Sonitous

"Swords are overrated these days. If you'd like to suggest otherwise, why don't you have a go at my shield and see how far that gets you? I'm sorry in advance for any earache you may receive."

- Sonitous

Sonitous is a wandering Toa of Sonics.

Matoran
Originally native to a De-Matoran settlement in the northern region of the Northern Continent, Sonitous worked as the village's sentinel, keeping watch for Rahi or any other dangers. Roughly 2,900 years ago, Sonitous' village was forced to enlist the services of the Dark Hunters in order to protect themselves from persistent Rahi attacks, a deal which initially ran very smoothly.

However, after the contract concluded, the Shadowed One, seeing an opportunity to make easy money, had his agents harass the De-Matoran into paying them for their continued protection. This all changed when a veteran Toa of Iron named Feex arrived, who proceeded to chase the Hunters out of the settlement. Feex then sacrificed his Toa Power to transform Sonitous into a Toa, which resulted in Feex's transformation into a Turaga.

Toa
Sonitous remained as the protector of his village for around a year, during which he rigorously trained himself in an effort to master his new powers. Eventually, Sonitous left his village after he joined a visiting Toa team as its sixth member. Although he was originally treated as the rookie of the team, Sonitous managed to earn enough respect to become its deputy leader.

During one mission, however, the team were brought into conflict with a massive Tunnel Stalker that had been mutated by Hordika Venom. Though they managed to defeat the beast, the Stalker succeeded killing two of their number, including the team's leader. This tragedy created a deep divide between the surviving Toa, which eventually resulted in Sonitous quitting the team and going solo. On his own, Sonitous became a wanderer, righting whatever wrongs he came across and occasionally doing battle with agents of the Dark Hunters and the Brotherhood of Makuta. Although the majority of his adventures are not known, word of some of his exploits have spread, with a few even reaching the Southern Islands. Among the many tales surrounding him, he was said to have aided a Toa team in defending their island from a Frostelus attack, raided a convoy delivering weapons to the Brotherhood and had a battle with a Kralhi that lasted for two days before he was able to finally destroy it.

Frequently, Sonitous travelled to his destinations via Matoran trading vessels, often offering to protect their ships in exchange for safe passage. Because of the increased security that a Toa could offer, most Matoran were more than happy to let Sonitous travel with them.

At some point after the Great Cataclysm, Sonitous travelled to Xia to investigate a link between the Vortixx and a number of well-armed Skakdi factions on Zakaz. Not long after arriving, he discovered that the Brotherhood had privately contracted the Vortixx to create a series of cutting-edge weapons for their forces, but instructed the arms dealers to hand the prototypes out to various Skakdi warlords to see how well they would perform in intense battlefield conditions. Unwilling to let this continue, Sonitous traveled to the warehouse where the Vortixx intended to give the Brotherhood their perfected weapons. Upon arriving, he disrupted a transaction betweens the arms dealers and Antroz, the Makuta of the region, whom he engaged in combat. Though he managed to destroy the prototypes, Sonitous barely escaped with his life due to his opponent's superior fighting skills.

500 years ago, Sonitous hitchhiked on a Matoran trading vessel headed to the eastern coast of Southern Continent, agreeing to protect the ship in exchange for safe passage. During the voyage, a lone Zyglak slipped on board during a violent nighttime storm and proceeded to murder most of the crew. Though he was alerted of the attack, Sonitous was knocked unconscious before he could do anything. After recovering, Sonitous stopped the Zyglak from killing the last surviving member of the crew, a Ta-Matoran sailor. Though he initially had the upper hand, Sonitous was downed and viciously beaten until the Ta-Matoran gave him his Echo Shield, which he used to batter the Zyglak off the ship. He then proceeded to steer the vessel out of the storm, also casting the deceased sailors' bodies into the ocean. The following morning, Sonitous and the Ta-Matoran survivor docked on the Southern Continent, where they both parted ways.

Around five years ago, Sonitous defeated a group Visorak who were attacking an island near Metru Nui, an island which Toa Naho had famously swam to in order to acquire reinforcements during the Toa/Dark Hunter War. Though the Visorak numbers were small, Sonitous suspected that they were merely a scouting party, whose goal was to establish a forward operating base that the Brotherhood could use in a future invasion of Metru Nui.

War with the Brotherhood
More recently, Sonitous was enlisted by the Order of Mata Nui to fight for them when they declared war on the Brotherhood. Early on, Sonitous was seen challenging the Makuta's might on the eastern coastline of the Nothern Continent, where a small Brotherhood army had settled; a precursor for what would be a full-scale invasion. Backed by the Order, Sonitous and his own allies were able to swarm the Brotherhood's camp and defeat them, forcing them to flee. Aware that the Order could handle things without him, Sonitous left for other parts.

For most of the war, Sonitous fought on the front lines on Nynrah, primarily because of the strength of the Makuta's army there. Sonitous was part of the first wave that attacked the island, only to be met with the full strength of the Brotherhood's forces. Sonitous was present when the Order finally succeeded in forcing the Brotherhood off of Nynrah, though he was badly injured by a Rahkshi Kaita Vo during their retreat. By the time he had fully recovered, Makuta Teridax had taken control of Mata Nui's body and assumed control of the Matoran Universe.

Teridax's Reign
During Teridax's reign, Sonitous joined up with a ragtag group of Dark Hunters, Matoran and fellow Toa. Despite its loose structure, the team managed to successfully operate on its own for a time, surviving primarily on hit-and-run tactics, and whilst most of their attacks were small in scale, they did succeed in taking down a number of Exo-Toa patrols and free a handful of enslaved Matoran settlements. Eventually, they joined up with a larger resistance in order to better combat Teridax and his oppressive regime.

Sonitous was among the survivors of the battle between Mata Nui and Teridax, which resulted in the Great Spirit Robot being severely damaged, and joined in the mass migration from the defunct Matoran Universe to Spherus Magna.

The Melding Alternate Universe
In this alternate universe where the Great Beings created Matoran-sized beings endowed with Toa-like abilities on Spherus Magna, Sonitous and his brethren were instructed to repair and protect Spherus Magna from an impending disaster. After the cataclysm was averted, Sonitous often worked with the Makuta, particularly Vamprah, before he was paired with another Toa named Inrye. Despite their differing personalities, the two eventually became friends.

Toa Empire Alternate Universe
In a different reality, Sonitous was initially an outspoken critic of the Toa Empire though eventually became a devoted fanatic after he was sent to the Re-Education Center in Ga-Metru. Not long after, Sonitous became a Toa and was promptly recruited into the Empire's corrupt army. As a Toa, Sonitous was part of the team led by Nidhiki that wiped out the Nynrah Ghosts and was also one of the Toa sent to Odina to eliminate the Dark Hunters.

During the final battle between the Toa Empire and Pohatu's rebellion, Sonitous attempted to challenge the rogue Toa of Stone himself after he began to make his advance towards the Coliseum, though was quickly killed when Pohatu created a giant stone hand to grab and crush him.

Abilities and Traits
Though mild-mannered and somewhat quiet, Sonitous is extremely focused and level-headed when carrying out his duty as a Toa. Occasionally, Sonitous has been accused of taking his duty too seriously, though this is simply because he is driven by a burning desire to do the right thing. In conversations, Sonitous prefers to speak only when he has something worth saying, yet despite his reservations, he is still willing to engage in casual conversations from time to time. In battle, Sonitous prefers to think his way through a problem, hence his focus on defensive combat. This attribute has made him both cautious and a sound tactician.

Although he works very efficiently in groups, he often prefers to strike out on his own. This mostly stems from a somewhat irrational fear that any team he works with will eventually suffer from a tragedy that split them apart, much like his original Toa team. Unfortunately, this has caused many to misconstrue Sonitous as antisocial.

As a Toa of Sonics, Sonitous is able to create, control and absorb sound. This allows him to create sound waves or concentrated beams of sound, use sonic waves to disrupt a structure's integrity, and absorb all of the sound in an area to create a field of silence.

Mask and Tools
Sonitous wears the Kanohi Arthron, the Great Mask of Sonar, which allows him to sense the movement and positions of targets through echolocation. In combat, Sonitous wields the Echo Shield as his primary Toa tool, which he can use to reflect any sounds in his environment onto a specific target. When he was a Matoran, Sonitous carried a pike for his role as a sentinel, though discarded it once he became a Toa.

Trivia

 * Sonitous is 's favorite Toa character.
 * A MOC of the same name was created by.
 * Sonitous was originally created for a roleplay on the Wiki Metru Forums, though his creator found that he liked the character so much that he decided to fully flesh him out as a character in his storyline.
 * Sonitous' name is derived from the Latin word Sonitus, meaning noise. This was meant to be a reference to his element of Sonics. The word which his name is based off is also rather ironic, seeing as the De-Matoran despise loud noises.
 * Although it was considered for a short time, a MOC for Sonitous was not attempted by his creator, due to the fact that the Kanohi Arthron does not come in a variation that correlates with the colour scheme of a Toa of Sonics and also because Sonitous' creator was unwilling to alter his Arthron's coloring.
 * His MOC forms were actually made by, who kindly offered to create Sonitious when Chicken Bond mentioned the problem to him.
 * Sonitous has what appears to be jet boosters attached to his ankles, although this has yet to be confirmed in-story.
 * Sonitous' Matoran form will feature in Zero Hour, a comic-styled story serial, which will be released later this year. His Stars form will also be used to represent the character in the upcoming story The Powers That Should Be. Both of these stories will be written by BobTheDoctor27.

Storyline Appearances

 * The Voyager (First Appearance)

Non-Storyline Appearances

 * Zero Hour
 * Zero Hour: Prequel (Mentioned Only)
 * Falling in the Black
 * Judgment Day
 * Judgment Day: Prequel