Happy 810nicle, one and all! Little something different this time around-- G2 again, this time the Elemental Creatures. This was a concept I was quite fond of-- beasts with Toa-Tier power and at least Matoran-level intelligence that could mix and match their elemental powers with those of their Toa allies. I opted for a wider spread of animals as bases this time around, seeing as Bionicle on the whole has a bit of a problem with associating any animal with the desert outside of "Scorpion" and Terak and Melum were functionally the same, set-wise.
Profiles under the cut:
At first glance, Terak is decidedly unimpressive. Small, soft, and entirely blind, Terak is reliant on an enhanced sense of smell and the ability to feel the tremors in the earth to navigate the world around them. Do not let their size fool you, however-- they are no less powerful or resilient than any of the other Elemental Creatures, able to rend the earth asunder with their mighty claws, not unlike Onua himself. Of all the creatures Terak is far and away the most placid, demonstrating a fondness for tummy rubs and other acts of affection.
Ketar only associates with the Toa out of convenience. Gruff and standoffish, Ketar prefers to do things their own way without anyone else, Toa, Turaga, Matoran, or even the other Elemental creatures trying to prod them in any other direction. Naturally, they chafe under the company of the sociable and open Pohatu, whose insistence on working as a team runs counter to Ketar's entire MO, and barely seems to notice when his serpentine partner starts gnawing on him in protest.
Uxar is far and away the friendliest and most open member of all the Elemental creatures. Deeply curious, she skirts the closest to Matoran civilization, and deeply enjoys playing with the inhabitants that give her the time of day. Only problem is she doesn't entirely know her own strength and is likely to tear down entire trees if she gets too excited. Fortunately, she makes a solid partner for the outgoing and energetic Toa of Air Lewa, who's more than capable of tanking her brand of roughhousing.
Melum is the strongest of all the elemental creatures on a physical level. A beast of burden, Melum acts accordingly, carrying what the others can't with quiet dignity and determination. In leiu of traditional Toa tools, Melum's enormous horns act as a channel for their elemental power, charging and dispersing powerful blasts of ice. Though largely well-mannered, Melum has a bad habit of chewing on loose fabric on anyone who happens to be standing nearby.
Ikir is a big bird who fully believes himself to be the greatest creature ever put on the island. Strutting about with all the arrogance of a peacock, Ikir will show off at every available opportunity, and particularly likes to demonstrate his flying skills, shooting jets of flame out of the exhaust points on his wings. This grandstanding attitude, not to mention penchant towards confrontation, often puts the bird at odds with Tahu, his designated Toa partner. The irony that he is prone to the exact same behavior is lost on Mata Nui's resident Toa of Fire.
Akida is the largest of the Elemental creatures, big enough to serve as a steed for most of the Toa, and also the most enigmatic and elusive. She comes and goes as needed, rising out of the murky depths to assist and vanishing just as quickly as she came. Though undeniably powerful, this unpredictability can prove frustrating, especially to Gali, who often finds herself struggling to keep her own team together.
-The Phantom of the Tides is a ghastly, translucent image sighted in the Region of Water. The earliest known report was approximately a few years after the initial emergence of the Skull Spiders. Described as a skeletal, spindly being covered in spines with a hunched-over back, some have theorized the timing of its appearance to be related to the Skull Spiders. One popular theory is that the Phantom of the Tides is the ghost of one of the Skull Spiders’ victims.
-Returning from a long day of hunting, in which he noticed many inexplicably slain carcasses strewn about, Podu the hunter was passing through a series of stone canyons in order to reach Levato. As the sun began to set and shadows spread across the canyons, forming distorted after-images, Podu felt a chill crawl down his spine as he heard claws scraping against stone. Anticipating a predator, he whirled around, and off in the distance, right in front of the setting sun, was a figure, clinging to a rocky hill.
It was thin and spindly, almost like a skeleton, with dulled, rigid skin. Its limbs were elongated, almost exaggerated and twisted. Red eyes blazed within the recesses of its dark, inhuman face, and unable to contain his terror, Podu screamed and fled. When he recounted the tale to his fellow Levatans, some dismissed it as a trick of the mind –it was getting dark and the ‘figure’ was shadowed from the sun behind- while others have speculated it to be a Wendigo, or the Hunter of myth. Needless to say, Podu, ever since the incident, made sure to head home well before sunset, and avoided the canyons he was passing through.
-“I’m here too,” a very short and brief story recounted by Hafu of Levato. While patrolling the Motara Desert, Hafu had an obnoxious tendency to carve into nearby stones and boulders his signature phrase, “Hafu was here.” Most rolled their eyes at this, but one day, after returning to a spot where he’d carved these words, Hafu decided to check up on it. Surely enough, he saw the words, and right beneath them, carved in a ragged manner into the stone, were the words, “I’m here too.”
Hafu, chilled to the bone, interrogated the other members of the Levatan Patrol about this. All of them denied profusely of ever answering his graffiti, and the hand-writing was unlike their own; Besides, it looked as if the words had been carved in with claws, and not an implement. In denial, Hafu decided it had to be some other Okotan- Perhaps a hermit like Melea, or Takua, playing a prank- She’d responded to his graffiti before. However, when Hafu one day questioned the vagabond during a visit, Takua confirmed that she had never written this statement, reminding Hafu that she always added a signature. And Takua’s memory was impeccable as well…
-The Sand Tarakava, a tale of a Levatan Patrol squad being caught in a sandstorm, communicating that they were being chased in the radio, before disappearing. When the storms ceased, patrols found the wreckage of the boat and no sign of the patrol members, who were presumed devoured by the beast. Later, when Hewkii showed Macku a sketch of the wreckage, she noted it resembled an attack from a Tarakava, an aquatic beast. Yet, the attack occurred in the Motara Desert, miles from any source of water, much less one large enough to support a Tarakava...
-Sand Screamers, unseen things whose cries are heard at night. Strange footprints belonging to them are found near dead animals that have been torn apart. No one knows what a Sand Screamer looks like, but it’s apparently powerful enough to kill beasts such as the Kikanalo or Spiny Stone Ape.
-The Dweller in the Deep, a story of how a group of Okotans were travelling on a small boat, when they noticed an incomprehensibly massive shadow move underneath them, bigger than any beast of the sea they had ever seen or known about. Its colossal tail flapped once, sending the entire boat and its passengers flying into the air before they plunged back into the water- By the time they’d gotten their bearings, the shadow had begun to disappear, fading as it sank further into the depths below.
-In the sands of the Motara Desert, legend has it that there reigns an eternal sandstorm, the largest in all of existence, constantly roaming and traveling around a general area it has been bound and cursed to. In this eternal sandstorm, those trapped inside can see the shadows of giant, colossal monsters in the distance, hidden and obscured by the whirling sand.
If one stays still for too long in this eternal sandstorm, they will quickly find themselves buried alive, and tales report sightings of gigantic masses moving underneath the sand, bigger than any creature spotted before. Some rumors and whispers claim this sandstorm is the embodiment of Ketar’s slighted rage against mortals for the sins they committed that defiled Okoto through the Grat Cataclysm- Others go as far as to claim the storm IS Ketar herself.
-Deep in the Motara Desert, perhaps not coincidentally in the eternal sandstorm from time to time, is the massive stinger-tail of a Kofo-Jaga. When hunting, the massive scorpions burrow through the sand, and when chasing prey their stinger-tails will emerge from the sand, marking their location as the Kofo-Jaga chase after prey.
But amongst these encounters is the story of one stinger-tail, far larger than any seen before. This stinger-tail is bigger than even a Kofo-Jaga, and Okotans have dubbed the unseen owner of this tail the ‘Nui-Jaga’, AKA the Great Scorpion. The Nui-Jaga is one of the mythical Rahi of legend, a cryptid that has never been fully seen, only glimpsed, so nobody knows its true size, and guesses based on Kofo-Jaga proportions to their tails are just that- Guesses.
-The ‘Will-O-the-Wisp’, a mysterious blue light, an ethereal orb spotted randomly in the dark corners and alleyways of the Mega Villages at night. Sources indicate that the Will-O-the-Wisp was seen shortly after the Skull Spider emergence, and sightings of it ceased sometime after the official establishment of the Mega Villages, suspiciously.
According to one eyewitness, they had been walking around their home one night, unable to sleep, when they briefly spotted a bright-blue light hovering above their loved one’s face. As soon as the witness cried out, the light disappeared, even as the loved one began murmuring and twisting around, becoming more troubled by the passing second. Concerned, the eyewitness woke their loved one after several intense shakings- Awake, the loved one reported having particularly surreal nightmares of their worst fears and eldritch entities chasing them down, attempting to kill them.
-The Kane-Ra Demon, a story about how those who wander into random openings in the ground will find themselves lost in an inescapable maze, where a Kane-Ra demon will track them down and kill them. Very rarely, those who have gotten lost and chased were able to find passageways leading back to the surface of Okoto. However, said survivors apparently reported that the openings they exited from weren’t the same ones they entered the maze from.
Allegedly, some survivors reported running for what felt like miles, only to find themselves in an exit not too far from the entrance; Others barely wandered in the maze and emerged in an entirely different Elemental Region to begin with. Attempts to return to these entrances and exits have failed, as when the survivors came back to them after marking down their location, the openings had inexplicably disappeared.
-Death Vines, an urban legend of a strange, rotted-looking type of vine across the floor of the Region of Jungle that when approached, lashes out and strangles the victim, or else drags them off to never be seen again. According to these myths, these Death Vines feed off of heat and warmth and are wounded by the cold. Some Okotans believe the ‘Death Vines’ in question are actually Bog Snakes/Kuna/Z-Strikers (whichever name floats your boat), camouflaged into the environment. There preference of heat over cold is simply because they’re reptiles- And while many find this explanation reassuring, others aren’t entirely convinced.
-The Whispers of Tiro, a story of how amidst the whistling and songs of Tiro Canyon, if one listens closely, they can hear what seems to be the whispers of others. Most dismiss these as just the wind, or an overactive imagination, but others insist that they’ve heard voices whisper and plot wicked things in Tiro Canyon. Perhaps it is the Skull Puppets, their words carried on the wind?
-The Hunter, a fabled dark creature spotted all across Okoto. A common ghost story uttered to children, parents warn them that if they misbehave, the Hunter will emerge from the woods, the water, whichever, in the deepest darkness of night, and slit their throats before skinning them and displaying their pelts for all to see! While most who have grown up have since doubted the authenticity of this tale, a few HAVE claimed to have seen a darkened, elusive hunter chasing after the elements themselves...
There are many suggested origins for the Hunter, one of the most popular being that the Hunter is the spirit of a mother deer, slain cruelly by a vicious hunter as she protected her offspring. From her dead corpse sprung a twisted, blackened tree with branches shaped like antlers, and one night the tree uprooted itself, forming legs and arms as it began to take vengeance on all Okotans who hunt. Those who go hunting will suddenly step down and find their legs caught in sharp, bloody bear-traps as the Hunter emerges from the shadows to kill and flay them.
Others claim the Hunter was once a regular Okotan who went on a killing spree, and even slaying fellow Okotans when their bloodlust wasn’t sated. Angered, the other members of the village in turn hunted down the Hunter, ironically enough, and impaled them to a tree with flung arrows. The Hunter died, but not before uttering a final curse. After their demise, the Hunter was either absorbed by the tree, which twisted into a humanoid creature with branches sprouting from its head shaped like antlers, OR the hunter’s body was buried, and from it sprouted its familiar, oaken body.
To begin, we have the promotional sets. Bad Guy is just that- bad. His clashing colors, maskless piraka head, poorly-designed legs- there’s nothing to like other than his meme potential.
Speaking of memes, here’s Good Guy. An improvement from Bad Guy albeit not by much. His colors don’t clash nearly as much as his evil counterpart, and he has more than one point of articulation in his legs. In the case of promotional sets, good triumphs.
Of course, there isn’t only one Bad Guy. Introducing QUICK Bad Guy, perhaps the ugliest set I’ve ever seen. I understand these are promotional sets, but this… thing… is proof little effort was put into their design.
Just no…
Perhaps this is cheating, for this is a combiner build. Nevertheless, this was released as an individual set, so I believe it should count. Ultimate Dume, from your inconsistent design to your wonky proportions and chompers which give Mileena something to gnash her teeth at, you miss nearly every mark. At least you provide a plethora of good parts and a fantastic mask.
Umbra is, in my opinion, one of the less offensive sets on this list. While his color scheme is all over the place, and his general construction is nothing to write home about, this set does possess some interesting aspects- that being his dualblade with the built-in rhotuka spinner and his wheeled feet.
Tarduk, plain and silly-looking.
Does this set need an explanation?
They really missed the mark with scorpions in G2.
Perhaps my most controversial choice. Mata Nui is a set I both love and hate. I love the torso design and how it implements pistons in a manner similar to that of the Great Spirit Robot and the toa mata; however, everything else about the set rubs me the wrong way. His arms are rather spindly given how bulky his torso and legs are. In addition, this set is dreadfully gappy. My greatest gripe is his color scheme; keetorange, yellow, pearl gold, and pearl light grey do not mix well. Nevertheless, despite this set’s faults, it’s a far-better sendoff to Bionicle G1 than Stars.
Legend tells of a dark figure who prowls the wilds of Okoto alone. This dreaded figure of myth and legend has been seen chasing the very elements themselves, combatting them, only to just as quickly flee after snatching a fragment of the elements. And each time he returns to fight, to hunt, he always stays longer, and leaves with more in tow.
Umarak the Hunter is a feared deity of Okotan legend and myth, and like many of these supposed fables his existence is very real and very tangible. For centuries he’s hunted and pursued the six primordial Elemental Deities, slowly draining portions of their energy bit by bit through countless guerilla attacks and ambushes, all with the purpose of spreading his darkness throughout Okoto and beyond.
In the time before time, there existed shadow, a state that all six elements when combined could default into. It was a pure essence, relevant and existing as far back as the void, with connections and strength towards it. And from this mass of encompassing darkness, was birthed a thought and instinct to spread, and from that desire came a mind and name; Umarak.
Umarak, Deity of Shadow, sought to spread his darkness across Okoto and consume all with it. He besieged the island in its earliest youth as a mostly rocky, barren land with a few cities or ruins here or there. In opposition, the six Elemental Deities rose up to fight him; Ikir, Ketar, Akida, Uxar, Terak, and Melum. The battle was fierce and raged across Okoto, ravaging the island, but still Umarak could not be defeated.
With no other choice, and the island already ravaged, the Elemental Deities combined their strengths. With their pooled power, they created new land, a new island, and hurled it over Umarak, burying his entire essence beneath a newly-forged Okoto that laid atop the old one. Trapped beneath the weight of this new world, the darkness struggled and heaved, occasionally causing earthquakes, but in response the Elemental Deities merely added to this new island, stacking more foundations upon it until Umarak’s thrashing ceased, or at the very least escaped notice. Every now and then he’d summon forth a huge burst of energy to rattle the lands, and the people of Okoto would know these earthquakes as the struggles of The Darkness Below.
As a new generation of Okotans colonized the new surface, Umarak wasted away in the ruins of the old island below. Still, he refused to give up, and he was clever- So he changed tactics. Instead of trying to burst through the entire island at once, he decided to instead carefully, precisely, pinpoint and concentrate his darkness into one area. This threaded shadow would needle its way carefully, painstakingly, through the foundations and crust above, drilling through the earth and stone until it finally pierced the surface, allowing an opening for Umarak to unleash his shadows through.
It was a gradual, painstaking process. The results were imperfect- The farther his shadow strayed from his main essence, the weaker it got, until only a tiny pinprick of his power seeped into the deeply-grown roots of an ancient tree, infecting it with darkness. This tree continued to feed on Umarak’s shadow, becoming a physical, yet separate, vessel for his mind and power to operate through.
One day, a relentless, merciless hunter shot his quarry, a deer, through with an enchanted arrow. This arrow pierced through the deer and pinned itself into the cursed tree that Umarak had infected, pooling its energies into the vessel. Using the power of the arrow’s enchantment, Umarak forged his wooden vessel into a humanoid form, capable of independent movement, and became Umarak the Hunter.
Umarak broke his feet free from its roots, severing himself from his shadow. While he still maintained an inherent connection to The Darkness Below, he could only reliably maintain and function with his power from within this vessel, which sustained him with its magic. Otherwise, any darkness that attempted to breach the surface from below would become too negligible to make a difference.
Umarak slayed the hunter who had given him form, critical of their mindless killing, and as a gesture of kindness gave life back to that deer before it could die. Donning the hunter’s tools and absorbing his knowledge and skills, Umarak formulated a new, clever plan to free himself and defeat the Elemental Deities, his enemies, once and for all.
His current form, while powerful, was still no match for even one of the Elemental Deities. But Umarak realized that by utilizing clever ambushes, escapes, and guerilla tactics, he could slowly yet surely wittle down the Elemental Deities’ power by stealing it. Creating constructs of metal and shadow with the power of void named Shadow Traps, Umarak used his pack of fanged, mawed hounds to relentlessly chase the Elemental Deities. He would strike quickly, suddenly, and with his Shadow Traps drain permanently just the tiniest portion of the Elemental Deities’ life force. That life force in turn would be contained within a Shadow Trap, which amongst others containing elemental energy would be stored in a hidden cache from any deity’s eyes.
Umarak would repeat this process, over and over, again and again, gradually chipping off pieces of the Elemental Deities’ power. At first the six merely regarded him as an annoyance, but Umarak’s perseverance began to pay off. The change and loss was gradual enough that by the time the Deities realized they were getting weaker, Umarak in turn was getting stronger. He became more accustomed to his form, learned how to better strategize and use tools, and figured out how the Elemental Deities thought and operated. He predicted their every move, hunting and chasing them at every opportunity, never once relenting unless to hide for the timebeing.
When the Great Cataclysm occurred, the Elemental Deities were left dazed enough for Umarak to seize large portions of their power. Even more weakened, the Elemental Deities attempted to fight back, but found Umarak’s trickery, swiftness, and shadow-travel to make him an impossible opponent to strike. Inevitably, despite any pride, they began to fear every encounter with Umarak, knowing they’d lose another part of themselves to him, and began to run.
And so the chase, the hunt, began. Over the centuries, Umarak continued whittling away at the Elemental Deities’ souls, and with the Great Cataclysm having placed all other Deities in a coma, the Elemental Entities had no allies to turn to for protection. All the while, Umarak’s cache of Shadow Traps continued to gestate with the elemental energy they’d absorbed, digesting and formulating it into crystalline bodies of pure elemental energy.
Umarak’s plan from there was simple- He’d drain the Elemental Deities until they were either eradicated or too weak to fight back. With their stolen power, he’d reforge the energy he’d seized into a horde of Elemental Beasts, who in turn would use the same energy that built his island prison to destroy it. The Elemental Beasts would lay waste to Okoto, razing it, tearing away at the foundations until nothing was left but barren rock, and then even less. And with his earthen prison shaved away, The Darkness Below could finally burst free and Umarak could reunite his full power, freed, with no one to stop him from spreading his shadows.
Umarak’s hunt continued successfully in the passing centuries, until the Elemental Deities became the most minor echoes of their former power, barely shadows of their old selves. However, they too managed to learn from Umarak’s tactics, and though they gre weaker over time, they also became harder for him to track down and pin down. All the while, the Elemental Deities searched for Umarak’s hidden cache of their lost power, hoping to one day reclaim it, even as they devised ways to destroy Umarak’s vessel on Okoto.
When Skull Spiders besieged Okoto’s inhabitants, neither Umarak nor the Elemental Deities paid any mind to the incident. They knew full and well the nature of the swarm from a glance and considered it inconsequential. Makuta, in turn, attempted to make an ally of either Umarak or the Elemental Deities, but both saw him as providing no help or not being trustworthy, and ignored him.
This would change following the Arrival of the Toa, and the commencement of the Okotan-Brotherhood wars. As Ekimu the Mask Maker returned and began changing Okoto back to its old ways of its Creation Era, the Brotherhood in turn began experimenting in new venues of Life energy. And as the conflict increased, inevitably, Umarak and the Elemental Deities were noticed and caught in the crossfire.
Both sides desperately needed an ally, an advantage over the other, and while the Okotans were certainly wary of Umarak, no side could afford to be choosers. With the introduction of his Energy Leeches, organic creatures that could drain and store Life energy, Makuta finally won over Umarak’s alliance. In exchange for supplying him with armies and Energy Leeches to better track down and drain the Elemental Deities, Umarak would, from time to time, provide assistance in various Brotherhood operations. With his experience and ancient power of shadow, Umarak proved to be a terrifying challenge to even all six Toa united.
As the war unraveled, it soon came to light that Makuta had another reason for desiring Umarak’s alliance- He himself was after the Elemental Deities as well, in this case for their knowledge of the Mask of Control. Makuta knew that after the Great Cataclysm had caused the Mask of Control to disappear, the Elemental Deities stumbled across the ancient, powerful artifact, and had hidden it away themselves. Makuta needed the Mask of Control to unite the scattered fragments of his soul, and with his alliance with Umarak, the Hunter would not only absorb the Elemental Deities entirely but also their knowledge.
Eventually, Umarak managed to decipher the location of the Mask of Control by hijacking Ketar’s mind, tracking it down the Labyrinth of Deception, also known in ancient names as the Skrall. With a team of Brotherhood forces, Umarak descended into the Labyrinth of Deception and succeeded in acquiring the Mask of Control. However, upon reporting back to Makuta, the Mask Hoarder made his intentions to turn Umarak into a pawn quite clear.
Betrayed, Umarak in turn rejected Makuta’s claims and donned the Mask of Control, only to be possessed by the mask’s power and a portion of Makuta’s soul that had been trapped inside since the Great Cataclysm. The Mask of Control’s ancient powers rendered Umarak a slave to Makuta’s mind, who in turn inhabited Umarak’s body and mutated its vessel into a hulking, beastial caricature of itself. Now armed with both the powers of shadow, as well as those of Makuta and the Mask of Control, Umarak the Destroyer departed to raze Okoto. He awakened the Elemental Beasts, unleashing them upon the island to tear apart the foundations with help from the Brotherhood of Makuta’s forces. As the island’s surface was torn apart, The Darkness Below began to thrash and awaken, even bursting through portions of the surface, tendrils of itself emerging and lashing about.
At the same time, Umarak gathered at the summit of the Elemental Beast cache and began using the Mask of Control to draw and gather the scattered fragments of Makuta’s soul, eventually uniting them into his body and granting the Mask Hoarder a proper, physical form for the first time in centuries.
With his sudden increase in strength, Umarak the Destroyer easily fought off the Toa, who had combined with Elemental Deities into Kaita fusions. However, the tides would be turned when Ekimu the Mask Maker would arrive, having fused the energies of the damaged Mask of Creation with his own soul to become a Toa of Creation. More powerful than ever, Ekimu’s support melded with the Toa Kaitas’, and Ekimu was able to use his Hammer of Power to tear the Mask of Control from Umarak’s face. Freed of Makuta’s possession, Umarak painfully reverted his vessel back to its original form, even as Ekimu donned the Mask of Control, using the power it had spread through the Elemental Beasts to shatter them.
All at once, the lost energy of the Elemental Deities returned to them, gathering into a single spot as they reformed back to their true power. The weakened Umarak, in turn, could only help but gaze upwards in despair as the fully-empowered Elemental Deities visited centuries of retribution upon him, crashing down and burning his form with pure energy. Umarak’s vessel dissipated, his essence severed from The Darkness Below as it retreated and crystallized into a drained Mask of Shadows. The Darkness Below ceased its thrashing as it sank back beneath Okoto, which was in turn repaired of its damages by the Elemental Deities.
Following the attempted Razing of Okoto, Umarak’s dormant spirit, trapped in the Mask of Shadows, was transported to a maximum-security Okotan prison vault and contained. It has since been carefully monitored and guarded by Ekimu’s most advanced technology and automatons, ensuring Umarak cannot recover and begin his hunt anew against the Elemental Deities. And with his mind trapped in his vessel on the surface of Okoto, The Darkness Below has reverted back to a mindless, festering state beneath the island’s foundations.
It is said that in the time before time, nothing existed except for void; But from void, came Life energy itself. And Life energy, due to its fluidic, ever-changing nature, inevitably transformed by splitting itself into six primary components; The primordial elements.
Earth, fire, water, stone, jungle, and ice- These six forms of Life acted as the very basis and foundation for reality itself. And from these six foundations of energy, came consciousness, minds that were born from the pure energy of these souls- For Life energy, if powerful enough, can spawn individuality and personhood.
Enter the Elemental Deities, the embodiments of the six primordial elements themselves. There was Ikir, of Fire; Melum, of Ice; Ketar, of Stone; Akida, of Water; Uxar, of Jungle; and Terak, of Earth. The six Elemental Deities, composed of pure elemental energy itself, spread their essence throughout the void, intermingling their souls with one another and creating new forms of Life. From these forms of Life came other deities, but for the most part, the Elemental Deities remained the most ancient and primordial.
Together, the Elemental Deities crafted the island of Okoto, and as other beings began to spawn from the sacred land, the Deities assumed roles as literal forces of nature. They were impartial and neutral, having no need nor concept for mortal concepts such as ‘good’ or ‘bad’… They just were.
Still, Life is not stagnant. It is ever-growing, ever-changing, and so inevitably the Elemental Deities developed their own identities, their personalities, their thoughts and views. They interacted with other Deities and the mortals, either choosing to ignore them or answer their prayers; Even occasionally tormenting them as a form of humility. Due to their ever-encompassing nature, the Elemental Deities preferred to be neutral when it came to most conflicts, but should Okoto ever be threatened, they would rise to defend it.
When Umarak, Deity of Shadow was left unchecked, he attempted to engulf Okoto with his darkness. The Elemental Deities battled him, but unable to defeat the dark god, they instead opted to craft a new island, a second Okoto, over the current one. With this new island, they slammed it down onto Umarak, burying the shadows alive and imprisoning him within a newly remade Okoto. The Elemental Deities gave life to the new surface, even as Umarak was trapped in the foundations, the will of the Elemental Deities keeping Okoto’s lock on him eternally strong.
The Elemental Deities continued their existences, developing as individuals. Clear personalities were made, with Melum of Ice becoming cold and distant, a mysterious loner who did not wish to be seen nor understood; Whereas Uxar became lively, youthful, and energetic, happily putting aside conflict to interact with others and even play. Terak was grounded and stern, Akida was wise, Ikir was bold and powerful, and Ketar was sharp and razor-tongued.
The efforts of the Elemental Deities to contain Umarak would not last, however; The Darkness Below thrived and thrashed below, held in place by Terak and Ketar’s strength, but eventually it succeeded in corrupting one of Uxar’s trees, constructing a new body to roam the surface with, the Hunter.
Umarak the Hunter formed a plan to raze Okoto by permanently stealing the power of the Elemental Deities. He set out with his pack of Shadow Traps, as well as the occasional ally, and launched a series of guerilla attacks on the Elemental Deities. Of course, each one easily fended off the hunter, but with each attack, Umarak succeeded in siphoning and infinitesimal sliver of the Deities’ souls.
These small thefts, while offensive, were left unnoticed as the Elemental Deities kept to more important tasks. But as time came on, Umarak’s successful hunts slowly, gradually drained the Elemental Deities, who didn’t quite realize how much weaker they were getting until it was too late. By then, Umarak was outright chasing the Deities as they fled, occasionally adopting more physical forms to better evade and even fight back against the Hunter. And yet, inevitably, Umarak would always seize another part of their energy.
When the Great Cataclysm occurred, most Deities were left in a comatose state; However, the Elemental Deities remained, due to their inherent, primordial connection with the six elements themselves, which were only represented greater through the newly made Elemental Regions. However, Umarak also continued his existence, the Darkness Below unaffected by the Great Cataclysm, and with many friends and allies incapacitated, the Elemental Deities were forced into an eternal chase as they fled from Umarak.
Of course, plans and tactics to fight back against Umarak and hide from him were made. At one point, the Elemental Deities sealed themselves away in the hopes of evading Umarak, but the Hunter, ever-clever, succeeded in destroying their seal and forcing the Deities back into reality. And as the Elemental Deities grew weaker, they began to look towards the only other possible allies left for assistance; The mortal Okotans.
To their hurt and shock, the Okotans they approached for help declined to assist. The Okotans were more concerned with repairing and surviving the effects of the Great Cataclysm, and couldn’t be bothered to help the Elemental Deities; What was in it for them? How much time and effort and resources would it take? Their lives would be risked challenging Umarak, would they not be?
Spurned, the Elemental Deities were left alone and abandoned in their flight. Some of their hurts turned cold, embittered; They had done so much for the Okotans, heeded their worship, sacrificed genuine energy and effort for them. But when asking the Okotans to return the favor, they refused?! Some of the Deities tried to remain impartial, and indeed none of them would ever directly take their rage out on the Okotans… Still, resentment built and lingered. The Deities Melum and Terak (and especially Ketar) grew to dislike the Okotan mortals as opportunistic, selfish, and ungrateful. The fact that the Elemental Deities blamed them for the Great Cataclysm certainly didn’t help. And when the Brotherhood of Makuta emerged and assaulted Okoto with its Skull Spiders, the Mask Hoarder Makuta even attempted to capture the Elemental Deities for his own purposes as well! Of course, he failed miserably, lacking Umarak’s cleverness and experience, and quickly gave up- But terrible impressions had only been worsened by the attempt.
Centuries would pass, and then came the arrival of the Toa, who fell from the stars. Curious phenomena to the Elemental Deities, the Toa helped the Okotans in fighting back against the Brotherhood of Makuta, and during a key phase of their war, became aware of Umarak and his eternal hunt for the Elemental Deities.
Learning about the situation, the Toa made strides to become allies with the Elemental Deities. While some considered their offers graciously, such as Uxar, others were bitter and would rather reject them, such as Ketar or Melum. To them, it seemed rather convenient that when theyneeded them, just now the Okotans would suddenly clamor and rush to make an alliance with the Elemental Deities! Bitterness and pride formed a rift between the two groups, and as the Brotherhood war continued and worsened, the sworn nemesis Umarak allied with Makuta.
At this point, the Elemental Deities were split, with half wanting to form an alliance with the Okotans, and the other half not trusting them and still bitter with rejection and resentment. When Okotan attempts to recruit them became too aggressive, the Elemental Deities even fought back at times against them, as well as the Brotherhood of Makuta.
Still, beggars couldn’t be choosers, and when push came to shove, the Elemental Deities –somewhat- swallowed their pride and agreed to the Okotan alliance. A genuine friendship had formed between Lewa and Uxar, the former earnestly, unironically wanting to help the Deities at for no benefit whatsoever beyond the act itself, and many of his fellow Toa agreed on this principle. Touched, the Elemental Deities finally relented and agreed to ally with the Okotans… or more specifically, just the Toa, just this once.
One by one, old grudges were eased and hearts softened when Lewa and Uxar’s bond persisted to the point where the two fused their souls together in unity, becoming a Kaita in the process. Other Kaita fusions were later made with the Toa and their respective Elemental Deities, save for Pohatu and Ketar, who remained prickly and hostile towards one another. With their alliance with the Toa, the Elemental Deities also revealed the location of the Mask of Control, which they believed would be a key asset in combating Makuta and Umarak. Knowing it was contained within the Labyrinth of Infinity, the Elemental Deities, then unable to navigate the maze to find the Mask of Control, teamed up with the Toa and Okotans to find the golden prize.
Despite best efforts, the campaign to seize the Mask of Control would fail when Brotherhood forces intercepted them and seized the legendary mask, with Umarak exploiting Pohatu and Ketar’s hostile relationship to his advantage. But at the end of the day, the Toa and Deity of Stone also learned from the experience of their failure and put aside differences, forming a mutual respect with one another and forming a Kaita fusion.
When Makuta possessed Umarak in a forced, unorthodox Kaita fusion, he gave rise to the Elemental Deities’ stolen power in the form of Elemental Beasts and had them raze Okoto. As efforts were made to fight back, it was quickly discovered that destroying an Elemental Beast would release its energy, which in turn would return back to the Deity it was stolen from, drawn like a magnet to their soul. Elated, the Elemental Deities helped tear through the Elemental Beasts, reclaiming their lost power and growing all the stronger as they rallied for retribution against Umarak and by extension, Makuta.
Uniting with the Toa into Kaita, the Elemental Deities helped them clear a path directly to Makuta, challenging the Mask Hoarder. Although they failed to keep Makuta from uniting his soul, the assistance of Ekimu, now newly-christened and empowered as the Toa of Creation, allowed the group to defeat Makuta. The Mask of Control was severed from his face, freeing Umarak from the Mask Hoarder’s thrall. Ekimu donned the Mask of Control, and with Elemental Horde under his power, he shattered every Beast, releasing all of the Deities’ stolen energy at once.
Even as it surged back into them, the Elemental Deities split from their Toa hosts, recognizing that they may not be able to handle the huge influx of power, and began reforming overhead in the skies above. Wounded, their foe Umarak could only help but look to the skies helplessly as he saw his age-old nemeses restore to their old power, and all-mighty once more, the vengeful Elemental Deities surged down upon Umarak. They burned his form, reducing him to an inert Mask of Shadows.
Following the incident, the Elemental Deities have somewhat cut ties with the Okotans. With their power reclaimed and Umarak defeated, the Elemental Deities have no need for any further alliance, and indeed some old wounds can’t be fully recovered from. Still, they remained somewhat amicable with the Toa, and are willing to provide a favor here or there; However, they are very much busy with trying to heal Okoto from the damage of the Elemental Beasts, as quickly as possible. Umarak’s consciousness may have been imprisoned, but the instinct of the Darkness Below continues to thrash against Okoto, weakened from the razing. Thus, to keep it contained once more, Okoto must be healed of its wounds… And maybe after that, the Elemental Deities mightreturn to helping the Okotans full-time. None of this, of course, stops Lewa and Uxar from still maintaining a bright and cheery friendship.
As the embodiments of the elements themselves, the Elemental Deities manifest purely as the energy they represent. Ketar can become a raging sandstorm, Ikir is a travelling fire that leaps from forest to forest, Akida is a sudden wave that upends a ship, etc. They ARE the elements, and the consciousness of the Deities can just as easily, just as quickly move through their essence. When interacting with others or for formal events in general, the Elemental Deities can compress and concentrate their energy into smaller, compact bodies resembling animals sacred to them. Though small, these bodies are still of immense strength and power.
When Umarak began draining them of their power, the Elemental Deities began losing their grip, their control over themselves as the power their consciousness was bound to began to dwindle and diminish. They lost the ability to hold themselves together; Even if Umarak had fully drained them as he’d originally planned, the Deities would still EXIST to an extent… But spread out too thin to really function or act. After all, they were the elements themselves, so to truly destroy the Elemental Deities would be to destroy Life itself, which is something nobody desires.
Animals sacred to the Elemental Deities include the Phoenix, sacred to Ikir; The Shark, Dolphin, and Fish, sacred to Akida; The Dragonfly, sacred to Uxar; the Wolf, sacred to Melum; The Mole, sacred to Terak; and the Scorpion and Snake, sacred to Ketar. The Elemental Deities’ physical forms tend to resemble one of these sacred Elemental Creatures of theirs, or some amalgamation, approximation, or caricature of it.
