Back in my childhood the BBs had no names or backup story or anything really so I was left to create a universe for myself. I started with the annual (the only source of info at the time) which implied that the beasts lived on a completely natural world in spite of their obvious access to advanced technology (that cyber-armour has to come from somewhere) and that all they did was roam around the countryside beating each other up purely for the fun of it.
I decided they were a race of genetically engineered warriors who had been isolated on an island continent (simply named 'Land') by their creators ('the Unyielding Ones' - a humanoid race whose exact appearance I've never fully decided upon). Their sole purpose was to fight each other as a source of entertainment for their masters who could observe them from impregnable domiciles around the island (it seems I invented 'reality TV' before I ever became aware of the concept!
) Certain beasts were favourites (called 'Rhanukh') of the Unyielding Ones and had been 'upgraded' with cybernetic armour which kept regenerating the beast's body making him immortal but also stripping his memories and personality (and teleporting him to another part of Land) either every 200 years or if he was killed in combat, to prevent him developing to a stage where he might question his reason for being and rise up against his creators. Unmodified beasts would naturally die off before ever reaching this state.Things went on like this for long ages until by freak accident the 'upgraded' White Lion's latest personality found itself completely sentient rather than dominated by the programmed instinctive behaviour of the rest of his kind. With his newfound curiosity he soon uncovered the truth about life on Land. Horrified at what he and his people were being used for he went on a crusade, becoming a messiah amongst the beasts and Rhanukh, and eventually forced the Unyielding Ones from the island. To prevent the Rhanukh and the regular beasts from spreading to the rest of the world, the Unyielding Ones trapped the island by using a piece of powerful technology known simply as 'The Device', shattering the known universe into multiple dimensions with their world at the hub - part of the planet in each dimension - before leaving their world altogether in search of pastures new (they would eventually encounter the Cybertron (one of several - I had multiple TF stories running in my head too) of their particular dimension but that's another story for another time).
Back on Land (now sat in the midst of a vast ocean with no neighbours), White Leo led the other Rhanukh and Beasts into an age of peace and prosperity, utilising leftover Unyielding One technology, and established a great Beast civilisation that spread across all of the continent. But things were never going to last...
As time passed more and more of the Rhanukh passed the 200 year mark and, in spite of Beast scientists best efforts to understand the workings of the armour, had their liberated personalities erased and would reappear, savage and warlike as before, in the wild parts of Land. Eventually even White Leo succumbed to this fate and disappeared. Without the wise and powerful Rhanukh leading them, the natural beasts reverted to their genetic programming and fought amongst each other for no better reason than "they had to" and the great civilisation that had flowered so briefly collapsed, it's buildings and monuments consumed by nature as the millenia passed and the decendants of it's citizens roamed wild, engaging in combat whenever they met (this been the world that the annual portrayed - and "where I came in" as far as I was concrened).
The story has continued in my mind ever since then (I like to keep my imagination active
) - if I haven't bored everyone to sleep by now I'll happily dredge through my memory for the events that followed and add them to this thread...
