The Iron Wolves

The Iron Wolves were biomechanical predators built by the Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed. to fight in the Core WarThe Core War: the war that shattered a planetThe Core War was fought on Spherus Magna over Energized Protodermis. It ended in the Shattering, which tore the planet into three planetary fragments. on Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint.. The warrior SurelSurelSurel is a Glatorian and the Element Lord of Ice, native to Spherus Magna. Clad in white and light blue, he wanders the reformed Spherus Magna armed with a spear. trained a pack of them and led it into battle, and the wolves outlasted the war that produced them. When the planet broke, the pack stayed beside their badly wounded handler, and the two made the White Quartz MountainsWhite Quartz MountainsA jagged mountain range in the northern reaches of Bara Magna, once ruled by the Element Lord of Rock and later home to Surel and the Iron Wolves. of Bara MagnaBara MagnaA desert world of tribal warfare and scarce resources, one of three landmasses that formed Spherus Magna. their home for the ages that followed. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

Design and Origin#

The Iron Wolves were creations of the Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed.. They were biomechanical, their bodies a weird mixture of muscle, fur and dull metal, and they gave off a musky smell mixed with the scent of cold iron. They looked a little like the wasteland wolves of the desert, but were something else entirely. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

SurelSurelSurel is a Glatorian and the Element Lord of Ice, native to Spherus Magna. Clad in white and light blue, he wanders the reformed Spherus Magna armed with a spear. trained this pack himself. Which army he served is not spelled out, though the Agori who recognised him came from the ice village of Iconox. He described them later as one of the Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed.' more efficient creations, a phrase delivered without admiration and without distance. He had spent enough of his life with the pack to know exactly what they were built to do. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

The wolves were excellent hunters and trackers, and they had been trained to fight. They answered to their handler's commands, and the habits of that training stayed with them long after the war that had called for it was over. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

The Core War and the Shattering#

SurelSurelSurel is a Glatorian and the Element Lord of Ice, native to Spherus Magna. Clad in white and light blue, he wanders the reformed Spherus Magna armed with a spear. led the pack in battle during the Core WarThe Core War: the war that shattered a planetThe Core War was fought on Spherus Magna over Energized Protodermis. It ended in the Shattering, which tore the planet into three planetary fragments., the planet-wide conflict over Energized ProtodermisEnergized ProtodermisA sentient substance that could remake or annihilate any being that touched it. One of the Matoran Universe's most lethal hazards. that pitted the Element Lord armies against one another for generations. Surel remembered those days as armies marching across deserts, jungles and mountains to claim the energized protodermis, led into war by the Element Lords whose actions destroyed the planet. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

SurelSurelSurel is a Glatorian and the Element Lord of Ice, native to Spherus Magna. Clad in white and light blue, he wanders the reformed Spherus Magna armed with a spear. was badly wounded in the course of the fighting, lost in the chaos and left behind when the fighting moved on. Those who knew him took him for dead. What happened next defined the pack as much as their design had. The Iron Wolves did not abandon him. They brought him food. They protected him from the many in those mountains who would have done him harm, and kept their wounded handler alive. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

When the Shattering split Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint. into three fragments, SurelSurelSurel is a Glatorian and the Element Lord of Ice, native to Spherus Magna. Clad in white and light blue, he wanders the reformed Spherus Magna armed with a spear. and his pack were on the Bara MagnaBara MagnaA desert world of tribal warfare and scarce resources, one of three landmasses that formed Spherus Magna. piece. The AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system. villages rebuilt their lives in the desert under the arena system, but the wolves and their handler stayed in the mountains. The pack had no chain of command above SurelSurelSurel is a Glatorian and the Element Lord of Ice, native to Spherus Magna. Clad in white and light blue, he wanders the reformed Spherus Magna armed with a spear., and he had no army above himself. (Riddle of the Great Beings; BIONICLE: Mata Nui's Guide to Bara Magna)

Hunting Behavior and Pack Tactics#

The Iron Wolves operated as a coordinated patrol force. They moved in groups described as roughly six in active hunting formation, with the full pack numbering in the dozens at their den. CrotesiusCrotesiusA Vulcanus pilot who went from dismissing legends to answering one in Riddle of the Great Beings., who pursued the question of how many were tracking TardukTardukTarduk is an Agori of the Jungle Tribe, distinguished by his dark green and lime coloration. A treasure hunter by trade, he wields claws and spikes and makes his home on the reformed Spherus Magna.'s expedition through the White Quartz MountainsWhite Quartz MountainsA jagged mountain range in the northern reaches of Bara Magna, once ruled by the Element Lord of Rock and later home to Surel and the Iron Wolves., placed the visible pursuers at six or eight and noted that they were difficult to spot at all. When the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system. reached the den, they counted not six wolves on the ridge but sixty. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

Their persistence was the trait that defined them in the field. The pack did not lose a trail. TardukTardukTarduk is an Agori of the Jungle Tribe, distinguished by his dark green and lime coloration. A treasure hunter by trade, he wields claws and spikes and makes his home on the reformed Spherus Magna. and his companions tried the standard evasions used against Bone HuntersBone HunterDesert nomads of Bara Magna who raided for survival until their alliance with the Skrall nearly conquered the continent. and ordinary predators. They sent a sand stalkerSand StalkerDesert creatures that made Bara Magna's vast distances traversable, though their animal instincts made them unreliable in genuine danger. off in another direction, doubled back on their own trail, and left precious supplies of food in the wolves' path as bait. None of it worked. TardukTardukTarduk is an Agori of the Jungle Tribe, distinguished by his dark green and lime coloration. A treasure hunter by trade, he wields claws and spikes and makes his home on the reformed Spherus Magna. argued that the pack was tracking by scent; CrotesiusCrotesiusA Vulcanus pilot who went from dismissing legends to answering one in Riddle of the Great Beings. feared they would see torchlight in the dark and refused to use any. Neither theory was ever tested. The wolves simply kept coming. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

Their movement through the mountains was almost soundless. Throughout the long pursuit, the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system. caught only glimpses of their pursuers, and Tarduk wondered how anything could move through the White Quartz Mountains so unseen. Narrow trails along sheer drops slowed the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system. and their sand stalkersSand StalkerDesert creatures that made Bara Magna's vast distances traversable, though their animal instincts made them unreliable in genuine danger. to a crawl, and the wolves shadowed them from positions the lowlanders could not identify. The trap closed only at the den, where the full pack waited on a ridge with no path forward. The hunting pack had not been the trap. The hunting pack had been the herd, driving prey to a destination already chosen. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

Loyalty to Surel#

SurelSurelSurel is a Glatorian and the Element Lord of Ice, native to Spherus Magna. Clad in white and light blue, he wanders the reformed Spherus Magna armed with a spear.'s description of the pack's behavior after his wounding shifted the wolves from weapon to companion in his own account. He told TardukTardukTarduk is an Agori of the Jungle Tribe, distinguished by his dark green and lime coloration. A treasure hunter by trade, he wields claws and spikes and makes his home on the reformed Spherus Magna. that he had been lost in the chaos of war and left behind, bent and broken, when the fighting moved on, and that he had been in the mountains ever since. The wolves had brought him food. They had protected him from harm. They had stayed by his side when the world shattered, and they had stayed in the years that followed. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

The bond ran in both directions. SurelSurelSurel is a Glatorian and the Element Lord of Ice, native to Spherus Magna. Clad in white and light blue, he wanders the reformed Spherus Magna armed with a spear. moved through the pack at the den without hesitation, hobbling among dozens of war-trained predators on his staff and reaching down to brush a hand across fur and metal. The wolves crouched at a single quiet command, and the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system. watched the predators stand down in an instant. The pack accepted no rival authority and showed no sign of needing one. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

The relationship was not sentimental. SurelSurelSurel is a Glatorian and the Element Lord of Ice, native to Spherus Magna. Clad in white and light blue, he wanders the reformed Spherus Magna armed with a spear. did not romanticise the wolves; he called them what they were, the Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed.' more efficient creations, and credited them with keeping him alive in mountains where many would have done him harm. By the time TardukTardukTarduk is an Agori of the Jungle Tribe, distinguished by his dark green and lime coloration. A treasure hunter by trade, he wields claws and spikes and makes his home on the reformed Spherus Magna.'s expedition arrived, the pack and the warrior held the northern range together. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

The Encounter with the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system.#

The pack's only documented contact with AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system. came during the events of Riddle of the Great BeingsTarduk's Expedition into the White Quartz MountainsThe Agori expedition north from Atero in pursuit of the red star, the recovery of Surel from the wreckage of the Core War, and the first confirmation that the Element Lords had broken free.. TardukTardukTarduk is an Agori of the Jungle Tribe, distinguished by his dark green and lime coloration. A treasure hunter by trade, he wields claws and spikes and makes his home on the reformed Spherus Magna., CrotesiusCrotesiusA Vulcanus pilot who went from dismissing legends to answering one in Riddle of the Great Beings., and KirboldKirboldKirbold is an Agori of the Ice Tribe, distinguished by white and grey coloring, who serves as a maintenance worker on the reformed Spherus Magna. He carries a blade as his primary tool. pushed north past TesaraTesaraTesara is a location belonging to the Jungle Tribe, situated to the south of the White Quartz Mountains and to the north of the Dunes of Treason. on a journey that took them into the White Quartz MountainsWhite Quartz MountainsA jagged mountain range in the northern reaches of Bara Magna, once ruled by the Element Lord of Rock and later home to Surel and the Iron Wolves., following TardukTardukTarduk is an Agori of the Jungle Tribe, distinguished by his dark green and lime coloration. A treasure hunter by trade, he wields claws and spikes and makes his home on the reformed Spherus Magna.'s curiosity about what lay to the north. Kirbold knew the traders' paths through the peaks, but nobody had warned them what lived there. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

The pursuit began within the day and did not end until the wolves had cornered them. By nightfall the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system. were riding through trails too narrow for safety, with a sheer drop on one side and the mountain face on the other, and the sand stalkersSand StalkerDesert creatures that made Bara Magna's vast distances traversable, though their animal instincts made them unreliable in genuine danger. almost lost their footing more than once. They believed for one moment that they had lost the wolves, but they had not. The pack had stopped following because following was no longer needed. The AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system. had run straight into the den. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

The standoff that followed was brief. SurelSurelSurel is a Glatorian and the Element Lord of Ice, native to Spherus Magna. Clad in white and light blue, he wanders the reformed Spherus Magna armed with a spear. came up behind the pack, limping on his staff, and gave the wolves a single word: down. The pack crouched. KirboldKirboldKirbold is an Agori of the Ice Tribe, distinguished by white and grey coloring, who serves as a maintenance worker on the reformed Spherus Magna. He carries a blade as his primary tool., a native of the ice village of IconoxIconoxIconox is a village of the Ice Tribe, situated in the White Quartz Mountains., recognized the warrior on sight and named him aloud, though he had believed Surel dead. SurelSurelSurel is a Glatorian and the Element Lord of Ice, native to Spherus Magna. Clad in white and light blue, he wanders the reformed Spherus Magna armed with a spear. explained the wolves to the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system., identified their builders, and disclosed that he had trained the pack himself and led them into battle. Then a snowstorm rose, and the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and lived by the Glatorian arena system. found themselves in the middle of an older threat: the Element Lord of IceElement Lord of IceThe Element Lord of Ice is a member of the Element Lords and a former Glatorian who once served as the leader of the Ice Tribe on Spherus Magna. Wielding the element of ice and bearing white coloration, the Element Lord of Ice resides on the reformed Spherus Magna, the homeland from which the species originated. and the Element Lord of FireElement Lord of FireFormer Glatorian of the Fire Tribe, remade by the Great Beings into a being one with flame, ruler of the Fire Tribe through the Core War, and the elemental warlord whose feud with the Element Lord of Ice broke open again in the White Quartz Mountains. arrived and fought each other, and the wolves retreated. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

Legacy in the Reformed World#

The published story does not follow the pack past this point, through the reformation of Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint. or beyond, and whether the wolves stayed with Surel in the White Quartz MountainsWhite Quartz MountainsA jagged mountain range in the northern reaches of Bara Magna, once ruled by the Element Lord of Rock and later home to Surel and the Iron Wolves. is never said. (Riddle of the Great Beings)

The Iron Wolves stood apart from the other engineered creatures of the Core WarThe Core War: the war that shattered a planetThe Core War was fought on Spherus Magna over Energized Protodermis. It ended in the Shattering, which tore the planet into three planetary fragments. era. Other war creations, such as the Baterra, went on killing without any handler at all. The pack in the White Quartz MountainsWhite Quartz MountainsA jagged mountain range in the northern reaches of Bara Magna, once ruled by the Element Lord of Rock and later home to Surel and the Iron Wolves. stayed loyal to a single living master who had refused to die, still under their old commander long after the war and the planet that launched them were gone. (Riddle of the Great Beings; BIONICLE: Mata Nui's Guide to Bara Magna)