#le-metru

[toacody]

Vorzakh

"Come quietly or there will be… trouble."

Source

Creator: Ezreel

[rahiwatching]

The OTHER major transport system of Le-Metru

We all know that the chutes are the primary system of transport in Metru Nui, with others also being in place such as Ussal carts, Vahki transports and airships. But in looking over Le-Metru based videos and key visuals from 2004, I think I’ve found another one. One that is so prolific that it appears in almost all visual media depicting Le-Metru (outside of LoMN), and yet, as best as I can tell, never makes an appearance in any of the books.

Take a look at these images of Le-Metru:

As well as the usual cylindrical chutes, there are also flat, raised platforms with what appears to be cargo loaded on top of them. The support structure of the platforms have the same green colouration as the rest of the Metru, but the channel in which the cargo sits has a silver tinge.

In Matau’s character video (best viewed in the high quality version on the BioMedia Project, as the shots that linger in one place long enough to view these platforms in detail only have them in the background) you can see if you look at these platforms specifically that they move the cargo quite quickly across their surfaces - not as fast as a chute, but still pretty quick.

At first I thought these might be a raised version of the canal system with the silver colouration being the liquid protodermis, however I quickly rejected that as this depiction of a canal in Po-Metru showed that the visuals do not match up, with actual liquid protodermis looking far more like water and the silver parts of these platforms appearing to be solid and probably metallic.

So - best guess as to what these actually are? I think they are conveyor belts.

At the height of Matoran life in the city just before the Great Cataclysm, these probably held the niche in the transportation network for cargo that was too delicate to go in the chutes, but still needed to get where it was going on a much shorter timetable than an Ussal cart, canal boat or airship could provide.

I imagine that these were in fact an older technology than the chutes and may have in fact been their predecessor - a quick, efficient transportation network that criss-crossed Le-Metru and possibly the rest of the city too. One that might well have been used for both cargo and public transport (though likely with some sort of enclosure to keep the Matoran safe in transit… basically a train where its the track thats moving) until the chutes came along and cut their use back to the aforementioned niche.

Speculating some more for fun, I’d imagine that these were initially cog driven, looped belts (kinda like the ones in sushi restaurants) as that would keep with the clockwork style that a lot of Metru Nui tech is based around. Later on, the sections of belt might have been magnetically levitated and moved along the platforms (like if the base of a maglev train ran the entire length of the track in a loop, with cargo just placed on top of the flat, levitating surface) with that experience with magnetic technology being the starting point for what would eventually become the chute system.

[shinramakoreactor]

[toa-kohutti]

It's Just Paint

A drabble about a Le-Matoran and his jar of paint. Also available on Archive of Our Own.

It’s just paint. 

Aylun tried to convince himself that this was ridiculous, a waste of his time. Objectively, it was. There was no reason to be spending his quiet time doing this. If the other Matoran knew, they’d rightfully make fun and criticize him for his wastefulness. Why paint yourself, especially if it’s not even something you’re going to keep on, instead just wiping it away moments later? 

At least he would just wipe it away. There’d be nary a trace on his armor, and nobody would know and judge him. They couldn’t know he was doing such stupid things. They could label him defective and send him off to Karzahni… and Aylun never knew anyone who came back from Karzahni. 

In his little corner of Le-Metru, a small carving out of the city to call a tiny home, with little more than a bed, a few storage containers, and a mirror turned to the other side, nobody else could see him.  He didn’t have anything to be afraid of. So why, when he held the jar of color, were his fingers trembling?

It’s just paint. 

His stomach was tied up into a knot. He was defective for doing this, he had to be. But something deep in him, deeper than the feelings of shame, pushed him forward, and it told him to listen louder than that shame or even the reverence for the Three Virtues. So he did. 

He picked up an old, dry brush in his quivering grip. He took a deep breath, swallowed his fear, pride, and something else entirely, and dipped it into the jar. It was something that terrified him, and yet, as soon as he began, all of the trembling, the pit in his stomach, all the indecisiveness, evaporated. He drew the brush out, now saturated with the sticky color, and began to paint.

He started with his mask - thankfully, the style of Metru Nui masks made it so he only had to paint two-thirds of his mask, with half melting into a silver he had no problem with. Silver was a color anyone could have, but the rest of him was green. He wasn’t sure if he hated green sometimes. Some days, he bristled against the flood of it that is his Metru. Others were… fine. But he knew he hated the green on him. 

It’s just paint. 

His shoulders were next - thankfully, the green on his armor barely wrapped around to where he couldn’t reach. A little stretch and holding the brush at an awkward angle, and the green disappeared. Then his chest, his stomach, the rest of his torso. He wasn’t sure if it was going fast, or if he was just lost in it. But moments later, he was finished. He stood up, and turned the mirror over. 

In the mirror, he saw a Ga-Matoran. A girl wearing a vibrant blue mask and blue armor, not a Le-Matoran in a pallid green. And he was happy. He turned around and around, watching himself in the mirror, a looking glass to another world where he was another Matoran. His heart leapt with joy, and every movement was full of sureness. 

The paint… it made him happy. He reached out to his reflection, red eyes peering back at him behind a beautiful blue mask, and for a moment, it almost spoke to him. Her - no, his arm, was held out, as if it was urging him to step through the mirror and come with her. The girl in the mirror’s eyes were filled with a longing, as if she yearned to be real. But “she” was just Aylun, just him, wearing a color. 

It’s just paint.

“Aylun!” His daydream was cut short as his friend banged on his door. “Come on, it’s now-time for hard-work!!” He panicked. His stomach dropped again, and he rushed for the rag, ready to scrub off all of this paint before it dried. 

“I’m coming!” He called. “I’ll be there in a….” It pained him for a second to use Chutespeak, but he did it anyway. “Quick-second!” It was forced, and if they looked for it, they could tell something was up.  But it was enough, he prayed to the Great Spirit, that it would keep them from finding his secrets. 

He scrubbed the paint away, and soon, there was no trace of it he could find on his body. In the mirror he saw, now, nothing more than Aylun, his boring, defective old self. That same mirror that gave him elation moments before reminded him, painfully, like a Rahi’s claw dug into his gut and twisted, that the happiness moments before…

It’s just paint.

[nerift4832]

Pixel art of the Le-Metru great disk!

[toacody]

Phoren, the Mechanic

This grease monkey is a real air-head.

Source

Creator: Vox22

[mecha-girl]

Happy Bionicle Day! Unfortunately the painting is not finished yet but I made a lot of progress today. It might be late but I’ll eventually finish it.

[mecha-girl]

Update on the Le-Metru painting. It’s slow going but I’m happy with the progress I’ve made today.