Class is in session » open

[flickerandfade]

CHARACTERS: Megatron, whoever is interested in a crash course in Cybertronian medicine
LOCATION: The common area.
DATE: Nowish
CONTENT: Megatron is training some folks in Cybertronian first aid and other basics! This is supposed to be a bit free-wheeling, so feel free to jump around a little bit, throw in questions and etc. Megatron will do his best to answer all of them.
WARNINGS: Medical stuff

[ Megatron hadn't expected quite so many eager participants for his offer to teach the basics of Cybertronian medicine, byt maybe he should have. He's arranged some of the seating in the common area in a sort of semi-circle around a space where he's laid open the medical bag that looks suspiciously like a gun. Once all the students have filtered in, he straightens as much as he can, with his head nearly brushing the ceiling, and clears his throat. It's a strange sound, halfway between a cough and a burst of static. ]

Thank you for coming. This will not be a completely comprehensive review, as a proper medical education takes years. We will begin with the most basic and essential building blocks of Cybertronian life, Rossum's Trinity--

[ At which point he gestures to himself, touching his chest, head, and then chest again in turn. ]

Also known as Rossum's Rule of Thirds. This refers to the spark, the brain module, and the transformation cog. Significant traumatic damage to any of these three components can have a cascading negative effect on the other two and lead to death. Of the three, the spark is the arguably the most uniquely Cybertronian.

It is a mass of electrically charged positrons which in organic parlance could be likened to a 'heart' or a 'soul' but is perhaps best considered a combination of both. Each spark has it's own resonance and like a heart, pulses at a certain frequency to provide power and life to the Cybertronian body it inhabits.

Are there any questions so far?

[ The lectures will continue in this vein, with pauses for discussion and questions. Feel free to respond to the initial lecture, or to just have your character throw out any questions they might have as if they've been touched upon at some point! Discussion among the class is encouraged. ]

Comments

[ruinously]

[ yep, you can sign Dean right the hell up for this. A bad day (year) has turned seriously awesome, and this is frankly a fantastic distraction from the fact that his brother just raised friggin' Satan from Hell back home.

Awesome work, Sammy. Way to listen to your big brother. ]

Nope, not yet. Keep pontificating, Megs. I'm all ears.

[droide]

[ Elthree stands in the back of the group, allowing the organic volunteers to sit closer to Megatron so they don't have to strain their feeble human eyes. Megatron is large enough that her optic can see just fine.

When the time comes for questions, Elthree raises her hand. ]

How is a spark formed? Are they naturally occurring?

[flickerandfade]

Of course.

[ Megatron waves a hand at his own head as he continues. ]

The next connection, obviously, is the brain module. The digital brain that contains all of our computing power and all of our memories. There's debate among scholars and medical professionals about whether it is the spark or the brain module that truly delineates a Cybertronian's personality, but in all liklihood it is some combination of the two. They are linked, inextricably.

The brain module is comparatively small when you place it next to the usual size of a Cybertronian body, making it difficult to destroy completely--and not all Cybertronians keep them in their heads. However, total destruction of the brain module can induce enough trauma to cause death, and usually does.

[ruinously]

So is it kinda like a computer motherboard?

[ Hopefully it's not a stupid question; while Dean's fanboyed over the robots, he never had time to dive into the whole...'fandom' thing because he was kinda busy, and thus doesn't have a great grasp of the anatomy. ]

Where's yours? Or is that personal, need to know info?

[flickerandfade]

An excellent question, Elthree.

[ His favorite student! ]

They are indeed naturally occurring on Cybertron and its various moons. These planets are themselves made up heavily of what we call sentio metallico, living medal. From time to time, areas that we call "hotspots" occur close to the surface wherein these sparks form and bloom with a release of energy. Hence, hotspot.

At this point, they can be harvested for implantation into a ready-made body, a process known as cold-construction. Alternatively, a spark can be harvested with a certain amount of sentio metallico. In proper ratios and given proper nurturing a spark with the right amount of this material will create a protoform, the birth-form of a Cybertronian. This process is what we refer to as 'forging.'

I was cold-constructed.

[flickerandfade]

If you require a reference, there are worse comparisons to make.

[ He seems unoffended by the comparison in this setting, at least. ]

Mine is located in my head. Most are, but not all. And everyone's moves a different place when we transform.

[coordination]

[ Yzak did say he wanted to get a closer look at that medkit. And in doing so, get a better close up look at Megatron himself. Since right now in his mind he's simply likening him between a cross of a smaller-mobile suit and some sort of advanced form of AI like Viveca.

Time for yet another round of ~Yzak Jule Learns About New Things~

So he shows up a few minutes after his conversation with Megatron on the network. And ever curious, he's definitely got questions once he's done speaking. ]

You said a transformation cog? The name makes it sounds pretty obvious as to what it does, but transform what, and how exactly? And why is that so important?

[flickerandfade]

[ Ah, another question. ]

The transformation cog is the third integral part. It is what allows Cybertronians to adapt--to take on other forms which may be useful for industry, military service, or other duties. A Cybertronian can adapt their alternate mode as is required, though generally a ground vehicle does not become a flyer and vice versa. I was one of the exceptions. Though currently...

[ With a distinctive sound Megatron shifts forms, the roughly humanoid shape bending and shifting and tucking itself away until a (comparatively) small armored vehicle of alien design sits before the assembled. Megatron's voice emanates from it, as if he hadn't just turned into a tank. ]

You see?

[coordination]

[ A literal tank is talking to him. What????

The sheer weirdness he feels from this all is pretty evident in his expression. ]

I ... see, yes.

[ He recovers though, or at least - looks like he does because presentation is important to Yzak. Especially since Megatron mentioned a term that catches his interest. ]

You mentioned military service, and then your civil war on the network. And, what was the phrase, superiority of mechanoid life. Were you originally made and used for war?

[ To Yzak that doesn't sound like a big assumption to make. Humans make machines for war, machines get self-aware, pissed off that they're being used as tools, so fuck them fleshy lifeforms, right? ]

[flickerandfade]

We were not made by any but ourselves, or our gods if you speak to particular sects of Cybertronian religions.

[ This does, however, touch on a subject very dear to his spark. He transforms back to his humanoid shape, because lecturing in that shape is just easier. He paces a few steps to one side, then to the other as he speaks. ]

There was a particular religious sect however, that dominated Cybertronian society for a time. It was known as Functionism. It's primary tenet was that our foremost God, Primus, had created all of us and our innate alternate modes with a purpose in mind. To change from that purpose to another was anathema. A rebellion against Primus. To that end, it was forbidden for any to change professions or functions without explicit permission of the government. A military flyer could not give up fighting to make timepieces. A humble mining mech could never hope to become a doctor.

Changes were granted in the rarest of circumstances and it serves the corrupt and powerful. While the religious sect was eventually partially suppressed by the Senate, the trappings of Functionism allowed a high degree of control over the populace and many of their policies were maintained. It was this struggle to overthrow the corrupt and debilitating inequality of that order that plunged us into civil war.

[ He pauses, considers his next words. ]

I was that humble miner who wished to train in medicine. And instead I turned myself into a weapon.

[coordination]

[ Professions and functions chosen for you based on what what form you had and what skills that came along with it. The basic concept sounds familiar, and shittily so. Only nothing that extreme came to be where he's from - only dangerously close.

But also, it's gonna take a little bit of time for Yzak to wrap his head around all this sentient robot stuff and he's already hearing about robot religions and oh god his brain is overloading help.

So his tone sounds a little stiff when he responds. ]

There's ... always some stupid shit like that, isn't there. Attempting to erase free will and just control everyone. [ Religion still exists in his world, but since the Cosmic Era began it slowly started to shrink from how widespread it was. ]

[droide]

[ Cold-construction... Elthree bites back a remark about how Megatron was in fact created by someone else after all. She knows that having a spark of living energy embedded into a metal body is not the same as having an organic program artificial intelligence into a droid.

Instead she'll focus on another interesting tidbit of information that this brings up. ]

So, are sparks transferrable then, between bodies? If a Cybertronian suffers enough physical damage, can the spark be moved to a new chassis?

[flickerandfade]

It seems to be the nature of governments in many places, yes.

[ Megatron sighs. This from the guy who once professed to believe in 'peace through tyranny'! ]

Though that does bring us more into the social and political history of Cybertron rather than mere anatomy and medical technique.

[flickerandfade]

Yes.

[ That's the simple answer. ]

Ideally the original brain module should also be intact, but the exact relationship between personality and memory and the brain module and spark is complicated. Generally the spark itself carries with it the personality and many long-term memories. Without preserving the brain module between transplants there is some risk of short-term memory less and disorientation, especially in traumatic cases.

This is not the body I came online in, for the most part. I have suffered some extreme injury and been almost completely rebuilt on several occasions.

[coordination]

And right now it's the anatomy and medical part I'm looking to know more about.

[ So it's time for more ASSUMPTIONS! ]

What do you mean by not made by any but ourselves? What about the first of you, in that case? You ... look like smaller versions of our mobile suits from my own world, but even where I come from, as much as our technology has advanced in the last century, we're still pretty behind on AI-related technology. Compared to here, at least, and what I've seen, like you and Viveca.

[flickerandfade]

The first of us were birthed by Cybertron itself, as far as it's understood. We are not artificial intelligences. Merely mechanistic instead of organic. I would urge you not make the mistake of considering us artificial.

[ There's a small smile. ]

We only seem small. Before I was dragged here and forcibly modified, I was eleven and a half meters tall, and some among us were larger.

[coordination]

Mobile suits come to about ~20 meters, give or take ... so not too far off.

[ And, of course, those mobile suits are just robots.

Still, the way Yzak tilts his head, this is still clearly something he is unwrapping. Slowly, carefully, but still unwrapping! ]

Cybertron ... is that a planet?

[flickerandfade]

I knew some Cybertronians in that size range. And some far larger. The metrotitans, for instance.

[ Megatron nods and does his best not to just sigh because he thought he'd covered this. ]

Correct. The original home world of the Cybertronian species.

[coordination]

[ Lowkey he wants to meet these bigger ones now.

But merely mechanistic instead of organic - is that really the only difference when it comes to these guys? No being built, no being programmed. Just coming into existence as naturally as so many other things, despite how ... familiar they are to things Yzak knows to be built, programmed.

...

Ah, he thinks to himself. Here he is with these thoughts, when his people weren't exactly naturally brought into existence themselves. Despite how much they are alive and thriving now. Despite how prickly Yzak would instantly become if anybody assumed differently. That mental wrestle helps to settle a lot of his thoughts down. ]

So, it sounds like you generally have the same weak spots - where, if injured badly enough, could be fatal. [ He sounds a little less uneasy now. ] And since we're talking medical, are those spots a little more ... defended? Compared to a human, anyway, since as you said, you're mechanistic rather than organic. It looks like a simple pistol would just bounce right off of you if fired.

[flickerandfade]

[ Megatron hmms softly. ]

In some fashions, yes. Even those parts of us are more resilient in some ways than their most closely aligned organic analogues.

Such armor varies. A handgun of your size wouldn't put a dent in my armor. There was also a time when when I could ignore all but the most powerful weaponry leveled at me. Most of us are armored to some degree if only because of the war.

[coordination]

I assume said powerful weaponry developed where you come from is a pretty fucking powerful, in that case.

So, give me an example of what can happen. And then how one needs to go about repairing it.

[droide]

[ She nods, listening. This is all good to know, for the unlikely-yet-still possible that either Megatron or the other Cybertronian aboard gets so injured that transplant becomes required.

Although-- ]

The transplant body... Does it need to be made of sentio metallico? Would a body made of other metal still work?

[ Knowing how to transplant a spark and brain module won't do them any good if there's nothing to transplant them to. ]

[flickerandfade]

A body without sentio metallico is... practically impossible, if only because at the barest minimum, a spark chamber to contain the spark is necessary and the sentio metallico is the best substance for conducting the spark's energy to the rest of the body. In fact, it is the only one. While other organs and body parts can be replaced with parts of other, inferior metals, only sentio metallico is self-healing and truly "alive" in a sense. So while you could, for example, replace my legs with those of other material, a spark chamber or brain module practically requires sentio metallico for all but the most superficial of repairs or patches.

[ Megatron expounds on this point. ]

Without it extensive modifications are extremely difficult. A protoform is a flexible thing, even after it's settled into its natural shape--it can expand to fill a larger frame, or be carefully shaped into a smaller one. Not easy procedures, but doable. Without that, such modifications become more difficult and increase the strain on the spark.

[flickerandfade]

[ There's a bemused little smile on Megatron's face. ]

Indeed it is. I used to carry a fusion cannon that could level city blocks.

[ He makes a gesture, and though he has no display screen a sort of diagram appears via the earpiece network, a simplified diagram of a Cybertronian body. A little 3D model. ]

Let us say, then, that you have an injured Cybertronian. They have recieved a traumatic injury resulting in the near-destruction of the tibia and fibula structures within the lower leg, though it is still attached.

[ The lower leg flashes red and twists to one side in a way that it is clearly not meant to do. ]

This has also resulted in significant trauma to the region of the patella. The first thing you would want to do in this case would be to reset the leg back into it's normal position and determine the extent of the damage there and close off any leaking fuel lines...

[ Megatron begins to launch into an extensive lecture regarding the treatment of such an injury, clearly something he considers fairly basic. Probably not too far off when you're used to battlefield medicine. ]

[droide]

Then... We'll need access to sentio metallico before we can implement any of what you're teaching us.

[ Don't get her wrong, having the knowledge is useful and interesting, but not practical unless they can actually do anything to repair or heal the Cybertronians. ]