Prelude: Struggle of the Gods

[ShadowBionics]

Long ago, in a time before time, the universe was protected by the mighty god of time known as Artakha. From the heavens, Artakha maintained and watched over the flow of time, making sure there were no disruptions or dangers to the beings inhabiting the universe. He worried for those in the universe, because in addition to maintaining the flow of time, he had other duties needed to be fulfilled to the inhabitants, most notably the Matoran. His primary duty alone was one that took a lot of effort and diligence, which he could not fully dedicate to the Matoran and their livelihood.

 

From that point on, he created three new deities that would watch over the Matoran while he continued to take care of the flow of time. Mata Nui, the god of light. Kjetha Magna, the goddess of death and rebirth. Terankos, the god of shadows. Artakha entrusted his three children to oversee the lesser aspects of the universe, such as the life and well-being of the Matoran and other beings inhabiting the universe.

 

Mata Nui served as their guardian and protector, making sure the Matoran were safe and able to enjoy life. Mata Nui presented the three virtues which the Matoran would uphold and revere: Unity, Duty, and Destiny. Kjetha Magna served as the one who oversaw the life processes of all living beings in nature. She also served as the keeper of the souls of the deceased and creator of souls of those who were yet to be born. However, she would not be the keeper of all souls. Terankos served as the keeper of the shadow realm, a place of darkness and solitude, to serve as a prison and final destination for those who committed great enough crimes against the set of morals and standards put in place by Mata Nui to the point Kjetha Magna branded them as irredeemable. Terankos was the only one who could pass judgment of who would spend eternity in the shadow realm and whose soul could truly be entrusted with Kjetha Magna for some hope of redemption. Mata Nui, the Protector. Kjetha Magna, the Caretaker. Terankos, the Judge. These were the roles they played in the grand scheme of Artakha’s great universe. Mata Nui was granted the legendary mask of light. Kjetha Magna was granted the powerful mask of life. Terankos was granted the mighty mask of shadows.

 

There was peace and balance for a time, and all was fine in the universe. This peace would not last, however, as Terankos slowly began to lose himself to the very shadows he had power over. The power of the shadows could corrupt and twist one’s mind, so in order to control it, one had to have a strong, pure heart and a proper amount of mental discipline, which Terankos once possessed. Ruling over the shadow realm and trying to control and break the spirits of the numerous criminals and wrong doers slowly began to take a toll on the mighty god of shadows. His mind was slowly lost to insanity and his heart tainted by the very dark morals he vowed to contain and hold back. Through his new point of view, he began to see Mata Nui as his rival and enemy for being so highly revered and celebrated by the Matoran while his deeds were unnoticed and overlooked. In his eyes, he was the true protector of the Matoran keeping them safe from the various criminals that plagued the universe.

 

Driven insane by his desire to claim his position as the true protector of the Matoran, Terankos confronted his brother and challenged him, accusing him of being a false idol for taking credit for all of the good he did for the Matoran. Mata Nui, shocked and hurt by these accusations, tried to calm him and see what happened to the once-noble god of shadows. Terankos denied him, blinded by the corruption of the darkness in his heart and boldly declared Mata Nui to be a coward and an imposter. Mata Nui said nothing, but engaged with Terankos in combat. Saddened, he fought bravely against his brother, lost to the very shadows he controlled. They were evenly matched in combat and wit, both outdoing each other in as many ways as possible. Their battle raged for a long time until Kjetha Magna stepped in. Filled with grief over seeing her brothers locked in combat, she unexpectedly caught Terankos off guard, trapping him in chains of her own power and ending the senseless fighting. From that point on, Mata Nui declared to Kjetha Magna that their brother was dead and gone, only a shell of who he once was. He then declared that he be imprisoned in the shadow realm for all of eternity, where he would no longer bring harm or danger to anyone. Kjetha Magna asserted herself to imprisoning him herself. When she said she would take on Terankos’ duties of overseeing the shadow realm, Mata Nui merely put a hand on her shoulder and said the task would be too much for someone who already took care of the various souls of the dead and those yet to be born. They agreed they would do their best to oversee the shadow realm together, but that task proved to be too much for them in addition to the duties they already had presented to them. Even still, this would not be the last anyone heard of the mad god of shadows…

 

 

In the mind of the author:

Although I'm a retired writer, I still have ideas from time to time. And although my ideas may not catch the attention of many as they once did in 2006-2010, I feel like sharing them once in a while. This is one such idea.

 

In JTO, Makuta claimed he wanted to claim his place "amongst the gods." Well... who are the gods? What are they like? Unless Lego were to do something in the 11th hour like they did with the "Matoran Protectors" from the recent Lego Magazine, I doubt we'll really know for sure. Speaking of which, I ran with that as my collective term for the Okoto villagers, since that was a mouthful. Plus, what if there's others outside of Okoto? What if there's other lands aside from Okoto? Many questions, no answers. Yet, anyway. And possibly not at all. But then if I were to make my own "continuation" of Bionicle G2, I figured I might as well establish the basis of what it would build itself on. Since this is just a short writing, I figured I would make it as a small written legend presented as a short writing, something I've never quite done before. On BZPower, anyway. 

 

The main inspiration and ideas for these characters come from Bionicle G1 (pretty obvious), Greek Mythology, Final Fantasy XIII, some aspects of Fire Emblem Fates and Awakening, and Digimon Frontier (probably the most obscure since most digi-fans don't like it while I'm part of a few that does). Artakha, serves as a Chronos sort of character. Since Ekimu has the mask of creation, that sort of bumped him out of the creator status he had in G1. But then Chronos, god of time, created his various children later on before eventually being overthrown by Zeus. In this case, however, Artakha is just a busy guy who needed some help and has no interest in betraying or eating anyone. Mata Nui, as the great spirit of the G1 story, it made perfect sense to fit him in the role of the Zeus-like figure. As such, he's the god of light, similar to the roles of Bhunivelze in FFXIII (except not evil and not filled with nightmares) and Palutena of Kid Icarus (except not a woman with a trolling sense of humor). He takes a more active role than his namesake in guarding the being in the universe. Kjetha Magna, serves a role similar to the goddess Etro in the FFXIII series and is named sort of after my character Elitha (shadow Toa and angel of death). She has the "Magna" in her name to keep in theme with the old Bionicle and with the naming scheme of Mata Nui. She is more of a motherly sort of character who adores life all great and small, and as such doesn't like fighting or conflict that could result in death. Terankos is sort of a Hades-like figure, who starts off good and pure, but eventually gets driven into madness. His name borrows spelling from Teridax, who as we know was the big bad of G1 who betrayed Mata Nui and was his "brother" and fellow protector of the Matoran. 

 

So there's a bit of a hierarchy of gods here, with three major players overseeing the universe (like the 3 celestial Digimon, one of whom became corrupted later coincidentally) and one above them who oversees.... well, everything to the point he barely had time to take care of individuals. It's a pretty generic sort of outline, but it's something I had. And it was meant to be the springboard of something that may or may not happen. There's a lot of people with their own ideas for expanding G2. 

 

So like it or hate it, here it is. Enjoy. Or don't. I don't know. This 

Edited November 18, 2016 by ShadowBionics

[Wiriamu]

Neat concepts-it's got a bit of a Tolkienesque flavor to it, and I could definitely imagine Terankos being part of what influenced G2 Makuta's fall from grace and even manipulating events to drag him into the Shadow Realm so that he would attempt to escape it and unwittingly give Terankos his own means of getting free. I noticed a few grammatical errors along the way, but overall a pretty cool job.

[ToaTImeLord]

This was beautiful.

Just wonderful, I just could see this legend written on a old scroll somewhere in the Mask Maker city.

I've love it.

 

Also what magazine are you talking about is it the Lego club magazine?

Because I have heard nothing about Okotoans being Matoran canon?

Edited October 30, 2016 by ToaTimeLord

[ShadowBionics]

Neat concepts-it's got a bit of a Tolkienesque flavor to it, and I could definitely imagine Terankos being part of what influenced G2 Makuta's fall from grace and even manipulating events to drag him into the Shadow Realm so that he would attempt to escape it and unwittingly give Terankos his own means of getting free. I noticed a few grammatical errors along the way, but overall a pretty cool job.

 

If I were to make a continuation to it, you might see a bit of that sort of fall from grace. Maybe as another short story I was tinkering with, dealing with Makuta and someone who knew him.

 

Unfortunately I do end up letting grammatical errors slip by me, even when using Word. But then again, that's what happens when I'm writing at 2 AM. Anyways, if I do make another short story like this one, you might see some parallels between Makuta and Terankos. In which case, there might be one more short story set in this "universe," and possibly an epic or two based around Artakha and his three children, and one that looks at Umarak and his encounter with a dark group that revels in the shadows and Terankos himself.

 

This was beautiful.

Just wonderful, I just could see this legend written on a old scroll somewhere in the Mask Maker city.

I've love it.

 

Also what magazine are you talking about is it the Lego club magazine?

Because I have heard nothing about Okotoans being Matoran canon?

 

Initially, this was going to be part of a larger short story, but then I figured I'd just make this as my springboard for what I base my "fanon" on. I'd place this scroll or tablet (I'm not sure if scroll paper existed in this universe??) somewhere in the Mask Makers' Forge or maybe the Temple of Time. Maybe along with the Prophecy of the Toa as well, seeing how significant the events between these four are for the Protectors and their people. Maybe even one of them for Makuta...

 

The magazine in question I believe came out in September. I can't be sure, since for some reason, Lego stopped sending them to me despite my subscription being up to date. Perhaps turning 24 for a magazine aimed for 6-12 year olds turned them off.

 

The section in question has these sort of "Punch-Out!!" fight posters featuring Umarak Vs. Ekimu, Tahu vs. Lava Beast, Onua vs. Quake Beast, and oddly enough Gali vs. Storm Beast. The blurb talks a bit about the impending battle and refers to the Okotans as the "Matoran Protectors." But as the people over at the TTV channel put it, the writers may have just done that in the 11th hour once Bionicle's story was done but still wished to promote the sets... what was left of them. It was from them that I heard about this, so I just shrugged my shoulders and said "works for me." I needed some sort of collective term for these guys, and Okotan can work, does that word refer to them as a people or anyone who lives on Okoto? 

[Wiriamu]

I think Okotan works for the islanders-all the other residents are either a different race/species or a unique being like Umarak.

[ShadowBionics]

I think Okotan works for the islanders-all the other residents are either a different race/species or a unique being like Umarak.

I suppose so. Unfortunately in cases like Umarak, we don't know the name of every species encountered in the story, aside from the Okotans and the Toa, for one. Well, either way, I just took something supposedly in a Lego Magazine and ran with it. Whether or not they are canonically called "Matoran" or not may never be answered with the story wrapped up and over.

 

I might still play around with the idea for a bit before/ if I write anything further about anything involving them.