Cybertronians

Cybertronians (sometimes called Transformers) are a very key species in Transformers Loud. They are a species of sentient, living robotic beings (mostly) originating from the distant machine world of Cybertron. The designation "Transformer" stems from the species' generally shared ability to *transform;* to change their bodies at will, rearranging their component parts from a robotic primary mode (usually, but not always, humanoid) into an alternate form; generally vehicles, weapons, machinery, or animals.

## History

### The Great War

No one is really certain as to how Cybertron came about. Some believe that it via "naturally-occurring gears, levers, and pulleys", while others believe that the planet was actually the adopted form of a god: specifically, the light God Primus, who trapped himself and his rival, the dark god Unicron, in barren asteroids, which they then shaped into their physical forms, with Primus creating them to fight his arch foe should he rise again.

Either way, for millions of years ago, the glamorous metallic planet was a peaceful world. The Cybertronian populace thrived well and constructed large, towering cities all across the planet, with astronomy and culture flourishing most of all. However, all that changed when a terrorist group calling themselves "Decepticons" rose up from seemingly nowhere and attacked all of the major cities. They believed that Cybertron had grown weak and stagnant, so they decided to change that the only way they knew how: survival of the fittest. Under the command of a tyrannical madman named Galvatron, their carnage spread across the entire planet like a wildfire, using all kinds of advanced weaponry. Caught flatfooted, citizens all over Cybertron were quickly overwhelmed and billions were slaughtered, including the planet's leader, Zeta Prime. After his death and taking Cybertron's most prized artifact, the Matrix of Leadership, Galvatron sought to turn Cybertron itself into a cosmic dreadnought and conquer the entire universe. They would even force some of them to fight for their entertainment in their old Gladiatorial Pits. However, just as all hope seemed lost, a new leader rose from the Cybertronian capital of Iacon to stand up to this menace: Sentinel. He immediately took charge of the Cybertronian armed forces and mounted an enormous counter offensive on the terrorist group, with him dubbing them "The Destrons". They managed to push back the Decepticons and rebuilt their city-states, outfitting most of them with new defense systems to prevent any future attacks. Though the war lasted another one thousand years, it was all worth when Sentinel finally faced Galvatron in a final showdown in their capital of Kaon, killing the mad titan once and for all. With that, he retook the Matrix for his people and took over rule of Cybertron as the next Prime.

### The Quintesson Invasion

After so many decades of brutal violence, Cybertron was once again at peace. Most of the Decepticon survivors decided joined the Destron ranks after seeing the errors of their ways, while a few of them fled the planet to hide on other worlds. However, the war had left the planet's Energon reserves were drastically low, with only a few decades worth left. Seeing this, Sentinel Prime commissioned the creation of the Space Bridge program and, along with a fleet of 13 starships (in honor of the original 13 Primes), sought to set up Cybertronian strongholds all across the galaxy. Small pockets of resistance rose up sprouted up every now and again, but they were all quickly put down. However, then came the Quintessons: sinister, robotic creatures with five-sided faces, each side with a different face, including the face of Death. These tentacle beings were warmongers that profited off of creating wars and conflict among other worlds, and targeted Cybertron for colonization and to seize some of their incredible technology for their own uses. With most of the heavy-hitting Destrons off-planet, they launched a surprise attack on the planet, capturing it for themselves. Most of the Cybertronians were enslaved and forced to work factories to manufacture more weapons, and anyone who resisted were either simply destroyed or recycled into other weapons. Thankfully, Sentinel Prime and his remaining troops finally managed to break through their blockades and freed their people from tyranny and enslavement once more, and the Quintessons were quickly thrown off the planet, though not without heavy casualties.

### The Promised "Peace" & Revolution

There were those who opposed the tyranny of Sentinel Prime's merciless Destron regime, but they were scattered and would be crushed rather quickly. But there would come a leader, in the form of a battle-hardened warrior named Ironhide. He had served as one of the Destron Corps' top generals and drill sergeants since even before the Decepticon attacks, and he was fully aware of the atrocities. Soon enough, he decided he had had enough. Working alongside more of his other veteran teammates, he soon gathered up a large number of others who felt the same way, including other splintered resistance cells, and they soon came to call themselves "Autobots", to represent their autonomy from Prime's iron fist.

## Cybertronian Biology

As they are alien robots, a Cybertronian's biology is very unique among most other species in the galaxy.

### Sparks

All cybertronians (or at the very least, those created on Cybertron) contain a spark, their lifeforce/soul. The spark is a physical entity that is safeguarded inside of a transformer's chest. If something should harm the spark beyond repair it is "extinguished", meaning the cybertronian is considered dead.

As old Cybertronian philosophers would say, "When a spark goes online, there is great joy. When one is extinguished, the universe weeps."

### Protoform

The Protoform is the first stage of the Cybertronian life cycle. When they first come online, every Cybertronian's body begins as little more than a blank mannequin, the living metal of their body not having yet been shaped into an alternate form. In this stage, they're akin to a "newborn" or developmental stage which the Cybertronian quickly matures out of upon adopting an alternate mode.

They are often forged inside of the Plasma Energy Chamber, but this is not the definitive way for a Cybertronian to be created, as other Cybertronians are known to be able to create more of their own simply by using already existing vehicles, best shown by Starscream's creation of the Constructicons.

### Durability

A Cybertronian is able to survive an enormous amount of physical damage. As long as the spark is still intact, it is possible to repair/rebuild the body and have the spark restored. Their sparks make them practically immortal, as certain cybertronians can live for up to millions of years. However, they can still be killed by laser fire, explosions and bladed weapons, especially if it's a direct hit to the spark chamber. However, as previously stated, if the spark is beyond repair, they will die.

### Brain Module

The Brain Module is the component that houses the Cybertronian's mind and personality. The module is a tiny cluster of microchips located in the Cybertronian's head unit and transplanting the module into another piece of machinery effectively transfers them into a new body.

### Transformation Cog

The Transformation Cog (or simply T-Cog) is the component that allows Cybertronians to transform into their vehicle modes. Damage to the Cog will trap the cybertronian in whatever mode they happen to be in at the time of damage (most often this is their alt mode).

### Cosmotron

A cosmotron is essentially a Cybertronian's lung, as it's what helps filter & dispense Energon throughout the body. If this part is damaged in any way, a Cybertronian is able to survive for a few cycles, but unless the part is replaced, they will eventually run out of reserves and die.

### Motor Relay

Motor relays are the components which allowed a Cybertronian to move about and use their limbs. Severing it means that the individual is left in a state of suspended animation.

### Scanners

Scanning is a method for Cybertronians to change their alternate modes into things native to other planets such as vehicles or animals on Earth. This is usually seen by a pair of lights shining through their optics, which gives them an exact reading on the vehicle's exact specifications.

### Seven Senses

Whereas humans have five senses, Cybertronians are built with seven as standard: sight, hearing, touch, smell, short-range radio wave transmission (meaning that all of them are forged with some type of communication device built into them), magnetic sensitivity and electrical sensitivity.

## Other Types of Cybertronians

### Outliers

Outliers are Cybetronians who possess abilities that have no apparent connection to their alternate mode. Many of them have been able to master their strange abilities, some in very creative ways, but unchecked, these powers can lead to very disastrous results. Some known outliers include Springer for his springs and Mirage for his cloaking ability.

### Monoformer

A Monoformer is a rare type of Cybertronian that is unable to transform. This can happen for several reasons:

* A factory error happened during their creation, with either several of the parts necessary to transform and/or even their transformation cog missing.
* They are put through some sort of intense form of torture that involves the removal of, again, the necessary parts and T-Cog.
* The Cybertronian themself willingly choose to have their T-Cog removed.

### Siblings

There is a rare instance where a pair (or more) Cybertronians are formed from a "split Spark", a phenomenon in which the Spark meant to create one Cybertronian splits and creates two Cybertronians, complete with their bodies possessing completely identical circuitry.. They often share a closer connection than other forms of Transformer relatives. This results in the twins having a much closer relationship than most Cybertronians could ever have as the two are intimately linked, meaning that they can communicate in a way that was almost psychic; what one twin feels the other feels, and what one thinks the other thinks (though that last part is up for debate). This is instantaneous and worked even at a distance, to the point where they can even use this to coordinate battle tactics. There's even the instance where one twin can actually feel when the other dies; though the most that will happen in this event for the other twin is that they'll feel a temporary surge of pain, but can otherwise continue on afterwards by themself.

## Terminology

### Units of Time

* Nanokllk

Equivalent to one Earth second

* Klik

Equivalent to one Earth minute

* Breem

A Breem is approximately 8.35 Earth minutes. This is often what Cybertronians say in place of "a few minutes" or the like.

* Cycle

Equivalent to one Earth hour

* Mega-cycle

Equivalent of twelve Earth hours

* Solar-Cycle

Essentially a full day on Cybertron. Just happens to be equivalent to a full Earth day (funny how time works sometimes).

* Deca-Cycle

Equivalent of ten Earth days.

* Orbital Cycle

Equivalent to one Earth month.

* Stellar Cycle

Equivalent to one Earth year.

## Activities

### Cube

Cube is a Cybertronian sport resembling the Earth sport of rugby. It involves pursuing a cube (obviously) filled with energon and with a rudimentary artificial intelligence, giving it a mind of its own. Teams consist of six players to a side - four in robot mode and two in vehicle mode - and the objective is to hold on to the energon-filled cube for a set amount of time, at which point it allows the player to absorb the energon boost inside as their team scores a point.

## Gallery

Cybertronian Citizens 1Cybertronian Citizens 2Cybertronian Citizens 3Cybertronian Citizens 4A key for the Cybertronian Language, complete with its English equivalents.

## Notes

Despite being a major plot element in the episode it appears in in the original cartoon, the Cosmotron's role is never given.

Many of the generics featured in this series are actually the Headmasters, Targetmasters and Powermasters from the original toyline, mainly because of their more simplistic/basic designs compared to the other Transformers characters. However, certain elements of their character designs have been removed (unless they blend into their design fairly well like the "spikes" on Pinpointer & Spoilsport), mainly the pieces for their gun & head modes since they obviously don't turn into those in this series.

The designs for the Protoforms are taken from the Maintenance Drones that appeared in the episode The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 1, thanks to their dull color schemes, relatively simple designs and lack of a real face.

The Cybertronian language featured in this series is the version created by High Moon Studios for the *War for Cybertron* video games.