of Arduria: Magnum leads a division of the Cybertronian Defense Forces in defending the planet from the Black Block Consortia as Arduria was the nearest colony to the Hadean System, preventing a possible enemy attack on the Transformer homeworld. Impressed by his experience and valor during the battle, Nominus Prime handpicks Magnum to serve as a Planetary Security Chief and Sentinel Zeta's second-in-command within the Elite Guard.

End of the Six-Gigacycle War: Eventually, the Cybertronians begin to gain the upper hand in the war, driving the Black Block Consortia away from the Republic's core sectors. Reinforced by Vehicons and regular Cybertronian soldiers outfitted with second-generation Powermaster Armor, the Armed Forces eventually drive off the Black Block Consortia out of Cybertronian territory, ending the Six-Gigacycle War.

Following the Six-Gigacycle War, the Republic of Cybertron entered an economic depression due to the depletion of the national reserves caused by the massive devastation of critical colonies during the conflict. Security was bare bones, and energy was scarce on many of the colony worlds as a large majority of the energon reserves were utilized to support the war effort. Among the Cybertronian colonies that had suffered the brunt of this was the world of Combatron. Orbiting the yellow star of Delta Draconis, Combatron was established during the height of the Golden Age under Nova Prime's reign as a garrison for Cybertron's greatest soldiers and was one of the original fourteen colonies that remained in contact with the homeworld after the chaos caused by the Rust Plague. Despite the recent strain on resources, the people of Combatron continued on with their lives for the meantime.

The Devastation of Combatron: A mysterious ancient Titan with immense power named the Necrotitan makes landfall on Combatron, suddenly unleashing her full arsenal upon the Combatronians, razing the colony and the planet it was situated on. With much of the planet's surface being turned into an irradiated wasteland, Necrotitan unexplainably transformed into her alt-mode of a mobile battleplatform and went into stasis lock within the ruins of what was Combatron's capital city of Kalturex.

As the surviving Combatronians struggled to rebuild, rumors spread in an attempt to determine Necrotitan's origins nor her reasons for why she assaulted Combatron, with many say that Cybertron had simply dumped a haywire weapon of mass destruction on them so they wouldn't have to think of a more viable solution to the ongoing resource issues following the Six-Gigacycle War. (Note: During the Age of the Primes, Necrotitan was actually a Titan responsible for carrying sparks of fallen Cybertronians to the afterlife when they died and into the realm of Mortilus, who would pass judgement on them and decide whether they should be sent to paradise in the Afterspark, be reborn in the mortal realm to finish any business they had left behind, or be cast into the eternal damnation of the Inferno. Following the First Cybertronian Civil War and the fall of the Thirteen, Necrotitan's spark would then transcend to a higher plane of existence to better continue her duties as a psychopomp. However, her physical body was left adrift in deep space until it was found by Unicron the Chaos-Bringer. Recognizing the her, Unicron gave the Titan of Death's corpse new life and reformatted it into a mindless creature who shared his desire of destruction to serve as a tool to sow chaos amongst the Cybertronians that his agents will manipulate for his own ends as a massive distraction for him to plan his eventual return to the galaxy without Primus knowing it till it's far too late.)

Approx. 18 million stellar cycles ago:

With the Combatron colonial government left decimated after Necrotitan's rampage, the Combatronians were split into several factions and then began a world-spanning civil war that further devastated the planet. As Combatron was located in the most remote areas of the Republic of Cybertron, the Combatronian Civil War was almost completely unnoticed by those on Cybertron, especially Nominus Prime and the Senate, as they focused post-war reconstruction efforts in the Republic's inner sectors first, which only served to fuel the Combatronians' resentment towards their homeworld brethren.

A former member of the Combatronian aristocracy named Overlord would slowly but surely rise to power as a prominent warlord, attracting a massive following throughout the planet's wastelands as he used the aforementioned rumors about Necrotitan to his advantage. With the secret aid from agents of the Cult of the Black Epoch, Overlord recruited a large number of warrior tribes who sought for power and conquest by his side. His followers would soon call themselves the Combatrons. He and his new army then proceeded to terminate many of their rivals, such as the forces of the warlords Dery, Ghoulon, Murdron, Bloodron, Gladiaron, Pinoy, and Rapiron. While the Combatrons will successfully unite Combatron their banner, Overlord wasn't content with ruling a post-apocalyptic wasteland. No, he sought for greater prizes, and he began to lay down the foundations of his empire. He quickly organized the Combatronians and decided that they should take revenge on Cybertron and the colonies that abandoned them by conquering the Republic of Cybertron for themselves.

Under his guidance, Overlord's followers created a massive army equipped with a highly-destructive "Doomsday Arsenal", which came to known as the deadliest and most dangerous weapons known to all of Transformerkind, carefully reverse-engineered from the technology fueled by the mysterious Dark Energon power source that now ran through the Necrotitan's veins. Among Overlord's inner circle were Combatron's greatest warriors--the Combatron High Generals--consisting of Gigatron, Turmoil, Scrash, Quakewing, Exarchon, Thunderhammer, Palisade, Aperture, Octus, Legonis, and Seizer.

The Combatrons colonize Combatron's sister planet--a desert world called Tuurok, fortifying it into Overlord's personal throneworld where they could use as a launching point for future invasion. Ashmar Citadel is then constructed on the planet to serve Overlord's main headquarters.

Start of the Combatron Wars: Secretly backed by the Ironforge Guild, who provided them various types of Vehicon drones to serve as their general infantry, the Combatrons almost immediately began their campaign of conquest, sweeping through the outer regions of the Republic of Cybertron as they conquered many of the most vulnerable colonies, taking over one sector at a time. While many on Cybertron and its inner colonies grew concerned of the Combatrons' expansion, Nominus Prime and the Senate just dismissed them as just a bunch of upstart colonists. Naively hoping to solve the situation quickly, the Senate dispatched a lightly escorted diplomatic team aboard the Titan Waypoint led by Senator Codexa of Helex to find out what was happening. Overlord saw this as an excellent opportunity to begin a campaign of psychological warfare. The Combatrons waited for the Senate's diplomatic team to come into Combatron's orbit, and then allowed them to transmit images of their army before firing their anti-aircraft defenses at them, utterly destroying Waypoint and the crew aboard him, including Codexa. In response to Waypoint's destruction, the Senate quickly mobilized the Cybertronian Armed Forces and declared war on Combatron.

Several Cybertronian colonies willingly swear their allegiance to the Combatrons, hoping that their aid can help them expand their own sphere of influence--the most notable being Animatros and Hiil'Frayka. The Animatronian leader Yharon was impressed by Overlord's strength and brutality, while Glowstrike, the Arachnicon queen of the Insecticon Hives of Hiil'Frayka, saw the potential of possessing a vast amount of resources to allow her hive to expand and thrive. Other colonies such as Lucifer, Skomiloch, and Hexagon also joined the cause, primarily due to their belief that Combatron possessed the greatest chance to win the war. Many others didn't get a choice, and either had their resources entirely stripped from them, or had their subjugated inhabitants either forced into slave labor or as cannon fodder in the frontlines. Among the greatest warriors from these colonies who joined the Combatrons were Blue Bacchus, Black Shadow, Stonecrusher, Grinder, Airlift, Diveplane, Reachout, Hydrabuster, Venom, Bombshock, Dropshot, Growl, Tracer, Macabre, Skydread, Blitz-Wing, and Pressurepoint.

As for the Republic of Cybertron, many colony worlds flocked to their cause in order to repel any attacks from the Combatrons. Notable Republic allies included Velocitron, Athenia, Planet V, Zone, Archon, Regulon IV, Lithone, Messatine, Carcer, Arduria, and Neutronia. The Cybertronian Armed Forces then begins mobilization with the Primal Vanguard restructured as its main vanguard force against their enemy. Among the Vanguard's heroes were Ginrai Pax, Logos Maximus, Planetfire, Over Magnus, Dai Atlas, Goldbug, Quickshadow, Tailpipe, Crumble, Thunderhead, Rocket Plume, Micromech, Ignitor, and Seawatch.

As part of an early attempt to slow down the Combatrons' expansion, the Primal Vanguard immediately mobilized a fleet to the besieged areas in the Republic's outer sectors. Arriving in proximity to Croteus XII, Dromedon, and Omicron, the first Cybertronian war fleet found itself ensnared in a Combatron trap. Surrounded by Combatron warships and turncoat allies, the Vanguard fleet was forced to scatter and retreat to loyalist Daffodil II in order to avoid complete annihilation.

The Battle of Knerax Minor: With the capture of a majority of the outer colonies and the rout of the Cybertronian forces there, the Combatrons turned their sights on a valuable new target: the Knerax System. The star system's main planet, Knerax Minor, was the home of significant Cybertronian starship manufacturing facilities which presented a tempting target for the invading forces. The Combatrons easily conquered Knerax, which was entirely undefended with the Republic forces scattered. For the majority of the Combatron Wars, the shipyards of Knerax Minor would construct many destructive warships for the Combatron war machine such as the Revenge-class, the Hellfire-class, the Goliath-class, the Immolator-class, and the Sledgehammer-class. (Note: Many of these warships would be utilized by the Decepticons during the Third Cybertronian Civil War as surplus material and these ships would also serve as the direct inspirations for the Cons' Worldburner-class and Worldsweeper-class.)

The Defense of the Salvataan System: Despite the violence of this attacks, not all Senators were convinced of the threat they faced, believing that the Combatrons can easily defeated if only the military could devise an effective strategy, believing the Senate paralyzed by indecision. The Cybertronian Armed Forces decided to matters to their own hands as Ginrai of the Primal Vanguard and Sentinel Zeta of the Elite Guard led by their respective forces to defend the Salvataan System from the Combatrons. They hoped that this action would spur the Republic of Cybertron into action, and indeed they were successful in doing so. After witnessing the heroism of the military on the news feeds, lines began to form at countless recruitment centers across Cybertron and its colonies.

As the public clamored for action, the Senate came together and began proper planning for war. Though having already faced a number of defeats, the Republic rallied to defend itself from any attacks by the Combatrons. As the forces of the Salvataan System struggled to themselves from the Combatrons, a Primal Vanguard taskforce led by Commander Over Magnus was sent to the Beta System to destroy a blockade that was strangling the flow of supplies to Cybertronian troops at Salvataan. Over Magnus' forces were able to break the blockade, allowing much needed supplies to resume travelling to the besieged Salvataan soldiers.

Approx. 17 million stellar cycles ago:

The Combatrons went on to seize many worlds and their rich resources. Battlegrounds included Kambryar, Vespa II, and Paryadisou, the latter seeing many of its floating cities destroyed, despite attempts to remain neutral. Any world that attempted to defy the Combatrons, regardless if they were loyalist or neutral, was simply razed to the ground, sometimes serving as testing grounds for new weapons. Most notable of these events was the Devastation of Neutronia, when the Neutronians refused to surrender to the Combatrons, High General Gigatron ordered his entire fleet to undergo an orbital bombardment of the entire planet, rendering Neutronia uninhabitable as it was reduced to nothing but an asteroid field. In the wake of their planet's destruction, the surviving Neutronians were forced to live an interstellar nomadic lifestyle.

Headed by the Combatron-allied Insecticon alchemist Venom, the Combatron Biological Warfare Program creates and weaponizes genetically-engineered, mutated variants of the infamous Rust Plague. This allows them to employ many dangerous biological weapons such as the dreaded Red Rust, which kills tens of thousands of Cybertronian soldiers in seconds. Thanks to the efforts of their intelligence officers, the Cybertronian Armed Forces were able to better prepare for future Red Rust attacks and eventually develop a counteragent. The Cybertronians also begin developing their own Rust Plague bioweapons with Sentinel Zeta infamously utilized a rust cannon for the remainder of his career.

The Devastation of Oria: The minor Cybertronian colony of Oria is destroyed when the Combatrons employ Red Rust in the initial battle, killing most, if not all, of the planet's population. The sole survivor of the attack, Conflux, is brought to Cybertron and recruited into the Functionist High Council by Steelheart when she founds out that he is a high-level Outlier, believing that his superhuman abilities may be useful under her command.

The First Battle of Athenia: The Combatrons rashly sent an invasion force to the strategically-important colony Athenia, however, the Cybertronians were well-prepared for defense. The Elite Guard unit stationed there had anticipated the attack and, in a risky maneuver, gathered their entire fleet over Athenia. The Combatrons were caught completely off guard and then utterly obliterated.

After many defeats and pyrrhic victories, the Republic of Cybertron gained a significant victory over the Combatron war machine. The news of the victory proved a great boon, rekindling hope and generally increasing morale throughout the besieged Republic.

The Second Battle of Athenia: The sweetness of victory, however, would be short-lived. Seeking vengeance for their humiliating defeat, the Combatrons sent a much larger force back to Athenia. With powerful planetary shields in place, an Elite Guard attack battalion--led by Zeemon Magnus, a well-regarded veteran of the Second Cybertronian Civil War--were able to force the Combatron forces into a ground battle. While the Combatrons devastated the Cybertronians, they were inflicted so much damaged during the battle that they were forced to retreat. The Second Battle of Athenia was ultimately a draw in terms of material gain and loss, but the heroic sacrifice of Zeemon Magnus and his troops gave Cybertronian troops throughout the Republic a memory around which to rally.

The Warworld Campaign: The Combatrons wasted no time in developing new projects from their war machine. One result was the Warworld-class, a prototype orbital battlestation created from a cyberformed asteroid that became the prized flagship of Overlord himself. The Warworld's maiden voyage cut a swath through Cybertronian territory, striking in several star systems important to the Cybertronians' war effort and annihilating all forms of resistance that stood in its way. In order to eradicate the Combatron's new superweapon, the Cybertronians lure the Warworld in a trap near their Armed Forces' central hub at Opulus, where a Primal Vanguard strike team led by Ginrai storms into the battlestation and fight their way through swarms of enemy soldiers to destroy its core. Disgraced by their new weapon's destruction, Overlord and his remaining forces are forced to retreat back to their space. The Republic of Cybertron then celebrate this major victory as the threat of the Warworld was dealt with.

The Siege of Caminus: Caminus was targeted for conquest by the Combatrons, with an invasion soon followed. With the aid of the Primal Vanguard, the colony's local militia, the Torchbearers, organized a resistance group to defend their world. The Camiens would soon be aided by a division of the Cybertronian Defense Forces led by ex-Destron Ironhide, now a Colonel in the CDF, liberating the planet. During the siege, Ironhide meets a senior member of the Camien militia named Chromia, who would join the Defense Forces in their overarching fight against the Combatrons and the two would become long-time partners for the remainder of the conflict, eventually developing mutual romantic feelings.

On the fringes of Cybertronian space, the Combatrons discover the biomechanical planet Musuumei, which was home to a sentient race of gynoids created by a long-extinct advanced civilization collectively known as the Musume. Taking advantage of the Musume's isolation from the wider galaxy, Overlord and his High Generals feed them propaganda that spoke of Cybertron's "betrayal" and allowing them to serve the Combatron army as elite shocktroopers and blitzkrieg fighters against the Cybertronian Armed Forces. After several devastating battles against the Musume, a Primal Vanguard diplomatic team led by Goldbug and Ignitor go to Musuumei, where they reveal the lies of the Combatrons in order to rid their enemy from their allies. After dissolving their alliance with the Combatrons, the Musume align themselves with the Republic of Cybertron for the remainder of the war, with some of them serving as intel experts for Cybertron Security Operations in exchange for forgiveness. Once the war's over, Musuumei is then established as a Cybetronian protectorate, though the Musume continue to remain relatively isolated, mostly keeping to themselves.

The Animatronian Blockade: Following orders from Overlord, Yharon ordered the Animatronian fleet to blockade the Republic of Cybertron's most critical trade routes. Soon, the Cybertronians found themselves with no raw goods or supplies to support their citizens in the inner sectors. An unlikely hero proved to be the savior of Cybertron, Cannonball, a space pirate motivated by the possibility of great profit in a time of dire need, organized a pirate fleet to defeat the blockade and enrich himself in the process. With the aid of Elite Guard and Primal Vanguard support ships, Cannonball's fleet were to able waste to the blockade and deliver large amounts of resources for the war effort.

Following the Animatronian Blockade's fragmentation, Yharon is overthrown and exiled by the young savage yet honorable warrior Firebane, with him then swearing Animatros' neutrality. With this, the Animatronians ceased to be a military threat to Cybertron during the remainder of the war.

The Mission to Onyx: The Wreckers are deployed to the neutral Cybertronian colony of Onyx to investigate rumors of a possible Combatron cell hiding amongst the frontier colony's civilian population. However, it turns out to be a trap orchestrated by their one of their own, Valve, who betrayed them to the Combatrons. This resulted in the deaths of most of the Wreckers at the time, including the group's founding leader Threnody. This will forever remembered in the organization's history as the "Sins of the Wreckers".

A naval specialist from the Primal Vanguard named Crest succeeds Threnody as leader of the Wreckers.

Approx. 16 million stellar cycles ago:

The False Calm: With the war having been on a long stalemate, it appears to the agents of Cybertron Security Operations that the Combatrons had accepted they couldn't win in their ongoing struggle against the Republic of Cybertron and were winding down their operations in the inner colonies. However, it was actually a testing phase by Overlord to conquer Cybertron and its key off-world outposts by sending troops to strategic locations at sublight speed to avoid detection.

With a majority of the inner and outer Cybertronian colonies under their control, the Combatrons spearheaded their biggest invasion plan ever yet. Cybertron Security Operations receives information of a large Combatron war fleet approaching the planetwide fortress colony of Olterhex. Nicknamed "Fortress Autonomous", the colony was one of the Cybertronians' major strategic positions as the home of hundreds of launching zones for their fleets and corps, allowing them to make offensives on the core sectors of the Combatrons' territory. A large bulk of the Cybertronian Armed Forces, supported by the Vehicon Navy and a force of their best War Titans, is dispatched by the Senate to defend Olterhex, only to find out that the enemy fleet was actually a bunch of dummy balloons. This would be revealed to be one massive distraction as the main Combatron war fleet moved in sublight speeds across the Republic's inner territories, passing by the defenses at Arduria without being detected, allowing them to invade a lightly-defended Cybertron. This results in the Razing of Cybertron, which saw most of the planet being brought to ruin by the Combatrons' new Dark Energon-armed war machines. After suffering from a near innumerable amount of losses, Nominus Prime is forced to order the conscription of all the civilian/non-military castes on the planet in a desperate attempt to stand a chance against the invaders as all who were willing to fight would be put through the wringer to defend their home. With the aid of all of the available Omega Sentinels and Titans, the reinforced Cybertronian Armed Forces were able to force the Combatrons off of Cybertron. However, the Razing left the planet heavily ravaged and scarred by Dark Energon. The most notable battle during the invasion was the infamous Battle of Tarn-Hauser Gate, which resulting in the largest mass-grave in all of Cybertronian history until the Third Cybertronian Civil War.

Following the Razing of Cybertron, the Cybertronian Armed Forces, now bolstered with a seemingly endless wave of new recruits, were able to regroup and launch a massive counteroffensive against the Combatrons, gaining the upper hand as they liberated hundreds of colonies and other worlds from Overlord's forces through a tumultuous planet-hopping campaign. Using this newfound standing, the Cybertronians initiated Operation Severance, a major campaign to strike at strategic enemy targets with speed including shipyards, factories, and key planets in quantum trails to isolate the Combatron throneworld of Tuurok as much as possible from its allies and resources.

End of the Combatron Wars: Once Tuurok was isolated, the combined forces of the Cybertronian Elite Guard, the Primal Vanguard, and the rank-and-file Cybertronian Defense Forces led by Nominus Prime, Sentinel Zeta, Magnum, Over Magnus, Ginrai Pax, and Traachon, with the aid of several allies, were able to break through the planet's defense fleet and deployed legions of troops onto the ground to engage the Combatron forces. The campaign to capture Tuurok was long and arduous, with a great cost on both sides, but after a long final year of the Combatron Wars, Tuurok was finally captured, while Overlord was finally captured by Ginrai after a brutal duel in the halls of Ashmar Citadel.

With the Combatron Wars at an end, Cybertron and its colonies began to rebuild with all of the heavy damage from the war, necessitating large amounts of post-war reconstruction throughout the eons. After firsthand witnessing the horrors brought by Dark Energon in the frontlines, Nominus Prime orders the destruction of all known Dark Energon sources in Cybertronian territory and bans all further research into the mysterious element, with the last known source of Dark Energon and the rest of the Combatrons' Doomsday Arsenal being sealed within the dormant body of the Necrotitan for the rest of time. This continued to be the case for ano-cycles, causing the presence of Dark Energon in Cybertronian space to be considered non-existent by some. Necrotitan's body is blasted into space where it enters orbit around Combatron as a space station, where a group of Combatrons who granted amnesty were posted to guard it and its secrets.

After the war, Colonel Ginrai Pax is promoted into a Brigadier General of the Primal Vanguard.

Ironhide and Chromia spark-bond with each other, becoming conjunx endura who then retire from the military to peacefully live as construction workers at the former's home village of Arkenstone.

Alpha Trion retires from being a Senator, returning to his full-time role as Cybertron's head recordskeeper at the Iacon Hall of Records. The position of Senator of Iacon is later given to Torenia Pax, a well-respected Matriach from the Iaconian Nobility and Ginrai's conjunx.

Traumatized by the horrors of war as a frontline commander, Dai Atlas (the twelve holder of the name) enters a lifestyle of pacifism and restructures the Circle of Light so the organization won't be involved in another war.

As for the Combatrons, the faction was immediately dissolved following their High Command's decimation at Tuurok. Combatron was placed under interdiction by the Elite Guard under the Senate's orders, leaving the planet's remaining population living in destitute. Many of the Combatron High Generals were exiled from Cybertronian space, while others were captured by the military and law enforcement and placed in off-world maximum detention facilities such as Garrus-9 and Rura Penthe, and some slipped under the radar. The colonies that were originally allied with the Combatrons during the war were allowed to rejoin the Cybertronian Republic, despite heavy scrutiny from native Cybertronians who viewed them as traitors. The Combatron footsoldiers were offered a chance to reenter society, though found themselves under massive discrimination and prejudice, leading to many becoming criminals and mercenaries (who will be among the first wave of Decepticon sympathizers in the lead-up to the Third Cybertronian Civil War).

After his trial overseen by Nominus Prime at the Grand Imperium, Overlord was then sentenced to life imprisonment at Penal Facility H-3 (nicknamed "the Rig"), just outside the Badlands. There, he was kept in solitary confinement and under constant guard. Despite his defeat at Tuurok, Overlord did accomplish something--he humbled Cybertron and brought it to its knees. So, in a way, he won the Combatron Wars.

The Combatron Wars was a dark period in galactic history. While it wasn't all that much devastating to the Third Cybertronian Civil War that would follow, hundreds of worlds were decimated or destroyed. Not just Cybertronian worlds, but also those who were home to various alien races, many of which were driven to extinction as they were caught in the crossfire. Some of these planets caught in the crossfire were members of the Galactic Council, which led to the rise of further anti-mechanoid sentiments in Council space.

The Border Wars: In response to all the devastation during the Combatron Wars, the Galactic Council rally their armies and starfleets to prevent the Cybertronians' post-war expansion, under the pretense to stop another potential invasion. This results in a series of border skirmishes between the Republic of Cybertron and the Galactic Council. Though it only lasted for two years, enough damage was done across several planets that both sides reluctantly agreed to a peace treaty, or at least a long-term ceasefire. After the war, the entire Cybertronian race was blacklisted from ever joining the Galactic Council.

In order to prevent another conflict with the Galactic Council, Nominus Prime passes the Nominus Edict, a piece of legislation that would ensure security and stability throughout the Republic of Cybertron in the post-war reconstruction period. The terms of the Edict is determined in six main articles: 1) No further colonies will be established unless by unanimous agreement of the Senate, 2) No Energon harvesting will be undertaken in sectors inhabited or claimed by other sentient life, or in sectors adjoining such sectors, 3) Energon reserves stored on Cybertron or in the immediate system will at all times be maintained at a level sufficient to supply all foreseeable needs for ten gigacycles, 4) The Senate will define a frequency of forgings that is consistent with the maintenance of such reserves, 5) The Senate will define a level of Energon provision directly to all Cybertronians that is consistent with the maintenance of such Energon reserves, and 6) Non-integral weapons judged to possess lethal capability will be prohibited on Cybertron and its immediate system. While this decision was made to keep the peace, the passing of the Nominus Edict marked the end of the Neo-Colonial Period as the Republic entered a state of isolationism so as to not antagonize alien races effected by the Combatron Wars. This is seen as a controversial decision for many within both the political structure and civilian population that would be debated about for many eons to come. Among the most notorious objectors to the Nominus Eject include Termagax, Ginrai and Torenia Pax, Sentinel Zeta, Magnum, Halogen, Trannis, and Dai Atlas.

After this, the Senate decided it was time for a power play. The power-hungry First Senator Proteus and his clique decided that the time was right for the Senate to take power. Using their far more organized regimen, the Senate passed legislation that gave them increasing power. The caste system, which was originally meant to temporary, became a permanent institute in Cybertronian society overseen by the Functionist High Council. With Nominus Prime subordinate to them, the Senate and the Functionists would be the authoritarian co-rulers of Cybertron.

The Age of Havoc came to an end as the Cybertronians' new era of expansion and prosperity ended, and the Senate and the Functionist High Council grew increasingly corrupt. The growing disparity between the ruling body and the civilian population would eventually help give rise to both the Autobot and Decepticon Movements in the near future. The Six-Gigacycle War, the Combatron Wars, the Border Wars, and now the passing of the Nominus Edict would greatly reduce Cybertron's grandeur as the ano-cycles went by, sparking a series of events that would result in the outbreak of the Third Cybertronian Civil War and the Fall of Cybertron...

---

The Black Block Consortia is a radical splinter faction of the Galactic Council that appeared in IDW's More Than Meets The Eye/Lost Light.

The Combatron Wars is based off of the background lore of the fan-made webcomic Autobot Academy and its prequel story Convoy of War (I also highly recommend Convoy of War if you wanna read it), with elements of the Great Galactic War in the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO game.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Transformers Beyond | The Beyondverse