Warning: In this post I use the art of my OC, which my wonderful friend made for me (I drew it myself quite a long time ago, my friend's art is also quite old, maybe there will be new ones too, since I slightly changed his story).
HoneySota is an Insecticon of the Actias luna type, although it shares traits with a couple of other moth species. It originated on Cybertron and in its "young" years was found in one of the Insecticon colonies beneath the planet's surface.
Hive "Prosperitatis" (from Latin "Prosperity") - was located under Altihex/Uraya (Mostly in Altihex, but one side of the hive was on the border with Uraya). It was quite old by Insecticon standards, but not the largest. It existed back in the heyday of gladiator fights and the unification of tribes, so in the archives of Iacon and various historical datapads there is evidence of rare Insecticon scouts. The small size, strict control over the number of colonies helped this hive to remain unnoticed in the optics of other Cybertronians for a long time. Rare clashes were considered just an accident. The Hive Queen was a proponent of the fact that Insecticons should mind their own business and not interfere with the politics of growing industrialization (I know that you may have questions, but I have my own headcanons for Insecticons). She had little interest in what was happening on the surface, and was indifferent when one or two warriors from her swarm disappeared, simply saying that she would create new ones or that it was easier to remain unnoticed. The passive policy and general disinterest of the Queen, in fact, led to the gradual violation of territorial boundaries and the withering of the Hive. It was exterminated by the functionalist rule and many of HoneySota's kindred became simply hunted "beasts" for the gladiators in Kaon.
As part of "Prosperitatis", HoneySota was a scout, with a moth-like form and an extremely mobile frame similar enough to a normal Cybertronian for surface missions, he was versatile (aside from the obvious telltale signs of his insectoid origins: an extra pair of optics, hypersensitive furry antennae, and wings folded behind him). His work in intelligence made him a dangerous and formidable opponent, Sota is more than capable of holding his own and that of his fellow Insecticons. He can be kind and even nice, but you need remembering about his more savage nature. Sota is intelligent, adaptable, and quick to learn new things. Becoming his friend is a sure good thing, but Sota is a bot with questionable morals, as he has a different way of thinking. For the most part, he enjoyed his life as a scout, and his mind not so clear enough from the effects of the Queen and the Common Mind to analyze what was happening on the planet. During the daytime cycles, he mostly rested in secluded places and avoided Cybertronians, but during the nighttime cycles, on the contrary, he felt comfortable and even made acquaintances (mostly those who had no prejudices against Insecticon).
Driven by his own curiosity and the fact that his native colony of insecticons was gradually dying out, he left the hive shortly before the final destruction of "Prosperitatis". Before the hive came to an end, he often turned to his queen, speaking of the need to leave the territory for the sake of survival, but was punished for this more than once. The queen was passive and confident in the stability of her own position, so HoneySota himself left the familiar way of life. So when the "Hive" was destroyed, he was left in proud solitude, without the necessary documents and earnings. Initially, HoneySota planned to join another hive to continue living a familiar way of life and not feel lonely. After the death of the queen, his processor was empty of the general swarm of thoughts and this led to discomfort, besides, life in the society of Cybertron was difficult. Much later, he overcame himself and decided to try to live alone, fearing that other hives would fall.
(The author of these drawings has deleted himself from the network, so I can't tag him. The art was made only when Sota appeared and I started to come up with his lore)
For the most part, before the war, he worked as a courier among the gangs, carrying dubious orders. At first, it was difficult for him to understand the concept of "legality" and "illegality" of some actions, but he had comrades who helped and taught him. HoneySota was able to integrate into the society of Cybertron, perceiving it more as a strange, peculiar hive. This helped him get rid of the feeling of loneliness, and rare meetings with other Insecticons were a pleasant surprise. He also often worked as a guide, along the underground untouched communications that were mainly used by Insecticons. Or as a waiter, a general worker in general, since he could not apply for any specific job due to the fact that he have moth altform (the functionalists were not happy, so he had some problems with documents and proving that he was not a "stupid animal"). Living in proud solitude, he discovered a lot for himself, since the mind of the swarm still partially deprived him of individuality earlier.
Here are a few things he learned about himself:
He likes lamps and glowing things (aka a moth, guys. There must be a thousand and one lamp jokes here). Sometimes his friends would use it to wake him up. HoneySota would scare them by suddenly appearing out of the darkness like a jack-in-the-box. He has his own small collection of glowing things or light-refracting crystals.
He can make high-pitched squeaking sounds when scared or when someone pokes him in his delicate parts (if you've seen videos of the Death's Head Moth squeaking, this is it).
HoneySota loves sweet energon and can be a bit careless with the treat. Engex tastes sweet to him too, and the Insecticon gets a funny tingling sensation in his fuel tanks when he drinks it.
He can cling to flat surfaces and scare the crap out of other bots, as many find his behavior creepy. (It's worth remembering that he's still a warrior who left his scout past behind.)
"Dude let me in, I'm a fairy" - a commission I ordered from this wonderful artist @recvachka (thank you🔥✨)
Later in the pre-war time, he spent some time in the Decepticons, but quickly realized that he would become nothing more than a tool and left their ranks. Unfortunately, he allowed Shockwave to research him, as he thought it could help his comrades. A couple of the scientist's experiments made HoneySota more terrifying and capable of creating a colony in his self. He was not a "queen", but had the necessary changes in his body to create other Insecticons. The changes made him more aggressive than usual, although earning his respect or friendship will keep you safe (In this regard, he is like Aragog, he can be calm and not touch you, but his morality is so gray that you can quickly become dinner for his descendants). After he left the Decepticons, he remained in neutral territories for some time, where he worked as a courier and helped smugglers traveling from world to world, from one spaceport to another. The life of a nomad was not to his liking, Sota wanted to create his own hive. In one of his travels, he ended up staying on Eukaris, where he found a Conjunx Endura and founded a small hive.
His Conjunx Endura, whose name is Niagara, is the Prince of one of the "Kingdoms" that are at war with each other. Niagara was pleased with the idea of spreading his own hive, so together with HoneySota he began to strengthen the borders and recapture his own territory. Past experience made the moth a strong warrior, so soon a small nest and the first Insecticons appeared. In the recaptured territory, they founded their own hive, at the moment they have common Sparklings-bugs (the way they created is really quite scary, if you are interested, perhaps I will tell you. ask me please).
The names of the sparklings bugs and their species: Victory (Species: Dryocampa rubicunda), IceCrunch (Species: Oryctes nasicornis), Jewel (Species: Cetonia aurata), SlyShine (Species: Chrysolina coerulans) and Divine (Species: Rosalia alpina)
Niagara is a character of my wonderful friend, who made me a new reference HoneySota, now we are creating lore together. (On the left is Niagara's art, on the right is my old art where Sota is sitting hugging her sparklings. Now my friend and I are drawing new references for the little bugs, so I will publish them when they are ready)
Earlier I published a video in which I made headcanons for the voices of my characters, you can see it here. Voice of HoneySota: Johnny Cash - Ain't No Grave
If you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them, because this is not all the information I have.