Put this together the other day.
The Dark Hunters:
Picture efficiency, ruthlessness, value, and foundation. Imagine an organization with the skillset and power equal to the mightiest warriors, yet unbound by their so-called virtues.
My name is Umarak, but that name is a shapeless whisper now. A name is a point of focus, a point of weakness. While it does not do well for me to forget my past and the mistakes to learn from it, it does not serve well when representing the Dark Hunters.
In the vast swathes of the Motaran desert, the Dark Hunters make our base of operations. Those who whisper our name falsely believe us to be in service to the Bank; though not necessarily inaccurate depending on the circumstances, the Dark Hunters serve no-one but ourselves. We amass wealth and standing, carving out necessary place in this cruel land of ours. Without us, power would fluctuate between bandits and kings, and Motara would crumble. In seizing our opportunities, we Dark Hunters have become a cornerstone of Motaran civilisation, and soon, that of Artahka.
This tome is intended for the eyes of the Dark Hunters. Transparency and concealment each have their own benefits…for example, by the time you have finished this paragraph, where we have so graciously boasted of our scale and importance, the Dark Hunters will have found you.
Umarak, the Hunter, the Shadowed One (speech TBD)
This organisation started with me. I remember it well…serving in that foolish cult of Norik’s; the Brotherhood of Makuta. I was their Hunter of Shadows, tasked with tracking down those who tried to flee the cult and retrieving them for re-education and persuasion. Eventually of course, I had heard the words of so many escapees that I realized that they were correct; the Brotherhood of Makuta was an empty dream, a falsehood of desire, hoping for the future rather than guiding it (though recent events would suggest that their goals have become more successful).
With the knowledge of how my targets had escaped firmly tucked away, I disappeared into the wilderness of Motara. Tiro would have served just as well, but I knew that the Brotherhood would seek me out in my homeland, and so I abandoned it. From there I began to build; I continued with the task that I had been employed in for so long, but now I hunted down bandits and thieves. Of course, my exceptional skills meant that I would begin to rise in prominence, which was why I formed the Dark Hunters in the end; a shroud to conceal my tracks and expand my influence.
I now hold the power that Norik wishes he could, and the mastery of the applicable secrets of the Brotherhood. From our base I oversee the Dark Hunters; collecting requests and assigning them accordingly. Profit is accepted after successful completion; unwillingness to pay is met with swift persuasion. Lethal force would not do to rob us of future business, after all.
As a native of Tiro, my mighty strength and night vision serve me well in tracking and subduing my targets. My spear and my bow can both be used to project solid earth; trapping and weighing my foes down. However, my keenest tool is my mind, and the capacity to weigh the situation and track the benefits in addition to the potential outcomes. All this has served the Dark Hunters well.
The Piraka
Ah yes…the Piraka. An old term, a vulgar insult meaning “thief and murderer”. An ironic term for those who are intended to hunt down such beings, not that we are not…occasionally complicit.
The Piraka are the longest-serving of the Dark Hunters. I knew that escape would not be easy, so I released them from their prisons within the Brotherhood and took them with me. I admit that I intended to use them as a shroud, but a combination of foresight and persuasion convinced me to shape them into my weapons.
The Piraka were created by the Brotherhood as an attempt to create the Brotherhood’s own Toa; a status symbol to give them legitimacy among the people. Unfortunately for them, the experiments twisted the minds of the Matoran, and their strange powers proved to be very dangerous for the Brotherhood. They should have killed them – though I wonder if they could have – but instead they locked them away, perhaps hoping that they could someday be tamed, or perhaps out of sentiment on the part of the Rahkshi. Of course, now they serve as the best of the Dark Hunters, and the Brotherhood have since moved on, with the Rahkshi now serving as their symbols of power; a failure even more paramount than the Piraka.
The Piraka hide their visages behind monstrous masks, and their true names behind titles as I do. As their enhanced elemental powers largely function in combination, they are often deployed in pairs to seek out their targets, and they have each been fitted with dual-functioning weaponry to channel their enhanced abilities.
Hakann, the Bully (speaks in an even, almost friendly tone)
Ah, Hakann. Never one to let any of us forget the value of foresight and mistrust. Trust invites rebellion and advantage, which is precisely why each Dark Hunter is provided with a locked room with keys that only they believe to have (I of course, have the master set available). The Dark Hunters have liked to joke that you could not turn your back on Hakann, but I have found him to have little problem with cheerfully looking someone in the eye and stabbing someone in the back.
Perhaps it was in a sense of irony that he has become my primary enforcer when it comes to the business of payment. If a client unwisely decides that it is in their best interests to withhold their agreed payment, it is Hakann’s job to visit said client and persuade them otherwise. We usually pair him with Avak for this process, but if the client has wisely realized what a poor choice they have made, then Reidak or even myself (for very pressing and prominent deals) will accompany him in order to track down said client and allow Hakann to do his job.
I have had to teach Hakann his lesson multiple times in the past, and it is with both regret and satisfaction that I admit that he does not seem to have learned the intended lesson. I have noted that his frequent betrayals keep the other Dark Hunters on their toes.
As a Mangaian, Hakann has control over flame, though this is best exhibited when his powers are combined with another Piraka. On his own, Hakann can express his powers by blasting it through his eyes as beams of heat vision, and through melting stone in his lava launcher, which is tipped with a claw.
Vezok, the Beast (speaks in a gruff voice)
Vezok is potentially the deadliest fighter of the Piraka, or at least, he would be if he did not forget his tactical thoughts and erupt into rage at the slightest provocation. His calm, cool, efficient, though gruff, exterior belies the explosion waiting to happen that the Brotherhood stoked within him, which has caused him significant frustration. Subsequently, I am forced to withhold him from more delicate missions, and to often pair him with Thok when necessary.
Frustration has long been Vezok’s downfall. Growing up as a male in the largely female-dominated society of Naho, the failure of the Brotherhood’s experiments, his subsequent anger issues, the other Piraka…the list goes on and enters redundancy. Thankfully he is most skilled in large-scale efforts, if he can be reined in, and when he isn’t in a violent rage, he serves as an excellent tactical advisor.
Owing to the difficulty of optimizing Vezok, I have recently begun to use him as test for prospective Dark Hunters. If they can endure an encounter with him – both besting his skills when calm and his rage when not – then they might be worth employing based on their combat and temperament, and their usefulness in letting Vezok let off some steam.
His Nahoan heritage allows Vezok to breath underwater, and his harpoon and buzzsaw can launch water in different ways; high-pressure beams, and daggers of compressed water. In addition, he can project these beams from his eyes in a pinch to blast his foes down, or mimic projectiles.
Avak, the Trigger (speaks in an Australian accent)
In quite the irony to his past before becoming a Piraka, Avak has proven to be an extraordinarily useful asset. The jailer of the Dark Hunters, the only native of the region of Motara that serves as our base of operations…all of this would make him an ambitious individual with an extreme superiority complex were it not for his single-minded devotion to imprisoning as many lawbreakers as he can.
Avak came to the Brotherhood with ambition in mind; both to make his jailing job easier and with the intent to scheme his way into their inner circle. He certainly succeeded in a way, but at the cost of his perspective on both issues widening to the entire island. I would say that I fear that this desire would never be sated, but as his altered mind curbed – or perhaps I should say redirected – his ambitions, I am perfectly content for him to pursue his impossible dream for our benefit, and he to serve the purposes of the Dark Hunters.
Avak is particularly useful for capturing slippery targets and assisting in payment disputes, but he is almost most valuable when he is off-duty. His room reveals multitudes of designs for machines and buildings, and he was instrumental in designing our fortress, to say nothing of his skills in crafting equipment and weaponry.
Avak’s power over stone allows him to create stone prisons from scattered particles within seconds. His modified mask allows him to see x-ray vision and over long distances, which makes him an effective spotter for Reidak. His pickaxe and jackhammer are useful to provide particles for his prisons, and for his stonework.
To be adjusted, since I’m not sure which (if any, admittedly) Piraka correspond to which title.
