#balkar

Balkar, Toa of Stone

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Balkar used to be in a cult.

The Cult of Ignika was one of the many spiritual growing pains caused by the chaos of the great rejoining and the sudden mixing of matoran and agori culture. They were essentially a doomsday cult that believed that Mata Nui had become an evil spirit of stagnation that was holding back the power of their true god: the Kanohi Ignika itself. One day soon the Ignika would break free from the prison of Mata Nui’s will and wreak havoc upon the universe. Those who renounced Mata Nui and accepted the natural cycle of destruction and creation that the Ignika longed to bring about would be rewarded with new life in the reborn world.

The members of the Cult of Ignika were rarely welcome in matoran and agori communities, but for a while they were allowed to exist and do their own strange thing so long as they didn’t bother anyone. Then they began to attack and burn matoran temples honoring Mata Nui. Turaga Dume ordered that the cult be destroyed. The leaders were captured and imprisoned, and the cultists and low-level leaders like Balkar scattered and hid in the wilderness until they could slip back into society unnoticed.

Balkar spent many years in just such a state. In hiding. Sulking. But he’s recently found himself called to a new cause: Onezu’s empire. No one is sure how exactly the two found each other, but Onezu needed an army, and Balkar’s experience observing the leadership of the Cult of Ignika meant he knew how to manipulate large groups of people. Over the span of a few short years Balkar has helped Onezu grow his military might from a handful of rahkshi and brainwashed shadow toa to legions of willing, fanatically loyal warriors of all kinds. Balkar’s never been much of a fighting type himself, but his mastery of mob psychology and the art of public speaking is not to be underestimated. He heads up what is essentially Onezu’s public relation’s team (made up of Balkar’s old cultist friends that he gathered and recruited), and he’s the one that rallies the troops before a battle.

But what of Balkar’s own beliefs? Well, he claims to believe what he preaches to the troops: that Makuta Onezu Nuva is the Kanohi Ignika incarnate, come to conquer the world and remake it in his image as was promised to the cultists so long ago. Of course, that could just be a ploy to put himself in control of the army so that he can stage a coup and take the throne for himself when Onezu’s grand imperial plans come to fruition. No one knows how loyal Balkar actually is except Balkar. But whatever the case, Onezu plans to eliminate Balkar the moment he is no longer useful. Not necessarily because he thinks Balkar will betray him... but rather because his incessant grovelling and his screeching, fanatical speeches are some of the most irritating things Onezu has had to endure in his entire existence.

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So... this is the FIRST EVER COMPLETELY NEW MOC I’M POSTING ON THIS BLOG!

*party noisemaker sounds*

So do you guys ever design a character in your head expressly for the purpose of being pathetic so you can take pictures of your hero characters beating him up? And then you actually build him and you think, “Damn he looks really cool. I really wish I hadn’t conceptualized him for the EXPRESS PURPOSE of being a pathetic weakling for other people to beat up.”

That’s this guy for me.

So yeah. An evil, cult-leader toa of stone. He’s the second of my 3 major villain characters for Rise of Onezu (though I also have a bunch of minor minion-type villains planned that I may or may not actually build. Oh, and Veltaz and Kelot are also major villains but I didn’t count them since they are morally gray hired mercenaries).

Muslims attending prayer at the central mosque Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkariya. Photographed by Thomas Dworzak.