RACE: Insecticons

Insecticons were a subterranean race of Cybertronians who went long undiscovered by the modern world until near the end of the war against the Senate and the divide between the Autobots and Decepticons. Their discovery was controversial, as their existence didn't fit with the prevailant belief that Cybertronians descended explicitly from the Twelve Tribes. Further muddling this belief was that they were an ancient race which carried traits from both Onyx Prime and Solus Prime's tribes from a history that traces back farther than the unification of the Tribes.

The Senate considered them abberations, like demons that were planted to seed doubt in Functionalism. If they weren't about to be felled by the Decepticon movement around the Insecticons' discovery, they likely would have sent an order for the race's genocide.

Insecticons are the only Cybertronian race other than Predacons to have a strong sense of family. They keep track of their lineage and descent carries great meaning to them. Almost all Insecticons are born from budding, which is an anomaly that conventional science once thought impossible. They're also known for feudal mindsets, often revering monarch-like rulers or warlord-like hive leaders. Although now they all bend knee to the Emperor of Destruction. Unlike the surfacer Beastformers, Insecticons never have a completely animal-like robot mode, and their alternate modes almost always look like an insect or arachnid.