2011 (Spherus Magna)

The period following the Battle of Bara MagnaBara MagnaA desert world of tribal warfare and scarce resources, one of three landmasses that formed Spherus Magna. and the reformation of Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint. saw the planet enter an uneasy peace. No sets were released, and the story continued in three online serials set on the reformed world: tribal frictions, a string of murders, a survivor of an older catastrophe, and the first efforts of the ToaThe Toa: Heroes of the Matoran UniverseThe Toa were biomechanical guardians sworn to protect the Matoran, bound by a strict code and defined by sacrifice across every age of the universe., GlatorianGlatorianTribal warriors of Spherus Magna who settled disputes through arena combat, until the Skrall conquest enslaved most of them., and AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system. to build a shared society. Two of the three serials stop without an ending. (Sahmad's Tale; The Powers That Be; The Yesterday Quest)

Aftermath of the Battle of Bara MagnaBara MagnaA desert world of tribal warfare and scarce resources, one of three landmasses that formed Spherus Magna.#

The Battle of Bara MagnaBara MagnaA desert world of tribal warfare and scarce resources, one of three landmasses that formed Spherus Magna. ended with the defeat of TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna. at the hands of Mata NuiMata NuiBuilt by the Great Beings to restore Spherus Magna, Mata Nui sustained an entire civilisation inside his body, was deposed by Teridax, and reclaimed his purpose as a mortal on Bara Magna. and the reformation of Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint.. The Shattering that had split the planet into Bara MagnaBara MagnaA desert world of tribal warfare and scarce resources, one of three landmasses that formed Spherus Magna., Aqua MagnaAqua MagnaThe endless ocean where the Matoran Universe found refuge and Mata Nui made his final stand., and Bota MagnaBota MagnaA verdant jungle moon separated from Spherus Magna for 100,000 years, then restored by Mata Nui himself at the climax of the Core War. was reversed, restoring the original world for the first time in over 100,000 years. (BIONICLE Legends 11: The Final Battle; The Yesterday Quest)

The immediate aftermath was less orderly than the reformation suggested. The AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system. were still learning to work together after years of competing, and many of them weren't sure how they felt about the MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body.. TahuTahu, Toa of FireTahu served as Toa Mata, Toa Nuva, and Toa Mistika of Fire, leading his team from the first landing on Mata Nui to the destruction of the Rahkshi army on Bara Magna. worked with AckarAckarVeteran Glatorian of the Fire Tribe and prime fighter for Vulcanus, Ackar served from the Core War through the defence of Spherus Magna. and KiinaKiinaKiina is a Glatorian of the Water Tribe who served as the secondary Glatorian for the village of Tajun on Spherus Magna. Colored in shades of dark and light blue, she wielded a Vapor Trident and a Thornax Launcher in combat. Following the reformation of Spherus Magna, she continued to reside on the restored world. to settle disputes, and he and GaliGali, Toa of WaterThe Toa Nuva of Water and conscience of the Toa Mata, whose attunement to her element anchored the team across every campaign from Mata Nui to Karda Nui. went north to search for a site for a new city, New AteroAteroThe free city at the heart of Bara Magna, home to the Arena Magna and the Great Tournament, destroyed by Tuma and the Skrall during the opening match.. (The Yesterday Quest; The Powers That Be)

Salvage teams worked through what was left of the Bara Magna desert. GaakiGaakiGaaki is a Toa of Water and member of the Toa Hagah, distinguished by her dark blue and copper armor and wielding a Tidal Spear and Rhotuka Launching Shield. She wears the Great Mask of Clairvoyance and once served as a bodyguard to Makuta Teridax before dedicating herself to hunting Rahi and protecting Matoran, residing on Spherus Magna. and a handful of other Toa of Water spent days helping sea creatures and other ocean dwellers move from the ruined Makuta robot to the safety of Aqua MagnaAqua MagnaThe endless ocean where the Matoran Universe found refuge and Mata Nui made his final stand., and she was exhausted by the work. (The Powers That Be)

Tensions among the survivors#

The new peace was fragile. When the Toa Nuva KopakaKopakaKopaka was the Toa Nuva of Ice, the loner of the Toa Mata, and one of the six warriors created on Artakha to protect the Great Spirit Mata Nui. and PohatuPohatuPohatu was the Toa Mata and Toa Nuva of Stone, guardian of Po-Wahi, whose speed and steady humour anchored the team through every era of the Matoran Universe. brought KarzahniKarzahniBionicle used one cursed name three times, for a being, a realm and a plant, and every one of them earns it. This article untangles all three.'s body back to the shared Agori and Matoran camp, Tahu worried that a murder was the last thing they needed while they were trying to earn the trust of the Agori and Glatorian. Agori in the camp were already whispering and pointing at the Toa, and Pohatu wondered whether they thought he and Kopaka had done the killing. (The Powers That Be)

The displaced Iron TribeThe Iron TribeAn entire civilization consumed by dream-hunger, leaving only scattered survivors who dared not reveal their origins. had once mined the mountains of Bota MagnaBota MagnaA verdant jungle moon separated from Spherus Magna for 100,000 years, then restored by Mata Nui himself at the climax of the Core War., sending iron to the Fire TribeFire TribeThe master smiths of Bara Magna who forged tools for all tribes before the Shattering scattered them into conflict. for forging. After the dreaming plague, its last survivors were shunned by the other tribes, and by Sahmad's account anyone who admitted to being iron tribe risked being mobbed or stoned. (Sahmad's Tale)

Kopaka had also seen a band of SkakdiSkakdiA brutish warrior species from Zakaz whose pair-dependent elemental powers and moral void made them one of Bionicle's few irredeemable factions., trailed by an apparently subservient team of Toa MahriToa Mahri: The Toa Who Saved the UniverseThe Toa Mahri were the water breathing form of the sixth Toa team, transformed by the Mask of Life on the way down to the drowned city of Mahri Nui. They fought the Barraki for the mask and recovered it at the cost of one of their own., following a strange golden being across Bara Magna, and watched that being raise a castle with a wave of his hand. Gaaki's team went to scout it out. (The Powers That Be)

Sahmad and the return of Annona#

Sahmad's TaleSahmad and the Hunt for Annona: The Iron Tribe Slaver's Last PursuitThe last survivor of the Iron Tribe tracked the dream-eater Annona across Bara Magna and onto Aqua Magna, ending the entity that had ended his people. followed SahmadSahmadA slaver, a survivor, and the only living memory of a people the Dreaming Plague erased before the Core War., an Iron TribeThe Iron TribeAn entire civilization consumed by dream-hunger, leaving only scattered survivors who dared not reveal their origins. survivor, as he hunted for the cause of the dreaming plague that had wiped out his people. The cause turned out to be AnnonaAnnonaA predatory entity older than the Great Beings, the dream-eater Annona fed on the minds of sentient life and ended the Iron Tribe before its banishment., an entity that fed on dreams and drove its victims mad. It had hidden underground out of fear of the Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed., and in the sixth chapter, released in January 2011, it broke free and showed itself on the surface of Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint.. (Sahmad's Tale)

Sahmad travelled with MetusMetusMetus was a transformed Agori from Spherus Magna who worked as a Glatorian recruiter. Originally a member of the Ice Tribe, he later joined the Rock Tribe. White and ice blue in coloration, Metus wielded an Ice Axe and an Ice Shield., the former Ice TribeIce TribeOne of Bara Magna's six major tribes, the Ice Tribe produced legendary Glatorian like Strakk and survived the Shattering intact. AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system. whom Mata NuiMata NuiBuilt by the Great Beings to restore Spherus Magna, Mata Nui sustained an entire civilisation inside his body, was deposed by Teridax, and reclaimed his purpose as a mortal on Bara Magna. had turned into a snake for his treachery. By the time of the final chapters Metus was back on two legs and had no idea how. He guessed that Mata Nui never meant the change to be permanent, and admitted he still had a real craving for rodents. (BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn; Sahmad's Tale)

Sahmad, Metus, and their companion Telluris followed Annona to a fortress on the shores of Aqua MagnaAqua MagnaThe endless ocean where the Matoran Universe found refuge and Mata Nui made his final stand.. A twelve-foot golden being came out to face it, and after Annona mocked him as an experiment in desperation, he answered, "Yes, creature. I would stand against you." In the closing chapter, released in June 2011, Sahmad dreamed Annona into a world full of its own kind, and it faded away. The golden being warned Sahmad that he wouldn't stay on that spit of land forever, and Sahmad set off north to say goodbye to the people he had lost. (Sahmad's Tale)

The Toa and the Yesterday Quest#

Before leaving, Mata NuiMata NuiBuilt by the Great Beings to restore Spherus Magna, Mata Nui sustained an entire civilisation inside his body, was deposed by Teridax, and reclaimed his purpose as a mortal on Bara Magna. had asked that the Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed. be told their mission was accomplished. In The Yesterday QuestThe Yesterday QuestThe unfinished post-Reformation serial that sent a hand-picked team of three Toa and the Glatorian Gelu into the unmapped jungles of Bota Magna to find the Great Beings, intercept the awakening of Marendar, and uncover the Great Being who had hidden inside the Matoran Universe for a hundred thousand years., OnuaOnuaOnua was the Toa Mata and Toa Nuva of Earth, a quiet, deliberate warrior whose patience and underground mastery anchored his team across the Matoran Universe. sent three Toa who had never worked together to find them: Orde, a Toa of Psionics, Chiara, a Toa of Lightning, and Zaria, one of the last Toa of Iron. Their first stop was Bota MagnaBota MagnaA verdant jungle moon separated from Spherus Magna for 100,000 years, then restored by Mata Nui himself at the climax of the Core War.. (The Yesterday Quest)

The quest's full route and ending were never written. In the third chapter, released in February 2011, Orde read the mind of the Vorox Kabrua and learned that one of the Great Beings had secretly moved his mind into a being made to live inside Mata Nui, and was now walking Spherus Magna in disguise. Greg Farshtey later said, outside the story, that the quest would have led the Toa to where they were first made. (The Yesterday Quest)

Unresolved threads#

Several threads from this period ended without conclusion. The Powers That BeThe Spherus Magna Murders: The Hunt for the Power KillerA string of killings on the reunified Spherus Magna struck at the most powerful beings in the universe, drawing Kopaka and Pohatu into an investigation that led them to the Red Star. had Kopaka and Pohatu chasing the Toa of Air LesovikkLesovikkA Toa of Air and former commander whose team was destroyed, leaving him fractured and searching for purpose., who had vowed to hunt Karzahni, and then finding Tren KromTren KromThe first purely organic creation of the Great Beings, exiled to a stone island after surrendering the core of the Matoran Universe to Mata Nui. torn to pieces in the northern forest with the image of a red star in his dying scream. With the winged former Matoran GaardusGaardusA Matoran turned living weapon by exiled Nynrah Ghosts, Gaardus outlived his tormentors and the fall of the Matoran universe, only to be blamed for the Red Star's failure and pressed into service as a reluctant teleporter. they ended up somewhere strange, where they met MavrahMavrahA Metru Nui Archivist who fled his city rather than let Turaga Dume cull his pet sea Rahi, drowned in a feeding frenzy a thousand years before the Great Cataclysm, and was rediscovered alive aboard the Red Star.. (The Powers That Be)

The fourth chapter, released in March 2011, revealed the killer as Velika, who planned to bring down a fortress holding AxonnAxonnAxonn served as an arbitrator under the Hand of Artakha and later as an Order of Mata Nui agent, guarding the Kanohi Ignika on Voya Nui for thousands of years., BrutakaBrutakaBrutaka guarded the Kanohi Ignika on Voya Nui, betrayed the Order during the Piraka incursion, was mutated in the Pit, and later led the Order's strike team to free Miserix., HelryxHelryx: the first Toa ever createdHelryx was the first Toa ever made, commissioned by the Great Beings on Artakha long before the Toa Mata. She founded and led the Order of Mata Nui., MiserixMiserixThe deposed Makuta leader clawed back from exile to hunt the brother who stole his throne., ArtakhaArtakha: Master Crafter of the Great RefugeArtakha is one of the most powerful beings in the Matoran Universe, the reclusive ruler of the hidden island that bears his name, whose crafters made the Avohkii. He governed a refuge no evil could enter and armed the Toa Nuva for their trip to Karda Nui., TuyetTuyetA Toa of Water caught in the Order's machinations, Tuyet turned from peer-seeker to rebel-schemer., and VezonVezonHe started as a weapon misfire and a throwaway joke, and the canon spent four years quietly turning him into its most useful expendable asset.. The same chapter mentioned LewaLewaToa of Air, member of the Toa Mata and Toa Nuva, whose career was marked by repeated possession, body theft, and aerial campaigns from Le-Wahi to Karda Nui. being dragged off by Agori. No more chapters followed, so the attack, the golden being's plans, and the fate of the Toa Mahri were never shown. (The Powers That Be)

Themes of the period#

Recurring across these accounts are exile and displacement. SahmadSahmadA slaver, a survivor, and the only living memory of a people the Dreaming Plague erased before the Core War. is an outcast from a tribe the others shunned, and Gaardus tells the Toa that he was once a Matoran with a home and a job before exiled NynrahNynrahNynrah was the southern Matoran Universe island whose Fe-Matoran population produced the tool-making craft tradition that gave rise to the Nynrah Ghosts. ghosts turned him into a living weapon. Even the heroes are outsiders, with Tahu working to make the Matoran welcome among Agori who distrust them. (Sahmad's Tale; The Powers That Be)

Dreams recur as well. AnnonaAnnonaA predatory entity older than the Great Beings, the dream-eater Annona fed on the minds of sentient life and ended the Iron Tribe before its banishment. feeds on them, the golden being claims his power comes from his people's dreams and that he makes them real, and Sahmad's victory comes from dreaming Annona out of the world. (Sahmad's Tale)

The aftermath of the Battle of Bara MagnaBara MagnaA desert world of tribal warfare and scarce resources, one of three landmasses that formed Spherus Magna. reads less as a triumph than as a transition, with the old worlds gone and the new one not yet settled. (The Powers That Be; The Yesterday Quest)