(no subject)

[houndofmegatron]

Things Your Character Should Know by the End of the First Day:

• Who the Transtechs are. It's likely that your character met at least one Transtech while they were dealing with the paperwork of their arrival, but even if they didn't, you don't get out of Central Processing without at least getting an idea of who the mechs who run this place are. You will know the name Transtech, and you will know that they're in charge.
  
• This is a Cybertron without war. This will mean the most to characters from Transformers franchises, but it will be included in the briefing that all new arrivals get. The planet you're on is called Cybertron, and it is one that was never torn by the war that marks so many other Cybertrons in other universes. You will also be informed, if you didn't know already, that yes, there are multiple universes, and yes, the one you just came from is not the one you're in currently.
  
• You're not going to be allowed home. Not immediately, anyway. You'll get a talk about resources and why it's not possible to turn the portal around and send you back, and be informed that they will get you home...eventually. Feel free to file for an exit visa if you'd like to attempt to expedite the process.
  
• How to use your communicator. All new arrivals get a crash course on this, especially organics, especially especially organics from worlds where there's not been a lot of technological advancement yet. You're shown how to use it to contact others and how to use the map, particularly, although the more advanced functions (like video conferencing) you might be left to figure out for yourself--it depends on how harried your tutor is on the day of your arrival.
  
• If you're a legal presence: What your universal code is, and a few other details like that about your originating universe, which you probably learned just by how many times they showed up on your paperwork.
  
• If you're an illegal presence: That you're not supposed to be here and what your fake identity is. You're not told why you're in Axiom Nexus, or who brought you there, only cautioned to be careful and warned about the dead universe you might very well get deported to if the Transtechs catch you.

Things Your Character Should Know by the End of the First Week:

• No, really, you're not going home. At least not any time soon. And by now, you'll probably have talked to some of the other residents who've been yanked here like you have, and they've told you the same thing the officials did. You're very likely going to be here for a long time, unless you're one of the lucky ones--or unless you cause trouble.
  
• Your grace period is running out. The officials who run the city allow for a certain amount of nonsense from newcomers--harassing Central Processing staff for answers or to be sent home, loitering around, utilizing charities in Zone 1 set up to help new arrivals, but they won't put up with it forever. The people you've presumably been talking to might have warned you about this, as well--you really, really need to think about settling yourself down, or you might find yourself tossed in jail for being a public nuisance...and you only get so many strikes.
  
• The Transtechs are serious business. Seriously. You might not have been around long enough to see it firsthand yourself, unless you came in at a really interesting time, but you've probably been hearing stories. The Transtechs really do control this place, and they're not afraid to crack down on everyone in response to a few if they have to.
  
• What a Cybertronian is. There's so many of them in the city, either Transtechs or fellow refugees, that your character would basically have to have hidden to have not learned at least a little bit about Cybertronians. Depending on how many interactions you've had with them, you probably at least know that there's a difference between Autobots and Decepticons, though how much you've learned about why and what that difference entails depends on who you've talked to and how much they've cared to divulge. You're also probably aware that they can transform, and that energon is pretty predominantly their fuel of choice.
  
• The lower Zones aren't a playground. Zone 6 is about as far down as you can go and not have to be seriously protective of your welfare, and that's when you're a mech--organics, being (generally) smaller and (presumably) weaker than Cybertronians, are considered natural prey by the unsavory types that inhabit the lower zones, and the farther down you go, the worse you stand to fare. Of course, if you can defend yourself, good for you, but it's still not something that's advised by...anyone your character is likely to talk to who's been around for a while, especially in the upper Zones.
  
• Get a job/apartment/loan, you bum. Chances are, your character's encountered at least some pressure by now to give up on trying to get home right away and concentrate on becoming a productive part of Offworld society. (This is especially true if you've been seeking information through official channels, or people who've already been here a while.) Which of the three you're being pushed to do will depend on who you're character's been hanging out with, and how easy it is to do any of them will depend on where you look and how marketable your skills are. And if worse comes to worse and you can't manage any of them, there's always mooching off someone else or squatting/scavenging in those lower Zones everyone's been warning you about, right?

Things Your Character Should Know by the End of the First Month:

• Seriously, there isn't a war. Now let me tell you about my politics. This Cybertron has never seen war, it's true. It's not about to erupt into war any time soon. However, there is a difference between Transtech Autobot and Transtech Deception--and it's a matter of politics.
  
• Transtech Security is even more serious business than the Transtechs in general. The civilian Transtechs might be willing to be lenient or cut you a break when you're interacting with them, but security? Not so much. If you get caught somewhere where Transtech security is moving in, your best bet is to make yourself gone, or to put up your weapons and do what they tell you. They're just as stressed and overworked as the rest of the Transtechs tasked with running the Nexus, but these are the guys with the guns, and their bosses are as likely to look the other way as not if they bring back a body instead of a prisoner.
  
• People get deported all the time. They're just not you. Just like there's a steady flow of refugees into Axiom Nexus, so is there a steady flow out. People do get deported, and the Transtechs really are working to get people home. They're just as terribly overworked as any set of bureaucrats dealing with an imperfect system, and they're way behind. This is probably why they come for the guy who lives in the flat next to you, or the mech who sells you your energon every morning, but they never come for you.
  
• Playing it safe will keep you out of trouble...but it won't get you home. You've learned by now that the Transtechs probably aren't going to get around to sending you home any time soon, and they're not going to take it well if you harass them about it. You're being told that your best bet is to just settle down and go along with it--get a job, find somewhere to live, do something productive while you're here, and eventually they'll ship you back. (If you live long enough for it, anyway, and even more the reason to do so if you don't.) This is the plan of action that will keep you out of trouble, and you might even be able to derive some satisfaction from it. But you won't get home until they get around to sending you there...
  
• There is always someone plotting something. So you might be trying to think of a way to force them to send you home, or to get home yourself, and you would not be the first. You won't be the last. In fact, you're probably not the only person thinking it right now. Very few people in the Offworld want to stay there, and more than a few of them have the intelligence and ambition to do something about it. If you hang around in the right places, chances are good you'll hear somebody muttering something. Just be careful--there are a lot of people willing to fleece newcomers with promises of expedited trips home, and even if you fall in with someone actually attempting to get out of the Nexus, a lot of these attempts are more talk than action.
  
• The Transtechs may be in power, but they're not "superior". They rule Axiom Nexus, yes. What they say goes. But there are greedy, conniving, and corrupt Transtechs as surely as there are greedy, conniving, and corrupt lowtechs and organics, and you can find them in the lower Zones particularly, running just as many of the casinos and businesses as the refugee entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, the Transtechs working in the Offworld in a more official capacity are somewhat less likely to be corrupt than the ones working for themselves, but if there's something you need and you happen to run into the right mech at the right time... Well, you might get lucky.
  
• What's really in all the Zones, and other shiny geographical facts. The map they give you with your communicator breaks down the Offworld into the different Zones and pinpoints the general kinds of services you might be able to find in each slice of the city. What it does not tell you is how much sleazier the Nexus gets as you go down, or that Zone 6 is the best place to get black market goods, or that Zone 5 is a better place to live than 4 despite being below it. These are all things that you'll have to pick up by yourself--and by now, you should be well on your way (though how much you've discerned depends on how interested you and who you've been talking to).