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rebuiltbionicle · 5 years ago

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Stelt

Stelt is an island in the east of the central dome, with a reputation throughout the universe as a site of corruption and inequity. For the most part, it was a convenient free port, with only light taxation and tarifs and a complete lack of supervision. It was ruled by several clans of aristocratic overlords that reigned over run down slums and coliseums.

Stelt was part of the Antami Island Chain, along with seven other islands, including Xia. Like all islands, its foundations were laid by the Great Beings but was constructed by Matoran. The landscape was dry but not totally barren. The Matoran allowed to settle there were composed of Ta, Onu, and Po-Matoran. There was no great purpose assigned to Stelt by the Great Beings. It was to be part of the political simulations of the central dome. They had no further plans for it.

In the early years of their voyage, Mata Nui was keen to create new species to help the Matoran. On a whim of inspiration, Mata Nui created three entirely new species. As it was in a single stroke, they didn’t brother spreading them all out and these species all came out of the synthesisers on Stelt. These species were the Ruhora, Napa, and Nemadin. These species failed to spread across the universe as Mata Nui intended. Instead, their natural curiosity of each other led them to remain on their island and investigate each other. The three species were initially divided their own settlements. They grew into conflict. The Ruhora placated the Matoran with trade deals and formed an alliance with the Napa to take down the Nemadin. With the Nemadin subdued primarily with Napa blood, the Ruhora promised to rebuild the Napa and used the opportunity to take control of the Napa settlement. The four species were united into a single society, but still divided by social class.

The ruler of the initial Ruhora city became the King of Stelt, but his reign was short lived. The Barraki Pridak, shortly after taking Xia, swept down the Antami islands and took Stelt with it. Pridak was more interest in conquest than micromanaging his domain, so the king (demoted to “duke”; Pridak was King) was allowed to continue ruling over Stelt and the neighbouring islands. When the Barraki were deposed and the League of Six Kingdoms began to crumble, the duke promoted himself back to King and was a noted minor barraki during the disintergration of the League. His reign was ended by the swift military action of the Brotherhood of Makuta.

Without a king, the Ruhora had to elect a new one. The city leaders each voted for themselves, and absolutely no compromise could be reached. The cities divided into their own clans and fought amongst themselves in futile attempts to become king. Though the war would lose its intensity very quickly, it would never truly end. There was no peace, but periods without fighting.

The Steltians attempted to develop their island. Anything too grandious would be destroyed by raids by rival clans, however each city had housing for its population, a modest manor for its ruling clan (palaces were instant targets), ports for trading, coliseums and casinos (initially targets, but rival clans were easily placated with complimentary chips or tickets to the next fight).

Stelt attempted to develop is wealth through trade, though the island of Rujem took business away from them with its superior location for eastern shipping. Rujem was a fairly honest by-the-book port, so Stelt competed by lowering its taxes to next-to-nothing, making only a small profit from docking fees and bribes to look the other way at smugglers and other nefarious traders. Additionally, the Ruhora drew in the wealthy from other lands to enjoy coliseum fights and other forms of gambling, and by hosting extravagant parties on their pleasure yachts.

Stelt was united under a single king only once more. A particular political and military genius of the Clan Iose, Lord Bereliose, was able to seize control of Stelt like no other since the first King had before. A single island did not satisfy Bereliose, and he began to expand his kingdom to other islands. He succeeded in conquering the bulk of the Antami Islands, but Xia resisted. They were less trained than Bereliose’s soldiers, but the Xians were armed with the most up-to-date weapons, including experimental weapons that won them the first battle. By the next battle, the Vortixx had trained a proper army and were able to fight the Steltian army off with ease. King Bereliose attempted to take his conquests elsewhere, but by then the neighbouring islands had prepared for him and resisted him like the Xians had. With his victories growing fewer, the nobles that had rallied behind Bereliose grew tired of him and he returned home to find no loyalists. The Steltians attempted to find another king, but descended back into infighting.

Stelt’s lack of vertically impressive buildings and overall low-technology state became beneficial during the Great Cataclysm. Though the quake and cutting of the lights was as cataclysmic as it was to everyone else, they took very little time to rebuild. After the dissolution of the Visorak Horde in the aftermath of the Great Rescue, the Clan Arak began tracking their movements. The Horde’s ownership by the Brotherhood of Makuta was not common knowledge at the time, so the Steltians assumed that Sidorak had conquered and ruled them by his own ingeniousness. If one Steltian could do it, surely others could? No they couldn’t. Stelt had to deal with a small scale Visorak infestation, and was dealing with the Hordika left over for the rest of its existence.

Stelt had no major political role to play in the waning years of the Matoran Universe. It continued to be free port. A few important figures to the fate of the universe passed through, such as the Order of Mata Nui team to free Makuta Miserix, and Miserix himself. When Makuta Teridax overthrew Mata Nui and became the universe, a Rahkshi crackdown immediately ensured on Stelt. Makuta was aware of its reputation as a place of under-the-table dealings, and made sure no resistance movement could operate there. This didn’t stop the Toa Nuva from rallying with surviving Order agents undetected. When it came time to evacuate the universe, a quick uprising by the Steltian people broke the Rahkshi and allowed them to join the masses moving south. Stelt was later dismantled with the rest of the universe.

...

Stelt was dominated by three biomes: desert, savanna, and bushland. It was an overall dry island. There were some underground caves, though not extensive, and there were many canyons in which some cities were built into. These canyon cities were located close to the shore where the cities could easily build up ports to encourage trade. There was often ruin and debris across the island; the remains of structures various clan leaders had tried to build. Towards the centre of the island there was wilderness, but often scarred from fighters of various factions having destructive skirmishes. Each city had a coliseum where they would regularly stage fights between Nemadin among other things. The popularity of these fights prevented their destruction by rival clans.

The Matoran inhabitants of the island were divided among the elements of Fire, Earth, and Stone. The Ta-Matoran lived just about everywhere; near the forests with the seasonal bushfires, in the deepest caverns with magma chambers, and in the scorching desert. The Onu-Matoran dwelled in the caves and in the canyons, and the Po-Matoran frequented the deserts and savanna. There was once a Toa team on Stelt, but it was shooed off the island by the Ruhora and Toa in general were barred from the island. The Matoran remained as a middle class in the system the Ruhora were building; allowed to retain their usual lives as long as they obeyed the Ruhora, and allowed to use the Napa as servants.

The foremost of the three species Mata Nui created on the island were the Ruhora. Tall, majestic, and charismatic, Mata Nui intended the Ruhora to serve as diplomats and mediators across the universe. Instead, the Ruhora chose to use their diplomatic wits to become the rulers of Stelt. They were the highest caste, and all others had to obey their dictates. They divides themselves into six clans, Clan Orak, Arak, Iose, Iel, Enaph, and Umoth. The highest ranked Ruhora were the Barons of the six cities, and the lowest ranked made their livings as business owners.

Below the Ruhora and Matoran were the Napa. The Napa were built on the same reptile face template as the Satorni and Vortixx, but made much more muscular. Mata Nui hoped they would serve the Matoran across the universe as an all-natural communicating forklift, put unceremoniously. Unfortunately they never spread far beyond Stelt. In Steltian society, they were regulated to the lower, servile caste. They performed working duties too intense for Matoran, were the servants of the Ruhora Barons, and served as the primary fighting force of the island. For the most part they remain loyal to the caste system in spite of their low status, as they’re allowed to take out their frustration on the Nemadin as much as they like.

At the very bottom of it all were the Nemadin, ironically the strongest of them all. Immense of bestial creatures, Mata Nui intended them both as a step up from the Napa and as powerful allies to the Toa, who were becoming smaller compared to the species Mata Nui was creating. Their size and strength worried the Ruhora and Napa and caused the alliance against them. They were placed at the very bottom of the caste system, made slaves in the lowest and most dangerous of jobs, and used as arena fighters in the coliseums that kept Steltian society from fracturing. Their population was kept low and generally kept separate so that uprisings would be more easily contained by the Napa. The more scrupulous Matoran, in collaboration with Toa of neighbouring lands, tried to set up a underground railroad to smuggle them off island, with varying success.

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