Matoran Morphology Section 5: The Southern Continent
The Southern Continent is quite possibly the most under-acknowledged and underappreciated region in the matoran universe, especially considering that it was home to nearly 40% of all matoran. And that doesn’t even count the av-matoran who lived in the caverns below or the thousands of matoran living on islands farther off the coast that still relied on the continent for trade and travel. Yet in genral studies of matoran culture, the contributions of the south are often disregarded in favor of the influence of Metru Nui.
Form: The Southern Continent probably provided the widest and most vibrant diversity of body types and form factors out of any single region in Mata Nui’s universe. It’s common knowledge that the people of the continent could often instantly distinguish the specific village that a matoran came from due to their body build. Therefore I must especially stress here that this study is by no means comprehensive.
However, if one is to make any broad generalizations about the southern form, two distinct body types emerge. The inhabitants of the continent have special words in their modified matoran dialect to refer to matoran of these builds: “rora” and “taku”. Roughly translated into agori, the words mean “the tall ones” and “the squat ones”.
“Rora” matoran are narrowly built and have compact chests that are often deeper than they are wide. Their legs are mid-sized and their hips are narrow and stacked directly under their chest. Overall they look relatively similar in proportion to an av-matoran or even a toa. “Taku” matoran stick much more closely to the body proportions of a matoran’s core. They have broad, boxy torsos with very wide shoulders and hips. Their legs are extremely short, bringing their whole body close to the ground. Both matoran types tend to have long, boxy, well-articulated arms… long enough that “Taku” matoran should have trouble with dragging knuckles. To solve this problem, many of them have muscle systems rigged so that at rest, the arms will float in a position with the elbows up and out, again emulating the shape of the core matoran body.
Functionality: Out of all matoran forms, the southern continent builds are the closest to being what one would call an “all-around” body type. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about their abilities, but they don’t really have any glaring shortcomings either. It’s no coincidence that they’ve become the most common choice for matoran looking to modify themselves post-great rejoining. The versatile nature of the southern body most likely comes from the fact that, apart from a few dozen bustling port towns, southern matoran were much less likely to build large, technologically advanced urban centers like the Metru Nui-influenced cities of the north. They preferred instead to live in small-to-midsized villages that were more in tune with the natural world around them. Their bodies are therefore built for adaptability and multitasking in the context of a rural lifestyle.
History: The vast majority of the matoran on the Southern Continent lived within a relatively short distance from the coast; the further towards the center of the continent one traveled, the sparser matoran settlements would be and the harsher the terrain would grow. To be clear, there were matoran living in the very heart of the continent, but they are a special case and will be covered in another section. For most matoran, the lush wilderness of the continent’s outer ring provided fertile soil for farming, woods for logging and hunting, and sea access for fishing, travel, and trade.
Unfortunately, the southern matoran’s penchant for adaptability was put to the ultimate test in the Great Cataclysm, as the region was subjected to quite possibly the most horrific result of the event. A large chunk of the very center of the continent, a region referred to as Voya Nui, was blown straight through the roof of the continent’s dome and out into the ocean of Aqua Magna above. This caused the deaths of thousands of matoran, left a hole in the sky, and allowed water to come rushing in from the exterior ocean. Over the 1000 years between the Cataclysm and the Rejoining, the dome filled up further and further with Aqua Magna ocean water, forcing almost the entire continent to evacuate. By the time of Mata-Nui’s reawakening a few months before the rejoining, the sea level had risen several kio, and the matoran had either evacuated to other domes or retreated to the few mountaintops of the continent.
Acknowledgements: Today’s volunteer models are Banme, Ba-Woodcutter Derei, and Sutori, Po-Warrior Makanu.
Chronicler’s notes:
Sorry about the long wait everyone. There was a festival going on here on Meki-Nui, and Turaga Giiku had all of us chroniclers busy with other stuff. In fact, most of us matoran were forbidden from working on our usual jobs while the festival was in progress. Hey, I’m not complaining.
Apparently Sutori, the po-matoran model, was sort of a celebrity on the continent back in the day. He was about as good a warrior as a matoran can be without outright becoming a toa. Supposedly he could even take on rahkshi one-on-one and win. I don’t know if he’s still alive or not, but there’s a monument to him somewhere in Bara Magna.
Chronicler Zada
