Decepticon doors aren't centered just to piss you off. They're that evil.

Darkmount is an ancient fortress on Cybertron, the capitol of Decepticon-controlled Polyhex. It was built long ago around the caldera of a great magma plume welling up from the center of Cybertron. For a period of time during the Great War it was the seat of power for Lord Straxus, who fed dissenters to the smelting pool, a cauldron of magma which sat menacingly in Darkmount's shadow.^[1] The smelting pool empties through ducts into a canyon which Darkmount overlooks.^[2]

Fiction

Generation 1 continuity family

Marvel Comics continuity

Marvel The Transformers comics

Wishing to prove himself to his Autobot comrades, Scrounge infiltrated Darkmount. He was able to intercept a transmission from Earth, but he was caught. Blaster tried to rescue him, but Scrounge met his end in the smelting pool.

Meanwhile, the space bridge was being constructed under Straxus's supervision in a massive chamber located nearby. The Smelting Pool!

To keep the Decepticons from using the new Space Bridge, Blaster's group of resistance fighters, led by Perceptor, orchestrated a siege on Darkmount. The digging efforts of Borebit and Corkscrew loosened Darkmount's foundation, causing it to crumble, while Blaster defeated Lord Straxus on the space bridge. The Bridge to Nowhere!

The head of Lord Straxus survived, but with the destruction of Darkmount, he relocated to another stronghold in Polyhex. ...The Harder They Die!

Transformers '84

On Shockwave's orders, Counterpunch promoted Straxus to Regional Liege and gave him Darkmount as his seat of power, its ready to use smelting pool being of particular interest to the warlord. Secrets & Lies #2 After Shockwave himself had disappeared, Straxus consolidated his power from Darkmount. Secrets & Lies #3

3H comics

Darkmount was turned into a mostly rocky terrain after the Great Transformation. A force of Predacons led by Galvatron began work on a fortress there, intending to make it the new Predacon capital.

The Quintesson In-Saba Nur tried to take Darkmount by crawling up through the canyon ducts. As he died horrifically in magma, he realized the canyon was unguarded for a reason. Wreckers: Finale Part II

Wings Universe

Darkmount presumably inspired the name of the Darkmount Stratagem. Knight Flareup profile card Apelinq's personal logs, 2015/01/07

Precursor World

After Primacron had disappeared, the Straxuses managed to kidnap Primus and imprisoned him at Darkmount, unaware that Soundwave was observing them and had alerted the Primus Vanguard to their location. Finale

Darkmount was the site of Straxus' experiments on introducing organic traits into Cybertronians, where he produced and trained Convobat and Megalligator. It was staffed with a number of guards, including Air Hunter, Wrecker Hook, Hailstorm and Terradive. Cybertron Convobat prequel comicIt was later assaulted by Magna Convoy seeking revenge for the Primus Vanguard, where it was defended by Air Hunter, Wingstun, (a) Straxus and a member of the Rollermaster Corps, before Magna Convoy was spirited away by a mysterious spaceship. Cybertron Magna Convoy prequel comic

War for Cybertron Trilogy marketing material

Darkmount (a completely separate polity from Polyhex), was positioned south-east of the Sea of Rust^[3] and was often used as a base of operations for the Decepticon Phantomstrike Squadron when they weren't launching quickstrike surprise attacks on key Autobot positions. Final Strike Figure Series marketing material^[4]

While stationed on the outer edge of the Sea of Rust in an underground base, the Autobot Alphastrike Counterforce analyzed the attack patterns of the Phantomstrike Squadron to anticipate their next strike. Greenlight—who had been tracking the Phantomstrike Squadron from her drop point in a nearby deserted Decepticon zone—attempted to transmit the all clear for the Alphastrike's counterattack to commence, but her transmission was discovered by the Phantomstrike Squadron who corrupted its signal. Teletraan-1 attempted to retrieve the full transmission from the Decepticons to gather the location data needed to assess the threat. Siege Teletraan-1 Data Files

2019 IDW continuity

Ruled by Senator Straxxus, Darkmount kept itself independent from wider Cybertronian politics. Escape Part Two The last four Ark-class spacecraft were mothballed at Darkmount, Escape Part One with Straxxus restoring one of them to evacuate the city-state's populace in the face of mounting danger posed by geological instability. He had the other three turned over to Highbrow so that the Xeno-Quarter could also be evacuated. Escape Part Two

When Wheeljack and Hoist marched a convoy of refugees to Darkmount, Straxxus barred them all from entering, citing a need to protect his citizens. Escape Part Three

As a makeshift refugee camp was set up beyond the city, Straxxus invited Highbrow, Nautica and Wheeljack into Darkmount where he revealed he would be using three of the Arks to evacuate his citizens. After Highbrow left for Crystal City, a swarm of Insecticon clones descended onto the area. Escape Part Four

Witnessing this, Straxxus sealed the city gates and ordered Darkmount evacuated. When two of the Arks managed to launch, their rich bounty of resources and energon made them the new targets for the clones, the one carrying the colonization supplies detonating when the Insecticons chewed through enough of it. With most of the attackers perishing in the explosion, what few remained fled Darkmount. With Straxxus gone, the Autobots claimed Darkmount and used the third Ark to evacuate the organics, under the protection of Dai Atlas. Escape Part Five

By the time that Ultra Magnus had returned to Cybertron, Darkmount was considered a haven for neutral Cybertronians and aliens. Test Flight I When the Decepticons prepared to march on Crystal City, Optimus Prime sent the non-combatants to Darkmount. A Dust of Crystals

Following Lodestar's return to Cybertron, Optimus Prime sent her to Darkmount. Concurrently, Darkmount's own defenders fought off more Insecticlones as they tried to repair the last Ark. The Landscape of Fear Following the fall of Crystal City, Sky Lynx transported civilians to Darkmount as the Autobot army followed on the ground. Radical Time As Darkmount's defences began to fail, Termagax sacrificed her House, destroying an Insecticon swarm and buying enough time for an Autobot strike team to enact Termagax's plan of turning the Insecticons against the rust worms. As Optimus continued to lead his troops to the city, Skywarp teleported in front of them with an imploder to bar their path. End of Time

On the outskirts of Darkmount, observed by their armies, Optimus Prime and Megatron fought for the Matrix of Leadership before the arrival of Computron and the removal of Skywarp robbed the Decepticons of their advantage. When the Autobots reached Darkmount, they began their preparations to evacuate Cybertron before the Decepticon army, now bolstered by Devastator arrived. Holding the numerical advantage, the Decepticons quickly broke the Autobot lines before Computron reformed as a ten-bot combiner. Though the new Computron was ultimately overwhelmed by Decepticon firepower, the combiner had bought enough time for the Autobot ships to launch and escape Cybertron. Fate of Cybertron

Fun Publications Shattered Glass continuity

Cliffjumper was last seen alive in the vicinity of Darkmount.

During a battle for the Arch-Ayr fuel dump, Soundwave summoned the Mayhem Suppression Squad from Darkmount for assistance. Later, more Decepticon reinforcements arrived from Darkmount to transport the acquired fuel supplies. Dungeons & Dinobots

Aligned continuity family

Aligned novels

Darkmount was built in ancient times around the natural smelter known as the Upper Pool, to defend it from primitive creatures spun-off from the Transformers' own creations. Below it lay the Lower Pool.

In the last days before the great war, Darkmount was basically a large inhabited ruin. The settlement of Polyhex spread out from its flank, separating the Upper Pool of magma from a series of high class upper-caste homes on the opposite cliff face. Below, a community of artisans made their homes around the edges of the Lower Pool. Exodus

Prime cartoon

During the Great War, the Wreckers fought the Battle of Darkmount Pass, being caught between a Decepticon patrol and the smelting pit. Wheeljack cleared them a path and used the bodies of dead Decepticons as stepping stones to escape via the smelting pool. Con Job

When the Omega Lock created a huge fortress on Earth, Megatron dubbed it "Darkmount" in honor of the one on Cybertron. Darkmount, NV

Bumblebee's team visited Darkmount so they could look for clues as to Shockwave's whereabouts. Unfortunately it was also the first place Unicron went when he arrived on Cybertron, and during the ensuing fight, the Autobots were almost knocked into a smelting pit. Starscream later returned there, believing he could take his place as Decepticon leader, only to be met by Predaking out for revenge. Predacons Rising

2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon

Starscream survived by using his cunning and intellect dumb luck, accidentally triggering the fortress' intruder defence system which killed Darksteel and Skylynx. Exploring the fortress, Starscream found the laboratory where the Weaponizer Mini-Cons were kept before he decided to use them for his own benefit. Mini-Con Madness

Notes

• While it is never specified, the battle as depicted in the War for Cybertron Trilogy marketing material and the box art for the Amazon exclusive Final Strike Figure Series multi-packs, likely takes place in Darkmount.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Darkmount (ーダークマウント Dākumaunto)

References