Barraki

The Barraki were an alliance of warlords, seeking the Mask of Life.

Over 80,000 years ago, the Barraki were warlords, allied together as the League of Six Kingdoms. The League led their armies in conquests of the Bionicle world, and at the height of their power they rivaled even the Dark Hunters and the Brotherhood of Makuta, they also had alliances with several lands, including Xia. The armies were composed of Matoran criminals and other outcasts, "thieves, murderers, traitors, and liars".

The League's ultimate goal was no less than the overthrow of the Great Spirit Mata Nui himself. However, on the eve of their major offensive 80,000 years ago, the Brotherhood of Makuta launched a preemptive strike, allied with the Toa and spearheaded by the Makuta of Metru Nui. The League armies were quickly decimated and the Barraki captured. Makuta was about to publicly execute them (despite the Toa's objections) when a stranger named Botar intervened and made the Barraki vanish. Unknown to the world, the Barraki were banished to an isolated cavern called The Pit.

One thousand years ago, in the Great Cataclysm, the dome surrounding the Pit caved in, tearing down the barrier between The Pit and the waters of the outside ocean. While The Pit quickly flooded, a mutagenic agent in the water mutated the prisoners into freakish sea beasts and allowed them to survive. The Barraki were able to escape to the surrounding region, but no farther, essentially expanding The Pit into the sea. They have also formed new armies of the native sea life. Some time later, the floating island of Voya Nui entered the region, and a portion of land including a Matoran settlement (called Mahri Nui) sank into The Pit, crushing a fortress Ehlek had built. The Barraki have since terrorized the Matoran, and none have gotten a clear look at their attackers and returned to tell the tale.

This hiding in the shadows ended when a squid noticed a Kanohi Mask of great power sinking down to Mahri Nui and reported it to its master, Kalmah. Word soon spread to the rest of the Barraki, Takadox had Carapar kidnap the Matoran who claimed the mask, Kyrehx, and hypnotized her into telling all she knew. From her account, he recognized the mask as the legendary Ignika Mask of Life. He then had Carapar return her to the city as part of some scheme, and also had him stop Ehlek, who had used the mask as an excuse to launch an all-out assault on the Matoran. Meanwhile, Pridak captured a scouting patrol and demanded the mask from them, revealing to them - particularly their leader, Defilak - who the Barraki were and what they had attempted. Kalmah and Mantax started following the mask's current holder, Dekar. Unfortunately, they were too late to stop Dekar from trying to destroy the mask - even more unfortunately, the mask itself took action to stop Dekar.

A Venom Eel, enlarged to giant proportions by the Ignika, emerged and began attacking everything in sight. As Pridak's captives took the opportunity to escape, Takadox attempted to hypnotize the beast into obeying. Ehlek and Carapar used the distraction to start snooping in Pridak's lair, finding a new arrival to The Pit: a being named Brutaka. Once he realized the Mask of Life was in the region, he demanded that the Barraki take him to it, though he warned that six Toa would be coming after it soon.

As Takadox failed to entrance the Venom Eel and was knocked away, Pridak caught Mantax leaving the scene, claiming he was trying to find help for Kalmah. They were soon joined by Ehlek and Carapar, who were playing along with Brutaka's demands. Adding Kalmah to their group, the six confronted Dekar, and Brutaka tried to get the mask from him by claiming he was part of a group loyal to Mata Nui. But Dekar didn't accept his claims, and neither did the Barraki, they decided to have him dragged off by a giant Squid. After that was taken care of, the Barraki walked in and took the mask, which began to glow so brightly that all of Mahri Nui was blinded.

When the glow subsided, the Barraki found themselves scattered around the cave, and Pridak more feral than usual, clinging to the mask, and attacking anyone who dared get to close. After Takadox calmed the Barraki leader down with his hypnotism powers, the group went to greet the newest arrivals to the pit, the Toa Mahri. The Barraki assumed the Toa were condemned to the Pit as they were, and Toa Hahli played along on behalf of the group, letting the Barraki think they were potential allies.

But while the Barraki considered working with the Toa, they still kept them under the guard of their loyal sea Rahi. Meanwhile, Pridak informed the rest of the Barraki that the Ignika was slowly cracking and leaking power, and that when it shattered, they could bathe in it's energies and return to their original forms. In the meantime, the Barraki decided that since they could not trust each other with the mask, they should give it to Ehlek's lieutenant Nocturn, since they believed he wasn't smart enough to use it.

Just afterward, Kalmah and Carapar found the Toa in the process of escaping their guards. The two Barraki tried to stop them, but unfortunately Toa Kongu summoned an ancient sea beast. The two fled into the black water, leaving the Toa behind. Kongu's summoned horror went to do battle with the giant venom eel.

Back at Razor Whale's Teeth, Nocturn had grown tired of the Ignika. After tossing it aside, he discovered he had been given the power to kill anything he touched. Nocturn took the mask and decided to find Pridak in order to "shake his hand", not noticing a Gadunka growing due to the mask's power.

Carapar and Kalmah headed to Kalmah's cave, where they found Mantax and Takadox feasting on Kalmah's squids while Pridak tortured Ehlek to find out where Nocturn had taken the Ignika. Kalmah reported the Toa's escape, and reasoned that they must have taken the mask. Pridak then ordered the Barraki to split up and find them.

Nocturn, meanwhile, had encountered Hydraxon, seemingly back from the dead and determined to recover all the escaped prisoners. After defeating Nocturn, Hydraxon took the Ignika but decided that the mask was too dangerous to exist, so he took aim at it with his Cordak Blaster and fired.

However, the fate of the Mask of Life had become the least of the Barraki's worries. Mantax encountered Toa Hahli, who fed his suspicion that another Barraki might be betraying him. Toa Jaller and Toa Kongu were willing to cut a deal, but Kalmah and Carapar gave the condition that they had to kill Pridak first. Most of all, Toa Hewkii provoked a fight between Ehlek's eels and Pridak's sharks, sparking a full-scale war between the two of them. And while the entire ocean had become a battlefield for the Barraki armies, Mantax's rays were last seen headed straight for Mahri Nui - with Hahli in the lead. Mantax stole the Ignika and told the Toa to have the Barraki meet him in the Pillars of Salt. By then, Barraki Mantax had discovered evidence of betrayal within the group. When he eventually retrieved the Mask of Life, he used it as a bargaining chip to force the traitor to reveal himself. Takadox gave himself away by trying to kill Mantax at the first opportunity, but the Toa Mahri had reclaimed the mask and the other Barraki allowed Takadox to live until they were dealt with. Unfortunately, one Toa got away with the mask and the other five simply vanished, leaving the Barraki again trapped without hope.

Soon afterword, Takadox and Carapar disappeared from the Pit. The other four presumed them dead, but they were actually forced into a mission by the Order of Mata Nui.

Trivia

 * The name "Barraki" may be based off "barracuda".