#beyond cybertron

[tfrpg]

Worldsparks: Primus and Unicron

Primus, the benevolent creator deity of Cybertron, focus of a religion that once spanned more than a hundred worlds. Does he exist? Yes. Is he everything he is proclaimed to be? Not so much. But as an entity, Primus exists, and he could be considered a god by some measures. He is a worldspark, the living heart of an entire planet, a living being on an unimaginable scale.

On a smaller scale, Primus could be considered a scientist. He was born with curiosity and good nature, content with the immaterial rather than the physical. That he was essentially a planet, and one stuck in a predictable orbit around a single star, did not bother him. He developed the ability to see the entire electromagnetic spectrum, to reach out and gaze throughout the entire cosmos, observe other galaxies. He experimented, within the depths of the core, with inventions and philosophy, mathematics and poetry. When life arose on the surface of Cybertron, he watched every moment, enthralled and excited at the possibilities.

At some point in his early history, long before the proto-sparks made their way out of the oceans, Primus made contact with another of his kind. By reaching out into the depths of space, broadcasting his presence to try and find someone else to speak to, he discovered another living planet. This other worldspark called himself Unicron, and they began to talk and communicate, sharing their discoveries and dreams with each other.

This continued for centuries, until Primus noticed a change in the stars. Something new had entered the solar system he called home. It was Unicron, having followed the transmissions from Primus like a homing beacon, his planetary body having been altered to allow him to travel across the endless gulf of space.

The two exchanged one final conversation, across the void, where Unicron explained his arrival. He had come to the conclusion that he must be the reason the universe existed, the sole occupant to do with it as he wished. It was his right, his very reason to be. The existence of Primus had thrown his entire sense of self into chaos. How could he be the pinnacle of all creation, the sole living entity, when Primus existed? The idea repulsed him, infuriated him, and there was only one solution he could see: destroy Primus.

The fight was unimaginable in scale, a desperate struggle at the dawn of the universe, and it was only his natural curiosity that saved Primus. Unicron was egotistical, self-obsessive, violent, but not creative. Primus, on the other hand, adored creation in all its forms, including mathematics and physics. To end their fight, he created the first space bridge. Reaching into the heart of the star that had birthed him, he bridged the gap to channel raw stellar matter at Unicron. The sheer force of the attack cracked Unicron asunder, his body becoming a new asteroid belt, but the core of his being managed to escape, limping away in agony.

The act weighed heavily on Primus. To unleash such raw and brutal aggression was not in his nature. So, when the first Transformers arose on his surface, he saw his chance to make peace with his conscience. He would help these tiny creatures, these children of Cybertron, to achieve their full potential. He began constructing a device just beneath the surface that would allow him to communicate with them, a complex transmitter-translator that would come to be known as Vector Sigma.

Through Vector Sigma, he spoke to the inhabitants of Cybertron, encouraging their development into art, philosophy, engineering, and more. He never gave commandments, nor taught his own discoveries. Mindless followers was something Unicron would do, and Primus refused to be Unicron. The children of Cybertron may have been microscopic in comparison, with mayfly lifespans that could not compete with the billions of years Primus had endured, but they were still alive just as he was. They thought, they felt, they created, just as he did. Primus did not see himself as their master, or their ruler, or even truly as their god. All he wanted was to be their friend.

[tfrpg]

Faction Profile: Quintessons

Quintessons are mechanical life that evolved, much like that of Cybertron, on the distant world of Quintessa. However, rather than being energon-based lifeforms, their planet was covered in dark energon, a substance akin to energon but with an incompatible wavelength. It may be due to the unique properties of dark energon, but the evolutionary path on Quintessa took a much different turn.

Rather than adaptive transformations, to allow for versatility from the individual, hyper-specialization arose. Dozens of different subtypes, each designed to excel at a given task, all working together to act as one. On Quintessa, the hive mind rules.

A Quintesson hive is called a vespiary, headed by a singular Magistrate. The Magistrate is an immobile brain, or more accurately several brains in one body. It interprets data, makes decisions, and speaks for the vespiary when required, its polybrain perfectly adept for multitasking.

Below the Magistrate are the Notaries, which are like smaller Magistrates, possessing imagination and intelligence, though lacking in free will as they are only capable of doing as instructed by the Magistrate. Their responsibility is any task that requires creative thought, such as scientific research, or overseeing a remote operation. Like Magistrates, they are immobile.

Serving the Magistrate and the Notaries are the Bailiffs, their numerous attendants. They are the appendages of the immobile castes, carrying them around, feeding them, whatever they require. A Magistrate or Notary can also speak through them, allowing it to communicate without risk to itself. Like the rest of the Quintesson drone castes, Bailiffs have no free will, nor any real mind to speak of.

Outside of the Court, comprised of the Magistrates and Notaries (along with their Bailiffs), Quintessons are divided up into not just workers and soldiers, but also vehicles and ships, even laboratory equipment. There are no machines in a vespiary that are not part of it. Everything must be loyal, and accounted for, for the sake of security.

Because the Quintessons are not a singular empire. A singular Quintesson empire would have to rely upon there being a singular Quintesson vespiary, and the problem is that while every vespiary wants to be that vespiary, none are in a position to risk it.

Millions of years before, the vespiaries drove all other life on Quintesson to extinction, and have existed in an uneasy peace ever since. If a vespiary openly attacked another, then they would lose soldiers in the battle, weakening themselves for all to see, and then they'd be in the perfect position to be attacked themselves. So it is only out of paranoia that they tolerate each other's existences.

Not that they don't try and destroy each other at every available opportunity, of course. But each move must be subtle, calculated, and done in secret. Sabotage, secret raids, and most commonly of all: mercenaries.

Quintessons hate other life as much as they hate each other. Everyone else is just competition for resources, since the Quintesson definition of "resources" is broad enough to include the whole universe. So Quintessons find malicious glee in hiring or tricking other races into attempting to destroy other vespiaries, as it is a win-win scenario. Regardless of what happens, someone is bound to be eliminated.

Cybertron first made contact with the Quintessons during the Silver Age, resulting in wars that lasted through into the Golden Age, after which point Cybertron's newfound unity provided the strength of arms required to deter any vespiary. Those Magistrates smart enough to realise a lost cause retreated back into the uncharted regions, and nothing more was heard of the Quintessons... until after the Great War.

With Cybertron in ruins and its inhabitants scattered to the solar winds, the Quintessons have begun to return.