Archives Mole

The Archives Mole is a small underground 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. of the Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control., made, like other Rahi, by the MakutaMakuta (Species)Shadowy Antidermis beings and the Brotherhood's elite, Makuta commanded darkness and shaped the Matoran Universe's fate. from viruses 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.. It's small and harmless, and it made its home in the shadowy corners of the ArchivesThe Archives of Metru NuiThe Archives of Onu-Metru were the central repository of Matoran knowledge and Rahi specimens, maintained by the Archivist Corps beneath the city's surface. of Onu-MetruOnu-MetruThe deep archive-city that made mining and historical records preservation the beating heart of Metru Nui. after being driven out of Po-MetruPo-MetruMetru Nui's Stone District, home to carvers whose work defined the city and site of an ancient conflict that threatened to divide it. by the spread of the assemblers' villagesAssembler's VillageAssemblers' villages were small, isolated Po-Matoran workshop settlements in Po-Metru where crafters assembled Matoran goods and tools from parts shipped across the city.. (BIONICLE: Rahi Beasts; BIONICLE: Makuta's Guide to the Universe)

Origin and engineering#

Like the other Rahi of the Matoran Universe, the Archives mole species was created by the Makuta from viruses and liquid protodermis. (BIONICLE: Makuta's Guide to the Universe)

The moles are small, with no real way to fight back against predators, so they rely on cooperation instead. They eat small insect Rahi and protoditesProtoditesMicroscopic, violent Rahi that could fly independently but found their most crucial existence as the biological substrate of Zaktan's body.. (BIONICLE: Rahi Beasts)

Displacement from Po-Metru#

Archives moles originally lived in Po-MetruPo-MetruMetru Nui's Stone District, home to carvers whose work defined the city and site of an ancient conflict that threatened to divide it., the carving district of Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive.. As the number of assemblers' villages there grew, they were forced out, and a great many of them fled to the shadowy corners of the Archives. (BIONICLE: Rahi Beasts)

They arrived as refugees, not as exhibits, and made their homes in the parts of the Archives where few others went. (BIONICLE: Rahi Beasts)

Cooperative behaviour#

The Archives mole's best-known trait is teamwork. When the way through the Archives gets too dangerous for one mole, they form ladders and bridges out of their own bodies to help others of their kind across. (BIONICLE: Rahi Beasts)

That cooperation is the species' answer to a world full of bigger creatures. They can't win fights, so they don't pick them. (BIONICLE: Rahi Beasts)

The Visorak invasion#

When the VisorakVisorak (Rahi)Spider-like Rahi employed by the Brotherhood of Makuta whose name meant 'Stealers of Life' and whose swarms threatened the Matoran Universe. came to Metru Nui, the moles followed their instincts and hid. They squeezed into places the Visorak couldn't fit, like small cracks between buildings, and stayed perfectly still. The Visorak either left, deciding the prey wasn't worth the effort, or spun thick webs over the only way out, sealing the moles in. (BIONICLE: Rahi Beasts)

The RahagaToa Hagah and RahagaThe Toa Hagah were appointed to guard Makuta Teridax, mutated into hybrid warriors, and mysteriously restored. BomongaBomongaBomonga was the Toa Hagah of Earth, mutated by Roodaka into a Rahaga, later restored to Toa form and resettled on Spherus Magna., who tried to save small creatures stalked by the Visorak, always watched for stray Visorak webbing in the Archives, because it so often marked a mole's hiding place. He admitted it wasn't easy to coax them out. (BIONICLE: Rahi Beasts)

Migration to Mata Nui and beyond#

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., Archives moles reached the island of Mata Nui and lived in Le-WahiLe-WahiLe-Wahi is a region on the island of Mata Nui, inhabited by the Le-Matoran and Rahi. Formerly subject to the power of Teridax, the region is no longer under that influence. for 1,000 years. (BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated)

The story doesn't follow them after that. Greg Farshtey later said, outside the stories, that they went back to Metru Nui with the Matoran and that many later moved to Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint.. (BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated)

Place in the record#

The Archives mole first appeared in BIONICLE: Rahi Beasts, narrated by Bomonga. It also turns up as a figure of speech: in his chronicles, Makuta MutranMutranMutran is a Makuta of the Brotherhood of Makuta who serves as the Makuta of Voya Nui and is among the most prolific Rahi creators within the organization. Hailing from the Southern Islands, he wears the Great Shelek and commands the powers of Shadow and Silence alongside the full range of Kraata abilities, wielding a Shadow Blade, Shadow Spear, and Tridax Pod in combat. describes 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. exploring his mind like an Archives mole rooting about for a meal. (BIONICLE: Rahi Beasts; The Mutran Chronicles)