This is inspired largely by the IDW1 canon, with weeks 2-4âČs stage of sparkling development further inspired by @eve-of-halloweenââs sparkling designs bc they are cute as hell đ„șđ„șđ„ș
Sentio metallico is essentially a plant - itâs a renewable resource that people can grow and harvest themselves.
Once harvested, it can be sent to a blacksmith to check for any imperfections that could cause issues and to be shaped into a basic protoform shape, leaving a small opening for the parents-to-be to each place a vial of their innermost energon. The opening closes over pretty much immediately and takes the CNAÂ from both donations to shape itself into a protoform.
After ~4 weeks or so, it is a full-grown protoform. The changes have largely been internal, but it has formed separate head and body sections, resembling the image below:
A spark chamber is the last thing to be formed, and will open when ready to receive a spark. This is done by essentially jump starting the protoform, turning it into a living, breathing (?) sparkling. It must be done within a couple of days at most or the protoform will âdieâ due to a lack of the nutrients needed to keep its internal organs functioning.
(Side note: I keep wanting to call this process âgetting sparkedâ but thatâs fanon for âgetting knocked upâ which renders that COMPLETELY unusable)
One of the parents is the booster: there are cables/terminals that can be transformed out for this process; by default a protoform has terminals out. The parent hooks up their cables to the terminals in the protoformâs spark chamber and essentially jump start its spark.
The booster has to stay hooked up and providing charge for a while to ensure the spark is capable of sustaining itself. Once the spark is stable, the terminals retract and the sparklingâs chamber will close automatically.
Once the spark is ignited, color nanites come to life and start giving the sparkling a hue, indicating that theyâre alive. The face starts forming after that, with the mouth and vocalizer being functional in about an hour.
 -2 weeks Post-boost: Arms and optics/visor have formed, with optics/visor coming online as arms are finished. Still doesnât have fingers yet. Helm shape and upper body kibble have taken form. Sparkling can now scoot around.Â
-4 weeks PB: Legs and lower body kibble start growing, circuitry pattern fades as more distinct colors and patterns start to form.   Â
-6 weeks PB: Sparklingâs basic frame shape and colors are done. Fingers, dentae, and more intricate parts of kibble start to take shape. Sparkling can walk.  Â
-8 weeks PB: Sparkling is fully developed (roughly equivalent to 12-18 month old human)Â and can start transforming (and flying in root, if applicable) From this point on they age at the same speed as humans until they reach about 25 years old, at which point their aging slows dramatically to reflect their longer lifespan.
Sparklings have an inherent generic Cybertronian altmode which can, of course, be altered by scanning a new alt.
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Many beastformers will online sparklings in litters.
Sometimes only one person will donate energon; this is the basis of cloning. It is/used to be very common in Seeker cultures, which is why their frame types are so homogeneous.
Innermost energon can also be donated to frames that have been constructed to be adults, but thatâs generally frowned upon as the spark and processor arenât as developed as the rest of the body. This can lead to severe health issues such as the spark rejecting the frame, etc. Despite this, this cold construction technique was used by some cultures before being widely adopted to create MTO soldiers during the Great War.
Cybertronians can have sparklings with humans; humans can donate blood or saliva instead of energon and the DNA is compatible enough with CNA that a techno-organic child will be formed. (More on that in the next post!)