So, now that the podcast is officially out, I can talk about things. First of all: the genders. Anyone who has been following the poll topics knows that I have very strongly opposed the idea of genderbending any of the Toa, however, after the most recent podcast, and conversation with Eljay over on discord, I have changed that stance. Why you ask? Well that would be because of the main topic of this update: Toa Spirits. The idea that the name of a Toa is more of a title tied to a Toa Spirit is great, and it alleviates nearly all of my concerns with the proposed gender changes. That being said, in the current configuration of this pitch, some of the ideas are somewhat contradictory, mainly the idea that there are more than six Toa. So, it’s one time for me to make the idea’s merge into one:
So, the basis of me merging my idea’s with TTV G3 Canon is the sort of Native American/Oriental idea of local spirits. The theology that with the exception of the Great Spirit you don’t really have all powerful, omnipotent, omnipresent gods, instead you have the local spirits that live in the area that you need to appease for the world to remain in harmony. Among these spirits I would of course include the elemental spirits of the island, which I would model after the G2 elemental creatures. So how do Toa Spirits fit in? Well, Toa Spirits are different, I’d model them more off of Oriental Ancestral Spirits, so instead of being embodiments of elements, these Toa Spirits are, as they said on the podcast, more like Avatar were they are the conglomeration of the spirits of the past Toa and exist as the embodiment of that Toa. So, a Toa Spirit is less of one individual spirit and more a group of spirits that will most times speak with one general voice, however this also opens up the possibility of situations where the Toa through meditation receive counsel from a specific previous Toa. Now, returning to the issue of Toa transformation, I previously described it as something inside them snapping and their spark igniting, I am now going to amend that slightly. I will now say that it is the Great Spirit himself that ignites that spark, choosing who will be the Toa, and then it is up to the Toa to connect with their Toa Spirits. This opens up I subplot option that I’m a really big fan of where one of the Toa has difficulties connecting to their Toa Spirit and refuses to be called by their Toa name until they do because they feel that they are unworthy. I’m not sure which Toa would be suited for this arc except that I know it shouldn’t be Lewa. Lewa’s all about freedom and going with the flow and as such I believe would have a very easy time forming a connection with their spirit. This idea also reinforces the first story arc of my proposal where the Toa need to seek out the Toa Temples and retrieve their masks/armor/tools. The idea is farther supported by the tools themselves, these tools being passed down from Toa to Toa and each Toa leaving their own sort of mark on them, the tools being sort of a physical representation of the mantle of the Toa Spirits.
Now, you might be thinking: “How does this solve anything? There are still only the six Toa and your pitch calls for more.” The answer is simple: all of what I have stated above only applies to Mata Nui, Okoto is completely different. On Okoto Toa are not chosen by the Great Spirit, they are trained as I have gone into a fair amount of detail previously, and as such they do not have ancestral Toa Spirits. This kinda goes into how I want Mata Nui and Okoto to be very culturally distinct from each other. While Mata Nui is very Duty and Destiny based, having the Great Spirit choose those that are destined to be heros, Okoto is much more Unity and Duty Based, training their Toa and working together to accomplish great things. This ties into the story as the Toa Mata must learn unity in year one to work together to save the island, while the Okotian Toa must learn to embrace Destiny in year three as the Toa Mata go forth to save the world. Duty is a shared virtue as it is the basis of what it means to be a Toa, year two would spotlight on this as the Toa from different islands try to reconcile their dierent view views on Duty. Now coming back from that tangent, the idea of Okoto not having Toa Spirits farther supports the idea of Okotian This being fundamentally weaker than the Toa Mata as they lack that extra support.
“So, if Okoto doesn’t have Toa Spirits, what does it have?” I hear you asking. Well, they have the Kaita. Now hold up, calm down, and stop sharpening the pitchforks, I know this has eeen a controversial issue lately, and honestly I’ve been on the anti-Kaita side of things. But I’ve had this idea raddling around in my head for about a week, and I think it could work. I will preface this with the disclaimer that this is not part of my three year pitch, this is something that could be expanded into and looked at if the line for extended, at most it would be only hinted at in the first three years. No that that’s out of the way, time to dive in: the way I see the Kaita in G3 is as sort of angelic beings that serve the Great Spirit, branching off of the suggestions of @ReeseEH and @StudentScissors in the Kaita polls, there would be Kaita representing different combinations of various numbers of elements. Now, as far as how the Kaita would factor into the story, should it ever come to that, I want to be very clear that the Toa in no way combine. Kaita ate otherworldly beings that can be summoned through use of a Kaita Talisman and a ritual performed by the Toa, each talisman is specific to one Kaita and the ritual must be performed by Toa of the elements that Kaita represents. Summoning a Kaita takes energy, specifically elemental energy, and a Toa can only maintain the Kaita as long as they can maintain constant use of their elemental powers, each group is only as strong as their weakest link. The group of Toa can of course choose to end the ritual at any time, and doing so sends the Kaita back to where it came from. I should also mention that the Toa cannot control the Kaita, they can of course influence It, but each Kaita has it’s own personality and cannot be forced to go against it’s nature. And while all of the Kits are generally good, some are more chaotic in nature and could be influenced to do some less than good things. But as I said, this doesn’t really affect the three year pitch, it’s just another bit of worldbuilding that could be expanded upon if the line was extended.
Not really connected to anything I’ve said above, i would like to talk about the question of Toa killing and the Toa Code in general. I have a sort of split view on this as I feel that these don’t really apply to the island of Mata Nui, given that is a rural society that most likely follows the law of the jungle. Also with the Toa being chosen by Mata Nui it is easy to see how the Toa could be considered his judges and thus have the freedom to judge those who they fight, and determine their punishment. Okoto on the other hand is much different, it’s Toa are organized into a sort of police force, someone (I can’t remember if it was in this topic or on discord) compared them to the Jedi, and that is very accurate. As such I believe that they would have a very strict non- killing policy and would have to adhere to a Toa Code, following the idea that their opponents must stand trial for their crimes. A while back I wrote what I believed the Oath of a Toa might be, and I would like to repurpose it here as the Oath of an Okotian Toa. It can be found here:
Now to reply to the comments that were made while I typed all this!
I like this idea. I’ve been very much painting with broad strokes for the story, And I’m not sure exactly which year this would fit into, probably not three, but I’m definitely open to it.
Works for me.
Anyways, congratulations once again if you made it through my monolithic walls of text, as always comments and criticism are always appreciated.