Even though Asonara, the desert region at the heart of the Southern Continent, had been claimed by Barraki Mantax for his empire, the local Bomohku (Lariska’s species) were only nominally his subjects. Their nomadic lifestyle and the barrenness of the land made it hard to govern them and neither economically beneficial.
Still, their raids into more flourishing regions were a constant nuisance. Thus Mantax came up with a trick: After a staged defeat of Augafi (Mantax’s species) troops at the hands of a Bomohku raiding party, Mantax praised the battle prowess of the raiders and offered them the land surrounding the mountain passes into Asonara in exchange for them not pressing further inland.
A few Bomohku suspected weakness and pressed for raiding the famously rich Augafi cities in the south, but all efforts were repelled. Again Mantax made his offer, and this time a few Bomohku chieftains agreed - after all, their new lands were lush and fertile when compared to what they were used to.
These Bomohku - used to the life as nomads and raiders - oppressed the local Matoran at first, but soon realized that Matoran were much more useful when treated (more or less) friendly and excellent craftsmen. Bit by bit, the Bomohku’s culture changed, they settled down, and became more invested in trade, being known as “Plains Bomohku” as compared to their desert brethren.
As calculated by Mantax, the Bomohku desert tribes of course didn’t stop their raids - only instead of Matoran and Augafi, they now found themselves face to face with their brethren when approaching through teh mountain passes. Clan feuds being nothing new, hostilities quickly followed with Plains Bomohku fighting Desert Bomohku, by that protecting Mantax’s lands.
With the pressing threat of the desert tribes, the Plains Bomohku soon became interested in an ally - Mantax’s empire. Mantax was happy to help - as long as the Bomohku payed their taxes to him and accepted his authority. Thus, Mantax’s plan came to fruiton
Through trade and interaction with the Augafi, Plains Bomohku culture changed further, now starting to abandon their traditional light armor in exchange for heavy Augafi plate which had caused themselves great trouble fighting against in their raiding days. They did not forsake their roots of Rahi taming and riding, but instead of light cavalry, heavy cavalry became increasingly more popular. Something Mantax actively supported, as his own people had little connection to Rahi.
My next Bomohku MOC. Wanted to go for something very different here - heavy armor on a species that’s naturally rather based on agility and acrobatics, as I see it.
The one unfortunate thing is that the shield is too heavy for the elbow to hold in more than a few positions, and also the shoulder armor (inspired by Mantax, by the way), gets in the way a bit. Therefore only basic shots with it. Otherwise, as you can see, this build is also absolutely poseable, though.
If you’re interested in my other Bomohku:
Desert Raider
Bomohku Shaman
And as usual, feel free to give C&C. Hope you enjoy!
