Tahu (Spherus Imperus)

Toa of Fire and elected leader of the Toa Confederacy's military.

History
Tahu was the first Toa of Fire on Spherus Magna, and was directly trained by Artahka to one day lead his people. Like his teammates, he was rigorously trained and briefed on every single aspect of the civilisation he would help create and then organise. He then went into a deep sleep, and was to awaken when his people would need him most. He and the rest of the Toa were to remain in this state for millennia, until a false signal given off by Teridax (Spherus Imperus) finding the Kraahkan (Spherus Imperus) awoke them and dispatched them immediately to the surface from deep underground. Arriving fully armed and ready for combat, they found themselves in a far more unknown environment in what was still peace time.

However, they wasted no time in making the most of their awakening, and quickly helped bring more oppressed societies into the fold of the Toa Confederacy. Tahu himself is credited with most of the groundwork laid to create the Confederacy, as he led the Toa Primis and was responsible for their tactics. He would later go on to establish a romantic relationship with Gali (Spherus Imperus), and the romance between the two became one of the many great stories told of the Primis during this period. This prosperity and age of unrivalled peace was not to last for the Toa Confederacy.

When Teridax began his initial conquest, each of the Makuta he sent to destroy the decaying empire equalled one of the Toa Primis. At a significant disadvantage, the Toa were forced to resort to more extreme methods. The previous discovery of the Avohkii (Spherus Imperus) gave the Primis an immense advantage, and Tahu was the most frequent user of the mask, his natural goodwill supplementing the mask's main powers highly effectively. However, it became clear that the Toa Confederacy could not resist an attack on Teridax's scale even with the use of the Avohkii, and so the Primis made a last-ditch effort to draw the bulk of Teridax's forces to Midnight Ridge, a mountain pass just south of the capital of Spherus Magna. Tahu was chosen to lead the battle group, and he arrayed thousands of Toa to fight in the greatest conflict in the Confederacy's history. His plan was not, however, to deliver a 'final battle'. The intent was to distract Teridax so Tahu could get close enough to him with the Avohkii to cancel out his powers and then quickly use the Ignika (Spherus Imperus) to finish him off.

As the combined forces of the most powerful Toa at that time, the Primis, Gripas, and Titan, landed blow upon blow on Teridax, their blows were reciprocated and the Toa were left mostly helpless. However, Artahka himself intervened to wrestle with Teridax long enough for the Avohkii to be used, and Tahu temporarily merged with all life energy in the universe to obliterate Teridax's physical form, save for his Kraahkan, which escaped. When Teridax's energy exploded outwards in a torrent of elemental strength, Tahu and the other Toa Primis absorbed the majority of it and this fuelled their transformation into becoming the Toa Primis Major, which massively boosted their mask powers and latent abilities. It also allowed them to access the Avatar Stones which Artahka had previously entrusted to them, giving them the ability to call on the powers of a Great Being.

In the shaky era of peace which followed, Tahu was elected the first Prime Knight, or Marshall of the Toa Confederacy's military. He set to work reforming it, providing better training for the Toa and amassing more funds into research which he hoped would reduce the likelihood of needing to use legendary masks again. His relationship with Gali was strained in this time as she believed focusing more resources on the redevelopment and reconstruction of society was a better use of time, but he stressed the importance of a strong military in protecting the Confederacy. Dissatisfied with his change of character and priorities, she ended their romantic relationship, a matter which Tahu is still bitter about to this day.

When the Makuta resurfaced in the form of the Apex Conglomeration, Tahu personally led his armies to war and destroyed many of them. However, he crucially underestimated their ability to slip behind his lines, and Pohatu (Spherus Imperus) was killed whilst under the effect of his Avatar Stone. Tahu blamed himself for the action, as did most of the Primis Council, although public opinion of Tahu was still high and most mourned it whilst celebrating his friendship with Tahu. This caused a significant personality shift in Tahu which would cause much discontent with the surviving Toa Primis for some time.

When last seen, he had just evicted Namira and Fuerotar from the council chambers in Le-Koro, and intended to amass his armies and scour the Confederacy for any and all remaining supporters of the Makuta.

Tools and Abilities
Tahu, prior to his transformation, wore the Hau, which allowed him to shield incoming attacks, provided he knew from what direction they were coming from. The shield would dissipate if more than a certain impact force was taken and often failed when used against projectiles. He carried a Fire Spear which he could fling at opponents and retrieve afterwards. After his transformation, Tahu's mask increased wildly in power and allowed him to block any attack, not just those he could see, although ambushes could still prove dangerous as it would only work once every short while when used in this way. The shield developed by the Hau Nuva was also far more resilient. He wielded two Fire Claymores as his main weapons, which could be combined to form a Fire Greatsword. His main weapon as a Toa Primis Major was his Avatar Stone, which allowed him to channel the abilities of a Great Being of Fire and use this element to that degree of strength.

Personality
Tahu had, at first, been intensely loyal to his team and not much else. He was an honourable but stubborn leader who wanted the betterment of his people and his team, and cared for their well-being very heavily. His relationship with Gali was an anchor for him into the more common parts of life, although he would later regret this emotional attachment to her. When the Toa Primis were transformer into the Primis Major, his concerns became much more broad to encompass the entirety of the Confederacy. It is during this time Gali decided he was not paying enough attention to their own relationship and ended their romance, which began his path to bitterness. The death of Pohatu led to a brief time of self-hatred, although when the public still supported him, he grew far more arrogant and decided that his will was for the best intentions of the entire Spherian people, intolerant of criticism from his equals on the Primis Council. Although he is still a devout servant of good, his views have been clouded by the stresses of his occupation and have ushered in a dark awakening in Tahu's spirit.