*Revised 06/17/2020*

Prologue

9 million years ago…

Legend has it that our planet was originally a cold, lifeless rock. Legend also tells us that an ancient and powerful race of humanoid beings, explorers and powerful creators, transformed our world. Deep at its centre was the well of the All Sparks, which was guarded by Vector Sigma, the sentient super computer. From it, the first Transformer was created – a mechanical, sentient being that was able to change his size and form at will. He was named Primus. Then, all other Cybertronian life forms were created after him.

The first generation of Cybertronians were separated into two classes; the labourers, and the administrators. The labourers were the workers, if you will, or the providers; their primary function was to ensure that their society ran smoothly and that all the needs of its mechanistic inhabitants were met. The administrators held positions of power, overseeing law and order.

These Transformers were a monumental success for our creators – artificial life forms that were highly sophisticated and technically flawless, possessing a level of intelligence and humanoid-like behaviour that was unsurpassed, and unmatched, throughout the galaxy. They were loyal to their alien creators, and obeyed them willingly. And so, in this way, the planet was at peace for many eons.

But, as time went on, Cybertron and its inhabitants became the envy of many spacefaring races. As a result, battles ensued as they attempted to lay claim on our world. This led to the need for a more physically powerful, military class of Transformer that would be able to defend Cybertron from any invasion, and so our creators built many of our kind. We became known as the Destrons – identical in almost every way to the first Cybertronians, except that we lacked the same loyalty and sense of connectedness to the original creators.

Instead, we were programmed to obey our predecessors, the majority of whom were subsequently designated Autobots to distinguish their kind from ours. However, the Autobots saw us as their subordinates, and regarded us as inferior in both our level of sentience, and our spark will. We were given fewer rights and freedoms, and were always the first to be sacrificed in battle against our mutual enemies.

Then, one day, during a severe planet-wide energy shortage, our creators abandoned Cybertron to begin anew on other worlds. The Autobots and Destrons struggled to survive and, eventually, wars broke out between the two factions. With our creators now gone, the Autobots lacked the same power of influence to keep us under their control, and so we rebelled against their dominion.

Throughout the eons that followed, many Destron groups emerged, and many regimes rose and fell, as they fought against not only other Destrons, but also against Autobot rule.

Then, eventually, one Destron group emerged triumphant above all the others under the guidance and direction of one unlikely leader whose rise to power came when it was needed most. His name is Megatron, and his loyal supporters became known as the Decepticons.

This is our story.

Starscream, Decepticon Air Commander