Council of Worlds

Let's hope they don't need any more delegates later! They'll need a new table!

The legislative backbone of Cybertron's postwar republic, the Council of Worlds is the political body established to manage political dealings between the members of the republic: Cybertron, five of its former colony worlds, and Earth. Each world is represented by one to two delegates, selected to represent their planet as they discuss diplomatic matters related to the integration and interaction of their scattered worlds for the good of all its members.

Members

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

Does this make Optimus Prime Mace Windu and Starscream Emperor Palpatine?

After the conclusion of the Great War and the foiling of Shockwave's attempted ascension, the newly returned First Titan Metroplex located five of his siblings; eons ago, these thirteen Titans had departed Cybertron and founded colonies. While merged with Metroplex's mind, Camien cityspeaker Windblade caught glimpses of these scattered colonies, some of whom had diverged wildly from ancestral Cybertronian stock during their isolation. Windblade vol. 1 #4

After Windblade and Wheeljack repaired Metroplex's space bridge, Republic of Cybertron High Chancellor Starscream's government began preparing to make "first contact" with the colonies, starting with the impoverished Caminus.

When it was clear that Starscream planned to annex Caminus into a new empire, Optimus Prime began to push him to form a council of representatives from each colony. Starscream ignored this First Contact until Optimus cannily said how Starscream was so gonna do it and it was his own idea right in front of the cameras. The disgruntled High Chancellor agreed. The Possible Light

The first problem was to work out how the Council would work when Windblade and Starscream were the only two representatives so far. The suggestion of Optimus as a tiebreaker was seen as unacceptable because Camiens viewed him as a living god, giving him two votes and allowing him to run the body; Starscream's demand that Cybertron had "a final say in all things" was equally unacceptable to Windblade. A decision was, however, reached over Prowl's Devastator attack. Prowl would be imprisoned on Caminus before facing trial for crimes under both planets' laws. Mistakes and Mayhem

In the end, political wrangling ensured Rattrap was the representative of Cybertron and Starscream was the head. This was meant to give Starscream de facto control but he was unaware that Rattrap, having been working for Prowl, was secretly working for Optimus now. All That Remains Windblade vol. 2 #4 Prowl continued to argue that this was only leading to a reborn Decepticon Empire under Starscream (while Rattrap schemed to knock out Starscream before his dealings were exposed). Arcee, however, believed it would eventually force Cybertron to write up a constitution for itself. Now and On Earth

Caminus and Cybertron opened their borders and enjoyed cultural, economic, and personal gain as a result. Emigration between the colonies became quite common; impoverished Camiens migrated en masse to Cybertron to enjoy the influx of fresh energon, while many Decepticons travelled to Caminus to escape the prejudice they faced on post-war Cybertron to begin anew. Now and On Earth As the populace enjoyed the benefits of their newly multicultural society, Cybertron's government raced to secure the allegiance of the other four colonies that Metroplex had detected. First up was the desert world of Velocitron, but Velocitronian ambassador Knock Out rejected Starscream's offer, feeling that his rich world had nothing to gain by joining. Windblade schmoozed their diplomats and took a team through behind Starscream's back to ensure union. Windblade vol. 2 #4 A bit of showmanship (and cheating) convinced Velocitron to join the Council after all. Race Against the Light

While Windblade was on Velocitron, Starscream and Superion headed to Devisiun, awing the inhabitants with combination technology and persuading them to send Vanquish and Fireshot as their ambassadors. Rattrap headed to the planet Eukaris to meet with its beast mode Transformers and was able to gain the support of some of its tribes for his cause.

A week later, Devisiun and Velocitron had formally joined the Council; tired of the back-and-forth subterfuge, Windblade decided that she and Starscream would travel to Eukaris together, leaning on the knowledge Rattrap had slipped to her to win over the xenophobic Eukarians. The presence of vehicular Cybertronians on Eukaris caused Chela to awake, but after the two offworlders helped put down the berserk Titan, Fateweaver Blackarachnia decreed that the outcasts Airazor and Tigatron would travel to Cybertron and represent their colony. Windblade vol. 2 #6

Four score and seven years ago...

The final colony which Metroplex located was Carcer, a spaceborne Titan. Starscream and Windblade tried to parley favour with the Titan's captain, Elita One. Although Starscream's brash remarks quickly turned Elita hostile, Windblade persuaded them to join the Council to counter Starscream's political influence. Two weeks later, Strika and Obsidian joined the council, with the scene being broadcast on Cybertron's news service. The Will of the Few The Council continued to take shape as more and more colonists emigrated to Cybertron, including the establishment of a Justice Committee to handle legal issues between member planets. 07:00:00

The influx of new colonists was welcomed by most Cybertronians, but Starscream—already in a bad mood due to his recent struggles in assembling the Council—announced a new holiday intended to commemorate his efforts. His intentions were misunderstood, and though his plans quickly went off the rails several members of the Council paid him a visit to give him the gift of friendship for a night. Choose Me

As Optimus struggled to find his place in this new, post-factional society, he soon found that the colonists treated him as a deific figure; after the Mistress of Flame theorized that Earth might be one of the thirteen lost Cybertronian colonies of old, Prime, backed up against a wall by the machinations of Galvatron, decided to force the Transformer war off Earth by unilaterally declaring it a member of the Council to forestall any further Cybertronian aggression. Perihelion

Prime's actions sent ructions across Earth and Cybertron; in Iacon, Starscream held an emergency meeting with the other members of the Council. Windblade was willing to give Optimus the benefit of the doubt, although she agreed with Starscream's refusal to grant Optimus or Earth a seat on the Council, maintaining that the Council should only govern interactions between Transformer-populated planets. New Worlds Order

Couldn't any of these impartial Transformer societies have judged Megatron's crimes?

The Council convened for a Justice Committee session in response to a series of mnemosurgical attacks on Cybertronian Decepticons, including a parts supplier for Carcer: this foreign connection was the thin end of the wedge that Obsidian used to have the Council deliberate on the matter. Despite Starscream's reluctance to cede any authority to investigate a crime on Cybertron, the Council moved to have Ironhide investigate the crime spree. 07:00:00 Airazor and Obsidian would grouse that this matter showed that Cybertronian politics were a mess, but Obsidian noted they had no choice but to solve it. As further police violence sparked counter-violence across Iacon, the delegates thought little of Starscream's plans to stamp on it and instead gave the final pressure for Starscream to put Ironhide in control of the Cybertronian Security Forces, with a mandate to reform it and expand the membership outside of Starscream's control (not that he could complain about that!). Applicable Skills

Shortly afterwards, the Council convened to meet with Optimus as the Autobot leader struggled to deal with the fallout of his actions. Although Prime insisted that his intentions were pure, Starscream brought up the long history of other Primes who had abused their power and privilege, arguing that Optimus was just the latest in a long lineage of morally dubious "false" Primes. Ultimately, the Council voted against granting Earth a seat. The Medium and the Message The situation quickly changed when news footage came in of Optimus raising a Titan on Earth, the MIA Metrotitan. In a second emergency meeting, the colonists agreed that the Titan proved that Earth was a genuine colony world, and Optimus's ability to raise it apparently authenticated the divine rightness of his actions as a "true" Prime. The five colonies outvoted their parent world and agreed to grant Earth a provisional seat on the Council. No Fair Fights

When Sentinel Prime returned to life, he was infuriated by the news of the Council's formation, and the sight of "malformed" colonists mingling with Autobots and Decepticons was one that he considered disgusting. The Last Autobot While he was killed, it wasn't before he'd sicced an army of undead Titans through space to conquer Cybertron. After Carcer picked this up, Obsidian called an impromptu meeting, revealed the threat, and asked for a declaration of war. After initial panic (especially from Knock Out) and discussion about evacuations (especially from Knock Out), Starscream snapped it back into shape and organised Cybertron on a war footing, with aid from any offworlders remaining and Carcer's orbiting firepower, while the most vulnerable were evacuated to Caminus. Several members of the Council opted to join the battle as the Titans touched down in Iacon, but their invasion proved unstoppable and Starscream requested that Elita One transform Carcer to join the battle: a request that was refused. Ping

As the Titans ran amok, Starscream recalled all the councillors from combat to discuss a contingency plan. While Cybertron was ordered to evacuate, Windblade proposed leading a team (including Airazor, Tigatron, and Fireshot) to raid Carcer and force it into battle. Desperate Times When Windblade used her cityspeaker skills to interface with "Carcer"'s brain module, he was revealed as the evil Vigilem, Titan of Liege Maximo. Rubicon Resisting his efforts to escape, Windblade was able to harness the Titan's firepower to trounce the zombies but was left grievously wounded by the exertion and allowed the Liege Maximo, imprisoned within the Titan for eons, to escape. Heavy

Reconvening with the Councillors who had witnessed Maximo's escape, Elita argued that they would need to keep news of Maximo's escape a secret to prevent panic among the populace, though some members of the Council disagreed. By a margin of 3-to-2, the Council agreed to keep Maximo's freedom a secret for the time being. Heavy Eventually the knowledge was passed along to the other Councli representatives. First Strike #4

Why do we keep redecorating?

On Earth, Optimus and his forces continued to try and keep the peace amongst an increasingly volatile populace while urging the world's governments to select a delegate to represent their world on the galactic stage. Not all humans were happy about this "annexation" of Earth; tensions between Earth and the Cybertronians continued to rise, and when the Autobots discovered that black market arms dealers were circulating weapons based on old Earth Defense Command schematics, Prime warned the President that this violation of the Tyrest Accord would prompt a response from the Council. To Walk Among the Chosen

Optimus later went to the Council to advocate trading technology with both Earth and the newly arrived Junkion race. Starscream refused to budge: the Tyrest Accord, to him, was a crucial way of stopping potentially hostile aliens from using Cybertron's technology to attack the weakened planet and any violation by Optimus was treason. Despite passive-aggressive aid from the Mistress of Flame, Earth had yet to choose a representative and the Council lacked a mechanism to properly induct the planet in. Behind My Bleeding Back Optimus would use knowledge of the Tyrest Accord to engineer a diplomatic crisis; though controversial and perceived by many as underhanded, Prime solved three problems at once that allowed Earth to quickly catch up to the other Council worlds: allowing the Junkions to peacefully resettle on Earth, founding "Little Cybertron" as a new Cybertronian embassy on Earth, and selecting Marissa Faireborn, ex-director of the EDC, as humanity's first interstellar ambassador. Feel Safe Without Regrets At some point after this time, Elita One took Strika's spot as the delegate on the Council. Heavy

Earth was now a full-fledged member of the alliance, and in the coming days, Cybertron and its colonies prepared to officially welcome Earth to the galactic community; Origin Myths Iacon was pumped full of oxygen to allow humans to breathe on the airless world, and a glamorous ceremony incorporating numerous human VIPs was set up to commemorate the occasion. First Strike #1

Earth's first steps into the cosmic stage were not received well by all, however; having repeatedly encountered aliens over the course of his career, Joe Colton was firmly of the opinion that Earth could only be saved if it was cut off from the rest of the galaxy, and, as the evil "Baron Ironblood," assembled a terrorist alliance to annihilate Cybertron using the Talisman. First Strike #1 Their appearance threw the carefully-planned ceremony into chaos, and when elements of G.I. Joe and M.A.S.K. pursued Colton to Cybertron they were arrested by Strika and brought to the Council, where Elita One promptly ordered them executed. First Strike #3 Marissa overruled her however and pointed out that, in spite of her own feelings of whether or not Earth was ready to join the Council, Earth was a member and the humans had as much right to be present and have a say as the other colony worlds. Though Starscream scoffed at Scarlett's assertion that humans could bring harm to Cybertron, he nonetheless sent security forces after Colton so as to not look weak in front of the Council... which didn't go very well. First Strike #4

The battle for Cybertron ended disastrously for all parties involved; Colton's advisor Garrison Kreiger was revealed as the treacherous Prysmosian Merklynn, who used his magic to manipulate the Talisman and raise the city of New Prysmos beneath Cybertron. First Strike #6 This had the effect of severely draining Cybertron's internal energy reserves, magically tainting what energon remained, rendering it unpalatable, The Dead Come Home, Part 1 and filling the Cybertronians with fear about the "creatures" that now lived underground. The Chosen One In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Earth stepped up to supply Cybertron with a usable energon substitute; in their first meeting since the botched invasion, an irate Starscream tried to focus on procuring alternative energy sources rather than let "Optimus Prime's pet planet" take the credit. The Dead Come Home, Part 1

When Optimus Prime tracked Centurion into the wilderness of Cybertron, he discovered that the Eukarian had befriended the Dinobots and Trypticon, the latter nurturing a batch of protoforms that would become the next generation of Cybertronians. To prevent the protoforms from any Cybertronian aggression, Optimus announced that the ancient Titan would become the human embassy on Cybertron, thus placing the young Transformers on Earth soil to deter any potential threats. The Dead Come Home, Part 2

oh no she didn't

Some time later, Windblade, fully healed from her injuries sustained during her encounter with Vigilem, stood ready to rejoin the Council—but her new, self-determined attitude didn't sit well with Starscream or the Mistress of Flame; when the cityspeaker blasphemed against the Primes and revealed the truth behind Liege Maximo to the entire population of Cybertron, she was removed from the Council and banished from Cybertron. At the same time, Starscream—urged on by a spectral Bumblebee—decided to hold the first free elections in the city since the end of the war, which became a tight three-way race between Starscream, Elita, and Windblade. After Rattrap dug up some devastating kompromat on Starscream and his many transgressions, Starscream publicly confessed to his crimes in the first debate between the candidates. Spurred on by her inspiring rhetoric and well-received oratory during said debate, Windblade won decisively. Among her first actions was to imprison Starscream and his inner retinue, changing her title from "Emperor" to the humbler "First Delegate." The Chosen One

The Council later assembled to oversee Optimus Prime's delivery of an Ore-13 shipment before Onyx Prime and Liege Maximo showed up. Surfeit of Primes Though the Council granted the Primes, including Alpha Trion, an audience, Onyx's imperialistic attitudes quickly caused a rise in tensions before Soundwave's retinue burst in and declared that they would not allow the Primes to reassert their rule. It was then that a mysterious explosion ripped through the Spire, killing Alpha Trion. Another Mine As the Council tried to take stock, Onyx used the chaos to reveal that Horri-Bull's I/D chip had been detonated, not by Bumblebee, but by Soundwave, sparking a free-for-all among the populace. As Onyx returned to his Titan, Nemesis, Optimus and Windblade followed so Optimus could kill the ancient demagogue. The Ground Unfortunately for the Council's interest, Optimus was soon sighted plummeting from the Titan's spaceship mode. The First Who Was Named

Search parties were instantly dispatched to find the Prime to no success before an even greater revelation was revealed; Onyx Prime was, and always had been, a temporally displaced Shockwave who had been manipulating all of Cybertronian history for his own purposes. Endless Forever Though he was soon taken prisoner and brought before what remained of the Council, he informed them that "the Great Destroyer" was approaching. Unforgivable

Shortly after, Windblade sent Kup and Ironhide underground to meet with the Prysmosian refugees. Darkling Lord representative Virulina was not pleased with Ironhide's terms, chafing at the idea of having to work around the Council of Worlds. Schismatic The conflict eventually ended with New Prysmos being raised to Cybertron's surface, with both species deciding to leave the other alone, but the process had sent out a summons to a planet-sized entity. The Curtain

When Optimus awoke, Windblade explained that the object was Unicron and that it was attacking all of the Cybertronian colonies. After Eukaris and Devisiun had been devoured, Prowl informed the Council that Unicron's next target was likely to be Caminus and that a trap should be laid for the monster there. Unstopped and Unstoppable While the Autobot fleet scrambled to defend the colony, and Optimus was even able to enter Unicron, they were unable to destroy the Chaos Bringer, leaving Caminus to its fate. Last Stand As a result of the members' planets being destroyed, Starscream, when brought before the Council, opined that they might want to change the name. Stranger Eons When Cybertron was evacuated, all the members of the Council, save Elita One who had sacrificed herself to allow others to escape, were teleported to Earth, Road's End later settling there once Unicron had been felled. Ceremony Post

Prime Wars Trilogy cartoons

The Council, consisting of Starscream, Rodimus Prime, and the Mistress of Flame, ruled over post-war Cybertron and Caminus. Following a battle between Computron and Menasor on Caminus, the Council debated using the Enigma of Combination to create their own combiner army. Rodimus favored using the Enigma while Starscream was more resistant to the idea. Before a decision could be made, a failed attempt to destroy the Enigma by Windblade resulted in Starscream being injured and the police force being put on high alert. The Council Optimus, Windblade and Megatron later attacked the Council's chambers together in order to destroy the Enigma and were engaged by their automated defenses, but they were interrupted by the surprise appearance by Devastator, who tore off Rodimus's arm. Homecoming In the aftermath of the Combiner Wars and Starscream's defeat, the Mistress of Flame offered Optimus a seat on the council, but he declined. He suggested Perceptor take his place instead, but the Mistress of Flame was opposed to the idea. Aftermath and Rebirth