How do a kindling be work?

tfmatrix:

Kindling is difficult and always comes with the risk that the growing newspark will overexert the host, killing them either through siphoning too much energy off their spark, overtaking them in their need for energon and raw materials, or simply endangering them by placing them in a more vulnerable state.

When multiple bots really wanna go through the arduous process of creating another Cybertronian in a taboo and dangerous fashion, they have to first figure out if one or two or any of them (a “typical” cybertronian relationship has 3-5 members rather than 2) are capable of kindling, and from there it’s a long process of repeatedly attempting to sparkmerge into creating a new spark- a rare and energy-heavy process. Frome there, the newspark has to be fed, sheltered, and will slowly grow a body bit by bit as the host’s own nanites and energon feeds it.

Eventually, it forms it’s own pre-shell, an “egg” or perhaps more appropriately a “seed” which is removed and implanted in a fertile environment- the surface of Cybertron is ideal for this, but failing that somewhere with sufficient metals and available energy can be created artificially. The seed grows for several weeks to several months, depending upon size and available resources, generally resulting in smaller and less developed individual in resource-poor conditions. This continues to grow until a young Cybertronian eventually emerges from their now-depleted pod!

The remains of the pod are generally consumed immediately after. “Newborn” Cybertronians are not like human infants nor human children, rather they’re closer to fully developed animals in most respects. While their processors are still developing and they’ll eagerly learn everything presented to them, they are ultimately creatures of instinct- they’ll eat just about anything and they are absolutely voracious. Typically they’ll be able to find sources of necessary metals and energon nearby, being provided by their creators/caretakers, but otherwise pods naturally develop in resource-rich areas or if there are other pods/younglings in the area it’s not uncommon for them to resort to cannibalism if left to their own devices.

Kindling is seen as taboo at best, always dangerous, and for most it’s seen as sacrilegious and as an offense both to the perceived “natural” order of things as well as being a legal offense across most of Cybertron. Kindling is perceived by the common public as an out-of-control potential for population growth, as an act of defiance in the light of Primus (After all, real Cybertronians come from Cybertron, not from other bots) and generally as just kinda icky.

It doesn’t help that most Cybertronians would have no ability to kindle newsparks without extensive modifications, save for a few select subtypes of Cybertronian- most notably the Insecticons (who not only kindle but tend to produce clones of themselves or drone units prodigiously), Predacons (who are seen as violent animals for the most part), and “Walkers” – a lower class of Cybertronians with native animal lifeforms as their altmodes.

Kindled Cybertronians commonly won’t admit to their heritage for means of survival, and are commonly using forged or stolen identities to pass as Forged or even Cold-Constructed mechanisms.

There are rumors that kindled and kindling-capable mechanisms disappear off the streets in some cities and are never seen again. That they wind up in Institutes, or are disassembled for experiments.

Completely unfounded, I’m sure. 🙂