Ok, so, uh… recently out on Tumblr I got an anon ask about Tolzak and her world. Y’know, that tablescrap Moc I threw together for that ‘look what I got’ topic, and really liked out of the others.
So yeah, asked if I could throw some more info on it out there and all. Y’know, develop it a bit.
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Quick warning before your read this and all though, rather messy. Not the best writer when it comes to laying AU’s out and all.
So, apologies for that to anyone bothered by it.
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Ok, so first off Ima talk about the major, or at least initial differences. (I.e. The Great Beings deciding to preserve their own lives instead of letting themselves perish on their dead world while their robotic creations got to live in a perfectly habitable, mildly terraform capable, gi-friggin’-gantic, space-traveling robot! (Like, why wasn’t this the obvious choice in the first place?!))
So, as stated, the Great Beings chose to, instead of making a giant robot which they’d put thousands of smaller robots in that’d work to keep it functioning, and then launch it into space, they’d instead put themselves in the massive robot, leave the smaller ones on the planet, and then launch themselves into space and then orbit the planet until the smaller robots fixed their planet back up for them.
And before anyone asks, yes, in this world the whole shattering thing did happen, but to both a lesser, and much more major degree.
Instead of losing the entirety of the two major friggin’ ecosystems the planet needed to be in anyway inhabitable, and then having the only surviving areas be torn of the planet as two, perfectly spherical planetoids, which then become a pair of moons in canon, they only lost the majority of their ecosystem to the shattering, and none of it became a pair of moons! This meant the planet still had some of the ecosystems left to use! (I.e. some small forests/jungles, and a bit of water/small oceans and/or lakes.)
Of course said difference didn’t really count for much since instead of just having the pair of moon sized chunks of planet sheer s sheer off into space. the planet instead literally cracked into multiple pieces.
Now, this does sound worse than it actually is. Is the planet falling/fallen apart? Eh, not really. Sure, there’s a lot of cliffs, ravines, and at least one or two sections of the world where you can see the through to the other side, but beyond that it’s still fairly held together… if not all that spherical anymore… and also discounting the landmasses that either ripped of far enough to act as floating islands/really small, really, really close moons, or that collapsed into the planet and fell into these sort of ‘sweet spots’ in the gravitational field/s that keep them as hovering, kind of unstable, underground mini-planets.
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Lots of fun to be had here!… Unless you’re entire purpose of existence is (or at least was) to try and clean this all back up, recover the ecosystems, and stick the entire planet as close as ‘back together’ as possible.
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Next up of course you have the inhabitants.
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Now, while I won’t say personalities of major, minor, and all in-between characters have been reversed along with their universes setup, they are at least quite a fair bit modified.
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First off we have the Makuta, and in particular Teridax.
Now the Makuta, while still far from the kindest, or at least more social of beings, are in this world actually highly respected, and in some cases practically revered by the majority of the planets population, including the Matoran. (Though a number does still tend to view the Toa as even greater. (As foolish a viewpoint as one could have considering what they are made to be.))
This is turn has curbed Teridax’s own… god complex a good bit… Seeing as how others consider him a god and all.
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In fact due to this Teridax’s own personality has rather… mellowed out. He’s honestly one of the more personable of Makuta, to the point he has so far been appointed leader of the Brotherhood without even needing to kill Miserix for over 90% of the past restarts. (The remaining percent were from the initial reiterations where their species began developing sapience, leading up to when they reached an organic-to-mechanical composition more near the native Agori/Glatorian/etcetera’s own.)
He acts as both face, and overseer of the Brotherhood and it’s members, and still acts as ‘keeper’ of their worlds version of Metru-Nui, now a sprawling, multi-species industry, but also with some of the highest level of underground businesses, black markets, and dark-hunter (the group surprisingly enough still existent in this world due to the Shadowed One (who truthfully has changed little in comparison to his 'canon-self’) managing to find his way of securing a position on their world instead of the GSR as happens in most others, just before the activation of it’s ‘backup drive’… though he himself is ignorant of the worlds personal reset button, or at least how many times it’s been pressed dependent on reiteration) activity. All of which can be attributed to the cities 'necessary’ level of Toa activity.
Teridax himself actually supports it, and does much to keep it running, and it’s security top-notch despite how he makes himself appear as if in full support of the Toa’s directives. This, while gaining him little respect from the majority of the ignorant masses, gains him respect with those few with power needed to make it count.
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The Makuta act as the main restorers of the planets environment. Unfortunately this task is much more difficult for them than it is in a more standard universe. Mainly because, one, the planet is notably larger than the GSR, and two, despite this and being a different universe, the base amount of Makutas is the same as the main/canon!verse.
Of course they also later developed ways of creating… children, of a sort, despite the majority still being converted into antidermis as time went on.
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Next up are the Matoran and Toa. The workers, and the enforcers.
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The Matoran for the most part are just as friendly as they are in-canon… Just less… if we want what you have we’ll basically attempt to commit genocide against you to take it. Y’know, the majority at least ess so seeing themselves as ‘the chosen’ species or whatnot in comparison to just one of the species… if also a somewhat important one due to their ability to become Toa. (A fate they’d see as much less wanted if they truly understood what it meant.)
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For the most part Matoran can be split into three groups of mentalities.
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The first are the ‘egotistical’. The ones who see themselves as the ‘chosen’. Those who should be given respect, full obedience, the highest of treatments in basic.
They are the ones who most look forward to becoming Toa, and the ones quickest to utilize their standing as ‘top priority’ in the Toa’s programming to get revenge against other species for even the most petty of reasons.
They are typically avoided by most species, including those of their own kind, and those who do interact with them are sure to keep as ‘proper and respectful’ a false facade as they can around them, less they want to find themselves soon after being ‘reprimanded’ by the nearest Toa, and placed on their watch-list, or worse, going ‘missing’.
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The next, and those who make up the majority of their kind are neutral. They’re respectful enough of other species, only alert Toa of actually illegal and/or dangerous behavior, and for the most part don’t even acknowledge their ability to become Toa, much less consider the possibility of being chosen to become one as anything but a passing thought.
They’re, while not outright the most prefered to interact with, no others are typically going to complain about needing to work with them beyond how insane their work-ethic’s are, and how important they see their work as.
The third, final, and smallest percentage are those who understand. Those who know what becoming a Toa means. That their goals are meaningless. That to the Great Beings they are nothing but expendable bodies they’ll willing eradicate the moment they’re no longer needed.
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Typically this third group comes about from Matoran who found themselves facing a Toa’s ire, or who’ve seen/had friends who were chosen to become Toa and realized what such did to them.
They’re usually found either hiding out in the more ‘underground’ areas of the cities, or the smaller, typically somewhat hidden (to purposely keep the Toa’s from discovering them, and then setting patrol forcesdown into them) outer villages/cities spread across the planets wastes.
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Now, Toa are a… fun one to talk about. Toa are the only species who’s organic-to-mechanical mix is unchanged, if not even further increased in mechanical percentage. That’s because Toa are not, in any way, meant to be a species with any possibility to become intelligence beyond the limited sentience their hive-mind-esque communication networks allow.
If anything they’re more like Vahki that can speak Matoran, and are all controlled by a number of satellite housed super-computers satellites that orbit the planet.
They care for no life, and while they do place the Matoran and Turaga (as rare as they may be) at a slightly higher level of importance than most other species, they’ll easily remove any of them that appear to be standing in the way of their creators’ goals.
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Despite such a robotic fate a Matoran’s Toa-ized form is still dictated by their own subconscious idea of what a Toa should look like, unfortunately for them the Great Beings countered this by programming a nigh-unchangeable, subconscious design for what their Toa form will be, thus leading to them becoming a part of the collective ‘hive-mind’, and lose their previous sapience (even if such didn’t at first exist before Velike’s meddlings).
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This does not mean it is a sure-fire thing that all Matoran will become these types of a Toa, it just means it is the more likely than not outcome.
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To overcome this programming the Matoran must first be aware of what the Toa truly are, and secondly must have the mental strength needed to overpower this subconscious design, and the willpower to keep said mental strength stable long enough to complete their transition.
A difficult task as one can understand.
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Finally we get to the various other species, the Steltians, the Voritxx, the Skakdi, and all the rest.
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For the most part their ‘ jobs’ are not that different than the Matoran’s own, and of far less import than the Makuta’s own.
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They are the caretakers of the rahi the Makuta make. The ones who… ‘tame’, calculate necessary population amounts, and transport the beasts to their proper habitats as they’re grown by the Makuta, or as ordered to be placed, some being created to help further along/stabilize certain environments as they’re ‘grown’. And also those expected to put the entire world’s shattered self back together, a fairly… ‘difficult’ task.
Once they became organic, and subsequently learned of both how little they meant to the Great Beings, and the Toa’s roles as impassive, deadly enforcers of their wishes, they quickly began to, while not outright abandon their jobs, begin to lower the sheer significance they saw in them beyond trying to make the world habitable for them, and less so caring about trying to force it, an attempt similar to trying to complete a puzzle missing pieces, back together when it was already stable as is.
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Especially once the sheer extent of danger the Toa’s represented became more easily acknowledge the more this mentality developed.
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Now a-days (or at least as one of the planets iterations has gone on for a decent amount), the inhabitants of the world are more focused on living a more enjoyable life than just endless toil and work. Yes, many do still follow their originally programmed tasks, but they do not go at them with the same… fervour of past. The rest typically run odd business, from fashion-lines (a concept taught to them by the numerous Glatorian and Agori that were left on the planet as ‘unfortunately necessary sacrifices’), knick-knack stands, to restaurants (a necessity as they became more organic), and researchers, those who attempt to develop their tech to much higher levels than those ‘gifted’ to them by the Great Beings (though they are constantly finding themselves (unknowingly) reset each reiteration.)
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Now onto the more ‘main-esque’ characters, and larger, unmentioned organizations, such as Velike, the OOMN, and otherwise.
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First of, let’s talk about Mata-Nui.
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Mata-Nui, while yes still a giant, humanoid, robot spaceship/interstellar, transportable ecosystem, is not a sapient one. This isn’t to imply he wasn’t made to be, or at least has the capability to be.
He was originally sapient, while not to as great a degree as he becomes following his conscience being merged with the Ignika, it was still a respectable enough degree.
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Mata-Nui was used to create the various species now populating Bara-Magna, which is also why there’re, realistically so few in comparison to the literal size of their project. They were originally made to populate him before the Great Beings changed their minds.
Where once Mata-Nui’s sapience was necessary, it was now no longer due to the Great Beings being on board, and thus the ones who’d be ‘piloting’ their creation.
Due to this they restricted Mata-Nui’s sapience, converting him from a living being, to a now rather mindless monitoring system for the planet below. Allowing them to put their minds to more important matters, and leaving their ‘machine’ to keep an eye on their creations, ensure their directives are followed properly, and if not both send out the call for a planetary reset, and calculate out what necessary steps may be needed to ensure said reset happens.
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Takua is still the first ever example of a ‘GSR-species’ made by the Great-Beings to test the schematics they later uploaded Mata-Nui with.
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Teridax on the other hand was, while now a Makuta, originally made as a back-up mind of sorts for Mata-Nui. But upon the Great Beings decision to change their initial plan, restrict Mata-Nui’s sapience, and the notable differences between the two minds, they instead chose to downgrade his programming and install him into one of the Makuta’s, the few species with actually important roles in ensuring their planet was fixed properly, with the expectancy that he would most likely act as a… leader, or command-unit of sorts for his newfound species.
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Next up is the OOMN.
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The OOMN is, while still an organization based around Mata-Nui, is much less ‘heroic’ in this world.
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In this world the OOMN is always founded by Artakha, one of the only two beings purposely designed to be both sapient, and aware of the fact their world can be, and is being reset by the Great Being’s hands. The other is his brother, Karzahni, who, while still carrying a god complex (though a much lesser one), surprisingly enough ends up being one of the biggest heroes of most resets.
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Karzahni has continuously disagreed with his brother’s ideology each global reset, opting to instead form what manages to become one of the largest resistance groups, use his mask in attempt to figure out whatever portions of the future he can, and still act as the planets only proper repair-bot.
Surprisingly enough he is, while far from the best, quite a bit better in his work than he is in other worlds, and he is one of the few beings who can manage to fully disconnect a 'free’ Toa from their hivemind, though his numerous apprentices due tend to outmatch him in basically all other areas.
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Artakha himself is, while deeply caring for his brother, unfortunately programmed to show intense loyalty towards the Great Beings, and ensuring their ‘reset’ machine is properly guarded, taken care of, and activated upon demand despite any problems that arise, even if said problems include his brother remaining alive.
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The OOMN is formed of powerful beings Artakha learns of, and convinces into believing his ‘ideology’ is the proper one to follow despite what it means to do so, and, while he’s quite successful at gaining their agreement, he is much less so at keeping it once they are forced to face exactly what following through with his ‘beliefs’ mean for them.
This tends to end up with mass abandonments, and outright betrayals of the organization… All useless actions in the end seeing as how the machine is still successfully activated time and time again.
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Last are the… abandoned Great Beings. Velike, Tren Krom, and the mask of life maddened one.
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The unnamed, mad Great Being was, while still driven mad by the Mask of Life, driven mad in a different way in this universe.
In this universe he was one of the two creators of the reset-machine, but during their first (and final) test of the device they were driven mad by both of the mask’s energies.
Only, while yes, driven mad, he was driven in such a way he became so unwaveringly loyal to his kinds ‘cause’ that he allowed his mind to be merged with Mata-Nui’s own restricted one to better ensure their ‘necessary’ specifications of planetary restoration were met, and that the GSR could not break through his mental restraints.
Yep, you read that right, Mata-Nui is not the only one in his head, and, while unable to alert his fellow Great Beings of their creations developments (none of them seeing checking up on the planet as more important than whatever they were currently doing inside the GSR), he was driven to a near frothing rage time and time again as he sees their constant ‘betrayal’ against their makers.
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Tren Krom was the second creator of the reset machine, but he was driven mad in a different, but also lesser way. While crazed yes, he was still intact in his mental faculties enough to, if not come off as normal, at least not be too… weird, and possibly also 'healed’ a good bit if given enough therapy.
Unfortunately for him his fellows preferred to keep any shows of imperfection on their part unknown by all but them, and then preferably forgotten by even them. And of course one can’t do that when such a blatant show of such as he and his partner were walking around. Fortunately for them one willingly allowed himself to be made easily forgotten by allowing his merge with their 'monitoring’ device, and from that they took inspiration in how to get rid of their remaining 'embarrassment’ while still getting some use out of it.
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In other words, by forcibly installing him into his own creation. The reset device.
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As one can guess this rather infuriated Tren Krom, and, while he can’t stop the device from being activated, nor figure out a way to free himself (his ever increasing insanity far from helping in said matters), he has been the main cause behind their creations numerous changes, all of which he was inspired to give after they suddenly began showing sapience, using the mask of life to alter them as much as he can per iteration. All in attempt to one day successfully prevent his machine from being activated, and thus ruining the rest of his kinds plans.
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Lastly we have Velike, the cause behind the sudden sapience, and the only Great Being to really feel guilty about what their change in plans has caused.
From the abandonment of numerous amounts of the planets other native inhabitants and what that meant for them, the sudden disappearances of the two of his kind working on their 'backup’ button, what the button itself represented, and the number of once sapient beings they’ve forced to lose said sapience.
Velike, while still possessing his canon Matoran host-body, and still far from the 'best’ of beings, views his kinds creations more as living beings, than just something to study.
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Velike unknowingly has the same goals as Tren Krom, to stop the rest of his kinds goals, at least in relation to using the machine to constantly reset the entire planet, and those unfortunate enough to be on it whenever the smallest thing isn’t going exactly as they want it, or is taking too long to be accomplished.
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Velike is also the only being on planet, beyond Tren Krom, who can keep from being affected by a reset, and, unfortunately for him, it’s an ability he is forced to use in order to ever have a chance of accomplishing his goals.
Now while one may not at first understand why needing to use this ability can be considered such an unfortunate fate, especially when considering what little of Velike as a person we know, you must understand in this world Velike is viewing his kind’s creations as actual people, not just things to study, and thus is leaving himself open to form connections with them. From friendship to otherwise.
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Velike has been forced to watch all of his friends be lost to him hundreds of thousands of times.
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He has been forced to follow the same script every time he wants them back, and all the while must ensure he in no way slips up and reveals he’s not as he seems.
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He has been forced to watch as those he cares for die in battle to not again lose themselves, to watch as the life drains from their eyes despite every attempt he takes to keep them safe.
And even worse are the times he can’t stop a Toa from choosing to 'awaken their destiny’s, and must watch as his friend is not even given the mercy of death, but instead erased and made just another mindless enforcer of his kind’s will.
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As one can gather each reset takes a heavy toll on the tired Great Being.
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For the various others, such as Roodaka, who’s more like her kingdom (or whichever one that was) variant, or otherwise, they’re generally, while still far from good people, much more… mellowed out in their evilness.
Like Teridax.
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Also, some bonus info: The Mata do actually exist in this universe, but they’re kept off planet, and very, very rarely consider necessary to activate to ensure a reset is achieved. Basically emergency only 'tools’.
This is due to the fact they’re quite literally too powerful for the Great Beings to control!
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Because of their standing as literal embodiments of their elements they’re very, very powerful. To a point it’s near impossible to keep their sapience restrained for more than a month at best when conscious before requiring active monitoring (i.e. Mr. Unanmed himself) to ensure the restraining programs remain running, and even then it’s far from an assurance they won’t still fail.
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So far the amount of times they’ve been launched can be counted on around 5 or so humans worth of digits.
Yep, quite a large difference considering the fact the world has gone from somewhere between 500, to 700 000 reiterations to date. (The Great Beings own monitoring software began to lose count somewhere between these two amounts.)
And during around a third of said periods where they were activated at least one, with only one case of three, of the Mata broke through their mental restraints and began heavily tipping the scales of their wars to the 'wrong’ side.