Barraki

Over 80,000 years ago, the Barraki were warlords, allied together as the League of the 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 Toas' 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.