Transformers Prime: Broken Sparks (AU)

      Cybertron…        A distant world inhabited by sentient, mechanized beings — creations of the great deity Primus, who eventually took the form of the planet itself and became their home. Hundreds of centuries have passed since the moment of creation; generations rose and fell. Some knowledge was lost, some endured, yet over time their world formed a distinct stratification. Cybertron was divided into city-states, separated by colossal distances — distances their technological advancement allowed them to cross within mere hours.       Cybertronians were still a young race, only learning how to exist within this universe: they explored, they erred… Yet sometimes those errors came at a price far too great. No one could have ever imagined that one day a single mistake might bring their entire world to ruin. Social stratification had always existed on Cybertron, but the question “Why is he worthy of living this way, and I am not?” began to take shape only recently. There were four social classes.       The First Class — the rulers.        Ancient lines descending directly from the very first Primes, who themselves were formed by Primus. This was the highest echelon of society: those who dictated the structure of civilization, resolved disputes, and carried out political governance. Every member of the First Class was chosen by the Cybertronian Council — a body composed of the oldest among them. The appointed aristocracy governed the cities, but in time their numbers grew so large that not all could claim a ruling seat. Thus began an internal race — a ruthless struggle for the title of Lord and for the right to hold a voice within the Council. These exhausting political feuds, however, were of little concern to the Second Class.       The Second Class consisted of Cybertronians brought into being through the Kindling. Robots possessed no gender, and their reproduction was nothing like that of humans. At the core of it all was their soul — the Spark: an energy that carried their identity and the encoded design which determined the appearance and alt-mode of the future bot. Cybertronians of the Second Class progressed through distinct stages: Sparkling, Beta, Youngling, and Adult.       A Sparkling was an infant spark — a young, daughter-energy born from the merging of two parental Sparks.        A Beta was a small bot — a child — unable to transform yet already capable of reasonable thought and early learning.        A Youngling was a bot who had received an adult frame through cyberformation, but who was not considered fully grown until passing a rite of maturity appropriate to their kind. And an Adult was one who had completed all the prior stages and was ready to contribute to the world: scholar, mechanic, teacher, soldier — whatever path awaited them. The Second Class formed the majority. But there were still the Third and Fourth.       The Third Class consisted of those created by hand — their bodies assembled in factories, their Sparks ignited within their metal shells by means of an ancient artifact. They were the lowest caste, engineered for labor and service. Their parts were simple and easily replaceable, and their processors lacked the freedom of thought possessed by others. Souls confined within bodies never meant to express free will…       The Fourth Class encompassed the non-sentient beings that inhabited the planet alongside them.        Creatures incapable of transformation, guided solely by instinct — by the preset code woven into their Sparks. They were akin to animals, ancient forms resembling predacons and other primordial species.       This world — their world — was far from perfect, and soon the first signals of change began to emerge. Was this the natural course of events? Did someone engineer it, or was it the result of an unseen mistake? In any case… the process had begun, and it could no longer be stopped. More and more members of the Third Class started to think, to become aware of themselves — and, inevitably, to rebel against the limitations placed upon their rights. The conflict grew, smoldering for several hundred vorns… until it finally collapsed in on itself.       The story now known to all — the tale of Orion Pax and Megatronus. Two bots who overturned the world and led it to destruction.       And we now stand at the beginning of that story…