Airweed

Airweed was a tall underwater plant that grew in the Fields of Air on the seabed near the sunken town 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., far 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.. Each stem held pockets of breathable air sealed inside its tissue, and the disturbance of those pockets released bubbles into the surrounding water. For the MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. 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., airweed was not an ornamental feature of the local ecology. It was the only thing keeping them alive.

The Fields of Air#

The Fields of AirThe Fields of AirThe cultivated airweed beds on the seabed beside the sunken town of Mahri Nui, harvested by Hydruka under Matoran supervision to sustain the air dome that kept the settlement alive. were an expanse of tall underwater plants that grew on the seabed near the lower end of 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 stone stalk that connected 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. at the surface to 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. below. The fields were ordinary in appearance, a kind of submarine meadow rooted in the floor of the southern ocean. What set them apart from any other patch of seaweed in the Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control. was the contents of their stems. Each plant held trapped air, sealed inside the tissue and released only when the plant was disturbed.

To an outside observer the fields would have looked harmless and unremarkable. To the MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. 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., they were the lungs of the settlement. The town sat surrounded by the mutagenic black water of the PitThe PitThe deep-water prison of the Matoran Universe, built by the Order of Mata Nui to hold the Barraki and other beings too dangerous to execute., water that would transform any MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. immersed in it. Without a constant supply of air drawn from the fields, the population could not have remained where it stood for so much as a single day.

Origin and discovery#

The Fields of AirThe Fields of AirThe cultivated airweed beds on the seabed beside the sunken town of Mahri Nui, harvested by Hydruka under Matoran supervision to sustain the air dome that kept the settlement alive. did not arrive with 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.. They were already in place when the town came to them. The arrangement was a coincidence of catastrophic geography. After 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. tore 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. free of 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. and threw it to the surface, the original coastal village 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. broke off and sank. The falling town came to rest against the lower length of 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., wedged between two arches of stone, directly above the airweed beds.

The impact released a tremendous cloud of bubbles from the disturbed plants. The MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. survivors, by then already mutated by the Pit MutagenMutagenPit Mutagen was a power-source energy that leaked into the waters of The Pit during the Great Cataclysm and mutated almost every being exposed to it. into larger and stronger forms, recognised the release for what it was. They gathered the rising bubbles together and shaped them into a single great dome of breathable air around the rebuilt settlement. Inside that dome, 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. became habitable again. Outside it, the water was lethal to any unprotected MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body..

The accidental nature of the rescue was important. The MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. had not chosen the location. The location had caught them. Once they realised the dome would not refill itself, the question of long-term survival shifted from geography to husbandry. They needed to harvest the plants on a continuous basis or the dome would collapse.

The Hydruka harvest#

The MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. 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. could not work the Fields of Air directly. The water surrounding the dome remained mutagenic, and a MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. caught outside the bubble for too long without a personal supply of air would weaken and die. The solution lay in a local 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. species. The HydrukaHydrukaAquatic scorpion-like Rahi domesticated by the Matoran of Mahri Nui to harvest Airweed, and the natural prototype for the Air Launcher weapon. were stubborn herd animals already present in the region, created originally by the MakutaMakuta (Species)Shadowy Antidermis beings and the Brotherhood's elite, Makuta commanded darkness and shaped the Matoran Universe's fate. from VirusesVirusCreated by Makuta Kojol and deployed by Teridax, the Makuta Virus weakened Mata Nui enough to crash him on Aqua Magna and held him asleep until Matoro's sacrifice with the Kanohi Ignika. and liquid protodermisProtodermisThe engineered substance building the Matoran Universe, protodermis exists in countless refined states from mundane metal to diamond-hard crystal to the destruction-or-transformation force of energized form.. The relevant trait, for the MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body., was sensory. A HydrukaHydrukaAquatic scorpion-like Rahi domesticated by the Matoran of Mahri Nui to harvest Airweed, and the natural prototype for the Air Launcher weapon. could tell the difference between airweed and ordinary seaweed by smell or some equivalent sense the MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. themselves lacked.

The MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. 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. and trained them to harvest. The animals worked the fields during what the settlement called the safe hour, a period in the local cycle when the predators of the surrounding sea were less active. While the HydrukaHydrukaAquatic scorpion-like Rahi domesticated by the Matoran of Mahri Nui to harvest Airweed, and the natural prototype for the Air Launcher weapon. browsed for the right plants and pulled them, MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. handlers supervised the work and gathered the released air. The supervisors had a formal title and a defined occupation. They were called HydrukaHydrukaAquatic scorpion-like Rahi domesticated by the Matoran of Mahri Nui to harvest Airweed, and the natural prototype for the Air Launcher weapon. Guards, and two of them, 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. and 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., appear in the surviving record by name.

The harvested air served two purposes. The bulk of it went to reinforce the dome over 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., keeping the settlement habitable against the constant leakage at its edges. The remainder filled the personal bubbles the MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. wore around their heads when they left the dome on missions, on patrols, or on the harvest itself. A personal bubble had a finite life. Once a MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body.'s bubble wore thin, the MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. had to return to a source of fresh air or risk exposure to the mutagen.

Air bubbles as weapons#

The Fields of AirThe Fields of AirThe cultivated airweed beds on the seabed beside the sunken town of Mahri Nui, harvested by Hydruka under Matoran supervision to sustain the air dome that kept the settlement alive. did not only supply the breath of the settlement. They supplied its arsenal. The MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. 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., encouraged by the inventive turn of mind that the closed environment had forced on them, developed weapons that fired the harvested bubbles as projectiles. The Onu-MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. 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., among others, used a shoulder-mounted air bubble launcher in defence of the town and on expeditions outside the dome. A bubble fired with enough force could surround a hostile target and disorient or trap it, particularly when the target was native to water and unaccustomed to having a sphere of air pressed around it.

The weapons were a local invention with no analogue elsewhere in the Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control.. They existed because the resource existed. Nowhere else did MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. live inside a structure made of trapped air on a base of cultivated breathing plants, and nowhere else did anyone think to fire that air at an enemy.

The Fields as a battleground#

The Fields of AirThe Fields of AirThe cultivated airweed beds on the seabed beside the sunken town of Mahri Nui, harvested by Hydruka under Matoran supervision to sustain the air dome that kept the settlement alive. were not always a peaceful workplace. When the Le-MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. DefilakDefilakDefilak is a dark green and silver Le-Matoran who serves as leader of the Mahri Nui Council and as an inventor. He wears a powerless Kualsi and wields Electro-Blades alongside an Air Launcher. As a Le-Matoran, he carries an inactive affinity for the element of Air and resides on Spherus Magna. led the expedition that brought 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. back into contact with the surface and the wider universe, the fields became contested ground almost immediately. After the BarrakiThe BarrakiSix warlords who built an empire spanning most of the Matoran Universe, fell in a single Brotherhood ambush, and spent millennia mutated in the Pit. PridakPridakPridak was the most feared of the six Barraki, commander of a shark army and the dominant voice of the League of Six Kingdoms before its imprisonment in the Pit. intercepted DefilakDefilakDefilak is a dark green and silver Le-Matoran who serves as leader of the Mahri Nui Council and as an inventor. He wears a powerless Kualsi and wields Electro-Blades alongside an Air Launcher. As a Le-Matoran, he carries an inactive affinity for the element of Air and resides on Spherus Magna.'s submarine and abducted him, GarGarGar was an Onu-Matoran of Mahri Nui and Defilak's best friend, one of the four submariners captured by Pridak in the Black Water and the volunteer who offered to sacrifice himself so that Idris could carry the warning back to the underwater city. 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 carried the air-breathing device repaired by Lesovikk back to the underwater city after Karzahni was finally trapped. escaped from PridakPridakPridak was the most feared of the six Barraki, commander of a shark army and the dominant voice of the League of Six Kingdoms before its imprisonment in the Pit.'s custody and tried to flee back toward 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.. They reached the airweed fields just as their personal air bubbles were wearing out, only to find the fields occupied by 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.'s 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. crab army. DefilakDefilakDefilak is a dark green and silver Le-Matoran who serves as leader of the Mahri Nui Council and as an inventor. He wears a powerless Kualsi and wields Electro-Blades alongside an Air Launcher. As a Le-Matoran, he carries an inactive affinity for the element of Air and resides on Spherus Magna., having also escaped, helped both of them return to the safety of the town.

The BarrakiThe BarrakiSix warlords who built an empire spanning most of the Matoran Universe, fell in a single Brotherhood ambush, and spent millennia mutated in the Pit. returned to the same ground later. After 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. emerged from the depths and engaged the warlords across the trench, the BarrakiThe BarrakiSix warlords who built an empire spanning most of the Matoran Universe, fell in a single Brotherhood ambush, and spent millennia mutated in the Pit. located the five ToaToa Inika and Toa MahriSix ordinary Matoran transformed by lightning from the Red Star into heroes who ultimately revived the Great Spirit itself. at the Fields of Airweed. TakadoxTakadoxA Barraki warlord whose hypnotic vision and cunning made him dangerous even in defeat. and the others captured them and placed them in separate caves under the guard of the BarrakiThe BarrakiSix warlords who built an empire spanning most of the Matoran Universe, fell in a single Brotherhood ambush, and spent millennia mutated in the Pit. armies. MatoroMatoroA quiet Ko-Matoran translator who became a Toa Inika and then a Toa Mahri, Matoro gave his life with the Mask of Life to restore Mata Nui., the absent sixth member of the team, was the one who eventually retrieved both his comrades and 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..

End of the fields#

The Fields of AirThe Fields of AirThe seabed meadow of airweed beneath the southern ocean whose harvested bubbles kept the sunken town of Mahri Nui breathing under a dome of borrowed atmosphere. ended with 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.. When MatoroMatoroA quiet Ko-Matoran translator who became a Toa Inika and then a Toa Mahri, Matoro gave his life with the Mask of Life to restore Mata Nui. used the Mask of LifeThe 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. to revive 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., the geographical price was the destruction of 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. and the return 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. to its place in 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.. The sinking island crushed 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. on the way down. The dome of air, the houses inside it, the harvest sheds, the launchers, and the surrounding fields all disappeared under the descending weight of the upper island.

The HydrukaHydrukaAquatic scorpion-like Rahi domesticated by the Matoran of Mahri Nui to harvest Airweed, and the natural prototype for the Air Launcher weapon. themselves survived. After the surface population 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. had been evacuated upward along 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. under 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.'s protection, the HydrukaHydrukaAquatic scorpion-like Rahi domesticated by the Matoran of Mahri Nui to harvest Airweed, and the natural prototype for the Air Launcher weapon. remained in the sea where they had always lived. The plants they had harvested for centuries did not. The Fields of AirThe Fields of AirThe seabed meadow of airweed beneath the southern ocean whose harvested bubbles kept the sunken town of Mahri Nui breathing under a dome of borrowed atmosphere., the meadow that had been the lungs of an entire settlement, were buried by the same event that allowed the Great SpiritMata Nui: Great Spirit of the Matoran UniverseBuilt by the Great Beings as a biomechanical guardian, betrayed by Teridax, and returned in a smaller form to reshape Spherus Magna. to wake again.