#krika

One of my favourite things to do is take a character and work backwards.

What would have to happen to a person for them to become this?

For instance, Gavla is easy. She's a smart-mouthed, vicious little peacock who felt more at home lording over the other Matoran as the Makuta's lackey than she ever did among her own.

The most likely story there is that she was never really accepted among the Av-Matoran. They might have tried to, but something about her personality or the way she did things just rubbed them the wrong way, and even if they were trying not to show it, she could tell. It wound its way through every interaction until she grew to deeply resent them all. But the same thing that kept her siblings at arms length was accepted and encouraged among the Makuta, add in that she was allowed to take her out frustrations properly now, and of course she would end up like that.

Krika's a self-fulfilling, self-loathing, self-defeating prophesy, so he's not hard either. He never thought he could be good, so he never really tried, and envies people who are or do to the point of violence.

That's the result of an environment that constantly told him there was something inherently wrong with him- probably the other Makuta too- and an internally grown jealousy problem that never got addressed because that would require admitting that he could improve, and his only comfort in being the way he is, is that it's not his fault. At some point, he probably lashed out and hurt someone very badly, no one around him was surprised, and this worldview was cemented as a way to defend himself from both of these things.

A challenge, is Gorast.

Forgot to post on time today (I'm so silly)

I don't really know the best order in which to start talking about all these so I'll just-

The immoral masks are not just immoral because their powers are bad, but also because they are actually more powerful than great masks. A tier right above but not yet legendary. Why? Because the Makuta totally would.

Some of the immoral masks are mostly immoral because of that increased power, masks like the Komau have powers that can be used in very bad ways but it doesn't get labeled as immoral, meanwhile masks like the Shelek or the Crasz which actually have less ways to be used for evil are practically feared by the Toa because of their power.

They were first created and worn by the makuta (also headcanon) which first made them to be this stronger power level, which was never named and therefore whenever the masks were talked about they were always described as great masks. At some point they gave some of these masks to their Toa Hagah, which were fascinated by how powerful these masks are in comparison to other masks, and started to experiment with the scope of their powers. Eventually, they were tempted to go further with them...to start doing things they probably shouldn't...to do things that were rather...immoral.

Now I came up with this idea because of two other ideas I had. The first being to write Krika in a way that shows his mask power a bit better and shows why the Crast of all masks is considered immoral. The Toa say it's because it repels nature itself, and I liked the idea of actually showing that. Having the Crast passively cause plants to try and bend out of the way when Krika is close, Rahi appear uncomfortable and try to keep a distance, trees warp themselves to the point of damaging themselves to get away.

I then thought it would also be cool if the other immoral masks did the same. Vamprah passively draining some small amounts of energy from his surroundings, Metal around Antrol seemingly rusting faster, everything around our science boys seemingly being quieter, Bitil causing people to have random Déjà-vu and vague visions of random past moments if you're around him long enough.

Then I thought more about Bitils Mohtrek. The Toa say it is an immoral mask because it "violates the laws of time" ...I think this is interesting, because I then questioned, if that applies to the Vahi. And in my headcanon, it does.

The Vahi due to it's incredible power over time and the vast damage it can cause, is an immoral mask, and if used at all it should be used only in circumstances that very specifically require it and under heavy moderation. This doesn't completely apply to the version of the Vahi made by Vakama since it is weaker and therefore he can just give it to Tahu and trust him to not blow up the universe. (I once read a story that implied that the Vahi was made several times before but that each time it was used to reverse time to change something, and this would always unmake the Vahi, it was in that post also pointed out at the end that Vakamas Vahi surviving was unnatural. I have incorporated this into my headcanon with the adition that Vakamas Vahi is incomplete and more on the power level of a great or makuta mask as a result of the great spirit giving Vakama those specific instructions because for whatever reason a different Vahi variation was required instead of the time reverse one, possibly because Makutas plan was going on for so long that it cant be fully reversed and Mata Nui would always fall into a coma, so instead he gave Vakama the plans to make a vahi to use as a tool and as an opportunity to play nuklear chicken with Makuta Teridax. Which is why the Vahi is weaker than the other legendary masks and why it still exists (and why it is only covering half a face) )

The Vahi and the Mohtrek due to their abilities to really fuck up time in a big way are considered immoral.

The same also goes for the other two legendary masks. Most of the ignition trilogy antagonists motives can be summarized with "I want the Ignika so I can do baaaad stuff with it!" and in general my headcanon says that most being in the universe, most importantly toa, will when given very powerful masks and object likely be tempted to use them for their own selfish gain, throw away their morals and abuse the power given to them. There are exceptions of course, toa are only people after all which is why they're tempted in the first place, and of course the status of immoral masks as being hyper dangerous and evil makes most toa cautious around them. Some also just don't give in to selfish temptations to begin with, like I'd imagine Matoro. The Ignika gave Matoro a Tryna, specifically to test his morals after all and Matoro immediately after realizing what horrible mask he is wearing, vowed to only ever use it in emergencies (or if Makuta Teridax is threatening his life and his friends but he didn't really plan that now, did he? :P)

So all legendary masks are immoral and you need to be careful with who you trust to have that power. I'd like to imagine that this is specifically the reason why the mask of life has a consciousness, to test it's potential wearers and if a wearer starts to use the mask for their own selfish goals, act against the wearer on their own to prevent that. This is another reason why I also headcanon that ALL legendary masks have a consciousness. To ensure their wearers don't use them for evil. (Vakamas mask of time could possibly have a less active one due to it's lesser power)