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

I said, IN THE NAME OF KIRBY-

The precise origins of the Guiding Hand are not yet known. Twelve million years ago, Primus was the first Transformer on Cybertron, How to Say Goodbye and Mean It marked by his unique serial number of "000000001" and the ability to generate the miraculous photonic crystals that made up the Matrix of Leadership, and capable of housing sparks. The Unremembering Subsequent events are unclear; Cybertronian mythology notes that Primus "split his essence" into five other vessels after feeling a "nest of sparks" within him, You, Me, and Other Revelations though whether this is a fanciful exaggeration of his abilities to generate life from the Matrix or something entirely different remains unclear. These first five robots would go on to ignite the hot spots that would form the first generation of Cybertronian life, the group of Transformers that later generations of Cybertronians would remember as the "Knights of Cybertron." The Unremembering

Under the benevolent guidance of the Hand, the Knights of Cybertron were responsible for building the first of many Transformer civilizations to come, a golden age of peace and prosperity — and one that would ultimately come to an end during the disastrous event known as the "God War." You, Me, and Other Revelations Worried that their increasingly utopian lifestyle would ultimately result in the stagnation of the species and prevent their ascension to the "Higher Realms," Adaptus urged the other members of the Guiding Hand to take up arms and wage war against the galaxy. When Primus refused, Adaptus waged war against his comrades; though the four allies were able to defeat Adaptus, he retreated to Luna One and blasted the planet with an electromagnetic pulse that would leave the inhabitants of Cybertron confused and disoreitned while he refitted the moon with planetary engines to make his escape. As a result, the four members of the Guiding Hand were robbed of their identities and memories, giving rise to the neurological condition known as "information creep", and as Cybertronain civilization reasserted itself they would inherit conventional names, believing themselves no different from the many other Transformers on Cybertron. The Unremembering

Over the years, the true account of the Guiding Hand would become distorted by myths and legends. Notably, these accounts would remember Mortilus as the treacherous member of the Hand, whose betrayal had ripped Cybertron's first moon asunder; through clever tricks and traps, he was able to reduce his foes into their most basic essences: the Matrix,thea brain module, the transformation cog, and Vector Sigma, the most important artifacts in Cybertronian mythology. Mortilus's "death" had supposedly rendered the Cybertronian race immortal; The Unremembering an alternate retelling espoused in the Keening Texts, however, claimed that all five gods had perished in the battle and reunited in the next life to create the Afterspark. The God War

At some point afterwards, the Knights of Cybertron departed the planet so as to spread "enlightment" across the cosmos You, Me, and Other Revelations and organized themselves into five nomadic clans that used the insignias of the Guiding Hand. An Axe to Break the Ice You Are Here

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