The Knowledge Towers

The Knowledge Towers were the huge crystalline structures of Ko-MetruKo-MetruKo-Metru was Metru Nui's frozen intellectual quarter, home to the scholarly Ko-Matoran race., the quiet 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.. They were grown from memory crystals, and they housed the Ko-MatoranKo-MatoranIce Matoran who were quiet scholars and star-watchers, built to survive the frozen peaks of Ko-Wahi. scholars and seers who studied the stars to try to predict the future. The towers stood so high that ice often gathered on their rooftops, and besides being places of study they stored documents that the cold helped preserve. (BIONICLE: Metru Nui, City of Legends; BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui)

Crystalline construction#

Each Knowledge TowerKnowledge TowerThe crystalline spires of Ko-Metru that housed memory crystals, sheltered the district's Scholars, and stored much of the city's accumulated knowledge. began as a memory crystal placed in a pre-prepared basin of 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 exposed to the fluid, the crystal grew into a tower 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 reached so high that their rooftops were often covered with ice. Despite their size, they were extremely fragile. The ice on the highest towers mattered later, when one of the Great Disks turned up inside an icicle hanging from one of those summits. (BIONICLE: Metru Nui, City of Legends; BIONICLE Adventures 2: Trial by Fire)

The work of the scholars#

Inside the towers, scholars studied and analysed the stars above Metru Nui, trying to predict the future. They were so focused on their work that they rarely spoke unless it was absolutely necessary. The towers also held documents, both for the scholars to consult and because the cold kept them better preserved. Most Matoran were forbidden from entering. (BIONICLE: Metru Nui, City of Legends)

Errand runners moved between the towers on the scholars' business. 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., an errand runner for the seers and apprentices before the Toa Metru appeared, dreamed of being invited to join a Knowledge Tower as a scholar, a promotion 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 denied him. He learned where the Ko-Metru Great Disk was hidden and planned to pass the information to the Po-Matoran AhkmouAhkmouA Po-Matoran carver of Metru Nui, one of the six Great Disk holders, who betrayed his fellow Matoran to the Dark Hunters, served Makuta Teridax, and became a false Turaga during Teridax's reign. for a fee. (BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui)

The KeerakhKeerakhThe Vahki model assigned to Ko-Metru, the Keerakh enforced silence in the Knowledge Towers and subdued lawbreakers with staffs that scrambled a Matoran's sense of time and place., the VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming. of Ko-MetruKo-MetruKo-Metru was Metru Nui's frozen intellectual quarter, home to the scholarly Ko-Matoran race., patrolled the district, and the Toa Metru had to deal with them while searching for the disk. (BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui; BIONICLE Adventures 2: Trial by Fire)

Native fauna and infestation#

The upper reaches of 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. that liked the cold and the height. Ice bats nested on the tops of the towers, flew into the observatories and smashed everything on the way out, and made flying over Ko-Metru so hazardous that most airships took other routes. (BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated)

Crystal Climbers lived on the highest points of the towers, scurrying from one icy roof to the next. They fed on the ice bats, but the Ko-Matoran didn't want them, because they were so hard to remove from a good hunting ground that whole towers sometimes had to be closed while the Vahki tried to root them out. Some later made their way to Mount Ihu on the island of Mata Nui. Frost beetles, meanwhile, spent much of their time trying to force their way into the towers, sometimes successfully, 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. theorised that long ago some beetles had eaten memory crystals and absorbed the knowledge inside, and that a hive mind had spread it through the species. (BIONICLE: Rahi Beasts; BIONICLE: Encyclopedia Updated)

These Rahi shaped life in the towers as much as the scholars did. (BIONICLE: Rahi Beasts)

The Great Disk and the Toa Metru#

The towers played a part in the 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.'s search for the six Great Disks. Before that search, 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. 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, where the Dark Hunter NidhikiNidhikiOnce a guardian of Metru Nui, Nidhiki traded his Toa honor for Dark Hunter gold and paid the price. had trapped him under a pile of blocks rigged to fall on him if moved the wrong way. Nuju freed him. (BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui; Toa Metru Mini Promo CD: Nuju)

Later, Nuju and WhenuaWhenuaToa Metru of Earth and later Turaga of Onu-Koro, formerly an Onu-Metru archivist whose career in the Archives shaped his role across the rescue of Metru Nui and the long residency on Mata Nui. went to Ko-MetruKo-MetruKo-Metru was Metru Nui's frozen intellectual quarter, home to the scholarly Ko-Matoran race. for the Great Disk. After several clashes with the Vahki, Nuju found it inside an icicle on the side of one of the highest Knowledge Towers, as told in Trial by FireThe Quest for the Great Disks and the Burning of the King RootThe Toa Metru's hunt for the six Great Kanoka Disks across the districts of Metru Nui and their assault on the Morbuzakh's central core in the Great Furnace of Ta-Metru.. (BIONICLE Adventures 2: Trial by Fire)

Cataclysm and restoration#

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. shattered many of the Knowledge Towers in the earthquake that shook the city. (BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui)

When the Ko-Matoran returned to Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive., rebuilding began. Later, the power of the Staff of ArtakhaArtakhaArtakha is the master craftsman of the Matoran Universe, ruler of a hidden island where the Toa Mata came into being and the Avohkii was forged. spread out from Metru Nui, sealing chasms and restoring buildings to their former glory. (BIONICLE Adventures 1: Mystery of Metru Nui; Toa Nuva Blog)