#underbase

[burbur178]

Starscream is a mystery, one that Shockwave will not let go unsolved.

Based on this:

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

Are there any Titans that transform into pyramids?

Dear Pondering Polygon,

In one reality, Primus never sent his essence into a metallic asteroid and maintained an abstract form. From a realm of pure thought, the Titan Platonicrons sprang fully formed from his mind:

Cybernet the Cube, represented by the Underbase, a repository of ancient knowledge

Trickdiamond the Octahedron, whose alt-form became the prototype for the Enigma of Combination

Tetrajet the Pyramid, the patron goddess of all flying beings

Doradus the Dodecahedron, who guards the Fountain of Eternal Energon

Iacon the Icosahedron, whose many sides reflected the myriad forms of life in the universe.

These five also thought of themselves as the Guiding Hand, as they could imagine themselves being drawn by the cosmic hand of Primus himself.

[autoacafiles]

Loredump: The Age of Reflection

This was the Seventh Age of Cybertron Post Schism, and while most ages can be said to have many great efforts and many great tragedies, the Age of Reflection has one notable event - the creation of a vast information archive detailing every event in the past six ages, and the loss of this very archive when it became clear that it was a weapon in its own right.

When Rhetoric Convoy attained the Matrix of Light from her predecessor, she made it clear that she would not go to war with any neighboring planets or bring any strife to the cosmos. Her mission, she declared, would be to create a massive information archive that would allow easy access to knowledge of past victories and mistakes. Though that, she argued, Cybertron would be freed of the ignorance that let such mistakes happen, and be able to learn from its efforts. And so, the Age of Reflection began.

This was a philosophical age, where fighting gave way to reasoned debate and reasoned debate led to new ideas. Every major city on the planet was wrapped up into this great effort, and as more and more information about the past six ages was compiled, the information archive made to house it was continuously expanded and constructed. This was the great effort of Rhetoric Convoy, and it would have been the base for all future decisions by any successors Rhetoric would choose, any decisions their successors would choose, and would be continuously updated and expanded until there were none left to add to its courses.

Keywords here being "WOULD HAVE BEEN."

As it turns out, the sheer amount of effort and power needed to maintain all the information, every viewpoint and account, was causing a new power to emerge. For every memory added, this information archive gained an extra multitude of power and energy. And for those multitudes, it gained a consciousness. In fact, some say it gained several.

This revelation was quite a shock when it first became clear, but it became clear that this information archive was a lot more powerful than what some expected. No records are made of any effect it may have on who uses it, but the legends say the vast amounts of knowledge granted to those who access it give a Cybertronian enough understanding to practically reshape the fabric of reality with merely a thought.

Whether the legend rings true or some grand and disturbing pattern to Cybertronian History be revealed that proved too much for its users to bear, the information archive was sent offworld to a distant corner of space, to never fulfill its original purpose. Thus the Age of Reflection end, with the loss of what would be known in legend as the Underbase.

No records survive of what became of Rhetoric Convoy after this age, only that she passed the Matrix to a young archivist, who became Focus Convoy of the Eighth Age, the Age of Discovery, who himself would be succeeded by Arch Convoy of the Age of Expansion.

As for the Underbase itself, some have pondered if the legends are true… and some are still seeking it out.

[starscreamwastaken]

Does anyone know what happened to the Underbase Podcast? I really miss it.

[askvectorprime]

Has anyone ever annotated the Underbase?

Dear Avid Addendum,

Yes, in fact this was the original goal of the so-called "Brain Trust" on Cybertron, millions of years ago. Boltax, Tallus, Decanus, and Rokan had each independently tried to annotate their growing database of accumulated wisdom. They were plagued with questions: how can they be sure the data could never be corrupted, or lost over time? What about changes in the meanings of their words over time? Who should have access to this wisdom? The debates about the database expanded its size exponentially and made the chance of any consensus seem remote.

Eventually, Boltax realized that their annotations used for "understanding the database" were growing so large that they dwarfed the database itself. He observed that the search for deep understanding is the genesis of wisdom. Stunned with his insight, the Trust now deferred to him, calling themselves his Disciples. Knowing that his search must never cease if the Underbase were to stay up-to-date, Boltax became an immersant, merging into the skin of Cybertron itself, and using its energy to fuel the development of the Underbase.

[askvectorprime]

Vector Prime, have you ever been part of a combiner/gestalt, and if so who with?

Dear Combiner Conjurer,

When you've lived as long as I have, a few details may slip here and there over the course of 9 billion years, but combiner bonds are never forgotten. Allow me to tell you the tale of Magnitudinus.

Millions of years after I left Cybertron behind, I became accustomed to an unending solitude, standing outside of spacetime, protecting it, never enjoying it. During a voyage to another universe, I came across a ruined Cybertron, and discovered four Cybertronians who angrily cowered before me. They called me The Great Destroyer, and claimed that I had destroyed their world! Soon I realized the truth: someone had been following me. I discovered that a disgraced, Underbase-powered Liege Centuro named "Violen JH'XS" was able to detect my traversal into and out of his universe. He was able to reverse-engineer my ability, and carried out a campaign of terror across the multiverse. I felt responsible for this and apologized to the Cybertronians, who were named:

Tigerhawk, who wielded near limitless energy,

Fortior Prime, a Brawn who possessed the Matrix,

Lunaracer Magna, who controlled gravitational fields,

Aileron Maxima, of the Boundless Spark.

Reader, I could no longer stand aside! Using an Enigma of Combination, we five combined into Magnitudinus and confronted "JH'XS" before he could depart the universe. We wasted no time and used our secret weapon: our combiner alt-mode! With their powers in addition to my own, we transformed into a universe-creating machine and rewound Cybertron in time, resetting its history to a Golden Age, and erasing "JH'XS" from causality itself. It took a long time to undo the effects of the renegade traveler, but Magnitudinus eventually prevailed. Even though I have long since parted ways with my former comrades, I learned that I must guard the multiverse from within as well as from without.

[polishmodels]

Patryk Friebe for UNDERBASE Lookbook, Spring/Summer 2015