The Fields of Air

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. were the underwater meadow of tall plants that grew on the seabed beside 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 plant in the fields, known as airweedAirweedThe underwater plant of the Fields of Air whose trapped bubbles let the Matoran of Mahri Nui breathe beneath the southern ocean., held breathable air sealed inside its tissue, and 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. depended on a continuous harvest of those plants to keep the air dome that surrounded their town from collapsing. The fields were the agricultural heart of the only MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. settlement in the Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control. to make its living under water.

Geography and contents#

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. lay on the seabed of the southern ocean 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 the wreck 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. below. The fields were composed of airweedAirweedThe underwater plant of the Fields of Air whose trapped bubbles let the Matoran of Mahri Nui breathe beneath the southern ocean., a tall underwater plant that held trapped air inside its stems and released it as bubbles when disturbed. The plants grew in dense beds across the floor of the trench, and the fields themselves were extensive enough to support both the routine harvest and the personal air supplies of the town's population.

The waters around the fields were the black, mutagenic waters 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., and any MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. caught in them without a personal air bubble would weaken, transform, or die. The fields therefore sat at the edge of one of the most dangerous environments in the Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control., and the work that took place there was inseparable from the danger of the surrounding sea. The wider region was inhabited by TakeaTakeaEngineered by the Makuta from viruses and protodermis, the Takea served as Pridak's shock troops in the Pit and as one of the deep ocean's most feared Rahi species. sharks, Venom EelsVenom EelBlack venomous predators of the Pit, weaponized by Ehlek and transformed by the Mask of Life into a colossal guardian., GadunkaGadunkaGadunka is a Rahi belonging to the Gadunka species, distinguished by its fluorescent blue, dark blue, and silver coloration. It wields a Squid Launcher as its tool., and the squid-launching armies 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., and the safe hour during which the HydrukaHydrukaAquatic scorpion-like Rahi domesticated by the Matoran of Mahri Nui to harvest Airweed, and the natural prototype for the Air Launcher weapon. worked the fields was defined by the temporary absence of those predators.

The fields also housed structures of their own. The hydruka pens, in which the working animals were kept between harvests, stood near the boundary of the airweed beds. 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., the Ga-MatoranGa-MatoranThe Water-element Matoran of Ga-Metru and Ga-Koro, exclusively female, who taught the schools of Metru Nui and crewed the boats and bridges of the Mata Nui coast. sentry who later recovered 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., was attacked by animated air weeds near the pens during the opening events of the 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. saga.

Origin and dependence#

The fields were already in place when 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. came to them. 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., 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 off and sank, falling down the 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. until it came to rest against the lower stretch wedged between two arches of stone. The falling town landed directly on the airweed beds, and the impact released a vast cloud of bubbles from the disturbed plants. The surviving MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body., 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, gathered the rising bubbles together and shaped them into a single dome of breathable air around the rebuilt settlement.

From that point on the town depended on the fields entirely. The dome leaked at its edges, the air inside it was consumed by the population, and the only renewable source of replacement air lay in the airweed beds outside. The MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. could not abandon the location without losing their houses, and they could not stay without continuous harvest. The fields were the agricultural infrastructure of the settlement and the precondition of its existence in the same act.

Almost a thousand years passed between the sinking 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. and the events that ended it, and for that entire period the population of the town worked the fields every day.

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 themselves. The water beyond the dome was lethal to any unprotected MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body., and a personal air bubble had a finite life before it ran thin. The solution was 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 sea creatures native to the region, and they had a sense the MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. lacked: they could tell the difference between airweed and ordinary seaweed by smell or some equivalent perception. They could be trained to harvest the right plants and to release the air on cue.

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 put them to work during the safe hour. The supervisors of the harvest 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 Guards oversaw the animals, gathered the released air, and protected the herd against the predators that occasionally crossed the field. 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., an Onu-MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body., was killed near the fields in the opening incident of the 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. saga, the event that prompted 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. to order the search of the Black Water that brought the town back into contact with the surface.

The air harvested from the fields served two purposes. The bulk of it reinforced 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 constant leakage. 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 patrols, on missions, or on the harvest itself. 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. and others later weaponised the harvested air by firing it from shoulder-mounted launchers, a local invention unique to the underwater town.

The fields as a battleground#

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. did not remain a peaceful workplace once the 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. saga began. The first contested occupation came with 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. 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., whose army of 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. crabs settled into the fields and disrupted the harvest. When 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. was captured by 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. and the other MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. of his expedition escaped from custody, 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. reached the airweed beds with their personal bubbles wearing thin only to find the fields held by the 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.. 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., also free, helped both of them return to the safety of the town.

The second confrontation followed the arrival of 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.. When the team emerged from 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 entered 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., 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. asked them to prove their identity by clearing the fields of 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 crabs. 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. who undertook the task, with 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. staying behind in the town, arrived at the fields to find the crabs drawing aside without a fight. The reason became clear immediately. The six 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. were waiting at the fields, and the ToaToa Inika and Toa MahriSix ordinary Matoran transformed by lightning from the Red Star into heroes who ultimately revived the Great Spirit itself. were captured and placed in separate caves under guard. The fields had served as the trap.

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.. The same fields that had supported the town for centuries had become the site at which its ToaToa Inika and Toa MahriSix ordinary Matoran transformed by lightning from the Red Star into heroes who ultimately revived the Great Spirit itself. protectors were neutralised in a single afternoon.

End of the fields#

The fields 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 of the revival 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 original 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 hydruka pens, and the surrounding airweed beds 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 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 up 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 and taken into the Nui CavesNui CavesA mysterious network of caverns beneath Voya Nui that served as a last refuge during the island's descent., the working animals were left in the sea. The plants they had harvested for centuries were 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.