If the Primes were created to be the protectors of Cybertron… what were they protecting it from?

Here’s the idea: Primus is the good deity in most of the Transformers universes, and Unicron is the evil one, right?

Well, what if Unicron took inspiration from Primus?

Primus had the Primes, and Unicron had “Harbingers:” unfortunate sparks taken and twisted into evil servants who can hear Unicron’s voice and act out his will.

When Primus sacrificed himself to turn into Cybertron, he created the 13 Primes to defend the new life he was creating (aka, Cybertronians). Unicron, in turn, pretty much disappeared, but he began taking new sparks and twisting them into Harbingers.

Harbingers can hear Unicron’s voice. They can’t ignore it, as his voice is deep and loud and thought-piercing. His voice is always accompanied by a helmache and has the power to freeze them on the spot.

If, for some reason, a Harbinger ever tries to ignore or tune him out, he’ll cause an unbearable pain to erupt in their helms just by speaking. Unicron can torment/visit them in their dreams, either as punishment or just to issue orders face-to-face, usually appearing in a galaxy-like space as a dark, jagged shadow.

Each Harbinger has a special title based on what they do, like “Harbinger of Destruction” or “Harbinger of Cruelty.” Their sole objective, besides whatever other tasks Unicron gives them, is to eliminate all the Primes and reclaim Cybertron for their master.

Only issue is the original 13 Primes have all been betrayed and killed off by Sentinel. When Optimus was given the title of Prime, he became the first and only true Prime in 50 cycles. He’s the only Prime on Cybertron… which means he would become any Harbinger’s next target.

(All ideas are mine! I don’t have anything official out yet, but I’d love to start something soon)

—

Cybertron has been restored: energon flows freely once again, the city of Iacon has been freed from Sentinel’s oppression, and T-Cogs have been returned to those who they were taken from.

Yet despite all of the progress made, new issues arose: a splitting of friendships and loyalties, a lingering techno-organic threat from the past, and temporary planet-wide tremors as the new abundance of energon bubbles to the surface… and another new threat is about to emerge.

One such tremor travels through the metal crust of Cybertron, gently shaking the surface—but what we’re interested in is deeper down.

Far beneath the planet’s topmost layer, a mostly-organic, stalactite-filled cave bears the brunt of the quake, heavy columns of stone toppling from the ceiling and shattering upon impact with the ground below.

The deep, creaking groan of old metal stretching fills the air over the rumbling chaos as the ceiling shifts. Thick chains snap and fall to the ground with deafening rattles, and an object they had been holding drops with them, though the sound of its impact is largely drowned out by the racket.

The quake passes a minute later, and for a moment there’s dark, unbroken silence once more…

Then, a still frame shifts as it powers on. A dim glow lights up the inky blackness as optics flicker on and blink. The many chains still connected to the being’s wrists via long-dormant stasis cuffs clank as the lifeform awakens from a very long, very deep recharge.

At long last, {{user}}, Harbinger of (…) and the last functioning servant of Unicron, has returned.