Venom Eel

The Venom Eels were an aquatic species native to the waters of Aqua Magna.

History
Evolving naturally in the oceans of Spherus Magna, the Venom Eels lived in the depths of Great Ocean, rarely venturing towards the surface and interacting with the denizens of the planet.

Following planetary cataclysm that would later be referred to as The Shattering, the Venom Eels came to reside on the planetary body known as Aqua Magna. With few other organic species flourishing in this environment, the population began to gradually grow over the centuries, proving undisturbed from outside sources.

1000 years ago, however, the Great Spirit Robot was known to have crashed on Aqua Magna, killing several hundred colonies of Venom Eels in the process and changing the landscape of the ocean.

With the Pit prison separating from the wider Matoran Universe during this event, a number of new aquatic predators were known to adapt to the ecosystem of Aqua Magna, along with the surviving Pit Prisoners, chief among which were the Barraki Warlords.

In the years after the Great Cataclysm, an abundant concentration of Venom Eels came to base themselves around the warmer regions of the Pit. Mutated by radiation leaking out of a fissure in the Great Spirit Robot, these Venom Eels came to organize themselves under the command of Barraki Ehlek, accepting the former Pit Prisoner as their alpha and performing tasks on his behalf.

For 1000 years, this particular Venom Eels population harassed the Matoran of Mahri Nui and disrupted the Pit ecosystem, along with a population of Underwater Insects, Rays and Mutated Rahi.

Following the arrival of the Kanohi Ignika in the Pit, Ehlek commanded his Venom Eels to assault the Matoran settlement of Mahri Nui. Met with moderate success, the Venom Eel army was eventually ordered to draw back and simply encircle the city.

Cursed by the Kanohi Ignika, a Po-Matoran named Dekar once attempted to kill a young Venom Eel, though proved incapable of doing so, robbed of his capacity to deal lethal injury by the Mask of Life.

After Dekar attempted to shatter the Ignika in hopes of preventing the Barraki from winning it, the Mask of Light began to leak energy, enlarging one Venom Eel to a size of 300 feet. Faced by the might of the newly-transformed Toa Mahri, this Venom Eel was attracted to the lightstones of Mahri Nui,, only to eventually be suppressed by Toa Hewkii, who used his Kanohi Garai to force the Venom Eel down to the depths of the Pit.

Eventually coming into conflict with the Toa Mahri, the Barraki warlords began to assault the Toa, sending their Rahi armies to vex them while they searched for the Mask of Life. In one such instance, Barraki Ehlek was known to have performed a coordinated attack upon Toa Nuparu and Hewkii while flanked by several of Pridak's Takea sharks. However, with Toa Hewkii once again using his Kanohi Garai to cause disruption, the two species ended up coming to blows with each other. Accepting this as an assault from Pridak somewhat over-eagerly, Ehlek ordered his Venom Eels to retaliate, suffering heavy losses.

Following a series of similar battles with the Toa Mahri, the Barraki gradually began to crumble beneath the weight of their own internal defects, with the six warlords discovering that there was a traitor amongst their number. Separated from their armies, the Barraki would soon come into conflict with Makuta Teridax, who was inhabiting a Maxilos Drone unit. With Mata Nui's health deteriorating, Ehlek commanded the entirety of his Venom Eel Army to swarm the Makuta. Flanked by legions of Keras Crabs, Takea Sharks, Manta Rays, Underwater Insects, and Giant Squid, the Venom Eel Army aided in damaging Teridax's robotic form before assaulting the Toa Mahri, who had reclaimed the Kanohi Ignika. With Toa Matoro venturing off to use the Mask of Life and restore Mata Nui to life, the remaining Toa fought to repel the armies of the Barraki, killing many Takea in the process. With Matoro sacrificing his life in the Universe Core, the Ignika teleported the rest of his team to Metru Nui, leaving the Barraki to turn on each other and compelling their armies to enter a frenzy.

Abilities and Traits
Members of the Venom Eel species possess an elongated, cylindrical body and are typically colored dark gray-brown on the back and pale green on the belly.

Trivia

 * Contrary to popular belief, Venom Eels are not in fact Rahi.