Name: Karomrax
Kanohi: Great Kanohi Garai (modified)
Tools: Claws, Vortixx lightning sword, Protosteel shield
Status: Alive
Location: Metru Nui
Due to a sudden drop in creativity, it took a while for me to put together a MOC that I was happy with. Here is the result of an equally sudden rise in creativity: Karomrax the Guardian. I am overall pretty pleased with the outcome, as he is a tall, not overly complicated and solid MOC. The biggest problems is with his stability, mostly because the length of his legs and the fact that he has two balljoints in his ankles. Gonna try to make up some backstory on the fly, so if that does not interest you, feel free to let me know what you think! As usual, all constructive criticism and feedback is always welcome.
Karomrax was one of the first beings to join the Dark Hunters, as he, not unlike many others, found the organization to be the closest thing he could call a home. After rescuing The Shadowed One from an attempted assassination ordered by the Brotherhood of Makuta Karomrax gained the trust of the leader and was made his bodyguard.
Due to Karomrax quick rise among the ranks of The Dark Hunters, he was gifted armors, weapons and Kanohi masks that other hunters brought back from completed missions. The Shadowed One was rarely seen, even by his own organization, but when he emerged from his lair Karomrax was never far behind. The other Dark Hunters soon started getting jealous of the great rewards Karomrax was earning for doing very little work, as The Shadowed One lived a very isolated life, relatively free from danger. A group of Dark hunters led by Nidhiki decided to even out future payments somewhat, which they thought they could accomplish by disposing of Karomrax.
Nidhiki lured Karomrax away from the gates of The Shadowed One’s lair by telling him that Krekka had spotted a group of Toa by one of the island’s shores. Karomrax turned around to consult The Shadowed One but was stopped by Nidhiki who said that he would tell their leader instead, and that Karomrax should hurry over to the shore where Krekka and a group of Dark Hunters would be waiting. Karomrax doubted at first, but soon was running away to the shore. Halfway to the shore he did meet Krekka who seemed oddly calm despite the situation. When asked about it, Krekka was very confused and Karomrax had to tell him over and over again what he had been told until the immensly unintelligent being understood. There never was any Toa and Karomrax understood that it must have been a trick played by Nidhiki.
Upon his return to The Shadowed One’s lair, Karomrax was met with the rare sight of his leader outside. Before he could say a word, Karomrax was struck to the ground by an invisible force. He was then lifted up into the air by The Shadowed One, unable to move. His leader was furious and told Karomrax that while he was gone, a large portion of stolen supplies had dissappeared. Karomrax could see Nidhiki standing by the leader’s side, grinning. He understood that Nidhiki must have stolen or hidden the supplies in order to turn The Shadowed One against him. He was unable to speak, and could only listen while the leader loudly told the crowd of Dark Hunters the Karomrax would make a good example of what would happen to anyone that fails to fullfill their duties.
Karomrax was demoted to prison guard, which was among the lowest ranks the Dark Hunters provided. He was stationed alongside a gruop of Vahki and an elderly Vortixx to stand guard in a prison run by the Dark Hunters deep within the Onu-Metru Archives. Even though Karomrax hated every moment of his new assignment, he stayed there because he still wanted to prove himself loyal and worthy to The Shadowed One. The prisoners held in the prison was very few but dangerous beings. Among these beings were other Dark Hunters that in one way or another had failed the organization. One of these prisoners was called Tahruk, a former Toa of fire that had turned to the Dark Hunters when almost his entire team was killed. He had been put in the prison by Roodaka when he got distracted on a mission which led to a group of Matoran turning into Toa and preventing the building of a fortress on Xia.
Tahruk’s thirst for revenge on the leader of his former Toa team, Lesovikk, inspired Karomrax. He spent most of his time planning ways of getting revenge on Nidhiki. The times new prisoners was sent to the prison was few and far apart, and most of the times Karomrax was ridiculed by the Dark Hunters that put them there. Not once did Nidhiki show up to dispose of any prisoners. This angered Karomrax, and after some thousand years he asked a dark hunte he did not know by name where Nidhiki was and why he never showed himself. The Dark Hunter looked confused and told him that both Nidhiki and Krekka was killed by Makuta Teridax many years ago, and not long after that, the king of the Visorak, Sidorak had been killed aswell. Karomrax was speechless. Not from sorrow, but of anger that someone else had taken Nidhiki’s life before he could, all while he was stuck guarding prisoners.
As the years went on, the Vahki that guarded the prison with Karomrax started to get noticeably slower and his Vortixx guard companinon also started to get weaker. Soon his only way of communicating was with Tahruk and the other prisoners. Tahruk’s stories was almost hypnotizing to him, as it was the closest Karomrax could get to the world outside at this point. Many years later, many of the Vahki had completely shut down and the power leading to the cell doors was getting weaker. At this point, the doors could open at any minute.
One night Karomrax was waken up by a series of loud noises. When he rushed to the cells to secure all prisoners he could see that Tahruk had gotten out of his cell and had destroyed three of the Vahki with his bare hands. For a moment the two outcast Dark Hunters eyes met and they just stared at each other. In a split second, Tahruk had leaped across the room and gotten a hold of his protosteel sword. Karomrax didn’t want to fight him, but knew that he would have to if The Shadowed One would ever let him back into the active members of The Dark Hunters. Both warriors raised their swords and prepared for battle when a swarm of over 20 Vahki pounced Tahruk. He didn’t seem to have to much of a problem fending the rusting robots off, but Karomrax could see that he was getting tired fast and soon he was getting overwhelmed. Karomrax would have to make a decision, would he let the Vahki kill Tahruk and then stay and guard the remaining prisoners until he was relieved of duty? Or would he help Tahruk, the closest thing he has had to a friend for thousands of years?
Karomrax grabbed a hold of the Rorzakh that was standing on top of Tahruk and threw it across the room while smashing a Bordakh with his shield. Tahruk stared at him for a moment before he stood back up again and they fought off the remaining Vahki together. As the dust settled there was a long time of silence. They both knew what was about to happen, what they had to do. Karomrax walked ahead to see where his Vortixx companion was and found him asleep in another room. The two warriors walked out of the prison and into the Onu-Metru Archives, which looked way more decayed since the last time Karomrax saw them thousands of years ago.
As they came closer to the surface, they wasn’t greeted by the sun. No blue skies, no Mata Nui fishing birds. Nothing. Just a world of rubble and smoke. The silence of the empty Onu-Metru was deafening. Karomrax and Tahruk walked towards the Coliseum, as they figured that would be the place they would be most likely to find out what had happened to Metru Nui. When they arrived at the debris-filled Coliseum they found a stone carving in a wall. Karomrax had not read in a very long time, but he could make out the general meaning of the text:
“MATA NUI LIVES, MAKUTA DEFEATED. GET OUT OF METRU NUI, GET TO SPHERUS MAGNA.”
Tahruk the Fallen topic: Tahruk The Fallen
We’ll see if I ever come around to make a story of the last remaining beings of the Matoran Universe, I have some ideas in my head but would like to make some MOCs for the story’s characters first as it would improve any sort of storytelling on this site.
Anyways, I look forward to hearing what you think of this MOC!