Energon

Energon, in a broad sense, is the food, fuel, ammunition, and life blood of Cybertronians. There is one natural form of energon native to Cybertron and its moons that is created through natural processes of the celestial bodies, but it's not the only substance that can function as energon for a Cybertronian. Whatever their energon source is, it ultimately functions as the Cybertronian's blood, with their body's filtration systems working out the impurities that cause intoxication or sickness.

Lack of access to energon has been the biggest hurdle for Cybertronians traveling or attempting to colonize the stars. Many attempted colonies have vanished when they couldn't find any viable sources of the substance and starved to death.

Energon
True energon is a glowing, magenta-pink substance that comes in two forms, crystaline and liquid. The crystaline energon can be processed into a liquid through mechanical means, or it can be ingested for a much less efficient but natural processing method. Some Cybertronians ingest excessive amounts of energon or lace their energon with additives to induce an intoxicated state identical to drunkenness.

Energon is often called the blood of Primus, and flows through subterranean Cybertron and its moons in streams and rivers deep beneath the planet's surface. In some instances, streams or rivers of energon can occur on the surface as well. These bodies of liquid energon are considered both precious and perilous, as overexposure to raw energon can cause damage to a Cybertronian's systems and even burn out their circuitry, potentially leading to death. So falling into an energon river can quickly mean the end of a life.

Crystaline energon, meanwhile, is often mined from pockets and caverns that are readily found in Cybertron's upper layers, and if given time can be seeded in new locations and allowed to grow over the centuries to create new, viable energon crystals. Given the length of time it takes to grow energon, however, energon farms are very rare. But crystaline energon has been found on other worlds in the past. It is presumed that these deposits were planted intentionally, to create private, secret energon farms that would be harvested every so many centuries or millennia.

On Cybertron, Luna-1, and Luna-2, energon is produced as a byproduct of the same naturally occurring pulses from Cybertron's core that create hot spots.

Colony Energon
The Cybertronian Lost Colonies all produce their own hot spots and energon thanks the the Creation Matrix that engenders their world. It's all viable for Cybertronians to live off of exclusively, but different worlds have produced energon that is typically a different color and that can cause mild side effects on the Cybertronians living off of it. Sustaining oneself on a specific kind of energon for a period of months or years will change the very color of the energon the Cybertronian bleeds, and can make any side effects long-term. Most transformers have a taste preference for Cybertronian energon, even those form the Lost Colonies once they've had it.

Caminus: Caminus exists on a world that no longer produces enough energon to sustain its population, but it does produce energon of its own that is chemically very similar to that of Cybertron. The only truly notable difference between Cybertronian energon and Camien energon is that Camien energon is blue in color. Living off of Camien energon also has a slight tiring effect. Most Cybertronians will find themselves needing an hour or few more of rest per day while living off of it compared to living off of Cybertronian energon.

Devisiun: Devisen energon is yellow in color, and has no known side effects.

Eukaris: Eukarian energon is green in color, and has been known to make a Cybertronian more aggressive. A Cybertronian who's never had Eukarian energon before may experience violent mood swings for a time. Some theorize that this enhanced aggression is partly to blame for Eukaris' divisive tribe culture.

Prion: The energon of the Prion colony has no known side effects, and is mostly known for being primarily blue with smokey wisps of green flowing throughout it.

Velocitron: Velocitronian energon is red in color and highly coveted off-world. While not quite as efficient as Cybertronian energon at giving a Cybertronian sustenance, red energon is coveted for the side effect of increasing one's speed. While the increased speed is not nearly as noteworthy as stories tend to claim, it does give a Cybertronian that little boost that can potentially make all the difference in a high risk situation. Velocitronians will find themselves a little slower than they were before when deprived of red energon for a few months. But they find the other varieties of energon to be much more delicious.

Crysmagnetal
Crysmagnetal is a pale pink, crystaline form of energon that serves two main purposes. It creates a mellowing, intoxicating effect similar to how marijuana effects humans when ingested, and it can also be used to absorb energy before enhancing it and expelling it back outward in a chaotic burst. This allows it to be used to build weapons that don't require accuracy such as mines, and many weapons researchers have attempted to find a way to redirect its bursts to allow them to use crysmagnetal to enhance beam weaponry.

Crysmagnetal, unlike other energon, can not be liquified. It only comes in crystaline and powder forms, and is generally filtered out of a Cybertronian's energon within hours of ingestion.

Dark Energon
Dark energon is a legendary substance believed to be the blood of Unicron by religious texts. While none exists on Cybertron and none has been seen by those currently living on Cybertron to tell the tale, it lives on in mythology where it's said to be a dark purple counterpart to energon that can drain the energy from a Cybertronian and that will raise the dead exposed to its radiation. Somewhere out there in the Universe, dark energon may yet exist.

Engex
Engex is a yellow to orange, liquid fuel that is perhaps the single most popular Cybertronian intoxicant. While the intoxication engex causes akin to only a mildly drunken state, the only negative side effect generally is temporarily impaired judgement and dexterity, and it's both easy to produce and easy to become intoxicated by. Despite its name, engex is an incredibly inefficient energy source and a Cybertronian could not survive on engex exclusively.

Nightmare Fuel
Nightmare Fuel is an incredibly potent and high-yield substance similar to engex and bright green in color. It is created by Skullgrin, who has historically refused to share the method of its production or its ingredients. To put it simply, Nightmare Fuel will fuck a Cybertronian up very hard, very quickly. And unlike Engex, a Cybertronian could survive on Nightmare Fuel alone.

Nucleon
Nucleon is a light purple form of energon from the planet Messatine that comes in both liquid and crystaline forms, but is generally harvested as a crystal before being processed like Cybertronian energon. Nucleon is a very efficient form of energon that a Cybertronian can very well survive on, it's even more high yield than Cybertron's. But it's also extremely intoxicating, can cause damage to the T-cog that can eventually render it non-functional, and can cause mutations to a Cybertronian's CNA with excessive exposure.

Nucleon is primarily used as a much stronger form of engex in bars and by medical professionals to stabilize an injured or starved Cybertronian with small transfusions. Enriched nucleon also makes an incredibly potent star ship fuel or ammunition, but it's so valuable due to its limited production that it's very rarely used for either of these purposes.

Pink Alchemy
Pink Alchemy is not itself a form of energon, but a frowned upon method of creating energon where there is none. Developed by Tarantulas some time after the Cold War turned into the Great War, Pink Alchemy, or "bleeding the meat" as many soldiers call it, is a method of sending organic material through a bioreactor to create a pink form of energon that is completely safe to consume with no known side effects. Animals are preferred over plants as raw materials, and the tissues must be fresh as they're sucked out and sent through the bioreactor.

Autobots have completely banned the practice of Pink Alchemy, but some have still resorted to it. Among Decepticons it's often frowned upon but they to date have not complied with galactic efforts to deem it a war crime. Rumors exist that Tarantulas has been trying to refine it even further, as currently it takes hundreds to thousands of organic lives to create a single energon cube using pink alchemy, and the process requires a massive facility to house the machinery and "livestock."

Banned Fuels
Banned fuels include Berzerk Button, known for causing extreme mood swings and bouts of violence, syk, known for its highly addictive nature and how it burns out a Cybertronian's neural system over time and can literally fry their brain, the yellow crystal known as Ore-8 which can cause paranoia or intense hallucinations merely from unprotected exposure, or circuit speeders, fluids injected directly into one's energon to cause an intense spike in energy and temporary physical augmentation. Both addictive and easy to overdose on.