#ga metru

[muaka-safari]

May I ask, did you get around to writing that essay about ga-matoran in Metru Nui and their connection to the Great Temple? Not expecting anything! Just curious!

Oh, I think I wrote a bullet-pointed list on ga-matoran and their connection to the Great Temple, specifically looking at how it affects their concept of gender here, but I never wrote anything long-hand.

If a quick rundown is what you're looking for, follow that link. If you do enjoy long(ish), rambling essays from someone making far too extensive headcanons for fictional worlds, read on.

So. Ga-Metru. The metru of the ga, the metru specifically for the ga, that metru. Now, I could launch straight into the impact of Ga-Metru being Mata Nui-favoured... but this is my essay, so I'm gonna roll this a bit further back and delve into a possible reason of why Ga-Metru is favoured.

Because I have a personal headcanon that Ga-Metru's favoured status was very much a byproduct of the natural resources.

Look at it this way: You need to build a protodermis purification facility on Metru Nui. You've already built the forges and furnaces; now you need to be able to source the building material for these smithies. So you need somewhere with a lot of liquid protodermis readily at hand - somewhere, for example, like Ga-Metru.

And then, because you probably shouldn't put all your important masks in a place full of burny, melty fire, you store your kanohi mask here (instead of Ta-Metru) as the other major building in this budding metru.

So, ta-da, you now have your second major site in Metru Nui, and over time that becomes Ga-Metru, home to the Ga-Matoran. Second-eldest metru, not out of any holy significance, but because it provided an important resource.

Time passes, and your purification/storage facility becomes a place of spiritual importance. I mean, it makes sense. It's an old, vital building, storing items of power, and isn't the hot, noisy space of Ta-Metru, plus the act of purifying carries a kind of holiness to it.

So, the next logical train of thought: if Ga-Metru is home to the temple of your god, then - obviously - god must like this metru best.

Next, next logical train of thought: if Ga-Metru is the favoured metru, then those who live there must be Mata Nui's favoured matorans. Or, at least, they are spiritually closer to Mata Nui, living basically on the doorstep of your connection to him.

By this point, matoran have certainly been granted sentience, and with that comes all the messy irrationality of thinking for yourself. What a lot of religions like to do is recognise those singled out, spiritually, with a title. Father. Reverend. Back in the medieval era, catholic priests were called "Sir" the same way a knight was.

Regardless, the point is: you need a name or a title to recognise that Ga-Matoran are different. And (headcanon going strong here) because Matoran weren't programmed with a sense of gender, they only really have "he/him" for daily use, with "brother" as a title of respect.

So language does what it always does in these circumstances - it adapts. Except, well, the Matoran may not have a concept of gender, but the Great Beings who created them did. So, somewhere in that pesky programming and superfluous data, there's a not-memory of "sister" being an equivalent title to "brother" - they don't understand how it relates to gender, they just know it feels right. And with "sister" comes the pronouns "she/her" so suddenly you have a whole metru with their own special pronouns and titles.

And, ta-da! Matorans have now accidentally ungendered gendered pronouns.

I also think it adds an interesting sense of irony for any (head)canons that Ga-Matorans consider themselves above or better than other Matorans (because then their importance is built on a coincidence, rather than actual Mata Nui favour) but that's for another day - or for other people to take a crack at, if they'd like. (I know I've certainly seen some interesting posts about Ga-Matoran self-importance!)

I personally was just fascinated by the fact that the "female" Matoran are the "holy" Matoran, despite gender being nonexistant, and examining one possible reason for Ga-Metru gaining its favoured reputation. (What can I say? I love clawing my way into the cracks of existing world-building.) Feel free to agree, disagree, whatever, but these are my personal headcanons and I hope people enjoyed reading about them!

[randomwriteronline]

Le-Po-Ga Mata are nice silly guys having fun

Le-Po-Ga Mahri are juggernauts who do sports

Le-Po-Ga Metru are two insufferable assholes and the woman two minutes away from physically turning around and strangling them

[bionicle-ramblings]

Sooooo

I just learned about a character named Nixie, and now I want to just ramble about this character

For starters, she's a Ga-Matoran and her job on Mata Nui is as an Astrologer

As we all know, most if not all of the Matoran in the MU were in Metru Nui before the Great Cataclysm and they moved to Mata Nui. Despite having their memories of Metru Nui wiped, the Matoran still maintained who they were; Takua still wandered around, Jaller was still by the book, et cetera

My train of thought here is that Nixie was very much an unofficial astrologer, or at least someone who studied astrology, doing so more than other studies. Like, her studying astrology wasn't a bad thing, but it wasn’t smiled upon because she was already studying something else, like history or something

I imagine Nixie was sort of "Ga-Metru's Takua," but instead of wandering around from place to place, her mind wandered instead, to the point where her destination was the stars above, and was often possibly either late to lectures because she was in Ko-Metru to borrow a telescope or frighteningly early and would remind the teachers of things they might have missed as they taught, as if she'd somehow found out what they would be teaching

And I imagine that she was a good, but infuriating student because despite being late or ealy to classes, she would know what the teachers were teaching, even if no one told her. Eventually, enough teachers got fed up and threw her to Nokama, who was a multi-award winning student

At first, Nokama was expecting someone to be a slacker, someone who wouldn't even show up, wouldn't engage, maybe even have to be threatened by Vahki to go to a class and stay for its entirety. What she found instead was a new Matoran in her class that was the first to be there and greeted her by name and asked if they were learning about purifying protodermis, which surprised Nokama because she usually keeps her notes on her lectures under lock and key. Nixie, to calm her teacher, assured her that her notes are safe, but advised she find a better hiding spot for them; under a sleeping pallet is cliche and that's the first place anyone will look

Nokama was, rightfully, shocked and made a mental note to keep an eye out for Nixie. That unease did not go away when Nixie kept staring up at the sky rather than paying attention, yet knew what Nokama was teaching, to the point she could repeat it back to her with no problem. Or when, after class, Nixie warned Nokama to be careful near the protodermis canal, something that one of Nokama's friends told her not to worry about

She started worrying when she almost drowned after falling into the very canal, and more when Nixie arrived late to a class, racing in from Ko-Metru, and told Nokama that she's about to have great honor bestowed on her, as well as tragedy that would take centuries to heal

And that tragedy came in the form of Lhikan giving Nokama the Toa stone and Nokama becoming a Toa

Just imagine Nokama seeing Nixie again with the other Toa Metru around, and Nixie, who has only ever met Nuju and Nokama, greets Whenua, Onewa, Matau, and Vakama by name and their previous occupations. It freaks out everyone, even when Nixie's disappointed that Vakama didn't see her in his visions, though she chalks that up to her role not being THAT big to be a vision. Nuju slows her down, telling everyone that he knows Nixie because she traded trinkets for using a Ko-Metru telescope, and then she got too good at seeing ahead. Nixie calls him a slow-poke, and Nuju tells Nokama she has a smart student

And, to go back to something I was saying before, I imagine that with her foresight, Nokama is worried because there's that occasional, "I'm being watched," feeling she gets, and later sees Vhisola GLARING at Nixie as Nixie stares up at the sky and tries to see the stars, even when it's broad daylight. Nixie does mean well, proven when she shows Nokama bits of an artifact she found and had to fist fight another Matoran for(don't ask), I just love the image of Vhisloa glaring at Nixie, seething at how a star staring know-it-all can both take Nokama's attention amd also be a source of Nokama's fear, when really Nixie is trying to read the stars and see which way home is the best trying to see how long it takes for stars to be hidden when the twin suns rise

Back to Toa stuff, imagine Nixie seeing Nokama leave Ga-Metru and, when asked to elaborate on the "tragedy" she foresaw, she only tells Nokama that a shadow is growing in Metru Nui and if she told Nokama what she saw, Nokama would hesitate and she's not in a position to do that anymore. With very ounce of respect she has, Nixie wishes Nokama luck on her journey and thanks her for being such a wonderful teacher and an amazing Toa. Nokama points out how Nixie makes it sound like they'll never see each other again, and Nixie admits she'd rather not elaborate on that

And Nokama only understands why when she becomes a Turaga and finds Nixie again, only now Nixie is staring up at a new night sky and is speechless at both how beautiful it is and how exciting it is to have something new to learn

[irradiated-imp]

For some posts in a friend's discord server, I made my own takes on the various Matoran builds. Figured since I just did a post with the Okotoran build, why not post the rest of them? They're in order of appearance. 01/Mctoran 03/Kolhiitoran 04/Metrutoran 06/Voyatoran 07/Mahritoran 08/Av Matoran

[crisisthecon]

Here's some Toa and Matoran drawings I've done-

Featuring a Visorak

[toa-kohutti]

It's Just Paint

A drabble about a Le-Matoran and his jar of paint. Also available on Archive of Our Own.

It’s just paint. 

Aylun tried to convince himself that this was ridiculous, a waste of his time. Objectively, it was. There was no reason to be spending his quiet time doing this. If the other Matoran knew, they’d rightfully make fun and criticize him for his wastefulness. Why paint yourself, especially if it’s not even something you’re going to keep on, instead just wiping it away moments later? 

At least he would just wipe it away. There’d be nary a trace on his armor, and nobody would know and judge him. They couldn’t know he was doing such stupid things. They could label him defective and send him off to Karzahni… and Aylun never knew anyone who came back from Karzahni. 

In his little corner of Le-Metru, a small carving out of the city to call a tiny home, with little more than a bed, a few storage containers, and a mirror turned to the other side, nobody else could see him.  He didn’t have anything to be afraid of. So why, when he held the jar of color, were his fingers trembling?

It’s just paint. 

His stomach was tied up into a knot. He was defective for doing this, he had to be. But something deep in him, deeper than the feelings of shame, pushed him forward, and it told him to listen louder than that shame or even the reverence for the Three Virtues. So he did. 

He picked up an old, dry brush in his quivering grip. He took a deep breath, swallowed his fear, pride, and something else entirely, and dipped it into the jar. It was something that terrified him, and yet, as soon as he began, all of the trembling, the pit in his stomach, all the indecisiveness, evaporated. He drew the brush out, now saturated with the sticky color, and began to paint.

He started with his mask - thankfully, the style of Metru Nui masks made it so he only had to paint two-thirds of his mask, with half melting into a silver he had no problem with. Silver was a color anyone could have, but the rest of him was green. He wasn’t sure if he hated green sometimes. Some days, he bristled against the flood of it that is his Metru. Others were… fine. But he knew he hated the green on him. 

It’s just paint. 

His shoulders were next - thankfully, the green on his armor barely wrapped around to where he couldn’t reach. A little stretch and holding the brush at an awkward angle, and the green disappeared. Then his chest, his stomach, the rest of his torso. He wasn’t sure if it was going fast, or if he was just lost in it. But moments later, he was finished. He stood up, and turned the mirror over. 

In the mirror, he saw a Ga-Matoran. A girl wearing a vibrant blue mask and blue armor, not a Le-Matoran in a pallid green. And he was happy. He turned around and around, watching himself in the mirror, a looking glass to another world where he was another Matoran. His heart leapt with joy, and every movement was full of sureness. 

The paint… it made him happy. He reached out to his reflection, red eyes peering back at him behind a beautiful blue mask, and for a moment, it almost spoke to him. Her - no, his arm, was held out, as if it was urging him to step through the mirror and come with her. The girl in the mirror’s eyes were filled with a longing, as if she yearned to be real. But “she” was just Aylun, just him, wearing a color. 

It’s just paint.

“Aylun!” His daydream was cut short as his friend banged on his door. “Come on, it’s now-time for hard-work!!” He panicked. His stomach dropped again, and he rushed for the rag, ready to scrub off all of this paint before it dried. 

“I’m coming!” He called. “I’ll be there in a….” It pained him for a second to use Chutespeak, but he did it anyway. “Quick-second!” It was forced, and if they looked for it, they could tell something was up.  But it was enough, he prayed to the Great Spirit, that it would keep them from finding his secrets. 

He scrubbed the paint away, and soon, there was no trace of it he could find on his body. In the mirror he saw, now, nothing more than Aylun, his boring, defective old self. That same mirror that gave him elation moments before reminded him, painfully, like a Rahi’s claw dug into his gut and twisted, that the happiness moments before…

It’s just paint.

[quantomeno]

I keep telling myself I've had enough of making linocut prints of buildings and architecture but I keep doing them...

anyway a cool idea I had: art deco travel posters for Metru Nui

wait let me check...

...

it's kind of already been done but for other locations (and only the colosseum in Metru Nui), but that's the sort of style I'm thinking of

[downtofragglerock]

The production bible's little lore drop of "originally there were going to be six gsrs that crashed landed and Mata Nui was just one of them" has really got me thinking

The text states that they were each going to be in different and varying environments, but Mata Nui alone already had six pretty distinct biomes that covered a lot of varied ground, so what environs would be left to give a distinct feel?

[quantomeno]

I always found Metru Nui so interesting and I feel part of why it is less well-regarded (and probably why every location except Mata Nui is overlooked) is because we never got to spend as much time exploring it the way we did in MNOGI&II.

The promotional CD roms (I think they came with the toa?) gave a bit of a taste of each metru, and so did the movie and the Metru Nui guidebook, but it never felt enough. To this day I still want to see more of Ga-Metru.

I think we as a Fandom are so in love with Mata nui that we forget just how cool the other locations in this universe are

[2stepadmiral]

After arriving in Metru Nui, the Turaga began to occasionally call each of the Toa ‘brother’ or ‘sister’, partially an acknowledgment of their past lives, partially to acknowledge the success that the Toa Nuva have earned, and largely as camaraderie in the bond that they share as Toa or former Toa.

Tahu outwardly acts like it’s only right that he’d be addressed as such, trying to make others believe that he accepts it in stride, but inwardly, he is humbled by the acknowledgment. The Turaga see through his bluster and appreciate his humility.

Onua is outwardly quite humble and appreciative when it happens, but inwardly, he doesn’t quite see himself as being worthy of being addressed by such wise beings as the Turaga, who he holds in high esteem, so he usually comes off as a little bashful when he responds in kind.

The Turaga started being reluctant to call Gali ‘sister,’ largely because she reacts to the title, by pushing herself a little too hard to prove that she is worthy of the acknowledgment. She once to stayed up all night for two days while repairing an aqueduct in Ga-Metru, and when she could barely keep awake during a meeting with the Turaga, everyone immediately decided that Nokama should not call Gali sister anymore.

Kopaka typically glances at whoever called him this and slightly nods, sort of a polite acknowledgment, but those who know him best, especially Nuju, know that he is actually quite touched by the endearment, and he has to be stoic to keep up appearances. Whenua, having the best hearing, has multiple times heard Kopaka whisper ‘thank you, brother’ in response to Nuju or Vakama.

Takanuva started out being quite flustered when he was called brother by any of the elders, still being unused to being called brother even by the other Toa, but as he grew used to his powers and his responsibilities, he began to accept it in stride. He still won’t return the title, since he still uncomfortable with the idea of calling any of the Turaga by that term, but he is still moved by the respect they show him.

Lewa was delighted when they started calling him brother, But he’s also somewhat amused, often laughing when they call him that. To Lewa, it’s still difficult to imagine these wise old beings as Toa heroes, so he can’t always keep himself from laughing. Even so, he never fails to respectfully return the honorific.

The Toa Mahri have varying degrees of acceptance of the honorific. Jaller is proud to carry the title, and Hahli is eager to prove herself worthy of the honorific (though not as much as Gali). Kongo is a bit smug about it, Nuparu takes it in stride, and Hewkii tends to get sort of ‘aw, shucks’ about it. All of them are somewhat muted in their response, mostly because Nuju was the first to call them brother and sister. They all understand that Nuju calls them that as much as he does in memory of Matoro, and his regret that he never got to see his friend as a Toa and call him ‘brother’ in person. The Mahri learned the bird speak for Brother and Sister, and they always call Nuju brother right back.

And the Turaga universally agreed never to call Pohatu ‘brother’ again shortly after the first few times. After then, he began exclusively referring to the Turaga as brother or sister, always with extreme enthusiasm that the elders often find exasperating and often demanding fist bumps from any Turaga he encounters for days after. Most of them just quietly stopped calling him that, except for Onewa, who continued occasionally calling him brother when he felt he had earned it, but after Pohatu found out that Turaga Dume had been a Toa, the seven had an official meeting where they unanimously voted not to call Pohatu brother anymore. Matau still occasionally calls him that, though, because he personally thinks it’s fucking hilarious when Pohatu tries to fist bump Nuju.

[matau-the-228th]

Rahaga Nokama of Ga-Wahi.

Outside of protecting the Matoran under her care from aquatic Rahi, her primary duty is the recovery and translation of records from the sunken Water Sector Universities.

She is often seen in the waters beside the walkways of Ga-Koro with a small entourage of assorted Matoran doing their best to both take notes on her lectures and begin restoration of the materials she brings to the surface. She has invited me to participate a few times, but as Historian, I think I'm better suited to simply write about what records have been found.

It is a very rare sight to see her on land when she is not attending a meeting with the other Rahaga, as her legs degraded into fins after giving up her Toa Energy. But she can be incredibly stubborn about it, once having walked unassisted into Onu-koro to ensure the safe delivery of a relic to the restoration Archives.

One of Rahaga Onewa's projects is attempting to restore and expand the surviving Metru-era aqueducts to key points in the other Wahi to allow Nokama to travel more easily. (Though he keeps claiming that the other Wahi just need multiple supply lines as part of the reconstruction efforts)

She hypothesizes that the primary Rahi attributes that the Hordika Venom has infused her with come from Dermis Turtles and Proto Drakes

Songs: Perchance to Dream (Halo:CE OST), Floating Huts (MNOG), Achenar's Theme- Channelwood Age (Myst OST), Orinoco Flow (Enya)

[crystaltoa]

Metru Nui Aesthetics

I’ve been thinking about how each metru is a slighly different flavour of sci-fi aesthetically speaking. (Heads up, the links go to a wiki unfortunately hosted on Fandom, don’t click if you wish to avoid that site) Ko-Metru: Cyber Glacier (fairly self explanatory)

Ga-Metru: Cyberprep x cybercore (with a slight Nautical influence in the lighthouse styled architecture)

Le-Metru: Retrofuturistic ( check out those mushroom towers)

Onu-Metru: Dark Aero x Hexatron ( lots of black tech with glowy bits)

Po-Metru: Post-Apocalyptic x Decopunk ( not literally post apocalyptic pre Great cataclysm, but evokes the aesthetic through the appearance of structures that are falling into disrepair or abandoned unfinished. But the art and architectural style seems to have an art deco influence)

Ta-Metru: Heatwave x Dieselpunk ( industrial factory looking structures combined with the glow of lava and furnaces)

The dieselpunk for Ta-Metru one’s not quite perfect, as I was looking for something that evokes factories and industry more than vehicles, and I feel like there’s maybe a missing component for Ga-metru as well ( it’s not quite solarpunk but perhaps something adjacent to it?)

[legend-as-old-as-time]

Headcanon related to this: Nokama with her beliefs of her moral and spiritual superiority could've thought that she has a duty to be a spiritual guide to the others in fulfilling Mata Nui's will.

And with the headcanon that 'fire' is perceived as the traditional leader? And Vakama has visions? Of course, it makes sense! She'll be the one, as one of "Mata Nui's favored", guiding the toa of fire into that role he's meant to be! It validates her own beliefs. She will rationalize all red flags from Vakama until the Hordika arc. Otherwise it would mean... Her, wrong instead of wise?! Vakama, impure?! But they are favoured-!

(Related tangent: Which could in part explain her behavior around Vhisola. How ever they became friends, Nokama enabled and rationalized Vhisola's unhealthy behavior for a long time.

If she pointed it out instead, she'd have to admit a) that she made a mistake, b) Vhisola's behavior didn't conform with Ga-Metru's supposed moral superiority, and c) Nokama intentionally ignored it, meaning she wasn't morally in the right either.)

Inspired by @muaka-safari's analysis of Vakama's relation to anger.

My hypothesis: Nokama, while stressed too about fulfilling her duty, has a different core issue in relation to it. Rather than the aspect of fulfilling a command by her leader, she constantly thinks of her behavior. For her, her conduct is part of her duty.

She has to act a certain way. She has to be in a certain way, or she is failing.

Which makes sense. She is a teacher, after all. She has to be a role model for her students. But what if it went deeper than that?

Nokama puts a lot of stock in order, reflecting her Metru and the vahki assigned to this metru: The bordakh. These vahki carry staffs of loyalty that instill uncompromising desire for social order.

Official material depicting in-universe information describes Ga-Metru in a very flattering light. It's the city's spiritual center and said to be favored by Mata Nui himself.

None of the Ga-Metru hold any jobs in terms of repair, manifacturing, or engineering. Matoran from other Metru do these jobs for them. Ga-Metru is privileged.

But like with everything in Metru Nui, this is only one side. The side most would think about first, whether as good or bad. The other one of this reputation means that all ga-matoran must be peaceful, right? They are orderly, spiritual, wise, etc. Otherwise Mata Nui wouldn't love their Metru as much.

Ooof. Of course, some would feel arrogant about that. But mostly, that'd be a lot of pressure. If you're the favorite of the city's most important person - your God - then you have to show it that you're showing reasons why you're the favorite? And keep it up all the time?

I doubt all ga-matoran took it that deeply to heart, but some of them likely did. They have to act responsibly. Among them is Nokama.

Remember what I said farther up in the post that she thinks she has to act in and be a certain way? We see it regularly.

Nokama in the movie and in the movie's novelization [[gave the Po-Matoran a sharp look. “Your negativity pollutes this sanctuary, builder.”]]

She snaps at Matau and tells him they have to take their duties as toa seriously.

She scolds herself after she argues with Vakama in the Archives. Never mind that it's a genuinely stressful situation and the others barely ever consider that they themselves need to make an effort to argue less. In my reading it felt like she deemed it more a moral failing of hers rather than a practical concern?

She tries to mentor Vakama and steer him into the direction of being leader. We're never given a concrete in-universe reason. (Out-of-universe, the writers clearly pushed the fire toa into the leader role.) But maybe Nokama saw it as her duty and responsibility to keep teaching in the one way she could, if she wouldn't teach matoran anymore? (Not to mention that's the only connection to her old life that she still has.)

She asserts that she's a toa in the comics when Nidhiki mocks her, Matau, and Vakama to be overgrown matoran.

Feeling rejected by the Great Temple when she enters it as Toa Hordika deals a heavy blow to her. She feels impure, as if she's longer fit as she is to serve the Great Spirit in his regard.

She has a rage breakdown, yelling that "She's still a toa!"

On the other end, Nokama notably has moments as Toa Hordika, while she's trying to calm down and find stability with Gaaki's help, where she doesn't seem to care about her previous high standards anymore. She feels tempted to give into her hordika side and is much more reckless, less thinking about how she acts as a toa.

She also makes an effective and chaotic team with Matau. As @crystaltoa pointed it out, they both are now "hold my beer" types, while they act about each other as "I can't take you anywhere with me!"

As if the transformation into a hordika beast, which looks nothing like a toa's supposed to, has freed Nokama from a great weight.

(@crystaltoa She might still think back on the Great Temple, however, and wonder if the stain on her from being transformed into a Toa Hordika remains.)

[ashilean]

NAHO, toa Mangai of water (4/11)

Running along the cliffside waterways of Ga-Metru, toa Naho's work is never done, no matter how many matoran she saves. A distant--if watchful--hero, Naho has become a bit of a folk legend in the waning years of the Mangai's vigil. Striking at the opportune time, she is a surprise to allies and enemies alike, disappearing back into the mist once her job is done.

She wears the great Huna and wields a High-Pressure Launcher, concentrated blasts of water aiding in her acrobatic traversal of the city.

[tiredspacedragon]

This group of Ga-Matoran appears in the Vahki Animations, being reported to a squad of Bordakh by one of their fellow Matoran under the effect of a Staff of Loyalty. According to BS01 at least, they were smugglers.

And, well. That one on the left there.

Is that Nixie? The astrologer? I mean, maybe not, there are cases of Matoran looking identical, so it could be someone else who just looked the same, and also the appearances of the same Matoran sometimes varied dramatically between Metru Nui and Mata Nui, so Nixie may have looked entirely different back then. But like, it could be her. Same mask, same colours. Perhaps our astrologer chose a less scholarly occupation in the city of legends.

[melloryn]

i recently decided to try learning environment modeling in blender, and i thought it would be a fun learning exercise to try recreating this old ga-metru render from scratch. can't say it came out perfect, but i really enjoyed working on it, and i learned a lot about blender in the process. might try doing this with some other bonk locations