They

I've seen some in-game uses of metal bone structure manipulation.

HOOZAH, I'm using a full size keyboard for this post. Wow it's so much easier... anyways, I have a couple quick things I want to mention here: As a general reminder for the community, Daikura Koga is still available. The Mata-Nui Weekly may be becoming the Mata-Nui Monthly. The last time a major conversation regarding E.E. vs. P.E. when kanohi were removed was during the battle between Iraira and Kavala if I remember correctly. I feel it might be a good precursor to look back on regarding how play might continue from this point. Krayzikk, you made a boss explanation. Couldn't have said it better.

Nova blasts are not allowed. Go edit your post. Additionally I may suggest you read the rules and regulations for the game one more time thoroughly. I'm sure doing so will make everything perfectly clear.

IC: Ishi Polzin "I'll be making my way to the koro afterward then, if there's no objection. The sooner we leave the better -- hitting a blizzard's the last thing I want, and the southern drifts are notorious for flash storms. I'm no ko-matoran, freezing my gears stiff would be a nasty way to go." Ishi commented while uncrossing his arms. He scratched an elbow with a palm, as if rubbing away a phantom chill. Echelon's laboratory was warm from the boilers and beakers, but the thought of turning into an ice cube brought a nervous cold. The thought reminded him of the broken and shredded coat he'd been pulled out of during the trek from Mangaia. "Where's my gear, Echelon? Please tell me Rorg didn't toss anything. Agrona, I saw you holding my journal in Mangaia... what's wrong?" Ishi paused, cocking his head and staring at the queer sight of Toros and the witchdoctor communicating with simple hand gestures and other rudimentary methods, but Toros seemed to be understood well enough.

A player shout-out to Tyler for writing Avak. You will always have my heart as a favorite skakdi from this game. It's so beautiful. <3

Ooc: posting from mobile. Please excuse any errors. IC: Krios "You got a problem or something?" I asked. Honestly, I've never seen a skakdi stare so long at someone, and in this case myself, unless they had violent intentions of some sort. With luck he was looking at someone behind me, perhaps a muscled skakdi warrior woman. IC: Ishi Polzin His hands. He stared at them long and hard, straining to remember the exact contours of each crumbled digit and his forehead scrunched from the effort. The ashen remains were a small pile on the arms of the metal chair. In the light of the laboratory he could see puffs floating on a soft ventilated breeze. Something seemed off about where his fingers once were, as if the shadows were thicker at the stubs of his knuckles. Soon, as he shifted position and the shadows cast across the back of his hand in a new pattern, ishi realized why: the shadows were slowly drawn in like ripples in reverse, welling up into an untapped potential. For a moment he remembered the rippling hands from his counterpart during the Trial, but his thoughts were broken by the necromancer's clapping. "You have my... acceptance," finished Echelon. Ishi stared up at the nefarious scientist with a hidden sense of pride. He had won something from the claws of Death once again, and in doing so begun to carry some measure of power in the darker places of the world simply by association with Echelon's dark name. He was rising up the ranks. Soon, all too soon, he'd have all the necessary connections and then... "Thank you, but I need to get back in touch with the state of things, correspond with some of my contacts, further the agenda so to speak. " Ishi paused, looking back down at his hands and the pooling shadows. The thought of writing brought to light his handicap. If he couldn't hold a pen or stylus what was the point? The image of those dark, semi-physical hands returned and with them a sudden itch on the inside of his palms, as if nerves were attaching and muscles twitching. Spurred by curiosity he thought again of his lost fingers and how they would look curling inward. At first nothing happened, but the informant was dogged if nothing else. Suddenly, the pooling shadows shifted, spread outwards, and solidified in a crude imitation of his mental action. They lingered for a second, then vanished. Ishi looked back at Echelon. "Seems I won't need to dictate my messages. How long will it take to reach Ko-Koro?"

Flynn, here's a couple quest ideas you could have your PC look into: -matoro's assassination. Very few characters have a good guess of who and why, and even fewer know the answers. If you like dark and dangerous this could be a good place to start. A place good quest start would be going to the sanctum guard for clues. Maybe the player who runs Sukot urn vuyok can help, or ask for Korzaa the guard captain. -solve the riddle of the vault. This is part of the main staff quest for the arc and is open to everyone at this time. Just remember putting your character on the path of a staff quest is basically saying "give them character development or give them death." Which, when thought from a player perspective could also be CD. Case in point: Cael.

My apologies but I do not know when I will be able to post again. With luck it will be in three hours, with ill fortune it may be weeks. My life has become rather hectic as of late, but I will do the best I can to stay on top of the marginally small character count I have.

The player responsible for Po-Koro's Akiri and government.

Silvan has it as it is. Lloyd's rather busy with life at the moment, like the rest of us, and is available on an as-needed basis.

Someone asked for the list of Akiri. It is in the first post for the N&D topic.

OOC: Antidermis use and survival approved by Nuju Metru. IC: Ishi Polzin As the needle pierced endodermis Ishi clenched his forearm and jaw, biting his tongue on accident. The taste of his own blood was metallic and sweet and it slid like oil down his throat. The antidermis entered his bloodstream like fire on a dry mountainside, burning its way up his arm and toward his heart-light with a vengeance. “More... give me more.” Ishi growled with a heavy slur. Almost immediately his vision doubled, tripled, and grew out of control. Echelon and the others became translucent specters, an indistinct wraith along with the rest of his laboratory. From the corners of the room a darkness approached, and Ishi felt himself vomiting and shaking under his restraints. The darkness brought indiscriminate and absolute pain. Ishi froze and burned, exploded and imploded. He felt endodermis peeling from his fingers; and when he found the control to look, saw the tips were raw and fleshless, crumbling like hot coals surrounded by green fire. His screams echoed throughout Echelon’s glacial fortress, full of anguish and torment. Only echoes lived in the darkness enclosing Ishi. It echoed back his terror of the unknown, his worthlessness, his unbridled fear of being unimportant. It was chaos, and it was Kharzani. The torture could have lasted for a second or a year; the pain overrode any sense of time or place, or even self. Finally, above his own screams and tears came the sound of another voice. It ate up his screams greedily and grew more in volume, consuming his voiced pain and fear until Ishi could hear the mantra out of the surrounding dark. More… More… More... More.. The words grew faster quickly replaced the beating of his heart-light. It became a feverish chant. Ishi coughed and spluttered and ceased to breath, foam forming at the mouth. His body twisted under its metal restraints, but his soul broke free and went to the darkness. His fingers kept burning and peeling away, knuckle by knuckle. The pain increased until colors burst from black and with a rush Ishi’s vision returned. — Ishi Polzin was not in Echelon’s laboratory. He stood walled in on two sides by bookshelves so tall he couldn’t see the sky. A green mist floated in the air, and he felt his endodermis prickle on end at the eeriness of it all. Realizing he could move, Ishi cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted; Hello? His voice echoed into the unknown without answer. Time passed and Ishi began to explore. He first went to the shelves and found the tablets immovable. Next, he stared into the gloomy hallway in either direction and then began walking. Each step was slow, as if moving through thick mud, but the shelves flew past in a blur. Suddenly the shelves gave way to a large room with four pillars shaped like matoran rising to the second level. Two of the matoran he already knew: Caerus and Ambages. The other two were, as before, unfinished. A dark figure sat on the grand staircase at the room’s far side. From their size Ishi deduced it was a matoran, the first he'd ever seen in this particular room besides himself. As Ishi came closer the being lifted its head and everything became clear. Two pairs of mismatched eyes stared at each other. This is my mind palace, Ishi said. And this is the room of the Peers. Why am I seeing this? Why am I seeing you? The other Ishi laughed on the stairwell, stopped flipping a coin, returned it to a pocket within the folds of an exquisite coat, and stood. You see what I want to see, matoran. These are faces of those who oppose me… Yours is not among them. You’re Makuta. Ishi stated, stepping forward toward his counterpart. The sound of his footsteps echoed loudly through the room. The Ishi on the stairs looked down on him with a smirk. He was black and gray of color, and without physical flaw. His fingers danced with a foggy incoherence, at once finite forms and shadowy outlines. He spoke as he walked down the stairs. I am; and I am the darkness inside you and in every other who walks this land. Some many think they are without darkness, what folly. Shadow is everywhere, and I am Shadow. I have explored all there is about your body and mind already, weighed your spirit through trials, searched your measly past for anything of value while you jittered and spluttered in pain— there’s more than meets the eye to you, little-one. Your knowledge of finding secrets is… Impressive. The voice was luxuriant, enthralling. Both stepped closer until they were only an arms length apart. I would give you what you seek, for it serves my purposes well. You will give me what I desire. And what is that? Ishi said, staring at the perfect face of his counterpart. Truth buried away in places I cannot reach. I recognize your potential. I will give you what you see, and you will give me more, always more. The dark beauty stepped forward and into Ishi, passing through as if made of smoke. There was a melding of beings, a shudder, and then the acceptance of a new future. Ishi, now a single entity once more, looked at the room in his mind palace for a last time and then the vision faded. Break Virtues, bring darkness. Take secrets, leave chaos. — He was back in the laboratory and a ragged gasp filled his lungs with air. Somehow Ishi realized he was looking at the ceiling and redirected his gaze forward. A difficult expression was on Echelon’s face. Ishi looked down at himself and saw the metal restraints had broken during the test. His body was dark and dim, as if the light in the room reflected less off his body than other surfaces, and he saw the stubs of his fingers twitching as he tried to touch his thigh. They were burned to the palm, all ten. His fingers, the finest thieves tools ever made, had been destroyed. And for what? I’m alive he thought. Alive and changed. But how? Break the Virtues, bring the darkness. Take secrets, leave chaos. OOC: I will update Ishi’s profile to reflect the transformation.

IC Ishi Polzin Ishi stared at the syringe hovering above his exposed forearm. The ambient light caught on the metal needle, refracting in tiny lines, oblivious to the darkness contained within the crystal vessel. He was anxious. A strange heat flowed from the green liquid as it came close to his skin, and Ishi was at first afraid; but the longer the needle remained poised to inject the more the po-matoran felt a certain affinity with the green substance. Somewhere in the back of his mind Ishi even longed for it to invade his system, to experience the effects for ill or evil. Ishi had an awkward faith in the antidermis and what it offered: a future, dark and dangerous. He liked the idea. "I've always been one for bets of all or nothing." Ishi replied.

Okay, kini-nui is getting me way too hyped. Loving it.

Nuju, please, don't make me cry. This was going to be the year I got on a plane and joined all you fancy fantastic people... and have interrogated all you staffies to no end. XDD In any case.... So, we've got the Daedra moving? Can someone sum up that post? I got rather confused.

Thanks for the New Player's Start Here topic. Even as someone with a couple years of gameplay under my belt with the BZPRPG I still found the timeline to be invaluable, and I'm looking forward to seeing what goes into the post with the construction sign. I'm also happy to see staff intends to keep the timeline up to date, given the timestamp of when it was last edited. Tyler's call for matoran sounds like an answer to some of the calls from players in this topic for more interaction with staff plot. Thank you, staff, for listening and working to modify and shift things to include what you've heard!

IC: Ishi Polzin As the doors opened Ishi beheld the magnificence of the necromancer's aberrant laboratory. Revulsion and wonder intermingled as he gazed at the instruments of fiendish study. The beakers and boilers, the alembic and bunsen burners, all of the items begged for inspection from the informant. Instead, he sat down, eyes facing the doorway until Echelon swooped down and stole Ishi's gaze. "Alright," Ishi said with determination. "What's next?"

I'm always a fan of that textured armor feel you give your Bionicle art. Your take on the hau and miru is both sleek and reminiscent of a Michael Bay transformer. The pistons you put just below the armpit connecting to the chest plate were a great little detail, especially since I've been studying anatomy and medicine and like seeing organic structures translated into a mechanical system. I think the detail I enjoy the most, however, is the inclusion of a pouch belt for gear and ammunition. It's not often I see Bionicle drawn with gear bags. I know these are doodles, but I'd love to see a more finished product showing how you'd connect the arm and shoulder to the rest of the torso, instead of just black-cloth/shading.

IC: Ishi Polzin "After you." Echelon's words echoed in the metallic room, bounding down the hallway revealed behind the door. Ishi clenched his fists twice, letting his fingers wiggle out the anticipation of death. Rationality screamed 'it's a trap' in his mind, but by this point traps had become meaningless: he was in a metal cage already. Ishi's first few steps echoed as the necromancer's words had, until the constant reverberating sound of motion filled the room like waves overlapping on the surf. At the doorway Ishi peered into the darkness. The lightstones of the current room illuminated little of the hallway. A murky blackness seemed to swirl and dance out of the light's reach, laughing at Ishi for his eventual demise that, like a mahi, he walked blindly toward. I am no mahi, Ishi thought to himself. I'm a hapaka, and when I get the scent I follow it 'til the end. The po-matoran stepped into the awaiting darkness. lightstones flickered awake at his presence, revealing the straight and narrow to a large metal door without handle or keyhole. As he walked forward his heartlight pounded in his chest. Behind, Ishi heard the sound of the others closing in. At the door he stopped, unable to go further.

IC: Ishi Polzin "Then what's your test?" Ishi asked.

Can someone please give me a recap of what's been going on in Kentoku and Mata-Nui for the past couple weeks? Thank you!

IC: Ishi Polzin He was at an impasse, stranded without a means of providing proof for his words in a mass of unimpressed killers. Eisen and Rorg, two beings who seemed to believe only in what their eyes told them, were set on eliminating him. Kohra no doubt felt the same. Agrona even walked off, so bored she needed another form of attention in the plaything she'd created in Mangaia. There was a fleeting thought, at first nondescript but growing like a tumor on his confidence with violent speed: I'm going to die here. The thought sat awkwardly with Ishi. He'd always been in situations with the threat of death, but never before had it been so great, so pervasive. It was as if he'd tied himself to the rails of the Iron Mahi, waiting for the train to arrive. For the first time in a long time fear gripped his heart. If Ambages and Caerus were the Takea sharks in deep water these villains were far darker and deadlier, aberrations lying on the ocean floor. Strangely, Ishi felt a compelling connection to them. They all held power, wielded power, and coveted power. Once Ishi'd thought he had all three, but now he knew better. He only coveted power, coveted the chaos and indecision of others caused by his spinning of yarns and secrets. Here, without enough truth to turn to plausible fiction, he no longer held or wielded power. Caerus avoided direct confrontations for good reason. Away from the front lines an informant could work slowly and carefully, and with patience build an empire of secrets. It was a shame Ishi had no patience. I'm going to die here. Something about the thought beating in sync with his heartlight brought a calm along with the tension. Death was a drink Ishi always thought he'd be willing to choke down to prove himself, but now it felt far too poisonous. Popping his neck Ishi let his mind still. I'm not going to die afraid. "You want the truth with evidence? Alright..." Ishi addressed the group as a whole. His feet slid a bit wider in stance. If he was going to die at least it would be with truth on his lips. It felt like the right thing to do after speaking lies for so long. "I'm not Ahkmou. At least, not the Ahkmou you seem to care about. I didn't start the Cultured Gentry, didn't corrupt Po-Koro with Makuta's influence, and didn't meet Echelon in Xa-Koro. My name is Hapaka, I'm the informant I spoke of. The words I told you were a lie to buy myself time, figure my way out of this situation, but now I see any falsehood is pointless. I'll only earn a bullet from Rorg." He nodded in the sniper's direction. "NEX killed Ahkmou, or at least an assassin parading themselves as NEX did. His murder occurred a few days after Ambages visited his ex-chairman and I have reason to believe the Architect may have had a heavy hand in that. I learned this from Ahkmou's journal, given to me by Akiri Hewkii after I'd won his trust burying the monorail secret away. Kohra, you seemed surprised it had such a large plot for such a small outcome. There's more to the story, but making it brief Nuparu and Hewkii struck a deal: Nuparu'd build the Iron-Mahi and perform some additional tasks if Ta-Koro's monorail became inoperable and needed repairs by trained workers from Onu-koro. The story I previously told is a fabrication I've sold to a few rare individuals to slowly turn the island's leaders against the technological powerhouse of Onu-Koro. As for Ahkmou's journal, it wasn't hard to crack the code once I'd figured out a clue. Echelon, I used it to piece together Ahkmou's meeting with you in Xa-Koro. Agrona, when I said it was Ahkmou's journal and my journal I didn't need to lie because both were true. In a way, as I'm the only one who can read his writings and dig into his secrets, I've become the matoran as well in more than name. There's the Kufa to think about, a subject I've given little time to in my travels but would need to address or disband in the future." How much more was he willing to say? When they kill me, at least the game will continue. "I'm Hapaka and Ahkmou. I learn things from my life in the shadows, and spread discord by my dealings in the light. I've never really worshipped a deity, but I'm not an atheist like Ambages with his master plans or some Mata-Nui worshipping brakas with a mission to wake my god. I like Mata-Nui asleep, if he even exists. His sleep keeps chaos churning, and I like chaos. So, Echelon, there's your truth with evidence. If after that you think a test by your god is worthwhile, I say let's get it over with. I wouldn't mind being chosen to keep living by the god of the shadows, He knows I've certainly been living in them for a long time."

Just a reminder, if anyone wants to play Daikura Koga please pm me. He's a dasaka male, so that rule applies, but my life at the moment is making it impossible to manage one PC effectively, let alone at all.

As much as I have things I'd like to say about the use of a cutscene (basically) to access a place players have actively attempted to enter without success for a long time I'm going to focus on the fact it's moving the staff plot forward, and that's all that matters at this point in my opinion. Gotta get the ball rolling, so thank you Nuju for doing that!

IC: Ishi Polzin "I'll say what I know, and may Makuta prove my truth in your test." Ishi stared at Echelon briefly, and then began. He couldn't hide the truth any longer. If Ishi was to be Ahkmou in the eyes of the dark toa he would truly have to become the makuta-worshipping Po-matoran businessman. The informant and his coat had to be set aside forever to insure survival. It was a dangerous moment, but all of Ishi's life had been plagued by impending death in some form or another and each time assuming a new guise had given him another breath, another month, a new friend and ally. "Before the Akiri Summit, Onu-Koro bombed Ta-Koro's monorail in a financial ploy after using a sentinel mole to steal back radio technology for the remote detonation hardware. Ta-Koro's been investigating the bombing without success for months. I got this news from an informant who encountered the mole and contacted my Kafu, goes by the alias Hapaka and seems to have gotten on the good side of several Akiri although I wager he'll be dead soon enough. However, if this secret were to be known openly what sort of mistrust could it cause among those blindly faithful to their sleeping god? In this buried plot lies the path to breaking their unity. We could create chaos, and from there sew the seeds of Makuta's power again."