#triptych mask

[darks-lair]

So I've been thinking about Earthspark primes again, as one does. Onyx this time.

I thought of her having a mask that gives her the big part of her power, mostly so she can use it to transform into her centaur and dragon (?) form

I am also now obsessed with centaurs who's animal part is much larger than the human one so I'll be drawing giant gryphon abdomens for a while

I will be so surprised if anyone gets the "la gougara" joke.

Also Onyx being friends with Maximo??? Please?? They sound like such a power duo.

Obligatory low quality OG pic

[askvectorprime]

i have a question regarding the nature of your collective memories and how this relates to your brother, Onyx: As we all know Shockwave killed an incarnation of him and supplanted his identity. But since he was, for all intents and purposes via paradox, Onyx prime, could Onyx access Shockwave's memories? And if so even his memories from before he took up the mantle of Onyx prime?

Dear Collective Consciousness,

You raise an interesting question, and one that I confess that I do not entirely know the answer to!

The Realm of the Primes is a nexus point; it is at once everywhere and nowhere, a microcosmic skybox on which the entire multiverse is reflected. Ever since the falling of the Shroud, for all our power, we of the Thirteen have been disparate individuals—but suffused in this space, we are able to see the perspectives of our countless parallel selves across realities.

Onyx, though… Onyx has always had a talent for seeing through others' eyes. The powers he was bestowed with at his creation have shaped his identity; could any of us remain truly the same if we possessed the ability to look into others' very souls? I find it very likely that his cosmic insight shapes how he perceives the multiverse, just as my own over time and space inform my own perspective. I would not be surprised to learn that Onyx's field of vision, as it were, is broader than mine.

This is, unfortunately, mere speculation. My brother is not one to often share his thoughts with his siblings—though I believe Shockwave's deceptions sat poorly with him.

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime, what was the reason for odd Cybertronians that seemed to take on characteristics of Earth Fauna, such as Buffaloids, Amphibots, Corvicrons, or other individuals, such as Thunderhoof, Steeljaw, Silverhound and Polarclaw?

Dear Fauna Fawner,

Beastformers had always been a part of Cybertronian existence. From the very earliest days of the Age of Origins, Cybertronians coexisted with Insecticons, Predacons, Buffaloids, Arachnicons, and many others—thanks to the Triptych Mask that my brother Onyx carried with him as he ignited the Well, the AllSpark scanned and replicated the strongest and most successful organisms across the galaxy.

But as Cybertronian civilization continued to develop, as villages grew into towns and then into cities, Cybertronians began to consciously shun the beasts, dismissing them as archaic throwbacks ill-adjusted for the rigors of “true” Cybertronian civilization. By the reign of Sentinel Prime and the rise of the function-based caste system, these beastformers had become an oppressed underclass. Some stuck it out—toiling away in the mines, mucking out sewer pipes, or taking their chances in the criminal underworld—but many more simply went off the grid and established small communities out in the wilderness or set up shantytowns in the tunnel networks that divided the Cybertronian surface from the dangerous underworld beneath.

This all changed when the war came, when Shockwave grew increasingly fascinated by the beast mode and the potential it offered. His earliest experiments were upon the swarming Insecticons, who dwelt beneath Cybertron, but his first true success was when he turned the members of the Lightning Strike Coalition into Dinobots—a Cybertronian subspecies on the brink of extinction. Not long afterwards, he turned members of the Forged into Predacons, an extinct Cybertronian subspecies, and then advanced his work even further by creating new lifeforms from scratch. Using test subjects both willing and unwilling, swelled the ranks of pre-existing variants like Predacons, Skunkticons and Corvicons, then began hybridizing CNA samples together to create genetically-engineered monsters like the Chompazoids. Each new “creation” pushed the limits of their physiology even further—whether it was debilitating toxins, incredible strength, or even telepathic abilities, Shockwave found and amplified whatever unusual powers each Cybertronian subspecies possessed to extreme levels.

Shockwave’s experiments ranged from cruel to depraved, but sometimes Primus works in strange ways. In the years after the Great War, the Well began birthing more and more beast-formers. Many possessed the same massively amplified powers that Shockwave had imbued upon his test subjects, and even those that owed their existence to rigorous genetic experimentation—such as the Predacons and Chompazoids—freely emerged from the Well… until there came a day when Cybertron belonged to the beasts and the beasts alone. Did Primus plan this all along, working  through an unlikely vessel to push through an evolutionary crisis? Perhaps—after all, this is not the first version of Shockwave to have an unlikely association with beasts.

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime, are there realities where Megatron allowed Shockwave to complete Project Predacon and being their species back from extinction to be led by Predaking and if so, what were the farther reaching consequences?

Dear Predacon Pontificator,

Certainly, these realities exist; in those worlds the hunt for the beasts reversed itself, with the Autobots becoming the quarry for ferocious Predacon hunters. To begin with, the Predacons were loyal to Megatron, and with his army of beasts they pushed the Autobots back to the brink. The Autobots abandoned their base and stayed on the move, while Optimus tried to tap into the Matrix of Leadership for some hint to finding salvation.

In the end, the key to their salvation came when Bumblebee, Smokescreen and the humans raided one of Shockwave's genetic labs, and liberated a freshly cloned Predacon, naming them Divebomb. While the other Autobots were aghast at this, when Divebomb tried to steal the Matrix of Leadership (or the "Shiny Shiny" as Divebomb called it) a sudden glow emerged, pointing off in the distance.

Using Divebomb and the Matrix as beacons, they eventually found a cache hidden by Alpha Trion, containing the Triptych Mask of Onyx Prime. Combining the power of the Matrix with that of the Mask, the Autobots were able to supercharge themselves, gaining aspects of Predacon nature, and imbuing them with the ability to fight Predacons as equals. The tide was turning...

...Until Unicron started to awaken once more. The battles of the Predacons, the relics of the Primes, they called out to him, irritations in his sleep. He whispered into the minds of a clutch of Predacons, luring some of them to find Dark Energon deposits. While the Autobots finally assaulted the Nemesis with their bestial powers and armaments, these Predacon-Terrorcon hybrids made their move, attacking both sides with Unicron-infused power.

The Autobots, Decepticons, and Predacons joined forces, attacking these monsters. Optimus even used the Triptych Mask to empower the Decepticons with bestial powers of their own. And for a time this seemed to work. But Unicron is a master of twisting his playthings to make new abominations, and in this he surpassed himself. He united the Predacon-Terrorcons into a new body for himself, increasing its size until he was as large as the Nemesis. This, however, was his fatal mistake; in so doing, he reminded Megatron that his ship had once been a living soldier, of its own monstrous nature. And together with Prime and Predaking, he headed to the center of the Nemesis.

Using the Dark Energon inside Megatron, the Matrix within Optimus, and the Triptych Mask worn by Predaking, they awoke the ancient, titanic, first generation survivor of the Age of Evolution. Trypticon was reborn, and fought Unicron, monster to abomination. Unicron found his cloned bodies could not stand up to the fury of the original, empowered by the relics of the Primes and his own blood, and was torn to pieces. In the aftermath, Trypticon turned on Megatron. He had been betrayed, turned into a mindless vessel for the warlord, and this would not do. Trypticon abandoned Earth, and the Cybertronian wars, carrying Megatron within his body as a prisoner. With their leader taken from them, the Decepticons surrendered. Predaking, now a free ruler of his people, and armed with the Triptych Mask, swore to aid Optimus Prime in his goal of rebuilding Cybertron.

And together, peace reigned.

[askvectorprime]

Dear Onyx Prime, I'd like to hear about you for a change. Tell us your favorite memory, would you? Please?

I do find it hard to deny a request from one who asks so politely. Farsight recalls memories of my earliest days, as a freshforged faun—sparring with Prima, good-natured contests of claw against sword; my first drinking contest with Alchemist, mediating a debate between Vector and Trion, undergoing spiritual journeys with Micronus to find my place in the cosmic balance. 

Predator remembers my many voyages among the stars. I have taken in the sight of a triple sunrise on Ys’devian, scaled towering rock faces on Dabola, and hunted for prey on a moonlit night beneath silent auroras upon the rainbow glaciers of Shanrigia IV.

Mournsong remembers the passage of each spark as it wends its way to infinity—and while the loss of a single Cybertronian is a loss upon us all, I joyfully remember those rare occasions when I glimpse the return of a Spark from the afterlife, conveyed to the living world so that a life may begin anew.

[askvectorprime]

Dear Onyx Prime, what is your reverse polarity counterpart? We know that version of Primus, while not evil, was an "Orderbringer" who would do untold damage to the universe, but we don't know much about this universes primes and earlier history.

Ask yourself this: when a mirror shatters, does it break cleanly into a single piece of glass? Each individual shard reflects but a fragment of a whole, twisting and distorting the image of the thing-which-was into something it is not.

Farsight glimpses a brute, a throwback, a primitive warrior with no respect for the young generations. His disdain for all those who refuse to abandon the advances of modern civilization is clear—and the distorted menagerie of atavistic creatures he enslaves wage a pointless crusade against the world that abandoned them. 

Predator sees a monster unchained, a slavering mass of teeth and fangs and wicked claws, a mindless beast who lives solely to hunt, to kill, to snuff out his prey without the honor or respect afforded to their sacrifice. 

Mournsong sings whispers of a cold mechano-supremacist, an amoral technocrat whose disdain for the natural world compels him to twist stories and songs, nature itself, into tools for personal advancement…

…Hmph. Sometimes the most unpleasant truths are the ones we do not seek out, but find us in the end.

[askvectorprime]

...Hmm? Who's there? Show yourself!

Brother.

Onyx! My goodness, how long has it been—millenia, at least! You look exhausted—please, make yourself comfortable. It is good to have some company here.

I cannot rest. I came here because you are in danger, brother.

...What? We are in the Realm of the Primes, Onyx. What threat could possibly...

I see not the nature of the threat, Vector, only its dim outlines through the Triptych of Fate. Farsight sees a great darkness coming to a realm outside mortal existence. Predator bears witness to a kindred spark, one that shares its deadly nature. Mournsong's gaze falls upon an unnatural soul, burning with the touch of chaos, refusing to go gentle into the all-that-are-one. Three visions of a single, unknowable horror.

I... are you certain? If this is true—is there any way to stop this threat? Is this future set in stone?

Nothing is set in stone. You, of all Primes, should know that.

Then how do we avert it?

I do not know.

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime, your disclaimer says that anything you say is considered non-canon. If that's truly the case, then why would you take the time to answer us? Don't get me wrong, I love that you do this and its always interesting to learn more of the Transformers Lore. I know you spoke of this before, and I apologize if I'm beating a dead horse here, but I just find it sort of odd that you would take the time to tell us things that are possibly not truthful or real.

Once, three mighty brothers made a name for themselves in ancient Hexima. They fought many battles and had many incredible adventures, growing ever more arrogant all the while. When they travelled abroad into the lands of distant Kalis, however, they received a gift from a humble shepherd—a mask, the shepherd told them, that would give them the gift of unparalleled sight across many realms. Each believed the mask rightfully belonged to him and him alone, and on the way home a friendly debate turned into an argument over which of them could accurately perceive its visions. “The mask is mine,” exclaimed the first—a stout warrior as bold as he was foolhardy—and promptly donned the mask. He witnessed sparks nested within sparks, an infinity of lives within the singular, and a single newly-arrived life that flickered and flared in this greater mass, and a second life who risked life and limb to bring a dear compatriot back to the world of the living. Though the afterlife is nothing to fear, this Cybertronian concealed his deep fear of death underneath a layer of bravado; his audio receptors interpreted the keeling of a trillion well-lived lives as a mournful song, a dirge to be avoided. Chilled to the struts by what he had seen, he said as much to his brothers.

The second brother, a shrewd and calculating scientist, assured his compatriots that this dark vision was mere holographic trickery, a test designed to frighten the unworthy. “Surely,” he boasted, “there is a rational explanation for all of this.” But when he donned the mask, he saw a vision he could scarcely explain, let alone rationalize: a far-distant world of jungles and volcanoes, a primordial world where past and present collided, where mighty warriors battled a starship vaster and more terrible than any vessel they knew. Bewildered and terrified by these irrational visions, the brother cast off the mask, too terrified to deduce the meaning of these far sights.

The final brother, fearless and unflappable in the face of mortal peril, emotionless on the battlefield, scoffed at the unexpected cowardice of his siblings. “You are like mewling protoforms,” he boasted, “terrified of the unknown. The mask will be mine, and I will prove it.” But when he donned the mask, he saw the world through a different set of eyes—suddenly, he saw the world through the eyes of a hulking beast-bot, a chimeric form both mechanical and something else. For the first time, the unflappable warrior knew failure and frustration through the eyes of this alien ‘bot, knew elation and mysticism and transcendence… but, most of all, knew the true meaning of fear as he saw an army large enough to swallow a world, a plague of the unliving slaved to the will of a mad tyrant. This was too much for him; he threw down the mask, too frightened to even try to explain what he had seen, and the three moved on, each resolving to never speak of the incident again. 

Each brother believed that they alone had the right to wear the mask, to tell stories, but each only saw fragments of reality, bits and pieces of a single life filtered through tricks of individual perceptions, bias, mortal follies and foibles. I ask you, readers—which one of them viewed the truth?