Caminus (planet)

Caminus is a Titan and a planet from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

The one in the back, with the huge sad eyebrows.

Caminus was one of the Titans created by the Knights of Cybertron millions of years ago to act as a living ship. He eventually settled on an uninhabited moon of a gas giant, which in turn orbited a dwarf star. Since many of his systems were spread out and integrated into this new civilization, the inhabitants of the civilization he founded named their planet in his honor.

Cut off from Cybertron and stranded on their resource-poor world, the Camiens developed a culture of conservation and careful energy husbandry. Camien warriors rely on swords instead of using consumption-heavy ranged weaponry. Caminus would also give rise to the Cityspeakers, a tradition of communicating with dormant Titans.

Caminus also hosts a flourishing artistic and spiritual community, in spite of its straitened infrastructure. Chief among them is the Way of Flame, a religion that deifies Primus and the Thirteen, extoling Solus Prime as the spiritual progenitor of Caminus and the greatest of the Thirteen. This religion is headed by the Mistress of Flame, the spiritual leader of the planet. Most Camiens are fanatically devoted to the lineage of the Primes, viewing even modern Primes as gods to be worshipped and followed without question. But in the absence of any actual Prime to issue commands, the Forgefire Parliament oversees the colony. Even so, the Parliament is quick to default to the commands of the Mistress of Flame or a Prime should the opportunity arise.

The term for things relating to Caminus is Camien.

Fiction

IDW Generation 1 continuity

This section covers fiction that is ongoing. It will be added to as the story progresses. If it isn't current, you can help by updating it.

The Titan Caminus, seen here shortly after leaving Cybertron.

Millions of years ago Caminus was the closest friend of the First Titan, Metroplex. He left Cybertron to travel to the stars in order to colonize new worlds—like all other Colony Titans, Caminus contained a hot spot filled with unborn sparks. Eventually, Caminus landed on a small world which orbited a white dwarf and used his hot spot to create a new civilization of Cybertronians. Like the other colonies, and unlike Cybertron in late years, Caminus retained differentiated genders. The Camiens developed a religion (the Way of Flame) that deified Primus, the Thirteen Primes, and Solus Prime as chiefest among them. Camiens believed that they were descended from Solus and that they each possessed a portion of her spark. The Sum and Its Parts In order to ensure the colony's survival, Caminus allowed his body to be disassembled and spread across the planet's surface. It was during this time that cityspeakers started to learn how to read the brains of Titans in order to maintain contact with Caminus, and to paint their faces in honor of him. A 'Bot and Her City Windblade vol. 1 #4

As the colony ran low on resources, the inhabitants of Caminus began adopting to a low-energy lifestyle. Most notably, their Sparks began running on a lower frequency to conserve energy; as a side effect, Camien bleed blue energon, as opposed to the purple of their Cybertronian ancestors. The Last Autobot

Some time in the recent past, Thunderclash visited Caminus in the hope of finding someone capable of healing Metroplex. The Camiens, running low on resources and hoping to establish a link with Cybertron, sent Windblade, Chromia and Nautica on this sacred task. A 'Bot and Her City Windblade vol. 1 #4

After the Enigma of Combination was delivered to Starscream, Cybertron's leader paid visits to both Wheeljack, who was repairing Superion, and Swindle, who tracked down the Stunticons and used the Enigma to reform and perfect the combination of the team into Menasor. In control of the gestalt, Swindle then had Menasor knock out Chromia and Ironhide, who were guarding Metroplex's now functional space bridge, and then opened a bridge to Caminus, intending to rob the planet of any resources. First Contact

Caminus himself attempted to alert his citizens, although the cityspeakers couldn't properly understand his garbled warnings. Unfortunately, Swindle quickly discovered that the planet didn't actually have any resources, even as Menasor rampaged through it. Easily overwhelming Caminus's security forces despite support from Chromia and Ironhide, the gestalt was only brought down when Superion arrived to subdue him.

Following the attack, Windblade met with the Forgefire Parliament in order to determine responsibility for the tragedy. As Cybertron was the cause of the attack, the Parliament decreed that Cybertron must make reparations, and demanded an explanation from Cybertron's official ruler, Starscream. Starscream complied, but diplomacy was interrupted by the arrival of Optimus Prime, who demonstrated his possession of (half of) the Matrix of Leadership before the Mistress of Flame and the assembled Camiens. As a living Prime holding an artifact of Solus Prime, Optimus was essentially a divinity to the residents of Caminus, and his authority quickly overshadowed Starscream's. The Sum and Its Parts Things quickly started to get tense with Optimus and the Mistress when the former refused to act the way he was 'supposed' to and values began to clash: the Camiens thought their elected governments were a flawed compromise because a Prime couldn't direct them while Optimus was subordinate to elected government. Meanwhile, a number of Cybertronians, primarily Decepticons, went to Caminus to help with disaster relief and said Decepticons were confused to find the Camiens were glad to see them.

The planet Caminus, seen here shortly before all hell broke loose.

Thanks to sneaky PR moves by Optimus, Starscream was forced to announce a Council of Worlds where Caminus and the Republic of Cybertron would both have an equal voice. The Possible Light The first meeting to arrange it fell into problems over how the Council would be governed when Windblade and Starscream were the only two representatives so far. The Camiens were happy to accept Optimus Prime as the tiebreaker, which Starscream wrote off because he knew the Camiens would always vote his way and give Prime de facto control—only he wanted Cybertron to have de facto control instead. The arrival of a Prowl-controlled Devastator on Caminus, trying to force Cybertron to cut ties with the planet, resulted in another bloody combiner fight on the poor planet and the first Council of Worlds decision: Prowl would be imprisoned on Caminus before facing trial for crimes under both planet's laws. Starscream followed this up by agreeing to station a combiner on the colony, increasing his control over it as feared. Mistakes and Mayhem

Prowl was clear that Caminus was going to be soft-conquered and Windblade and Optimus couldn't stop it, so he went with Plan B: arranging a Menasor breakout and an invasion of Decepticons into Caminus, believing a "better life" was there, which saw the space bridge damaged. Before the combiners were warped off Caminus, the locals were aghast that this was happening for a third damn time. You, Me, and the Universe

After the end of the "Combiner Wars", Caminus became a member of the Council of Worlds. All That Remains Many of its citizens chose to immigrate to Cybertron. Windblade vol. 2 #4

Animated cartoon

Caminus was a robotic planet within the Autobot Commonwealth area of its galaxy. The Complete AllSpark Almanac

Titans Return marketing material

On Caminus, Blaster, Rewind, and Stripes battled Skullsmasher, Grax, and Rot-Gut, who were attempting to abscond with stolen codes. Titans Return: The Power of the Titan Masters

Beast Wars: Uprising

The Book of Logos identified Caminus as one of seven colonies. Book of Logos

Notes

• Caminus's name is Latin for forge—an appropriate name, as he is the source of most female Transformers in the IDW continuity.
• Caminus appears to be the moon of a gas giant.