Reminder, we already assumed it is giberish. The point is to find meaning in it. I already see some patterns there actually.
That or Agori can speak Klingon.
Well, at least I don’t have to re-make all the symbols (cries in wasted 2 hours )
If we follow along the lines of Agori being a hieroglyphic writing system where symbols=words, then what I gather from this:
The main heading is probably the objective description. Something like: “Searching for beings/individuals with armaments.”
This heading contains symbols O and F.
Letter F coud mean “individual” or “being”. It can be found in the circle around Skrall. So F followed by rotated L can mean “beings detected”. Unrotated L (also found in objective) can mean detecting/searching. Rotation of the symbol may indicate active vs passive form.
Symbol O can mean “armaments” aside from the objective, it is present in the window pointing out all the armaments of the Skrall.
I will say that Agori can’t read Klingon, and those symbols are exclusive from Batera’s program (maybe a Great Being is a Trekkie).
Tarduk recognized an “O” in The Crossing, chapter 3, for “open”:
One symbol was far from the others - a simple circle, with no extra lines or other patterns in the middle. His first thought was that it looked like a zero or the letter “O”.
It couldn’t be that simple, he thought, then hesitated. Could “O” be “Open”?
So from this I conclude that Agori is an alphabetic language (asuming that Tarduk only read Agori). Agori and Matoran speak the same, but the writting is different, although similar enough for Bomonga to read it.
The simpler explanation should be that Agori use the hexagon letters (seen in the plans for the Great Spirit Robot) and for some reason none can make the easy translation from circle to hexagon.
Or maybe they have a syllable writting, that why Tarduk could identify “O” but not the other letters.
Each one had a circular shape. Many of them had lines in within the circle, while others contained smaller circles. He thought some were words, but could not identify any. They were in a language he didn’t know.
Well we know for a fact that both writing and language are different.
Language because… well Agori and Matoran are stated to be different languages and Mata Nui had to give everyone from MU the update to enable them to speak Agori.
We know the writing is different because Tarduk couldn’t read Matoran at all.
He mistook a Matoran symbol for an O (and was by sheer coincidence correct). But him saying it looks like an O or a zero seems to imply that Agori use roman alphabet.
But we have the evidence of different writing system from the Baterra (the recycled Klingon), so this might be the case of real world concepts and comparisons bleeding into story. The same can be seen with length - sometimes it is expressed in kio and bio, other times as miles or feet.
He did it? I thought it just reversed everyone’s mutations and made amphibious the water breathers.
Not only latin has a circle for “O”, but also cyrillic, greek and Matoran (but not Klingon). Also not necessarily a circle is the Agori’s “O”, but it resemble one.
Also, maybe the runes on Artakha would not (at least not all of them, anyway) necessarily have to be strictly the written Agori language, but perhaps a form of shorthand that could have included Individual symbols that stood for whole words (like abbreviations used in real-life formulas such as “E=mc2” (is there any way I can shrink the “2” to make it be the symbol for “squared”?), or possibly even something more abstract, like the symbolism on the Mask of Life or the Skrall shields or Valley of The Maze Medalion).
Also, anybody have any updates on further figuring out what the runes should look like/deciphering the symbols we’ve already seen in the line’s media?
Probably not latin, but something similar-sounding/with references to it. “Spherus Magna” and the other “Magna” names were based off of Latin as opposed to the Maori approach of the MU names in 2,001, so one could probably reason that while the Matoran language sounds quite a bit like Maori, the Agori tongue would probably sound similar to (or at least reminiscent of) Latin, with at least one similar letter in its alphabet.
@darkbrick999 Nice. (I believe in the early stages of Bionicle’s conceptualization, there was an idea for the great beings to have actually been human scientists, with the Mata Nui robot’s purpose in this version of the story being that of a starship to transport the last of humanity in hypersleep to a new inhabitable planet for them to live on after Earth’s destruction, giving the hero’s mission in the story a whole different meaning.)
Although, does anybody have any updates on cracking the case of what Artakha’s runes should look like/how to write with them?
Well, unless there are further updates on this subject, I’m probably gonna try to combine the Klingon characters (written symbols, not fictional persons) with Roman characters to make ones that somewhat resemble the Old Germanic* stick letters.
I still might use the Okotan language, since it stays in the style of the Nuva symbols that Artakha made. Maybe he was inspired by the designs on his armor.
Yes, they are.
EDIT:
Here are some Danish runes. They seem appropriate, given the island of Mata Nui was originally modelled on Denmark. http://www.fortidensjelling.dk/jellinge13.htm
I just realice how impractical the Matoran alphabet is. Since they don’t use paper, they carve most of their writing in stone. Circles are hard to carve, that why runes are straight strokes (I guess). The Voya Nui alphabet is slighty easier.
The only thing harder to carve will be filled letters (like Klingon or Okoto alphabet)
Well, one could reason that Matoran have greater strength and stamina than humans, so it might not be as much of a chore for them; also, they might often enough use power carving tools similar to Vakama’s badge of office or Onu-Matoran mining equipment (though your point still stands ,- the great beings did not think that through).
This topic has been a blast, and given me some good help in the contest.
Thanks to all you wonderful folks for participating in the conversation, and to you @ToaKebaka for starting this thread in the first place.
)
(It’s been two days…)
(I believe in the early stages of Bionicle’s conceptualization, there was an idea for the great beings to have actually been human scientists, with the Mata Nui robot’s purpose in this version of the story being that of a starship to transport the last of humanity in hypersleep to a new inhabitable planet for them to live on after Earth’s destruction, giving the hero’s mission in the story a whole different meaning.)