The Destiny War

The Destiny War was the open conflict between 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. and the Brotherhood of MakutaThe Brotherhood of MakutaAn organization of Makuta created by Mata Nui to build Rahi and keep order in his universe, later seized by Teridax and turned into the instrument of the Plan that overthrew the Great Spirit., the moment the Order came out of hiding. Helryx put it to BrutakaBrutakaBrutaka guarded the Kanohi Ignika on Voya Nui, betrayed the Order during the Piraka incursion, was mutated in the Pit, and later led the Order's strike team to free Miserix. in two words: "Destiny war." The story of the war is told in the nine-chapter Destiny War podcast of 2008, and it ends with the Brotherhood's assault on Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive. broken and 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. apparently awake. (Destiny War)

Origin#

The war grew out of Brutaka's mission in Federation of Fear. With a team of former villains, he freed MiserixMiserixThe deposed Makuta leader clawed back from exile to hunt the brother who stole his throne., the original leader of the Brotherhood, from his imprisonment on ArtidaxArtidaxArtidax was a volcanic island in the southern islands where Makuta Krika imprisoned Miserix instead of killing him, and where the Visorak horde later met its end.. The Order agent Botar was killed by Makuta Icarax during the mission. (Federation of Fear)

Afterwards, Krakua and a teleporting Order agent fetched 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. from 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 the Order's fortress on Daxia, where Brutaka and Miserix were waiting. Brutaka told him the Order was about to come out of hiding, and passed on Helryx's two words: "Destiny war." (Destiny War)

The opening moves#

Axonn and Brutaka went to ZakazZakazThe island where Skakdi civilization developed, shaped by isolation and harsh Makuta rule. to win over the warlord NektannNektannNektann was a water-powered Skakdi warlord of Zakaz who allied first with the Order of Mata Nui and then with Teridax, and survived the Battle of Bara Magna.. Pinned on a beach by his army, Brutaka simply surrendered for both of them. Brought before Nektann, Axonn offered the SkakdiSkakdiA brutish warrior species from Zakaz whose pair-dependent elemental powers and moral void made them one of Bionicle's few irredeemable factions. the chance to sack the Brotherhood's fortresses, and lied that the other warlords had already signed on. Nektann agreed. (Destiny War)

On Stelt, Miserix tore the roof off a trader's shop and told him to spread the word: Miserix was back, and when he found TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna., Teridax was dead. (Destiny War)

Trinuma took VezonVezonHe started as a weapon misfire and a throwaway joke, and the canon spent four years quietly turning him into its most useful expendable asset. out of his cell on Daxia and sailed him to DestralDestralThe headquarters island of the Brotherhood of Makuta, which could teleport from place to place, until the Order of Mata Nui stormed it in the Destiny War., because the Order needed someone who could die horribly without being missed. Vezon's job was to "betray" the Order to the Makuta, and he was captured by Rahkshi within two minutes of landing. (Destiny War)

The Toa HagahToa HagahElite Toa teams appointed by the Brotherhood of Makuta to serve as personal guardians, later rebelling against their creators. teleported into Metru Nui, where JallerJallerJaller served as Captain of the Ta-Koro Guard, led the Toa Inika to Voya Nui, and commanded the Toa Mahri through the recovery of the Mask of Life. stood at the statue of 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.. Their leader NorikNorikToa of Fire and leader of the Toa Hagah, who broke with the Brotherhood of Makuta to recover the Avohkii and led his team through a thousand years of mutation as a Rahaga before being restored. told 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. that they had come to destroy the ColiseumThe ColiseumCentral tower of Metru Nui, serving as government seat, akilini arena and, during Teridax's masquerade, the place from which the city's Matoran were rounded up into spheres.. (Destiny War)

The Makuta pool and the prophecy#

While the Skakdi fought a Rahkshi army on an island in the southern chains, Axonn and Brutaka climbed down through a trapdoor into a forgotten chamber. In its centre was a swirling greenish-black pool, which Axonn identified as the place the Great Spirit created the Makuta, and the only place new Makuta could ever come from. Before they could decide whether they had the right to end a species, the pool erupted and they fell in. (Destiny War)

Axonn nearly drowned, but Brutaka pulled him out, transformed. He floated off the floor with green fire crackling from his eyes and fingertips, and spoke as the essence of the Makuta species. He muttered about Spherus Magna, the Shattering, and the three that must be one, and said "he" must be made to remember, or the journey of 100,000 years would be for nothing. (Destiny War)

The Dark Hunter alliance#

AncientAncientAncient is a dark blue and gold operative who served as both an agent of the Order of Mata Nui and a member of the Dark Hunters, armed with Kanoka and a Rhotuka., Helryx's spy inside the Dark HuntersThe Dark HuntersA band of mercenaries and thieves founded on Odina by the Shadowed One and Ancient, hired out across the Matoran Universe, and left a battered ruin by the time Teridax ruled the universe., received his orders on Odina by a coded flight of messenger Rahi: make the Shadowed One see the only possible future for the Dark Hunters, or kill him. (Destiny War)

It worked. The Dark Hunters occupied XiaXiaA hostile island southeast of Metru Nui, home to the Vortixx and their brutal mercenary culture. for the Order, and the island was pacified within hours. Elsewhere the war started badly: the Order couldn't dislodge the Makuta from Nynrah, and its surprise attacks met fierce resistance from Rahkshi and Exo-Toa. (Destiny War)

On Xia, The Shadowed OneThe Shadowed OneThe Shadowed One is the leader of the Dark Hunters, a black, yellow, and silver figure based on Spherus Magna. Armed with a staff and a Rhotuka, the Shadowed One directs the organization. caught a Vortixx digging in a ruined factory and found a protosteel box marked with the Brotherhood's symbol. Inside were three vials, viruses that Makuta KojolKojolKojol was the Makuta assigned to oversee the region of Artakha, leader of the raid that stole the Avohkii, and the unwitting source of the virus that weakened Mata Nui. had brought to Xia before the Order killed him. When Ancient found him with the box, the Shadowed One disintegrated him with his eye beams, because a secret shared is no longer a secret. (Destiny War)

The Barraki opening#

Helryx made two hard choices. She sent the Heart of the Visorak to the Toa Mahri with orders to take it to Artidax, and she sent HydraxonHydraxonThe jailer of the Pit was killed once, then resurrected as the Matoran Dekar by the Mask of Life. orders that she wasn't sure he would follow: offer 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. their freedom if they fought the Makuta. She knew she might be trading the Brotherhood for a worse evil. (Destiny War)

Hydraxon obeyed. PridakPridak: the most savage of the BarrakiPridak was the most savage of the six Barraki warlords and commanded an army of sharks. The League of Six Kingdoms ended with all six imprisoned in the Pit., KalmahKalmahA red-and-black Barraki warlord of the League of Six Kingdoms, imprisoned in the Pit and mutated into permanent aquatic form., MantaxMantaxMutated Barraki warlord of the Pit who uncovered Takadox's Brotherhood collaboration through a hidden Tablet of Transit. and EhlekEhlekA Barraki warlord with electrical powers who led aquatic forces against the Brotherhood of Makuta. accepted, and Pridak saw his chance: when the Brotherhood fell, the League of Six Kingdoms would rise again. Given ships, he raised an army and went conquering, and in one captured fortress he started piecing together a shattered inscription. (Destiny War)

Kalmah, Mantax and Ehlek then went to the Shadowed One on Xia. They knew how Teridax had struck down the Great Spirit, and they believed the Shadowed One had a prototype of the virus he used. The Shadowed One agreed to meet Pridak in the land of KarzahniKarzahniA realm of the Matoran universe built by the Great Beings as a place to repair Matoran, turned into a prison by its incompetent ruler.. (Destiny War)

Tridax and the stolen Toa of LightToa of LightThe sole Toa wielding the Element of Light through the Avohkii mask, singular and feared by Makuta itself.#

On Destral, Makuta TridaxTridaxMost Makuta wanted the Plan to succeed. Tridax wanted what came after, and he was building a private army of stolen Toa of Light in a Destral basement to make sure he got it. caught Vezon following him into a vast sub-basement. Its forty-foot walls were lined with close to a hundred stasis tubes, each holding the same being. Tridax explained that he had used a Kanohi OlmakThe Kanohi OlmakThe Kanohi Olmak was the Great Mask of Dimensional Gates, a portal-opening Kanohi forged by Artakha. Only two ever existed in the Matoran Universe, and both passed through the hands of figures who reshaped the late storyline., one of only two known, to collect the Takanuva of other realities, so that shadow leeches could drain their light and make him an army of Shadow Toa. (Destiny War)

He never finished. A virus ate through his armour, and the Order agent Tobduk stepped out of the shadows with the Matoran MazekaMazekaA Ko-Matoran spy for the Order of Mata Nui obsessed with becoming the perfect warrior.. (Destiny War)

Tobduk incinerated Tridax's antidermis with his staff. He and Mazeka left the captive Toa where they were, as casualties of war, while Vezon stayed behind in the collapsing fortress wondering what he could do with an army of Toa. (Brothers In Arms)

The hunt on Nynrah#

After the Order won the battle for Nynrah, Helryx walked the beach reading the past of shattered Rahkshi armour with her mask, hunting for the sources of energised protodermis the Brotherhood used. One piece led her and KeetonguKeetonguThe legendary Rahi who broke the Visorak siege and lived to prove he was worth the legend. to an island just to the north, full of creatures somewhere between Matoran and Rahi. (Destiny War)

In a cave there they found a lake of energised protodermis, with a figure rising from it that called itself every drop of the substance in existence. It had lived in the core of a planet, it said, before part of it was placed in this universe. When Helryx said its work had to stop, it sent a great wave of protodermis at them. (Destiny War)

A portal opened behind them and Helryx dragged Keetongu through. Out of it, the other way, stepped Vezon, wearing a Kanohi Olmak, just in time to see the wave coming for him. (Destiny War)

The fall of the Coliseum and the theft of the Mask of Time#

VoporakVoporakVoporak is a mutant member of Sidorak's species and a servant of the Dark Hunters. Clad in dark red, black, orange-yellow, and silver, he wields Rotating Blade Tools and a Rhotuka spinner and commands the power of time. He resides on Spherus Magna. broke into the secure room under the Coliseum where VakamaVakamaA Ta-Metru maskmaker transformed into the Toa Metru of Fire, leader of his team through the Visorak war, and Turaga of Ta-Koro for a thousand years. kept the Mask of TimeMask of TimeThe Kanohi Vahi is the Matoran Universe's deadliest mask, capable of stopping or accelerating time, and its creation nearly tore Metru Nui apart.. Vakama knew no attack of his could stop the creature and could only follow as Voporak walked out through a hole in the wall. A four-armed warrior charged him, and Voporak's touch aged him tens of thousands of years in seconds. (Destiny War)

The Battle of Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive.#

When the Toa Mahri finally returned from Artidax, Metru Nui was under siege. Brotherhood ships ringed the city, flying Rahkshi attacked the new walls from every side, and Order agents were struggling to hold the gaps. Vakama told them the Order had started it, and that the Mask of Time was gone. (Destiny War)

Vakama had a plan. Hahli found the Toa of Sonics KrakuaKrakuaA Toa of Sonics from De-Koro who served the Order of Mata Nui and delivered a devastating prophecy to Vakama. and asked him to cycle through frequencies until he found the one that would wake the BohrokBohrokHive-minded mechanical creatures designed to reshape worlds, the Bohrok represent a threat the Toa Mata never expected.. Then everything changed: the stars brightened, the breeze turned warm, and Hahli was sure the Great Spirit had woken. A storm rose and tossed the Brotherhood fleet about. (Destiny War)

The Bohrok sleeping in the Archives burst out of the ground, and the Rahkshi attacked them. While the two sides fought, the Toa Mahri and the Order picked off Rahkshi. Then Pohatu, Lewa and Kopaka arrived in the Jetrax, Rockoh and Axalara, sank the ships and drove off the rest. (Destiny War)

Casualties of the Order#

The Order's losses were often agents the wider universe never heard of. Botar died to Icarax during the rescue of Miserix. (Federation of Fear)

Ancient was disintegrated on Xia by the leader he had brought into the alliance, and the four-armed warrior at the Coliseum aged to death in seconds. (Destiny War)

Aftermath#

With the walls battered down but the city intact, Turaga Dume and Vakama announced a day of celebration. Hahli couldn't share the mood. She thought of Matoro, and felt it had all been a little too easy. She walked toward Ga-Metru humming a song Nokama had taught her, and if not for the music she might have heard the dark laughter on the wind. (Destiny War)

The laughter was Teridax's. He had taken control of the Great Spirit's body, and the universe the Order thought it had saved was now his. (BIONICLE Legends 11: The Final Battle)