Covenant (story)

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"Covenant"
Publisher	3H Enterprises
First published	January 1999 (BotCon 1999 preregistration packet)
Cover date	July 16–18, 1999
Script	Simon Furman
Continuity	3H Beast Wars continuity

The Covenant receive a visit from the Chronarchitect...

Synopsis

On the moon of Protos, Leonicus cherishes the sunrise, a short-lived phenomenon that only seldom occurs due to Protos's synchronous orbit with its mother planet, the enormous, ancient world of Methuselah. Once the sunrise's brief spectacle ends, Leonicus sets to return to his subterranean home, the Sanctuary. On his way back, he ponders the existence of both himself and his brethren, for they are the Covenant, chosen by Primus to safeguard the Grand Plan, a mission whose prolonged delay Leonicus fears has disenchanted him to its significance. Upon his reentering the Sanctuary, Leonicus proceeds through the rigorous decontamination protocols within the Reflectorium, regaining his composure to mask his weariness. Entering the Sanctuary proper, he sees his fellow members of the Covenant go about their daily lives, sealed away from the universe for millennia in preparation for Point Omega, or Shokaract.

And yet, simultaneously, Leonicus senses something off amid his surroundings. A rush of sensation hits him as he recognizes the divine presence of the Chronarchitect. An onslaught of visions of both the past and a dark future bombard Leonicus as the Chronarchitect struggles to readjust itself with linear time. In his glimpsing said future, Leonicus spies a figure cloaked in a darkness that Leonicus feels strangely familiar with. Once he regains his grasp on reality, Leonicus tracks the presence of the Chronarchitect to the Sanctuary's nerve center, the Observatory. Screaming in agony, the dying Chronarchitect delivers an ominous warning to Leonicus of an upcoming disaster. History has been thrown into chaos, and the timeline has been corrupted. In a booming voice, the Chronarchitect tells Leonicus to "return to the beginning," before vanishing in a deathly instant.

The Covenant hold a zemstvo in the Stentorium to discuss the Chronarchitect's sudden reappearance. The last time the Chronarchitect had appeared to them was in 2005. At that time, Optimus Prime had died, the ownership of the Creation Matrix was in flux, and Unicron had returned to destroy the Matrix. For that event, the Covenant had readied themselves for war, believing Point Omega had come. But the Matrix of Leadership was passed to Rodimus Prime, who used it to destroy Unicron, and the Covenant went unneeded. Now, they again worry of the Grand Plan's integrity and the impending Point Omega. Leonicus presides the zemstvo, relaying the Chronarchitect's foreboding words to the others. He delegates to each of them the tasks of deciphering the meaning of these words, examining the now-corrupted timeline, and searching for a specific temporal event, all to uncover where and when Point Omega will occur.

Afterwards, Leonicus reviews the Covenant's origins. In the beginning, a new universe was reborn from the ashes of the old. In this old universe, gods existed. One of them, Unicron, became a devourer, consuming the entire universe and all that dwelled in it, including the other gods. His task done, Unicron slept in the void. But life still clung on, spontaneously creating a new universe and a positive counterpart to Unicron: Primus. The two mighty titans' battles devastated the universe, so Primus concocted a plan: he would distract Unicron on the mental plane and trap their physical essences in metal asteroids. To test his tactic, he imprinted part of his lifeforce into Protos, creating life out of the lifeless moon. Twelve were born with sparks of Primus's essence: the Covenant. Satisfied that he could reshape his future metal prison to create life, Primus tasked the Covenant with observation and maintaining the Grand Plan, especially for Point Omega. The Covenant observed the evolution of the Transformer race and waited for the time when they would be called upon. A time Leonicus hopes the Covenant will be ready to face, lest the whole universe pay the ultimate price.

To be continued...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"THE LONG NIGHT BLOOMS. WHAT CANNOT BE IS, WHAT IS HISTORY IS FUTURE. THE BEGINNING, THE END, ALL IS CHAOS NOW."
"THE DOMINOES FALL. FALL. FALL. THE PLAN SHATTERS, IS LOST. WE FACE OBLIVION AND IT SMILES ITS PREDATORY SMILE."
"THE MOMENT COMES WHEN ALL IS POSSIBLE, NOTHING SET. WHAT IS BROKEN, RE-MADE. THE TIME-STREAM FLOWS TO A FORK."
"RETURN TO THE BEGINNING. PREPARE. PREPARE —"

—The Chronarchitect delivers his warning.

Notes

Production notes

• Mentioned characters: Monark/Monarch, Megatron
• This story was originally sent out in pre-registrant packets for BotCon 1999,^[1] and later posted to BotCon Online,^[2] as a preview for the convention's storyline. It was later posted on the (now defunct) BotCon: Beyond website on December 8, 2000,^[3][4] and later moved to BotCon Online on November 13, 2001.^[5]
• The BotCon 2000 comic book contains a recap of this story, which first listed all twelve names of the Covenant, and featured an illustration (seen right) of Leonicus' vision of the future figure cloaked in darkness that he witnesses in this story. This recap was later posted on BotCon: Beyond,^[6] and later moved to BotCon Online on November 13, 2001.^[5]
• The full formal titles of this chapter and its series have varied over the years depending on the source:
  • When the first printed version was mailed out in the BotCon 1999 pre-registrant packets, it was originally given the series title of "The Omega Point: Part One" and the chapter title of "Covenant".^{[citation needed]}
  • When it was first posted online on January 31, 1999, both the original BotCon 1999 main page and the "What's New?" page of BotCon Online simply titled it "The Omega Point: Part One" (though, fully italicized on the latter).^[7][2]
  • The actual webpages of the story's original BotCon Online release used the same series and chapter titles as the mailed printed version.^[8]
  • The BotCon 1999 program guide featured a second printed version that retitled the series as "Reaching the Omega Point" and this chapter as "Chapter One: Covenant".
  • After BotCon Online was updated on August 22, 1999,^[9] the new BotCon 1999 Merchandise page referred to the series as "Reaching the Omega Point"^[10] (which has remained unchanged to this day^[11]), while the chapter's actual webpages had its series and chapter titles amended to match those of the convention's printed version.^[12]
  • The BotCon 2000 comic recap of this story referred to it as just "Reaching the Omega Point: "Covenant" (recap)"^[13]. This title was retained when said recap was later posted on BotCon: Beyond^[6] and later still at BotCon Online.^[14]
  • When BotCon: Beyond went live on December 8, 2000, the new Storyline section of the website titled the series "Reaching the Omega Point" and the story itself as simply "Part 1: Covenant".^[15] Both of these were unchanged when they moved to BotCon Online during its November 13, 2001 revamp,^[16] and have remained unchanged throughout all proceeding updates made to that section.^[17]
  • Also on BotCon: Beyond, the story's actual webpage changed the series and story titles back to their original, very first titles of "The Omega Point: Part One" and "Covenant",^[4] with the latter remaining unchanged to this day.^[18]
  • Finally, when BotCon Online was given its December 12, 2003^[19] updates, the series title on the story's webpage was partially-italicized as "The Omega Point: Part One", its final and current rendering.^[20][18]
• This is the first BotCon story that, oddly, doesn't give its lead role to any characters who were the exclusive toys for the convention of that year. While there are two characters featured who would each get a toy, both are mostly relegated to the background, with their identities kept secret for now (and one of them wouldn't even get a toy until a year later), with non-toy character Leonicus taking center stage here.

Continuity notes

• Most significant for the future, the Covenant are presented here as special group of the very first Transformers ever created by Primus. Whether intentional or coincidental, author Simon Furman would later recycle the concept of a special group of "original Transformers" created by Primus at the dawn of time in his conception of the Thirteen.
• Primus's longterm plan of having his children, the Transformers, safeguard the universe from Unicron and all other evils is here given the grandiose descriptor of the "Grand Plan".
• It is mentioned that the Covenant had previously gathered in the Stentorium to discuss "a somewhat routine shift in the power structure on post-war Cybertron," as well that there is a supposedly stable "Maximal/Predacon alliance" on Cybertron, and that Cybertronian society in this continuity is structured into Maximal and Predacon "castes". This is the first time the political state of Cybertron from the Beast Wars cartoon has been alluded to in a medium outside of the cartoon itself. This would later be further explored in both proceeding BotCon media, as well as in additional Beast Wars comics written by Furman. Additionally, the aforementioned shift in Cybertron's power structure most likely refers to the switch from the Autobots and Decepticons to the Maximals and Predacons as the planet's dominate race/factions, which is said here to have occurred over at least a span of decades prior to this story's present, which matches up with Optimus Primal's statement, in "Beast Wars (Part 1)", of the Maximals and Predacons having peacefully coexisted for "centuries" (that's a lot of decades).
• Point Omega is stated to be known by another name: "Shokaract". Interesting that the preceding story "Herald" mentioned a future-era ruler who goes by that very same name, eh?
• Among the list of Matrix bearers mentioned in this story is Primon, who is described (with very little fanfare) as having held the Matrix before Prima. Prior to this story's release, Primon did not officially exist in any Transformers media (barring a later-made retcon). When asked about his absence from the very similar list of Matrix bearers given in the Marvel The Transformers issue #65, Simon Furman's answer was simply "Umm... pass. The Matrix forgot?"^[21] However, as this story isn't specifically set in the Marvel Comics continuity proper, this technically isn't an error as far as this story's continuity is concerned.
• Leonicus is aware of "the current Megatron". As "Paradox" will later reveal the Covenant to be unable to see into the past, this suggests that this story might take place sometime either before Megatron left Cybertron to fight in the Beast Wars on Prehistoric Earth, or after he returned to Cybertron but before his takeover of the planet, since the aforementioned "Maximal/Predacon alliance" is still in effect on Cybertron. However, as later chapters will reveal the temporal event that this story revolves around to be none other than the timestorm created by Megatron in "The Agenda (Part III)", this story fits best, chronologically, coming between that episode and "Optimal Situation", setting it not long after the Tripredacus Council sent Ravage back in time to the Beast Wars (and meaning that the Covenant were unaware of Megatron no longer being on Cybertron during this time).

Continuity errors

• The Chronarchitect is stated to be "one of the old gods, kin of Primus and Unicron". Yet, this story also claims that Unicron "consumed its fellow gods" from the old universe, while Primus came about by himself as the protector of the new universe. It is also stated that "this fragile new universe was not meant to contain beings as powerful and elemental as Unicron and Primus", so where and how the Chronarchitect fits into all this is uncertain. Though, the Chronarchitect is also said to exist "abstractly", so it is possible that it survived the old universe's destruction by simply not existing in a physical capacity that would have enabled Unicron to have eaten it.

Other errors

• Protos is referred to as a planet in the first paragraph when it is instead a moon.
• In the original 1999 BotCon Online version, the following bits of text were all given an extra space within them, but which were later corrected in both the printed BotCon 1999 program guide version and the 2001-Present BotCon Online version:
  • "light-sensitive" as "light- sensitive" in the second paragraph
  • "immediately" as "immedi ately" in the second paragraph
  • "disillusionment" as "disillusion ment" in the sixth paragraph
  • "Chronarchitect" as "Chronarchi tect" in the first line of paragraph 11, and again in the last line of paragraph 18
  • "Transformers" as "Transform ers" in paragraph 14
  • "post-war" as "post- war" in the first paragraph after the first break
  • "accelerated" as "acceler ated" in the fifth paragraph after the first break
  • "Transformers" as "Trans formers" in the fifth paragraph after the first break
  • "disappointment" as "disappoint ment" in the eighth paragraph after the first break
  • "Cybertron" as "Cyber tron" in the eleventh paragraph after the second break
• Another spelling discrepancy between the 1999 online version and the printed version, but which has remained unchanged online to this day, is the name of the fallen Autobot whose banner Optimus Prime took up during the battle at Jan-Ja. The online version spells the name as "Monark" while the printed BotCon version spells it as "Monarch".
• In the original 1999 BotCon Online version, the words "NOTHING" and "TIME-STREAM" in the Chronarchitect's third line of dialogue (quoted above) were written with extra spaces as "NOTH ING" and "TIME- STREAM". While these two errors were corrected in both the printed version and later online when the next chapter was first posted online, the first error was inexplicably restored in the BotCon: Beyond version and remained in the BotCon Online version when the BotCon website was redesigned on November 13, 2001, and has since remained uncorrected to this day.
• In all versions...
  • In the ninth paragraph, "theomachy" is misspelled as "thoemachy".
  • The word "discuss" found in the first paragraph after the first break is misspelled as "discus".
  • In the seventh paragraph after the first break, the line "...relaying it to Observatory..." is missing a "the" needed to be more properly read as "...relaying it to the Observatory..."
• In BotCon 2000 recap of this story, the phrase "and Leonicus is left with sense of utter dread and foreboding," should either read as "with a sense of utter dread and foreboding," or " with senses of utter dread and foreboding."

Transformers references

• Thrice does this story make mention of the "great Civil War". This may not seem like a big deal nowadays, but at the time this story came out, fans were scraping at the bottom of the barrel for such references as these.
• The Primus and Unicron backstory featured in this story is based on the very same backstory of the two originally given in the Marvel UK The Transformers issue #150, which was reiterated and slightly amended each time in Transformers: The Facts, the Marvel US The Transformers issue #61, and issue #74. Here, though, it is presented as most closely resembling the lattermost version, but with the addition of other gods existing in the old universe that Unicron devoured. Though Primus and Unicron were said to have been part of a greater pantheon in the first three versions of the backstory, no such other gods were mentioned in the fourth version, and said pantheons mentioned in the first three seemed to only exist in the new universe, rather than in the old universe as given in this story.
• Leonicus sees Optimus Prime picking up a banner at Jan-Ja and crying "never surrender!", a version of the flashback in seen in The Transformers #71. However, in this version, Optimus is described as "the warrior who would be Optimus Prime", suggesting that Optimus Prime had not yet become "Optimus Prime" when he fought in that battle in this continuity, whereas "Surrender!" presented the Autobot leader as definitely being "Optimus Prime" by that point.
• Leonicus also witnesses Autobot City rise "gleaming from the ashes of battlefields on Earth." Said city originally debuted in The Transformers: The Movie.
• The Liege Maximo is mentioned as having torn the Matrix from Primon's shattered remains. Prior to this story's release, the Liege Maximo had been a long-unresolved plot point left dangling from the final issue of the Marvel Generation 2 comics. What was intended to be his true nature would later be explored in Simon Furman's unofficial Transformers novella "Alignment", which wouldn't see release until Transforce 2001 and 2002. Later still, the Liege Maximo would eventually, officially be declared a member of the Thirteen.
  • However, the idea of the Liege Maximo having taken possession of the Matrix (not just from Primon but at all) has yet to ever come up again in anything.
• The process of Transformer replication is referred to as "unidivision". This is likely a reference to the budding process that was also introduced in the Marvel Generation 2 comics.
• The events that took place in the year 2005 are described as involving the death of Optimus Prime, the return and destruction of Unicron, and the passing of the Matrix onto Rodimus Prime, all of which occurred in The Transformers: The Movie.
• The Matrix is referred to by both its Marvel Comics name (the "Creation Matrix") and its cartoon name (the "Matrix of Leadership"). Back in his writing for the Marvel The Transformers comics, Furman had attempted to marry the comics' original life-giving 'Creation Matrix' program concept with the cartoon's Unicron-destroying 'Matrix of Leadership' physical talisman concept. This is evidently a furthering of that previous attempt, which would finally become cemented in later fiction.
• The list of Matrix bearers given near the end is very similar to the same roster that was given in The Transformers issue #65, including Prima, Prime Nova, Sentinel Prime, and Optimus Prime. Also included here are Primon (who preceded Prima) and Rodimus Prime (who succeeded Optimus in The Transformers: The Movie), whereas "Dark Creation" lacked the inclusion of Primon (see Continuity notes above) and instead acknowledged Thunderwing as the immediate next bearer after Optimus.

Real world references

• Methuselah is the nickname of a real planet, PSR B1620−26 b, which is believed to be one of the oldest in existence at about 12.7 billion years old. The ancient planet takes its name from the Biblical figure of the same name, who is known for having lived longer than any man ever lived.
• Though not all are given in this story, but later given in the BotCon 2000 recap, the names of the Covenant's twelve members are all derived from the Zodiac.
• The idea of Primus having twelve special individuals meant to carry out his will sure does call to mind the Biblical Twelve Apostles of Christ, doesn't it?
• The ancient battle fought between Primus and Unicron near the dawn of time is given the name of "the theomachy", so named after the various battles fought between the gods of Greek mythology.

References

External links

• The Omega Point: Part One - "Covenant" on the Botcon Online archives
• BotCon 2000 comic "Reaching the Omega Point: "Covenant" (recap)" on the BotCon Online archives