Ancients

The Ancients are the first Transformers created after the Cybertronian Gods. Rightfully huge and powerful, given unique roles and natures to battle Primus's ancient foe Unicron, and maintained colonies during the Golden Age.

"“We are the Ancients, the first, the forgotten, each of us serving a function vital to the survival of the universe. Each of us and given a function to serve during the long march of infinity."
 * —Prima to Generation Prime.

Known members

 * Prima- The leader of the Ancients.
 * Alpha Trion- Holder of the Quill, which he uses to record the past, present, and future of Cybertron in the Covenant of Primus in his role as recordskeeper of the Dynasty of Primes.
 * Liege Maximo- The manipulator. Though his artifact was notionally the toxin-loaded Legian Darts, his real skill was his ability to talk others into his way of thinking—a black art that ultimately caused the downfall of the Ancients.

History
An earlier civilization referred to as the "ancients" predated that of the Transformers on Cybertron. They were noted to had been explorers that charted space who collected their data in a map room. During their reign, they knew how to build and create the technologies that allowed them to travel through time and space. The Ancients used this technology to sent many colony ships out into space to other worlds, such as Earth, Velocitron, Animatron and Gigantion. An unknown cataclysm later devastated their society and was believed to had created the Sea of Rust where their tomb resided.

The Ancients created the Energon Harvesters to remove raw Energon from any source. According to Optimus Prime, the Ancients used the art of a given era to conceal hidden messages. For example, a fresco in Ancient Greece depicted a harvester, likely as a signpost to its location. They also were known to have foretold the events detailed within the Covenant of Primus.

By one point, many years later, Shockwave had discovered the ruins of the "ancients" and the site of the technology and began experimenting on it in order to unlock its secrets of their expansion to possibly find a new world whose energy would be used by the Decepticons during the Great War.