Enigma of Combination

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The Enigma of Combination is one of the artifacts of the Thirteen. Possessed by Nexus Prime, it is not only capable of fostering unity and cooperation of the minds of sentient creatures in its proximity, but also of bestowing one of the greatest abilities known to Cybertronians- that of combination!

Fiction

The Covenant of Primus

The Covenant of Primus

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.

In the ancient past of Cybertron, the Enigma was held by Nexus Prime, who used it to create the Ancient Headmasters, combining humanoid Transformers with beast-form Cybertronians from the ranks of his ally Onyx Prime. Sickened by these "abominations", the barbarian Galvatron waged a bloody crusade to slay all the Headmasters, then killed Nexus himself and took the Enigma to prevent its powers from being used to perpetuate what he saw as further perversions of Cybertronian purity. Later partnering with Nova Prime, who hoped to use the Enigma's power for his own ends, Galvatron lied and claimed that Nexus had fled the planet, taking the Enigma with him. However, their mutual ally Alpha Trion could detect the falsehood in Galvatron's words—none had ever known whether or not the Enigma was anything more than a concept, but Galvatron clearly knew it to be a physical object. Realizing that he had accidentally tipped his hand, Galvatron shot the Enigma into space to put it beyond his allies' reach. Eventually, seven million years ago, it crash-landed on Earth. The Crucible

The Enigma landed in what would become Mesopotamia. In 4000 BC, its light drew the attention of wandering tribes of humans, who huddled around it for warmth, little suspecting that through its powers, their thoughts and ideas would be "combined", leading to the founding on that site of Earth's first city, Uruk, and the birth of human civilization. Uruk's ruler, the ancient warrior Gilgamesh, built huge walls made of black rock around the city to protect it, from which his descendents would later take their family name. The "Blackrock" lineage passed the Enigma from generation to generation, building for themselves an immense fortune as the Enigma's powers led humankind to incredible technological developments such as the atomic bomb and the invention of the internet. The arrival of Transformers on Earth in the 21st Century led the current scion of the Blackrock line, Garrison, to deduce the Engima's Cybertronian origins. ONoffON

Optimus Prime learned of the Enigma's existence from Alpha Trion, but their conversation was spied upon by Prowl, who had his own plans for it. The Crucible Around the same time, rogue Skywatch agent Spike Witwicky became aware of Blackrock's possession of the Enigma's, and though unaware of what it actually was, planned to steal it from the Wanmu, China facility of Blackrock's company, Onyx. Signals, Calls and Marches Both Prowl and Galvatron—now leader of the Decepticons—realized that Spike likely had some information about the Enigma's whereabouts, and both attempted to hunt him down. Vs. Galvatron managed to convince Prowl's ally Arcee to join forces with him to destroy the Enigma once and for all, but Prowl and the Constructicons, allied with Spike, beat them to the punch, attacking the Onyx facility to recover the ancient talisman. ONoffON

As Devastator started tearing into the facility, Blackrock attempted to send the Enigma down a drop shaft but Devastator easily caught it. The Enigma demonstrated the ability to change size in order to be properly held by the giant. Before the Enigma's energies could have any effect on Devastator, Spike made his big entrance and the sight of him reawakened Prowl and the Constructicons' shared hatred of Spike, causing Devastator to go berserk and try to smash Spike and everything in his way. The Decepticons eventually arrive at the facility and Arcee tried to reach out to Prowl and calm him down, only for Devastator to hurl the Enigma at her in a blind rage. During the chaotic battle, the Enigma was taken by Scoop who stole the Decepticon shuttle and flew off to Cybertron to deliver the artifact to Starscream. Galvatron grimly predicted that this will soon mean the end of Cybertronian society. The Obliterati Starscream used the artifact to bolster both Superion and Menasor, the latter of whom Swindle immediately set loose on Caminus later. First Contact Caminus detected the Enigma's energy within the rogue combiner and tried to warn his cityspeakers regarding what they were most likely dealing with but the cityspeakers were unable to properly interpret the warnings The Sum and Its Parts

Notes

• When listing a handful of the artifacts of the Primes, the novel Exiles mentions the Infinite Combinatoric. Given the abilities its name implies, this might have been an early name for the Enigma. It wouldn't be the only point of confusing discontinuity between artifacts in Exiles.
• Uruk is not the oldest city in the world by a comfortable margin, with Jericho showing signs of uninterrupted inhabition to as far back as 9000 BC, and the temple at Gobekli Tepe - where people certainly 'got their minds together' - being even older. Maybe the Enigma passed from tribe to tribe; it wouldn't be the first time history was rewritten by the last survivor.