#swordbots

drawings for the miraculous ninja fanfic by @eddo-tensei, the sword bots.

Dear Samurai Symbolizer,

Dear Metallurgy Maestro,

Certainly these metals are known to me, although some I know purely by reputation, such as the Adamantium that laces the bones of the hero known as Wolverine. Of course adamantium, like the alloy used to create Captain America's trusty battle suit, was designed to recreate the metal used by the Olympians of myth in certain universes. While you may suspect those would be the same entities as my kin, due to our own influence in some universes, I can state it's just a coincidence.

Hihi'irokane is simply a name given by humanity to the living metal that would one day be referred to as "Transformium"; the swordsmiths who helped to repair Deep Down and his followers were fascinated by the metal that made up the Swordbots' bodies, comparing its shifting structure to leaping flames. I believe that recollections of this metal were passed down over time to one Takenouchi Kiyomaro, who took it as inspiration for his writings.

Mithril is not as common as it once was on Cybertron, where now the only large amount can be found in the Mithric Sea. Its corrosion resistant properties make it a popular choice for statuary or other things designed to survive the aeons, and it may not surprise you that my own chassis is built from a mithril-alternium alloy, to better survive the rigors of time travel.

Dear Bugeisha Battler,

In the years leading up to Unicron's reckoning, the Autobots remaining on Earth had taken to scouring East Asia in order to decommission the last surviving KSI drones. Bumblebee hunted Hong Kong's Ichneumon Hive, while Hound and Crosshairs navigated the political maze of Sakhalin as Scylla terrorised the island. Meanwhile, Drift had volunteered to go to Kyoto to investigate reports of a rogue Cybertronian. It was here that he found Windblade. 

Windblade had once been a KSI "Boss" drone, specifically a "Town Cryer"-model designed for urban reconnaissance. Using a complex set of echolocators and surveillance plugins, these intelligence drones would analyse a city's populace and infrastructure in order to formulate strategy. Damaged during the battle of Hong Kong, the drone had made its way to Japan, where by chance it began analysis of Nagano City, where once Drift's Swordbot brothers made their home. Studying the remaining Cybertronian artefacts left behind by Lockdown, the drone learned of its heritage and, incredibly, developed an identity. Flirting with the name Kazegiri, she settled on Windblade. Realising she had no strategic objective, she began a survey of various cities, working her way west. 

Dear Kensei Quester,

One school of Swordbot Adherents fled the Go Dojo on Cybertron during the early days of the war, and—after a cosmic storm mishap—crash-landed on Earth in what would become western Japan, a mountain forming around their wrecked ship. A young lordling discovered the dormant Swordbots and, believing them to be sleeping envoys of a human deity named Fudō Myōō, successfully petitioned his father to have a temple built around the cave, which would blossom into the lordling's castle town when he succeeded his father.

The Swordbots did not awaken until the early 15th century, and the daimyō's family was surprised to find them infirm and weak. The town nursed them back to health, following instructions given by leader Deep Down to synthesise fuel from coal. The Swordbots learned much from the humans as well; the lord's smiths taught them how to reforge their destroyed ship into new armour and blades, folded many times to make up for its degraded quality. The six adopted new names, easily understood by the humans. The Warfighter Adherents the Samurai Team: On-Stage became Kenzan, Speedbolt became Jinbu, Cliff Face became Ganoh. Meanwhile, the Infiltrators became the Shinobi Team, with Plainswind, Highfly and Deep Down taking the names Gekisoumaru, Hishoumaru and Sensuimaru. They became secret defenders of the castle town, helping the lord's family to stay neutral during the Warring States era. The Swordbots were later joined by Drift, a member of a band of Decepticon "Yōkai" attempting to swindle the town. Ashamed of his actions, he betrayed Shadow Raker and sided with the town, hiding his dishonour with a golden mask.

Dear Drifting Denizen,

That was in fact Go Prime's apprentice, Deadlock of the Cloud World. As part of his multiversal Swordbot training, Go charged him with coming to terms with the common destiny of many Deadlocks: to become the honourbound samurai Drift. By combining his processor-over-matter meditation with the Black Legendisc, Go transferred Deadlock's consciousness into a pre-built Binaltech body in the image of a Drift native to that cluster and sent him to fight as the very alter-ego he wished to reject.