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[yvannairie]

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The more I think about it, the more the shape the way the Cybertronian species has developed and is still evolving emerges as three quarters software service development, one quarter "intelligent design by an unintelligent designer".

Mecha are a part of the self-repair and self-management systems of the planet-sized being known as Primus -- they serve a variety of functions alongside other bodily functions, but primarily they're intended to maintain their own population and living environment, as well as help with the circulation of resources like specific metals and Energon, in more fast-acting ways than the geological timescale of Primus' other bodily functions. Unlike mechafauna and mechaflora, which are fairly simple in construction, mecha themselves need to be able to self-evolve and get better at their duties, especially since many of them pertain to the well-being of the whole planet, which is why the glorified white cells/gut flora of Primus are sophisticated enough to be sapient and have their own society.

Naturally, Primus needs a method to correct for misbehavior. The first one is just straight-up communication -- everyone involved being mechanical, there's plenty of electromagnetic radiation going on. Primus can straight-up listen in to what is going on om Cybertron, although mutual communication is complicated by the differences in scale and comprehension. Mecha figured this out very early into their existence, seeing as sometimes praying about things affected change on the world.

The second way is through spark migration. Energon is an exotic material that has a variety of phases and states, including an ability to encode information in its internal structure. This information is used by mecha frames to fulfill a multitude of functions, but it's also used to retrieve more granular information back to the source as a part of their life cycle, or through the management of spent Energon on a societal level. By examining the retrieved Energon, Primus can analyse the state of the mech's systems and mental state and their evolution over time, and use this to selectively introduce or reintroduce traits into the next batch of sparks it produces. This ways innovations added as upgrades on living mecha may end up natural features of future sparks, sometimes even during their lifetime.

Primus and the species can sometimes even work cross-purposes. A good example is how the total amount of war frames had been steadily going down as a percentage of the population post-Quintesson War, which led to the societal emergence of the enforcer class as a way to bolster the security forces of the government.

Comments

[sexytronians]

Ooh! I like this it’s a really interesting concept and I love Cybertron being one big organism like that.
So is there something specific mechafauna and mechaflora do for Primus/Cybertron as a system?