Altered Spark Characteristics

The Cybertronians found on Tetrarak come in a few varieties. The normal mechanical or beast alt modes with a single other transformation into a humanoid robot mode are the most common.

Then there are the Altered Sparks.

The Altered sparks as so designated because a highly evolved and advanced alien race (see related files: The Vok) took several of these beings and altered them down to the very core of their being.

The main difference between these select few, and the rest of the Cybertronian transplants to Tetrarak is their transformational capabilities.

Altered Sparks are able to transmute their very structure into a Human mode that no other Cybertron can mimic. The exact mechanism that they use to do this is still a mystery, but they are somehow able to create a burst of unidentifiable "Quantum" energy deep within their Sparks. This "Quantum Burst" is similar to the "Quantum Surge" that affected several members of the crews of the Axalon and Darksyde, during their time displaced pit stop on prehistoric earth. But with a less random effect. While their sparks are dispersed though out their bodies in their human forms, they are still able to generate the burst, and change back. We just can't explain how it works yet.

When they trigger this burst of energy, a sub molecular change occurs that transmutes their metallic structures into flesh and blood, and I don't mean the synthetic flesh found when they utilize "beast modes". Several main systems are transformed into analogs of human organs, (spark chamber/fuel pump become a fully functioning heart for example) while others are mass displaced and disassembled down to a nano-tech scale and stored within their blood stream and organs.

While most of their more technological systems are off line during this transformation, they retain the ability to access a few of them.

Their central computer network can still be accessed, since it functions along the nano-tech network in their bodies. This enables them to use the other main systems that still work in this form, the self repair systems and the holo-mass generator.

The repair system, while more efficient than normal human healing, is still slower than utilizing a C.R. tank/chamber in their robot mode. The Holo-mass generator allows them to use a variation on holographic technology to create physically tangible objects. They use this create clothes, and to create "props" to explain away some of the computer assisted abilities they posses in this form. (such as creating a cell phone to explain away a short range com signal)

Robot mode is the standard configuration that they assume when they need a bit more power, or they are going into a dangerous/combat situation. In this form they posses all the expected capabilities of a Cybertronian warrior. They are far stronger, faster, and tougher, than any similarly sized human, posses built in weapons, and can usually access other equipment through a "internal sub-space pocket". This allows them to store their weapons and equipment within their structure, and call it forth with a mental command, or by physically reaching into the space and withdrawing the desired item.

All of the Cybertronians altered in this way have a few systems in common:

Optic weapons: each of them can fire some form of energy from their optics in robot mode (usually laser or null ray)

Combination: they are all capable of combining with a larger transforming vehicle, giving them all a G1 scale body, as well as their smaller human scale one. (in most cases this is a headmaster/titanmaster type of linkage)

Mass Displacement/Conversion: this is how they store/hide the bulky and otherwise un-needed portions of their robot modes when they change to human form. This is also sometimes utilized in the Transtectors.

All of the Altered Sparks possess a human mode, a robot mode, a beast mode, and a Transtector vehicle that itself posses a robot mode as well, that they can power-link to.

In the case of some, the Transtectors are actually their original bodies, while in others they have been built for them after the fact.

Beast mode grants these beings the form and capabilities of the animal they are mimicking, as well as, in some cases, access to some of their robot mode capabilities. (the "cats" are the most notable in this regard, with access to their magnetic fields enabling them to climb nearly anything) Depending on the world, and/or creature used, this can give them excellent camouflage, or make them stick out like a sore thumb (such as Gridlocks' refusal to give up his Gojirasaurus Maximus beast mode)

The Transtector vehicles are armed with a host of weapons and equipment, as one would expect, and some have more than the single mode shift as well. They take the forms of air/space craft, ground vehicles, watercraft, and some have reformatted them into Beast Modes modeled after the giant animal styled combat vehicles known as ZOIDS. (Gridlock, and Inferno are the most notable for this) Additionally ALL of the Transtector robot modes are flight capable, regardless of vehicle configuration.

Weapons that are regularly encountered among them are:

Pulse Cannons: firing small packets of energy that detonate with concussive force. These can be found mounted in vehicle modes, and as part of robot modes, or larger hand held weapons.

Plasma Weapons: Similar to the pulse cannons, plasma cannons fire small packets of energy that detonate on impact. However rather than concussive force, they burn intensely, causing damage through heat and fire. Additionally, there are some armed with flamethrower like plasma weapons.

Null Rays: These energy weapons generate a interference field within any target that utilizes electricity. While this can be debilitating and painful to mechanical life forms, it can also cause damage to organics by doing the same thing to the neuro-electrical systems that they rely on to pass commands from the brain to the rest of the body. But in addition to their use as weapons, Minerva utilizes specially calibrated versions for medical purposes.

Energon Weapons: melee weapons are something one expects to find in battle, and Cybetrons have their own takes on some of these. Generally, these weapons are sharpened metal, overlaid with a glowing energy field that greatly enhances their cutting abilities. Occasionally however, they take the form of a "pure" energy construct.

There are other weapons that they have access to, but those will be covered on an individual basis.