Caminus (planet)
- Caminus is a Titan and eponymous planet from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
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
Twelve million years ago, Caminus was the Titan of Solus Prime The Sum and Its Parts and the closest friend of the First Titan, Metroplex. During the First Cybertronian Civil War, he brought down the rogue Titan Vigilem alongside Metroplex and Chela. Rubicon The three handed Vigilem over to Onyx Prime so that he and his master Liege Maximo could be banished from Cybertron. The First Who Was Named
At some point afterwards, Caminus was one of the twelve "colony Titans" who departed Cybertron in the hopes of establishing Pax Cybertronia across the galaxy. A 'Bot and Her City Before leaving his homeworld forever, Caminus bid Metroplex farewell. Windblade vol. 1 #4 Caminus travelled through space and eventually settled on a small moon in a distant star system; using the hot spot within his body, Caminus established a new outpost of Transformer civilization. A 'Bot and Her City New Sparks that emerged from this hot spot were nurtured in facilities like the Lighthouse, which also trained medical workers like blacksmiths. Bad Moon Rising While female Transformers went extinct on Cybertron for reasons unknown, Caminus, like the other Cybertronian colony worlds, retained a civilization where both male and female Transformers coexisted. A 'Bot and Her City
To ensure the colony's survival as it grew, Caminus allowed himself to be disassembled and spread across the planet. Caminus's intact brain module survived, however, and in order to interpret his jumbled thoughts the Camiens developed the tradition known as "cityspeaking," with some of their number painting their faces in honor of Caminus. A 'Bot and Her City Windblade vol. 1 #4 The citizens of Caminus grew to develop a religion known as the Way of Flame, which deified the Thirteen and extolled Solus Prime as the greatest 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 The colony grew to have an appreciation of the arts to such an extent that scientific fields such as medicine were considered secondary concerns. As a result of the dominant religion, Camiens were expected to find Amica Endurae within ten megacycles of their creation or become essentially persona non grata within society. The Frail Gaze In this prosperous age, the Camiens developed ties with nearby planets, including a nearby Mederi center. An Axe to Break the Ice
Approximately five hundred years ago, the Cybertronian adventurer Anode discovered Caminus and took up residence on the planet, training in a Lighthouse facility as a blacksmith. When her overconfidence led her to fail a delicate operation, she fled Caminus in shame. Bad Moon Rising
At some point after this, Caminus detected a Cybertronian distress beacon emanating from the planet Antilla, and sent a ship to make contact with their ancestors. When the delegates arrived, they found that the planet was ruled by Onyx Prime and his Maximals, who killed one of them while the other two fled. By the time the ship returned home, Caminus had begun to suffer energy shortages caused by their dwindling sun and decreasing resources. Surfeit of Primes
To cope, the Camiens developed a low-energy lifestyle, adjusting their Sparks to run on a "lower frequency" to conserve energon and causing their energon to appear bright blue in color compared to the purple of their ancestors. The Last Autobot To conserve fuel, Camiens eschewed "wasteful" energy weapons in favor of melee weapons. Windblade #3 The energy crisis caused a shift in their civilization, with pioneering Camiens establishing shantytowns in the wastelands in the hopes of striking a vein of usable energon. Ghost Stories One such town, Parvus Oppidum, was attacked by Onyx Prime shortly afterwards for reasons as yet unknown. Ghost Stories The Mistress of Flame subsequently covered up the attack. Another Mine
In the mid-19th century, a Camien expeditionary vessel containing a cargo of protoforms ran afoul of the anti-mechanoid Galactic Council. Given Caminus's isolation from the larger galaxy, they were ignorant of the hatred their Cybertronian ancestors had incurred. The ship was shot down in the Gray Area, and the sole surviving protoform was rescued by Rom. Shining Armor #1
Shortly after the end of the Cybertronian Great War, the Autobot Thunderclash discovered Caminus. Hoping to establish a link with Cybertron so that their ancestral homeworld could rescue their dying colony from certain death, the Mistress of Flame sent Windblade, Chromia and Nautica on this task. A 'Bot and Her City Windblade vol. 1 #4 Some months later, Windblade and Wheeljack were able to repair Metroplex's space bridge so that it could link with the one on Caminus. Unfortunately, Cybertron's ruler Starscream had his own ideas; seeking to set himself up as the head of a new Cybertronian empire, he recruited Swindle and Menasor to stage an attack on Caminus; when Menasor invaded, First Contact Caminus attempted to alert his Cityspeakers about the Enigma of Combination that had created the combiner, but they were unable to interpret his garbled warnings. Starscream then deloyed Superion to defeat the Decepticons,hoping to set himself up as a hero in the eyes of the populace.
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 god to the residents of Caminus, and his authority quickly overshadowed Starscream's. The Sum and Its Parts A number of Cybertronians, primarily Decepticons, went to Caminus to help with disaster relief, and said Decepticons were confused to find that the Camiens were glad to see them.
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 Following the annexation of Earth into the Council of Worlds, Optimus Prime and Aileron travelled to Caminus to meet with the Mistress of Flame. The Medium and the Message
When a swarm of undead Titans were detected on course for Cybertron, the sick and wounded were evacuated via spacebridge to Caminus. Ping In the aftermath, the Mistress of Flame attempted to have Chromia released into Camien custody. Starscream refused prompting the Mistress to ask for Swindle and the Stunticons instead as the two had yet to answer for their crimes against the colony. Heavy
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
Combiner Wars cartoon
The brawling Computron and Menasor warped to Caminus via orbital space bridge. They fell onto the planet and caused mass destruction as they landed; though Menasor killed Computron, he himself was slain by Windblade. The Fall
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.
- Caminus appears to be the moon of a gas giant.
