Chapter One: History of Cybertron
There were stories that circled around the city, evolving slowly over the vorns. Originally they might have been meant to be sparkling tales, stories of morals and lessons, of heroes and villains. They had been twisted into horror stories and nightmare fuel, however, and now instead of teaching morals, they were used to teach obedience, to teach sparklings that if they didn't do as told, they might get eaten by Seekers. In these stories, they said that the Seekers on the other side of the Fence were nothing but savages. They were unwilling to learn the same form of Cybertronian speech as grounders, insisting on speaking their primitive 'cant' language instead, which was more noises and gestures than words. They were unwilling to act the way that grounders considered 'civilized', and were seen only as mindless beasts with few focuses. The stories say that those focuses were limited to the bare basics of survival and to breed and populate.
The horror stories spread about them, until they were whispered by scared little grounders, in the safety of their homes or under the dark cover of night. They became half myth, even as they continued to fly overhead, even as they sometimes came close to the Fence.
The Fence had been put up several deca-vorns ago. It was large, high above any grounder's reach as it surrounded each city, breaking only to stretch into long, covered highways linking the cities together. Anyone that got close to it could feel and hear the thrumming from the strong current running through it, keeping them from touching it lest it short out their systems and send them to a medic. Seekers could still fly over it - no grounder could build anything that a Seeker couldn't fly over - but they rarely did. There were plenty of places for them to fly in the wildlands, and in the modern era they seemed to feel little need to attack the grounder cities - at least, not directly. There was a patchy net that covered the cities, originally built to catch and deter any Seekers that flew too close, but considering that the fliers rarely came anymore, no one was particularly concerned about fixing the patches. Most times when a flier did come close, it was seekerlings on their first flights, and their elders would herd them back quickly enough.
As long as the grounders didn't hurt them as they flew overhelm, they were all safe. The Fence was not meant to keep the seekers out after all - the senate doubted anything could keep those beasts out. It had a different purpose though: to keep the grounders in.
Or rather, to keep the grounders from going into the forests, from wandering outside the city walls and into the wildlands. If any grounders ever went over, disappearing into the metal and crystal trees, they never came back. Enforcers went in search but they always came back saying that the grounders had been found, raped and mangled. Half eaten.
The fence gave the grounders a false sense of security and the stories were a way for the leaders to keep the grounders in line.
The real monsters were within the gates. Sitting in their pristine seats and looking down at the false fear they had instilled within their followers. The Senate was proud of their work. They'd destroyed any trust grounders had within the seekers and they destroyed relations with the useless mechs on Cybertron.
Few but the eldest ever knew the true story behind the separation, the segregation of the races. Seekers had ruled in peace above most grounders. The prime was even loyal to the Winglord, the mech that helped to keep them safe from outside forces. But when someone murdered the Prime and a false one took the Matrix, a war was forced.
The seekers might have been able to forgive when the next prime came out, but the rape and murder of the Winglords trine- all save for one sparkling- drove him mad and the treachery was not one that could be forgiven or forgotten. The sparkling saw his Sire driven mad, saw the attack of his precious carrier before a savoir whisked him away. He swore revenge just like his Sire and worked hard for it. But as the Vorns had passed time tricked by and the youngling Winglord harbored his hate even as he focused on keeping his people safe, healthy, and more importantly /thriving/.
The seekers, forced to fuel from whatever they could, evolved. They grew stronger and stronger, bigger to survive the enemies that hunted them in the wild. As the Winglord sired clutch after clutch, he passed his hatred on. The descendants stopped knowing why they hated with each line that came and went. They just knew that betrayal was a rift that could not be mended.
Seekers became large enough to pose a real threat to the grounders and they began to attack. City by city, small ones first, they tore apart. The /feasted/ upon the grounders some time around this point. That is when the fences went up, when the nets were created and they worked properly.
But as the line of seekers continued to grow further and further from their 'founder'- the seeker who held the hostility towards the grounder-, they became less hostile and more placated with trine and family. Most became content to hunt the monsters that feared them while trining and creating nests and families that would continue their line.
Still they feasted on lost or wandering grounders, but there were laws that the founder had created that they still followed. Few of those laws remained but one was kept strong, winged grounders were offlimits. The seekers forgot the reason why, that one of Praxian race had saved their foresire, the mech had hailed the younglings sire and begged to help in the removal of the Prime and senate, thus the foresire's sire had spared the praxians from his wrath unless they were directly connected with the evil prime or the senate.
The praxian was ultimately denied his wish to help but their frame type were considered out of bounds and they were given asylum if they wished to leave the grounders camps back in that time. Though over the vorns they were no longer welcomed as allies, or even welcomed, the praxians were off limits to hunt directly and their cities held no nets though they were fenced in.