Name Chisk
Kanohi: Waheldu, Great Mask of Sensory Aptitude
Assigned region: Ruva
Status: Dead
Chisk was known for his extreme secrecy that bordered on paranoia. He mistrusted almost everyone, expecting that whoever approached him was doing so to take advantage of his status or his knowledge for their own benefit – which, given he was a Makuta and thus usually had to deal with powerful and influential individuals, was not inaccurate.
Above all others, Chisk mistrusted his brethren, though. Little intrigues and constant competition for status and renown within the Brotherhood ran rampant in the early days of the organization. It was far from unheard of that one member would discover a new detail that fundamentally influenced Rahi creation, only for one of their brethren to steal and publish it first, thus gaining all the renown. In Chisk’s case, he claimed substantial fundamental contributions to the development of Rahi languages, but somehow the majority of them ended up being accredited to over a dozen of his brethren.
In fact, Rahi – provided they were not too intelligent – were the one type of living beings that Chisk was comfortable dealing with. These Rahi did not lie, they weren’t out for his secrets, and even if they learned of some, they would not understand and soon forget them. Chisk even was fluent in all Rahi languages, while most of his brethren only bothered with a selection. His later work accordingly centered around studying Rahi psychology and social behavior in order to optimize Rahi designs.
Nevertheless, his shrewdness and his extreme resilience against attempts to pry out information about the Brotherhood made him a popular choice for diplomatic missions. Chisk detested these, but they provided him the recognition within the Brotherhood he couldn’t quite achieve with his Rahi studies. In the end, it even earned Chisk the position as overseer of the island of Ruva – a backwater island of not much importance by all accounts, but it was more than several other Makuta received.
For Chisk, the distance to Destral was the greatest benefit of Ruva. In the following time, he began expanding and fortifying the original Makuta lair located beneath a local mountain into a bunker-like complex designed to withstand anything and anyone who would ever attempt to gain unauthorized access to its contents.
Chisk was mostly indifferent to Teridax’s proposal to wrest control of the universe from Mata Nui. He mainly saw the idea as a result of the perpetual strive for power and influence many of his brethren exhibited, but couldn’t disagree with the fact that the Brotherhood seemed more capable of caring for the universe than the Great Spirit, based on the recent Barraki uprising and Matoran Civil War. Besides, this plan was also something like the ultimate thrill – if word ever got out before the time was right, nobody was able to say what would happen to the Brotherhood.
Chisk’s demise eventually began many millennia later when he visited Destral on a routine trip. Makuta Uloki, known for his extraordinarily dangerous Rahi experiments, managed to create a terrible new creature that promptly turned on its creator with lethal outcome. After several Toa Hagah, Rahkshi and Visorak failed to detain the creature as well, a group of Makuta finally took on the task, Chisk among them. The monster Uloki had created proved invincible even to their combined might, however. Thus, Chisk was eventually forced to use his Shadow Hand on the creature and absorb it into his own essence.
A mistake, as it soon turned out.
The mind of the creature was not terribly strong – minds by definition stood in the way of mindless destruction, as Uloki used to say – and normally should have been easy to suppress for Chisk, but somehow every time he attempted to, it escaped him, persisting not only in his mind or his body, but in his very being. Any slip of concentration or failure to wall off this new presence inside himself could now have disastrous effects on Chisk himself, which he immediately realized.
A long time went by, and Chisk’s concentration held, though bit by bit his resolve eroded before the constant mental exertion. After several thousand years, all he could do was sit in his secure lair on Ruva and wrestle with the beast’s mind.
Eventually, it became apparent to him as well as those of his brethren who took an interest in the situation – mostly for scientific reasons – that it was a fight Chisk would eventually lose. Nobody could say what would happen at this point. Some assumed the two consciousnesses would cancel each other out and Chisk would simply die. Others, more familiar with Uloki’s way of thinking, considered it possible that the Rahi consciousness would take over Chisk’s body, with potentially disastrous results. Mutran mused that perhaps the two minds would simply switch places, with the Rahi mind taking control until Chisk had gathered enough strength to suppress it once more – the result: a Makuta experiencing reoccurring bouts of destructive madness. Not that it could be assumed such an ordeal had left Chisk’s own mind completely stable.
It was therefore agreed that the safest measure was to simply seal Chisk away in his lair. If he died, it wouldn’t really matter, and if he went mad it would keep him away from the rest of the universe. A team of Toa was dispatched to Ruva and sealed the entrance to Chisk’s lair with a Toa seal.
It is unknown what happened to Chisk afterwards. Locals reported strange noises occasionally emanating from the mountain afterwards, granting it the name of “The Singing Mountain”.
When Teridax had taken the position of the Great Spirit many millennia later, and checked on his brethren left in the universe, all he could find was Chisk’s empty armor, still in its prison.
Cloaks are bad for handstands, but he is able to stand on one hand.
Equipment:
Chisk wore the Waheldu, Great Mask of Analysis which allowed him to gather immense loads of information from his surroundings. His weaponry, as that of most Makuta, was varied, though he preferred outwardly simple designs with hidden utilities. His protosteel saber for example could turn its blade intangible to materialize behind an opponent’s guard.
Chisk was further known to carry a set of memory crystals with him wherever he went. Deeply distrustful of any telepaths and mind readers (which just so happened to encompass all his brethren), he stored any sensitive information inside these crystals before purging it from his mind (it was rumored he modified a memory crystal to delete memories rather than store them to achieve this). The two crystals he openly wore – as smart people would realize – were most likely only a distraction, however: empty, or even filled with misinformation, if not actually a trap.
So, here’s the next Makuta: Chisk, based on the MOC by @Xing1870 !
Decided to try out angled shoulders here for a change. I don’t think I’ll do anything like that again unless it’s covered by cloth, though. You can see above how it looks beneath. Still, I think the angle was helpful for making the hood thingie fall nicely (even if it’s somewhat unbalanced by the two crystals pulling down one side). The whole cloth part turned out rather well, though, if I may say so myself.
And of course I could finally use that sabre design I had lying around for some time. I think that was worth not using dagger-style weapons like the original.
That’s… 22 Makuta done, I believe. Next one is actually coming soon as well.
As usual, feel free to give C&C, otherwise enjoy!
). They are a Brotherhood after all, so what one member is doing will clearly also affect others now and then. If I remember correctly, Uloki was used here to explain why Chisk went mad and to at the same time wrap up the loose ends from Uloki’s lore (i.e. what happened to the Rahi that killed him).