Thirteen

### Current Members

Vector Prime, Alpha Trion, Solus Prime, Micronus Prime, Alchemist Prime, Nexus Prime, Onyx Prime, Adaptus Prime, Quintus Prime, Liege Maximo, Megatronus Prime, The Thirteenth Prime

## History

Seeing the endless stalemate between him and Unicron, Primus created The Thirteen Primes, each given unique roles and abilities to battle the Chaos Bringer. Along with The Thirteen, Primus created several artifacts to aid the Primes in defeating Unicron, the most powerful among them being the AllSpark.

After a battle that resulted in the death of the mysterious Thirteenth Prime, Unicron was left in a dormant state. While the other Primes believed they had won, Vector Prime had a vision that Unicron would return, much stronger, and it would take the joint might of Cybertron to stop him.
Shortly after, Megatronus Prime—who had been corrupted due to proximity with the Dark Energon of Unicron’s Anti-Spark—betrayed his siblings, killing Solus Prime with the Requiem Blaster. He tried to destroy Primus but was stopped by the remaining Primes and imprisoned in another dimension. Weakened, Primus entered his eternal sleep, as the remaining Primes went their separate ways, falling into myth and legend.
Prima, Alpha Trion, and Alchemist—who changed his name to **Maccadam**—chose to remain on Cybertron and guide the early civilization while Nexus separated himself into separate individuals—Clocker, Mainspring, Chaindrive, Pinion, and Cannonspring—to live among ordinary Cybertronians. Vector, Micronus, Onyx, Adaptus, and Quintus left Cybertron.

Following the Great Cataclysm, Prima and Alchemist Prime disappeared with Alpha Trion choosing to fall into obscurity. As a result, the Thirteen became little more than a myth in the new era.

The developing civilizations on the colony worlds – cut off from Cybertron – began deifying the Thirteen Primes, with some going so far as to worship any leader who wielded the Matrix of Leadership. The dominant religion on Caminus exalted Solus Prime as the greatest of the Thirteen, while the four tribes of Eukaris viewed Onyx Prime as a benevolent protector.

The role that the original Primes had played in the establishment of Cybertronian society would eventually be immortalized on the silver screen in the "incredibly-racist" film, *The Birth of Cybertron*.

Micronus Prime, master of Prion, was known to have abandoned his native universe entirely after founding a colony of Mini-Cons. By the present day, his body lay dormant in the center of an alternate universe: the subatomic realm of Microspace. The ruler of Microspace, Baron Hraal Karza eventually enerchanged with Micronus and used the Prime's power to try and conquer the Earth, only for Shazraella to use Time Traveler energy to separate the Prime from her husband and banish the Mini-Con through time.

What lore regarding the Primes survived into the pre-War era is that their war made "enemies of brothers, murderers of lovers, heroes of the insignificant, and cowards of the mighty". Allegiances formed and broke apart: Megatronus refused to bow before his brothers, and he believed he would be vindicated someday despite his destructive methods. The murder of one sent them across the stars, to battle among themselves for billions of cycles. Finally, there came a time when Prima had to relinquish the Matrix. Afterwards, the Covenant of Primus decreed Cybertron could only have one Prime at a time. The Senate building in Iacon had statues depicting the Primes.

When Cybertron re-opened a spacebridge link with Caminus after years of isolation, the Mistress of Flame believed that Optimus, wielding the Matrix of Leadership, was the legendary reincarnation of the Thirteenth Prime: a mysterious figure from Cybertron's past known as "the Arisen". Optimus's supposed divinity proved a double-edged sword as he grew increasingly bold and unilateral in his decision making; leaning on the faith of others to unconditionally support his choices, he wound up annexing Earth into the Council of Worlds and sparking an interplanetary diplomatic crisis. New recruits from Caminus, Eukaris, Velocitron, and Devisiun believed wholeheartedly in Optimus's status as one of the Thirteen and began wearing mouthplates to better emulate their leader.

When forced to take Lodestar on an almost certainly suicidal mission against a crazed Vigilem, Lightbright prayed that the Thirteen would see the two through their task.Template:Storylink

Before Optimus Prime was to die, the Primes intercepted his spark and brought him to their realm.

After his death, Optimus was able to appear to Bumblebee when the Primes deemed the young bot's need was most dire. As part of Optimus's training, Micronus challenged him to a test which resulted in him unlocking the capabilities of the Prime Decepticon Hunter. Though Optimus did not fully complete his training, he had six of the Primes in the Realm of the Primes send him to Earth to deal with the return of Megatronus, which he successfully accomplished with the aid of Team Bee.

**Known members:**

## Notes and references

1. ↑ *The Covenant of Primus*
2. ↑ *Starscream: The Movie*
3. ↑ *Wrath of Karza* 1
4. ↑ *Wrath of Karza* 5
5. ↑ *Exodus*
6. ↑  *Transformers: Prime* – "One Shall Rise, Part 3"
7. ↑  *Transformers: Prime* – "Predacons Rising"
8. ↑  *Transformers: Robots in Disguise* – "Decepticon Island"
9. ↑  *Transformers: Robots in Disguise* – "W.W.O.D.?"
10. ↑  *Transformers: Robots in Disguise* – "Out of Focus"
11. ↑  *Transformers: Robots in Disguise* – "Battlegrounds, Part 1"
12. ↑  *Transformers: Robots in Disguise* – "Battlegrounds, Part 2"