I would like the see that al matoran are the same, but they just paint themselves in the colours of their region (unprobable real-life comparison: if everyone in Europe wore clothes with the colourschemes of their flag).
So the colourscheme depends on where they live or as which type of matoran they define themselves as.
In case of the matoran having elemental powers (it might be scrapped), the region where the child grows up, depends the element. As the child is surrounded by the element of that region. Maybe, matoran have an “elemental bucket” that needs to be filled and have two. The elements of these buckets depend on the parents. Which one fills up the quickest, becomes their element. Before this, they might be coloured silver or something
The gods exist separately from the matoran, the matoran merely worship them just like any IRL god-human relationship. In G3, it has been stated that the matoran were created before the elemental gods by Ekimu, not by the gods, and were created as one race, not 6 separate elemental races. There is no logical reason why worshipping a god would prevent reproduction.
I think that their power is a part of them, but does not differentiate them from the whole race besides what tribe they are a part of. I also think that what gods they worship should not be limited by their worship, so you can have priests of Uxar in the Sand Tribe appealing to him to keep the winds away and not stir up the sand, or priests of Ikir in the Earth Tribe using his powers to help with forging. Of course, due to their conflicting powers it would be more difficult for say, a Matoran of the Earth Tribe to appeal to Ketar, but it is possible, like I suggested in my elemental powers pitch.
I’m gonna jump in here and say that I agree with @UltimateMustacheX that matoran are not likely to mix with other types. Each elemental region is sort of like a country, and most of the time, people keep within their own countries when looking for a partner. Sure you could say that nowadays people mix between nations, but historically speaking, people usually stayed in their own land. Especially in tribal areas.
If it’s so rare, why would it even need to be mentioned or explained? Maybe it’s the law of the land to only reproduce within your own region, and all matoran abide by that rule. Sure it’s still possible for one or two interminglings here and there, but it’s probably super unlikely, so why even bring it up? (Bring up in universe I mean)
Matoran would probably bring it up BECAUSE of how rare it is. Considering that it almost never happens, the times which it DOES happen would surprise almost everyone. They’d probably wonder which region the child would be raised in.
I was thinking that in the off chance of this happening, that person would be shunned and possibly banished, forcing that matoran to live somewhere on the island that did not belong to any of the six regions, or even removing themself from the island. But I have been playing around with how they work, and I think it would make sense for either the elements to cancel each other out, leaving the matoran powerless. But we could also let the matoran have very limited powers of each element. Just a thought.
That meme has gone too far. But would marriage outside your tribe really be subject to so much prosecution? Maybe the patron gods would have a problem, but it seems more likely that extra-tribal marriages are rare due to the difficulty of travel. Just think of the size of the island and the only travel methods they have! It would be a Tolkien level quest to just go visit your Fiance over in Naho!
The lightning tribe is dead during the current story. Voriki is the only survivor. Also, Karzahni created the lightning tribe, so it couldn’t have been from mixed element kids.
I mean that there are outcasts in the past that are turned into the Lightning Tribe by Karzahni prior to the Lightning Extinction, and Voriki is the last living descendent of them.
Let’s say there were originally 10 outcasts (5 couples) in the 1st generation, and let’s say that every generation, the population would double. The 2nd would be 20, the 3rd 40, the 4th 80, the 5th 160, the 6th 320, etc.
Give it enough time, and in 10 generations (how ever many years that is, maybe 300) there would be 5120. However, I’m not sure how long the Matoran have existed for prior to G3:Y1, so it’s difficult to calculate.
I think it should simply just be random based on the parents. For example, if a Mangaian and a Nahoan had a child, the child would have a 50% chance to be a Matoran of Fire, and a 50% chance to be a Matoran of Water. No need for such complications, especially since the cast seem pretty set on only having 7 elements.