Barius

Art by Taka Nuvia

Barius is a male Skakdi-Xa of Ice, inducted by birth into the ranks of Nektann's Warskaks. Physically imposing, he is one of the largest and most powerful of the Skaks, and is embroiled in a power struggle with the current leader of the group, Boss.

Barius has elemental control of ice, when combining his power with that of another Skakdi. He also possesses two Kraata, both at the first stage; one granting him Limited Invulnerability, the other the power of Fear. His vision power is telescopic and X-ray vision, allowing him to see extraordinarily far, and peer through objects. He wields a great, spiked club, and pilots an unnamed ACR, which strongly resembles a bulky suit of power armor.

## History

### Pre-Impact

Little of Barius' history has been revealed thus far. What is known is that he is fairly young, especially compared to the Boss, and has been gunning for the older Skak's position for some time. He is certainly an experienced fighter as well as an able mechanic, and presumably holds sway among the throng that is the Warskaks. Other details, such as his parentage, are yet unknown.

At some point, Barius was desecrated for the first time by an Aspect of Makuta, receiving a Kraata of Limited Invulnerability, which was grafted to his neck, near his frills.

### Events of SK:R

While tuning up his ACR in the garage of Fort Nektann, Barius met the Aspect Parnassus for the first time, and proceeded to display insubordinate behavior toward Boss when the Skak in question showed up to investigate. Sticking around for Boss' conversation with the newcomer, a deal was struck in which Barius - as well as some other, unnamed Warskaks - would perform regular maintenance on Parnassus' bike, in exchange for the Aspect's skill set and accumulated knowledge coming to serve the needs of the warband.

Later on, Barius was present for the raid on Po-Koro, where Boss' sudden retreat left him in a precarious situation. He managed to escape by making a hostage of one of the Matoran, which, after some negotiation, was replaced with the Toa Reson Ance. Ultimately extorting the village, he promised to return the Toa unharmed in one week's time, if they prepared a tribute of food, water, and supplies for the warband. On the way out, he took with him Boss' abandoned war rig, the *E Street Wagon*, to present to the Skak in front of his warband as a sort of power play.

Following this power play, the intensity of Barius' rivalry with Boss quickly intensified, until the youthful Skak decided to go back on his word and sacrifice the Toa he'd taken captive, so as to make a second Kraata for himself out of his heartlight. Goaded into ritual combat by his sacrifice-to-be, Barius easily slew his opponent, but sustained a lingering injury during the struggle which would go on to cause deafness in his left ear, on account of Reson's power over sonics. After this duel, Barius harvested the dead Toa's still-beating heartlight, which was turned at Barius' request into a first-stage Kraata of Fear by Parnassus.

Shortly after this, Boss addressed the increasing boldness of Barius' challenges by redirecting the Warband to Irnakk's Tooth. After a brief flight from Shagrak, the massive sand worm, the convoy reached the base of the great mountain, where Boss selected a number of Warskaks to journey to the Nightmare Pits alongside him. This group consisted of Fyura, Corrivalis, several unnamed Skakdi, and Barius. On reaching the end of the path, a blind Skakdi named Torak, who had been found along the road, was sacrificed before Irnakk, and Boss challenged Barius in ritual combat for control of the warband-- and of the massive Tahtorak that would be born from the other's demise.