Fun fact; There is a direct duality, a parallelism between the six Elemental regions of Okoto, and the six districts of Xia in Bionicle: RaE! Each one corresponds to its other island counterpart, respectively, with Xia’s districts being a ‘dark mirror’ of the role the Mega-Villages serve on Okoto as well! Specifically, the Mega-Villages and their respective regions are synonymous in these dualities…
Stelt parallels the Vuata Maca; The Macans grow flora, crops, and food, and Stelt is where nutrition and crops are mechanically-grown and hoarded within greenhouses and facilities! The Gukko Airforce acts as the primary means of transportation for people and goods across Okoto, and Stelt does the same with its Chutes for Xia! Trade and Okoto’s economy is facilitated by the Gukko Airforce, while Stelt is the main heart of its economy, with black markets, banks, smuggling, all that stuff going on.
Tametru’s parallel to Tawahi is obvious; They both start with Ta and are adapations of Fire-related locations in G1. They’re both the hottest areas of their respective islands, and use that heat to melt down materials and reforge them into stuff. Weapons are made here, amongst other metallurgic tools.
Now, despite its heavy reliance on water and its presence… Voymari is actually meant to mirror Marn! Yes, water is a big deal and Voymari has a few shipyards, but its primary export and industry is mining; Just as the people of Marn specialize as tunnelers due to their subterranean location. Voymari relies more on mining and changing the landscape than anything else, deals with minerals in the air, and so it’s just naturally more suited for the element of Earth.
Zakaz and Levato go hand-in-hand. They’re both located in vast, barren deserts and rely a lot on scavenging. They have naturally brutal conditions, but also have entertainment; Levato specializes in the arts, in sculptures, as well as board-games, and sports like Kolhii. Zakaz’s entertainment comes in the form of brutal gladiator matches and races, but it also has its own sports like Akilini, and of course theater productions, studios, and casinos as well.
Nynrah goes with Kiniga! This one is less obvious, and that’s my fault; I never DID make my own separate post detailing Kiniga, but I may do that soon! I think I’ve finally begun to figure it out, so look forward to that…! Anyhow, Nynrah was and in some ways still is the sector of education, and Kiniga is where a lot of schools and textbooks are located! Medicine and healing is a big deal in Kiniga, and in Nynrah, the Nynrah Ghosts work specifically towards the anatomy of others and how to alter it. Water is the stuff of life, and it can sustain it… But with Nynrah, it was used to carry chemicals, mutagens, and Visorak into the bodies of others, horrifically transforming and distorting them.
Finally, Artidax is the direct counterpart to Kokoro! Both involve knowledge and information; Kokoro stores past texts, deciphers them, and reads the stars. It is well-versed in the lost traditions and ancient culture and religion of Okoto. Artidax’s computer-banks store vast quantities of information, and both areas value the power of the mind and ‘thought’. Artidax’s satellites can read weather patterns just as Kokoro reads the stars, and it relays information and decodes data transmissions, just as Kokoro interprets past texts and forms predictions, and then brings that information to the rest of Okoto through the Gukko Airforce. Both have arctic locations in the north; Or at least Artidax did, but most of the snow and ice has melted. Some of it still remains, however. Finally, while the Region of Ice hosts another race of sapient beings, the Frostelus, Artidax hosts sapience separate from humans in the form of AI!
Additionally, each Xian District in RaE has the same symbol as their corresponding Metrus from Metru Nui, you can probably guess which is which at this point. As G1 fans may have noticed (so basically, 99% of the Bionicle fandom), I took a LOT of inspiration from Metru Nui’s industrial, hi-tech city setting! If Okoto adapts the mythical, island parts of Bionicle, I wanted Xia to be an adaptation of the futuristic, sci-fi part of it, its later years; This includes the Bara Magna saga as well, which is somewhat represented in Zakaz and its Baran Desert. Naturally, Xia’s G1 namesake itself, as well as the districts’ namesakes, played heavy roles in influencing the island and its landmarks and locations, to varying degrees.
Each district also takes heavy, direct influences in terms of aesthetic, function, and appearance from locatons in other forms of media as well! Stelt is based off of the images we have of Xia in G1, specifically its polluted air and its dark, mechanical skyline. Its whole deal with trade is also from G1 Stelt as well. It probably has the least fictional influences, in all honesty.
Tametru is based off of G1 Ta-Metru obviously… But a lot of it is also inspired by Hotland from Undertale! In fact, everytime I think of Tametru, Another Medium plays in my head… Hotland is almost entirely responsible for my conception of Tametru as a location, not gonna lie, and I personally consider Another Medium to be my ‘theme song’ for Tametru! I love that song…
Voymari is actually based not only on Mahri Nui (specifically with the Fields of Airweed and the semi-aquatic setting), but also the look of its towns and the skyline and shipyards come from Corellia’s Coronet City from Solo: A Star Wars Story! Sue me, I thought it was a cool movie with lots of cool locations that visually inspired me… Also, the idea of ‘Saltlung’ comes entirely from the town of Stain’d-by-the-sea from All the Wrong Questions.
Zakaz is… literally just Bara Magna from G1, combined with Mad Max. Not much else to say here, honestly, other than that it also some adequately-developed cities and small nations, kind of like how G1 Zakaz had some urban areas before Spiriah ruined everything. Like G1, Zakaz has a LOT of conflict, and the Skakdi as well to boot!
Nynrah started off as Fallout’s post-apocalyptic wasteland, but then it was combined with a lot of Resident Evil after I got into the series and realized just how well it fit; Specifically, the whole situation with Raccoon City and monsters roaming about the streets. In all honesty, Resident Evil’s monster aesthetic and whole corrupt scientist group schtick has overtaken as Nynrah’s primary influence. There’s also just a LITTLE bit of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, believe it or not. I went with the fact that G1 Nynrah had the Nynrah Ghosts, who are very science-oriented, and worked from there.
Finally, Artidax is a combination of the aesthetic of Blade Runner and other cyber-punk settings, but is also blatantly ripped from Sanctuary Fortress, from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes! Brilliant game… Fun fact, Artidax was the last district to be planned and designed by me, by a LONG shot. For like three years, I didn’t even know what Artidax was supposed to be, what its function was, what it looked like; All I knew was that The Mountain existed within it, and that was about it. And even then, it wasn’t like I intended for The Mountain to have anything to do with Artidax’s lifestyle, as well! Occasionally, I even entertained just giving up and making The Mountain take up the entirety of Artidax…!
But, I held on; I waited for inspiration, and lo it came to me with Sanctuary Fortress! I love Metroid Prime 2, it’s a great game and you should seriously play it! Metroid’s hi-tech, mythical settings are VERY conducive to Bionicle in general, and I have much to thank Retro Studios for their creative influence on me! Once I saw that mountainous region, with the hi-tech facilities of drones and computers, with coding that seemed to come from the skies… It all came into place!
As you can probably tell, the Artidax District bears the least resemblance to its G1 namesake. The G1 Artidax was known for having a bunch of volcanoes and being where Makuta Miserix was imprisoned. I sort of tried to maintain that spirit by making the Artidax District mountainous (and mountains are basically sauce-less volcanoes), because I already had the heat and molten theme with Tametru. Mostly, I just took the name of Artidax because it was an island location in G1, and I needed a name for the final Xian district.
