Cultural Information Files

[Pearl Forrester]

This thread is for information on specific groups and organizations, and other important cultural information that all appropriate characters should know (IE, stuff Cybertronian characters should know about Cybertronian existence and culture).

[Pearl Forrester]

Hive Hunters - If hunting Turbofoxes is the Transformer equivalent of the foxhunts, then Hive Hunting is the Transformer equivalent of Big Game hunting. During the Golden and Caste-Ages, it was popular among elite military castes and wealthy thrill-seekers due to the very real danger involved - it was not uncommon for a hive hunter setting out to "bag the big one" only to end up on an Insecticon's dinner table. Though enjoyed by the upper castes it was not exclusive to them; middle and lower caste could find gainful employment through raiding hives for hatchlings or capturing prize specimens for sale. This work was less celebrated and more dangerous, as most middle and low-caste hunters often lacked the weapons and equipment needed to save themselves from alarmed swarms or angry titan-sized Insecticons.

Deep Hives vs Shallow Hives: The deeper into Cybertron you go, the stronger, smarter, more diverse and more aggressive Insecticons become, as the older Hives occupy the deepest territory. Deep hives are raided less often due to the sheer difficulty and danger of reaching them, but they yield the best specimens for research and development of useful domesticated hives. Shallow hives closer to the surface are usually made of escaped bugs, and while entering them can be just as deadly, they don't have the greater diversity of form that deeper ones do.

Domestication - Individual Insecticons when separated from their hives become docile and can be tamed (G1 Sunstreaker had a tame Insecticon named 'Bob', for example), and their unique abilities harnessed for Cybertronian purposes. Tamed Insecticons capable of starting new hives (Seeders) can produce (mostly) domesticated hives.

Hive Workers - Low-caste cybertronians hired to help control, care for and tend tamed Insecticon hives. A dangerous and undesirable job with a high turnover rate due to accidental devourings, but often well paid. Hive workers were often responsible for putting down Insecticon 'troublemakers' (read: emerging sapients) to prevent hives from going feral. Some hive workers treated Insecticons with genuine compassion and care - repairing the injured, making sure they were well fed, etc. and were rewarded with insights into Insecticon behavior and communication, but most hive workers were there just to keep productivity up and keep the dirty animals in line.

"Feeding the Bugs" - The equivalent of 'sleeping with the fishes'. The Insecticon capacity to eat just about anything did not go unnoticed by the criminal elements of Cybertron. A sufficiently starved or belligerent hive could be used as a very nasty means of homicide or cleaning up corpses, leaving nothing behind for law enforcement agencies to find. The practice had a dangerous side effect of encouraging hives to go feral or become maneaters.

Instar - One of the levels of Insecticon development. Rather than molting as Earth insects do, Insecticons after a sufficient amount of time, feeding and conditioning go through a single burst transformation that causes them to get bigger, tougher, smarter, hungrier and sometimes have new body structures or abilities. The first three Instars of an Insecticon's life are usually non-sapient (though rarely some become sapient after the first!). Fourth instar Insecticons have Cybertronian intelligence akin to sparklings, Fifth instars are fully mature. Fourth and fifth instars are capable of transformation, but the vast majority of Insecticons never reach these last two stages due to predation, malnutrition, injury, starvation or being killed outright by other Cybertronians who never realized they were sapient to begin with.

Castes: Even Insecticons have these, though their castes have more to do with their born function within the hive and less to do with being assigned to a function. Insecticons can change castes through their instar development, so they have no natural bias against other caste-types. Workers and Swarmers are the most common kind of Insecticon, tasked with locating and gathering energon, building and maintaining the hive, caring for hatching pods and acting as a first line of defense. Soldiers are used for increased hive defense in the form of powerful titan and bruiser-class warriors. Hunters are used to stalk and kill other life forms as prey to feed the hive. Seeders are the rarest caste and can possess traits of any of the other castes, though they are identified by having more colorful markings. They are responsible for producing new Insecticons and directing all the other Insecticons in the hive. Multiple seeders in a hive will normally battle to determine who remains and controls the hive, while the defeated parties leave and start their own new hives. Seeders, especially newly hatched seeders, are the most expensive Insecticons to purchase, owned by the filthy rich and kept like Kentucky thoroughbreds, or bought by research facilities interested in altering and improving domesticated Insecticon lines.

Some Insecticon Uses in Pre-War Society:
Waste Management
Construction
Deconstruction
Hunting / Guard 'Dogs'
Pets
Slave Labor
Laboratory Animals
Energon Searching and Mining Operations
Art, Jewelry or Decorations made from their body shells
Gladiator Combat
'Cockfighting'
Sport Hunting

Post War Society:
Weapons
Scouts
Bomb Detectors
Executioners
Walking Bombs
Target Practice
Energon Seekers
Guard Dogs
Slave Labor
Expendable Troops

Note: There is the possibility that Insecticon hatching pods, filled with liquid energon to feed the developing larvae, have been used by some Cybertronians as a food source (the same way people use chicken eggs in real life).