| abstract
| - Gothika Mortiis were just an average Decepticon warband, attempting to gain glory and further the Decepticon cause. That was all to change on Vertox Quintos, a planet that was once a sprawling ecumenopolis, every square foot dominated by an endless cityscape. The planet, over a hundred years before, had borne the fallout from a nuclear war between the two most technologically advanced cultures inhabiting it, leaving it an arid, desolate wasteland of concrete dust and falloutash so thoroughly destroyed it turned the entire planet’s surface into an artificial desert, dotted with ruins that hint at its partially forgotten past. However, any civilisation that advanced would leave some valuable, and potent, technology, which inevitably leads to treasure seekers, and those who wish to find and use the technology to gain an advantage in a conflict. The Autobots were the first faction to realise this, setting up a number of excavation sites, each guarded by Autobot salvage squads, with the major dig sites having genuine military presence. Fearing the weapons the Autobots might find underneath the planet’s atomised cities, the Decepticons needed a presence on the planet, and so Gothika Mortiis was selected to be the first team to deploy on the planet. Unfortunately, for the team, the troopship that transported them to the planets surface alerted the more astute Autobots that they weren’t alone on the planet any longer. As the troopship returned with the second wave of Decepticons, the Autobots were ready for it, sending missile after missile streaking into the sky. Using all the evasive manoeuvres he could, the pilot avoided all but three, one hit the armour and ricocheted exploding harmlessly at the side of the craft. The other two were more deadly, one punching into the cockpit, killing both pilots, the second powering into the fuel tanks, and exploding with such force that the ship was disintegrated. Seeing both their reinforcements and their only method of escape go up in flames shocked the team to their very sparks, and made them grimly aware that the Autobot forces knew they were here, and were probably on the way to destroy the team. Luck was on their side though, as after the ship was destroyed, a vicious sandstorm blew up giving them time to prepare for the coming battles and pray to Primus for help in the coming battles as well as preventing the Autobots from reaching them. The sandstorm, a blizzard of rubble, shrapnel and fallout, lasted many cycles, an as the time passed, the team started to unhinge slightly as the trauma of the sandstorm, and the fear of the battle to come, wormed away at their minds, a process that may have been assisted by residual radiation from the war over a century previous. As the sandstorm finally died down, and the team offered a last prayer to any god that would listen, they prepared to die vowing they would make the Autobots pay dearly for every team member that fell. However, it seemed as though a god had heeded the last, frantic prayer for as they were preparing to charge, a large space cruiser flew overhead, strafing the Autobot lines. As it returned to the Decepticon forces, the team saw four figures standing in an open hangar. Waiting, until the ship was almost directly above the team, the four dropped down to the surface. The first one down was a tall Decepticon, with a baroque look to his robot mode, which was adorned with scrolls, litanies and skulls. He introduced himself to the team as Misanthropy, leader of the Archaicons, and then introduced the other three as they came down, Error Threshold, Shadow Moses and Locomotive Breath. As if the Archaicons arrival were a signal, the Autobot forces began their attack, only to be surprised as the four newcomers countercharged, each one taking out five of the oncoming Autobots before they could even react. Seeing this heroically brave attack, the team members joined in fighting uncaring of any wounds or casualties, knowing that even with the assistance of Misanthropy and his men, they would still die in this battle. Day and night the two forces fought, until eventually there were but a fraction of both sides remaining. Having their forces whittled down to such a small size, by so few warriors unnerved the Autobots, and as more and more of them fell to Misanthropy’s chitinous broadsword and Error Threshold’s raw power, they faltered and broke, leaving the surprised team and the Archaicons the unexpected victors. The two teams scanned their forces for injured as well as any dead, they saw that Gothika Mortiis had lost over half of its members, reducing their number to twelve, whilst the Archaicons had lost Locomotive Breath in the fray, finding him lifeless atop of mound of the dead, irreparably damaged in several places. Turning to Misanthropy, Venomray and Lord Gothika, the leaders of the team praised him and Primus, before being told that the Archaicons did not worship Primus, instead serving Unicron, and that it was by his will they came to the planet. Hearing this, the team denounced Primus for leaving them to die, and pledged eternal servitude to Unicron for delivering them salvation. The next time that the team encountered Misanthropy, and the Archaicons, was back on Cybertron, to the city-state of Vos, as part of the RDD's mission to retrieve the Craoí Dubh Engine. Soon after this, the team went to Schlachthoft-Funf as part of the reluctant alliance of Autobots and Decepticons going to remove the tyrannical gestalt ruler Fuhrerprinzip from power. After assissting Misanthropy to sacrifice the souls of the Reich, the component transformers of Fuhrerprinzip, to the World Eater, Unicron. It was shortly after this incident that Gothika noticed that teams, that were formerly allies, were becoming more distant and some even being hostile towards him and his team. Hoping that his leader would be able to shed light on the subject, he went to Kaon to confer with Dynamax. However, he was unable to find him but did meet Misanthropy, and Dreadspawn, who told him that they too had been being treated in this manner. Upon hearing that all three teams had been treated the same, Misanthropy suggested that the three team up and bring their teams to the Archaicon's Fortress of Solitude. Once there, they began work preparing for a possible attack. Misanthropy's caution was justified a few days later, as a Decepticon fleet arrived, led by Northclaw of the Eisen Dragoons, a team with strong connections to the RDD. The Fortress' defences were strong, but eventually the Decepticons got a foothold in the citadel allowing them to storm it. Many were eliminated in that first rush by traps prepared by Manhattan Project, but it was not enough to repel the assault. Misanthropy ordered Gothika and Dreadspawn to leave, prepared to sacrifice he and his unit to buy the two time to escape with their units. However, the tenacity of Dreadspawn was to turn the battle in the three alies' favour. Turning his escape craft full circle, he led several hand picked members from both exitium and Gothika Mortiis into the rear of the attackers forces, effectively conering them. As the grand assault faltered, Northclaw ordered a retreat, fighting his way back through the reinforcments led by Dreadspawn to return to his flagship, the Lightning Saix. Seeing the hand dealt to them, Misanthropy and Dreadspawn realised they needed to safeguard against further attacks, so after interring the fallen Archaicons into the crypts of the Fotress of Solitude, the cut the binding chains that secured the citadel to the core of the planet Jupiter. Contacting Gothika, the two prepared to defect to the Predacon forces. Meeting secretly with a powerful Predacon warlord, Transistors, made the defection easier, and the three were incorporated into the Predacon war effort.
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