The Fields of Air

The Fields of AirThe Fields of AirThe airweed beds on the seabed beside the sunken village of Mahri Nui, harvested by Hydruka under Matoran supervision to supply the air bubbles that kept the settlement alive. were a patch of thick airweedAirweedThe underwater plant of the Fields of Air whose bubbles let the Matoran of Mahri Nui breathe beneath the sea. growth on the seabed at the edge of Mahri NuiMahri NuiA matoran settlement that sank, survived, and was ultimately crushed beneath Voya Nui, leaving behind one of Bionicle's most poignant lost civilizations., the sunken village below the floating island of Voya NuiVoya NuiAn island born from catastrophe and hiding the universe's most powerful artifact, Voya Nui was everything Bionicle 2006 promised: danger, mystery, and a race against time.. Airweed naturally produces bubbles of breathable air, and the fields were the only reason Mahri Nui's Matoran survived after their village fell into the sea. They weren't a chosen resource. The falling village simply came down on top of them, and the community that survived built its whole way of life around them. (BIONICLE Legends 6: City of the Lost; BIONICLE World)

The seabed below the Cord#

The Fields of AirThe Fields of AirThe airweed beds on the seabed beside the sunken village of Mahri Nui, harvested by Hydruka under Matoran supervision to supply the air bubbles that kept the settlement alive. were a natural part of the underwater terrain of Aqua MagnaAqua MagnaThe endless ocean where the Matoran Universe found refuge and Mata Nui made his final stand., lying on the outskirts of what became the Mahri Nui landmass. Airweed is a plant native to the planet's seas, and it produces bubbles of air that can be harvested and breathed underwater. The fields were there long before Mahri Nui arrived. (BIONICLE Legends 6: City of the Lost; BIONICLE World)

The fall of Mahri NuiMahri NuiA matoran settlement that sank, survived, and was ultimately crushed beneath Voya Nui, leaving behind one of Bionicle's most poignant lost civilizations.#

Mahri Nui began as a coastal village of Voya Nui, built on lava that had cooled after an eruption during the Great CataclysmThe Great CataclysmThe day Makuta Teridax put the Great Spirit to sleep, the Great Spirit Robot fell from the sky, Metru Nui flooded, and Voya Nui tore loose from the Southern Continent.. Its foundations were weak, and long afterwards the land broke off and sank, taking the village and hundreds of Matoran with it. The falling landmass crushed a fortress the BarrakiThe BarrakiSix warlords who built an empire spanning most of the Matoran Universe, fell to a Brotherhood strike, and spent millennia imprisoned in the Pit. EhlekEhlekA Barraki warlord with electrical powers who led aquatic forces against the Brotherhood of Makuta. had built, which is why he hated the Matoran ever after. (BIONICLE World; BIONICLE Legends 6: City of the Lost)

It also smashed into the Fields of Air. The plants survived the impact, but the jolt released hundreds of air bubbles, and those bubbles let the Matoran survive the plunge. Brief exposure to the Pit MutagenPit MutagenThe biological lock built into the Pit, a mutagenic substance that rewrote every being immersed in it into a water-breathing form unable to survive on land. in the water returned them to their original, stronger forms, and they reinforced the bubbles around their buildings in time to pump the mutagen-filled water out. If they hadn't found the fields' bubbles within moments of sinking, they would have died or mutated further. (BIONICLE Legends 6: City of the Lost; BIONICLE World)

Even so, life stayed precarious. A thin bubble of air around each building was all that kept the Matoran alive, and they never knew when the next attack might come or whether the fields might suddenly turn barren. (BIONICLE Legends 6: City of the Lost)

The Hydruka harvest#

The Matoran couldn't simply gather the air themselves. They tamed the HydrukaHydrukaAquatic scorpion-like Rahi domesticated by the Matoran of Mahri Nui to harvest Airweed, and the natural prototype for the Air Launcher weapon., stubborn aquatic RahiRahiThe Rahi were the biomechanical wildlife of the Matoran Universe, built largely by the Brotherhood of Makuta, ranging from background fauna to engineered war beasts. that can tell strands of airweed holding good air bubbles from those that don't, and trained them to harvest. Hydruka are temperamental and won't be rushed, so their handlers had to let them work at their own pace. (BIONICLE Legends 6: City of the Lost; BIONICLE World)

Because the harvest mattered so much, the post of Hydruka guard grew up around it. The Onu-Matoran ReysaReysaReysa was an impatient Onu-Matoran Hydruka shepherd of Mahri Nui whose unexplained death at the Fields of Air opened the chain of events that put Defilak's submarine into the Black Water and exposed the Barraki to the underwater city. spent his working life watching the herds in the fields. One day he lost track of time and stayed out past the designated safety hour, and something dragged him off and killed him. The Matoran also learned from watching Hydruka fire solidified air bubbles from their tails, and copied the trick to make the air launchers they used to defend the village. (BIONICLE Legends 6: City of the Lost; BIONICLE World)

The Mask of Life and the Barraki#

The fields were Ehlek's hunting ground. When the Kanohi IgnikaThe Mask of Life (Kanohi Ignika), explainedA failsafe forged by the Great Beings to recharge a god. It curses everyone who touches it, and by the end of Bionicle it had learned how to be a hero. fell into the water near Mahri Nui, the Ga-Matoran sentry KyrehxKyrehxKyrehx is a blue Ga-Matoran of the water element, though that power remains inaccessible to her. She serves as a Hydruka Guard and carries claws and blades. She resides on Spherus Magna. was the first to find it, and found plants growing wild and attacking her while she carried it until the hunter DekarDekarDekar is a former Po-Matoran who serves as an Aqua Hunter on Spherus Magna. Colored yellow, black, and silver, he once wore a powerless Kiril and retains an inactive Stone element; his tools are Electro-Blades and an Air Launcher. rescued her. (BIONICLE Legends 6: City of the Lost)

As the Barraki searched for the Mask of Life, CaraparCaraparOne of six Barraki warlords imprisoned for 80,000 years, Carapar sought the Mask of Life and became expendable muscle for a final, fatal mission. sent his KerasKerasLarge coral crab Rahi native to the ocean of Ga-Metru and the reefs of Ga-Wahi, briefly tamed during the Bohrok War and later conscripted by Carapar. crabs to occupy the fields. The Matoran Gar and IdrisIdrisIdris was a Ga-Matoran of Mahri Nui, the volunteer who helmed Defilak's Submarine into the Black Water, was captured by Pridak alongside Sarda and Gar, and helped trap Karzahni before carrying Lesovikk's breathing helmet home towards Mahri Nui. tried to top up their fading personal air bubbles from the airweed but the crabs kept them away. When the Toa Inika, newly changed into the Toa MahriToa Inika and Toa MahriSix ordinary Matoran transformed by lightning from the Red Star into heroes who ultimately revived the Great Spirit itself., offered to help Mahri Nui, five of them went to free the fields as a show of good will. They drove the crabs out, but the Barraki then confronted them and took them from the fields to their caves. (BIONICLE Legends 7: Prisoners of the Pit)

End of the Fields#

After many battles, the Toa Mahri led the Matoran up through the CordThe CordThe stone Cord linking Voya Nui to the sunken peninsula of Mahri Nui, the tunnel the Toa Mahri descended, and the lifeline severed to revive Mata Nui., the rock column linking Mahri Nui to Voya Nui, and 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. took them into the caves beneath Voya Nui. The Toa then went back down and shattered the Cord. Voya Nui sank rapidly, smashed into Mahri Nui, and sped off to return to its place on the Southern ContinentThe Southern ContinentThe Southern Continent was a vast landmass beneath the Matoran Universe, scarred by Voya Nui's separation and held under Makuta Mutran's nominal dominion., destroying the village and the fields with it. (BIONICLE Legends 8: Downfall)

The Matoran of Mahri Nui survived in the caves and later returned to the surface of the Southern Continent. The Hydruka colony stayed in the sea. (BIONICLE Legends 8: Downfall)