Cavern of Historical Records

The Cavern of Historical Records was an underground chamber on the 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. where the island's MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. kept the written history of the island and its people, recorded in stone. It was a local store rather than part of the great 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.. The PirakaBionicle Piraka: the Six Skakdi Thieves Who Hunted the Mask of LifeThe Piraka were six Skakdi who quit the Dark Hunters, took over Voya Nui by posing as Toa and went after the Mask of Life in 2006. Here's who they were, how the Voya Nui story played out and what happened to them afterwards. VezokVezokThe Beast was a Piraka thief split in two by the Spear of Fusion, then imprisoned by the Order of Mata Nui. destroyed the entire collection out of spite during the Piraka's occupation of the island. (BIONICLE Ignition 1: If a Universe Ends ...; BIONICLE: World)

A local archive on an isolated island#

The Cavern of Historical Records served the MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. 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., who had been cut off from the rest of the Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control. since 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 their region from 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 of Aqua MagnaAqua MagnaThe endless ocean where the Matoran Universe found refuge and Mata Nui made his final stand.. It was one of the places the Matoran built for themselves on the island, alongside their Canyon Fortress. (BIONICLE: World; BIONICLE Legends 1: Island of Doom)

The cavern lay underground, and its records were the island's own: the history of Voya Nui and of the Matoran who lived there. It had no special guard, and the PirakaBionicle Piraka: the Six Skakdi Thieves Who Hunted the Mask of LifeThe Piraka were six Skakdi who quit the Dark Hunters, took over Voya Nui by posing as Toa and went after the Mask of Life in 2006. Here's who they were, how the Voya Nui story played out and what happened to them afterwards. were able to walk straight in. (BIONICLE Ignition 1: If a Universe Ends ...)

The lost coastal village#

Voya Nui's history included loss. When the region was hurled to the surface, part of it, the coastal village that became 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 away and sank, and the Matoran above had every reason to think it gone. (BIONICLE Legends 6: City of the Lost)

No story says whether the cavern's records covered that village. Whatever they held, they were lost before anyone on the island could make use of them again. (BIONICLE Ignition 1: If a Universe Ends ...)

The Resistance Team and the Cavern#

No story shows the Voya Nui Resistance TeamVoya Nui Resistance TeamSix Matoran of Voya Nui who recognised the Piraka as impostors and waged a covert campaign against them before the arrival of the Toa Inika. using the cavern. GaranGaranGaran is a black and grey Matoran of Earth who served as the leader of the Voya Nui Resistance Team, a group dedicated to opposing the Piraka occupation of Voya Nui. He wore a powerless Ruru and carried Pulse Bolt Generators in combat. He later resided on Spherus Magna.'s small group of MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. spent the occupation working out that the PirakaBionicle Piraka: the Six Skakdi Thieves Who Hunted the Mask of LifeThe Piraka were six Skakdi who quit the Dark Hunters, took over Voya Nui by posing as Toa and went after the Mask of Life in 2006. Here's who they were, how the Voya Nui story played out and what happened to them afterwards. were not Toa, spying on them and fighting back, while the Piraka drove the rest of the island's Matoran to drain the lava of Mount ValmaiMount ValmaiA roiling volcano on Voya Nui that guarded the Ignika and tested three desperate expeditions seeking the Mask of Life. in search of 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.. (BIONICLE Legends 1: Island of Doom; BIONICLE Legends 2: Dark Destiny)

Vezok's search and the destruction of the records#

The cavern's end came early in the Piraka's search for the mask. AvakAvakA Skakdi thief whose perfect prisons made him invaluable to the Piraka's Mask of Life heist. and VezokVezokThe Beast was a Piraka thief split in two by the Spear of Fusion, then imprisoned by the Order of Mata Nui. were combing the Green Belt when an unseen figure, the Order of Mata NuiThe Order of Mata NuiThe covert organization founded by Helryx to serve the Great Spirit directly, operating in concealment from a fortress on Daxia and waging the open war against the Brotherhood of Makuta that decided the fate of the universe. agent 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., sliced through a tree that nearly crushed them. They followed his trail through the foliage and found themselves in the cavern. (BIONICLE Ignition 1: If a Universe Ends ...)

Inside, they found the entire written history 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. and its Matoran. Avak remarked that the Matoran had kept it there for safekeeping. Vezok laughed and destroyed all of it. Then the cave fell in, brought down by the giant who had lured them there, trapping the two Piraka for a time, though both got out in the end. (BIONICLE Ignition 1: If a Universe Ends ...; BIONICLE Ignition 2: Vengeance of Axonn)

The descent and the loss of what remained#

The island's own fate came later. When 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. destroyed 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. that held 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, the island sank back to its original 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., and much of the island was wrecked. The Matoran sheltered in the Nui Caves and survived. (BIONICLE Legends 8: Downfall)

By then the cavern's records were long gone, so the island's written history did not go home with the island. The Cavern of Historical Records is remembered for a single scene: a Piraka destroying, out of spite, the memory of a people he had come to enslave. (BIONICLE Ignition 1: If a Universe Ends ...)