Covenant of Primus
| This article is about the scriptural Covenant of Primus. For the twelve pre-Cybertronic Transformers that guarded time and space, see Covenant{{#switch:{{#sub:Covenant|-1}} | != | .= | ?= | .
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The Covenant of Primus (or Book of Primus) is a databook containing numerous datatracks. It is a compilation of Transformers scriptural texts believed to be prophetic.
The original Covenant is the work of the great sage Alpha Trion, who has chronicled Cybertron since nearly its beginning with the artifact granted to him by Primus, the Quill. By its nature the Covenant chronicles even the future, but interpreting such things is difficult due to the symbolic phrasing the tome uses. As well, even Alpha Trion has difficulty reading too far into the future, as each section of the Covenant is written in the language of the era it represents. Thus, the most ancient sections of the book are scribed in languages long dead from the planet, and the far future is written in languages no Cybertronian yet speaks. It is unlikely that any copies of the Covenant retain this property, as they are presumably only transcriptions of the Covenant as it existed at their time of making.
Fiction
Beast Wars cartoon
Only two copies remained. One was placed on the Ark prior to its launch. The other was found during the Beast Wars aboard the Nemesis, apparently having been placed there by Tarantulas. They speak of apocalyptic battles at the end of an age. It is believed that the Covenant of Primus foretold the Beast Wars, and it was from these scriptures that the Predacon Megatron took his name. Nemesis Part 1 Nemesis Part 2
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Prime cartoon
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Known Covenant of Primus verses
- "...and a mighty warrior came down from the sky...and a rainbow was on his head...and his feet were as pillars of fire...and the great dragon was cast out upon the Earth...and his followers were cast out with him."<ref name="Nem1">Nemesis Part 1</ref>
- "...and as it were a great mountain, raging with fire, arose from the sea."<ref name="Nem1"/>
- "I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. I am that which is, which was, and is yet to come...and you will know my name is Megatron when I lay my vengeance upon you!"<ref name="Nem2">Nemesis Part 2</ref>
- "...and the stone of their protection shall rise upward forever and ever, as they who live and war as beasts confront their final cycle."<ref name="Nem2"/>
- "...and there came a hero who said: 'Hurt not the Earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, nor the very fabric of time,' but the hero would not prevail, nor would he surrender."<ref name="Nem2"/>
- "In the spark of an enemy, there will be salvation, and in the darkest hour, there will be a light."<ref name="Nem2"/>
- "And the sun and its brother shall storm over the new world to reveal the beast and destroy it."<ref>"The Route of All Evil", The Transformers: Generation One vol. 3 #10</ref>
- The Sojourner's Passage: "Cursed curiosity compelled me to stay, to observe the enemy before the machine age. And now this demands my attention! My first responsibility is to those I left behind, yet I sense what unfolds below eclipses even that which cast me away. In the name of my creator, I will re-enter the void. I will seek that light which has fallen from the forges of our history."<ref>Apelinq's War Journals, Journal 18: Point of No Return; and "Betrayal", Wreckers #2 Directors Cut</ref>
- "Do not judge a warrior by stature or action until you truly understand that which drives him."<ref>"Original Sin", The Transformers: Generation One vol. 3 #5</ref>
- "Great events find great Cybertronians. And other times, great events make great Cybertronians."<ref>Transformers: Exodus, pg 83</ref>
- "Humility comes before greatness, and where humility has not paved the road, greatness may not walk it."<ref>Transformers: Exodus, pg 99</ref>
- In Exodus there is a 21 page excerpt from the Covenant inserted between Chapter 15 and 16. It is written by Alpha Trion and describes the early days of the war. It is also mentioned in the novel that the Covenant forbid more than one Prime at a time, that someone would take the name Megatronus, and a Prime would lead Cybertron in a time of civil war, whom Alpha Trion correctly presumed to be Optimus Prime.
- "When the 47 spheres align, a perpetual conflict will culminate, upon a world forged from chaos. And the weak shall perish, in the shadow of the rising darkness."<ref>2011 San Diego Comic-Con Prime preview</ref>
Interpretation
The first six quotes above were believed by Optimus Primal and Megatron to be prophecies relating to the climax of the Beast Wars. The last quote was believed by Optimus Prime and a different Megatron to be a prophecy relating to the end of the Transformers' battle on Earth.
- The "mighty warrior" is Tigerhawk.
- The "great dragon" is Megatron.
- The "great mountain" was the Nemesis.
- The quote about Megatron refers to how the Megatron of the Beast Wars was, at the time, also carrying the spark of the original Megatron, and was thus "alpha and omega".
- The "stone of their protection" was the mountain over the Ark, which Megatron partially lifted away.
- The hero who "would not prevail, nor would he surrender" was Optimus Primal.
- The enemy whose spark brought salvation was Dinobot II, who in the end betrayed his leader.
- The "sun and its brother" are Sunstorm and Starscream.
- The "world forged from chaos" is believed to be Earth.
- The "rising darkness" may refer to Unicron or Dark Energon.
Notes

- When Rattrap holds up the Covenant of Primus in Nemesis Part 1, Maximal writing can be seen. It reads "7 613", then "were cast out with him a cork one fork and a bowl of beans between them". This presumably follows the portion of the Covenant read by Primal, Datatrack 7.613: "And a mighty warrior came down from the sky, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his feet as pillars of fire. And the great dragon was cast out onto the earth, and his followers were cast out with him." The animators often inserted jokes into the Maximal text, so the canonical nature of this quote is dubious at best.
- The passage about Megatron is seemingly a reference to Ezekiel 25:17, from the Old Testament, which was also infamously used as part of a (fictional hodge-podge) bible verse quoted by one of the lead characters of the film Pulp Fiction. The same passage also serves as the motto of Onyx Primal, but whether his motto is a reference to the Old Testament or the Covenant of Primus is, at this point, pretty much up to you.
- The books are small. The guzzler-sized crews of the Ark and the Nemesis would probably have a hard time reading them.
- It has a standard-size (not Mini-) cassette inside.
- Energon Downshift's Cyber Key Code info states that he and his life partner "joined together under the Covenant of Primus", apparently referring to Cybertronian marriage rituals.

