#two posts in a day | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lets-try-some-writing · 1 year

Text

Unspoken Rules

The war has lasted for millennia, and as such it has had a whole culture develop around it. The silent agreements are never spoken aloud, but after centuries of pain, anguish, loss, and strife, there is no need to communicate verbally. All Cybertronians, Autobot, Decepticon, or Neutral all know the rules and every bot, save the most hated and dishonorable few, adhere to them.

No Harming Sparklings

This rule stemmed from days long before the war's beginning, coming around sometime during the era Quintession occupation and changing to suit the war once it started.

Sparklings are a rare and wonderful blessing, any all bots no matter the faction recognize this. During the early years of the war this thought process was still respected, but both factions did not hesitate to steal sparklings from each other and even go out of their way to hunt sparklings down just so the other side couldn't have them. It was relatively tame at first, with each side acknowledging when a sparkling had been claimed and letting the bot with the sparkling leave unmolested. However as the war raged and atrocities became more and more common for the sake of victory, the rule started to wane.

A mentality of "If I can't have them, then neither can you" began to spread in both Autobot and Decepticon ranks among the ground troops despite higher command's best efforts to stop it. Sparklings began to be killed during the struggle as both sides tried to take them for themselves. And after dozens of sparklings from the last emergence were killed by uncaring soldiers on both sides, Megatron and Optimus came to an agreement. For the first time in millennia, they stood side by side without raising a weapon and shook servos to solidify one rule.

No harm shall come to any sparkling, Autobot, Decepticon, or Neutral.

Both sides then wept and mourned for a week. Not a shot was fired or a work spoken aloud. For the first time since the start of the war, all of Cybertron was silent as both sides acknowledged their wrongs and buried the sparklings who had died too young. Every bot, involved or uninvolved in the slaughter painted their frames grey and covered their faces in mourning glyphs. A memorial was raised near the well of Allsparks and not a spark touched it until the last days of the war when a stray missile demolished it.

Downed Ground Troops are to be Left Alive

This rule is completely unofficial and has never been written down or recognized verbally, but it is honored nearly universally.

After the numbers on both sides of the war began to dwindle, the hate that burned within both factions began to be segmented and redirected toward certain individuals instead of the enemy faction as a whole. Certain bots were targeted if they killed old comrades of others whereas simple foot soldiers were largely ignored due to both sides acknowledging that they were merely fulfilling their duties. It became common practice for bots who held few grudges and merely wanted to survive to keep their helms down and never actually kill anyone. They left that to the vengeful and the elite so that the consequences would fall on others besides themselves.

In response to this overall neutrality, ground troops who didn't get involved in personal battles or target high ranked individuals beyond simply wishing to cause a distraction for their superiors were left alone. Vehicons especially so due to their inability to actually choose whether they wanted to be Decepticons or not. Most bots respect this rule unless a ground trooper just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when two mortal enemies are duking it out.

Days of Mourning are to be Respected

The great war wiped out nearly the entirety of the Cybertronian race. The losses were so massive and the anguish so deep running that both sides are unwilling to compromise on the subject of honoring the dead.

It began during the height of the war after the sparkling massacre. After that tragic day there was always one solid week reserved solely for mourning and remembrance once every vorn. The rules of the event were simple: Don't disrupt the peace. Remain silent unless absolutely necessary. Remember factions do not matter during mourning. And no war efforts may be furthered during the time of remembrance. Every bot took the rules very seriously. Not even the most deplorable of bots dared to disrupt the sacred time especially when during those weeks Megatron and Optimus would stand side by side as a sign of peace.

Usually during the week of mourning all bots paint themselves grey to symbolize death and cover their faces with complex glyphs or markings of their region associated with funeral rights. Some bots covered their frames in the names of their beloved fallen, their bodies marked helm to pede with the complex name glyphs until the end of the week. Others stood vigil, not moving from the graves of the fallen or their chosen place until the time of remembrance ended. And others still grouped together to pray, talk about old times over private comm links, and to mourn regardless of faction. At no other time is there such peace. And while some have tried to turn the peace into times of business, it never lasted long as it was immediately shut down to respect the dead.

Even Megatron respected the week of mourning up until he started snorting dark energon.

Slave Coding is a Warcrime

This rule is simple and acknowledged by both sides for the same reason. Both Autobots and Decepticons wish for freedom, just different brands of it. And slave coding takes both their versions of freedom away from a bot and so is hated by both factions.

When a rogue bot or fanatic did start pulling out slave coding, it was shut down without hesitation by whichever side found it first. Sometimes Autobots and Decepticons even worked together to take down the mad scientist involved in the slave coding going on. All Cybertronians find it abhorrent and will gladly punt the perpetrator of such a crime into the nearest star. Even Optimus is willing to break his overall demeanor of mercy when it comes to such a breach of morality.

When the bots come across other races facing similar issues, the war can even sometimes take a backseat in favor of addressing the issue. Slavery is so universally hated by Cybertronians of all kinds that wherever it turns up, it tends to be obliterated if it is found out by the local regiment of Cybertronians, regardless of faction.

Civilians are to be Kept Out of the War

This simple rule was accepted far too late to be of much use. It came into being long after the war was at its peak and at that point there were next to no civilians on Cybertron. Every bot was a soldier or otherwise involved with the war if they hadn't fled.

As such the law mostly applied to the alien forces and the neutrals both factions came into contact with. Although the criteria for what counted as a civilian tended to cause no small amount of debate and conflict over the centuries. The Decepticons were often the ones who stepped over the line in regards to this rule the most. Usually they taunted any locals they met and wanted to use into fighting them, therefore making them combatants and free game both to be killed and taken as hostages.

The Dead are to be Left in Peace

For the very same reason that the week of mourning was put in place, this rule also came into existence.

Both Autobots and Decepticons hated the death and destruction, but they refused to allow the deaths of their comrades to be in vain. As such graves were constructed and promptly avoided by both factions out of respect. When bodies were disrespected or otherwise messed with without the consent of the bot in question in their will, retribution was fast and merciless. The fallen are to be honored for their sacrifice and their suffering. They are to be allowed to rest in peace, their frames allowed to return to Primus unmolested as their god intended.

As such those who did spit upon the graves of the fallen or otherwise harm to bodies were punished moreso than any others. For Autobots, such individuals were stripped of any rank and put to work in the lowest of positions. Their voices were silenced through chokers and even outright removed so that they could not speak badly of the dead and their servos were weighed down by heavy bindings to keep them from lifting their servos for any reason beyond their work. Such bots were also heavily shamed, with everyone else avoiding them and not speaking to them at all for at least a year until they had time to think over their actions.

The Decepticons were a bit more violent in their punishments in regards to violation of the dead. The perpetrator would first be dragged throughout the main Decepticon base to be shamed and then would publicly have their outer armor stripped. Then left with only their protoform and the few inbuilt weapons they had, such bots would be sent out on suicide missions. If they came back alive having not fled their post, they were welcomed back but still treated coldly for at least a year until they had gone to relatives of the ones they disrespected to apologize (Autobots included) or had proven themselves suitably remorseful.

Oaths are to be Honored

No bot really knows when this rule came into play... it just did. Oaths are powerful, especially during war. And so the bots who make such oaths are always left in peace to fulfill their chosen oath.

Soundwave vowed to never speak again, and so none dare to try and force him to use his real voice (not that they could). Optimus pledged to never raise his sword unless for the sake of his people, and so none try to force him to fight anyone aside from the enemy. Ratchet made an oath to fix Bumblebee's voice, and since then he has never stopped trying. Bumblebee swore he would not accept the rank of warrior unless it was upon Cybertron's soil, and so the issue has never been pushed and his decision respected. Others have made vows of different varieties, like Arcee swearing vengeance against Arachnid and Knockout and Breakdown vowing to remain together as companions until their dying days.

Each and every vow is respected. If two oath bound bots get into a conflict, not a spark steps in their way unless absolutely necessary (casing point Arcee and Arachnid). Those who choose to bind themselves in some way physically are never pushed to abandon their oath by either side (although round about methods have been devised). And lastly personal vendetta's are often left alone by others simply because the vows and the hatred run so deep.

It is a rule that was born for no real reason and it remains simply because no one has bothered to break it (except Megatron, but honestly he has broken all the rules at some point)

#maccadam #transformers #transformers prime #cybertronian culture #autobots #decepticons #look at that #two posts in a day #this little thing has been sitting in my drafts for months #I thought I would share it just because

298 notes · View notes