Blade Burrower: The Tunnelling Rahi of Metru Nui

Blade BurrowersBlade BurrowersThe tunneling Rahi engineered by Makuta Mutran for the Barraki Kalmah, gifted with deliberately shortened lifespans, and later discovered to have outlived their expiration date while carving an unreadable map beneath their warlord's ruined fortress. were powerful, mysterious, and dangerous 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. best known for their compulsion to dig. The Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed. had tampered with the makeup of the creatures, and the result was a 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 tunnelled endlessly through the earth beneath Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive.. They were creatures of legend and warning as much as of fact, since no one who tried to understand their behavior, not 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. who refined their form nor the Rahaga who tracked them, was ever able to explain it.

Origins and the League of Six Kingdoms#

The digging that defined the Blade BurrowersBlade BurrowersThe tunneling Rahi engineered by Makuta Mutran for the Barraki Kalmah, gifted with deliberately shortened lifespans, and later discovered to have outlived their expiration date while carving an unreadable map beneath their warlord's ruined fortress. was not natural. The Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed. tampered with the makeup of the 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., and the alteration drove them to begin carving a series of tunnels. The creatures became a fixture of warning among the MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body.: beginner workers in Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive. were told that if they wandered off while on the job, a Blade Burrower would snatch them with its long tail.

The form of the Blade Burrower was created by 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., and it was put to use by 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. warlord KalmahKalmahA red-and-black Barraki warlord of the League of Six Kingdoms, imprisoned in the Pit and mutated into permanent aquatic form. during his reign in the League of Six KingdomsLeague of Six KingdomsThe League of Six Kingdoms was an alliance composed of various species, with ties to Xia and many other islands. Connected to both the Order of Mata Nui and the Brotherhood of Makuta, the League included Pridak among its ranks, and its members collectively held several powers of unknown scope. Its stated objective was the overthrow of Mata Nui.. 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. engineered the Burrowers he sent to KalmahKalmahA red-and-black Barraki warlord of the League of Six Kingdoms, imprisoned in the Pit and mutated into permanent aquatic form. to die after a period of several days. When the League fell, 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. searched the remains of KalmahKalmahA red-and-black Barraki warlord of the League of Six Kingdoms, imprisoned in the Pit and mutated into permanent aquatic form.'s fortress and found that the Burrowers had mysteriously survived past their intended expiration date. Intrigued by the series of tunnels they were creating, he was unable to decipher their meaning, and even forced a captured ToaToa (2001)Biomechanical heroes bonded to elemental powers and masks. Not born, but chosen and transformed. wearing a Kanohi RauKanohi RauThe Kanohi Rau allowed its wearer to comprehend foreign written and spoken languages, and was most associated with Turaga Nokama. to attempt to speak with the 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., without success. Later, the Rahaga BomongaBomongaBomonga was the Toa Hagah of Earth, mutated by Roodaka into a Rahaga, later restored to Toa form and resettled on Spherus Magna. tried to follow a population of Blade Burrowers through Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive. to map their tunnel patterns, and failed as well.

Abilities and behavior#

Using their strong claws, Blade Burrowers dug tunnels endlessly when they gathered in sufficient numbers, and they did so in a specific, repeating pattern. In 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 Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive., Archivists would sometimes mistake these passages for parts of the Archives themselves, wander down them, and never be seen again.

The 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. had very poor eyesight and did not rely on it to hunt. Instead they tracked prey by smell. When food in 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. ran low, they ventured up to the surface and caused massive destruction in their search for something to eat. Their long, club-like tails were a hazard to anything nearby, swung about to knock others over and send them scattering, which only multiplied the chaos. While the VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming. were still active, they moved to force any raging Blade Burrower into a holding container as quickly as possible to limit the damage.

The most curious detail of the creatures lay in their tunnels. The pattern they carved, when seen as a whole, matched the symbol that represented the Three Virtues of Unity, Duty, and Destiny, and it was said to have been meant to remind the Great Spirit of his mission. After the Battle of Bara MagnaBara MagnaA desert world of tribal warfare and scarce resources, one of three landmasses that formed Spherus Magna., the Blade Burrowers traveled to Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint..