Guiding Hand

The Guiding Hand is a pantheon from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

In the name of Kirby, let it be so.

The Guiding Hand are five ancient deities created by Primus. They are featured in one of the more prominent myths regarding the creation of the planet Cybertron and its native people.

Members

• Primus, the Light-giver and Life-giver
• Mortilus, the Death-bringer
• Solomus, Wisdom Incarnate
• Epistemus, Knowledge Personified
• Adaptus, Blessed with an Infinity of Shapes

Fiction

IDW Generation 1 continuity

According to a religious story believed by the Clavis Aurea, the Guiding Hand were formed after the creation of the planet Cybertron, when Primus the First Light stood forth on the miracle planet. At the time, he felt a nest of sparks within him, and he split his essence into four other vessels. They then populated Cybertron with a gesture, thus creating the Cybertronian race. Under their remote but benevolent guidance came the First Golden Age, which was shattered when Mortilus believed that the Guiding Hand should become a fist against the rest of the universe. As Mortilus stood against Primus, all of Cybertron became divided in a conflict that saw the planet shudder, and its first moon ripped asunder. The Death-bringer was ultimately destroyed in the struggle, but the conflict left the remaining members of the Guiding Hand mortally wounded.

A badly injured Primus went into the heart of Cybertron, where he re-integrated himself with the planet and became Vector Sigma, the source of all sentience. Solomus was trapped by Mortilus in a crystal prison, but the wise god managed to reshape it into the Creation Matrix, which not only served as a connection to Vector Sigma but provided wisdom to future generations. Both Epistemus and Adaptus were not as lucky, as Mortilus had stripped both bare. Epistemus was transformed into a brain module, while Adaptus became a transformation cog. Prior to their death, they offered their designs to future generations, to utilize both their intellect and functionality to face the rigors of their environment. With Mortilus's destruction, death itself was gone, allowing the sparks of Cybertronians to burn perpetually, rendering them functionally ageless. After this period, the first inheritors of the Guiding Hand became the Knights of Cybertron, who were given the gifts of sentience, wisdom, intellect, change and immortality, whereupon they went to spread peace across the universe. You, Me, and Other Revelations

I said, IN THE NAME OF KIRBY-

Another account, told by the Keening Texts, spoke of the "God War". Once their work on Cybertron was completed, the Guiding Hand withdrew save Mortilus. Unsatisfied with just Cybertron, the death-bringer desired to bring his touch to every planet and utilized Luna 1 as a testing ground for his powers, dreaming up a myriad of macabre horrors. The other four were forced to intercede and the God War began. Anticipating this, Mortilus had laid traps for his brethren, reducing Adaptus and Epistemus to nothing but a transformation cog and a brain module while trapping Solomus inside a crystalline prison. Growing ever weaker, Primus fashioned a casket for himself, Vector Sigma, before unleashing the last of his power as a divine thunderbolt that sent Luna 1 hurtling off into space, slaying Mortilus and ending the war. Though millions of innocent Cybertronians perished, the gods persisted as ideas and eventually reformed, accepting Mortilus back into their ranks. The five then pooled their resources to create the Afterspark, a place where Cybertronians could live forever after their physical deaths. The God War

Due to the long life of Transformers, there should be people who remember the days of the Hand. Unfortunately, information creep had caused memories to fade, alter, and become shifty legends. The Crucible If the Guiding Hand had in fact existed, they were theorized to have birthed the first Transformers roughly twelve million years ago. How to Say Goodbye and Mean It In the prehistoric era that followed the departure of the Knights of Cybertron but predated the rise of the Thirteen Primes, the stories regarding the Guiding Hand were subject to retelling and reinterpretations with Solomus becoming known as "Arrius" in the kingdom of Protohex. The decadent Septimus Prime and his Supplicants of Arrius used the god's name to cement their hold on their kingdom via gladiatorial combat. Solus Prime was a believer in the tales of the Guiding Hand, claiming herself to be a servant of them, while Onyx Prime couldn't give a damn about them. Origin Myths

In the era prior to the Great War, worship in the Guiding Hand dwindled. "Evolutionary engineerists" such as Ratchet and Jetfire rejected the concept of "gods" entirely in favour of atechnogenesis, You, Me, and Other Revelations Forged medics had more fluid hands than ones who were constructed cold, seen by some as proof of Adaptus's existence Life After the Big Bang and this potential link to Adaptus was likely related to constructed cold Transformers suffering apartheid. Chaos Theory Part 1 Officer Springarm remained a believer in the Guiding Hand while his colleague Orion Pax was not, viewing the imagery related to Hand, such as the Matrix, as little more than symbols. Chaos Theory Part 2

The Guiding Hand were mentioned in an ancient inscription within the Matrix of Leadership. Rewind was unfamiliar with the very term "Guiding Hand", while Optimus Prime knew of them because of his contact with the Matrix; in his words, it had made him privy to "a rival set of facts" and "alternative truths". The knowledge faded from his memory upon the emptying of the Matrix. The Death of Optimus Prime

After the Lost Light had discovered Metrotitan, Cyclonus recited the Clavis Aurea version of the Guiding Hand myth. Recording it, Rewind noted he hadn't heard that version before. You, Me, and Other Revelations

When warning of the retribution Liege Maximo would unleash upon Cybertron, Elita One promised the corrupt Prime would hold everyone responsible for his exile regardless of any role they had played in it or whether they believed in the Guiding Hand as opposed to the Thirteen Primes. Heavy

After an accident with the Warren, Team Rodimus found themselves on Mederi which presented itself to them as the Afterspark. You Are Here After moping about his supposed demise, \a disgruntled Rodimus yelled at Primus in dissatisfaction with him and his works, demanding an audience with his creator. In response, Rodimus found himself zapped with a bolt of lighting and brought before the Guiding Hand. Metastasis The Hand then summoned Ultra Magnus, Ratchet, and Drift, the moon using his beliefs to shape its representation of the deities, to act as Rodimus's defence but denied their petition for resurrection. The God War Soon after, the quartet discovered the truth of where they were, realizing the Guiding Hand had been nothing more than elaborate holograms. You Are Here

Notes

• The Robots in Disguise story "Primus: All Good Things" claims that Metrotitan was part of the Guiding Hand's fleet, rather than that of the Knights of Cybertron, and that these gods lived in a city and were known by Omega Supreme. It's not known if this was the writer confusing the Knights with the Hand (most likely), or if this is deliberate, mirroring how real world religions will get real-world historical details wrong or conflated.

	Guiding Hand
Primus Solomus Epistemus Mortilus Adaptus