Tarduk's Expedition into the White Quartz Mountains

The expedition that the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. 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. led north out of AteroAteroThe free city at the heart of Bara Magna, home to the Arena Magna and the Great Tournament, destroyed by Tuma and the Skrall during the opening match. was the first journey from the southern villages into the country beyond 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. since the Shattering. It was prompted by a fragment of inscribed metal pulled from the sand outside the city, took in the recovery of a presumed-dead Ice TribeIce TribeOne of Bara Magna's six major tribes, the Ice Tribe produced legendary Glatorian like Strakk and survived the Shattering intact. warrior, the first confirmed sighting of the Element LordsElement LordsSeven elemental warriors transformed by the Great Beings who refused to end their war even after the world broke. at large since the Core War, an encounter with an Iron WolvesThe Iron WolvesBiomechanical wolves built by the Great Beings for the Core War, the Iron Wolves outlasted the Shattering and held the northern range of Bara Magna beside the warrior Surel. pack still loyal to its handler, and the return of the survivors to the ruins of AteroAteroThe free city at the heart of Bara Magna, home to the Arena Magna and the Great Tournament, destroyed by Tuma and the Skrall during the opening match. via the archway known as the Spirit's Wish. The mountains beyond IconoxIconoxIconox is a village of the Ice Tribe, situated in the White Quartz Mountains. were no longer empty country. They were a battlefield that had never been demobilised.

The fragment at Atero#

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. was an AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. of the Jungle TribeJungle TribeThe Jungle Tribe of Tesara originated in Bota Magna, weathered the Shattering, and sent Gresh and Vastus into the Bara Magna arena system. attached to the city of AteroAteroThe free city at the heart of Bara Magna, home to the Arena Magna and the Great Tournament, destroyed by Tuma and the Skrall during the opening match. during the seasonal tournament. His vocation was the recovery of artefacts from the desert ruins that ringed the Bara MagnaBara MagnaA desert world of tribal warfare and scarce resources, one of three landmasses that formed Spherus Magna. settlements. On the morning that began the expedition he had slipped away from the tournament crowd under cover of a supply errand and gone to dig outside the city walls.

About four feet down his tool struck metal. He fished out a square plate roughly twice the width of his hand, broken on one edge from a larger object, inscribed with a circle and a smaller circle inside it at the bottom. 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. had seen the same script on three other fragments and none of the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. he had asked could read it. What set this fragment apart was a separate line of writing in standard AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. beneath the alien symbols. It identified the smaller circle as a red star and placed it north of 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., past IconoxIconoxIconox is a village of the Ice Tribe, situated in the White Quartz Mountains., in country no living AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. had visited.

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. of IconoxIconoxIconox is a village of the Ice Tribe, situated in the White Quartz Mountains., a homesick Ice TribeIce TribeOne of Bara Magna's six major tribes, the Ice Tribe produced legendary Glatorian like Strakk and survived the Shattering intact. AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system., would know the mountain passes. CrotesiusCrotesiusA Vulcanus pilot who went from dismissing legends to answering one in Riddle of the Great Beings. of VulcanusVulcanusThe Fire Tribe's settlement on Bara Magna, caught between resources and threats. was a Fire TribeFire TribeThe master smiths of Bara Magna who forged tools for all tribes before the Shattering scattered them into conflict. driver who owned a sand stalker and a working appetite for risk. 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. approached the two with a deliberately implausible cover story about easy treasure in the north, on the theory that CrotesiusCrotesiusA Vulcanus pilot who went from dismissing legends to answering one in Riddle of the Great Beings. would only take the trip seriously if he were certain he was being lied to. The recruitment succeeded on those terms, and the three AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. left AteroAteroThe free city at the heart of Bara Magna, home to the Arena Magna and the Great Tournament, destroyed by Tuma and the Skrall during the opening match. before the closing matches of the tournament.

IconoxIconoxIconox is a village of the Ice Tribe, situated in the White Quartz Mountains. sat at the southern edge of 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., the last AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. settlement on the northern trade road. 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.'s familiarity with the country bought the expedition fresh sand stalker mounts, a sack of dried ThornaxThornaxThornax was a hardy desert fruit native to Bara Magna, eaten unripe as stew and fired ripe from launchers across Glatorian and Skrall ranks., and a route through a pass that the IconoxIconoxIconox is a village of the Ice Tribe, situated in the White Quartz Mountains. patrols still walked. Beyond the pass the country changed. The white peaks rose in cliffs the patrols had never been ordered to climb. The wind carried the scent of cold iron, which CrotesiusCrotesiusA Vulcanus pilot who went from dismissing legends to answering one in Riddle of the Great Beings. identified as the trace odour of 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.' wartime alloys still oxidising in the high air. There were no recent tracks and no recent wildlife.

On the second morning CrotesiusCrotesiusA Vulcanus pilot who went from dismissing legends to answering one in Riddle of the Great Beings. noticed the wolves. He counted six or eight, half-glimpsed at the edge of the boulder fields, moving silently and never closing the distance. The sand stalkers were strong, but the wolves were faster. The expedition laid a false trail, sent one mount off riderless in another direction, and left part of the food cache on a rock to slow the pursuit. The wolves ignored every measure. By the time the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. had ridden through a full night and into a second dawn, it was obvious the pack was not behaving like hungry animals. It was herding them.

The country narrowed. A trail along a ridge above an abyss left no room to retreat. The wolves closed in across the open ground ahead, the sand stalkers refused to advance, and the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. dismounted to fight on foot. At that moment the trail above them filled with the howl of more wolves. The original pack drove the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. forward by sheer pressure of numbers, and the entire body of riders, mounts and wolves spilled into a deep cleft in the rock that opened into the den.

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 the Iron Wolves#

The den was warm, lit by a low fire and furnished with the broken shields and weapon-stands of a Core War command tent, all of it preserved in the dry mountain cold. A figure rose from beside the fire and limped forward through the wolves, brushing their muzzles aside. 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. recognised him at once. 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., presumed killed at the close of the Core War, was the most famous Ice TribeIce TribeOne of Bara Magna's six major tribes, the Ice Tribe produced legendary Glatorian like Strakk and survived the Shattering intact. warrior never accounted for in the post-Shattering census. The IconoxIconoxIconox is a village of the Ice Tribe, situated in the White Quartz Mountains. archives had recorded his death three times in three different battles. None of those reports had been correct.

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 alive but ruined. His armour was twisted, his spine bent, his right side dragging. He explained the wolves with the unconcerned authority of a soldier recounting facts that no longer needed proving. They were Iron WolvesThe Iron WolvesBiomechanical wolves built by the Great Beings for the Core War, the Iron Wolves outlasted the Shattering and held the northern range of Bara Magna beside the warrior Surel., 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.' military projects, designed for the Core War and trained as a pack by 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. personally. When the Shattering had broken the original world apart and the rest of his unit had moved on without him, the wolves had stayed. They had brought him food and kept the higher predators of the mountains off his camp for a span of years he did not bother to count.

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 less interested in the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. than in the fragment they carried. When 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. produced the plate, the older warrior inhaled sharply and read both inscriptions without effort. The red star, he said, denoted the Valley of the Maze, the seat of the Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed. themselves, hidden somewhere north of the mountains, and the heart of the Maze held a final riddle which no expedition had ever solved and returned from. He told the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. bluntly that they should turn back. He also told them that IconoxIconoxIconox is a village of the Ice Tribe, situated in the White Quartz Mountains. could not be made safe regardless, because 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. was at large in the heights above their position and had been hunting the Element Lord of FireElement Lord of FireFormer Glatorian of the Fire Tribe, remade by the Great Beings into an immortal being of pure flame, ruler of the Fire Tribe through the Core War, and the elemental claimant whose feud with the Element Lord of Ice broke open again in the White Quartz Mountains. for longer than the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. had been alive.

The Element Lord of Ice and the avalanche#

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. had barely finished speaking when proof of the second claim arrived. A roar from the peak above the den built within seconds into the sound of an entire snowfield breaking loose. 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., identifying the Element Lord of FireElement Lord of FireFormer Glatorian of the Fire Tribe, remade by the Great Beings into an immortal being of pure flame, ruler of the Fire Tribe through the Core War, and the elemental claimant whose feud with the Element Lord of Ice broke open again in the White Quartz Mountains.'s position somewhere on the slope below, had triggered an avalanche calibrated to bury the valley wholesale. The wolves and the sand stalkers panicked. 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.

The Element Lord of FireElement Lord of FireFormer Glatorian of the Fire Tribe, remade by the Great Beings into an immortal being of pure flame, ruler of the Fire Tribe through the Core War, and the elemental claimant whose feud with the Element Lord of Ice broke open again in the White Quartz Mountains. reached the valley first. A column of heat rose to meet the falling ice, and what hit the floor was not snow but a flash of vapour and a wall of white steam. The AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. survived the strike untouched. From the rim 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. could make out the silhouettes of the two combatants exchanging fire across the cleft, neither acknowledging the small party below, both treating the mountain itself as a single round in a war that had not paused since the Shattering.

When the steam cleared, 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 preparing to send the expedition on. The fragment, he said, was older than the Core War. The Maze was real. The AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. would die going north, but they would die going south as well now that the Element Lord of FireElement Lord of FireFormer Glatorian of the Fire Tribe, remade by the Great Beings into an immortal being of pure flame, ruler of the Fire Tribe through the Core War, and the elemental claimant whose feud with the Element Lord of Ice broke open again in the White Quartz Mountains. had announced his position. He pointed the way past the den, named the next obstacle as the Forest of BladesForest of BladesThe high-plain forest north of the White Quartz Mountains where Core War soldiers stood frozen as bladed trees in the territory of the Element Lord of Jungle. and the one beyond that as the River Dormus, and refused to come with them. The wolves were his concern, and they could not leave the mountains.

The Forest of Blades#

The country beyond 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 valley opened into a high plain dotted with trees of an unfamiliar species, each roughly the height of an AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system., with a single trunk and arms ending in what at distance looked like leaves. The wind through the plain produced not the rustle of foliage but a high keening like a chorus of the dead. 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. was the first to look closely. The leaves were sword blades. Each tree clutched a Core War weapon in each of its limbs, and the trunks retained the faint outlines of the soldiers they had once been.

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. turned back at this point. The discovery that the trees were petrified soldiers from his own great-grandfather's war was the limit of what he could accept. 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 CrotesiusCrotesiusA Vulcanus pilot who went from dismissing legends to answering one in Riddle of the Great Beings. asked him to carry a message south: to confirm to the VulcanusVulcanusThe Fire Tribe's settlement on Bara Magna, caught between resources and threats. and 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. command that the Element LordsElement LordsSeven elemental warriors transformed by the Great Beings who refused to end their war even after the world broke. were free and that an expedition was continuing north. 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. accepted, mounted the spare sand stalker, and turned for the pass.

CrotesiusCrotesiusA Vulcanus pilot who went from dismissing legends to answering one in Riddle of the Great Beings. and 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. entered the forest on foot. The trees did not attack while the AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. kept their hands away from the weapons. The trees did, however, mark the boundary of the country claimed by the Element Lord of JungleElement Lord of JungleThe Element Lord of Jungle was a being native to Spherus Magna who was formerly of the Glatorian species, wielded power over the jungle element, and carried a sword. A member of the Element Lords, the individual once led the Jungle Tribe and bore green coloration., who emerged from the deeper growth in person to demand information 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. did not possess. When it became clear that the expedition had nothing to trade, the trees began to close. 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. reappeared at this moment carrying a lit torch. He had ridden back. He threw the torch into the undergrowth, the Element Lord of JungleElement Lord of JungleThe Element Lord of Jungle was a being native to Spherus Magna who was formerly of the Glatorian species, wielded power over the jungle element, and carried a sword. A member of the Element Lords, the individual once led the Jungle Tribe and bore green coloration. scattered into the smoke to put the fire out, and the three AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. made it across the burning forest at a run.

The River Dormus and the Element Lord of Rock#

The river beyond the forest was wide, cold and fast. The AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. entered intending to swim and were pulled under within yards by a hand of water that did not belong to any of them. The hand was the Element Lord of WaterElement Lord of WaterFormer Glatorian of the Water Tribe, remade by the Great Beings into a being of living water, ruler of the Water Tribe during the Core War, and the elemental claimant who dragged the Tarduk expedition under the River Dormus., attempting the same interrogation the Lord of Jungle had begun. They did not drown. As the river began to freeze around them, courtesy of the Lord of Ice's overhead strike at the Lord of Water, a figure of grey stone reached into the water and dragged the three AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. onto the bank.

The figure was the Element Lord of RockElement Lord of RockFormer leader-class Skrall remade by the Great Beings into a being of living stone, ruler of the Rock Tribe during the Core War, and the elemental claimant who turned the river fight in the Valley of the Maze.. It addressed 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. in 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 own voice and briefly resolved into a perfect grey statue of the Jungle AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system., an act of casual shapeshifting that none of the survivors found reassuring. The Lord of Rock told the three plainly that rock was already unyielding and that the power of the Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed. added to it would render the planet safe for no one but him. He gave them permission to continue on one condition, that they remove no object from the Valley of the Maze, and warned them never to return. The rock statue of 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. crumbled to dust.

Spirit's Wish and the return#

Beyond the river the country flattened into a corridor that ended at an ornately carved stone arch. Across the top, in legible AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system., were the words Spirit's Wish. 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. knew the name from a single inscription he had once read in a 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. ruin. The legend, never verified by any returning expedition, was that the arch granted the dearest wish of any traveller who passed beneath it. The AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system. agreed that the dearest wish of each present was to reach the Valley of the Maze and walked under the arch.

The arch did not deliver them to the Maze. It was a teleportation device 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., designed to read the mind of the user and dispatch the user to the destination most wanted. What the arch read in each of the three AgoriAgoriThe villager species of Bara Magna, organised by tribe and settlement, who governed their villages and arranged the Glatorian arena system., beneath the conscious wish to find the Maze, was the older and stronger wish to go home. It sent them home. The three woke separately in the burning ruins of AteroAteroThe free city at the heart of Bara Magna, home to the Arena Magna and the Great Tournament, destroyed by Tuma and the Skrall during the opening match., struck during their absence by the SkrallSkrallA black-armored warrior species from Spherus Magna that dominated northern Bara Magna under Tuma's rule. in the assault that ended the southern villages' tournament city.

CrotesiusCrotesiusA Vulcanus pilot who went from dismissing legends to answering one in Riddle of the Great Beings. walked toward VulcanusVulcanusThe Fire Tribe's settlement on Bara Magna, caught between resources and threats. to find out who had survived. 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., identifying the destruction of the arena, started back for IconoxIconoxIconox is a village of the Ice Tribe, situated in the White Quartz Mountains.. 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. stood among the broken stones, looked at the smoke rising from the southern road, and turned his face north. He would tell the 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. command what he could about the expedition, hand over the fragment if anyone wanted it, and ride out before the next dawn. The Maze had not been reached. The fragment had not been answered. The questions were still north.

Aftermath#

The expedition's confirmed outcomes were narrow and significant. It established for the southern villages that the Element LordsElement LordsSeven elemental warriors transformed by the Great Beings who refused to end their war even after the world broke. had survived the Shattering and resumed their war beyond 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., a confirmation the village historians had not previously been able to make. It produced the only first-person witness to 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 survival, ending a hundred-thousand-year-old gap in the IconoxIconoxIconox is a village of the Ice Tribe, situated in the White Quartz Mountains. war records. It documented the Iron WolvesThe Iron WolvesBiomechanical wolves built by the Great Beings for the Core War, the Iron Wolves outlasted the Shattering and held the northern range of Bara Magna beside the warrior Surel. as a coherent surviving pack still under a Great BeingsThe Great BeingsScholar-inventors of Spherus Magna whose creations shaped the Matoran Universe and whose absence defined the conflicts that followed. handler's command. It put the legend of the Spirit's Wish into the record as engineering rather than myth. And it placed on a map, for the first time, the rumoured site of the Valley of the Maze, which TumaTumaTuma rose from the survivors of the Baterra massacre to rule the Skrall Empire from Roxtus until Mata Nui defeated him in single combat. would later extract from the Sisters of the SkrallSisters of the SkrallThe female Skrall faction, exiled from their males and armed with innate psionic powers that made them the true rulers of the Rock Tribe. by reference to the same site and which the body bearing the Great Spirit's consciousness would walk into in person at the conclusion of the Bara MagnaBara MagnaA desert world of tribal warfare and scarce resources, one of three landmasses that formed Spherus Magna. campaign.

The expedition's surviving members continued in different directions. CrotesiusCrotesiusA Vulcanus pilot who went from dismissing legends to answering one in Riddle of the Great Beings. returned to VulcanusVulcanusThe Fire Tribe's settlement on Bara Magna, caught between resources and threats.. 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. rejoined IconoxIconoxIconox is a village of the Ice Tribe, situated in the White Quartz Mountains. and contributed to the construction of the Mega-Village in the reformed era. 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. rode north again as he had said he would. The fragment that had begun the journey passed eventually into the hands of the same coalition that would oppose TumaTumaTuma rose from the survivors of the Baterra massacre to rule the Skrall Empire from Roxtus until Mata Nui defeated him in single combat. at RoxtusRoxtusThe largest Agori village on Bara Magna and the seat of Tuma's Skrall, Roxtus was the centre of the Empire of the Skrall until Mata Nui defeated Tuma in single combat., and the answers it implied would not be paid out until the Great Spirit himself walked through the Valley of the Maze and returned with the power source that turned the village into a robot and ended the war.