Knowledge Tower

Knowledge Towers were the huge crystalline structures that filled the Ko-MetruKo-MetruKo-Metru was Metru Nui's frozen intellectual quarter, home to the scholarly Ko-Matoran race. district of Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive.. Inside them, scholars studied the stars above the city and tried to predict the future, and the towers also stored documents, kept well preserved by the cold. The towers were grown rather than built: a memory crystal placed in a prepared basin of purified liquid protodermis would develop into a full tower within minutes. (BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui; BIONICLE: Metru Nui, City of Legends; Toa Metru Mini Promo CD: Nuju)

Construction#

A Knowledge Tower started as a memory crystal placed in a pre-prepared basin filled with purified liquid protodermisProtodermisThe engineered substance building the Matoran Universe, protodermis exists in countless refined states from mundane metal to diamond-hard crystal to the destruction-or-transformation force of energized form.. Once the crystal was exposed to the fluid, the tower grew within a matter of minutes, and was then ready to be furnished by the Ko-MatoranKo-MatoranIce Matoran who were quiet scholars and star-watchers, built to survive the frozen peaks of Ko-Wahi.. (BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui; Toa Metru Mini Promo CD: Nuju; BIONICLE: Metru Nui, City of Legends)

The towers grew so high that their rooftops were often covered with ice. For all their size, though, they were extremely fragile. (BIONICLE: Metru Nui, City of Legends)

Function#

Inside the towers, scholars studied and analysed the stars above Metru Nui, trying to predict the future. They were deeply focused on their work and rarely spoke unless they had to. The towers also stored documents, both for the scholars to consult and because the cold kept them better preserved. (BIONICLE: Metru Nui, City of Legends; BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui)

Most Matoran were forbidden from entering. Even the errand runner EhryeEhryeEhrye was a Ko-Matoran errand-runner of the Knowledge Towers who tried to sell the location of a Great Disk, thought better of it in front of a Dark Hunter, and helped the Toa Metru find it., who worked for the seers and apprentices in the towers, dreamed of the day he would be invited to join one as a scholar. (BIONICLE: Metru Nui, City of Legends; BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui)

Nuju and the Great Disk#

NujuNujuNuju served as a Ko-Metru seer, Toa Metru of Ice, and Turaga of Ko-Koro who spoke only in bird calls translated by Matoro. had been a Ko-Matoran seer before he became a Toa MetruToa Metru and Toa HordikaSix Matoran elevated by Lhikan to save their city, mutated by Visorak venom, and restored in time to deliver the population to safety., and had turned down Ehrye's bid to become a scholar. As a Toa, he tracked EhryeEhryeEhrye was a Ko-Matoran errand-runner of the Knowledge Towers who tried to sell the location of a Great Disk, thought better of it in front of a Dark Hunter, and helped the Toa Metru find it. to the top levels of a Knowledge Tower. The Dark Hunter NidhikiNidhikiOnce a guardian of Metru Nui, Nidhiki traded his Toa honor for Dark Hunter gold and paid the price. had trapped Ehrye there under a pile of blocks rigged to topple onto him if moved the wrong way, to slow the Toa down, and Nuju had to free him carefully. (BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui; Toa Metru Mini Promo CD: Nuju)

The Great Disk of Ko-MetruKo-MetruKo-Metru was Metru Nui's frozen intellectual quarter, home to the scholarly Ko-Matoran race. was hidden inside an icicle hanging from one of the highest Knowledge Towers. After several run-ins with the VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming., NujuNujuNuju served as a Ko-Metru seer, Toa Metru of Ice, and Turaga of Ko-Koro who spoke only in bird calls translated by Matoro. found it there during the team's mission to gather the six Great Disks of Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive.. (BIONICLE Adventures 2: Trial by Fire)

Rahi of the towers#

The towers drew 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. of their own. Ice bats nested on their tops, flew into the observatories and smashed everything on the way out, and made flying over Ko-Metru so risky that most airships went another way. (BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated)

Crystal Climbers lived on the highest points of the towers and hunted the ice bats, while frost beetles kept trying to force their way inside to eat the memory crystals. The Ko-Matoran scholar 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. suspected the beetles absorbed the knowledge stored in the crystals they ate. (BIONICLE: Rahi Beasts)

During the Great Cataclysm#

In the earthquake caused by 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., many of the Knowledge Towers shattered. (BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui)

After the Matoran Return#

When the MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. came back to Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive. from Mata Nui, they began rebuilding the damaged city, Ko-Metru included. (BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui)

Later, the power of the Staff of Artakha reached out from Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive., sealing chasms and restoring buildings to their former glory across the city and beyond. (Toa Nuva Blog)