Herald of Shokaract
| The name or term "Herald" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Herald (disambiguation). |
- The Heralds of Shokaract are Shokaract's elite servants in the Beast Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
The Heralds of Shokaract are the chosen warriors of (*drumroll*)... Shokaract. They are the half-god's most important asset next to the Matrix of Conquest. Intelligent, ruthless, powerful, fearless, and above all, unwaveringly loyal, the Heralds strive to maintain Shokaract's rule over Cybertron and to eventually expand his domain over the whole universe. The highest in command of them is the Herald Maximo, who only has to bow for Shokaract himself. Because of their importance, the selection procedure for new Heralds is rigorous. First, one has to prove themself worthy through exemplary achievements in battle of the Ko-tu ritual, the final test to become a Herald. Second, one has to pass the test within the Ko-tu ritual: killing a prime enemy of Shokaract, a Herald-to-be's so-called 'alpha target'. Failure is met with a slow and painful death. Success, on the other hand, means ascension to the ranks of the Heralds, which comes with the implantation of a device that destroys the Herald's mind would they come to betraying Shokaract.
At least, that is the situation on paper. Shokaract has found himself betrayed by one or more of his trusted warriors on several occasions. His arrogance and somewhat lofty attitude generally make Shokaract blind to conflict and scheming among his high-skilled servants until it comes back to bite him. He's not a happy camper when that happens.
Known Heralds are:
Others:
- The Cub was to be a Herald, but he failed his Ko-tu ritual.
- The Blendtrons might be Heralds.
Fiction
3H continuity
The Heralds of Shokaract had many successes against the rebels of united Predacon and Maximal forces that opposed Shokaract's rule, but failed to eradicate them permenantly. One devastating blow however was dealt to them by the soldier known as Cataclysm, who through betrayal managed to ensure the death of sixteen thousand rebels and subsequently heavily demoralize the remaining ones. As a reward, he was branded a Herald upon the return of the Herald Maximo, Antagony, from conquest elsewhere in the universe. Immediately, a deep enmity arose between them as Cataclysm had his sights set on becoming Herald Maximo himself.
Many acts of vicious competition between them followed, mostly from Cataclysm's side, who proved an adversary unlike Antagony had ever met before. Frustration accumulated until matters came to a blow during the Horus Campaign. Shokaract had already lost two Heralds, sixteen Reaver divisions and more than fifty thousand Drones on that conflict, thus who would bring him victory would receive no little a reward. In the chaos of combat that followed Cataclysm's and Antagony's individual strategies, Cataclysm nearly succeeded in killing off Antagony under the guise of trying to take out Horus. She survived, both were rewarded for the victory as if they had orchestrated it together, no advantage was gained by either; the only difference to their former situation was that now Antagony meant to make him suffer whatever way she could.
Her first act was exploiting Cataclysm's fear of time travel through transwarp portals. By making it look like he would be assigned to travel back to prehistoric Earth to ensure the safety of the Dark Essence, Antagony managed to wrench a short yet public display of fear from her nemesis. Herald
To help fight the Covenant and Beast Warriors present, Shokaract resurrected both Antagony and Cataclysm. Though they gave it their best, they were drastically outnumbered and rather swiftly killed off again. At this point, Sandstorm arose from the Beast Warrior army and revealed to be a Herald himself, a double-agent in service of Shokaract. While Shokaract greeted him and Windrazor lamented on the cruel joke his resurrection turned out to be, Leonicus recognized Sandstorm as the Covenant's missing member: Scorpius. A double-double agent! Sandstorm used the moment of Shokaract's lowered guard to attack him. It was unsuccessful and Shokaract only gladly murdered him for it, but the attempt inspired an effective strategy to takedown Shokaract in the surviving Covenanti. Terminus
IDW comics continuity
The Ascending #3 The Ascending #4
