#aqua magna

[sepublic]

The more meta I see about how Metru Nui actually sucked while Mata Nui was a paradise, the less bad I feel about the Matoran having to destroy Metru Nui shortly after returning to it. Like they must’ve been so eager to move back to actual sunlight and nature on Spherus Magna, which is itself part-Aqua Magna, the ocean Mata Nui was situated in!!! So the oceans of Aqua Magna they swam in are still there, and they must still be familiar so like. In a way the Matoran did get to go back to Mata Nui.

[rahiwatching]

BIONICLE Science: The Depth of Mahri-Nui and the Length of the Cord

This is the second in a 5-part series of interconnected BIONICLE Science investigations that all feed into each other (the other parts will all be included in my BIONICLE Science master post).

After answering the question of the size of Voya-Nui (see this post), I turned my scientific sights onto Mahri-Nui: How deep underwater is it? And how long is the stone cord that connects it to Voya-Nui above?

Returning to the scale map of 2001-2008 locations from the previous post in this series, we can clearly see that the cord is depicted, a line extending south east from Voya-Nui to Mahri-Nui in the ocean depths.

Of course, this line only shows the Cord as it appears from directly above, it doesn’t show us the true length of the Cord or how far below the surface it stretches, it only shows is the straight-line distance between Voya-Nui and Mahri-Nui. But that is still a key piece of data to gather in order to uncover the wider question.

Using the same pixel measurements as before, this distance works out to be 30 pixels, or 43.2km when scaled up.

Now that we have that distance measured, we actually only need one other measurement in order to find both the length of the Cord and the depth of Mahri-Nui, and that is the angle at which the Cord is oriented relative to the sea floor (here, we are assuming that the Cord is a completely straight line, something that is backed up in its various depictions in canon).

Once we have that, we can form a right triangle and from there use a bit of trigonometry to find both its height and its hypotenuse – the depth of Mahri-Nui and the length of the Cord respectively. 

I took the following image of Mahri-Nui from the ones available in order to make this measurement, as it is the best image available to show the city and the cord directly side on, meaning there would not be any viewing angle issues that may affect the angle measurement.

 Measuring the angle of the Cord relative to the horizontal plane, the Cord is pointing upwards at an angle of just over 59 degrees.

Now all that’s needed is to plug this angle and the measurement for the base of the right triangle (43.2km) into the trigonometry equations and we can find our answers.

 The height of the right triangle – the Depth of Mahri Nui:

Height = 72.9456511km (or 72.95km when rounded to 2 decimal places)

The hypotenuse of the right triangle – the length of the Cord:

Hypotenuse = 84.77809061km (or 84.78km when rounded to 2 decimal places)

 Mahri-Nui is deep. Incredibly deep.

On Earth, the deepest known point of the ocean is the Challenger Deep, a smaller trench within the larger Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. It has been measured to be 10,929 meters (10.93km) below the surface.

Mahri-Nui sits 6.67 times deeper than the deepest point in the Earth’s Oceans!

This is even more impressive when you remember that Mahri-Nui does not sit on the true sea floor, but actually on top of the sediment covered body of the GSR, meaning that the Ocean of Aqua Magna is even deeper than this! While this is an incredible depth of the scale of the Earth, it is not unprecedented. The size of the inferred subsurface ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa is estimated to be between 60 and 150km deep, so this depth is not impossible.

One thing is for sure though, the Black Waters surrounding Mahri-Nui would certainly live up to their name. Water absorbs light as it passes through it, meaning that the deeper you go, the darker it gets. This absorption rate is exponential with more and more light getting absorbed with every meter of depth. With the intensity of sunlight on Earth, this means that beyond 1000 meters in depth, essentially no light from the surface penetrates the ocean, leaving anything there in darkness. Mahri-Nui sits over 70 times deeper than this. Even assuming that Solis Magna has a higher luminosity than our Sun doesn’t help due to that exponential decrease, Mahri-Nui is just too deep.

Without Lightstones, the Black Water would be dark indeed.

In terms of the length of the Cord, it appears from canon that the Toa Inika took a few days at most to travel down its length, with various battles etc. along the way slowing them down. The inside of the Cord is also described as having many twists and turns, so the actual distance traveled by the Inika in that time would have been larger than the 84.78km that the Cord appears to be from the outside.

If we assume a steady walking pace of around 5km per hour, it would take around 17 hours to complete a journey of approx. 85km, so taking the various stops for battles with the Zyglak, stops for rest, and the longer actual distance due to the labyrinthine nature of the Cord, a travel time of a few days is reasonable.

I was pleased with these results, but my brain still wouldn’t let me finish on this line of questioning just yet. If Mahri-Nui doesn’t sit on the true sea bed, but rather on top of the GSR, then how deep does the ocean of Aqua Magna really go? And given just how much water pressure increases with depth, how much pressure are the Matoran subjected to down there?

If you want to know the answers to these too, stick around for parts 3 and 4.

[autoacafiles]

I have a couple questions about the Bionicle things. Are the Tohun like the Toa or what are they meant to be? And will you make more of them?

Tohun is a term I'm using for the Matoran species as a whole - Matoran - > Toa - > Turaga.

And maybe~

[randomwriteronline]

so i held a poll once and in the past few days i FINALLY got the strength to do this - charms/stickers of the Toa Mata (humanized) giving each other a lil kissie on the cheek :)

coming Never to No Place Near You! Because I Don't Know How To Sell Anything Nor How To Print These

[downtofragglerock]

The production bible's little lore drop of "originally there were going to be six gsrs that crashed landed and Mata Nui was just one of them" has really got me thinking

The text states that they were each going to be in different and varying environments, but Mata Nui alone already had six pretty distinct biomes that covered a lot of varied ground, so what environs would be left to give a distinct feel?

[byz-was-here]

Size and Tears

Hello yes, welcome to yet another installment in the Sea Nomads of Aqua Magna series. This one directly follows the last two, which you can find on the masterpost for the AU, here. As always, the fic is under the cut. Enjoy!

Perdix waited.

It was dark, now. The sun had set, casting the flora of Ga-Wahi in an eerie gloom. The rain had thankfully paused and for now it seemed the coast was clear. Reaching down, the young Agori grabbed the arm of his unconcious companion, hauling her up by her arms and draping her over his shoulder. He glanced towards her bare face, and shuddered. He'd wondered what they looked like without... Well, now he wish he didn't know. "Come on... If you die before we get to Ga-Koro, I'll kill you," he muttered to himself. "...if your friends don't kill me first, anyway."

Yesterday...

"What are you doing here?" Perdix crossed his arms, a scowl visible on his face.

The Ta-Matoran almost seemed to levitate off the ground in suprise, spinning around to look at Perdix with wide, glowing red eyes peering from behind his light blue mask. he was standing just inside the entrance to a large, dome-shaped tent. Perdix was standing outside, behind him.

"It's alright Perdix, he asked." came a voice from inside the tent. It was Isom, an agori a few decades older than Perdix. In the glow of the ga-koronan lightfish suspended in hanging bottles, Perdix could see that she was armorless, her hair touseled and unkempt from the night before. In her arms was a bundle wrapped in kelp-woven cloth, and within it, the newest member of the Sea Tribe. Perdix frowned, "He's not one of us, he could..." Isom snorted. "If he tries anything, he'll have more to fear from me than you, Perdix. Now both of you, come in. You're blocking the door." The new mother sounded tired, but happy, as she watched the young agori and the Ta-Matoran approach the mat the woman was resting on. Last night had been a long one for everyone on the tiny island of Ag-Koro; Isom had gone into Labor not long after he had spoken with Ockema yesterday, so he hadn't gotten to speak to the woman about her idea of putting shelters on legs, as interesting as it sounded. Over the course of the late afternoon and evening, several worried Ga-Matoran had ventured across the bay wondering what was causing all the noise and commotion on the Agori's island. Some quickly returned to Ga-Koro when they received some very detailed answers from some of the older women as to what was happening inside the main tent and why it involved so much screaming. Kotu, one of the Ga-Matoran who stayed, had offered what help she could to Isom and the midwives, and had only left the tent in the early hours of the morning. She still looked a bit shaken, mumbling something in matoric that sounded like "...nothing like rahi handling..."

Perdix found it a bit odd, personally. Did none of the matoran know where babies came from? Were their elders telling them that they came from the sky or some nonsense? "It's so... Small." Perdix looked up, seeing the Ta-Matoran leaning over the Mother and child, an expression of awe on his mask. Isom chuckled, musing, "You'd think they never saw a baby before," before she looked up at the matoran. "Would you like to hold her, Takua?" Takua froze up as if he'd been encased in ice. The blindsided look on his face almost drew a guffaw from the two agori in the tent. "I- ah, What?" Perdix thought about the few times he'd been to Ga-Koro, and realized something strange. Despite having been there several times, he'd not once seen a single matoran child. He opened his mouth to say something, and fell silent, watching Isom hand her newborn to the matoran, listening to her tell him how to properly hold her. Again, the matoran seemed so similar and yet so strange to him, in a way that made his gut churn with mild unease. And yet here was Isom, trusting one to hold her child. He turned around and walked out of the tent, deciding to get some fresh air. Wandering to the island's shore, he found himself sitting on a rock on the side of the island, staring out over the vast ocean beyond Naho Bay, and found himself in thought. Since they had found Mata Nui, the Sea Tribe's way of life had begun to change. Even now, his mother, along with the chieftain Moddesh had sailed out with their part of the great fleet, to both feed their great Ships, and to bring the news to the other clans that land had been found. He had grown up on the Ships, but his was the first generation to know that Mata Nui lie somewhere across the waves as his clan and tribe crossed the endless ocean. His mother, Pretra, didn't raise him with the fleet for long before settling with the other young mothers, elders, and ill on Mata Nui, eventually choosing the spot of Ag-Koro on an island in Naho Bay. From there, everything began to change. Children younger than him included matoric in their words as easily as agori, and it was hard to follow. Some of the clan were borrowing matoran tools, matoran ideas... Perdix sighed, rubbing at his face. "The sea changes, and with each tide, so do we..." It was a saying the elders told everyone of the Sea Tribe as a child, a saying as well known to the nomads as 'The Sea will provide.' He frowned and stood up. "Doesn't mean I have to like it." he muttered. He could live with change, he just didn't want to... He didn't want to be alone. And for the first time, It was just Perdix on the coast of the island called Mata Nui, and his mother somewhere on the waves, over that endless horizon. He sighed. Maybe it wasn't Takua he was upset with, back at the tent. Maybe it was... He shook his head, before a blast of air from offshore caught his attention. Whipping his head around, he saw the old bull. The bull was a massive, aged Ship, his scaled dulled and scars covering his hide. He had been left behind at the island with the other Agori in case they needed to leave, for one reason or another. He was a snappy, cantankerous old thing. ...And he gave Perdix an idea. Maybe he wasn't really mad with the Ta-Matoran, but still. Ockema did say to make sure he kept his mask out from where it didn't belong...

[fascinatedhelix]

Honestly I think part of why I’ve gotten so into Bionicle lately is that it reminds me a fair bit of ABZU, but it actually has more fleshed out lore for me to consume.

[makutaservaela]

Makuta Servaela is a Makuta who specializes in intelligent Rahi, especially ones who can speak Matoran. It was she who created Keetongu's species, a species who could remove Hordika venom (whom she created for the sole purpose of getting vengeance on Chirox due to Chirox's relentless bullying Servaela).

She was also known for considering herself smarter than her brothers and repeatedly defying orders passive aggressively if she considered them illogical. When the Makuta were called to destroy her Hagah, she decided that ridding herself of guardians was a stupid idea, and instead trapped them in the crystals she wears around her neck, to be awoken at a later time. The other Makuta didn't realise her Hagah were still alive in the crystals, and presumed this was just dark humour on her part of wearing her guardians' corpses as an accessory as a threat to any future servants who dare disobey her. Teridax mostly just put up with her shit because her Rahi were useful enough to him, and because her defiance of him was never direct.

When the Plan was announced, her first course of action began to gain as much information about the Mata Nui from Mutran as she could (a feat not difficult, as he had a soft spot for her). She used this to create a plan of her own, and obeyed Teridax until the Great Cataclysm, in which she carried out her plan: She left the Mata Nui, residing on Aqua Magna as an aquatic creature with plans to wait out Teridax's "immature power-grab".

When the planets were reunited, she migrated to the Bota Magna portion and released her Hagah, who knew nothing except that they had gone to sleep in their Makuta's lab and woken up in a cave somewhere else. They are completely oblivious to even the concept that Makuta had turned evil.

She continues to this day ignoring/avoiding everyone and performing her research.

[tiredspacedragon]

As much as I enjoy the trope subversion in MNOG of Onua not even bothering with the "I know you're in there" speech and just skipping straight to pounding the Infected Mask off of Lewa, I do like how this scene shows the development of their friendship. Back then, the two of them hardly knew each other, there wasn't much ground for an emotional appeal to stand on. But now they're brothers, and Onua knows Lewa has the strength to free himself, he just needs to hear someone else say it. And it does help that Lewa is able to communicate in this fight, too. So it's less "I know you're in there," and more "I know you can do this."

And also I just really like this panel. Something about Onua's huge claws gently pushing down Lewa's axe while the Toa of Air is clearly shaking. Peace and love on planet Aqua Magna.

[csleko]

Oops. I blew up the BIONICLE planet.

Again.

ANOTHER remake of a thing I did in 2005. Like, damn. 14-year-old Leko was REALLY getting into this stuff AND not being very good at it!

In this case, it was actually my first ever Flash animation. Well, the first one that was actually intended to be a thing and not just screwing around with random things to figure out the program.

I was firmly ensconced in the BIONICLE fandom from 2003 to around 2008, so pretty much everything I made during that time period was BIONICLE fanart of some type or another, and posted to BZPower's artwork forum.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie was also coming out that particular year. Or might have already when I made this. Point is: I wanted to try recreating the exploding Earth from the trailer, and I wanted to be able to post it to a BIONICLE fanart forum, so instead of Earth I blew up Aqua Magna and the island of Mata Nui.

You MIGHT think I could have gotten away with just downloading a high resolution render of the island and slapping it on a sphere to make the planet in the remade animation.

And you'd be right. I COULD have done that.

But you'd also be wrong, because I didn't do that. I found a high res official render, imported it into Blender, traced the outline onto a heavily subdivided plane in sculpt mode, filled it in with more sculpting, vertex painted the textures onto it, then placed it beneath another plane with the ocean texture on it so the island would clip through.

Oh yeah, the actual animation was a lot of fun to figure out. Really got to play around with physics and particles after previously devoting so much time and effort to finding ways to avoid them. And the motion blur really adds a lot to the relatively simple effects.

This might be my favorite remake I've ever done, and I don't know if I'll top it.

[goattypegirl]

Strictly speaking, the Vahi should have never existed. While drafting safeguards for the Great Spirit Robot, a small group of Great Beings proposed a ridiculous idea. At this point, manipulating physical space was trivial. Why not try their hands at altering time? A conditional, localized chronal knot, a way to turn back the clock, for the absolute worst case scenarios.

Just ridiculous, really. Crafting the mask for the Ignition failsafe already pushed the boundaries of the Great Being's abilities, and resulted in the loss of one of their own. The actual forging of the mask could theoretically- theoretically- be done by a construct within the GSR, but it would still require a metatemporal intelligence which could detect critical threats to the GSR, and then somehow bring about its own creation and subsequent non-creation. "Metatemporal intelligence". Ridiculous. How could they even create one? The plan was doomed from the start.

Unless, they found one that already existed.

Unless, they found one that always existed.

They said it was Destiny. Though, the more apt term would be Predestination.

Within the Matoran universe, great importance was placed on the study and recording of history. Matoran long term memories only extend a few hundred years back, and stress or trauma can induce amnesia. Ways of recording history were vital to communities, such as archives, libraries, and of course, Chroniclers. History was even considered sacred; Destiny was said to be history that hasn't happened yet. It is no wonder that Time was named a legendary element.

The Mask of Time was a common myth amongst mask makers, a white whale. Ambitious upstarts and experienced masters have all tried their hand at it, though few ever go further than a few sketched drafts. But, everyone seemed to know a guy who knew a guy who got really really close, they promise.

Chroniclers have noted that stories about the Mask of Time and attempts to make it seem to coincide with periods of upheaval, such as the conquest of the Six Kingdoms, or the Metru Civil War and Great Disruption. An interesting coincidence. Some point to political and socioeconomic factors, others to Destiny.

Though, the more apt term would be Predestination.

It is unknown, unknowable, how many times the Vahi has been forged, how many times it had been weilded, how many times the clock has turned back. It is unknown, unknowable, how many times Vakama has forged the Vahi, how many times he weilded it, and how many times he turned back the clock.

What is known is that, strictly speaking, the Vahi should not exist. The Great Cataclysm should have never happened. The Vahi should have prevented it, and its own creation. However, the fact that the GSR did not burn in Aqua Magna's atmosphere, nor destroy the planetoid itself, nor lead to a total extinction event within the GSR, points to the Vahi working as intended.

The team who initially proposed the Vahi are... unavailable to be consulted. The remaining Great Beings on post-reformstion Spherus Magna are left wondering. Why did the GSR still crash? Why has the timeline not been rewritten? Why is the Vahi still physically on the planet?

What do you mean the Vahi is still physically on the planet?

[mocsbylexan]

Ussal Nui

Aqua Magna, c. 100,000 AGR

The surface portion of Meki Nui's Onu Wahi is a vast expanse of unsettled grassy moorland, dotted with rocks and crags that hide entrances to the underground. It's said that somewhere out on these plains, the queen of the wild Ussal herds holds her serene court.

Moctober 2022, Day 25

[rahiwatching]

I just read the summary of "The Science of the Spherus Magna System" (fantastic work btw) and now I'm wondering what the sky would look like on Bara Magna, how big the moons would be, and the same for Aqua Magna. Have any insights there?

Excellent question!

As described in my Science of Spherus Magna document, both Aqua Magna and Bota Magna are in a stationary orbit around Bara Magna, meaning that they complete one orbit in the same time as it takes Bara Magna to spin around once on its axis (one day). Therefore, from the ground the moons would appear to hang unmoving in the sky, going through a full set of phases through the course of the 36-hour day. Due to their positions on opposite sides of their orbit from one another, you would never be able to see both moons at the same time from a position on the ground of Bara Magna, as one would always be on the opposite side of the planet. But to work out the apparent size the moons would appear in the sky, we will need to do some more mathematics.

Here on Earth, astronomers use something called angular measure to describe the apparent size of an object in the sky. The whole sky is divided up into 360 degrees, however as the ground technically blocks half the sky from view, therefore from horizon to horizon is measured as 180 degrees. One degree is further divided into 60 arc-minutes (or 60’ for short) with an arc-minute being further broken down into 60 arc-seconds (or 60”).

To work out the angular size of an object in the sky (measured in arc-seconds), you need to know two things:

The linear size of the object (this is another way of saying its true size, measured in meters)

The distance to the object (again, measured in meters)

If you know those two things, you can plug them into this equation to find out the angular size of the object in question:

Let’s say we have an Agori looking up at the sky from the equator of Bara Magna, on the side of the planet that is facing Aqua Magna. What would they see?

From my previous investigations, we know that the linear size of Aqua Magna is its diameter measurement, which is equal to 7,220.47km (or 7,220,470 meters). We also know that the distance between Aqua Magna and Bara Magna is 87,548.16km. However, this measure is from the centre of Bara Magna to the centre of Aqua Magna, so for the purposes of this investigation we will need to remove the radius of Bara Magna from that so that the measure is starting from its surface, where our Agori observer is. The radius of Bara Magna is 10,830.70km, so taking that away from the distance measure gives us a distance from the surface of Bara Magna to Aqua Magna of 76,717.46km (or 76,717,460 meters).

Plugging both of those numbers into the equation above gives us an angular size of Aqua Magna for our Agori observer of 19413.19 arc-seconds, or 5.39 degrees. Given the symmetry of Aqua Magna and Bota Magna in their orbits, this is also the size of Bota Magna that the Agori would see if they travelled to the other side of the planet where Bota Magna is visible.

To put that into context, from the surface of the Earth, our Moon has an angular size of around 0.5 degrees, so to our Agori astronomer, Aqua Magna would appear to be 10.78 times larger than the Moon appears in the sky here on Earth – like this:

Given that I stated that Aqua Magna was tidally locked to Bara Magna, meaning that only one side of the moon ever faces the planet (the same as how only one side of our Moon ever faces the Earth), there would be no land on the side facing the planet to be able to see it, as I assumed that the GSR landed on the side facing away as an explanation of why the Matoran of Mata-Nui and Voya-Nui never mentioned seeing the planet when they looked to the sky. But let’s say that a very adventurous Ga-Matoran set away on a quest to circumnavigate Aqua Magna – how big would Bara Magna appear in the sky to her once she sailed to the other side of the moon?

The diameter of Bara Magna is 21,661.40km (or 21,661,400 meters) and the distance from the surface of Aqua Magna to Bara Magna is 83,937.93km (or 83,937,930 meters). Plugging those numbers into the equation again, we get an angular size for Bara Magna when viewed from Aqua Magna of 53,229.67 arc-seconds, or 14.79 degrees.

Comparing that size to our Moon again, to our Ga-Matoran sailor Bara Magna would appear to be 29.58 times larger than the Moon appears to human astronomers – like the below image:

 While you didn’t ask it in your question, I also worked out the apparent size of the Red Star when viewed from the surface of Aqua Magna. Its diameter is 350km (or 350,000 meters) and its distance from the surface of Aqua Magna is 17,149.73km (or 17,149,730 meters), meaning its angular size would be 4,209.56 arc-seconds, or 1.17 degrees, which is 2.34 times larger than the Moon appears to us – see the below comparison again:

One thing I forgot to mention in my Science of Spherus Magna paper was that given the Red Star is also in a stationary orbit around Aqua Magna, it would act much in the same way as a full Moon here does at night on Earth for the side of Aqua Magna facing it, only appearing larger in the sky than our Moon does. Nocturnal Rahi on the islands of Mata-Nui and Voya-Nui would be able to use its light during the night to see by, though because it produces its own light of a specific colour, everything would be bathed in a deep red glow.

[herora-nuva]

"These machines were never built to make things right.

"These machines were never built to BURN ALIVE!"

Ok but can we talk about how fucking hard these lyrics go?! "As Above, So Below", the new song by @essengermusic and Cryoshell, is a masterpiece and dripping with thematic references to Bionicle, and in particular these two lines from the pre-choruses stick out too me because they feel so filled with meaning to the series. Like obviously I'm not Essenger, so I don't know everything that went into these lyrics, but I have to talk about what they make me feel because I can't stop thinking about them. So, here's my attempt at a lyrical analysis! :D

"Don't you feel that its too late to turn the tide. These machines were never built to make things right."

This line feels so interesting, because it feels like an acknowledgement that the characters were never really meant to be heroes. The Toa and Matoran were just meant to be the worker drones to keep the Mata Nui Robot functioning. Things were never meant to go this wrong, these beings who were just machines were never built to face evils and right wrongs of this magnitude. And yet they did, they rose to take on more than they were ever meant to.

"Don't you feel that its too late to turn the tide. These machines were never built BURN ALIIIIIIVEEEEE."

And then this line hits even harder! At the same time as calling them just machines, it calls them alive, and that they were never meant to burn, never meant to experience this pain. It calls them machines but evokes a pity of them, they were never meant to pay the price for these mistakes.

Just the contrast between these two lines (and I gotta say, I LOVE me some slight changes in repeating lyrics that give new context and meaning) captures what in my view is one of the most poignant themes in Bionicle, that they were never meant to be more than machines, and yet they became a people on their own, burdened with the weight of their creators' mistakes.

"Our sanctuary burns while you play god."

Who this refers to is also very interesting. It works for Mata Nui, Makuta, and the Great Beings, and I'd say most of all the Great Beings, who played god while their world burned.

"The world outside is dying as we slowly drown."

This line comes a little earlier than the previous one I mention, and I while it evokes the overarching theme in the song of the world in peril while the subjects are dormant, locked away in a paradise. It makes you think about the Great Beings off who knows where while their creation struggles. Though the drowning metaphor also makes me think of Mata Nui, also a dormant god who made mistakes, drowning from the waters of Aqua Magna literally filling his heart with the waterfall of Karda Nui. Love me some lyrics that have multiple potential meanings and interpretations.

GOD, this song is so sorrowful, and yet feels brimming with a determined rage to make things right, though wondering if ti may be too late. That feeling was so palpable in Bionicle, especially late Bionicle in the Ignition and Bara Magna Sagas. Ahhh, I love it so much, thank you Essenger, I know this was your dream, but to the rest of us, this was a gift beyond measure.

[randomwriteronline]

The foundations of the Bionicle, as recorded by Lebori Tarduk of New Atero under the guidance of the Turaga Nui, chosen prophets of the God of Mending:

In the time before time, the Great Beings constructed Mata Nui.

He was born a Spirit, as splendid and perfect as his creators wished; he was born pure thought and light and sound, coursing through plasma and lightning, compressed into shape by gravity and magnetism; and he was born curious, for he could not yet be wise, aching to know all that the Universe beyond him held. But where his mind went he could not follow, as he had no body.

The Great Beings toiled to bring him into the realm of physicality. They assembled bones from stone and ice, and organs from plant and air and water, and hardened flesh from fire and earth and iron. But when Mata Nui entered them he felt each piece with frightening clarity, felt the still body suffocate him the longer its mechanisms remained immoble, and though he worked to keep them active and track their functions and their needs he found himself overwhelmed; and so each body shut down, for perfection struggles when placed within imperfect things.

At last, a solution was found: smaller bodies of flesh and metal were hushered into a form as large as a galaxy, and the Matoran were made, with the Makuta, the Vortixx, the Skakdi, and each of the species that inhabited the copied world within Mata Nui himself, so that they would control what the Great Spirit could not in his stead; and mighty beings were chosen to watch over them, from the Toa to the Barraki to the golden divine brothers, Artakha of the forge and Karzhani of the scalpel; and so Mata Nui at last was complete, to be the savior of Spherus Magna - and so Mata Nui became the Mending God, and began his lonely pilgrimage through the shadows of the universe, carrying along within his body a universe of his own.

That of which he learned, none can know. It is divine knowledge, vast and endless; it is not for little things such as ourselves. Too long it would take for us to catalogue all he'd witnessed, longer still to begin to understand.

We only know, from the records of the world inside his mass, that Makuta Teridax was his brother, though perhaps in power alone; we only know he worked from within the god's innards, very soon, to poison him and take his place. We know he fought and was fought harshly, and succeeded briefly as well; we know his machinations caused Mata Nui to fall - deathly ill first, and into the waters of the reunited moon of Aqua Magna second. We know that Mata Nui died: we know a sacrifice awoke him to dreams, but not to consciousness. We know his body was stolen at last, and he crashed once more onto the Great Barren, where yet again he was given form - by the dunes and the Ignika, Mask of Life, in which his Spirit had been imprisoned.

All is known after this: of the mending of the Great Barren's tribes, under one sign to repell the Skrall; of the mending of Spherus Magna, in which Teridax was defeated, and the people of the Great Spirit returned to the cradle they had never known. This world is one for new legends, though still he is a part of it: and the people of Spherus Magna remember him, now and forevermore, as the God of Mending - a god who mends, a god who is mended.

Terrible was his convalescence, terrible the effects upon his health. No more shall he explore the worlds he once flew past; no more shall his touch pull together a planet torn into three. He could, once, but no longer can he withstand the strain: though he does not regret following his duty through into his destiny despite the misery it brough him, he is too weak now to take on such a burdensome quest.

To this day he sleeps, sick and brittle, within the Mask of Life: his tired soul cannot sustain a physical form. In his sleep he sees us: merciful god that he is, he extends his spirit slowly, to help us as best as he can in his limited strength.

To this day he rests, and to this day to rest is the most profound way to honor him.

based on these tags by @legend-as-old-as-time on this post

[sepublic]

Interesting to think that the Sea Squid is native to Aqua Magna, and was swimming in Spherus Magna’s oceans prior to the Core War. Meaning there’s a good chance that the Glatorian and Agori recognize these creatures, and have stories about their vampiric abilities. I’m imagining Kalmah and/or Ehlek hearing what the locals figured out about sea squids long ago that the Barraki never realized.

Did Agori have to protect their dinosaur mounts from these creatures when sailing? Did the Great Beings study and experiment on them, with a few specimens cybernetically enhanced like the Skopio? Imagine the Water Tribe exporting these critters to use in local waterways and rivers during the Core War. Imagine old cookbooks with sea squid recipes; Although Greg did confirm that the sea squid is considered unpalatable. Some Agori fishermen must’ve been the first to realize this before Mantax ate half a brood.