Nature of the Pit Mutagen

[The Iron Toa]

So, we know the Pit Mutagen is formed from Aqua Magna water reacting with normally harmless energies from the Matoran Universe. It mutates beings into water breathers, changing the appearance of some beings more than others, and some are immune to it. It can also grant new abilities or boost pre-existing ones (in the case of Ehlek and Takadox, respectively), but it can also have harmful effects -- it's damaging to Kanohi and weapons, and prevented the mutated Makuta from accessing some of their powers.But do you really think that a substance that consistently altered those exposed to it into water breathers would have resulted by chance? Consider that after a brief exposure to it, the Matoran of Mahri Nui were returned to their original forms, or something close. How could that be?I wonder if something else was involved: some sort of energy or substance that was designed to help restore beings, or if necessary alter them to fit their environment. I don't know where it could have come from, but I think it explains why a brief exposure cured the Mahri Nui Matoran of their bad repair job -- maybe they have some sort of default build programmed into them that the mutagen called upon. Those that needed to be able to breath water to survive were granted that ability, and the mutagen also gave sea animal-like qualities when necessary, to help them adapt. But of course, whatever was doing these repairs was never meant to mix with water, hence the random and harmful effects. And I don't expect the Barraki could have just climbed up on land and dumped mutagen on themselves to make them able to breath air again -- the fact that it's in water could be what makes it turn beings into water breathers. As for the Mahri Nui Matoran's case, maybe the airweed had something to do with it. Perhaps the mutagen was aerosolized in that case?I admit, it's not that solid a theory. But I'm trying to come up for some explanation for the mutagen's properties.

[NatureDruid]

Very well thought out to say the least. I always wondered about this too.

[bonesiii]

Well, you know how I've theorized before that the entire skin of the giant robot may have an airfield? That is, a forcefield that keeps air in, in case there's a hole while traveling through space. (But can't keep water out.)Maybe the energy in that field itself is what has this mutagenic effect as a secondary protocol, should anyone need to go outside for whatever reason involved with patching holes?The part about the original form makes me think of me ole' cyberclay theory. Maybe each person's protodermis has the equivalent of genetic code not just for their original shape but also for various variations on that theme; a water-breathing version and an air-breathing version at least. Then this energy could activate the switch between the two as they pass through the field into the ocean when the robot is submerged, through leaks. But since they were "repaired" physically, the "genetic code" is not updated to reflect their new forms, and may be designed in such cases to first turn them into their standard form as a step towards the water-breathing form.The Barakki's animalistic forms may indicate they did not have such variations on the theme, so the system instead had to improvise by borrowing traits from sea Rahi.I'm probably messed up on some of the details though; the Pit Mutagen always kinda lost me.

[Ice the Great]

Maybe the substance now known as Pit Mutagen was, in fact, a system designed by the Great Beings to aid in Mata Nui's camouflage. It may have acted as a sort of environmental adapter, terraforming Mata Nui's form to resemble its surroundings the same way that the Island of Mata Nui was created to mask his presence. Because it wouldn't be designed to interact with MU beings and wildlife (but would be designed to interact with local wildlife, such as the fish we've seen in the Barraki stories), its reaction to Protodermic entities couldn't be accurately predicted and resulted in these wild variations.

[Taipu1]

The GBs designed their creations to be adaptable, perhaps the reaction was intentional, any substance passes through the airfield (Bonesiii's idea there seemed good) are tainted with something the GBs made, so that the MU beings can adapt to this new substance entering the universe. In this case it was water, but perhaps if the planet they crashed on had been one with an unbreathable atmosphere, it's possible the gas would be changed to cause Matoran to breath it. But I guess that would be stopped by the airfield, huh?

[The Iron Toa]

Yeah. So in the case that someone had to exit the robot into a hostile environment, or if the robot was breached and water or poisonous gases or something leaked in, this could be some sort of emergency system to keep those in the disaster area able to work to rectify it. I like Bonesiii's idea of a sort of protodermic gene. I don't think everyone would have multiple specific forms like they're all wearing some sort of latent adaptive armor, but some changes common to species could be programmed in. Toa and Matoran seem to not be affected much, so maybe the GBs programmed some simple changes for them while Mata Nui neglected to do so for the Barraki's species, hence the need to base them on sea Rahi as Bonesiii mentioned. I don't quite get what you're saying, though, Ice the Great. I think the robot's shape stayed the same. Are you saying it helped things grow around it to disguise it?Also, according to BS01: "The Pit Mutagen is diluted from a form of energy radiation naturally emitted by energy sources, such as the Codrex."Maybe energy from the Codrex was what messed things up? Something must have gone wrong, otherwise the mutagen wouldn't have had those harmful effects I mentioned.

[bonesiii]

Maybe energy from the Codrex was what messed things up? Something must have gone wrong, otherwise the mutagen wouldn't have had those harmful effects I mentioned.

I'm not so sure. What if it was intended to have a slow power-breaking effect on masks and tools if they left the robot and didn't come back? So that aliens who might find them would find them to be powerless metal things rather than mystical objects to get really excited about?

[The Iron Toa]

That makes sense, but that would be counterproductive to efforts to repair the robot if it was breached. Unless... the damaging effects are the result of a different system, one that's meant to keep powerful artifacts out of the hands of aliens, and to prevent Matoran Universe beings from wandering around in the sea outside.

[bonesiii]

That makes sense, but that would be counterproductive to efforts to repair the robot if it was breached. Unless... the damaging effects are the result of a different system, one that's meant to keep powerful artifacts out of the hands of aliens, and to prevent Matoran Universe beings from wandering around in the sea outside.

Well, repairing a breach shouldn't take long enough to immediately break the powers, right? The Toa Mahri's powers and the Ignika were not significantly affected in that time. But the Mahritoran's tools were, from prolonged exposure.So if they use powers to quickly repair a breach, the powers will remain but maybe be slightly weakened, but if they lose the artifact and it remains outside, given enough time it loses power to preserve secrecy. That's what I was thinking -- the slow decay effect could enable it to all be a constant part of the same mutagen, not two separate systems.

[The Legendary TNT]

That makes sense, but that would be counterproductive to efforts to repair the robot if it was breached. Unless... the damaging effects are the result of a different system, one that's meant to keep powerful artifacts out of the hands of aliens, and to prevent Matoran Universe beings from wandering around in the sea outside.

Well, repairing a breach shouldn't take long enough to immediately break the powers, right? The Toa Mahri's powers and the Ignika were not significantly affected in that time. But the Mahritoran's tools were, from prolonged exposure.So if they use powers to quickly repair a breach, the powers will remain but maybe be slightly weakened, but if they lose the artifact and it remains outside, given enough time it loses power to preserve secrecy. That's what I was thinking -- the slow decay effect could enable it to all be a constant part of the same mutagen, not two separate systems.

If that's true, then how come the Ignika started to break down almost as soon as it went in the water? Also, the squid launchers the Barraki had worked just fine(not the set ones, *ugh*), the Maxilos robots had nothing wrong with them, and the cordak blasters Nuparu found were perfectly functional. So slow wear and tear might be out.

[Dralcax]

I think the corrosiveness is just an unintended side effect: quickened oxidization. After all, I don't think the mutagen was intended to be mixed with water and then have constant exposure to it. I think the MU inhabitants were just supposed to simply bathe in it, not live in it. The prolonged exposure, in addition to the oxidization, was the source of the corrosiveness.

[bonesiii]

If that's true, then how come the Ignika started to break down almost as soon as it went in the water?

Well that's when it came into contact with the mutagen. That's how a slow-acting agent works.

Also, the squid launchers the Barraki had worked just fine(not the set ones, *ugh*), the Maxilos robots had nothing wrong with them, and the cordak blasters Nuparu found were perfectly functional. So slow wear and tear might be out.

Do any of those involve protodermic powers? The launchers mechanically shot the squids which were Aqua Magna creatures (if mem serves). The robots themselves were mechanical (I forget if they naturally had their own powers, but Makuta was possessing the one we saw in the main plot). And the Cordak blasters mechanically fire explosives; pretty sure there's no powers involved there either.

[Podu]

Well, you know how I've theorized before that the entire skin of the giant robot may have an airfield? That is, a forcefield that keeps air in, in case there's a hole while traveling through space. (But can't keep water out.)

I'd like to note that, the Pit Mutagen is a form of energy released by energy sources such as Cordex, which explains the abudance of the Mutagen in Karda Nui and the Black Waters.

[The Legendary TNT]

If that's true, then how come the Ignika started to break down almost as soon as it went in the water?

Well that's when it came into contact with the mutagen. That's how a slow-acting agent works.

Also, the squid launchers the Barraki had worked just fine(not the set ones, *ugh*), the Maxilos robots had nothing wrong with them, and the cordak blasters Nuparu found were perfectly functional. So slow wear and tear might be out.

Do any of those involve protodermic powers? The launchers mechanically shot the squids which were Aqua Magna creatures (if mem serves). The robots themselves were mechanical (I forget if they naturally had their own powers, but Makuta was possessing the one we saw in the main plot). And the Cordak blasters mechanically fire explosives; pretty sure there's no powers involved there either.

True, but didn't the Maxilos swords channel the energy inside them.BS01 said "Maxilos robots are capable of channeling their internal energies of black fire through their swords."

[Ice the Great]

That makes sense, but that would be counterproductive to efforts to repair the robot if it was breached. Unless... the damaging effects are the result of a different system, one that's meant to keep powerful artifacts out of the hands of aliens, and to prevent Matoran Universe beings from wandering around in the sea outside.

Well, repairing a breach shouldn't take long enough to immediately break the powers, right? The Toa Mahri's powers and the Ignika were not significantly affected in that time. But the Mahritoran's tools were, from prolonged exposure.So if they use powers to quickly repair a breach, the powers will remain but maybe be slightly weakened, but if they lose the artifact and it remains outside, given enough time it loses power to preserve secrecy. That's what I was thinking -- the slow decay effect could enable it to all be a constant part of the same mutagen, not two separate systems.

If that's true, then how come the Ignika started to break down almost as soon as it went in the water? Also, the squid launchers the Barraki had worked just fine(not the set ones, *ugh*), the Maxilos robots had nothing wrong with them, and the cordak blasters Nuparu found were perfectly functional. So slow wear and tear might be out.

Well, the Ignika wasn't made of Protodermis. The Great Beings forged it specially. Also, it didn't break down... where did you hear that?

If that's true, then how come the Ignika started to break down almost as soon as it went in the water?

Well that's when it came into contact with the mutagen. That's how a slow-acting agent works.

Also, the squid launchers the Barraki had worked just fine(not the set ones, *ugh*), the Maxilos robots had nothing wrong with them, and the cordak blasters Nuparu found were perfectly functional. So slow wear and tear might be out.

Do any of those involve protodermic powers? The launchers mechanically shot the squids which were Aqua Magna creatures (if mem serves). The robots themselves were mechanical (I forget if they naturally had their own powers, but Makuta was possessing the one we saw in the main plot). And the Cordak blasters mechanically fire explosives; pretty sure there's no powers involved there either.

The Maxilos Robots were manufactured with Protodermic metals, they'd be suceptible, unless it only affected organic protodermis. Perhaps it was a form of radiation?

[Toa Axis]

That is a pretty good question, one I've never really considered.My guess is that it's a different form of Antidermis, if there is such thing.

[Meta-Mind]

According to BS01's page on the Pit Mutagen:

The waters of the ocean were affected by the natural energy radiating from the robot, and turned mutagenic.

This supports both the "energy field" theory and the "Codrex" theory, though it's slightly modified in that the waters' mutagen was not a direct effect of the radiation. Reading further:

The Pit Mutagen is diluted from a form of energy radiation naturally emitted by energy sources, such as the Codrex. The energy itself is invisible, and is ordinarily harmless. However, combined with the Black Water of Aqua Magna, the energy formed a mutagenic substance. The mutagen alters the physiology of those affected, frequently rendering them unable to breathe air.

Well, this seems to bear out the Codrex theory more than the "energy skin" theory. It also seems to imply that the Black Water of Aqua Magna was already strange in composition before Mata Nui crash-landed - this has the added affect of explaining why the islands of Mata Nui and Voya Nui are (mostly) mutagen-free.

Pit Mutagen can also be damaging to Kanohi and weapons. Both the Ignika and Brutaka's Olmak have been damaged by it, as well as tools used by the Mahri Nui Matoran.

This is just surmise on my part, but this passage seems to suggest that the mutagen has something to do with protodermis - it rapidly corrodes protodermic substances unless they're specially reinforced in some way. Maxilos robots would've likely been reinforced due to the proximity of the original Pit to whatever energy source would cause the mutagen to form, Hydraxon we can't tell, but it's irrelevant as the original died before entering the Black Water, and the Mahri/second Hydraxon were made immune to the mutagen by the Ignika.It's also possible that the Maxilos robots had an auto-repair function, which could have served to immunize them to the mutagen.

[bonesiii]

Well, this seems to bear out the Codrex theory more than the "energy skin" theory.

It should be noted that the energy skin theory works from the "sources like the" statement, meaning the Codrex cannot be taken as the only source of this energy. Obviously, regardless of whatever other sources do it, the Codrex does it too and that is the confirmed explanation for some of what happens in Karda Nui.However, it has occured to me, there was a river of surface water originally down to Metru Nui shortly after the GC, and no mutagenic affects as far as I recall, so that may debunk the skin mutagen theory.

[The Iron Toa]

So it was just the area around the Codrex that had mutagenic water. I guess the special energies from the Codrex played a vital role in this. But I still think that some of the effect of the mutagen was meant to happen.

[fishers64]

Actually, the waters of Aqua Magna below a certain point were said to be " black". Put some light (radiation) in down there and you might get some pretty strange stuff. There might be a microorganism that emits this chemical in reaction to light...Also, Mata Nui cured it...that might indicate that it is fairly common to oceans on planets in this area...