The Onu-Koro Trading Guild

The Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came. Trading Guild was a union of Onu-MatoranOnu-MatoranEarth-wielding Matoran of the deep who adapted to darkness and built the Matoran Universe's defensive cavalry. traders based in the underground village of Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came. on the island of Mata NuiMata Nui (Location)An island created by accident on the Great Spirit's face, home to the Matoran for a thousand years.. Its leader was ZemyaZemyaZemya is a black Onu-Matoran of Earth who works as a store owner on Spherus Magna and wears a Kanohi Hau., the Onu-MatoranOnu-MatoranEarth-wielding Matoran of the deep who adapted to darkness and built the Matoran Universe's defensive cavalry. Guildmaster of Trade, who represented the body on the Onu-Koro CouncilThe Onu-Koro CouncilThe advisory council to Turaga Whenua in Onu-Koro, drawing together the Ussalry, the mining and ground-forces command, and the Trading Guild around the leader of the underground village. that advised TuragaTuragaFormer Toa who fulfilled their destiny and transformed into leaders. Turaga wield Noble Kanohi masks and weakened elemental powers, guiding their communities. 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.. The Guild was the institutional voice of the village's commercial population. It pressed the TuragaTuragaFormer Toa who fulfilled their destiny and transformed into leaders. Turaga wield Noble Kanohi masks and weakened elemental powers, guiding their communities. and the council on the practical questions that confronted the traders working out of the underground marketplace: the isolation of the marketplace from the rest of the island, the shortage of LightstonesLightstoneGlowing crystals that powered Onu-Koro's mines and revealed secrets beneath Mata Nui. that hampered business with Po-MatoranPo-MatoranThe Stone-element Matoran of Po-Metru and Po-Koro, carvers and quarry workers, the most athletic of the Matoran types and the population behind the Kohlii and Akilini circuits. traders, the danger of the overland approaches owing to the number of fierce 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., and the impracticality of the sea route owing to the TarakavaTarakavaHuge lizard-like Rahi with powerful forelegs, hunted in pairs across Mata Nui and Metru Nui. that prowled the surrounding waters.

The marketplace the Guild served#

Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came. was the underground village of EarthEarthEarth was a primordial elemental power governing soil, terrain, and subterranean prosperity across the Matoran Universe and Spherus Magna. on Mata NuiMata Nui (Location)An island created by accident on the Great Spirit's face, home to the Matoran for a thousand years., settled by the Onu-MatoranOnu-MatoranEarth-wielding Matoran of the deep who adapted to darkness and built the Matoran Universe's defensive cavalry. under TuragaTuragaFormer Toa who fulfilled their destiny and transformed into leaders. Turaga wield Noble Kanohi masks and weakened elemental powers, guiding their communities. 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. after 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. brought the rescued MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. population to the island in the aftermath of 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.. In the year of peace that followed the village's founding, Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came. prospered. The Onu-MatoranOnu-MatoranEarth-wielding Matoran of the deep who adapted to darkness and built the Matoran Universe's defensive cavalry. miners expanded the tunnels using pickaxes and the advanced mining equipment developed by the village's engineers, and the earth of Onu-WahiOnu-WahiThe underground kingdom of Mata Nui, home to the Onu-Matoran and Toa Onua. yielded 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., precious ores, and LightstonesLightstoneGlowing crystals that powered Onu-Koro's mines and revealed secrets beneath Mata Nui. in commercial quantities. The marketplace developed alongside the mining capacity. Traders came from all regions of the island to sell their wares at the earth village's marketplace, and Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came. became a centre of trade on Mata NuiMata Nui (Location)An island created by accident on the Great Spirit's face, home to the Matoran for a thousand years. on the back of the mining output that the marketplace converted into widget income.

The Trading GuildThe Onu-Koro Trading GuildThe commercial union of the Onu-Matoran traders of Onu-Koro, led by Zemya, pressing the Turaga on the village's marketplace isolation, the Lightstone shortage, and the dangers of the routes that fed the underground city. was the institution that organised the traders working out of the marketplace into a single union with a voice on the council. The Guild was not a guild of producers in the narrow sense. The miners worked under their own command and the mining guild had its own seat on the council. The Trading GuildThe Onu-Koro Trading GuildThe commercial union of the Onu-Matoran traders of Onu-Koro, led by Zemya, pressing the Turaga on the village's marketplace isolation, the Lightstone shortage, and the dangers of the routes that fed the underground city. was the commercial intermediary, the body of Onu-MatoranOnu-MatoranEarth-wielding Matoran of the deep who adapted to darkness and built the Matoran Universe's defensive cavalry. who took the mining output and the goods of the surface villages and turned them over to the buyers who came to the marketplace. The seat on the Onu-Koro CouncilThe Onu-Koro CouncilThe advisory council to Turaga Whenua in Onu-Koro, drawing together the Ussalry, the mining and ground-forces command, and the Trading Guild around the leader of the underground village. reflected the commercial weight of the marketplace to the village's economic life, and the Guild's GuildmasterZemyaZemya is a black Onu-Matoran of Earth who works as a store owner on Spherus Magna and wears a Kanohi Hau. sat alongside the UssalryUssalryOnu-Koro's branch of the Mata Nui Military, made up of Onu-Matoran riders mounted on tamed Ussal crabs and led by High Commander Onepu. commander, the mining GuildmasterThe Onu-Koro CouncilThe advisory council to Turaga Whenua in Onu-Koro, drawing together the Ussalry, the mining and ground-forces command, and the Trading Guild around the leader of the underground village., and the captain of the ground forces in the body that advised 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..

Zemya as Guildmaster#

ZemyaZemyaZemya is a black Onu-Matoran of Earth who works as a store owner on Spherus Magna and wears a Kanohi Hau. was an Onu-MatoranOnu-MatoranEarth-wielding Matoran of the deep who adapted to darkness and built the Matoran Universe's defensive cavalry. of Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came., believed to have been a GuildmasterZemyaZemya is a black Onu-Matoran of Earth who works as a store owner on Spherus Magna and wears a Kanohi Hau. within the village's institutional life, and the recorded leader of the Trading GuildThe Onu-Koro Trading GuildThe commercial union of the Onu-Matoran traders of Onu-Koro, led by Zemya, pressing the Turaga on the village's marketplace isolation, the Lightstone shortage, and the dangers of the routes that fed the underground city.. His name carried the sense of earth in the MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. tongue's wider relatives, and his role on the council placed him at the head of the traders' complaints to 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. on the conditions facing the marketplace. The chronicle records ZemyaZemyaZemya is a black Onu-Matoran of Earth who works as a store owner on Spherus Magna and wears a Kanohi Hau. as angry when Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came. appeared to be sealed off from the rest of the island on the trade question. The anger was not idiosyncratic. It was the institutional anger of a Guildmaster speaking for a constituency of traders whose livelihoods depended on the routes the war was closing.

ZemyaZemyaZemya is a black Onu-Matoran of Earth who works as a store owner on Spherus Magna and wears a Kanohi Hau. had been brought to Mata NuiMata Nui (Location)An island created by accident on the Great Spirit's face, home to the Matoran for a thousand years. by 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., like all the other MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. of his village, after the rescue from the Matoran SpheresMatoran SpheresThe silver hibernation pods used by Teridax, posing as Turaga Dume, to capture, store, and transport the entire Matoran population of Metru Nui during the Great Cataclysm. of Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive.. Little of his pre-rescue life is preserved in the record. He was awakened by the TuragaTuragaFormer Toa who fulfilled their destiny and transformed into leaders. Turaga wield Noble Kanohi masks and weakened elemental powers, guiding their communities. and lived in Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came. from the village's founding, and his Guildmaster role placed him at the head of the Trading GuildThe Onu-Koro Trading GuildThe commercial union of the Onu-Matoran traders of Onu-Koro, led by Zemya, pressing the Turaga on the village's marketplace isolation, the Lightstone shortage, and the dangers of the routes that fed the underground city. during the period in which the council was most active. The body's complaints to 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. came through him, and his absence or presence at the council determined whether the Trading GuildThe Onu-Koro Trading GuildThe commercial union of the Onu-Matoran traders of Onu-Koro, led by Zemya, pressing the Turaga on the village's marketplace isolation, the Lightstone shortage, and the dangers of the routes that fed the underground city.'s grievances were aired in the TuragaTuragaFormer Toa who fulfilled their destiny and transformed into leaders. Turaga wield Noble Kanohi masks and weakened elemental powers, guiding their communities.'s presence on any given session.

The complaints to Whenua#

The Guild's recorded complaints to 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. formed a coherent picture of the difficulties the marketplace faced during the wartime period of Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came.. The first complaint was the isolation of the Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came. Marketplace from the rest of the island. The village's tunnels had once extended to almost every other village on Mata NuiMata Nui (Location)An island created by accident on the Great Spirit's face, home to the Matoran for a thousand years., and the trade routes had been the visible product of that connectivity. The wartime conditions had narrowed the practical accessibility of the routes. The marketplace had not moved, and the underground tunnels had not closed in a literal sense, but the conditions on the routes had degraded to the point at which the marketplace's effective connection to the rest of the island had been reduced.

The second complaint was the LightstoneLightstoneGlowing crystals that powered Onu-Koro's mines and revealed secrets beneath Mata Nui. shortage. The shortage had been triggered by a rogue lava flow that had filled the tunnel leading to the village's main LightstoneLightstoneGlowing crystals that powered Onu-Koro's mines and revealed secrets beneath Mata Nui.-mining site, depriving Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came. of the supply that lit the underground passages. Without sufficient LightstonesLightstoneGlowing crystals that powered Onu-Koro's mines and revealed secrets beneath Mata Nui. the village had been forced to rely on the inferior light of torches to keep the passages semi-lit and protected from 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. attacks. The downstream effect on the marketplace was practical. Po-MatoranPo-MatoranThe Stone-element Matoran of Po-Metru and Po-Koro, carvers and quarry workers, the most athletic of the Matoran types and the population behind the Kohlii and Akilini circuits. traders, accustomed to the bright surface light of Po-WahiPo-WahiPo-Wahi is a region of the island of Mata Nui, inhabited by Po-Matoran and Rahi. The territory formerly fell under the control of Teridax., found it difficult to do business in the dark of the underground passages. The Guild's complaint focused on the Po-MatoranPo-MatoranThe Stone-element Matoran of Po-Metru and Po-Koro, carvers and quarry workers, the most athletic of the Matoran types and the population behind the Kohlii and Akilini circuits. case because the Po-MatoranPo-MatoranThe Stone-element Matoran of Po-Metru and Po-Koro, carvers and quarry workers, the most athletic of the Matoran types and the population behind the Kohlii and Akilini circuits. carvers were among the most important external traders the marketplace dealt with, and the loss of their willingness to make the journey had a disproportionate effect on the marketplace's income.

The third complaint was the danger of the overland approaches. The number of fierce 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. in Onu-WahiOnu-WahiThe underground kingdom of Mata Nui, home to the Onu-Matoran and Toa Onua. had risen with the wider war on the island, and the routes from the surface villages to the underground entrances of Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came. had become hazardous for unarmed traders to attempt. Miners themselves often ran the risk of being attacked by 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. hiding in the unlit portions of the WahiOnu-WahiThe underground kingdom of Mata Nui, home to the Onu-Matoran and Toa Onua., such as the vicious Kofo-JagaKofo-JagaVenomous scorpion Rahi that posed a relentless threat to Onu-Wahi's miners and forced the Toa Nuva to use creative tactics during their search for Kanohi Nuva. and the Kuma-NuiKuma-NuiGiant rat-like Rahi that haunted Metru Nui's Archives before fleeing to Mata Nui., and traders carrying goods made still more attractive targets. The Guild's complaint to the council was that the danger had reduced the traders willing to attempt the journey, which in turn had narrowed the supply lines that the marketplace depended on.

The sea route rejected#

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.'s recorded answer to the Guild's grievances was a suggested alternative route. He proposed that the Trading GuildThe Onu-Koro Trading GuildThe commercial union of the Onu-Matoran traders of Onu-Koro, led by Zemya, pressing the Turaga on the village's marketplace isolation, the Lightstone shortage, and the dangers of the routes that fed the underground city. attempt to do business by sea on the model 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. used out of Ga-KoroGa-KoroGa-Koro is a village on the island of Mata Nui, inhabited by the Ga-Matoran and associated with both Nokama and Gali. The settlement was formerly under the power of Teridax., bypassing the overland routes that the 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. had closed. The suggestion had a certain operational logic. The sea route would have avoided the dangerous overland approaches, and it would have allowed the marketplace to reach buyers along the coast without requiring the buyers to make the dangerous inland journey themselves.

The Guild rejected the suggestion. The waters around Mata NuiMata Nui (Location)An island created by accident on the Great Spirit's face, home to the Matoran for a thousand years. were patrolled by the TarakavaTarakavaHuge lizard-like Rahi with powerful forelegs, hunted in pairs across Mata Nui and Metru Nui., the sea-dwelling 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 had become aggressive under the wider corruption that TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna.'s campaign had spread across the island's wildlife. The TarakavaTarakavaHuge lizard-like Rahi with powerful forelegs, hunted in pairs across Mata Nui and Metru Nui. made the sea route as dangerous as the overland route, and more so for an Onu-MatoranOnu-MatoranEarth-wielding Matoran of the deep who adapted to darkness and built the Matoran Universe's defensive cavalry. commercial union with no maritime experience and no boats to begin from. The proposed substitution was not an answer to the underlying problem of 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. closing the routes. It was a redirection of the routes to a different set of 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 the Guild was no better placed to navigate.

The exchange recorded between 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. and the Trading GuildThe Onu-Koro Trading GuildThe commercial union of the Onu-Matoran traders of Onu-Koro, led by Zemya, pressing the Turaga on the village's marketplace isolation, the Lightstone shortage, and the dangers of the routes that fed the underground city. on the sea-route question demonstrated the limits of the TuragaTuragaFormer Toa who fulfilled their destiny and transformed into leaders. Turaga wield Noble Kanohi masks and weakened elemental powers, guiding their communities.'s ability to solve the problems the council brought him. The underlying cause of the trade isolation was the war on the MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. of Mata NuiMata Nui (Location)An island created by accident on the Great Spirit's face, home to the Matoran for a thousand years. that TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna. had been waging for almost a thousand years, and the suggested alternative routes were all closed by the same wider conflict. 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. could entertain alternatives, and the Guild could refuse the alternatives that the wider conditions made impractical. Neither could resolve the underlying problem, and the council sessions on the trade question reduced to an exchange of grievances and inadequate suggestions until the wider war's resolution.

After the Bohrok and the marketplace's return#

The Guild's institutional history continued past the recorded council session. The BohrokBohrokHive-minded mechanical creatures designed to reshape worlds, the Bohrok represent a threat the Toa Mata never expected. War's destruction of Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came. by the GahlokGahlokWater-element Bohrok swarms that flooded Mata Nui's aquatic zones with relentless purpose. flood evacuated the village's population and ended the marketplace as a continuous operation, although the Onu-MatoranOnu-MatoranEarth-wielding Matoran of the deep who adapted to darkness and built the Matoran Universe's defensive cavalry. were rescued before the destruction and rebuilt after the war's end. ZemyaZemyaZemya is a black Onu-Matoran of Earth who works as a store owner on Spherus Magna and wears a Kanohi Hau. himself was rebuilt at this point. After the rebuild he ran a small shop in the village that sold goods to Onu-MatoranOnu-MatoranEarth-wielding Matoran of the deep who adapted to darkness and built the Matoran Universe's defensive cavalry. and to travellers passing through, including HahliHahliA Ga-Matoran scholar who rose to become Chronicler of Mata Nui, then Toa Inika, then Toa Mahri of Water during the final crises of the Matoran Universe., 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. who later became one of the Toa InikaToa InikaSix former Matoran who entered Karzahni broken and emerged as the next Toa team, transformed on the shore of Voya Nui by a lightning strike from the red star.. His commercial life after the Guild's most active period therefore took the form of a single-trader shop rather than the institutional union of the council era, but the continuity of his commercial role survived the war that had closed the marketplace.

The Guild as an institution does not appear in the record of the wider MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. population's return to Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive. and onward to Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint.. ZemyaZemyaZemya is a black Onu-Matoran of Earth who works as a store owner on Spherus Magna and wears a Kanohi Hau. presumably moved his shop to 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 time came for all MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. to go back to their home, and helped to repair the city until the Staff of ArtakhaThe Staff of ArtakhaA restoration artifact forged by Artakha himself, used by Helryx to reverse the environmental damage of the Great Cataclysm. repaired the rest. He later evacuated the Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control. onto Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint. along with the wider population. The Guild's institutional form was tied to the underground marketplace of Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came., and the dissolution of the village removed the institutional context that had given the Guild its function. The commercial activity continued in different forms. The Guild as a body did not.

The Guild in the institutional picture#

The Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came. Trading Guild stands in the record as one of the few MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. institutional unions named and described in any detail. The standard pattern of MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. commercial life on Mata NuiMata Nui (Location)An island created by accident on the Great Spirit's face, home to the Matoran for a thousand years. was the individual trader or the small workshop, with traders operating largely on their own account out of the marketplaces of the different villages. The Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came. Trading Guild was a step beyond that pattern. It was a union of traders organised under a single GuildmasterZemyaZemya is a black Onu-Matoran of Earth who works as a store owner on Spherus Magna and wears a Kanohi Hau. who represented the body collectively on the Onu-Koro CouncilThe Onu-Koro CouncilThe advisory council to Turaga Whenua in Onu-Koro, drawing together the Ussalry, the mining and ground-forces command, and the Trading Guild around the leader of the underground village., and the institutional weight it carried on the council was a function of its collective form rather than the standing of any single trader within it.

The form matched the wider institutional structure of Onu-KoroOnu-KoroOnu-Koro was the earth engineers' city, where underground isolation created one of Mata Nui's most self-sufficient settlements, until the Bohrok came., which supported a standing military in the UssalryUssalryOnu-Koro's branch of the Mata Nui Military, made up of Onu-Matoran riders mounted on tamed Ussal crabs and led by High Commander Onepu., a captain commanding ground forces and mining together, and a separate mining guild alongside the Trading GuildThe Onu-Koro Trading GuildThe commercial union of the Onu-Matoran traders of Onu-Koro, led by Zemya, pressing the Turaga on the village's marketplace isolation, the Lightstone shortage, and the dangers of the routes that fed the underground city.. The underground village's economic and operational complexity required institutions of a kind the surface villages had not developed, and the Trading GuildThe Onu-Koro Trading GuildThe commercial union of the Onu-Matoran traders of Onu-Koro, led by Zemya, pressing the Turaga on the village's marketplace isolation, the Lightstone shortage, and the dangers of the routes that fed the underground city. was the commercial expression of that institutional turn. The Guild's grievances on the council, the TuragaTuragaFormer Toa who fulfilled their destiny and transformed into leaders. Turaga wield Noble Kanohi masks and weakened elemental powers, guiding their communities.'s inability to resolve them, and the eventual survival of its leading GuildmasterZemyaZemya is a black Onu-Matoran of Earth who works as a store owner on Spherus Magna and wears a Kanohi Hau. into the later Spherus MagnaSpherus MagnaA desert world of ancient conflict that became the merger point of the Matoran Universe and Bionicle's true endpoint. period together preserved a fuller record of MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. commercial institutions than the wider Matoran UniverseMatoran UniverseA civilization of biomechanical beings living inside a colossal robot, destroyed when Teridax seized control. chronicle preserves for almost any other settlement.