Dark Praxus - universe co-created by
silberstreif and
pjlover666 It’s not Shattered Glass or anything like that. Praxus simply is a horrible (and very good) place to live at. At the same time.
It’s beautiful for tourists and the crime rate is exceptionally low. Praxus is thriving. However, their law and culture are very different from the other cities.
The population is divided in two groups: Benefactors and Contributors.
Benefactors are those mechs that contribute to a society, that add to the value, that are considered "good members". Every legal decision is taken by them.
On the other hand, Contributors are not good members of society. As such they are considered "half" mechs in court rooms and their statement needs to be backed up by a Benefactor or else it’s not legit.
The more benefit the Benefactor brings to the city, the more Contributors he can have. As such, Benefactors at the lowest end have no Contributors because they only have enough merit for themselves. At the highest end, they might have hundreds.
How does one become a Benefactor or a Contributor?
It's a harsh system of merit. Creators can decide from the moment the sparkling opens his optic what life it will lead. Or later the kindergarten teachers, school teachers... the moment one fails a test, becomes less than average, you are a Contributor. But it really is cemented as adults. If you fail once, there are no second chances to gain back your rights. You have lost them forever.
Consequences?
In a way, there is no rape in Praxus, because it’s a right of the Benefactor to berth his Contributor whenever he pleases. There are few crimes, because people are fed. You can't lose your job, because you are a Contributor in that case anyway. And it’s the Contributor’s job to keep his Benefactor happy and pleased and they do wear signs with their Benefactor's name.
In every sense Contributors are property of the Benefactors.
Let’s make something clear: Not all Benefactors are cruel or bad. It’s just a way of life, a way of thinking - it’s their culture. A lot of Benefactors love their Contributors and don’t hurt them as long as they do what they are told (otherwise the Benefactor has a full right, or even duty, to punish them).
Also, the Contributors, basically slaves only without the slave-coding, are happy with their life because, like with the Benefactors, it’s all they know, it’s their way of life. It’s how both sides grew up.
The core of the matter is: As frighteningly and wrong as it seems, the laws Praxus has work. They have less crime, less poverty, longer lives, etc.
Why did the Decepticons destroy Praxus?
We had several ideas here:
a) Because to Megatron, it was hell. He was captured by a Benefactor and taken to Praxus, where according to their laws, mechs who are not full Praxians automatically become Contributors.
b) Praxians regularly kidnapped mechs from other cities. They saw it as a benevolent gesture to kidnap poor mechs and to provide them with a better life. As such, Iacon had no problems with Praxians, in Kaon on the other hand, they were the boogeyman around the corner.
Other ideas:
1) Jazz is a transfer Enforcer to Praxus and is seeing firsthand how wrong the law system in Praxus is. What doesn’t help is how thoroughly Prowl (a Benefactor himself) follows these laws as an Enforcer.
2) Prowl and Jazz are in a seriously relationship and just recently promised each other’s sparks. But the thing is, Jazz has never met Prowl’s creators. He knows they are alive and live in Praxus, but he has never met them before and since they are going to bond soon, he wants to meet them. Prowl, who has studied in Iacon for his higher education, has seen both worlds and knows that his culture won’t be understood from an outsider. If they go to Praxus, since Jazz isn't Praxian, he automatically becomes a Contributor. Plus, before leaving Praxus, Prowl himself was a powerful Benefactor… After a lot of convincing, they go to Praxus.
And Jazz deeply regrets his decision to go there.
There you go, that’s out Dark Praxus ‘verse. ^^ We would love to see fics that play in it, no matter who the main characters are, or if you take any of our ideas or not.
We simply love Dark Praxus.