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IC [Coliseum]: The traitor Toa continued to back up until the path was blocked by one of the stone barriers Stannis had placed. Aurax had jumped in the ring with me to take a cheap shot and missed. Now his cowardice was about to bite him back. I had him now. No point in further dragging this out. In a flash my blade was up, poised to fell the traitor in one slice. Just like I had been taught. For a fraction of a fraction of a second I saw myself back home in my youth, carefully watched by my mentors as I practiced my swordsmanship against the training dummies. Father would have been proud. My grip tensed and I swung - and then my vision erupted with white flashes, I felt a jolt of electricity from my shoulder as circuits ruptured, my knees buckled from a sudden impact. Something exploded by my head, and suddenly the room was spinning. ----- Looking down the sights of her gun, Rose saw Waveahk land atop the warlord, just as she squeezed the trigger. The Steltian’s sword, driven by his mass, dug deep into the armor, severing servos and conduits in an explosion of sparks. Twisted by the sudden impact, the firework round hit the armor instead of the warlord’s head and detonated, throwing both Pridak and Waveahk sideways. The warlord fell, the upper right of his armor nothing more than smoldering scrap metal clinging to the Takean’s frame that it was supposed to protect. ----- When I caught my bearing again, my vision was fuzzy with broken input from my armor’s ocular feed. Flashes of white status readouts interrupted by flashes of red warnings. I was on the floor, sideways, staring up at the edge of the rock barrier. There was a high pitched beeping in my right audio receptor that wouldn’t go away and my left was assaulted by alarms. I blinked, tried to shake off the disorientation and climb back up to my feet - but I couldn’t. The servos wouldn’t budge. I tried to look down and noticed my line of sight obstructed by the remains of the collar that had saved my life a moment earlier. I paid attention to the flashing readouts - but the display was too busted to make out more than a lot of red. Suffice it to say the suit was fried. “Gaaarrrhhhyou spirit-forsaken no-good traitor brakas!” I didn’t even notice the words I yelled, struggling until I’d maneuvered my body against the inert armor enough so that I could hit the eject switch. ----- The next instant, Pridak’s assailants heard another bang as parts of the armor went flying, purposefully jettisoned by the warlord, who was now rising from the scrapped suit, grunting in anger and frustration with the effort. “You no-good Karzhani-loving wannabe usurpers - you come into my domain, break my stuff - you think you can do this to me!?” None of them had ever seen the warlord out of his suit. Pridak was still tall, but also...thin. Nothing like the imposing figure that had strode across battlefields in his suit of powered armor. No, the warlord appeared almost frail and looked like he struggled to stand. He chuckled. It sounded pained. “Heh. You can shoot me, but you can’t kill me. And you know why? Cause I own this - “ he gestured with one free hand, before clenching it into a first - “I conquered it. It’s mine! Mine! And I’m not losing it. No way I’m losing.” ----- I had it with these people. I was so furious, I'd actually started laughing. Reaching down, I grabbed the handle of my sword, still clutched in my suit’s hand. With another growl, I wrenched it free. Not gonna lie, I’d forgotten how heavy it was. Just lifting the cursed thing made my muscles burn. That’s why I'd had that armor in the first place! But fine...they wanted to play it this way, we’d play it this way. “Oh you’ve got no idea who you’re messing with! I’m gonna take this sword, I’m gonna go right back to where we left off and I’m gonna slice you into so many little pieces, the undead in the silver lake will think it’s naming day!” ----- If a machine like the summoned ACR could feel surprise at all, it probably would at the fact it found no further opposition in its path. Despite registering several indicators that security measures were in place, none of them were active. Otis didn’t know it, but the damage the fall had caused was extensive and the blast doors and other obstacles that would normally hinder an assailant or fire from reaching adjacent parts of the building had been disabled by the crash and there simply hadn’t been the time or resources to fix them. The path was clear. OOC: @Snelly@EmperorWhenua@Toru Nui@~Xemnas~@Kal the Guardian@Eyru@Tarn

It is with deep regret I must inform you all that I am leaving the game. I will remain in contact with any and all players whose characters were in the midst of interaction with my own to try and work something out, but due to various factors, I have reached the conclusion that I cannot keep playing SKR. I apologise for anything and everything this will impact in the game. I've much enjoyed these last seven months with you guys, and were the situation any different, I'd much prefer to keep going, but I'm afraid that's not currently on the table. Thank you all for everything.

IC: Whisper - Fau Swamp "We are as alike as..." she paused, searching for an adequate analogy, "...rocks in a stream. All are stone, but each is unique. Quartz, granite, sandstone, and so on. Each starts out a different shape and texture, and is worn down by time and travel, becoming something more refined once removed from the water." She lazily trailed her tails across the ground, disturbing the leaf litter. "We are all Aspects, but we each take on a different form, each pursue our own goals, and are gradually shaped and changed by the dreams we pursue." @Eyru

IC Meanwhile, Stannis fell.

IC: Taja | Fau Swamp Taja didn't reply immediately. She was struck by the poetry of the sentiment. Whisper's observation was oddly endearing. She supposed it was a true enough description of anyone—one Matoran could be as different from another as quartz from granite, and yet they were both still Matoran. She looked down at her own hands, so newly recoloured: she couldn't imagine there being another Toa like her, but she was still a Toa. As time went on, she would continue to change and grow, and yet a Toa she would remain. Despite their differences, she and Iradra would always be alike in that regard. It was funny, she mused, how everything seemed to simultaneously change while staying the same. Having undergone two transformations in as many weeks, she felt like an alien in her own body. And yet, she was still Taja. She still felt like herself... and also not. She wondered what she would be like in a year, or a hundred years. Would that Taja still be recognizable? Or would the river of time refine her into something new? How much of oneself was innate and permanent; and how much was mutable and shaped by experience? She was sure some Ko-Matoran philosopher had written a treatise on the idea. As an astronomer, she was no stranger to these questions. Many astrologers found it difficult to reconcile the certainty of the stars with the appearance of free will. How much of one's life was prescribed by destiny, and how much was left up to you? Could anyone really do anything of their own free will, or was the illusion of choice really just that—an illusion? If so, then what was the point of doing one's Duty, anyway? Destiny would happen regardless. In the same vein of thought, did she really have any control over the shape she was being molded into? A Toa of Water could control a river, but no one could control time (even though Turaga Dume had seemed convinced he could). If choice was an illusion, than maybe change was too. The appearance of change might just be the immutable direction of destiny, prescribing them all into the roles they were destined to fill. "Taja" had changed, but she was still Taja. Perhaps these transformations were just making her more "Taja" than she had been before, until she was "Taja" enough to fulfill her destiny. ...her head ached. She remembered why she left these stupid discussions to the philosophers. She preferred the stars: they didn't ask you to understand. They just asked you to listen. Speaking of listening, she realized Whisper was still looking at her, waiting on a reply. Her cheeks coloured. "And you... you hope to change into something like me." @Nato the Traveler

IC: Taja | Swamp Outskirts "I guess you're right," Taja admitted. "We did eat meat." She hadn't thought of it that way. Metru Nui, for all its pomp and splendour, still operated by the most basic rule of survival: one must kill to survive. The Matoran had lived off the harvest of the land and sea. Their easy life had been paid for by the death of others, even if they were just Rahi. She shouldn't judge this island so harshly, she decided. It was a barbaric place, but it was also more honest. It was easy to know where you stood when everything was trying to kill you. @Nato the Traveler

So, I haven't been on this website in YEARS, but something I specifically regret forever is posting some very blatant anti-LGBTQ+ bull on here. At the time I had zero (0) socialization with anyone other than those who my conservative parents exposed me to, and HOO BOY have things changed. For one thing, I myself have come to realize my own bisexual identity. I feel like MOST of my friends now aren't straight, amazing what getting a theatre degree does to you. So, for those I hurt way back when, if you're even still around here? I'm so sorry for the hateful identity-defying rhetoric I spouted back then. A term I've come to appreciate is "hate parroting," and at the time I really was a hate parrot against the LGBTQ+ community. I regret hurting people by inserting my own dumb, sheltered child opinion, and my adult self is at least offering this apology to the void that will probably not even be read by anyone (and that, afterwards, I probably won't visit this site ever again, or at least not for another few years). I can only hope that this provides some mental closure for me after agonizing over things I said on a children's website years ago, and that somehow someone directly affected back then might see it and feel validated that their attempts to tell me I was wrong weren't completely in vain. I love the memories I have otherwise of BZPower, and do miss everything I've done here long ago. Thanks for everything, and one more time, I'm so sorry for hurtful things I once said and hope this olive branch provides... something? Anyways, peace and love, **** Trump, I hope everyone's living life to its fullest despite the world crumbling right now. -Benjamin

IC: Taja | Fau Swamp "I see," Taja said, although this was a half-truth. Whisper's explanation only raised further questions, but she could sympathize with the creature's plight. If time was like a river that molded each Aspect into a unique shape and texture, then how cruel it was to know that, eventually, they were doomed to return to what they had been before. To lose all their accumulated knowledge and memories to the pool that had birthed them. If she were in the same position, Taja thought she would probably try to break the cycle too. To spit in the face of destiny and forge her own path. Better to die as yourself than to lose everything that made you you. But wasn't that the same quandary she had found herself caught in a moment ago? If the wisdom of the astronomers still held true, then destiny had them all caught up in its grip. They were like leaves in a whirlpool, endlessly moving but never escaping. Although... now that she found herself in a different land under different stars, Taja wondered if the old rules still applied. Her whole world had been a container—a terrarium. Now she was outside. Was there any guarantee that destiny still held sway out here, in this strange land with its alien constellations? Perhaps she was truly free now to forge her own path, And if she was, then surely Whisper deserved that freedom too. To live and die on her own terms. "I see. Then, after returning to the pool, are Aspects eventually born again? Can you even know?" @Nato the Traveler IC: Oreius | Pridak's Throne Room, the Coliseum Taking advantage of his opponent's momentary distraction, Oreius conjured a blast of fire between them, blowing the two Toa apart. The blast was unlikely to harm his enemy, seeing as he was a Toa of Fire himself, but all Oreius wanted was to get some distance. Achro was blown backwards towards the wall of the throne room, while Oreius was blasted in the opposite direction—towards Pridak. Flying through the air, he looked down and saw the warlord had exited his exo-suit. Absent his armour, Pridak's body lit up like a Naming Day tree as Oreius's Kanohi picked out each weak point and flaw. The Barraki seemed frailer and more wizened than he had expected, but perhaps that was just the juxtaposition of the hulking suit he had just abandoned. Pridak was surely still a force to be reckoned with, armour or no. Oreius would prove himself equal to that force, or die trying. He hit the ground and turned his momentum into a roll, springing up only a metre from Pridak. From this close, he could finally look the warlord in the eyes. Pridak's eyes were black with no pupils, like a shark's. They held no illusions of mercy or pity. They were the eyes of a killer; they were the eyes of a conqueror. With a grim smile, Oreius charged Pridak and slashed at him with his sword. @Toru Nui @Vezok's Friend

@Unreliable Narrator I should mention that Skorm was so directly affected by the radiation because it was directly being emitted by Keitara, not just background radiation. At the same time, while it was very debilitating, he was able to shield himself by creating a void of shadow around himself.

IC: Taja | Fau Swamp Taja nodded. Following Whisper's earlier advice, she kept close to the trees as they entered the swamp, stepping carefully over the twisted roots. The ground was soft and wet, but stable enough to walk on. The ground was sunken between each tree, and the bottom of each sump was filled with green-brown water. Little rafts of algae floated here and there in these puddles, which, as they moved deeper into the swamp, gradually grew bigger and bigger until they were no longer puddles but one vast, interconnected body of water. Overhead, the sky was hidden by great canopies of vibrant green leaves. Long vines and strings of ivy dangled down into the water, sending ripples across the ponds every time they moved. The sound of buzzing insects grew louder; here and there, Taja saw the little creatures skittering up and down tree trunks or floating patiently in the water. Dragonflies hummed through the air, pausing here and there to hover effortlessly like tiny airships. Their colourful bodies gleamed in the soft light. And higher up in the canopy, the occasional cry of some unseen Rahi sounded through the leaves. These chitters and screeches startled the Toa whenever they came, but she was fascinated by them. She had never studied Rahi. She had preferred to keep her lonely company in the knowledge towers, studying the movements of the stars. But the dances of the heavens suddenly seemed unbearably sterile when compared to this swamp. Life was abundant here; it flourished in every crevice and blossomed in every crack. Mushrooms sprouted from fallen logs; wasps built their nests in the crooks of tree limbs. Throughout it all, the thick, humid air of the swamp hung like a warm blanket. It was intoxicating. Her attention lapsed, Taja found herself suddenly slipping on a muddy patch of grass. Her heart leapt into her throat. She balanced on one foot for a long second, arms windmilling, then cried out as she fell into the water with a splash that silenced the swamp for a brief moment. Then the noise resumed in earnest, and the Toa stood up as quickly as she could. She wiped the algae off her armour as she stumbled out of the water, muttering words she'd only heard in the dive bars of Le-Metru. "Sorry," she said wearily. "Got distracted." @Nato the Traveler

IC: Ultan, Leklo, Korruhn | Abandoned Fortress, Northern edge of the protodermis lake Ultan had been too lost in his thoughts to offer a counter-argument to their detour, and the crumbling fortress along the cragged cliffside was along their route. He had seldom lifted his eyes off of the colossal skull in the approaching distance, the rising moonlight beaming off of its shattered dome. As strange of a sight as it was... something about it was off, and the longer he stared, the more certain of the feeling, though he could not quite place the cause... Their speeders crested over a grassy knoll. As they reached the summit of the coastal castle, the distant clash of steel rang clearly through the crisp salt-licked air. His trance finally broken, Ultan turned to see atop the ruin two figures, one a hulking mass of red and silver steel, bearing a great pike, and a single Toa fending off the brute quite literally single-handedly, one arm clutching a set of artifacts across his chest. "You gentlemen seeing what I'm seeing?" Ultan lifted his hand off of the speeder's clutch and conjured aloft an emerald fireball, flickering in his palm like a ghostly lantern. It gave off a cool heat, the same felt just before a body registers a scarring burn is taking place. "Should we shed some light for our beleaguered brother?" OOC: *airhorns* @Crimson Jester,@Unreliable Narrator, @EmperorWhenua, @~Xemnas~

IC: Sorilax - Aspect of Shadow and Silence - Aspects of Makuta Location - Air Suva With - Sala, ??? Sorilax stepped forward to stand beside Sala, “Well, I do suppose that is a most logical response to seeing anything new or unknown in the Fau Swamp. Good instincts, that one.” He heard the snapping of branches inside and the small bird Rahi as they fled the little temple. “Well, poor execution, but I suppose I can’t say much. That Bog Snake back there almost gave me another reason to invest in buying several Regeneration Kanoka.” He stepped forward and picked up the small drawstring sack the Ga-Matoran had left behind. He held it out to Sala, “Hum… I am fairly certain she forgot this.” OOC: @Sparticus147 @Unreliable Narrator

I'd rather not give my money to shady companies that are likely giving me an inferior quality product of something I want; but don't need, just because the legit thing is a bit pricier.