The existence of more tribes in Spherus Magna?

[Lenny7092]

Hi, guys. As you guys see, Spherus Magna is known to have eight Agori Tribes. Each is based on an elemental power, like the Toa. They are the Fire Tribe, Water Tribe, Jungle Tribe, Ice Tribe, Rock Tribe (or Stone Tribe when you think about Toa of Stone), Sand Tribe, Iron Tribe, and Earth Tribe. 

First of all, the first seven tribes officially exist, and first appeared in 2009. Greg Farshtey said in 2011 (?) that there are no more than these tribes. That statement is not like how Matoran have Fire, Water, Air, Ice, Stone, Earth, Lightning, Magnetism, Jungle, Sonics, Plasma, Gravity, Iron, Psionics, Light, and Shadow types. So, Greg acted like there are no such things as the Earth Tribe, Air Tribe, Lightning Tribe, Magnetic Tribe, Sonic Tribe, Plasma Tribe, Gravity Tribe, Psionic Tribe, Light Tribe, or Shadow Tribe. Of course, there is no such Matoran type as Matoran of Sand. 

However, in 2014-2017, Greg confirmed the existence of the Earth Tribe, based on a character named Tera in a script for the cancelled fifth Bionicle direct-to-video movie. Also however, this caused contradictions, so this is in a dispute: https://biosector01.com/wiki/Earth_Tribe . 

If the other tribes exist or existed, then what they have been doing? Are they still hiding, disbanded and went to live with the first seven or eight tribes, becoming members of the tribes, killed by Annona, in Core War, or the Shattering? Spherus Magna has so many things that we don’t know, mostly Bota Magna. 

So, what do you think? Are there more than seven or eight tribes? For me, I believe there should be tribes for Fire, Water, Jungle, Ice, Stone, Sand, Iron, Earth, Lightning, Magnetism, Jungle, Sonics, Plasma, Gravity, and Psionics. I did not include Light or Shadow because there was no good-vs-evil stuff until Annona started causing the Dreaming Plague long ago.

[Nato G]

I'm very much in the camp of pretending the Earth Tribe doesn't exist, due to how awkwardly it was crammed in, and how contradictory it all is. Frankly I'd drop the Sand Tribe too if I could because the Earth/Stone thing is confusing enough without adding Sand into the mix. 

As for the rest, the tribes on Bara Magna seem to be fairly arbitrarily named after where they lived, or the resources and trade goods that were abundant there. So sonics, air, magnetism, plasma, gravity, light, psionics, and shadow wouldn't make any sense. I could maybe see a tribe that was sitting on top of a mine of shiny rocks calling themselves the Crystal Tribe, or a group with more advanced tech calling themselves the Electricity Tribe, or a group living in the peaks calling themselves the Mountain Tribe. 

But I don't think any other tribes that might have existed would have necessarily correlated with the Matoran elements. 

[Master Inika]

I tend to default to Greg canon, so I voted 8. I'll admit the Earth Tribe thing was handled awkwardly, but at the core I like the idea of them.

[Toa Jaxus]

I would say 8, due to Sand not having a direct 1:1 in the Matoran universe I feel the Great Beings may have added more elements for funsies sake.

[Lorentz]

Why would there be more than 8 Tribes on Spherus Magna? Also, keep in mind that the Rock Tribe is just the Skrall, and not an original part of the society. So they filled in for Earth.

Edited April 19, 2023 by Lorentz

[(-Kopaka Toa of Ice-)]

It was odd that Sand Tribe was essentially written out of the main elements tribes. The Vorox and Zesk became feral all of a sudden and the Skrall Tribe were rewritten as Rock instead of Earth. Usually Earth characters are black.   Iron Tribe (Sahmad) and Bone Hunters are the only spare tribes remaining

[Lorentz]

On 4/28/2023 at 12:09 PM, (-Kopaka Toa of Ice-) said:

It was odd that Sand Tribe was essentially written out of the main elements tribes. The Vorox and Zesk became feral all of a sudden and the Skrall Tribe were rewritten as Rock instead of Earth. Usually Earth characters are black.   Iron Tribe (Sahmad) and Bone Hunters are the only spare tribes remaining

I liked how they mixed up the otherwise balance of the elements. In the main story, all the tribes were basically equal. Onu-Koro wasn't any more or less important than Le-Koro, and they were all on the same side, and all had similar political relevance. It was symmetrical. 

 

But on Bara Magna, there's much less symmetry. All of the tribes are at odds to some extent or another, with varying alliances and rivalries. The Rock Tribe is a completely different species. Sand Tribe got blasted back to the Stone Age, in exchange for some extra limbs apparently. The Red One, Malum, wasn't even a Glatorian and wasn't even a main character. 

 

I really wish the Bara Magna arc could have had the time to be fully developed. So much potential to revamp Bionicle. It was really interesting until Mata Nui showed up. I just know that the story team was ready to go Insaneo Style with a whole new world full of opportunities.

[confused piraka]

14 hours ago, Lorentz said:

I liked how they mixed up the otherwise balance of the elements. In the main story, all the tribes were basically equal. Onu-Koro wasn't any more or less important than Le-Koro, and they were all on the same side, and all had similar political relevance. It was symmetrical. 

 

But on Bara Magna, there's much less symmetry. All of the tribes are at odds to some extent or another, with varying alliances and rivalries. The Rock Tribe is a completely different species. Sand Tribe got blasted back to the Stone Age, in exchange for some extra limbs apparently. The Red One, Malum, wasn't even a Glatorian and wasn't even a main character. 

 

I really wish the Bara Magna arc could have had the time to be fully developed. So much potential to revamp Bionicle. It was really interesting until Mata Nui showed up. I just know that the story team was ready to go Insaneo Style with a whole new world full of opportunities.

these are amazing points

[(-Kopaka Toa of Ice-)]

I prefer the originals that were designed for the bara magna. But the Skrall being stronger along with their military focus and need to win in fights to earn names.

Also it was odd that we never found out what ruined the Sand Tribe and they essentially devolved.