#vector prima-vectorum

[askvectorprime]

Could the comic “Trial and Error” be considered the actual canon ending to Animated?

Dear Animated Actualiser,

As the Vector Prima-Vectorum of that reality related in the prelude to the comic that you speak of, it represents only one among infinite possibilities in the multiverse.

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime, I've noticed that several questions now about goings-on in the Malgus cluster have received answers about things from other, unrelated timelines instead. Official channels from which we normally receive glimpses of what happens in your corner of reality have gone dark regarding there, too, while data from Primax has been nearly torrential. Has the Malgus cluster been cut off from the rest of the Multiverse? Or is it taboo to speak of it nowadays?

Dear Malgus Maniac,

My apologies, this usually comes through me getting confused. Sometimes there are similar events across the multiverse and I can lose track of which ones are referred to. In part, I also put this down to a peculiar level of dissonance that my memories of Vector Prima-Vectorum leave within me.

To explain this, remember that within these realities, Primus does not exist. I know this, due to my multiversal experience within the Realm of the Primes. And yet I also have absolute faith he does exist there.

This dissonance can be thought of as rather similar to what you humans know as a migraine. So I apologise for it influencing my recall of my experiences.

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector, can you describe the Church of Primus in the Malgus cluster despite Primus himself apparently not manifesting in that universe?

Dear Devout Dude,

The Church of Primus has its roots in Zeemon Magnus’s ascent to power some two billion years ago. In those ancient times, the physical vessel that contained the AllSpark was housed in a great acropolis in the center of Tyger Pax and defended at all times by the Knights of Cybertron, a ritual honor guard of elite, highly-trained warrior-monks. Philosophers of the time spent many ages puzzling over the essence of the AllSpark and its ability to create new Cybertronian life from nothing; after millennia of spirited debate, they concluded that it contained “Primus”—an old Cybertronian word that translates to the “prime essence” of Transformer vitality. 

Gradually, the AllSpark’s protectors incorporated this spiritualism into their daily rituals. To become a Knight of Cybertron, one had to relinquish all material possessions and sequester themselves from secular life. Only by transforming one’s personal life could one transcend to the next plane of being and bring themselves closer to Primus. Unfortunately, this monasticism made them increasingly detached from the very real affairs playing out on Cybertron; when the Protectons staged their coup and appointed their leader Nova as the next holder of the title, the Knights of Cybertron were taken by surprise and nearly exterminated when their Acropolis was destroyed. 

I say “nearly” because their order did survive in some form, thanks to the efforts of a few brave initiates who had not yet completed their training: Axe, Outrigger, Wing, and Gauge escaped the purge with whatever holy writings they could carry and went underground. They evaded Nova Magnus’s brutal crackdowns and attempts to revise history and continued teaching the way of Primus to whoever would listen. This burgeoning Church of Primus survived the Third Cybertronian War and the death of Nova Magnus, and Devron’s Destrons relaxed most of the discriminatory legislation that had been a hallmark of Nova Magnus’s reign and allowed freedom of worship. The Church, although it would never again command the same respect it once had, rebuilt itself from the ashes, and by the Expansion, some 750 million years ago, it had found renown as a pacifist order dedicated to the worship of Primus and the preservation of knowledge—a mission overseen by my alternate self, Vector-Prima-Vectorum. 

This is not to say that the new church did not have problems of its own—it never found the same kind of support in Autobot society that the Cyber-Ninja Corps enjoyed, and the church spent a good deal of time simply trying to keep itself together. Vectorum was forced to excommunicate Logos Primon for entropy-worship, a decision that weighed on his spark greatly. In the years before the Fourth Cybertronian War, my alternate was powerless to contain the order’s first major schism between the Reformists and Reversionists—this latter group was led by Heretech, a group of radicals who sought to return to the martial ways of the past, and he and all of his followers wound up excommunicated after one particularly fiery debate. Many of them, including Heretech, went on to join the Decepticons, confident that Megatron would afford them the same kind of religious freedoms that the Destrons had offered. 

In the years after the Great War, the Church’s role in society has further dwindled, crowded out between an increasingly secular society and a number of competing religions. The Church has found greater success out in the wider commonwealth, however, and some colonies like Caminus are well-known for their belief in the way of Primus. 

[askvectorprime]

who WOULD win in a fight: a buff nerd or a jock who listens to jazz? also are there any battles youve witnessed that would fit that type of fight?

Dear Battle Boyo,

Jazz is a skilled fighter. I think anyone who listened to his advice would gain the advantage in a fight, even with someone far stronger physically. That said, good personal grooming can make a world of difference in one's confidence; if all the dents and scratches in their bodywork were buffed out, their opponent might have a psychological edge.

Once during a sermon in my guise as Vector Prima-Vectorum I witnessed a battle between Sari Sumdac (who had received some combat training from Jazz of the Elite Guard), and Sky-Byte of the Decepticons' Team Chaar. Though Sky-Byte was freshly waxed in preparation for a poetry slam, the only slamming that day was at the hands of Sari's AllSpark Hammer.

[askvectorprime]

There seem to be some universes where Primus does not exist. Have you existed in those universes, and if so, does having alternate origins there lead to any interesting developments?

Dear Origin Orphan,

That is often the case. You may be aware of a universe where my counterpart was known as Vector Prima-Vectorum, where—perhaps thanks to some cosmic influence from other realities—I was primafex maximus of the Church of Primus; my siblings Alpha Trion and Maccadam, meanwhile, were head of the Autobot Civilian Guilds and the patron of a popular "greasy valve" oil-house respectively. I admit it is somewhat jarring to recall memories of that reality; Vector Prima-Vectorum is of far more dour and humorless character than most iterations of myself, always at odds with Maccadam over his choice of profession.

Of course, these differences in origin are hardly limited to worlds where Primus has no tangible influence; there are realities where I was merely the founder of the Kronoform tribe on ancient Cybertron, or a veteran Maximal who helped to guide the hybrid Transformers who formed the Commandrons. The multiverse is full of endless possibilities, after all!

[askvectorprime]

Did any other members of the Thirteen manifest in the Malgus cluster? Like Logos or Leige?

Dear Primal Pursuant,

My brother Alpha Trion was an important part of the political system on Cybertron as the leader of the Guilds Domesticus, although most of Iacon's citizens would argue that Maccadam in his role as barkeep of the old oil house was far more important to Autobot society. Logos Primon was a known heretic of the Church of Primus, branded for the crime of entropy-worship. Issuing the Vectoral Bull that excommunicated him was privately Vector Prima-Vectorum's most shameful act.