#ancient cybertronian

[red-truck]

Grocery day.

Please keep your unruly children supervised!

*facepalms* Please monitor your unruly Conjunx as well.

Well, at least they got their Hi-grade and Chips.

[delicateartisantrash]

Cybertronian Language Ref Project

So, I was absolutely ASTOUNDED to discover there isn't, as far as I could find, any dedicated directory of a List Of Words for the Cybertronian languages, though there is some documentation on the written languages themselves.

Inspired by those, I started creating a document to keep track of Cybertronic languages used in the fanfictions I write, because I have an obsession for fantasy language in a story actually being written out.

Would anyone be interested in sharing this resource? I don't have terribly many words installed yet, and I mostly focus on the common tongue since that's what comes up most often in my stories so far, but I plan to flesh out all of them with time.

Imagine some of the fun miscommunications between Decepticons and Autobots who are mingling, when they have the same spoken word but they mean vastly different things >:DDD

[witchofthesouls]

I've been twisting this idea in my head for a while.

So assuming that Cyberton had Yore/Fae/Magic at some point but don't in modern day, what do you think wiped them out? Was it just a natural consequence of the loss of wild spaces- the seas drying, the forests and plains and marshes being dessicated by natural disasters? Intentionally by way of Prima's Forceful Guiding Hand? Quintassons desires for a world to more readily be defined and controlled?

In my mind, it was a bit of all of the above. One dominoing into the other until it became too much and the Cybertonian version of Elsewhere collapsed on itself. But that would pose a potential for them to still exist on the Colonies, no matter how reduced.

I kinda talked about it already.

Personal take, especially since TFP did had line about magic and science from Solus' Forge, it's a combination of all that, plus more.

Prima established the city-states as the beacon of civilization and progress as it's by 'birthright' as the first to be and 'rule of strength/might.' He is the Eldest Sun, formed by Primus' own Light. The absolute God-king.

Of course, Primus still had Unicron to provide a check, so Megatronus rose immediately to life from Prima's very own shadow. Primes aren't meant to stand alone, and Prima needed someone who was capable of stopping him, no matter the cost.

Despite the personal writings by the Prime of Light, Prima and Megatronus operated as joint rulers as no one else was able to withstand their combined strength. When they stood together, nothing could budge them.

Basically, a lot of things went down to sow distrust, a tragic dirge of miscommunication, and connecting the wrong dots that led to the Prinal Wars. After it decimated the Primes to the remaining Prima, Alpha Trion, and Alchemist, Prima went far more extreme, even ignoring any and all advice by Alchemist who had to take on a more moderate capacity as he singlehandedly assumed the role of the bridge between the Primes and their mortal kin. Alchemist, unfortunately, didn't have the strength to challenge Prima directly. Not on his own, especially since Alpha Trion is one of the more passive siblings and won't stand against the Eldest's new goals as Alpha is deeply tied to the Quill and saw no point in recorrecting things if the far future painted a better prospect after all the misfortunes that would come.

Prima essentially laid waste to very cycles of renewal that was supposed to revitalize Cybertron in an attempt to call back Megatronus, and the Quintessons took advantage of that to completely break the more fantastical power elements via 'standardization' as they messed with the Well of Allsparks and strip the planet into the what modern Cybertronians know as the Wastelands.

Prima was the one that started the processes to drain the oceans, harvest the volcanoes, excavate the mountains, wetlands dried by reroute, forests cut, desert mined, and grasslands turned to ash as Prima tamed nature to search for his twin. After Prima's disappearance, Alpha Trion gave up as well after the Quintessons messed the Well and Megatronus never returned.

Before Cybertron functioned as a gateway to Elsewhere due to the connection between Primus, Unicron, and Gaea. So the Wilders did have tales of strange beings and stranger places... but after the combined feats between Prima, the Quintessons, and early Golden Age had long stripped the planet's capability to sustain those gateways. (It's also why the connection to reestablish space bridges to the Colonies failed.)

The Colonies would have began to flee from the Guiding/Forceful Hand under Prima, so the potential gateways still exist with them (attested by how some of their people would disappear if they wander too far) but the means to truly navigate them, much like communicating with Titans, space-bridge repair, and the rearing of magic talent, had been lost to time as each world deals with their own crises.

[sunfyrisms]

genuinely so fascinated with the concept of light vs darkness in transformers, specifically the aligned community. they are two opposing forces that are so deeply and intricately woven together, one can not exist without the other. primus and unicron embody this, but they, prior to becoming cybertron and earth respectively, spend their entire immortal lives fighting. prima and megatronous almost act as their successors, in a way. prima believes that he is the physical manifestation of good and that megatronous isn’t. the latter is shunned for these traits, even though all the primes had darkness planted in them by unicron during their battle against them. it’s just very interesting to see these forces depicted as against each other, rather than those who embody these forces recognize they cannot exist without the other.

[tfunity]

Yeah. That's about as simple as we're gonna get this mess of a pantheon.

Tiny notes: some deities have multiple roles, like Megatronus being Entropy and Love. The ones listed here are just the best known occupations they hold.

[overactiveimaginationhere]

From what technical specs remain regarding Cyclonus's alt mode, most of the historians familiar with the weapons technology of that era agree that the peculiar shape on the underside, about two thirds of the way down its length, looks to be some archaic form of archaic munitions rack for launching incendiary bombs. Or well, according to the closest translation they've got for the fragmented remnants of old cybertronian in the munitions section of those technical specs.

Age of chaos era old cybertronian is difficult enough to translate at best of times with an intact document, the great similarities in characters between the high cybertronian used during the age of the thirteen (or as some historical scholars eroniously refer to that period "the dynasty of the primes" despite dynasty implying a succession of rulers and all thirteen were well known to have rules together and not one after another) and the old cybertronian used during the age of chaos following their vanishing. This complication in translation efforts lies with how the meanings of a character in old cybertronian would differ greatly from that of the character it resembles from high cybertronian

[keferon]

since mecha pilot Jazz is a human and not a cybertronian, what would the Matrix think of him? Would Optimus know about Jazz being human (or at least Not Cybertronian) before everyone else?

I don’t think that the Matrix could tell to Prime something that wasn’t learned by previous Primes?

But! I imagine Optimus being very suspicious of Jazz specifically because the Matrix has nothing to say about him. Like. As a Prime Optimus has this ancient wisdom and almost supernatural ability to know things he isn’t supposed to know but then he looks at Jazz and Matrix is just “idk man this guy doesn’t exist”

[muletia]

Reader gives Optimus cheesy nicknames on their phones once they get together something's small and sweet like my brightest spark.

Or something spicy in ancient cybertrionan that only Optimus understands.~~

Reader calls him that on the regular and Optimus tries his absolute best not to break down in embarrassments.

cw: fem!pronouns used for reader (mrs.)

what a sweet idea omg. you know what else would be sweet? if you started calling optimus "baby." it could start as a joke—maybe you said it ironically, or it just slipped out during a conversation. at first, he'd be bewildered, because, well, it's not exactly a fitting pet name for him. but then he'd fully embrace it and literally light up whenever you call him that.

and when it comes to cybertronian pet names, you could totally tease him with those too. he might not show it openly, but inside, he'd be absolutely flustered because you shouldn’t even know those words… but deep down, he doesn’t mind at all. every ounce of attention from you feels like a blessing to him.

i also think this could work the other way around, and you’d get a nickname in the base too. just not necessarily from optimus. hear me out… one day, fowler storms into the base, absolutely furious, looking for optimus because he needs to resolve something immediately. he doesn’t find prime, but he does find you, so to get your attention and interrogate you about your boyfriend's whereabouts, he calls you "mrs. prime." from that moment on, the nickname sticks, and miko loves it. then the rest of the kids pick it up, and eventually, even the bots do. they literally stop calling you by your name and just go with "mrs. prime," lmao.

optimus finds out about it last, and he doesn’t quite understand what’s so special about the nickname. so you have to explain, extremely flustered and red-faced, that taking someone’s last name is associated with marriage, and the nickname implies that optimus is your husband… you were convinced he’d be just as embarrassed as you, but nope, you were totally wrong. bro is overjoyed. he’ll literally start speedrunning to win the war just so you two can finally be junxies, lmao.

[yuki2sksksk]

I crave for Transformers and eldritch horror

(not me imagining a scenario of an ancient supernatural eldritch horror being taunting Optimus of how earthlings view Cybertronians as virus that's affecting the earth condition --)

[awarmbowlofhomemadesoup]

That's something that I've been thinking about. He could've chosen self-preservation. Sentine's betrayel, the war between Decepticons and Autobots, I think he respects the will of the Cybertrons too much to intervene. He wanted them to grow and ascend even if he wouldn't be there to see it. Even if it would cost him his very spark, his very core. After all, this is the god that sacrificed his body to become their planet.

Primus, the Invisible Character of TF1

Primus in Transformers One is literally their planet and god. Yet, he can't do anything against Sentinel's betrayal all those years ago but take away the Matrix of Leadership. Taking away the Matrix was a message to all Cybertronians that something isn't right. Sentinel was still able to twist it anyway.

All the Cybertronians got the message. But not everyone acted on it. I can't really blame them. Sentinel set up a very exploitative, ableist, and classist system where those with cogs benefit from it, and those without are too busy trying to survive.

Orion Pax listened. He tried to do something about it by trying to know where the Matrix could be. Primus, all-knowing but not all-able, could only watch.

At first, I thought it was Darkwing's pettiness that got them to sub-level 50. But others have pointed out that Sentinel may have ordered him to do it because he doesn't want other cog-less miners to get the idea of going out of line because they can be more. So, in the end, sending the two to the sublevel, particularly someone familiar with how archive drives work, becomes his downfall.

Primus didn't do any of that. But I do wonder, with the planet's ever-transforming surface, if he sabotaged the train so that they would have no choice but to follow the coordinates instead of finding Sentinel?

But still, Primus could only watch as they got their cogs, as Alpha Trion fell, as Orion got everyone to revolt, as D-16 tried to kill Sentinel.

Though when Dee let the dying Orion fall, I noticed that the panels of the planet simply moved away to let him fall farther, until Orion's corpse reached the core, reached Primus himself. (Making one of his lines to Elita be a foreshadowing)

At that time, Primus was finally able to do something. He made his choice. He turned Orion Pax into Optimus Prime. Orion failed to find the Matrix, but the Matrix found him.

Primus, as a planet, is their all-knowing and omniscient god. But even he has to be met halfway by a Cybertronian for great changes to come.

[tossawary]

Thinking about "Transformers" AUs for non-TF fandoms again, specifically Human/Cybertronian pairings, and realized that the setup of "ancient, superpowered, non-human being fallen from the heavens and fighting an ancient, inescapable war between two factions concerning freedom and control" and "mechanic who wouldn't be opposed to fucking their car" almost perfectly fits Castiel and Dean Winchester from "Supernatural".

[lets-try-some-writing]

"Starscream and his spark-split siblings were supposed to be made into speakers directly following their forging. However, due to mismanagement, they were late to arrive at their respective positions. The Starscream we know took to his position as Speaker for Vos... very poorly." - Rewind, Sanctioned Recorder

Lore below the cut.

City Speakers are always chosen from amongst a very rare selection of Cybertronians. Due to a desire to keep the Titans from becoming political tools, Speakers are required to be spark split twins or triplets. The long standing belief is that if the Speakers are spark split, they will be less likely to turn their Titans into political weapons or scheme against each other. It has worked well enough, and so the tradition has held.

Before they inherited their names and T-cogs, Starscream and his brothers were miners. Due to an influx of newbuilds coming out looking quite similar, no one suspected the triplets to be spark split. And so, no one was ever informed that there were new Speakers ready to be taken and trained. For centuries, the triplets were simple workers and close as could be. That only changed after a chance encounter with a high ranking cogged bot gave them away.

They were promptly taken by the Speakers of that era, separated, and trained to serve and speak on the behalf of their particular Titan. Starscream got the short end of the stick in being given to Vos. Due to his Titan being one of Cybertron's best kept secrets, Starscream had to be both the Winglord and the Speaker at the same time without revealing the latter position. Normally, these roles would align well. But Vos has been flying for millennia, and the ancient Titan is in constant pain due to the overpopulation of his frame. Titans cannot fully comprehend pain, and thus, more often than not, Speakers for Vos can constantly hear him screaming.

It is maddening, and the only reason Starscream hasn't gone mad is due to the time he spent in the mines hardening him mentally. With that said, his predecessor was not a kind teacher (being half mad himself). Starscream carries scars to this very day.

[earthstellar]

One thing that I really liked in IDW 2 was the concept of Going Immersant.

Given the immensely long average lifespan of Cybertronians, it makes sense:

If nothing kills you, and you live long enough to have experienced all of what you feel you reasonably can in this lifetime, and you feel content with the life that you have had, and it seems time to retire--

--Why not return your knowledge and the entity of your self to the core of your planet, where your energy and your components can be reused and your memories and knowledge can be subsumed into the greater whole?

Plug in with the stray cables that stick out of the cavernous expanses deep beneath the surface of Cybertron, let yourself get situated, and allow yourself to daydream as the crystals grow around you and gradually consume you. It is not painful. It is a process of sharing.

Each daydream then enters the great memory bank of Primus, at the heart of the world, the core of life itself for your species. Your experiences become part of the eternal record of experienced Cybertronian life. You join your God himself, frame and processor, as you combine with him within the physical form of your planet.

Primus created you, and as you are subsumed into the crystalline forms that surround you, you will go on to sustain Primus in some way. An unending cycle.

Perhaps you feel something, leeching up from deep within the crystal mass, some unique energy meeting you halfway, the cables that snake their way into your ports like vines carrying some ancient data, older than yourself, older than the Rust Sea, older than the Hydrax Plateau, older than the Titans.

Maybe you cannot decipher it, yet. But it comforts you. It reminds you that you are not alone, after your visitors have gone. Where there is digital noise, there is something to produce it. You will meet it soon--

--After countless years of a peaceful rest, knowing that at the end of your endlessly long existence, your life will go on to benefit others.

And for as long as you are able, you still remain present, as well. Just not above, on the surface. For some time, others can still come and visit, speak with you, consult with you-- Although as your memory banks purge into the greater whole, you begin to falter in this waking realm.

And that is OK; To rejoin with Primus and re-enter the Well of All Sparks as an ancient elder, a repository of experience and wisdom, is to become a teacher to all. Even in peaceful, gradual death-- And even then, your energy and materials and thoughts remain somewhere, deep within the planet.

Returned. Recycled.

Eternal, in some shape or form.

It's just a really beautiful concept.

Without any natural death, Cybertronians have the option to simply return to Primus, return to the core of the planet, in a half-waking state.

At peace, gracefully and with intent.

All of what they have experienced and all that they are, all of their memories and feelings, all of the metals and compounds that make up their frame and armour and protoform, all of it can be taken in and absorbed.

The option is there, to emerge once more.

But for most, this is the final calling.

To go immersant is to enter peace, to become a living state of meditation until the very end for you as an individual. To have full agency over how you pass on, to make the decision and consciously know. To be happy with that. To relax into your fate, as you see fit.

To make the decision to be recycled, to contribute all that you are, to return your energy to the crystalline matter that fuels your world and your people and your God, who in turn fuelled you and will thus go on to fuel all those subsequently churned out by the Well.

To merge with your living planet on an atomic level, on an esoteric level.

I wonder if the fully immersant aren't dead in the traditional sense. Perhaps they are offline, to those in this world. Perhaps their frame is vacated as their data is absorbed. But that data is not lost, necessarily.

It's just a very beautiful end of life option for Cybertronians, and I do hope the concept is revisited in some form in the future.

[witchofthesouls]

I just read your seeker bird kiddo (Jack) and Truck dad Optimus adventures and I beg for more content, I adore it all and the spOoky cryptic parts are 👌

👁️👄👁️

Jack accidentally triggers mechs’ protective instincts because he makes baby bird noises to mimic the local corvids. It doesn't help that Jack parks himself at the entrance to the Ark and plays games with the more playful blackbirds. Dadimus is very much used to Jack’s imitations, the rest of the Autobots (and his counterpart) are most definitely not.

The chirping and screes are reminiscent of newsparks’ calls for attention and care, and it drives the resident Seekerkin up the wall because he is the only sparkling in the vicinity and Jack punches the Seekerkin-coding into activity after four million years of dormancy.

There have been a few jokes to take a recording of the sparkling’s noises and play it to the Decepticon Seekers after the Autobots had seen their own Seekerkin with the kid. TFP Optimus is immediately No. Stop. Control, Alt, and Delete that terrible plan. He will take Jack and run into the most remote environments he can find.

No one knows how Jack did it, but the blackbirds got into gambling, and everyone blames Smokescreen. 

He's partly to blame with the cards, but the dice is Bluestreak's fault.

Jack is a polite menace. The kid knows his manners, but that doesn't stop him from skipping up the walls, hanging on the ceiling, and popping into places that he shouldn't have access to. At all.

Mechs were confused why Dadimus pinged out so often but then realized that's the most reliable way to actually tag Jack as he's a slippery little thing. Sometimes the sparkling responds, but usually he doesn't.

Red Alert is on the verge of having an aneurysm since Jack can bypass all the security measures. Mechs have taken to looking up to see if Jack is trapezing on the panels or checking under the tables and desks because of near unfortunate incidents of almost shooting the kid or shock-related delays with time-sensitive chemical reactions that nearly turned the ship into a massive crater.

Dadimus was highly disappointed and upset by the last part as Jack knows better as he had done similar stunts when they were upon research vessels. Not only Jack had to apologize to Skyfire, Wheeljack, and Perceptor, but he wasn't allowed to stray from Dadimus' field for a month. ("Curiosity cannot override safety protocols.")

On one camera, Jack would be at a corner by the entrance with organic birds, and between blinks he would then disappear and reappear across the ship, talking excitedly to a random corner with a different group of birds.

(If anyone catches them at the right second, at the right angle, at the right frame... the raven/crow/jackdaw/jay will ripple. Feathers dripping and flowing like an inky waterfall and eyes splitting into multiple, countless pairs as Jack's shadow expands- And then, the watcher will blink because they have to, and the footage will reset. Devoid of Jack and blackbirds.)

There's talk about new cryptids going around. It's silly Halloween and superstitious nonsense… until it isn't.

Due to Smokescreen, Bluestreak, and the Aerialbots constantly monitoring the perimeter or setting traps that are becoming more elaborate each week, it's becoming a new running joke. It's the Autobot snipe-hunting. All because of Jack's devoted drawings of strange, contorted creatures.

They're adamant that something is outside.

(They’re right).

An eerie thing begins to appear at the nearby dunes by the Ark’s entrance. It’s vaguely canine and its size is constantly changing. They can smell a wildfire in the air and taste ash upon their tongues as it beckons them to follow with a heavy, burning gaze. 

Before anyone follows, a racket of shrieking blackbirds breaks them out of the trance. When the piercing noise fails, then a nasty peck to some skin or exposed protoform is enough to bring them back to their senses.

“It’s looking for something that can’t be regained,” Jack speaks with a keenness beyond his age and a lilting cadence. A flurry of pictures of the same dark canine by a campfire with multiple individuals and groups sitting by it. It remains unchanged, despite the others’ fashions and vehicles it managed to beckon to it. “Don’t be taken by its ancient sorrow. You won’t escape its grasp.”

Between the space of desert and forest, there’s an old barbwire fence and a seemingly endless dusty dirt road that has never been updated to proper asphalt, despite its existence for over a century and all the grumbles and complaints by humans and Cybertronians.

When it rains, a phantom of a massive stag appears. Dark and regal, it gently trods along the path, always towards the forest, never in the opposite direction. Perched upon its twisted antlers is an owl with multiple wings, spread out and spotted with many painted eyes, a feathered and watchful halo with a cry that echoes in everyone’s ears and audials. It leaves no tracks, just deep puddles with flickering shapes in its vast depths that immediately dry when people look away.

The mechs start to understand that the local humans’ grumblings and complaints are half-hearted, and when it starts to drizzle, everyone stays inside. 

“It’s older than all those that vaguely remember its beginnings,” Jack murmurs to a window full of drawings in the condensation, sleepy in the colder weather as he curls in a heated seat. “Dreaming and wandering, yet always returning to the place that crowned it King.”

[revelboo]

hiii, I love you and have been brainrotting over your works for the past 20 hours 🫶

I just write the silly things that pop into my head, but I’m glad, and surprised, other folks enjoy them.

Skin and Bones Pt 3

Megatron x reader- playful

• Shrill and painful as a something drilling straight into his processor, Megatron winces as the sound finally cuts off. An alarm or..? No, of course not. There’s the human running full tilt from an open doorway, Soundwave’s cassettes in pursuit. As Ravage pounces near, the human screeches again in mock fear despite their grin.

• They’re… playing? How long has it been since he’s heard any Cybertronians cutting up? Having fun. He just stops, not sure what to make of it. Especially as Rumble catches the human around the waist to sling over a shoulder upside down. Prey caught, the cassettes finally notice him and go still. It takes the squirming human longer, but their grin fades when they realize the fun is over and spot him.

• And even thought they’re all grown, they react like sparklings caught doing something wrong- they all bolt, Rumble dropping the human in his haste.

• That jerk. You land mostly on your shoulder and back in an inelegant sprawl, staring upside down as Rumble runs like all of hell is right on his heels. Which might not be too far off, you decide as you roll to your knees and keep your head down. Because the Decepticon leader is staring at you with a frown so severe you want to hide and there’s nowhere to go.

• Venting heavily, he kneels down to offer you a single servo, his big hand hovering close as if he wants to pick you up, but isn’t sure. Cautiously, you grab onto that servo and allow him to gently pull you to your feet before letting go. And he just stares at that servo in silence. Probably wondering what all germs you just got on him, you guess. He certainly doesn’t look happy about it and your shoulders droop slightly.

• “Do you fear me?” He asks, not quite sure why when he knows the inevitable answer. Fear is the currency he’s learned best how to spend over the decades. It keeps his motley ranks mostly in line. He’d accepted a long time ago that it was better to be feared than loved. Safer, too.

• Head tipping back to stare up at the huge mech, it’s a surprise to realize that, no, you don’t exactly fear him. He’s had plenty of chances to hurt you and hasn’t. Oddly enough, Skywarp is much scarier. This one? The big, bad warlord? Honestly, he just seems too exhausted all the time to bother with being a threat. Though, come to think of it, you have seen the other side, too. Little glimpses of an ice cold, barely restrained violence in his tone when speaking with his subordinates. Apparently, you’re not worth the doom voice. “Should I?”

• Probably. He’s not sure if it’s naïveté or bravery when you meet his optics, seeming genuinely curious about his answer. “Why were they chasing you?” He asks instead.

• Nose wrinkling as he ignores your question, you shrug. You’re an adult, but yeah, it’s not like it really matters what the giant aliens think about you. You get bored. “Playing tag,” you admit. And losing badly at tag, because you’re so much slower than they are. His stare is still blank and you throw out your arms. “Someone’s it. They have to tag someone else to not be it. Being it is bad,” you ramble.

• More silence. You’re definitely being judged by an ancient, evil robot. Exasperation winning out over caution, you lunge over to swat his servo. Hard. “You’re it.” Glowing red optics slide from his servo to you and you still have no idea what he’s thinking. What you’re thinking? You really, really wish you hadn’t done that. “No tag backs,” you yelp, realizing his retaliation is likely to smear you on the floor.

• Instead he vents softly, rises and stalks away. For a second, one corner of his mouth twitches like he’s trying not to smile. You suppose evil warlords don’t play games. Probably ruins the whole evil appearance he has going. Heart racing, you start back toward Soundwave’s quarters, not at all surprised when Frenzy and the other cassettes are waiting around a corner safely out of range of retaliation to ambush you. And you’re it again.

Previous Next

[tfunity]

Primes are powerful creatures.

Even the pathetic, mortal things that only had the Matrix in their chest for a few hours are stronger than most. That strange stone offers many benefits and changes to those who it irradiates.

Of note is the fabled Primal Scream. Or Primal Voice, or Primely Voice, or any such combinations. Primes are so integral to their society that they, on mere whims, are capable of changing anything they like about their people. Thousands of rebellions were squashed by simple words that rewrote entire personalities and histories: folk heroes became unwanted villains, peasants became the richest amongst their kind, so on and so forth.

Recent history has shown little evidence of this mysterious power. Nova supposedly did and undid the space program using it, but such involved the loss of memory: so of course, no one can actually remember that. Sentinel, a puppet king, never needed to Scream. He had his Enactors and mnemosurgeons that did a fine enough job instead.

And Optimus, steadfast and godlier than the rest, refuses to use it. He does admit that it exists, but only to make it clear that it isn't suited for any real change in their society. Megatron could have been rewritten but the Prime never even attempted.

Maybe that's out of respect. Maybe that's out of duty to the Grand Plan. Or maybe it's because Optimus refuses to be any more of a tyrant than he thinks he already is.