#void scepter

[askvectorprime]

Is Trypticon connected to Onyx Prime? Onyx has the Tryptich Mask, and Trypticon's name comes from Tryptich, he's also one of the more animalian Titans, and the Tripredacus Council from Beast Wars are also known as the Trypticon Council!

Dear Titanically Twisted,

You know your mythology better than some of my own kind, it seems! When the Constructicons secretly rebuilt one of your Earth cities into the fearsome Decepticon, so far as they were concerned, he was named “Trypticon” for his three modes: city, mobile battle station, and dinosaur. But this name was written into legend; indexed deep within their memory banks, to be proffered through subconscious recall. It’s perhaps best to think of Trypticon as a reincarnation—not unlike the Constructicons themselves.

There are conflicting accounts of that primeval era—and I was there for most of them, naturally. It was believed that the beast was older even than my brethren, closer to the Trans-Organics than the Transformers; it was indeed Onyx who succeeded in taming him, and gave him his name. The old stories speak of a fearsome warrior amongst Onyx’s pack, a three-headed dragon, whose valor was the measure of mechs thrice his size.

In those myths that describe Trypticon’s creation at my brothers’ hands, it was Mortilus, not Onyx, who sired the living crypt. But Mortilus did not have a possessive temperament; he gladly shared Trypticon with Onyx, the Void Scepter with our fallen brother, and Death with all the universe.

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime,

What exactly is the Void Scepter? I noticed there was a reference to Mortilus sharing it with The Fallen.

Dear Scepter Stymied,

The Scepter of All Voids was one of the many relics forged for the Primes by Solus—in this case, for Mortilus. The intended use of the weapon was to contain the very essence of Death, with Mortilus intending to use it to wound Unicron. But when Mortilus was busy recuperating from battle, or otherwise occupied, he would lend it to others—and on most occasions, it would fall into our brother's hands.

Before his fall from the light, he was probably the greatest warrior among our number. In the Void Scepter, he found the perfect weapon, using it to drive Unicron back during several of our battles. Once Solus forged the Requiem Blaster for him, though, the Scepter fell out of his favor, and rarely left Mortilus' possession.

It wasn't until after Unicron had been sealed away, and the next generation of Transformers was born, that we discovered the Void Scepter had another function: namely, that it could control the sparks of those who feared death. We Thirteen, with our eternal sparks, were immune... but the same could not be said for the mortals with whom we now shared Cybertron.

We felt that the Scepter should be sealed away, to protect the free will of the people—but one amongst us disagreed. He believed our war against Unicron had left us weakened, that there were renegades spreading lies about us, questioning the will of Primus, threatening the planet's future. We thought he was jumping at shadows, though after all this time, one cannot help but wonder if his concerns were wholly sincere to begin with...

Regardless... when Mortilus, for the first time, refused to yield the Scepter to him, something changed. Something in that argument made him capable of fratricide. When the rest of us learned of what had happened, and set out to avenge our kin, he used the Scepter to raise armies against us. So it was, that in his jealousy over this power, he brought about the fall of the Primes.

This is why the Scepter is also known as the Command Staff—as it can enslave armies, or even titans. After he was felled, the Void Scepter was sealed away by Solus. My siblings and I have done all that we can to prevent its power from ever being used again—but regretfully, lesser copies have been created in its image.