Acithos Cluster

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The Acithos cluster is a tightly-bound universal stream with a strong degree of variance from the majority of others in the multiverse. It has three distinct branches.

The alternative information portal for this cluster can be found on Tumblr (work in progress).

## Mythos/Prehistory

From the beginning of the universe was born the two opposing forces of Creation and Destruction; the positive and negative polarities of the very fabric of spacetime; the elements needed for a universe to possess a beginning and an end. And from these forces came Everything. The beginning of space, and the end of time, were crafted in the infinite instant—and the universe Was.

Creation reigned, and Destruction chased immediately after it: the reactive force. There was heat, and plasma. Plasma gave way to fire, and fire gave way to metal, and metal gave way to ice, and the universe stretched thin so that destruction could not touch it before it reached its potential.

Young, new, Life rose from that which Created—and from that which Destroyed.

Creation's child was Primus, and She was the Creator, building more life from Herself as the universe had built Her. But from Her came Her opposite: Unicron, who grew from the Destruction caused in the Creation of Primus and made His paradoxical existence from the consumption of that which must cease to exist.

There was balance. But soon Unicron grew greedy, and sought to consume and destroy that which had not yet reached its potential. And He sought to destroy Primus, so that She could never create again, and so that Destruction would reign over the universe.

Primus, knowing Unicron must be stopped to preserve the balance of the universe but unable to destroy any part of Him, sent forth the Primes to serve under Her guiding hand for the protection of all Creation. Sixteen in number, they fought bravely, and Unicron was eventually chased into the dark reaches of space for all time. Their task complete, the Primes turned their attention inward—to taking care of Primus, and to guiding the new Life that She continued to Create.

## Early History

After the sixteen Primes thwarted Unicron's attempts to eat Primus, they began focusing on a simpler existence. They became defacto rulers of a sort, each Prime taking under their arm (or wing) many new mechs born as sparks from the Wellsprings of Life. Primus gave Her Primes the knowledge they needed to bring these raw sparks and the world around them into a state of life and order.

1. **Prima**, first of the Primes, channel for Her Voice, was given the knowledge of how to harvest sparks.
2. **Solus Prime**, crafter, engineer, learned how to construct the uniquely malleable protoforms for each spark to shape.
3. **Amalgamous Prime**, shifter, imbued each protoform with the enigma of transformation.
4. **Nexus Prime**, combiner, granted some protoforms the enigma of combination.
5. **Quintus Prime**, life-bringer, healer, placed each spark into a protoform and encouraged each to grow into their own perfect shape.
6. **Logos Prime**, communicator, created language beyond the Voice of Primus.
7. **Vector Prime**, philosopher, created a system of time and a system of space, means of describing the experience of the natural world.
8. **Solomus Prime**, scribe, Solus' twin, chronicled Cybertron's past and present.
9. **Micronus Prime**, archivist, Logos' partner, worked with both Logos and Solomus to commit Cybertron's history and growing collection of knowledge to an accessible databank for the masses.
10. **Optimus Prime**, mediator, brought the Primes and their newspark brethren together under a system of law.
11. **Epistemus Prime**, advisor, worked with Optimus to ensure fairness of law.
12. **Megatronus**, warrior, taught the citizens of Cybertron to fight and defend themselves, in case Unicron or His heralds should ever return.
13. **Autonomous Maximus**, cityformer, became the first home for all Cybertronians, their shelter against the elements.
14. **Alchemist Prime**, scientist, seeded Cybertron's surface with crystals, including source crystals for energon: the fuel of all Cybertronian life.
15. **Onyx Prime**, beastformer, gave life to the fauna of Cybertron and, acting out of capricious self-interest and curiosity, kickstarted their evolution.
16. And when tragedy befell a spark, **Mortilus Prime**, priest, coroner, returned each in peace to the All Spark.

Unfortunately, peace amongst all the Primes did not last long. Epistemus Prime was a manipulator at spark, and su had listened to Unicron in their final battle. Su truly sought not to keep peace among Cybertronians, but to become powerful through Unicron's temptation. To destabilize the Primes, Epistemus encouraged Megatronus to court Solus—and, when fe was unreceptive, to get revenge.

Solus' death ripped the Primes apart.

In the resulting chaos, Prima exiled Megatronus and Epistemus both. Megatronus was dubbed *the Fallen Prime,* cursed forevermore to be shamed, scorned, and to struggle to atone for ris violent deeds. Epistemus escaped punishment and slipped off the radar.

Quintus, though ae tried, could not bring Solus back from the dead. Nor could Mortilus, to vyr great dismay. Solus was entombed in an intricately crafted shrine created by fis disciples, who took up fis role in the creation of newsparks.

Grieving, Solomus Prime changed lis name to Alpha Trion.

Now only thirteen, the Primes pushed even harder to instate their rule of law over Cybertron to keep this unprecedented tragedy from happening again.

## Modern History

### The Quintesson Struggle

The Quintessons, powerful aliens from the planet Quintessa, subjugated the Primes, then overpowered and enslaved the people of Cybertron. They wanted strong slaves, and many a mech was taken from their planet and scattered throughout the galaxy by the Quintesson conquerors.

With Primus' illness already making Her all but inaccessible even to Prima, the development of Cybertronian society grew under the Quintessons in such a way as to encourage strong biases and seclusion between frametypes. Some frametypes were eventually bumped out of their original Prime's duties, especially those descended from the Lost Primes.

Solus' duties were taken from fis disciples and given to Alchemist's descendants. Solus' disciples were grouped in with Megatronus' much-hated "necessary evil" and made to be warriors of the air. Similarly, Vector Prime's aerial descendants were pushed into military roles as well, forcibly removed from their strong traditions of prioritizing learning above all else.

So, too, were Quintus' duties taken on by Alchemist, and Quintus' descendants were grouped together with Epistemus'. For Quintus' disciples, this meant becoming submariners to mine for energon and other precious metals below the Sea of Rust, a parallel to Epistemus' disciples being sent deep, deep underground to seek materials there.

Unfortunately for the Quintessons, a society so much more militarized was impossible to keep under their control, and the populace rose up to free their Primes and rid their world of the Quintessons.

The effects of the Quintessons' interference persisted, however, with mechs unsure how to return to their pre-militarization society. A far more martial law was put into place to control this new society. Schisms in political opinion split the previously unified Cybertronian government into multiple, individually-governed citystates, further compounding the artificial division between frametypes that had once mingled freely.

*Note: In one of three streams of the Acithos cluster, Stream Gamma, Cybertron did* not *successfully free itself from Quintesson rule. Stream Gamma's Cybertron continues to be subjugated and its citizens sold as slaves to intelligent species across the galaxy.*

### The Golden Age

The Golden Age of Cybertron is thus classified because of the extensive decoration in brass and gold among the high society. However, this age was far from golden for the lesser classes of mechs, and unfortunately the corruption of society and of the council of Primes by this time was to blame.

Separating into separate citystates encouraged mechs to learn new trades outside their designated roles, but elitism kept these "function rebels" from being able to advance no matter their importance to society. Military mechs gone medical were really considered civil *servants;* archivists and scientists were often scoffed at outside Iacon and Uraya. There was some mingling between frametypes, but even if their skills were needed, mechs of an "outsider" frametype were often looked down on.

Further political conflicts led to several smaller cities and towns splitting from the main citystates. Some, in heavily populated areas, were reannexed, but others were dismissed as unimportant and allowed to operate on their own.

Most of the Council, dwelling in the Towers of Iacon, grew more and more distant from the citystates they acted as ambassadors to. Amalgamous entirely disappeared. The only Prime who remained truly dedicated was Prima, but with eir duties drawing sparks from Iacon's Wellspring, ey became nothing but a figurehead ruler and the remaining Primes neglected to include em while governing.

The end of the Golden Age came about with the reappearance of Megatronus Prime, now wearing the truncated name Megatron. Wandering in the slums of a once-prosperous and equal Cybertron—the rich culture nearly destroyed by the Quintessons, the people betrayed and dying by the hand of the very council they saved in their rebellion—took its toll on ren. Re swore to force the other Primes to be held accountable for their dangerously poor management of Cybertron. Ris supporters were numerous, nearly all from the lower castes.

Optimus Prime specifically called Megatron out as a murderer of a fellow Prime that they would never listen to. Megatron, citing the Council's hypocrisy and the death of so many of their subjects, swore re wouldn't rest until Cybertron was returned to the utopia it was meant to be.

## The Civil War

### Stream Beta

In stream Beta, the civil war was quickly snuffed out because Megatron did not accrue enough followers to stage a proper uprising. This was thanks to the efforts of a mysterious miner—and *underminer*—with a silver glossa, going by the name Liege Maximo.