Vorzakh

The Vorzakh were the VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming. model assigned to Le-MetruLe-MetruThe teal district where Le-Matoran managed everything that moved through Metru Nui, from chutes to airships., the air and transportation 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. given over to the chute control, the airships, and the wider network of vehicles that moved cargo and MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. across the city. Like every other VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming. line they were designed by the Onu-MatoranOnu-MatoranEarth-wielding Matoran of the deep who adapted to darkness and built the Matoran Universe's defensive cavalry. engineer NuparuNuparuAn Onu-Matoran engineer from Metru Nui who built the Boxor and rose to become a Toa of Earth despite no warrior destiny. as law enforcement for Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive. and built en masse by 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. fabricators, and like 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. of Ko-MetruKo-MetruKo-Metru was Metru Nui's frozen intellectual quarter, home to the scholarly Ko-Matoran race. and the NuurakhNuurakhThe Vahki model assigned to Ta-Metru, the Nuurakh were the fastest of the order-force lines and used Staffs of Command to push a single overriding directive into the mind of any Matoran they struck. of Ta-MetruTa-MetruThe fire district where Ta-Matoran perfected their craft and powered Metru Nui's industry for thousands of years., each model was tuned to the temperament of its district. Where a 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. deduced and a NuurakhNuurakhThe Vahki model assigned to Ta-Metru, the Nuurakh were the fastest of the order-force lines and used Staffs of Command to push a single overriding directive into the mind of any Matoran they struck. ambushed, the Vorzakh did neither. The Vorzakh had no patience for a long chase and would rather smash a path straight through whatever stood between the squad and its target.

Role in Le-MetruLe-MetruThe teal district where Le-Matoran managed everything that moved through Metru Nui, from chutes to airships.#

Le-MetruLe-MetruThe teal district where Le-Matoran managed everything that moved through Metru Nui, from chutes to airships. was the air and transportation 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., the control centre for most forms of transport in the city including the chute network, the airships, and every other new vehicle Le-MatoranLe-MatoranGreen-powered Matoran obsessed with thrills and transport. They're basically Bionicle's daredevils. engineers were prototyping at the time. Its civic life was organised around movement: chute traffic moved MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. and small cargo above the ground at speed, airships moved larger cargo across the city, and the test tracks on the district's edge carried whatever new design Le-MatoranLe-MatoranGreen-powered Matoran obsessed with thrills and transport. They're basically Bionicle's daredevils. volunteers were trialling that week. Enforcement of order in such an environment meant something different than it did in the foundries of Ta-MetruTa-MetruThe fire district where Ta-Matoran perfected their craft and powered Metru Nui's industry for thousands of years. or the silent Knowledge TowersKnowledge TowerThe crystalline spires of Ko-Metru that housed memory crystals, sheltered the district's Scholars, and stored much of the city's accumulated knowledge. of Ko-MetruKo-MetruKo-Metru was Metru Nui's frozen intellectual quarter, home to the scholarly Ko-Matoran race.. It meant the ability to chase a target inside a chute, the ability to intercept an airship in flight, and the willingness to break a piece of infrastructure if breaking it ended the pursuit faster than following it would have.

The Vorzakh provided that enforcement. Squads patrolled the chute stations that fed the district's main lines, the airship yards on the surface below, and the wider tangle of wires and chute towers that gave Le-MetruLe-MetruThe teal district where Le-Matoran managed everything that moved through Metru Nui, from chutes to airships. the look of a mechanised jungle. A Vorzakh emerging from a VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming. hive at the edge of a chute platform was as familiar a sight to the Le-MatoranLe-MatoranGreen-powered Matoran obsessed with thrills and transport. They're basically Bionicle's daredevils. couriers as the chute couriers themselves, and the official animated short for the model dramatised exactly that environment: a Vorzakh stepped out of a hive over the slogan that the model existed for peace and the law, chased a HunaHunaThe Kanohi Huna granted full invisibility to its wearer, with the limitation that the user's shadow remained visible and detectable.-wearing Le-MatoranLe-MatoranGreen-powered Matoran obsessed with thrills and transport. They're basically Bionicle's daredevils. into a chute, fired a KanokaKanoka DisksMetru Nui's most versatile artifact: flying disks equally at home in sport, combat, and crafting. disk from its mouth into the chute behind him, and was still on his tail when the chute ended.

The model's profile matched its surroundings. Where a 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. might appear as a reflection in an ice crystal and a NuurakhNuurakhThe Vahki model assigned to Ta-Metru, the Nuurakh were the fastest of the order-force lines and used Staffs of Command to push a single overriding directive into the mind of any Matoran they struck. stood deliberately visible on a forge gantry, a Vorzakh moved through Le-MetruLe-MetruThe teal district where Le-Matoran managed everything that moved through Metru Nui, from chutes to airships. as if patience itself were the obstacle. The Vorzakh wanted the chase over.

The impatience directive#

The most distinctive feature of the Vorzakh was tactical. Each unit had been programmed with what amounted to an impatience directive: given a target and a route, the Vorzakh would not commit to a long pursuit. The Vorzakh would commit to ending the pursuit as quickly as possible by whatever means were available, which in practice meant smashing through whatever obstacle stood between the squad and its target rather than working around it. The model, much like the ZadakhZadakhThe Vahki model assigned to Po-Metru, the Zadakh were the strongest of the order-force lines and carried Staffs of Suggestion that left any Matoran they struck willing to follow orders from almost anyone. of Po-MetruPo-MetruMetru Nui's Stone District, home to carvers whose work defined the city and site of an ancient conflict that threatened to divide it., had no patience for extended chases; unlike the ZadakhZadakhThe Vahki model assigned to Po-Metru, the Zadakh were the strongest of the order-force lines and carried Staffs of Suggestion that left any Matoran they struck willing to follow orders from almost anyone., the Vorzakh were lazy, treated the chase itself as an inconvenience, and preferred a short brutal resolution over a long elegant one.

The directive favoured the Le-MetruLe-MetruThe teal district where Le-Matoran managed everything that moved through Metru Nui, from chutes to airships. terrain in particular. The chute network was infrastructure; it could be broken. The airship yards were infrastructure; they could be grounded. A target who had taken to a chute could be denied the route by destroying a section of the chute ahead of the target rather than chased through to the end of the line, and the Vorzakh would prefer that solution every time. The model's impatience was, in Le-MetruLe-MetruThe teal district where Le-Matoran managed everything that moved through Metru Nui, from chutes to airships., a tactical asset rather than a flaw.

The chute-destruction tactic was demonstrated against 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. directly during the flight of VakamaVakamaA Ta-Metru maskmaker transformed into the Toa Metru of Fire, leader of his team through the Visorak war, and Turaga of Ta-Koro for a thousand years., NokamaNokamaNokama served as Toa Metru of Water, endured the Hordika mutation, and led Ga-Koro and later Ga-Metru as Turaga through three eras., and MatauMatauA former Le-Metru test driver who became a Toa Metru, Matau wielded air, illusion, and shape-shifting before sacrificing his Toa power to wake the sleeping Matoran. from the impostor TuragaTuragaFormer Toa who fulfilled their destiny and transformed into leaders. Turaga wield Noble Kanohi masks and weakened elemental powers, guiding their communities. DumeTuraga DumeThe Turaga of Metru Nui for sixteen thousand years, a former Toa of Fire who saved Lhikan's life and was abducted and impersonated by Teridax.. MatauMatauA former Le-Metru test driver who became a Toa Metru, Matau wielded air, illusion, and shape-shifting before sacrificing his Toa power to wake the sleeping Matoran., pursued through a Le-MetruLe-MetruThe teal district where Le-Matoran managed everything that moved through Metru Nui, from chutes to airships. chute by a BordakhBordakhThe Vahki model assigned to Ga-Metru, the Bordakh patrolled the canals and schools of the academic district and carried Staffs of Loyalty that turned any Matoran they struck into a willing informant against their own friends. squad after the rooftop encounter that had struck NokamaNokamaNokama served as Toa Metru of Water, endured the Hordika mutation, and led Ga-Koro and later Ga-Metru as Turaga through three eras. with a Staff of Loyalty, was forced to react when he noticed that a section of the chute ahead of him had already been destroyed by a Vorzakh squad on a separate intercept assignment. MatauMatauA former Le-Metru test driver who became a Toa Metru, Matau wielded air, illusion, and shape-shifting before sacrificing his Toa power to wake the sleeping Matoran. hooked his Aero SlicersAero SlicersThe Toa Tools wielded by Toa Metru Matau, capable of channeling Air, serving as melee blades, and catching wind to permit limited gliding flight. on one of the chute rings and stopped himself in time. The BordakhBordakhThe Vahki model assigned to Ga-Metru, the Bordakh patrolled the canals and schools of the academic district and carried Staffs of Loyalty that turned any Matoran they struck into a willing informant against their own friends., committed to the pursuit and unable to stop, flew out of the broken chute and crashed to the ground beyond. The Vorzakh that had cut the chute were not present at the crash site; they had broken the route and moved on.

Staffs of Erasing#

The Vorzakh's standard armament was the Staff of Erasing, a two-pronged shock staff that operated not by injuring the target and not by directing the target, but by emptying the target. A MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. struck by the staff had their higher mental functions temporarily eliminated. Memory, judgement, language, the capacity for planned action; all of it went offline at the moment of contact. What remained was motor function alone. The victim could still walk, could still grip an object, could still respond to immediate stimuli, but could no longer decide where to walk to, what to do with the object, or why the stimulus had occurred.

The effect produced a category of victim that the Le-MatoranLe-MatoranGreen-powered Matoran obsessed with thrills and transport. They're basically Bionicle's daredevils. had come to recognise on sight. Empty walkers were a regular enough occurrence in Le-MetruLe-MetruThe teal district where Le-Matoran managed everything that moved through Metru Nui, from chutes to airships. that the population had given them a name: shamblers, after the way the affected MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. moved through the streets when the Vorzakh that had struck them was no longer interested in following up. The Vorzakh's impatience extended to the consequences of the staff as well. A struck target was no longer the squad's concern; the directive considered the disturbance ended once the strike had landed, and the shambler that resulted was left to wander until another MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. collected the victim or the higher functions returned on their own.

The same staff was issued to the specialist combiner unit KranuaKranuaThe specialist Vahki combiner formed from Nuurakh, Rorzakh, and Vorzakh components, the Kranua could collapse into living protodermis sand to chase lawbreakers through cracks and gratings and reform on the other side., the larger VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming. formed by combining Vorzakh, NuurakhNuurakhThe Vahki model assigned to Ta-Metru, the Nuurakh were the fastest of the order-force lines and used Staffs of Command to push a single overriding directive into the mind of any Matoran they struck., and RorzakhRorzakhThe Vahki model assigned to Onu-Metru, the Rorzakh were utterly relentless and carried Staffs of Presence that turned the affected Matoran into an involuntary audio and visual transmitter for their squad. components and called in when a single squad could not contain a disturbance. KranuaKranuaThe specialist Vahki combiner formed from Nuurakh, Rorzakh, and Vorzakh components, the Kranua could collapse into living protodermis sand to chase lawbreakers through cracks and gratings and reform on the other side.'s ability to compress itself through narrow cracks and reform on the other side of a wall made it particularly suited to the Le-MetruLe-MetruThe teal district where Le-Matoran managed everything that moved through Metru Nui, from chutes to airships. chute infrastructure, where a target who had escaped one chute could find KranuaKranuaThe specialist Vahki combiner formed from Nuurakh, Rorzakh, and Vorzakh components, the Kranua could collapse into living protodermis sand to chase lawbreakers through cracks and gratings and reform on the other side. reforming inside the next one over.

The chute that the Vorzakh cut#

The Vorzakh's most documented field action was the chute-destruction sequence above. The sequence is characteristic of the kind of opposition the model could mount, and characteristic of the kind that could be turned against the lines that worked alongside it. The Vorzakh had not been chasing MatauMatauA former Le-Metru test driver who became a Toa Metru, Matau wielded air, illusion, and shape-shifting before sacrificing his Toa power to wake the sleeping Matoran. directly. The Vorzakh had been working a separate intercept that happened to lie on the chute the BordakhBordakhThe Vahki model assigned to Ga-Metru, the Bordakh patrolled the canals and schools of the academic district and carried Staffs of Loyalty that turned any Matoran they struck into a willing informant against their own friends. were pursuing him through, and the route-cut the Vorzakh executed for their own assignment fed straight into the BordakhBordakhThe Vahki model assigned to Ga-Metru, the Bordakh patrolled the canals and schools of the academic district and carried Staffs of Loyalty that turned any Matoran they struck into a willing informant against their own friends. error of committing to a pursuit they could no longer break off from. The same incident illustrated the model's preferred resolution. The Vorzakh did not attempt to chase MatauMatauA former Le-Metru test driver who became a Toa Metru, Matau wielded air, illusion, and shape-shifting before sacrificing his Toa power to wake the sleeping Matoran. once the chute had been cut. The cut was the resolution, as far as the Vorzakh squad was concerned, and the squad had moved on by the time the BordakhBordakhThe Vahki model assigned to Ga-Metru, the Bordakh patrolled the canals and schools of the academic district and carried Staffs of Loyalty that turned any Matoran they struck into a willing informant against their own friends. hit the ground.

A number of Vorzakh were also among the VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming. forces accounted for in the city's defensive posture in the period immediately before the VisorakVisorak (Rahi)Spider-like Rahi employed by the Brotherhood of Makuta whose name meant 'Stealers of Life' and whose swarms threatened the Matoran Universe. invasion, by which point the VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming. corps had been substantially reduced from its pre-Cataclysm strength.

Cataclysm and end of service#

The Vorzakh's operational life ended with the rest of the VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming. corps when TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna., at that point still posing as TuragaTuragaFormer Toa who fulfilled their destiny and transformed into leaders. Turaga wield Noble Kanohi masks and weakened elemental powers, guiding their communities. DumeTuraga DumeThe Turaga of Metru Nui for sixteen thousand years, a former Toa of Fire who saved Lhikan's life and was abducted and impersonated by Teridax., absorbed the city's entire power grid through the Coliseum array to amplify his own strength. Most of the VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming. units present in their hives were destroyed by the surge, and the Vorzakh hives in Le-MetruLe-MetruThe teal district where Le-Matoran managed everything that moved through Metru Nui, from chutes to airships. were not spared. The district itself was devastated in the same event, with the chute network broken across multiple lines and the airship yards rendered unusable, and the Vorzakh garrisons posted across the chute stations went down with the infrastructure around them.

The handful of survivors emerged with their programming rewritten. The original non-lethal directive was replaced with the post-surge variant common to every surviving VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming. model: order was now to be maintained by leaving nothing alive, and the surge had given the surviving staffs more power to make that order stick. Their staffs no longer wiped; they destroyed. In that altered state the remaining Vorzakh persisted through the early evacuation period until the VisorakVisorak (Rahi)Spider-like Rahi employed by the Brotherhood of Makuta whose name meant 'Stealers of Life' and whose swarms threatened the Matoran Universe. invasion of Metru NuiMetru NuiThe city beneath Mata Nui functions as the Great Spirit's brain, housing the Matoran whose labor keeps the god alive. reached the city, at which point the spider 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. destroyed them along with the rest of the surviving VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming. population. No Vorzakh unit was confirmed to have outlived the invasion. The model had been the VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming. line that broke the chute rather than chase through it, and the line whose staff could leave a fleeing MatoranMatoranThe most abundant species in the Matoran Universe, chosen by Mata Nui to inhabit and maintain his cosmic body. standing motionless in the middle of a Le-MetruLe-MetruThe teal district where Le-Matoran managed everything that moved through Metru Nui, from chutes to airships. street with nothing behind the eyes but the motor function needed to take the next step.