Onyx, Are there any cybertronian plants? What are they like?
Dear Robotanical Researcher,
There certainly are things that are similar to organic botanical life to be worthy of the name "plants." Part of the difficulty comes in that these are often unrelated to each other, and some are more properly seen as landforms.
Such is the case of the energon reeds found alongside many of Cybertron's oceans, formed by the crystallization of diluted energon. They are strictly more like stalagmites, but have long been categorized as "plants". When Cybertron is peaceful, you can sometimes find cities deliberately encouraging the growth of these in vast energon farms, as a way of producing enriched fuel.
On the other hand, there are also such plants as cable-vines, Langton's loopbrush, and tesla trees. These are fully fledged cyberforms, even with primitive processors—although in their case the programming is entirely focused on maintenance and spread.
The cable-vines form vast jungles in some regions, and were sometimes planted deliberately as a form of defence. This might seem surprising, but cable-vines are incredibly territorial for plants, binding any intruders that they can, and holding them tight until the Cybertronian shuts down. Despite the risks, some bots harvest cable-vines, as their incredible strength rivals any Cybertronian-made cable.
Langton's loopbrush is a primitive but fast spreading bush that is common in the Cybertronian wilderness. Each individual bush has a short lifespan—often little more than a orbital cycle before deactivating—but in that time it will send out many creepers that will create new loopbrush bushes.
Tesla trees are towering structures that produce a low-level hum. This is a useful warning, as the great orb atop them stores a great electrical charge. Whenever a pest, such as a cyber-fly, comes close, the tree shocks them with an impressive jolt of lightning, likely paralysing or deactivating outright anything struck.
