TF Spark and Breeding Theory
This post is to put down my thoughts on sparks, bonding and breeding for Transformers. A lot of my own theories have been adopted from other people's theories and general ideas that go around the fandom. Probably the most influential is this essay on dA.
To start off with, basic spark theory.
To me, sparks are the true sentient part of a Cybertronian. They are not robots who happen to have sparks, they are sparks that are protected and transported by robot bodies.
Going back to my concept of what Primus is, Primus is basically a very large and powerful energy being, and the sparks of the Cybertronian population are, at their most basic, small parts of his over-all energy form. Primus sustains himself on the constant turn-over of sparks in a similar manner to the Lifestream of Final Fantasy - a spark is sent out relatively weak, and through living becomes stronger, so when it dies and is absorbed back into Primus, it adds more to him than was first sent out.
Spark-bred sparks are an extra for Primus, as they draw their base energy from their parents, but like all sparks, return to Primus at death.
Sparks are the most basic part of a Cybertronian's personality and the part of them which emotion originates from. All of their systems exist to augment their sparks, either by maintaining it, translating information to and from it. Intelligence can be added to by upgrading a mech's processors, but underlying maturity is something that exists only in the spark - an immature mech can have powerful processors, but they still remain immature.
Breedability
First off, not all Cybertronians are able to carry a sparkling, in fact the proportion of the population who are able to is very low, at able 19% of all robots. On the other hand, when divided by model types, femmes have a far higher percentage of their population who can carry, at a whopping 98%. In comparision, only 10% of mechs can carry, though mechs make up 90% of the over-all population of Cybertron.
The majority of replacement citizenry was maintained by Vector Sigma before the war, though since the loss of the Keys to Vector Sigma during the war, the only new mechs produced are the spark-bred that daring parents decide to bear.
The ability to breed is one that is inherited - a spark-born mech has a higher chance of being a breeder as well than a Vector Sigma-produced spark.
Breeding
To put it simply, when two sparks temporarily merge, it is possible their energy will start to form a nascent spark. How often this happens is random, though spark-health is a factor.
One of the two Cybertronians has to be a breeder, so they can carry the spark until it is able to exist independently, or else the spark will quickly fade... or worse, turn parasitic and stress the spark of the parent.
Parasitic sparks are something that can happen more often than is publicly known in Cybertronian society. There is the aforementioned situation of a parasitic spark-pregnancy in a non-breeder mech, and there is also the situation of parasitic twins.
Parasitic twins happen when a spark splits into twins but one fails to develop, becoming parasitically attached to it's twin. Usually, the parasite starts to stress the spark of it's twin and has to be removed. Though most cases of such do not survive the separation, some do but will never be able to grow into fully functional mechs. The most common treatment of these stunted twins is to place them in a small body to act as their twin's drone companion. The twin bond acts in a similar manner to a drone bond, though there remains some slight drain on the larger twin's spark, as the drone-twin needs to draw from them to keep their own spark stable. For most, this only requires the larger twin consume slightly more energon to compensate.
A newborn spark is, by necessity, quite small, and cannot cope with being placed in a large body straight off. This means that a spark-bred Cybertronian must go through several upgrades, gradually getting larger bodies, until they can take an adult body. Some sparks can stop growing early, or keep growing after reach Standard size, resulting in a mech of Minibot or Megabot size. The likelihood of a spark being a Minibot or Megabot is highly influenced on what it's spark-parents are.
Vector Sigma is the only reliable way to produce a Cybertronian who is "born" as an adult, without causing serious functional and psychological problems in the individual.
A sparkling-raised mech will form their programming over the span of their younglinghood, while a Vector Sigma-produced mech will have it's base programming imputed at the same time the supercomputer produces their spark, tailoring the program to suit the spark granted.
To start off with, basic spark theory.
To me, sparks are the true sentient part of a Cybertronian. They are not robots who happen to have sparks, they are sparks that are protected and transported by robot bodies.
Going back to my concept of what Primus is, Primus is basically a very large and powerful energy being, and the sparks of the Cybertronian population are, at their most basic, small parts of his over-all energy form. Primus sustains himself on the constant turn-over of sparks in a similar manner to the Lifestream of Final Fantasy - a spark is sent out relatively weak, and through living becomes stronger, so when it dies and is absorbed back into Primus, it adds more to him than was first sent out.
Spark-bred sparks are an extra for Primus, as they draw their base energy from their parents, but like all sparks, return to Primus at death.
Sparks are the most basic part of a Cybertronian's personality and the part of them which emotion originates from. All of their systems exist to augment their sparks, either by maintaining it, translating information to and from it. Intelligence can be added to by upgrading a mech's processors, but underlying maturity is something that exists only in the spark - an immature mech can have powerful processors, but they still remain immature.
Breedability
First off, not all Cybertronians are able to carry a sparkling, in fact the proportion of the population who are able to is very low, at able 19% of all robots. On the other hand, when divided by model types, femmes have a far higher percentage of their population who can carry, at a whopping 98%. In comparision, only 10% of mechs can carry, though mechs make up 90% of the over-all population of Cybertron.
The majority of replacement citizenry was maintained by Vector Sigma before the war, though since the loss of the Keys to Vector Sigma during the war, the only new mechs produced are the spark-bred that daring parents decide to bear.
The ability to breed is one that is inherited - a spark-born mech has a higher chance of being a breeder as well than a Vector Sigma-produced spark.
Breeding
To put it simply, when two sparks temporarily merge, it is possible their energy will start to form a nascent spark. How often this happens is random, though spark-health is a factor.
One of the two Cybertronians has to be a breeder, so they can carry the spark until it is able to exist independently, or else the spark will quickly fade... or worse, turn parasitic and stress the spark of the parent.
Parasitic sparks are something that can happen more often than is publicly known in Cybertronian society. There is the aforementioned situation of a parasitic spark-pregnancy in a non-breeder mech, and there is also the situation of parasitic twins.
Parasitic twins happen when a spark splits into twins but one fails to develop, becoming parasitically attached to it's twin. Usually, the parasite starts to stress the spark of it's twin and has to be removed. Though most cases of such do not survive the separation, some do but will never be able to grow into fully functional mechs. The most common treatment of these stunted twins is to place them in a small body to act as their twin's drone companion. The twin bond acts in a similar manner to a drone bond, though there remains some slight drain on the larger twin's spark, as the drone-twin needs to draw from them to keep their own spark stable. For most, this only requires the larger twin consume slightly more energon to compensate.
A newborn spark is, by necessity, quite small, and cannot cope with being placed in a large body straight off. This means that a spark-bred Cybertronian must go through several upgrades, gradually getting larger bodies, until they can take an adult body. Some sparks can stop growing early, or keep growing after reach Standard size, resulting in a mech of Minibot or Megabot size. The likelihood of a spark being a Minibot or Megabot is highly influenced on what it's spark-parents are.
Vector Sigma is the only reliable way to produce a Cybertronian who is "born" as an adult, without causing serious functional and psychological problems in the individual.
A sparkling-raised mech will form their programming over the span of their younglinghood, while a Vector Sigma-produced mech will have it's base programming imputed at the same time the supercomputer produces their spark, tailoring the program to suit the spark granted.