Editing Setting:Transformers (section)

==Factions==
===Autobots===
[[File:Autobot.png|thumb|right|upright=0.56|225px|Autobot insignia.]]
Eons ago, it was said that the Autobots were heralds of peace; bringing justice to all sentient races and defending the inhabitants of the galaxy from the Decepticons. While that may be true, survival is now their chief priority. They fight a constant war of attrition with the other races and empires of the galaxy, so simply staying alive is an achievement in and of itself. After the disappearance of Optimus Prime during the Horus Heresy, Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus founded the Covenant of Primus; a coalition of the various Autobot subgroups and factions, similar to that of the Dark Angels and their various successor chapters. While each faction has unique tactics and leaders, member groups of the Covenant are in constant contact with one another and often heed the call to aid another faction. Although they are not necessarily united, all Covenant factions proudly wear the Autobot insignia of old, in memory of Optimus Prime, wherever he might be.
**'''Wreckers''': Led by Ultra Magnus, the Wreckers are the most proactive group of the Covenant of Primus. They are always on the front lines, harassing or outright obliterating enemy scouting teams and armies. Currently, they are in a hasty but mutually beneficial agreement with the Imperial Inquisition in sabotaging supply lines to Abaddon’s 13th Black Crusade.  The Wreckers bring with them a hefty amount of firepower to the cause of dealing with Abaddon's legions; tearing through the traitor legions as only bots with millions of years of continuous experience and some of the most eclectic weapons and gadgets ever designed by the Autobots' scientists and engineers. Though the battles are hard-fought, Abaddon's advances have begun to stall, and the Wrecker's assaults on his fleet have contributed heavily to the 13th black crusade's defeat in the space lanes, leaving it trapped on the planets it's assaulted while splintering Warbands from Chaos lords; whether travelling by fleet or portal after tiring of the stalemate on Cadia can be dealt with piecemeal. The Cybertronian's immunity to the zombie plague also assisted in clearing out many of Typhus' attempts to overrun Imperial worlds with his legions of infected cannon fodder.   
**'''Knights of Primus''':  The mighty warrior known as Grimlock had always struggled under Optimus Prime's authority. Although in the end, he respected Optimus like he did no other being, he had little intention of bending his knee to a whelp like Rodimus or someone as cold as Ultra Magnus. He also desired to search for his missing team, fellow ancient Cybertronian Knights who were some of the Autobots' most powerful combat units. He has also vowed to find Optimus Prime and return Cybertron to Primus' children. Those who follow Grimlock into battle are therefore known as the Knights of Primus, a name that Grimlock himself bestowed upon the group. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Knights are split off from the Covenant of Primus. Grimlock was always one of the very strongest Autobots excluding abnormally massive transformers, and most foes who crossed blades with him soon paid a heavy price for having the audacity to think that they were his match.  Grimlock's Knights of Primus enact justice in their way, crushing evil in its den whenever they come across it, and doing so almost without restraint or hesitation.  As Grimlock primarily respects strength and nobility, he lacks much of the concern for the organics that most Autobots have. At the same time, he does not have the burning hatred towards humans, for example, that many Decepticons do.  He simply does not care enough to save them, most of the time.
   
===Decepticons===
[[File:Decepticon.png|thumb|right|upright=0.56|225px|Decepticon insignia.]]
Few things have changed about the Decepticons over the millennia, even after the disappearance of Megatron. A large number believe that the Great War with the Autobots continues to this day. Many Decepticons will still attack an Autobot on sight, particularly if they have the advantage, but that is not necessarily always the case. After Megatron vanished the Decepticons fell into civil war, known to them as the Fracture. Unlike the Autobots who typically seek peace, the Decepticons see the other races of the galaxy as nothing more than slaves at best, and target practice at worst. The Decepticons overall split into three separate factions, though a great many Decepticon Warlords pay no homage to any of the three:
*'''Starscream''': Megatron’s former conniving lieutenant, his initial attempt to seize power led to the Fracture in the first place. The only Decepticon who advocates ending the Great War entirely, he argues that the Cybertronians have allowed themselves to become too weak and scattered in this hostile galaxy. Though the smallest of the major Decepticon factions, he is the readiest to ally with the Autobots and has even made tentative attempts at brokering peace. Starscream is determined to exploit any potential source of strength the galaxy offers, and whereas the other Decepticons ignore or despise organics, he recognizes their potential usefulness. To this end, as well as raiding, he makes heavy use of Pretenders, transformers imbued with the unique ability to disguise themselves as organics and walk amongst them, to infiltrate and subvert organic societies. Mostly this takes the form of Pretenders attaching themselves to positions of power to fund fuel and physical resources to Starscream's forces, but the ever-ambitious Decepticon warlord is more than willing to make use of cults and attempt to subvert organic societies to a near-religious reverence of Transformers, that he may use them. This has led to Starscream's forces controlling a small, but slowly increasing, number of colonies where humans and other aliens work for the service of Decepticon masters. All of this would be acceptable to the other Decepticons, but Starscream has gone beyond that; when the warlord recognizes an organic's potential, he takes them and places them under the cyber-conversion process, transforming them into near-Cybertronian mechanical entities that are partnered with other Decepticons, creating Targetmasters, Powermasters, and rarest of all, Headmasters.
*'''Soundwave''': Megatron's former right-hand mech. While Soundwave was known for his unflinching loyalty to Megatron, it would be a mistake to assume that Soundwave was a mere servant; in truth, he was an indispensable asset, even a colleague to Megatron in some ways, and he genuinely believes in Megatron's cause. He still believes Megatron lives and is determined to find him, leading a small but hardcore faction of loyalists. Their goal is to find Megatron and lead him back to his rightful place. He frequently clashes with Autobot groups as he remains focused on winning the Autobot/Decepticon war that, in his view, never ended. He is loosely allied with Shockwave's faction, but looks down on him for abandoning the Great War; their relationship is based on Shockwave's need for Soundwave's fighting skills (his hyper-logical processor often proving disadvantageous in the madness endemic to the 41st Millenium) and Soundwave's need for Shockwave's resources and strongholds. Soundwave is the most zealously anti-organic of the Decepticons, often unleashing his forces against organic targets for no reason but their destruction. Why this remains unknown; he may simply enjoy using such rampages to keep his troops sated, but others have proposed alternative reasons - a grudge against all organics for interference when Megatron ruled the Decepticons, or that their presence pains this biomechanical pseudo-telepath.
*'''Shockwave''': Former chief strategist of Megatron, Shockwave is driven by logic. He has turned many Decepticons to the cause of surviving and rebuilding their power base, earning the loyalty of the vast majority of remaining Decepticons. He holds an unsteady peace with Soundwave; he needs Soundwave's fighting skills, but he considers prosecuting the war in this current state of affairs to be illogical.  Shockwave is dedicated to recovering Cybertron from wherever it may be so that he may claim it for his growing empire of logic, though he remains at odds with the Cyberformers as he believes such xenocidal policies will only cause more problems than they will solve.  And of course, if the leader of the Cyberformers is who he expects them to be then he has little chance of taking control over the organization, to begin with.  Shockwave has a policy of assimilation regarding the many rogue Decepticon warbands that traverse the galaxy, offering them a place in his growing empire. If they refuse, then they are told to make their business quick at the very least. For those who refuse his offers of a place, he has them monitored to see what it would take to bring them into the fold.  
*'''Assorted Warlords''': In the old days, Megatron united the Decepticons through fear and sheer will. While many Decepticons followed Megatron to further their ambitions or simply to indulge their psychopathy, very few ever dared to cross him.  While the three main Decepticon factions have been able to swallow up the lion's share of the great Decepticon army, many 'Con warlords have spread across the galaxy and possibly beyond, carving out their little empires and ruling them as they see fit.  Many of these warlords were simply too prideful to bend their knees to Megatron's second in commands while others fundamentally disagreed with their visions for Cybertronian society.  Running the gamut from firm but fair dictatorships to horrific tyrannies whose cruelties would draw smiles from the Dark Eldar, these warlord states and roving warbands are a continuous plague on the galaxy. The speed and reliability of space bridge travel allowed them to strike with near impunity with little regard for established warp routes.  Some of the most infamous warlords include Gigatron, who is capable of an impressive six transformations, as well as "Megatron", a Predacon with a Saurian alternate mode who has the gall to claim Megatron's name for his own. Of course, there is also the mighty Predaking, who vacillates between the main three lords of the Decepticons as he sees fit. 

===Cyberforms=== 
[[File:Cybertronian.png|thumb|right|upright=0.56|225px|Cyberform insignia.]]
Originally a splinter group of Decepticons during the early stages of the Great War, they have evolved into a distinct faction. What differentiates them from the other Transformer groups is their discovery of a new form of reproduction: bio-morphic reproduction, or "budding." The process is asexual, where a "bloodline" is formed via copying of the parent Transformer. The main downside to this is each generation is increasingly less sentient and emotional, making Cyberform society as a whole more logical and detached from other Transformers. They view themselves as the peak of all life and have taken on a harsh expansionary policy similar to the Tau. Even though they abhor being associated with their Decepticon brethren they often take the former's beliefs to the extreme. They are known for exterminating entire planetary populations and cyberforming them before colonization. They are at odds with quite literally every race in the galaxy and are considered the foremost threat among all Transformers.  The leader of the Cyberforms is unknown, but many suspects that it is the Liege Maximo, one of the two sons of Primus who went astray, though this is based on the rankings of the Cyberforms which typically include the title of "Liege" followed by their rank.  If it is truly the Liege Maximo who leads them, then the Galaxy is surely in grave peril, for the Liege Maximo, like all his brothers, was essentially a god and would have since only grown more powerful, especially with so many individuals slaved to his will through the network of worlds made part of the Cyberform Empire. 

===Quintessons===
[[File:Quintesson symbol.png|thumb|right|upright=0.56|225px|The emblem of the Quintesson Co-Prosperity sphere]]  
Though not truly Cybertronians, their nature as a species created by Quintessa Prime gives them a close connection to the children of Primus in any case.  While many Quintessons have peaceful relationships with the Cybertronians and even other Xenos, the Quintessons who belong to the euphemistically named Quintesson Co-Prosperity Sphere have a notorious reputation as slavers and invaders and at one point even invaded and occupied Cybertron for a time before being driven off after years of their cruel and harsh overlordship.  The tentacled mechanical Xenos however use their armies of Xenos auxiliaries to do the fighting for them rather than engage in battle themselves, as the standard Quintesson form is poorly suited for battle without the right form of powered exoskeleton to make up for their physical weakness. Key among these are the Sharkticon and Allicon servant races who constitute the Quintessons' main corps of loyal, brutish, and extremely expendable troops.  The Quintessons of the Co-Prosperity sphere in particular enjoy holding farcical trials for the supposed crimes of those they capture and deem unsuited for slavery. When the five-faced judges who rule the Quintesson species reach a verdict, that verdict is inevitably guilty, and the sentence is invariably death.   
===Unicronists===
[[File:150px-Unicron faction symbol.png|thumb|right|upright=0.56|225px|Unicron's emblem]]
Those who say that they willingly serve Unicron are despised by virtually all other Cybertronians, regardless of factional allegiance.  Unicron is the antithesis to the very existence of Cybertronian society, and he is the embodiment of all that is evil in the cosmos. He occupies a place in Cybertronian society very similar to what Chaos does in Imperial or Eldar society: that of the archenemy.  Above all other enemies, Unicronists are hated by Cybertronians. This feeling is very much mutual as the Unicronists see the children of Primus as the servants of the disgusting and wretched order that their lord and master has worked so long and hard to tear down.  Though their presence was at one point minimal in the galaxy, in the centuries leading up to Unicron's arrival, they have begun to explode in number and with Unicron's arrival, they have taken their activities to a fever pitch, undertaking a dark crusade to see the cosmos themselves reduced to nothing but ash.  Unicronists have no interest in conquest in the conventional sense, they cannot be reasoned with, negotiated with, or bargained with, and they will not stop until everything is destroyed and the stars themselves die for the glory of the arch-destroyer.