Cybertronian worldbuilding dot png

[redthedragon]

Was talking to Kem optimusprmesdisapprovingeyebrows about Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) and Cybertron and floated the idea of basaltic LIPs being the origin of hot spots on Cybertron, given that Kem (whomst knows things about geography) suggested that they figured that most natural LIPs would be sulfuric rather than basaltic, and i'm personally extremely in love with the way basaltic trap formations look because they are the sexiest landforms ever. or at least close to it. anyway i'm still stuck on that.

primus takes a whole bunch of the stuff that makes good Robot Bits and puts a whole buncha robot seeds in it and then essentially bleeds it all over the surface of cybertron in a massive, destructive event that virtually ensures that whatever was on top of the hot spot won't get in the way when the little robots start sprouting. (you will not take my plant metaphors away from me, i love thinking about transformers developing like seeds germinating. i will not stop)

Anyways, thoughts? Comments, input? I absolutely adore the idea of this super-destructive version of hot spots forming, personally. it seems Fitting


Original post can be found here, though the idea of Cybertronian hot spots being LIPs was suggested in a private chat: https://optimusprmesdisapprovingeyebrows.tumblr.com/post/657472487464075264/do-you-think-there-are-any-lips-on-cybertron

Comments

[sexytronians]

Ooh I really like this idea. I love geology although I don’t know as much about it as I’d like.

There’s probably a few cities That have been partially destroyed by hotspots. And a few cities built around hotspots

[hurricanefoundry]

(Kem here, finally got back into my dw account lol) I absolutely love the idea of hot spots being flood-basalt equivalents as a way of protecting the newsparks and providing fertile ground for them to grow in, omg. iirc weathered igneous deposits actually tend to be very good sources of iron and other useful metals - check out the bushveld igneous complex on wikipedia, and there's a textbook chapter I remember looking at last year, I'll try and dig that out if you're interested? Science can support ur desire for seedling TFs in apocalyptic hotspots. :D

*minor correction, it's felsic, not sulfuric. 'felsic' stands for 'feldspar and silica', as opposed to mafic ('magnesium and Fe(iron)'. :D High silica content makes a magma sticky and prone to blowing up (though in a Cybertron with no water you'll probably get significantly less volatiles in a melt, maybe). iirc they both come with lots of useful elements tho, it's just the landforms they make tend to be slightly different.

[redthedragon]

OH!! Felsic makes more sense than Sulfuric; i had a feeling that that was not the right term but you can see what i went with XD

The Bushveld Igneous Complex is so cool, thanks for pointing that out! LIPs are genuinely so neat. i love this so much XD