Governmental Systems
Cybertron's current governmental system is an an oppressive and stagnant combination of Feudal system and Caste system.
The Prime
The planet's autocratic leader is designated with the title of Prime, which is added as a surname to their own, ie 'Nova Prime', 'Nominus Prime'. The Prime carries full and total power, acting as civil, military and religious leader of the planet. The Prime is both Pope and King.
Cybertron's current ruler is Sentinel Prime.
The Primal Vanguard
The planet's military force in times past, answering to Nova Prime in its heyday. Presently the Primal Vanguard has been disbanded.
History:
Cybertron has, in its very ancient past, been meddled with by outside invaders - the Quintessons - during a period of time known as the Age of Wrath. The Quintessons were very keen on dividing and organizing Cybertronians according to altmode -- in order to determine /where in the galaxy they should be marketed to/. It was during this time that the original 13 Primes arose and drove out the Quintesson invaders, leading 13 tribes in relative peace and rebuilding, at least until a betrayal occurred that shattered the peace, and put the primes at war with one another until they all mysteriously fled. It was at this time that a new prime, Nova, arose and reunified the tribes into a blended civilization. Nova, however, kept the notion of division by altmode because he believed it created order, and because he intended to organize the entire planet into one massive conquering force. Thus was born the Primal Vanguard.
Ostensibly they existed to defeat Cybertron's enemies and chase away the invaders and enslavers. In reality they were an army of conquest that engaged in 'peacekeeping' lesser organic species. Most had no idea what they were being used for; they believed themselves to be doing an honorable and just job trying to hunt down the Quintessons and search for missing Cybertronians sold as slaves. It was Nova and his command that kept them in the dark about his true goals. Nova Prime was regarded as a hero and eventually as an honored martyr when his ship vanished into the Benzulli expanse. The Cybetronian population was kept ignorant of Nova's desire to bring all forms of life into order under the rule of 'Pax Cybertronia'. The rest of the galaxy saw them as a wild, aggressive species of automatons ('Autobots' in perjorative) hell-bent on killing or conquering everyone else. Trade and treaties with other species became more and more difficult.
As the fixed number of military units reached their natural limits of conquest (the hot spots and sparkwaves had all but stopped), the balance of power began to shift back to the other species in the galaxy. Lack of energon supplies made it difficult to fuel the conquest - space ships, space bridge numbers and endless weapons were taxing energon sources to their limits. With Nova gone and shortages beginning, the Primal Vanguard was disbanded as obsolete. Members who refused reclassification for civilian lives were imprisoned or executed, while others fled into the shadows as criminals, mercenaries and vagabonds. Those who accepted their new lives were dispersed into new organizations.
The Triorian Guard
Triple-changers used as bodyguards of the Senate. They are also used to guard religious sites (such as the Primal Basilica) or government sites (such as any place the Senate convenes). Ex-Vanguard and other military bots fit into this group. Comparable also to the Secret Service.
The Senate
Senatorial Insignia
Comparable to the Roman Senate, The Cybertronian Senate differs from that human institution, in that Cybertronian Senators are not elected by the people, but instead inherit their seats from their "Progenitors' (see: Elective Kinship). Senatorial "families" are known as Great Houses, and the designated heir to a seat is known as a Senator Elect. In this way, the Senate of Cybertron is comparable to feudal noblemen, with similar ranks, structures and behaviors. Because the Senate creates the laws by which all Cybetronians must abide, and because they cannot be removed by votes, they have slowly become more and more corrupt, spending most of their time in political intrigue against each other and against their counterbalance, the Functionist Council. Senators cannot be brought to trial by ordinary police forces and are considered by position to be above the laws they create. Only by the decree of a Prime or by a special Senate meeting can a Senator be divested of power or otherwise tried and imprisoned. Senators are part of the Elite Caste.
Some Cybertronian Senators:
Cybertronian Security Forces
Security Forces Insignia
A national guard or secret service force, the Cybertronian Security Forces investigate crimes and deal with greater threats than regular city-state police forces can handle. Security Force members are known as Enforcers, and carry greater authority than standard police forces and supercede them. They are directly commanded by the current Chief of Security, Prowl, who replaced Sentinel when he ascended to the primacy.
Some corruption exists in the Security Forces, as Senators may bribe or order Enforcers to carry out special operations against political rivals or dissidents under the flimsy pretense of being a 'necessary action in best interest of the people'. All Enforcers must obey orders given to them by Senators, which can only be overruled by orders from the Prime. Sound confusing? It usually is to the average Enforcer, who is subject to obey the orders of whomever has the highest rank in the room.
The Functionist Council
Functionary or Guildmaster Insignia
Composed of twelve individuals with unique single-optic appearances, the Functionist Council manages and refines the Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy (or GCT for short), a listing and categorizing system that ranks and orders every living thing on the planet, from the massive Metrotitans down to the lowly scraplet. From their headquarters, the Council discuss any changes and regulate how everyone fits into the social order: The most ubiquitous altmodes are relegated to the Disposable caste, as it is assumed they can be easily replaced, while the rarest altmodes occupy protected positions of High caste power.
Originally intended as overseers to help guide Cybertronians into finding a place in society and a purpose for their lives, the Council has slowly become a controlling force that has twisted its own religious tenets to hold on to power. Because the Functionist Council can declare someone "altmode exempt" -- free from the normal caste restrictions their altmode might impose, and thus allowed to pick an occupation of their choosing -- the are the natural counterbalance to the Senate. After all, it is the Council who decides which altmodes are worthy of Senatorial power, and the Council who must approve the next Prime, should the present one die.
The Functionist Council is constantly editing and reorganizing the GCT according to the numbers of altmodes present in the population; this tends to shift every time there is a new ignition of a hot spot and more sparks are born, which changes the percentages. Every change is passed off as the will of Primus or the Guiding Hand, and every new batch of sparks is seen as a portent of his will; if there are more proton microscopes, Primus wants science. If there are more drills, he wants more mining. If there are soldiers, he wants war. They are particularly keen to locate and harvest green Point One Percenter sparks, and have instigated the oppression and execution of Outliers - those whose abilities have nothing to do with their altmode's implied function or shape.
The Council
- One-of-Twelve: The Convener
- Two-of-Twelve: The Auditor
- Three-of-Twelve: The Authenticator
- Four-of-Twelve: The Moderator
- Five-of-Twelve: The Enumerator
- Six-of-Twelve: The Enactor
- Seven-of-Twelve: The Curator
- Eight-of-Twelve: The Disseminator
- Nine-of-Twelve: The Inquisitor
- Ten-of-Twelve: The Evaluator
- Eleven-of-Twelve: The Mediator
- Twelve-of-Twelve: The Castigator
Functionaries
Functionaries are the private guards and executors of the will of the Functionist Council. They can be compared in human terms to crusaders or inquisitors.
The Guilds
The Guilds of Cybertron oversee the training and placement of newly assessed individuals into various cities and positions according to their castes. Much like the historical guild systems of Europe, they oversee who may learn what skills and occupy what trade in what polity. Hand in hand with the Functionists, the Guild Masters make certain that no one learns a skill outside of their given function, and decide what levels of training an individual may have.
They are presently lead by Guildmaster Sigil.
The Caste System
There are basically five castes in Cybertronian society at present day:
- Elite - Reserved for the Senate, Great Houses and the Functionist Council. The Prime is higher than all of these and technically its own caste.
- High - Intellectuals, famous artists and entertainers, high ranking military, politicians, guildmasters and other 'cream of society'.
- Middle - Business owners, architects, standard medics, white color jobs, police and regular military.
- Low - Also known as the Manual Labor class. Usually physical laborers such as miners, construction workers, recyclers, etc.
- Disposable- Effective slaves and non-persons: These are unfortunates such as minicons (cassettes), Insecticons, Memory stick alt-modes, some miners, criminals, Empties (homeless transformers) or those whose functions have been deemed "obsolete."
Belief Systems
Functionism
"Everyone's Shape Serves A Purpose."
Insignia of the Functionist Council
Functionism, sometimes called Ratioism, is a belief system and social structure where a Cybertronian's role in society is defined by their alternate mode. Trucks and construction vehicles are required to engage in manual labor employment, for instance, while a proton microscope would be allowed to seek out intellectual pursuits. Becoming widespread in Cybertronian society after the disappearance of Nova Prime and the Ark, functionism apparently reached an apex during the reign of Nominus Prime. Functionists often have a religious underlining to their beliefs, accepting that a forged alt-mode is the will of Adaptus, the Guiding Hand's god of forms and contemporary of Primus Lifegiver himself.
Functionism became prominent on Cybertron in the last six million years, after the loss of the first Ark. A Cybertronian's status was determined not only by the utility of their alt-mode, but also its scarcity. The more unique an alt-mode was, the higher a Cybertronian could climb in society, and vice versa. At one point, Cybertronians who transformed into memory sticks were so common, they were considered a "disposable class" and treated as little more than slaves. The only way out was to qualify for the Intellectual class, or perform a task of note such as finding a Point One Percenter spark and be declared alt mode exempt. Outliers were known to be persecuted by them due to not fitting in their neat categories. Cybertronians with non-humanoid robot modes were also looked down upon and treated as little more than beasts.
Under unknown circumstances, functionism became a less totalitarian philosophy during the reign of Nominus Prime. Functionist hardliners still existed, such as in the town of Petrex where complaining about one's alt-mode was punishable by prison. Elsewhere on Cybertron, though, it was acceptable to defy Adaptus and undergo full-body retrofitting to change alt-modes permanently... provided you had enough shanix. For a more modest fee, Relinquishment Clinics offered "body tourism", using sparkswap technology to let Cybertronians temporarily try out a different alt-modes from a "donor."
Functionism is alive and well on Cybertron today, and the injustices and exploitation it has created are rapidly reaching a boiling point. The Decepticon movement is a direct attempt at rebellion against the current functionist order.
(Quoted from The Transformers Wiki)
Cyberutopianism
Cyberutopians believe in the stories of the Guiding Hand and the Knights of Cybertron, and believe that if they were somehow able to get the Knights to return to Cybertron, their society could be repaired and set back into a peaceful order. They oppose the caste system of Functionism and the oppression of the Senate, which has earned them oppression and castigation from both halves of the current governmental order. They are considered a dangerous fringe group, and their leader, Pious Maximus, was one of the first public victims of the Institute, having been subjected to a "personality adjustment" that caused him to publicly renounce the belief system he once lead.
Militant Monoform Movement
The Militant Monoform Movement, or the Triple M, consider it heresy to have more than one altmode. They symbolically reject Adaptus (the patron deity of Functionism) by having their transformation cogs (t-cogs) removed, remaining permanently in root-mode. They are an anti-Senate organization, and as such suffer frequent persecution.
Malware Brigade
An anti-government, anti-oppression force consisting of programmers and hackers who attempt to break the chokehold on information that the state-run media has. They use their skills to disrupt oppressive government, police or other institutions, transmit pirate broadcasts of censored video footage, interfere with spying and monitoring devices, etc. Comparable in some degree to the RL hacker group Anonymous.
Evolutionary Engineerism
Atechnogenesis is the secular scientific explanation that life on Cybertron sprang up through the naturally-occurring interaction of gears, levers, and pulleys. The strict scientific rationalism of atechnogenesis rejects traditional religious claims that Primus is the source of all life on Cybertron, and much of the ancient doctrine surrounding the Matrix. Those who practice this belief are known as Evolutionary Engineerists.
Social Systems
Conjunx Endura
A Conjunx Endura is a Cybertronians's significant other, an individual that they deeply love. In human terms, Conjunxes Endurae are the equivalent of spouses; for example, when the life of a Cybertronian is threatened to the point of unconsciousness, it falls upon their Conjunx Endura to make medical decisions on their behalf. Some Cybertronians think close relationships like these are embarrassing.
(Quoted from The Transformers Wiki)
Conjunxes Endurae are comfortable engaging in full-access, unshielded neural interface, which allows them to share memories, perspectives, emotions and sensations. Differing from just sharing information or being examined medically through a one-way download of data, this type of mental link-up allows for absolutely no secrets between the two, and has the side effect of slowing blending the Endurae's personalities together until they are a balance between the two extremes.
Amica Endura
The Cybertronian equivalent of a Best Friend Forever. Almost literally, considering how long a Cybertronian lives.
Elective Kinship
As Cybertronians are not a sexually reproductive species, they are not naturally given to a family structure. For social reasons, however, they may opt to form relationships that are similar to the family roles found in sexually reproductive species. These arrangements can be as simple as something agreed upon by the parties involved in a temporary arrangement to as legally binding and formal as induction into a Great House or the Lineage of the Primes.
Common kinship bonds
- Siblings (such as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe), where one individual looks after one or more younger individuals as an older brother/sister, training and guiding them but expecting them to someday be equals.
- Progenitor/Descendant: Or Father/Mother and Son/Daughter. In this case, an individual assumes full responsibility, authority over and care for the "child", training and guiding them to fullfill a specific role. This is the standard bond for Great Houses, Guild Masters or Functionist Council Members.
- Mentor/Student: A less formal type of the above, where the Mentor may take on multiple students to train them in a specific skill or task. A Mentor has no legal obligations to the student other than to help the student complete their training, so long as the student desires. It's not uncommon for a Mentor to take a protective role of his/her students and for students to see their Mentor in a parental role, with all the fondness and friendship that comes with it.
Primary Programming Schools
Primary Programming is the equivalent of basic schooling, given to every newspark once they have completed nurturing and been assessed according to altmode. Instructors at these schools provide general education and inculcation of current social and civil mores and doctrines. Passing a test is required before a protoform (the general term for a very young, uneducated Cybertronian) can leave Primary Programming school either for their immediate occupation, or for institutions of higher learning, such as a Technoversity or Academy.
it is extremely rare to find a Cybertronian who has not been put through Primary Programming school, as both Senate and Council legally require protoforms to be indoctrinated educated for their own well being.