#beta trion

A slave turned rebelion leader, she trains her mind and body so that even in her old age she can still benefit from the effects of an autobadge unlike her conjux alpha trion

Beta was born a slave under functionism, unlike alpha trion who came about spontaneously, beta was deliberately made with a function in mind, she was a novelty key to a storage closet attached to a rockasaur fossil, as if to point at the insignificance of non transformers by the functionists, although her overlords attempted to limit the flow of information she would learn of the growing resementment towards that vision of society, and would gather with the earliest rebelion leaders, eventually joining them in battle, retaining her alt mode as a symbol of a new world where anyone regardless of origin could live free

For much of their history she was one of many figure heads for the autobots, staying politically active even as her body slowed down, unlike alpha trion who has trepadations about what the autobots have become after the death of cybertron, Beta welcomes and encorages the self sacrificial tendencies they've developed, beliving this is the only way to make sure the new generations never abuse their power or opress others like the old ones did. not realizing they're running out of things to give,

the Stratocracy has a few levels of authority, with of course the Grand Architect being the highest and only absolute authority in this functionist dictatorship. but he is just one mech and he alone can't oversee everything, so some decision-making power is delegated to his High Council, which is the highest authority in the world in the Grand Architect's absence. typically when he attends a Council meeting, he presides over them in silence, giving nothing away, forcing them each to vie for a bit of attention until he either speaks up and makes the final decision for them or simply leaves to let them compete amongst themselves. he hand picks each member and can fire any of them at any time, but some have managed to stay for a good while, with Tyrest having been a councilmember the longest. they’re powerful, sure, but uh, i wouldn’t say that necessarily makes them smart.

the current members are:

Councilmember One-of-Twelve Tyrest, Convener

Councilmember Two-of-Twelve Drivetrain, Auditor

Councilmember Three-of-Twelve Avalon, Authenticator

Councilmember Four-of-Twelve Mindgame, Moderator

Councilmember Five-of-Twelve Contrail, Enumerator

Councilmember Six-of-Twelve Megazarak, Enactor

Councilmember Seven-of-Twelve Sigil, Curator

Councilmember Eight-of-Twelve Halogen, Disseminator

Councilmember Nine-of-Twelve Heretech, Inquisitor

Councilmember Ten-of-Twelve Highbrow, Evaluator

Councilmember Eleven-of-Twelve Xaaron, Mediator

Councilmember Twelve-of-Twelve Rage, Castigator

Beta Trion was once a councilmember in the Mediator's seat, picked early after the Stratocracy was put in place, but her policies and opinions didn't quite line up with the Grand Architect's vision and so he replaced her. she was the city senator for Iacon for awhile, and was an adjunct senator for the Medical Function Ministry, and has been sort of adjacent to the political sphere of Iacon for a good long while. Beta’s contribution to law and social organization is how she earned the title Trion in the first place! she’s currently on furlough in order to work at the JAAT, much like Shockwave himself, but the both of them technically retain their titles of Senator during this off season

the Senate is the governing body below the High Council, with seats appointed to select nominees who already operate in politics as their function. they hash out the nitty-gritty day to day stuff, but whatever decision they come to must be passed up to the Council and ultimately approved by the Grand Architect. as the one in the Convener’s seat, Tyrest presides over the Senate, which is an even worse monkey show than the Council. little wonder, when you have so many different jobs all shoved together under the title “Senator”. you have the regional senators who represent entire city-states or even whole colonies, then function ministry senators who represent major frametypes and functions on an interplanetary scale, and then city, township, and guild senators, who honestly appear in the actual Grand Imperium very rarely, as they are doing the grassroots work of taking care of their homes while the more important senators jockey for power in the capital

this is not an exhaustive list, just the folks i’ve got written down for now, but current Senators include:

Senator Red Leader of Caminus

Senator Nitro Convoy of Velocitron

Senator Liege Centuro of Carcer

Senator Vanquish of Devisiun (or Fireshot, depending on whose turn it was to run for representative this season)

Senator Backstop of Eukaris

Senator Pharma for the Medical Function Ministry

Senator Levitacus for the Distribution Function Ministry

Senator Tyrannicon for the Ecoengineering Function Ministry

Senator Tomaandi for the Security Function Ministry

Senator Fever Dream for the Communication Function Ministry

Senator Synapse for the Production Function Ministry

Senator Traachon of Iacon

Senator Decimus of Lunas 1 and 2

Senator Straxus of Polyhex

Senator Riker of Crystal City

Senator Boltax of Nova Cronum

Senator Sherma of Uraya

Senator Momus of Helex

Senator Xeon of Kaon

Senator Proteus of the Iaconic capital Iacon

Senator Scorponok of the Kaonite capital Kolkular

Senator Ratbat of the Tarnish capital Tarn

Senator Shockwave of the Tarnish city Tesarus

former senators include previously mentioned Beta Trion, Ratchet, who was medical function representative, and Thunderclash Convoy, who was the city senator for Iacon. i’m sure there’s a few others i’m forgetting... this is also not including significant community or corporate leaders who hold a lot of power without an explicit political role, like Esmeral as a media mogul or Alpha Trion as Cybertron’s best archivist

anyway. when i lay it out like this, you can see some of the complexity of having Shockwave be the JAAT principal! he’s only a city senator, true, and not even a capital city, but Tesarus was once a city-state of its own and still carries a lot of political weight within Tarn, hence why it has a senator in the first place. he became the Tesaran senator by jumpstarting the local economy with a careful overhaul of the city’s image, including creating a theme park called Six Lasers Over Cybertron. when Jhiaxus originally approached him to petition for his support, it was exclusively in the capacity of a political ally and voice in the Senate on behalf of the school, and that would have been all. however, Jhiaxus’s untimely death meant Shockwave was now sort of de facto in charge of this project, despite the fact that, a) he had not signed up to be principal, b) this school was not even in his city-state, much less his city, c) it was already brash enough for a private citizen like Jhiaxus to propose such a function-defying institution, much less an actual politician like Shockwave, d) Iacon and Tarn don’t historically have the best relationship anyway so he’s likely to get dirty looks for nothing more than the wrong accent, and e) he’s obligated to go on furlough as a senator if he wants to actually commit to this school and thus will lose a lot of the political foothold and network he leveraged to support the school in the first place. all of which puts Shockwave in an endlessly complicated and very delicate position! it’s no wonder he made an easy empurata target

Dear Relationship Requester,

And now for some weirder folks, a bunch of oldies who do not fall into the regular size classes that I explained here!

No matter what the current regime would like people to believe, rigid size classes aren’t necessarily inherent to the species, and these folks are living proof.

Maccadam has been running his popular dive Maccadam’s Old Oil House for a very long time. He loves his business, but the chance to do something new is refreshing. Switching from brewing high grade to coordinating cafeteria meals is a fun challenge that he’s taken to with gusto. Even the pickiest of students and staff have nothing to complain about once he customizes their servings, and the ones from poorer homes find themselves with extra helpings somehow. His subordinates Oil Slick and Kickback haven’t quite learned the magic touch with serving energon like him, but he always helps them out. On top of being in charge of all school catering, he also teaches energon processing and handling, fuel industry work, and cooking. Sometimes he misplaces his glasses and winds up with the ones that one small therapist uses, but Kup is always kind and volunteers to help him hunt them down. He’s right in between size 3 and 4, and clearly remembers when people used to be all shapes and sizes, but he doesn’t quite know how long ago he was forged, or where. The amount of things he’s done means his memory can be spotty (one of his fingers was lost in an alchemy accident, but he could’ve sworn he lost more than just the one), except he has an unshakable certainty that he’s met that librarian Alpha Trion before, despite the fact he keeps avoiding him.

Cogman is, to put it kindly, a few tripped breakers short of a power outage. His manic moods and dramatic outbursts occur without discernible pattern, and while he may always be entertaining to watch, it’s much less funny to watch him leap up onto a table and threaten a school benefactor when you realize his actions could cost the Academy its funding. His personality is excellent for teaching history. Otherwise boring dates and names come alive with his dramatization, and he narrates ancient disputes and political scandals as if he was there to witness them himself. Perhaps he was, but no one has gotten a straight answer out of him yet. Things he’s claimed about his age have varied from the era of the Knights of Cybertron to literally the last to be forged before size classes were developed. The only hint about his origin seems to be the emblem on his chestplate which no one recognizes, but anyone curious about it is met only with a monocled glare. Smaller than a minibot youngling, he does seem to be a toolformer of some sort, or perhaps even a Mutacon, yet that’s just one more thing about himself that he distracts people from with a loud baritone voice and some minor destruction of furniture.

Beta Trion is beloved in Iacon, considered such an important contributor to the city’s development and welfare that she was given the honorary title of Trion, one of only a handful of people left who still have it. She’s been a senator for the majority of her life, even serving as a member of the High Council when the Grand Architect occasionally appoints her there. She’s not the oldest size null out there, but she’s old enough to feel a bit of a disconnect between herself and the children she raises. Right now her only child is Arcee, and despite her best attempts at instilling the culture and poise of a senator’s family member, this youngling is bound and determined to enjoy as much havoc as she can. She loves younglings to the point where she immediately volunteered to be a benefactor of the Academy as soon as Jhiaxus proposed it, as well as applying to be one of the school counselors. It’s an odd thought that, as someone shorter than a normal size 2 adult, Arcee will someday be taller than she is.