Aderia

Whoa!! Phantump is kind of spot on!! Haha, regrettably, I'm a bit behind on latest pokemon generations (I think the last game I played was Diamond, although I do play Showdown and have played some fan versions with newer generations included). And Hallopeno is genius, I LOVE it! Got a bona fide chuckle out of me

Haha you give me too much credit!! I just made sure there was enough water, and that was about it XD And I am totally open to name suggestions! Yes!! I definitely am getting the Litwick vibes!! Definitely will keep an eye out for other carvings later in October from you, then!

Alternative blog post title: A Plantastic Day Part 2! My pepper plants' peppers finally ripened! So I didn't actually get pictures of them all because I gave two of them away to friends before they fruited (Midgy who ended up being pretty sizeable), and Shelly, who outgrew his pot-mates, and killed them (mwahaha). They grew up so fast I was inspired by @Bambi's Halloween Pineapple. It's really great and I want plant-o-lanterns to be a thing so bad. I now have a halloween pepper, originally intended to be a ^ _ ^ face, but obviously that didn't work. I fancy it to be more like a D: face, now. And yes, I did stick pins in his scalp after I scalped it off him to put the candle in, because it kept smothering the candle. I like to think it adds to the halloween aesthetic.

Can we make this a thing? This is superb!

This is absolutely masterful! Vakama would be so proud

I'm a huge sucker for all things Metru Nui, I'm pretty sure for nostalgia reasons. Like, the books were coming out right when I was getting old enough to read on my own (I'm slightly paranoid my timeline is wrong and I'm implying that I learned to read at the age of 10 or something really off like that..) I think Mata Nui didn't stick with me as much because my Dad would read the Bionicle Chronicles books to us, and he would ham it up with the names (I distinctly remember Lewa being Louie, sometimes King Louie, like in the Jungle Book XD ), so my interest remained limited. The Metru Nui era, though, I was old enough to tackle on my own, and it just stuck with me. But when I actually went back and read the Bionicle Adventure books as a (somewhat more) grown up, it really seemed more like an authoritarian industrialized dystopia. Like, the Vahki get you if you enjoy anything besides going to work. Granted, those books were only a small snapshot of the City of Legends in its last days, under control of a usurper. But all the more need for Toa-heroes, right?

^^ Thank you! Haha, yes hopefully they'll be able to get a protocol droid in there to translate between them.

Clouds, definitely. Imagine all the conspiracy theories you could start with some well-placed skywriting Would you rather have immunity from telemarketers or junk mail (email included)?

Chapter 12: Dust “How many more of our own,” Kesian demanded to the crowd, “do we have to find collapsed in the street?” A rumble of agreement rolled through the gathered Matoran, punctuated with assenting slamming on the makeshift tables. Kesian continued, striding back and forth across the modest platform at the head of the huge chamber. “Preventing access to the Feeding Point is beyond criminal, if you ask me. It’s treachery!” Po-Matoran and Le-Matoran alike spat forward their aggressive agreement, and the few Ko-Matoran in the crowd were murmuring among themselves and nodding along. “And those that turn a blind eye to this gross misconduct are just as much to blame!” With a subtle hand gesture behind his back as he turned, Kesian dispatched Emyk, who was standing to the side of the platform, to sit at the table where Tengi and Rofto sat. In case anyone got too riled up, at least they would have to go through their own captain to get to the Ga-Matoran or the Ta-Matoran. There would be no lynching of unwitting guests on his watch. The Ga-Matoran had been muttering in conspicuous mutiny to Larker beside her, anyways. It stopped when Emyk slipped into the seat beside her. “Our own intel, just this week, reported the arming of Ta-Metru barges.” He spoke softer, the Matoran quieting to better hear. “Barges that, as we speak, are making their way to Ga-harbors. Harbors on your borders!” He pointed to a cluster of tables made up of quarry workers. “You don’t need a Knowledge Tower vantage point to figure out what their next move will be. Occupation of Ga-Metru was only the beginning. We’d be fools to think the influx of Ta-Matoran to the schooling district was only because they needed remedial classes.” A few in the crowd found this comment much funnier than it was meant to be. Kesian quieted them with a raised hand. “I’ve been to your quarries, your warehouses, and your assembly villages.” He gestured to pockets of each type of worker as he named them. “We know how hard you labor. Nobody appreciates the unparalleled wilderness of your Metru more than a Le-Matoran, trust me. We’re lucky to see the sky through our cables and highways.” He chuckled, almost to himself, then went on. “I feel insulted for you, that your Garrison is expected to keep your quarries and sculpture fields Rahi-free, patrol the villages, residence districts, ports, you name it. And now, we throw an entire border to guard into the mix? And all this on the same budget as the rest of the policing forces? It’s been obvious for decades that we can’t expect bureaucracy, old Arrakio, to pass edicts that keep things fair for us. ‘Fair’ was never the game. We learned that too late.” He shook his head in disgust. “Heart-brothers,” he now addressed his fellow Le-Matoran, slipping into their dialect effortlessly. “Just because we quick-talk and fast-drive, does that mean the world slip-passes us by?” A chorus of “No!”s from the Le-Matoran present echoed around the room. “We’re not ignorant of our stone-brothers’ hurts! We can’t strand-leave them for having the heart-courage to speak-act against the cross-wired smelters who dare-say that they know what’s best for the future-hope of our city-home.” A Po-Matoran slipped into the room from one of the many connected corridors, catching eyes deliberately with Kesian. Something had him frantic. Without missing a beat, the Le-Matoran indicated he speak with Emyk with a jerk of his head. “I’ve spoken with warrior-captain Tahi, as well as four of the Moto-Hub directors, who are also here tonight.” He motioned the four Le-Matoran scattered around the room to stand briefly. As they did so, Kesian glanced at Emyk, who signaled him to wrap it up. “With lack-need of resources our stone-brothers are facing,” Kesian called their focus back to him one last time. “I have a hunch-feeling that the Hubs will be open for new trade-contracts tonight.” He let the heavy implication of fortified and speed-boosted vehicles, experimental weaponization tech, and supplementary Garrison fighters open the door to wheeling and dealing. The Moto-Hub directors here tonight, including his own lieutenant, Kumo, had specific, anti-Ta-Matoran agendas to fill. Emyk and his crew had planted, discussed, and persuaded similar agendas into their own people, the past few months, years in some cases. Kesian indicated to his primary lieutenant, Kumo, to intercept any Matoran and handle his questions or requests aimed for himself or Emyk. “What’s the trouble, Pekka?” he asked the messenger who had come in, shifting distractedly at Emyk’s side. “Captain Tines, you have a …visitor waiting for you in interrogation chamber 4b.” Although many fighters coming into their recruitment knew their identities, everyone knew to address the higher-ups strictly by code names when conducing business of questionable legality. In turn, recruits were kept in a careful state of plausible deniability, and were assigned alternate identities should they want to move up the ranks. It wasn’t a perfect system, as a handful of costly slip ups throughout the years had shown them. But the time for secrecy was drawing to an end, and quickly. Kesian could feel it. “A ‘visitor’?” He raised an eye-ridge at Pekka’s suspicious emphasis on the word. He turned to Emyk, with a glance at Larker and Tengi at the table just behind him. “Were were followed? Betrayed?” He was calculating the time it would take him to bolt to the command panel along the far wall and pull the lever that would set off the “scatter and lay low, we’re busted” sirens, and collapse the Wherehouse in on itself three minutes later. “Not a Matoran,” Pekka shook his head, slightly bewildered, slightly afraid. “She also asked if you had a ‘Larker’?” If the driver heard his name mentioned, he gave no indication “I knew we shouldn’t have sent Bevs home,” Emyk grumbled. Aulto, or Bevs, was wonderfully perceptive in interrogations, not easily intimidated, and not to mention, quintessential, Tahimatoru’s presence be required. “I’ll hold the fort out here.” Kesian nodded. “Keep your telecon on my frequency. Do what you can here. I’ll be in interrogation if you need me.” “You always take the easy jobs,” Emyk said, double checking his telecon settings. “I didn’t expect tonight to turn into a meet-and-greet.” Kesian was much better at the public-relations part of their job, he would be daft not to admit. “Thanks, Pekka. Good work.” “Captain Helix,” Pekka saluted casually in farewell. He turned to Kesian expectantly. “Keep an eye on Larker,” Kesian told him, indicating to the Po-Matoran just who Larker was. “Grab someone else to help keep an eye on that table. I’ll send someone if I need back up. Be ready to bring Larker to join me in interrogation, too.” “Yes, sir.” “And remind Captain Helix that it’s almost daybreak. I want everyone out in an hour.” Kesian turned on his heel, deftly turning away a steady trickle of Le-Matoran who managed to get to him before he slipped out of the grand chamber. Kesian got a double-dozen paces into the corridor, and decided to give the range on the upgraded telecons a try. A tiny antennae sprang out of its hiding spot from what appeared at first glance to be a common street-drone remote. But instead of pointing the device at a street-drone and setting it on a pre-programmed delivery route, the frequency link pinged to life, and Kesian spoke into the device. “Tines to Helix. Tines to Helix.” Telecons, short for ’telecommunicated contact’ or ‘ conversation’, he could never remember which. They were another piece of miniaturized tech that Aulto’s team of devtechs had modified, years ago now, from Tele Metru Inc. Only the captains and their primary lieutenants had them, but Kesian was working hard with his primary Moto-Hub, the one where Kumo was in charge, to get the devices transmitting range boosted to at least cover a Metru, and then get them out to more and more operatives and pockets of their fighters. “Repeat: Tines to Helix.” “Helix, receiving.” His voice was wavering through with static. With a sigh, Kesian noted that the devices would need to be upgraded yet again, before they were ready to hit the streets. Tele-Metru Inc. itself could have easily enough produced a handheld telecon device. The trick was to make it difficult for the enemy to duplicate, which was where the art of the Ko-Matoran techs came in. “See to that water-sister of ours.” He’d forgotten to mention that before he’d left. “Affirmed?” He was pretty sure Emyk would know to arrange things, but ‘pretty sure’ had lost them brothers in the past. “Affirmed. Dynamic risk assessment, initiated. Helix out.” The link blipped out, and Kesian also noted they’d have to get someone from Tele Metru Inc. to give their fighters some basic transmitter talking instruction, for ease and clarity of communication, if not uniformity and a sense that they actually knew what they were doing. And they did, for the most part. But with the threat of an outright invasion looming, well, that was enough to make even the wiliest of Le-Matoran insurrectionist captains -that is, Kesian- think twice. Having better communications than the enemy was a key advantage that they’d started with, and were in no uncertain terms willing to lose. Kesian approached the chamber in question, slowing his pace and stowing the telecon safely away, The interrogation chambers, also doubling as prison cells when needed, had been designed like those of the Old City - classic metal bars, no amenities, not even a place to sit. He saluted the two guards, greeting each by name curtly. “Haro. Hafu.” “Captain Tines,” they returned, almost in unison, and one opened the door for him. “The prisoner hasn’t moved, sir,” one fo them informed him. The motion-timer lights flickered on inside. Apparently, he’d meant literally. “Found her snooping around an armory chamber,” the other guard said. “Nothing was stolen.” “Good work, brothers. This shouldn’t take long.” Kesian stepped through the door, and it clanged shut behind him. He found himself caught in a wordless stare down against a pair of slit-pupiled green eyes. Emyk was nothing if not a shrewd delegator. He made his way through the room easily, instructing his small handful of strategically placed lieutenants in the crowd, each to handle a separate aspect of organization, deployment, resource allocation, or recruitment. He was free to deal with the current, most pressing problem at hand - the Ga-Matoran they’d unfortunately acquired. And not just acquired, but acquired in such a way that she not only knew the identities of the three most instrumental leaders of the whole operation, but also knew that said leaders occasionally gallivanted around the city as some anomalous amalgamation, bringing in Rahkshi and getting into Mata Nui knew what other trouble. If Kesian hadn’t gone and compromised his own identity to console his driver, the probably wouldn’t be in this predicament. Ga-Metru, in Emyk’s eyes, were essentially standing aside and letting Ta-Metru have free reign and even use their resources to bully the rest of the city out of their way and into obscurity, and eventually, poverty, perhaps worse. That made their water-sisters as guilty as the smelters, in his opinion. If only she’d been an Onu-Matoran instead. Making one of them disappear wouldn’t have been nearly as controversial, as they hadn’t even attempted to appear neutral. The Po-Matoran captain stopped to speak with his first lieutenant. “You know the drill, Tusk. Make sure this place is cleared out by the end of the hour.” Tusk was a well-established carver who had been with them from the start, and had earned his code name last year when they’d organized more officially into some semblance of an army, assigning rank and bringing in only the most trusted and capable heads of what had been separate malcontent groups together to form a chain of command. Tonight’s meeting consisted of a fraction of the sum of their forces. Granted, it was a significant fraction. But they were growing daily, with the aggressions from Ta-Metru and, more and more so, from Onu-Metru against both Le-Metru and Po-Metru. There was the bulk force of fighters, with separate branches in Po-Metru, Le-Metru, and Ko-Metru, respectively. The Matoran at the gathering tonight mostly fell into this category. Their organization, discipline, and training fell mostly to Emyk and his inner crew of lieutenants. Kesian oversaw the intelligence operations, but also had his own specialized strike force, which included the elusive captain Tahi. Aulto had been the one to bring the long-buried lore that spoke of a powerful Khaita Mangai to their attention, years ago, when he’d first been apprenticed to the Scholar Nui, Ihu, and gained access to the Mythic Halls in the tallest Knowledge Towers. Aulto, was also an essential part of Kesian’s intelligence division, but he primarily headed up the small but dedicated team of devtechs who had begun as a jilted core of Ko-Matoran, but had expanded to include many technologically and mechanically savvy Le-Matoran and Po-Matoran. If, but more likely, when the time came to arm their fighters en masse, Aulto promised they’d have the armories full. Kesian, Aulto, Emyk, none of the standing officers, for that matter, had been originators of the army, or could even point to a specific time or place it had begun. Pockets of Matoran from this subdistrict or that organization were snubbed one too many times by an edict from the Coliseum that favored their opponents, or had been shorted on one too many trade deals, excluded from a contract for the last time. The list went on. Throughout the years, enough of the groups had been in talks with one another that they suddenly began to collate into a network. Before anyone knew it, here they were. They all lived with the very real knowledge that their tenure in command could be over in the blink of an eye. Their whole operation had been carefully built, planned for, strengthened, brought together, and organized over countless decades. And now, one disgruntled Ga-Matoran who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time could bring it all crashing down, wittingly or not. The liability did not sit well with Emyk at all. He picked his way back to the table at the front of the grand chamber, where Tengi sat in perturbed silence. Larker had been more than eager to mingle, although reliable Pekka wasn’t letting him stray more than a few tables away. Rofto, who was becoming a fixture, their token Ta-Matoran, had joined in a quick game of caps and pins with a mixed table of Matoran. Subi, at least, stayed with her, uneasy underground and uneasy in a crowd. Emyk stopped at her table, and crossed his arms. With a jerk of his head, he said, “Let’s take a walk, sailor.” “Assuming I have a choice,” she snapped, and jerked up from her seat to follow as bidden. She cast one last glance at Larker, perhaps a last-ditch call for back up, but he only caught her eye briefly, grinning the grin of a recently destitute but honest worker who had just found a few hundred kindred souls. “Assume whatever makes you feel better,” he said, both nonchalant and patronizing. He led the way along the perimeter of the chamber, weighing the three most likely courses of action in his mind as he went along. The trailing Ga-Matoran warded off any approaching army fighter more effectively than any Kanohi Hau could have. “They can’t all accept his lies so easily!” she piped up angrily, a bit too far off his heels for his comfort. Not only did she have to almost-shout for him to hear, but he would also be less able to intervene lest she raised the ire of any of the more impulsively violent recruits who might be within earshot. “You sure you want to spout off accusations about liars here?” He glanced back once, just to make sure she was still there. With Kesian gone, the borrowed charisma that lent a veneer of good humor and patience evaporated. "You’re already enough of a target.” Probably best to take the next corridor as soon as possible. He’d worry about linking up to an exact destination after that. “I’ve herded enough Mahi in my day, and these Matoran here? I can hardly tell the difference,” she hissed, catching up to him. Emyk cut her off. "You’re going to get yourself trussed up and thrown into a canal, if you don’t watch it.” It was a warning, not a threat, although she probably wouldn’t see the difference. “Come on.” He keyed open a door to an south-bound corridor, gesturing her through it impatiently. Once she was safely through, he waved away one of Kesian’s approaching lieutenants and made sure the door was securely latched. “So what was it you were saying about lies?” “All that scrap about the feeding point?” She practically gaped at him, incredulous. “‘Occupation of Ga-Metru by Ta-Matoran’?” “Yeah, more or less.” He shrugged. ‘Roving gangs of Ta-Matoran beating up and leaving for Rahkshi anyone not on their side’ would have been more like it. But if she was ignorant, or feigning it, he wasn’t going to waste his breath to enlighten her. He began leading the way down the corridor, brightly lit and clinically clean and clutter-free. Yes, it was a wing of the network run by Ko-Matoran. She followed apprehensively, realizing there weren’t a whole lot of options at that point. “I live in Ga-Metru. I think I’d notice Ta-Matoran occupation.” She emphasized her last word with air quotes. “I can count on one hand how many Ta-Matoran I’ve seen around my neighborhood in the past month." A not-so-good-humored smile crooked the corner of Emyk’s Kanohi. “Yeah, you’d think so.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Matoran run low every day, Tengi,” he told her, as if she didn’t already know. Everyone had that one co-worker who put off making the more-or-less yearly pilgrimage to the feeding point, who let that telltale twinge behind their heartlight go on one day too long, and then, you either had to call a med squad because they’d collapsed in the street after a few hours of disoriented wandering and rambling, sometimes becoming violent in their confusion, or they simply slumped over in an energy-depleted coma at their work station. “Nobody runs low at the same time, from year to year, from Matoran to Matoran. Nobody expects Ga-Matoran going about their daily lives, even the ones in charge of the feeding point, to notice less and less Po-Matoran showing up there. Or Le-Matoran. Or Ko-Matoran for that matter.” “Sure, fine,” she conceded, then prompted, still skeptical, “Occupation, though?” “Well, if you’ve been shacked up in the cozy dormitory sub-district, of course you wouldn’t have noticed." “Well, since the school closures, I was in the middle of moving out, actually, before you and your merry band plucked me off the street like some-“ “Exactly,” he interrupted. “You were headed for the tenements. Why do you think Kesian was so keen to offer you a free pass into a ritzy mariner’s neighborhood?” She said nothing, but Emyk could virtually hear the gears grinding in her head. The students, and the whole rest of the city, it seemed were moving. All the pieces were shifting now - enough so that daily life was marked more by turbulence than it was monotony. The Fire Brands had recentralized deep within Ta-Metru, and the Conservators had moved completely underground. Underground, exactly where the comm-tech Aulto’s team had been so laboriously developing would be crippled. There was a limited time frame here. Pieces had begun to shift on the sociopolitical landscape. As pieces shifted, people would be concerned with either making sure they ended up where they wanted, or putting efforts into not being shifted. Once the dust settled, everyone would be scrutinizing their new surroundings with no hint of the old trails or tracks left to follow. Getting key operations into place before the dust settled was paramount, and both sides knew it. “You’re crazier than a corroded brakas if you think I’d spy for you,” she said finally. Emyk let out a short huff, half amusement, half scoff. “I personally didn’t have my hopes pinned on that. But Kesian dreams big. If you want to give him a Gukko chase, I bet he’d sign over half his company to you for a legitimate Archives pass, even if it’s a student-access one.” Their chip-cloning couldn’t keep up with the Archives’ sophisticated security algorithms, especially since their imposter codes had been built on temporary ID codes to begin with, the ones that were attached to seasonal or weekly tourist passes. Students had access to any public wing of the Archives, regardless of whether the public was allowed to tour there that season or not. They also had access to the datalogs, and with that, every blueprint imaginable, dating back to when Metru Nui was just a dream in the mind of the Great Spirit himself. “Taking over half a company sounds like more trouble than its worth. Tenfold.” Tengi frowned. They walked on in mutually disdainful silence, and Emyk judged by the growing tenseness in his unwilling companion’s gait, she had realized how good and lost she was. Maybe she wasn’t ready to throw in her lot with them and turn her back on her people like Rofto had. She also hadn’t recently been through a life-altering trauma of dodgy origin branded her a fugitive as Rofto had. So she’d need something else to get the Kikanalo stampeding, so to speak. Maybe Kesian was set on turning her spy for them, but Emyk thought himself a Matoran with much more practical goals. Any of the faith she had in the status quo that could be shaken up a bit was fine by him, no matter where it settled. “Here,” he said, ungracefully breaking the steely silence. He stopped in front of a door, completely unremarkable from the other dozens of doors they’d passed. She didn’t follow as he moved to open it. “You can’t do this,” she said, and he almost didn’t believe that he was hearing fear in her voice. “People will notice I’m gone.” “It’s not a prison cell,” he told her, understanding suddenly what she’d assumed. He hadn’t totally ruled out locking her up indefinitely, though. He had become fairly confident, though, they wouldn’t have to kill her, though. But she wouldn’t find that revelation comforting. “It’s not. Promise.” He turned the handle and pushed the heavy door in, leading the way. “Captain Helix!” A weary looking Kanohi Ruru peeked over an over-laden medical cart. The Ko-Matoran pushing the cart stepped out from behind it, giving his captain the smartest salute he could muster. “We weren’t expecting you.” “Lieutenant Fang, well met,” Emyk returned the militant salute, and then stepped in to offer his fist to the Ko-Matoran - the salute of brothers. “Any progress?” They stood in a room that had once been a generous storage space, but had now been converted, storage crates and all, into a medchamber with a perimeter of trundle-bunks, and a double column of cots running through the center. Two other busy Medtoran, Lieutenant Fang’s assistants, were working their way around the room with similar carts of equipment. There was also a devtech Matoran present, fiddling with batteries and power cables. None of the attempts the tech team had made to modify and channel city grid power to be Matoran-consumable had been met with any success. There had to be no more than five or six bedspaces vacant. The cots and bunks were filled with comatose or nearly-comatose Matoran, all from Po-Metru, Le-Metru, and Ko-Metru. Each incapacitated Matoran had at least half a dozen neurocables hooked under his armor, running to carefully placed and alarmingly average-sized tanks of neurodermis and nutridermis. The pungent, pulpy smell of the latter was unmistakable. It was a poor substitute for those who had run too low, but it kept them alive, for the time being. Old monitors were bolted to walls, ceilings, support pillars, wherever there was room, to display vital signs, and the static they gave off filled the air with a hum that was just on the threshold of the hearing range. It was only unnerving once you left the room and it stopped and you realized you’d been hearing it the whole time, unaware. “It’s horrifying," Tengi whispered. She had braved her way into the chamber, and stared around in dismal consternation. “What is this?” “If we’re lucky,” Emyk said, “this is a temporary solution to a temporary problem. If we’re not, it’s just the beginning.” Review Topic

@Hahli, the Chronicler, I wasn't expecting so much insight into Iruini's character, but I really like your point/interpretation about how Iruini's views as a Rahaga mirror the ones he held as a Toa, but as a Rahaga, he's learned, more or less, from his mistakes. I also hadn't though to check the Raid on Destral page, which seems to have a better timeline of events that I was looking for - in particular, tying to piece together when the other Toa Hagah were captured and mutated. This is a common question I see on the forums - how would you redo or reboot Bionicle and I'd love to see expaned Matoran Universe history. League of Six Kingdoms, Toa Hagah, Toa Mangai, etc. Your theory of the Raid of Destral, and the fall of the Toa Hagah and the inter-team tensions not only seems plausible, but also would be the kind of turbulent Toa team I'd love to see again. Alternatively, picking up where G1 left off, these team dynamics might have worked well trying to build new lives on Sphereus Magna. Yes, those darn [citation needed]s. I could have sworn that a story about the Toa Hagah was somewhere in a Bionicle Encyclopedia somewhere, but the more I look, the more I'm thinking it was the one about Lhikan and his team instead. Yeah, you and Hahli have each added a tally to a different side of why Iruini quit. The part that still confuses me is how long did it take for the other Hagah to be captured? It sounds like they had time enough to grow overconfident as a team and time enough for tension to grow enough that Iruini left, and whatever else. Initially it almost sounded like the other Hagah (eg, not Iruini, not Norik) were snagged by Roodaka on their way out of the fortress, but clearly that's not the case. It's a bit hard to imagine the Brotherhood taking their time going after them, though. Possible contributors, pure speculation: 1) the BoM was hurt badly enough that they needed significant recuperation time, at least enough to allow the Hagah to get away and regroup a bit, or 2) the MU generally thinks the Makuta are good, or at least, not evil, at this point, and due to the sensitive nature of the information the Hagah had (Makoki stone, and evidence of the Brotherhood's previous raid of Artakha), they couldn't risk letting the Toa know they were being hunted, and potentially triggering the Toa to spill their (Brotherhood's) secret to the world. Haha I suppose Z and Z ( @TheZOMBIEJ and @Zestanor) have the strongest argument here, that the best we'll ever get is ambiguity.

I've been having trouble pinning down the reasoning behind the quitting. Bionicle Wiki, Iruini's page: 1) Toa Hagah raid Destral. 2) Iruini quits - believes team spends too much time on big problems instead of little ones. (thus escapes initial Rahaga-ification) 3) Gets Rahaga-zapped anyways. BS01, Iruini's page: These two essentially say the same thing, which kind of leads me toward this version of events being the more likely. (it also says citation is needed, though, so not sure where that leaves us.) However, the BS01 Toa Hagah page says this: The important part being: "Iruini had resigned the team due to his belief they did not allot adequate time dealing with serious threats." This seems to contradict what the other two pages say. A possible solution is that Iruini and the rest of his team had different definitions of what constituted a "serious threat", with Iruini thinking the 'ever-present dangers' were the serious threat, and the rest of the team thinking the big baddies were the serious threat. But that still leaves things ambiguous at best. Am I just misreading things? I've been stumped for a while now. The timeline stays consistent, but the phrasing on the Toa Hagah's BS01 page is throwing me off. I've tried looking through the PDF comics (specifically comic 25, Birth of the Rahaga) and stuff, but no avail. Does anyone have more of a final word on why Iruini quit the team?

I'm glad y'all like it! @Mushy: I had actually just gone through a few of those figure drawing videos from Proko on youtube, the same week I drew this! It's awesome you could tell!

This is adorable! It reminds me of the cute little monster pets we see in movies or shows sometimes. Kyle (Gru's 'dog' from Despicable Me') comes to mind. I find the addition of the hairbow quite dashing, and the calamari looks very nutritious!

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. I do like the term 'greenspeak', and see nothing wrong with it. The only thing is, I don't know where that leaves Matoran of the Green here. And I don't want you to feel I'm enforcing a hyper-politically-correct agenda in your topic. I simply felt there was one instance where the line was crossed and didn't want to let it slide. Moving on: I did a small project on a rainy day for you, also to prove I'm not just here to shoot down ideas (haha, it's also plenty fascinating on its own). Here's data from the first two books (roughly, includes some comic stuff) from each author - Hapaka and Farshtey, because I was interested in the chutespeak/treespeak differential. By functional category: (that is, it functions as adjective, or noun, or verb) Thanks to the Biological Chronicle project that made compiling this data much easier than actually skimming the books chapter by chapter. Hapaka data is from PDF file Infection, and Farshtey data is from PDF file Legends. This is a collation of how examples of tree/chutespeak combines word classes of adjective, noun, and verb. General notes: Farshtey consistently uses hyphens for chutespeak, with one exception which is noted. Hapaka's use of hyphens is a bit more sporadic. This data counts individual chute/treespeak terms, and does not account for the same term being used more than once. Overall, Hapaka uses more individual terms and uses them more frequently (goes along with Farshtey's well-known dislike of chutespeak). Generally, the second word class in the name is the function the chute/treespeak phrase takes in the sentence. Example, AdjectiveNouns (AdjN) are nouns, NounVerbs (NVs) are verbs, etc. I had fun pie charts at one point but formatting was too much, and for brevity's sake, I didn't have a concise way to visually combine all the different comparisons I wanted to make. If anyone wants to see the original spreadsheets, here's a dropbox link to the file. Let me know if it doesn't work, sometimes dropbox trips me up. Percentages don't add up exactly because ambiguity of classifications. Adjective Class breakdown Terms used as adjectives. This was the largest category, with individual entries listed for people to look over. It should be noted that there is usually a degree of ambiguity when dealing with word classes, so the word class was based on context of the utterance as much as possible. Generally what I found (and is totally up for debate) is that when two nouns (NNs) are combined into a term, the first noun modifies the second, primary noun, so the first noun essentially becomes an adjective, which is why so many NNs are listed as AdjNs. Couldn't find any VerbAdjectives, and I'd be thrilled if one was found or proven. AdjectiveAdjectives are what I tend to think of when I think of tree/chutespeak. Generally, Greg seems to use these as intensifiers, "ever-strange', 'quick-fast', and Hapaka uses the combinations to expand the scope of the term. Noun Class breakdown Terms used as nouns, essentially. AdjNs are the largest category overall. VerbNouns, I only found one for each author, and Farshtey's was kind of a stretch, at that. Verb Class breakdown AdjectiveVerb category is where the two authors were more or less even. VerbVerbs were the most common, and essentially compound verbs, or redundantredundant. Greg also used more of a variety of verb tenses when combining verbs. Miscellaneous This was a small category, employed only by Hapaka, but it opens up a whole ton of possibilities. Not actually sure how to categorize 'sneak-swoop-smash', but I love it. Not sure about others, but I'd love more complex combinations like the ones Tamaru uses (directly above), but that opens the door to either a lot more confusion, or the need for a lot of underlying rules on how to order segments and such, which I think gets away from the spirit of the dialect a bit. One thing I would restrict (not sure how) is how verb tenses are combined, because that can get pretty technical and clunky-sounding. As it stands, I don't love phrases in congruent present tense, like "thinks-knows". For some reason, "think-knows" sounds better and I'm pretty sure it conveys the same message.

While I'm all for fans expanding Matoran society, I'm sorry, but I don't think this one is in good taste. I think the last thing the Matoran Universe needs is arbitrary stereotypes assigned according to color of armor. Yes, I do think Matoran can suffer from 'impairment', but assigning it as a racial trait can't lead anywhere good. That being said, I do think the collective personality traits found in each elemental grouping would indeed have a significant impact on how the group of Matoran end up speaking, many of which you all touched upon in previous discussion. I think this gets at a good overall world building question of how language and society can potentially play off of one another. I like to think treespeak reflects the quick but not always focused with of the Le-populace. I enjoyed the more freestyle-like treespeak we saw on Mata Nui (Hapaka books). "Mystery-king of know-nothingness" is a phrase thats' stuck with me. I feel like we see more concise, perhaps more formulaic terms when we move to Metru Nui/Greg, like "ever-" or "quick-" used as common emphatic prefixes. Then again, that seems to fit with the environment - treespeak is a wilder dialect that combines a wider range of terms for a more wild environment, and chutespeak is more structured, like a city. Then again, it's been a while since I've read the books, and I'm happy to accept counter-examples. To answer the original question, I would expand on the difference between chutespeak and treespeak. Another question: Metru Nui didn't always have chutes. Any idea what Chutespeak was called before that? Or did it come about only after the invention of chutes?

Yes! These are fun! Thank you!! Chose lightning as my favorite, I remember being stoked when new girl elements finally showed up. Personality wise (question 2), mine was actually also lightning, based off of this old topic using MBTI as reference. My second favorite would probably be gravity, I just am not super sure what it actually does.

Confession - this is embarrassing - it took me way too long to realize that a bident was a less pointy trident. Specifically, less pointy by one point. Also, does that make spears unidents? Love this, and love their work!! Elated to see it make its way into the stories of others! Probably should have asked this earlier, on your previous story - is there a reason this is a series of short stories and not an epic? I'm no expert in library science, so I don't know exactly where things should go, but there seems to be more than enough continuity between your stories to easily categorize them as one tale with multiple chapters. I also wouldn't say they're misplaced here, and new stories are new stories, so I definitely won't complain. But just had to ask. Haha, apt social commentary, made me chuckle. This is such a great line for so many reasons! 1) funny, 2) not inaccurate, and 3) really good example of 3rd person subjective narrator, where we see the Le-Matoran as the character sees them. There are more good examples of this throughout, but this was a 3-in-1 deal, and I wanted to point it out. The little phrases like 'rahi-in-the-lightstones', and 'as the Kewa flies', etc, were well interspersed. I actually just saw an old topic pop up on the who's reading what list (online users list?) and it looks really fun. I actually haven't read through much of it yet, but your story was a nice reminder that I should. It looks fun! Usually I get nostalgic with Metru Nui stuff, but the light-hearted, fast-paced romp on Mata Nui that you created was wonderful, and makes me want to play through MNOG again or something. I think a big part of the enjoyment of the Mata Nui section was your portrayal of the Turaga. I always thought it was sad that they had such a relatively short time as Toa, and kind of avoided thinking of them as old bent Turaga. Strong emotions aren't easy to portray well, but I think you did a good job. Although I wasn't 100% on board with how some of the yelling played out, nothing stood out as too jarring. Vakama defending Matau's loyalty so vehemently got me right in the feels. Vakama's leadership style and priorities as the village elder were very touching - knowing what to take seriously and what to let slide, what lessons to let his villagers learn on his own, and stepping in with more direct guidance when needed. Good leaders inspire and equip others to someday be greater than they themselves once were, and I got that sense from Turaga Vakama, for the most part. You do well by your username, I'll say that. One thing, though - there were a few lines from Vamkoda that felt a bit too on-the-nose insightful, but they weren't bad. It just felt like driving home the moral of the story a bit too directly. But overall, I thought the story illustrated Vamkoda's character development wonderfully, providing direct contrast from his young days on Mata Nui versus present day. I'm a believer in giving specific examples: I think this is a natural maturity progression and logical character development, relatable for a lot of readers. Starting off wanting to please others and establish yourself, and growing through trial and error, learning a bit of humility, and learning to value the relationships your line of duty brings your way. Keep up the good work!

Been branching out in this recent quarantine. Branches include Clone Wars and drawing, thus I give you: (rough translation of Matoran and Galactic Basic ) Eheh, I forgot how Ussal crabs worked, so now we have puny Pewkew. As always, totally open to suggestions, would love to improve!

WAIT YES!!! I never dreamed this would be relevant here! Made this last year when I worked at a camp to help me give announcements and a camper painted a picture of it for me!! It's not technically from 'today', but it became relevant again today. fruit art. Love it.

Yeah, permanent body art really makes you weigh your choices carefully. I'm sure I can't say anything you haven't though of, but here's my line of reasoning for what I'd choose- I like words, so I'd probably get some meaningful word in Matoran font (the hexagon style, because it reminds me of bees and settlers of Catan, which are two good things) - it's minimalistic, no need for color unless I wanted it, so less expensive. I'd get it on a wrist so it's easy to hide, in case I need to for a job or something. The word can be meaningful to me, personally, and/or be a Bionicle related word, or both. On that note - have you considered getting the lyrics of the Piraka rap tattooed in Voya Nui characters? You could go with just the chorus to start out with, and add more if you feel like it!

Hey, not bad! Not bad at all! The dialogue stood out as particularly well done and authentic. Specifically, Nidhiki and Lhikan had good back-and-forth. Would love to see more of Nidhiki's redemption arc. You got a chuckle or two out of me, with the Le-Matoran and his antics, especially interacting with Nidhiki. Something totally interesting, and I think you handled well, and would like to see develop - Toa Lhikan interacting with Turaga Vakama. Lhikan is basically the reason Vakama is a Turaga (technically Mata Nui, because it was his will and what not, but yeah), and Lhikan's own stint as a Turaga was shortlived and completely in incarceration. One qualm I have is how quickly Lhikan was able to get a grip on 1,000+ years of missed history (granted, most of that history was Matoran fending off Rahi on the island above), completely trust it, and remember it all to relay to Nidhiki. One more thing - I know you mentioned in your first installment, I believe in your author's note at the beginning, that there are familial relationships. Lhikan and his nephews (his brother and brother's wife) kind of came out of nowhere, or at least that's what it felt like to me. It would't hurt to sprinkle in this-or-that familial detail a bit earlier on. The action scenes read pretty smoothly. That's another place where it's easy to lose readers, either with too much description, not enough, the wrong kind, etc, but I thought the Muaka showdown was clear and plausible with the stakes it set out and how it played out. Good use of elemental and mask powers, as well, without using them completely as a crutch to win battles. Keep up the good work!

Giant UDD symbol on your forehead. Or maybe your favorite Kanohi covering your whole face. I'm out of good ideas for the day. But if you do get a Bionicle face tattoo, I expect pictures as proof. But on a more serious note, why not? It would be a pretty cool conversation piece, forehead or not, whatever it ends up being. Were you thinking of anything in particular?

They will grow strong together! And thank you!! apparently the puffin (with muffin) is a little pin you can buy, and I just might buy it someday (alsoupvoteforBambi)

Cuppy was actually planted in the skull of a Chupacabra. You were really close, though XD But definitely plant things! I also have no idea when's best to plant what. Usually when the sun is out? Gourd luck!