Backstory:
Srac never was sure about his own origins. His earliest memories consist of him prowling the forests of the Southern continent hunting small Rahi, but before that there had had to happen something else, right? Well, he didn’t remember. The Shadowed One, after listening to his tale, came to the conclusion that either he was the only known member of a strange species or an abandoned Rahi project of some Makuta. But Srac honestly didn’t care either way.
Somewhen he had stumbled across a Matoran village and had discovered how much easier it was to take Mahi from the Matoran than spending his time trying to catch Fader Bulls or Brakas. Needless to say, the Matoran didn’t quiet enjoy his actions as much as he did. And then, all of a sudden, when he was visiting the village for another snack, his way was blocked by two Toa. Srac never had seen a Toa before and didn’t really know what to do. While he hesitated, the Toa attacked, trapping him in a tangle of vines before knocking him out with a mental attack.
Apparently the Toa meant to take him to the Archives of Metru Nui and put him into a stasis tube, but Srac only learned that when the Dark Hunters told him. Fortunately the ship carrying him never reached its destination. Only a few kio from Stelt it was boarded by the Dark Hunters who killed the Toa, looted the ship and then set it afire. Luckily Srac was considered interesting loot and thus taken directly to Odina to see if the Shadowed One had any uses for someone - or something - like him.
The first time meeting his future employer wasn’t too pleasant a moment for Srac. He more or less understood what was being talked around him, but he couldn’t speak the language himself, just growl and gesticulate. It took some time for the Shadowed One’s torturers to convince him that Srac wasn’t pretending, but just wasn’t physically able to speak any known language. Eventually the problem with communication was solved through a translator who established contact with Srac mentally - although the translator complained that he got headaches from making sense of what Srac told him mostly through pictures and feelings. the Shadowed One however was warming to the idea of a spy who couldn’t easily spill any secrets.
So Srac was made a Dark Hunter under the codename of “Raptor” and sent to training. However it became clear pretty soon that despite his monstrous appearance he was far from having any big potential as a fighter. Continuous testing revealed two interesting abilities in him, though: He was able to use Kanohi and could do so by merely touching them - even if worn by someone else.
Thus Srac became an agent of the Dark Hunters. He usually worked in places where his unique appearance was somewhat concealed by various species being present, but also sometimes as a scout in the wilderness of the main continents. He worked part time for Makuta Jormuntrax’s network of spies until the Shadowed One declared war on the Brotherhood. Then he was part of the group of Dark Hunters who cornered Jormuntrax on the Northern Continent and killed him.
When the Dark Hunters sailed for Xia after Teridax had taken over the Matoran Universe, Srac was with them. And when finally Teridax was dead and everyone left the Great Spirit Robot, well, Srac wasn’t far behind and also emigrated to Spherus Magna, still in service to the Shadowed One - but what else should he have done?
Personality:
Srac was actually quiet intelligent for someone of his origins although by far no mastermind. He usually did what others told him to do because most of the time he couldn’t really grab the “why” of what others did. Also it was easiest to do what others wanted since he couldn’t really raise any objections anyway. And with the Shadowed One as his employer this attitude at least kept him safe from that side.
Powers:
Srac was able to use Kanohi through touch alone. It didn’t matter if the Kanohi was lying around or worn by someone. If someone used said Kanohi already, Srac could break the original user’s control over the mask and use it himself.
While his wings are too small to fly, they at least allow him to glide a little, allowing him to survive most falls without injury. He also is a pretty fast runner.
His natural weapons are is claws, beak and spiked tail. They look deadly, but are in fact too dull to do any real harm to anyone wearing armor. It doesn’t really help that Srac is quiet light for his size and thus can’t put much weight behind his blows.
The claws on his hands are also not really fingers but rather “bony” appendages that Srac can hardly move. If he wants to pick anything up he often has to use his beak.
Equipment:
Upon learning of Srac’s ability the Shadowed One gave him a Kanohi Kakama in case he needed to escape quickly on one of his missions. Over time Srac added another Kakama, a Komau and a Pakari to his equipment and had some kind of armor built out of them for him.
Alongside my Lariska MOC
Originally I intended to do another Makuta MOC, but while fiddling around with some masks I came up with this head and, well …
Using Kanohi as armor actually is a thing I wanted to do forever in this way, especially on the shoulder, and FINALLY I managed. Also I was able to use some of those brown parts lying around for once.
So, what else is there to say - I attempted to build a G1 style character and I think I succeeded in creating a G1 style character, right?
Here’s why I like that shoulder-Kakama-armor so much:
This Works For Once!!! If you don’t get what I mean - the armor moves up when the arm is moved up and falls down again to cover the shoulder when the arm hangs down, making it possible to have articulation AND armoring.
(You probably think I’m overreacting, but seriously, I’ve tried to pull that off in exactly this way for years …)
Next up is probably a Krika revamp in his original form - wanted to do that since I got those marbled white and red Exo-Force blades - so since about 5 years ;).