Of course, this does mean creative limits- For starters, if a letter is taken, I can’t use it. I’m also working with a set number, which incentivizes me to make all three species of Stelt into one race, comprised of three sub-species related to one another- Thereby giving myself more room.

On the other hand, this likely obligates me to fill in every letter, so maybe I shouldn’t... And by this logic, I guess this means that I’m going to have the Matoran go with a T-name, to tie into Toa and Turaga, as the original name Tohunga was meant to. I’m thinking of Tolenga- Does that sound decent, without appropriating the Maori language?

It’s always rewarding to look back and see one’s impact on history. For example, did you know that Prototype hails from the same island as the protocairns? It is no coincidence. Indirectly and directly, my Dark Hunters have literally reshaped the world of the Matoran since time immemorial.

Two Toa once guarded an enclave of Ta-Matoran and Onu-Matoran on a small, volcanic isle. These Matoran had come to revere the magma beneath them, for it provided both rich, bountiful soil and raging danger to ward off enemies.

The Toa of Earth was a master of defense, equipped with a Kanohi Hau and broad, thick armor. He kept himself literally grounded, using the earth below him to withstand all measure of force, then unsteady his foes with a simple seismic blast.

The Toa of Fire was his equal and opposite, an eagerly aggressive fighter. He wore thin armor lined with spikes and blades. As he danced and spun on the battlefield, he projected flames and heat from his spiked armor in an unpredictable flurry.

This combination of tactics was enough to handily defeat most opponents. Against stronger challenges, though, the Toa had one more trick: the Toa of Fire’s Mask of Fusion. They were capable of joining together to create a doubly powerful Toa – not quite a Toa Kaita, but a Toa of Magma, able to unlock the furious thermal energies buried beneath their land.

It was this tactic that my Dark Hunters interrupted with the Spear of Fusion, transforming the Toa into Prototype: a creature comprised of thick, impenetrable armor, within which rages the fiery essence of magma. Anyone who can break Prototype’s armor is soon rewarded by a spray of burning earth, making him a perfect sentinel for my headquarters.

In the absence of their Toa, the Matoran of the volcanic isle turned to other means of salvation. They located a bubbling pool of energized protodermis, not dissimilar to magma in its capacity to create and destroy. In an occult ritual, the Matoran hurled themselves in, and began to fuse. What emerged were the lava dragons known as protocairns. In the eons since, the protocairns have taken the fury of the volcano across the universe, even as far as Metru Nui.