Kaon is a dirty city. No fault of its own, really. It’s an industrial center, and the smelting pools fill the atmosphere with a foul, oily smoke that leaves traces on everything. Not the most pleasant of places to live.
Even less pleasant of a place to die.
Considering how many Decepticons and Decepticon sympathizers frequent the city, you’d think the Enforcers would have an increased presence. That they’d keep crime down while focusing on political dissidents.
They don’t. When there’s a group of them together, the Enforcers show up and throw their weight around, but they do nothing to handle crimes. Especially not murders. That’s when mechs call me. I don’t have a badge. Not Autobot, not Decepticon, not Enforcer.
I never drop a case, I don’t care how powerful the perpetrator is, I always find the truth.
I sometimes feel bad whenever I think about how Cybertron looks in my universe b/c in the official canon you have all of these spires and smooth shapes and it basically looks like fuckn’ El Dorado in space and it’s just glorious and magnificent y’know? Truly the kind of amazing you would expect from a race of technological beings that have lived for millions of years.
The favoured snacks and long distance energon treats of shuttles to keep them burning fuel efficiently with minimal consumption. Originally crafted by the scientists of Vos, they became a hit across Cybertron as one of the most widely desired confectionery for their practicality and beauty.
From left to right:
Unrefined uncut crystals – Mostly for treats and leisure than anything else, these are the most widely available and well known. Sweet but not sickly, they were a favourite of miners despite the sourcing from Vos for their reasonable affordability and high fuel content while lasting a long time. Shuttles often were given rations of the better quality versions of these, somewhere between the middle and lowest option as part of their per trip travel fuel.
Fortified/cut and
concentrated crystals: The desserts of artisans and more wealthy mechs, these could keep mechs on their feet for days with only a handful. Considerably prettier than their unrefined equivalents, they were displayed often in shop fronts and advertisement displays similar to jewels, being cheaper than actual gemstones at the time. Medics also kept these on hand for emergency situations and as therapy for traumatised mechs in need of some kind of luxury or reassurance.
Purified/faceted/distilled
lustre crystals: The premiere of treats and sweets, said to ruin all other desserts once tasted they were more valuable than jewels and actual currency considering the effort taken to craft these gemstone mimics into existence. A single one less than half the size of a speeder’s servo could top up a fuel efficiency to 100% for a week at the least, even larger frames. Only the highest of nobles could afford them, and even then were only shared during special events with close friends and family. It was very much so a show of wealth and power to own these treats rather than to actually eat them. Most notably they featured heavily in bribes, and were the very symbol of excessive luxury.
So that you finally know of what I’m speaking when I’m telling you what’s broken.
(open in new tab for fullsize)
Also to note, while most of these are placed correctly, there are differences of location and usage based on protoform model. For instance, my drive train is more located in my upper back than abdominal region.
[twitter exchange between Xiki Pumpkin @Xiki_muffin and James Roberts @jroberts332 on 29 December 2015.
XP: what can be said about cybertronian fashion? What is, cool,common, or
high class? decorative fabrics?piercings?decals?paint jobs?
JR: The upper classes repaint/refashion (superficially) their bodies more often. ]
nonverbal/mute mechs communicating chirolingually! mute mechs who were chirolingual but became empurata victims and created chirolingual dialects for empurata victims!! separate dialects of empurata chirolanguage varying on number of claws, dexterity of claws.. two claws? three? bendy ones, twisty ones, etc?
chirolanguage and sign language varying with regions of cybertron just like sign language irl!! mechs creating a name for themselves in chirolanguage that is their own specific motion (a la sign language in irl d/Deaf/HOH communities)!!
mechs who alternate between chirolanguage and sign language!! a dialect of sign language for empurata victims!!!
joke meta that would be funny if true: you know how transformers time keeping varies from continuity to continuity? like how a “cycle” is like, an hour in Beast Wars, but a full day or sometimes a month in other places?
what if that’s not a continuity thing, but a city-state thing? to a mech in iacon, a klik is about a second. to mech in vos, it’s a minute. in kaon a vorn is three years – in tetrahex it’s three months.
this leads to a lot of confusion when a unit has a bunch of mechs from different places.
whoa. Buggy, you gotta see this. bugs and robots together!!!
The following is an excerpt from the artist’s deviantART page bio:
My aim is to show the beauty of the mechanical world, a place generally hidden from the public behind metal and glass. My pieces display the more delicate and ephemeral side of gears, rather than the cold, hard factory feel they normally portray. Please contact me at jmg@amechanicalmind.com or jmg.amechanicalmind@gmail.com with any questions you may have.
Cybertronian Database 