Herald of Shokaract

The Heralds of Shokaract are the chosen warriors of (*drumroll*)... Shokaract. They are the half-god's most important asset next to the Matrix of Conquest. Intelligent, ruthless, powerful, fearless, and above all, unwaveringly loyal, the Heralds strive to maintain Shokaract's rule over Cybertron and eventually to expand his domain over the whole universe. The highest in command of them is the Herald Maximo, who only has to bow for Shokaract himself. Because of their importance, the selection procedure for new Heralds is rigorous. First, one has to prove oneself worthy of the Ko-tu ritual, the final test to become a Herald, through exemplary achievements in battle. Second, one has to pass the test within the Ko-tu ritual: killing a prime enemy of Shokaract, a Herald-to-be's "alpha target". Failure is met with a slow and painful death. Success, on the other hand, means ascension to the ranks of the Heralds, which comes with the implantation of a device that destroys the Herald's mind if ever they betray Shokaract, however unwillingly.

At least, that is the situation on paper. Shokaract has found himself betrayed by one or more of his trusted warriors on several occasions. His arrogance and somewhat lofty attitude generally make him blind to conflict and scheming among his high-skilled servants until it comes back to bite him. He's not a happy camper when that happens.

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“ The will of Shokaract be done. ”
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—the Heralds' motto.{{#if:|, {{{3}}}}}

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Fiction

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3H comics

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Antagony is unimpressed by block coloring.

By the 32nd century, the Heralds of Shokaract had many successes against the rebels of united Predacon and Maximal forces that opposed Shokaract's rule, but failed to eradicate them permanently. One devastating blow, however, was dealt to the insurgents by the soldier known as Cataclysm, who through betrayal managed to ensure the death of sixteen thousand rebels and subsequently heavily demoralize the remaining ones. As a reward, he was branded a Herald upon the return of the Herald Maximo, Antagony, from conquest elsewhere in the universe. Immediately, a deep enmity arose between them, as Cataclysm had his sights set on becoming Herald Maximo himself.

Many acts of vicious competition between them followed, mostly instigated by Cataclysm, who proved an adversary unlike any Antagony had ever met before. Frustration accumulated until matters came to a head during the Horus Campaign. Shokaract had already lost two Heralds, sixteen Reaver divisions and more than fifty thousand drones in that conflict, thus whoever would bring him victory would receive no little reward. In the chaos of combat that followed Cataclysm's and Antagony's individual strategies, Cataclysm nearly succeeded in killing off Antagony under the guise of trying to take out Horus. She survived, both were rewarded for the victory as if they had orchestrated it together, and no advantage was gained by either; the only difference from their former situation was that now Antagony meant to make him suffer in whatever way she could.

Her first act was exploiting Cataclysm's fear of time travel. By making it look like he would be assigned to travel back to prehistoric Earth to ensure the safety of the Dark Essence, Antagony managed to wrench a short yet public display of fear from her nemesis. And if that was not humiliating enough, she further arranged the mission to be reassigned to her instead to highlight Cataclysm's cowardice to him. Her only regret over this arrangement was that it made her unable to witness the outcome of her second plan to get to Cataclysm: the death of his fission-brother—by his own hands, if possible .

Cataclysm's fission-brother, known only as the Cub at that time, had received training from Cataclysm personally in preparation for his Ko-tu. Antagony used her influence to make the Veteran, a highly problematic opponent of Shokaract whom she knew the Cub could never defeat, the Cub's appointed alpha target. Herald The Cub was rather enthusiastic about this, however, believing that the death of a legend was a suitable tribute to his awakening as Herald. Thus he left for the Badlands without a worry to locate his prey. The Cub proved a good warrior in the ensuing fight, but didn't hold out once the Veteran took them both skywards. He was dropped and failed to break his fall, leaving the Veteran the winner. The latter spared him, but even so, the Cub knew he was done for.

Upon his return to Shokaract's territory, he chose trial-by-combat over simply being terminated—not to save his life, but to save his honor. Cataclysm, being the Cub's sponsor, was elected to be his opponent. Again, the Cub showed he was a good warrior, but not enough to take down someone of Cataclysm's caliber. Cataclysm elongated the fight to make sure that the family honor remained intact, then launched a savage assault on his brother, methodically taking him apart to leave him within an inch of his life. This was ostensibly to grant him some drawn-out final moments of reflection, but truthfully was to satisfy Shokaract and warn the onlookers of the price of failure. The battle done, Shokaract's troops went back home, and the Cub's body was left at the scene of the battle, where it was found by a group of rebels under the command of Sandstorm. Sensing an opportunity, he summoned the Veteran and suggested the ancient warrior merge his spark with that of the dying Cub in order to save his life, thus creating a dual-sparked new being and getting access to the information the former Herald-to-be held. The Veteran reluctantly agreed, but only with much effort could he convince the Cub to accept the offer of life and revenge. The new identity that came into being this way was Windrazor, who exhibited mostly traits of the Cub's identity. Schism

Meanwhile, on prehistoric Earth, Antagony had not only failed to keep the Dark Essence safe, but had also been tricked and captured by Megatron. Visitations The Predacon leader intended to interrogate her to find out who she was and what purposes she served. When conventional means such as torture didn't yield any result from her, Antagony was exposed to the possibilities of Tarantulas's latest invention: the mind-drill. In order to defend her mind against the invasive nanoprobes, she turned her thoughts to Cataclysm, intending to use her intense hatred of him as an antivirus. Recalling events from the day they met to her departure for her current mission, Antagony succeeded in keeping off the nanoprobes long enough for her energy levels to restore and provide a means of escape. However, at the final moment, Antagony's thoughts turned to her own failure to secure the Dark Essence and the time she had already wasted on this mission. This morphed into a theoretical scenario in which Shokaract would send Cataclysm after her, Cataclysm would steal her thunder like he had done so many times before, and he would end up as the new Herald Maximo. The despair following from this allowed the nanoprobes entrance to her mind. This triggered the failsafe device implanted in her head when she became a Herald, which effectively wiped her mind before Megatron could get anything from it. Herald

Back on 32nd-century Cybertron, Antagony's fears turned out to be not unfounded. Shokaract had ordered Cataclysm to travel to prehistoric Earth, discover Antagony's fate, then determine the status of the Dark Essence and take steps to safeguard it if necessary. Though Cataclysm was aware his wish to become Herald Maximo would be fulfilled if he completed the mission, his fear of time travel made him need some time alone before stepping into the transwarp portal. He was near to going through when he detected a commotion outside of the Empire Room, making him reluctant once again. Then Windrazor, whom Cataclysm instinctively recognized as his brother, burst into the room and hurtled them both into the transwarp portal. Distracted by his foe, Cataclysm was able to forget about his fear and accept the journey through time as the battlefield. He was the stronger for most of the battle, until Windrazor used his knowledge of Cataclysm's techniques against him and tricked him into shooting a hole in the chronal barrier. Immediately, he kicked Cataclysm through it, ending him the way he was most afraid to die. Windrazor himself only barely escaped a similar fate, ending up safely on prehistoric Earth. Schism Using the tracking device he had stolen from Cataclysm, Windrazor subsequently succeeded where his two predecessors had failed and located the Dark Essence. Upon finding it, the Cub's part of his personality considered he'd safeguard it and bring it to Shokaract for redemption and even promotion to the rank of Herald Maximo. A well-aimed shot from Megatron interrupted Windrazor's inner conflict, making the decision for him. Paradox

After his two-and-a-half Heralds had failed their mission, Shokaract himself became involved in the conflict. To help fight the Covenant and Beast Warriors present, he resurrected both Antagony and Cataclysm. Though they gave it their best, they were drastically outnumbered and rather swiftly killed off again. At this point, Sandstorm arose from the Beast Warrior army and revealed himself to be a Herald as well, a double-agent in service of Shokaract. While Shokaract greeted him and Windrazor lamented on the cruel joke his resurrection turned out to be, Leonicus recognized Sandstorm as the Covenant's missing member: Scorpius, a double-double agent! Sandstorm used the moment of Shokaract's lowered guard to attack him. It was unsuccessful, and Shokaract only gladly murdered him for it, but the attempt inspired an effective strategy to take down Shokaract in the surviving Covenanti. Terminus

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2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity

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"Wait! Heralds, where are you going?! Come back!"

The Shokaract of another universe had his Heralds—Antagony, Hardhead, Hellscream, Max-B, and Thrustor—sent out to find and bring him Angolmois, with which he intended to achieve godhood. Little did he know that his Heralds were in fact Unicron's, and that rather than making him a god, they strove to have him consumed by the Angolmois so that Unicron might be reborn.

The Heralds returned after a long absence to an impatient Shokaract with the Angolmois he so desired, The Ascending #3 then immediately joined their "master" in battle against the united Predacon and Maximal forces. Between fighting, they distributed some of the Angolmois among the Cybertronian population, who burst out in a frenzy under the influence of the substance, further fueling Shokaract's need for chaos. Moments before Shokaract's ascension, Magmatron had him abducted to chronospace to inform him of the true fate that would await him should he continue, prompting Shokaract to commit suicide. The Heralds back on Cybertron panicked slightly when they found they could no longer detect his presence anywhere, and they were in the midst of debating what to do next when Ravage treated them to a grenade. The Ascending #4

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See also

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