Eons before the first humans appeared on Earth the Great War raged between the peaceful Autobots and the violent Decepticons. The Decepticons, led by Megatron, were merciless in their quest to capture the two Youth Sectors of Cybertron in order to increase their numbers beyond imagining. The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, fought valiantly but soon lost both Youth Sectors to their enemy. In a last desperate bid to thwart Megatron two Autobot volunteers smuggled the Matrix of Life, the source of life on Cybertron and the power behind the Youth Sectors, off of the planet and beyond Megatron's reach. Their destination was unknown even to Prime himself.
But the war did not end and after two thousand vorns the Autobots, outnumbered and outmaneuvered, had to abandon their home to the control of the Decepticons. The Decepticons pursued the Autobot forces as they fled, forcing them to abandon allied planets and flee further and further from Cybertron.
After a hundred vorns and in the face of losing the war completely, Optimus Prime split his forces between the four remaining battlecruisers; the Ark, the Vigilance, the Marauder, and the Sentinel. With his three Lieutenants each in command of a battlecruiser and Prime in command of the flagship, the Ark, the Autobot forces set out to find the lost Matrix of Life. For during their last vorn on Cybertron they had managed to steal the blueprints for a creation chamber and with the Martix of Life they could once more bolster their forces and defeat the Decepticons once and for all.
The search was long and dangerous. The Decepticons harassed them at every turn for Megatron was no fool and knew exactly what the Autobots were looking for and he wanted it for himself. He had plans for a creation chamber of his own and with it he could crush the Autobots.
Through a series of accidents the Matrix of Life was found on a backwater, dismal planet the primary sentient species called Earth. However, to their dismay the Matrix of Life had been shattered and it was unknown to them as to the number of pieces, but even the shards still retained the power to give life.
Unfortunately for the Autobots the Decepticon forces followed the Marauder to Earth and found the truth about the Matrix. Both factions began to gather shards and create warriors as quickly as possible. And so another phase of the Great War started...