#tfmol

Necessary references: Worldbuilding: Spark Types, Worldbuilding: Nexuses

Sparkmeld, or more loosely, sparkmerge, is the act of combining two or more sparks into a single life force. In most cases, this is brief link that only lasts a few minutes.

Most Cybertronians consider this a very intimate act. Not only are you sharing your life with someone, but you're also trusting them as completely as you can, baring the one thing that keeps you alive and giving them full access to your frame.

In Earth terms, it's a BIG deal.

Physical Effects

When two sparks combine, the resulting spark, usually, reaches an equilibrium between their power levels. For example, if you combine two sparks, one with a Radiance of 3.4 Lux, the other with 6.2 Lux, like Knockout and Breakdown:

Then while merged, the spark would eventually equalize out to 4.8 Lux, and look like this:

The longer the two are melded, the closer the component sparks would be in color on separation, which temporarily effects their energon output. In Knockout's case, he would burn through more energon until he leveled out, but also get a power boost. In Breakdown's, he would conserve more energon than usual, but be more tired as a result. This lasts for roughly a day, as the sparks slowly return to their original Radiance levels.

While melded, the component sparks don't exist individually. There is one spark, in control of both frames it's linked to, and it exists as one being with a fusion of personalities between the two.

In the case of most sparkmelds, the varying Resonance will force a split after a few minutes of contact, as too much energy is lost to sustain both at once. If the component bots have synchronic Resonance (i.e., their cpnk matches), the meld can last indefinitely.

Synchronic Resonance is what allows combiner teams like Devastator to exist. Rather than fighting itself for resources, the melded spark of the Constructicons behaves as if it were always one entity, adding the components' energies together rather than trying to find equilibrium between them.

Note: Unlike in popular fandom, merging sparks in the MoL continuity does NOT create a perpetual mental/emotional link between bots. There is no permanent change from melding a spark, it exists as an experience.

Sparkmeld and Nexuses

Some (not all) Nexuses are punctuated by a sparkmeld after they've been pledged. In the case of a Nexus of Concord, this is a vital component, albeit it works a bit differently; members of a combiner team will finish their vows off with a test run of their combined form.

Nexus bonds that involve a sparkmeld:

Nexus of Confidence

Nexus of Concord

Nexus of Stability

For these Nexuses, melding is considered fair game to request of your partner after they're pledged. Some bots do it once, then never again, others meld any time they want company; the frequency varies uniquely between each set.

Nexus bonds that do NOT involve a sparkmeld:

Nexus of Apprenticeship

Nexus of Adversity

Nexus of Protection

Since the role of these Nexuses is to teach or protect another bot, rather than understand how they think, melding has no use (and is often impossible, in the case of Metrotitans).

It is EXREMELY uncommon for a bot to want to merge outside of a Nexus, namely because the level of trust it entails often demands a familiarity that would lead to a Nexus in the first place. Still, it's not completely unheard of; especially in wartime, some bots want to know what the experience is like before they die on the battlefield, while others just want someone to share some solace with.

Medical Sparkmeld

In the case of extreme emergency, sometimes a bot might house someone else's spark in their own chamber to keep it alive during an intensive operation.

This is typically a last resort. A frame can't survive very long without its spark powering it, and removing a spark, however temporary, means that the bot will require a long recovery period afterwards. On top of this, the person housing the spark has to have a synchronic Resonance with the patient being operated on, or the chamber will reject the added energy.

When this does happen, the housing donor loses their individual consciousness in favor of the meld (albeit without the memories of the detached frame). Putting it into layman's terms, they become a one-frame combiner.

Note: Putting this into even more understandable terms, they're a Steven-Universe-style fusion. Two components, two minds, but the sum of their parts is a whole new person.

Appendix: Sparkmeld and the Matrix of Leadership

The spark of Optimus Prime, by technicality, can be considered a more permanent meld. Orion Pax's spark took on the Matrix of Leadership's directives and purposes; as such, Optimus isn't Orion, but Orion forms a vital part of who he is.

A spark is the core lifeforce of a Cybertronian, housed in the chest area and responsible both for a bot's physical ability to move and mental ability to think. Without a spark, a Cybertronian might be forced to move with manually entered commands, but would not be "living" in any recognizable sense.

Sparks can be categorized by three different means:

Radiance: The amount of energy output. Visibly affects the color of the spark, tied to frame sustainability.

Resonance: The frequency at which energy is output, loosely tied to radiance. Invisible, largely inconsequential unless you're a combiner.

Configuration: The purpose the spark is able to fulfill.

Radiance

A spark's radiance is how bright it is. The spectrum of spark colors ranges from near-white to almost black purple, like so:

There are eight levels of brightness, called lux. A bot with a lux of 1 is the dimmest a spark can be, with a lux of 8 being the absolute brightest. The spectrum is divided up like so:

For medical use, it gets divided further into decimals. So this is a spark with a lux of 2.8

And this is one with a lux of 6.5

It can go as far down the decimal trail as you need for perfect precision, but it swiftly declines in usefulness after the first decimal place.

Spark radiance determines both the maximum capacity of weight a frame can support and how efficient a spark is at maintaining its energy. The higher the lux, the bigger and more powerful you can be, but also the more energon you need to power your systems with. It's a tradeoff.

Resonance

A spark's resonance is the frequency at which it outputs energy, typically measured by being translated to sound. This is closely correlated to, but not 1:1 tied to, a spark's radiance. A high-lux spark is more likely to output a higher-pitched frequency, while a low-lux spark is more likely to output low pitch.

Generally speaking, spark resonance has little use medically, with the exception of combiner teams; in order to support the larger frame for an extended period of time, the component sparks have to be identical in resonance, or else the non-matching one will be a sink on energy and cause the combiner to fall apart.

Resonance is measured in cycles per nanoklik: ie, how many complete waves of high frequency energy are output within the span of a single nanoklik. The range is as follows:

A combiner team could be made of of bots with varying colors between 3 and 5 lux, so long as they all have a resonance of 4 cycles per nanoklik. On the other hand, if a bot with 1 lux had a resonance of 1 cpnk, and another 1-lux bot had a resonance of 2, they wouldn't be able to sustain form.

Configuration

This is probably the most important part of a spark, as it dictates the abilities a given Cybertronian is capable of, as well as how to handle them medically. You can tell a bot's configuration at a glance by the spark chamber: the exterior has nodes along the outside that shine sparklight in lines and pinpricks like constellations, and bots of a certain configuration (excluding Aberrant) will all have the same patterns.

Configuration is by category, divided into five:

Standard: This makes up the vast majority of bots, at about an 80% rate.

Titanic: Metrotitan sparks. So rare that they're practically unheard of, maybe one every few million years.

Harmonic: Cityspeaker sparks. They closely mimic Titanic sparks, which allow the bots that bear them to communicate with the cities they live in. Less than 1% of the population, back during Cybertron's heyday.

Accordant: Sparks that are optimized to conserve energy in a sparkmeld. These are the only sparks that are viable for combiner teams. Roughly 8% of the population.

Aberrant: Any spark that has unique configuration nodes rather than a pre-set pattern. This is what makes triple changers, minicons, and a host of other bots that don't fit the normal specs for whatever reason. They need a skilled medic to handle them; most doctors prioritize preset training, and Aberrant sparks require the ability to diagnose and adapt without a template to work off of. Everyone with this sparktype is uniquely Abberant, but it most often manifests in size differences. Roughly 12% of the population.

Metrotitans and cityspeakers were the highest-esteemed bots in pre-war society. Metrotitans are thought to be the children of Primus himself, and, unable to communicate directly with their people, cityspeakers become their mouthpieces.

Metrotitan Mythos

At Cybertron's beginning, there was the Well of All Sparks connected to Primus' heart, which only gave out Titanic sparks. These Metrotitans were giants among even giants, reaching far, far above the scale any bot is capable of existing at.

Eventually, the Metrotitans settled, becoming the first Transformers as they changed into cities. Given to them by Primus, their alternate modes included their own sparkwells, and it's from these wells that the sparks of Cybertron's population came to be.

Every spark that comes from a Citywell is a child of that well's Metrotitan, with an obligation to upkeep the city that so graciously gives it shelter. It's commonly believed that the Metrotitans maintain their city form as part of a Nexus of Protection towards their inhabitants.

Metrotitans

Metrotitans are defined by their Titanic-configured sparks, all of which have a Radiance far beyond the standard Lux scale, making their hearts veritable stars. While some believe they choose not to transform to protect their people, the truth beneath that is that in order to change shape, they would need a colossal amount of energon for one cycle of their T-cog.

At the center of each city is a Citywell, a hole into the depths of Cybertron that occasionally outputs a flare of sparks. These sparks crash just outside of the Metrotitan's boundaries, where they begin the Cybertronian life cycle.

Cityspeakers

Metrotitans speak on a frequency most bots are deaf to, in a language that's been long, LONG outdated called Metronic. They can only be translated by cityspeakers—bots with a special configuration that lets them at least perceive the sound. New cityspeakers are taught Metronic by their mentors as part of their apprenticeship.

A typical cityspeaker is small and only ceremonially armored; unless they've been war-upgraded, they're very fragile. To compensate, each cityspeaker was typically surrounded by an honor guard to keep them safe as they went about their business.

Cityspeaker sparks are rare to such a degree that their role is irreplaceable, and this only got worse in the leadup to the war.

When Cybertron died, so did the Metrotitans. Most cityspeakers took up arms and joined the war.

Former Cityspeakers on Earth

Arcee of Kaon

Moonracer of Kalis

Slipstream of Vos

A Nexus is a pledge, often lifelong, between two bots. Nexuses are taken very, very seriously, both in terms of the responsibilities the bots have towards one another, and in terms of outsiders knowing that if they mess with one bot, they're messing with everyone that bot's linked to.

There are six types of Nexus recognized by the people of Cybertron:

Nexus of Apprenticeship

My apprentice, my mentor

The relationship between mentor and apprentice, this is one of family. The mentor is responsible for the apprentice's wellbeing, social integration, knowledge, and skill, and the apprentice strives to emulate everything they've been taught.

This is only ever one-to-one (as in, one mentor to one apprentice) in times of extreme rarity or tragedy, as with cityspekers, when there's only one mentor available to teach. Otherwise, you've got everyone in your section of the industry mentoring the new bot.

Nexus of Adversity

My ally

The relationship between two bots that swear to look out for each other in combat, this one was covert during the dying days of Cybertron, then became a much more standard thing during the war. It's a vow to protect each other equally, to be their weapon and their armor whenever they need it. Two bots that make this connection forge matching weapons and strive to keep them in pristine condition.

Nexus of Confidence

My confidant

The relationship between two bots who trust each other above all else and consider each other partners in life. The nature of the bond (romantic or platonic) does not matter, it's the fact that THIS bot is the one you would trust with your very spark.

Side note: This kind of bond would encompass both Amica and Conjunx Endura in IDW.

Nexus of Concord

My concordant, (slang) my other part

The relationship between bots within an established combiner team. The group makes decisions together and in each other's interests, acting as if they're one unit rather than a collection of separate ones. It's a different kind of family to the mentor-apprenticeship bond, but still family.

Nexus of Protection

My guard, my ward

A vow made to protect someone; a one-sided in obligation, but still very dear. The Cybertronian that pledges this does so with a lot of weight, as they're telling the one they're pledging to that they value their safety above their own in every situation. It's common for people to pledge these towards bots with a lot of importance—the cityspeakers before the war, or bots like Omega Supreme, for example.

Bots believe anyone born from a Metrotitan's well is the ward of said Metrotitan, and that the obligation is fulfilled by the titan sheltering them.

Nexus of Stability

My contrast

The relationship between two bots with wildly different outlooks that still value each other's input. This one is saying that the other makes up for places where you fail, that you give each other advice when you alone fall short, and that you're better off alongside the other person no matter what disagreements you have, oftentimes BECAUSE of those disagreements.