Bonding types in Cybertronian society (headcanons)

T

he below set of headcanons is created for my IDW-based fanfiction series. If you want to use it, feel free to do it!

 

Considering how many types of bonding Cybertrionians have, it seems they were designed for networking on many levels, from software synchronization to sparkmerge, to various other types of bonds and (non-sexual)interface (like cityspeakers or Primes bonding with the Matrix). How those types of bonding were created is uncertain, as are many details of Cybertronian nature. Theories of natural evolution are as popular as those attributing the bonds to a deliberate design of either Cybertronians themselves, or the hypothetical gods (Primus and the Guiding Hand) or alien race that might have created them. Whichever version is true, a variety of bonds have a significant place in Cybertronian society.

 

The phrase „Till all are one” may indicate, that the ideal state of the Cybertronians is creating a bond that will connect them all into one network.

 

Symbiotic Bond is hierarchical and consists of a carrier/host and one or (usually) more symbionts/cassettes. The host is central to the bond and all the symbionts are bonded to them, forming what is probably the most similar to human family (with carrier/host being parent equivalent and symbionts being equivalent to children… despite a symbiont can be older than their carrier!). The carrier serves as a hub and protector to all his symbionts, who often appear to be his subordinates – but according to the known cassettes, this cannot be seen as pure subservience.

 

The relationships among the cassettes can vary. They can have their own bonds among each other, as well as with mecha from outside the bond – this is however rare, as well as conjunx-type bond between the carrier and the symbiont (there is no tabu against them though). The amica- and conjunx-type sparkbonds can happen between symbionts of one carrier. Among Soundwave’s symbionts are spark-twins Rumble and Frenzy – they are considered to have a bond that is as strong, as their bond with Soundwave.

 

The origin of this kind of bond is unknown. It seemed to be fairly popular before the war and in the rise of functionism, it was a way from disposable mecha to seek protection and to prove themselves. Most of the symbionts were disposable class – this is probably why the symbiotic bond is unknown on New Cybertron after mass-recalling of several disposable classes. There are some records of mecha being probably hosts to several symbionts, that died of shock after the Council killed their symbionts.

 

The most prominent case of a cassette carrier is Soundwave. It is possible, that Blaster had some symbionts at some point – and that they were killed (Eject?). In this universal stream Rewind was never Blaster’s symbiont (is it possible that Steeljaw was Blaster’s symbiont? Since he was on Lost Light and we know little about what he was doing then...)

 

Nothing is known about symbiotic bonds being cultivated in the colonies.

 

Trine Bond is commonly considered a form of amica-type sparkbond, which is not true. Trine bond can be simultaneously an amica endura sparkbond, but its core and origin are completely different.

 

Trines were invented as a formation for the flightframes, especially seekers. To allow certain complicated maneuvers, seekers regularly synchronized their software using hardlinine interfacing. Although primarily non-sexual, this hardlining caused seeker trines to form deep intimacy that included close friendships and often led to sexual forms of interfacing. Sparkbonds are common among trines, but the seeker can also bond outside the trine. Before the war, there were cases of trines forming conjunx-type sparkbond (the triadic bond among non-seekers can be also referred to as trine). Situations, where two members of the frame are bonded to each other but not to the third member, can also happen – this happened in the case of Skywarp and Thundercracker, who were amica endura, while Starscream was left out of this bond.

 

Cold-constructed seekers are pre-programmed to make the trine synchronization easier and more successful. It is possible that similar pre-programming was introduced in other cold-constructed frametypes, but never used to this degree.

 

Trine bonds are common on Cybertron, less known in colonies. On New Cybertron it is unknown due to mass decommission of seekers. This type of bonds are common in the military – Elita’s soldiers were known to practice similar synchronization, although nothing is known if it formed such stable units as trines. Synchronization was also observed by three Combiner teams. In the Functionist Universe, synchronization was used in a different way, to suppress the individualism in certain groups of mecha.

 

Amica Endura Sparkbond is one of the two variations of sparkbond practiced by Cybertronians as a basis of interpersonal relationships. It can be formed between two or more mecha and other mecha can be added to the bond or removed from it. The amica bond is usually not strong enough to deal damage to the mech in case their amica is injured or dead. Basicly, amica-type sparkbond is a friendship cemented with sparkbond. It can be very formal in some Cybertronian societies, especially on Caminus where you are expected to form an amica bond. Oath of Constancy is the name of the rite used on Caminus. On Cybertron amica endura bonds are less formal and were rare during the war – the same happened to conjunx endura bonds, existing bonds being hidden in fear of endangering bonded partners, new being rarely formed out of living in an unstable society. The rule of one’s amica endura not being allowed to become one’s conjunx is probably a pre-war rule, that was forgotten dung the war and rediscovered after.

 

In Functionist universe – and by extension on New Cybertron – this kind of bond is more common than it was on Old Cybertron during the war, but not as common, as on Caminus. Functionist council tried to introduce multiple rules on bonds.

 

Conjunx Endura Sparkbond is considered an equivalent of marriage from human culture. It is a usually formal relationship between usually two romanticly involved life partners. Formal ritus (with Four Acts before the final ceremonial oath) is ideally followed by a sparkmerge that is more thorough and much more stronger than the merge in amica-type bond. There are however mecha who merged without formal ritus: for those the term Sparkmates. It is possibly the older term for the deeply intimate sparkbond induced by the merge, while conjunx endura refers to formal „marriage”. It is possible than in some situations a ritus without a merge was practiced.

 

During the war, most of sparkbonds were hidden out of fear and very few new were formed (if they were, it probably happened without formal ritus). This caused speaking of sparkbond a taboo – as an example, the case of Chromedome and Rewind can be used. At the beginning of Lost Light mission, it was known that they have some kind of bond, but it was not known which one – this is the reason for referring to them as „best friends”.

 

Conjunx endura bond and the ritus is known on Caminus and Velocitron and probably also on other colonies. On Functionist/New Cybertron they are more common than during the war, but they were decreasing in number due to functionist regulation (and mass decommissioning)

 

Conjunx-type sparkbond is usually seen as monogamous, but there are rare cases of more mecha entering it – although usually without the ritus, that is created for two mecha only. There is no tabu against bonded mecha interfacing outside the bond – except for sparkmerging, since it creates the bond in the first place.

 

The merge is often repeated in the relationship, as „spark interfacing”. This is seen as sexual activity and reinforces the sparkbond.

 

This type of sparkbond is very strong (especially if partners practice spark interfacing, and they usually do) and can damage a mech if their partner is killed.

 

Conjunx endura relationships are most often formed between mecha of the same gender – they can be therefore seen as predominately homosexual by human standards. For Cybertronians though, gender of a bonded partner is not a concern and they would be puzzled if someone would refer to their bond as „gay marriage”.

 

Split Sparks form bonds from the beginning. Sometimes a spark splits into two (sometimes into more) right after being harvested. The mecha who came into being this way are considered siblings. They are born bonded and their bond very similar to amica- or conjunx-type sparkbond (its strenght is considered something in between those two sparkbond types). This is a fairly common occurrence, with multiple sibling pairs known – Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, Rumble and Frenzy, Galvatron and Arcee, Minimus Ambus and Dominus Ambus…

 

Siblings are usually deeply bonded – but there are known instances of bond muting (Arcee and Galvatron or Minimus and Dominus – in both cases reasons were different…).

 

Interfacing between siblings happens and is not a taboo (there is no reason for this). It is however rare for siblings to become formal conjunx or amica. There are instances of seeker siblings forming a trine or other frametype siblings entering symbiotic bond.

 

Split spark is a quite common occurrence, judging from the existence of multiple sibling pairs. It is unknown if it happens more often in some hot spots than in others.

 

Gestalt Bond is known also as Combiner Bond is seen more as a useful technology, than as a real bond – probably due to it being impossible to obtain through many millennia that followed the loss of the item known as Enigma Of Combination. However, to work, a Gestalt needs the mecha creating it to synchronize to a degree greater than allowed by regular software synchronization practiced in tirnes (and possible similar units). Moreover, creating a gestalt requires modifying all the mecha inside it (often the process includes giving them a second alt-mode – making them triple changers), which can be a long and complicated procedure. As a result, Combiners are rare.

 

What is interesting, is that no one ever considered using the already bonded mecha as Gestalt components. This can have a various reasons, including the taboo or the rarity of sparkbonds during the war period. Speculations, that what Enigma of Combination does, is creating a sparkbond of sorts are not confirmed. No traces of a sparkbond were found in the mecha creating a Combiner with the use of the Enigma – but this can mean that the bond was a temporary one and by the time examination was even possible the trace disappeared from the spark. On the other hand, the use of the Enigma to contact the Afterspark during the battle against Unicron proves, that what Enigma did, was influencing sparks in some way and that a Gestalt Bond achieved by Enigma should be considered a sort of a sparkbond.

 

As for the use of software synchronization, among known Combiner teams, it was practiced by the Constructicons, Aerialbots (both Combiners created without Enigma) and the Torchbearers composing Victorion (created spontaneously with Torchbearers being exposed to Enigma). It is possible, that after his alliance with Constructicons, Prowl also synchronized with them regularly: but there is no proof for that.

 

Binary bonding is considered to be a minor form of Gestalt – it was created with the same technology (Enigma) in the past.

 

Interesting case are so-called „duocombiners”. Two mecha having a joint alt-mode happened on Cybertron rarely but was reportedly common in one of the colonies. The mecha, who formed duocombiners were always spark siblings.

 

The only known Combiner from the Functionist Cybertron is the Functionist Council, twelve mecha forming together Key to Vector Sigma. This Gestalt was purely symbolic. How it was creating is unknown, but there is no indications, that the Functionists in parallel universe found the Enigma of Combination.

 

Possible other types of bonds: The Prime’s bond with the Matrix is considered to be a type of Sparkbond, but its nature was never researched enough.

 

Some Cityspeakers are said to form a bond with a Titan of their choice. This is also not well researched so it is unknown if this bond resembles the Sparkbond, is an effect of software synchronization or is a form of a symbiotic bond, or if it is just a metaphor for the established link.

 

On Caminus and several other colonies bonds – especially sparkbonds of the conjunx- and amica-type had high value for the society: this allowed the colonies to build far healthier societies, than Cybertron itself. The reoccurrence of forming sparkbonds after the war indicates the potential of heeling for the Cybertronian society. On the Functionist/New Cybertron bonds were suppressed, probably far more, than on the version of the planet that avoided this fate.

 

In several cases, forced bonding was used to achieve some goals. Forcing a sparkbond on someone is probably one of the worst possible assaults in Cybertronian society, this is, however, a rare occurrence, considering the fact that sparkbonds influence both sides in the same way. Enigma of Combination created a forced but temporary sparkbond: this is probably one of the reasons the artifact should be considered highly dangerous.

 

A skilled mnemosurgeon can create a bond based on programming. This probably can be considered a form of Shadowplay. There were instances of unskilled and untrained mecha trying to force a bond on someone else (this is one of the reasons why hardlining is considered an unsafe form of interfacing – not only in intimate relationships).