Tag: caste

battlesparked:

_{Cybertronian caste is an enormously complex system, one which grew up over the course of millions of years and was tweaked to suit the needs of society’s leaders as they saw fit. Under this system, social status is determined by three identifiers: clade / caste / caste tier.} 

         _{CLADE is one’s extended family, a group of tens to hundreds of other mecha to which one is assigned upon emergence from the Well, and usually caste and occupation-locked; for example the Iaconian Record-keeper’s Clade are the singular group which caretake and staff the Iacon Hall of Records ( the parts of it specifically relating to the information contained therein, that is; maintenance and cleaning are staffed by lower-caste mecha not considered part of the Record-Keeper’s Clade ).} 

         _{CASTE is the grouping of mecha assigned to particular jobs, locations, or functions, whether loosely or specifically. Castes can range from the low hundreds in membership ( location-specific craftsmecha and culturally-specific functions, for instance ) to thousands or even millions ( notably the Burthov dockworkers and the Cybertronian Defense Force infantry ). There are several thousand recognised caste groupings, the top forty of which account for nearly 80% of the Cybertronian population.} 

         _{CASTE TIER is the Imperial government’s attempt at organising the sprawling caste network into a simpler ladder of superiority. There are eight caste tiers, seven of which are ‘original’━━devised by the creators of the caste system at the formation of the Empire━━and the eighth and lowest-ranked, known as ‘Untouchables’. The castes, many of which are based on groups outdating the Empire, do not fit perfectly into this model, but the Cybertronian government has never been one for admitting failure. Some of the larger castes span entire tiers, spilling over into those above and below: mecha belonging to a caste occupied in computer maintenance in large cities like Iacon, for example, may be assigned to Tier 4, but will have some clades working in Tier 3 on important or very complex, powerful systems, and others working in Tier 5 on very basic, low-importance systems.} 

_{At one point there were a plethora of laws governing the castes’ interactions, limiting social mobility to almost nothing, but since the middle Golden Age the practice of caste exemption has been on the rise. A mech who is ‘caste-exempt’ is not subject to laws limiting his interaction with those significantly above or below his own station. He may be fully caste-exempt ( the most well-known example being of course the Prime ) or only partially, which is commonplace among mecha of a higher caste working among those much lower. Caste-exemption can also be temporarily granted; Orion Pax was granted this for a time, allowing him to study History and Religion at a private Iaconian university.}

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