Vyarik

A former member of the Dark Hunters who fell in battle... and was reborn as something else entirely.

## Description

#### In Life

Ten feet of hardened armour and mountainous muscle, Vyarik was an imposing figure. His armour was coloured in shades of black and crimson, with the skull of a Muaka – the first creature he ever killed in the arenas of Stelt – mounted on one shoulder.

He wore a Kanohi Pehkui, custom-forged into the shape of a skull-like helm, and wielded two upsized Kanoka Blades, each imbued with the power of a Kanohi Crast. Vyarik spent many years honing his mental acuity, allowing him to exert the focus and willpower necessary to operate the blades and mask simultaneously.

Vyarik's power allowed him to increase his strength by feeding on feelings of confidence, whether they came from himself or others in his vicinity. As a result, he was proud and self-assured to the point of outright arrogance. His certainty and conviction in his own superiority were unwavering, traits which led him to, at times, stubbornly refuse to back down or retreat from situations where doing so may be the wiser option.

This rigid persistence was a major contributor to his untimely demise.

#### Untethered

But death was not the end for Vyarik.

Following his death, his body was reanimated as part of the Untethered. The Revenant retained Vyarik's impressive physique, though not his power to further increase his strength. It continued to wield his Kanoka Blades, and gained a new ability: elemental magnetism.

Due to the injuries suffered in death, and further wounds inflicted in a skirmish with a Toa, the Revenant was forced to repair itself through rather macabre means, performing a grisly self-surgery using spare parts and the equipment of Matoran sculptors. As a result, its appearance was changed somewhat, with its body reinforced with makeshift plates and pins, and its armour augmented with scrap metal. Its Kanohi, cracked into three pieces, has been welded back together and fused to its face, though it's obviously nonfunctional as a consequence.

## Background

After being driven from his home by the Visorak, Vyarik migrated along with most surviving members of his species to the island of Stelt. It was here that he was thrust into a life of brutality, forced to fight for survival each day in the coliseums of the city. Many beings would have resigned themselves to despair in such circumstances, slowly losing hope, but not Vyarik. He stood tall, head held high, winning every fight with pride and spitefully smiling up at those who had enslaved him.

His demeanour and skill caught the attention of a member of the Dark Hunters, who chose to buy Vyarik’s freedom and bring him to Odina, where he was offered a position with the organisation. Vyarik was all too happy to accept, delighting in the chance to put his skills to use in service of a greater cause.

## In-game history

#### Dark Hunter

Vyarik was among the first of the Dark Hunters to infiltrate Metru Nui, and joined in on the initial contract to assassinate Nuparu. There he crossed paths with the Skakdi Dark Hunter Thom, and the pair agreed to work together to take down the target, as Vyarik was more interested in ensuring the organisation's overall success than attaining personal glory.

Thom took the killshot, and the pair parted ways, with Vyarik inadvertently distracting the Toa Stannis from pursuing the true murderer. After a brief bout with the Toa, Vyarik convinced him to leave him be. Before leaving, Stannis issued Vyarik with a command, to tell his masters that he had arrived on Metru Nui.

As it turned out, they already knew, as minutes later a bounty was issued for Stannis' assassination and the capture of the Matoran Knichou, a contract which Vyarik eagerly pursued. He followed Knichou to an airship dock on the surface of Metru Nui, being forced into a swift skirmish with Toa Nale, and a more drawn-out crossing of blades against Toa Arkius. After wounding Arkius, Vyarik was driven back from the platform, and by the time he returned, Stannis, Nale, and the Matoran Kanohi had joined the group.

Now outnumbered, Vyarik kept his distance, but clambered onto the airship once it was airborne, using his Kanohi to shrink down small enough to sneak on board. He attempted to quietly speak with Kanohi and turn him against the Toa, but was discovered, and teleported out of the ship by Stannis. He survived the fall thanks to levitation disks he retrieved from the damaged engine, and made his way to Ta-Metru to repair his equipment.

It was there he crossed paths with fellow Dark Hunter Waveahk, who was also pursuing the mark on Stannis and Knichou, and Leonn, a League of Six Kingdoms agent who decided to masquerade as a Dark Hunter to collect information. As the trio conversed, an airship crashed down upon the district, brought down by the efforts of the League operative Othorak. Undead swarmed the streets, and the trio retreated. At Vyarik's insistence, they made their way to Po-Metru, as he believed that was where a Toa of Stone like Stannis would most likely take refuge. Using a transport gifted to them by the Vahki, the group eventually encountered Stannis' group and numerous others hunting for the Po-Metru Great Disk.

Now face-to-face with the self-proclaimed legend who embodied everything he despised about Toa, Vyarik allowed his pride to get the better of him. Despite being hopelessly outnumbered and outpowered, he ignored every instinct and plea from others to retreat, and in so doing sealed his fate.

He engaged Stannis first in a battle of words, then one of weapons, but the Toa had no interest in prolonged battle, and simply willed a sinkhole to form beneath the transport. Vyarik attempted to climb out, with Arkius waiting above to engage him in a rematch, but it was not to be. In the end, his fate came at the hands of the one Toa he had no true quarrel with - Nale - who shot him in the back, twice. His end was made certain by Arkius, who sent sand crashing down upon him, causing him to fall down atop the Vahki transport, breaking numerous bones.

And so Vyarik sank below the sands, his tale at an end...

#### The Revenant

...and a new one beginning.

As Vyarik died, his memories were assimilated by the Untethered collective, his body inhabited by a spirit core imbued with the power of the magnetism that had murdered the former Dark Hunter. The Revenant rose from the pit and set forth for the Coliseum, pursued by Arkius. A short but brutal battle followed, with Arkius inflicted a number of injuries on the Revenant before it managed to knock him unconscious.

After making some repairs to its form, the Revenant made its way to the Coliseum, where it allowed itself to be arrested by the Vahki. It was transported to the cells beneath the tower, where it summoned the other Untethered to help it escape, so they could all make their way deeper below to awaken the Dead God.

Once united, the Vyarik, Othorak, and Fa'amatai Revenants fused together into a monstrous kaita, continuing to follow the call of the Dead God deeper down into the tunnels of the Coliseum. Eventually, they reached an apparent dead end, and began to burrow through the ground, causing themselves pain as they tore through the walls of The Codrex below. In was only after they reached the centre of the Codrex that the disparate fragments of their psyche wound their way together, culminating in the recollection of the true identity of the Untethered, the name of the Dead God: Mata Nui.

Reclaiming the Krom Sphere from Mazor, the kaita fulfilled its destiny and re-awoke Mata Nui, though their triumph was short-lived as the Dead God died once more, Mata Nui's titantic head tearing away from his body and drifting off into the ether.

The fate of the kaita and its components after this is unknown.