Rira (G2 Origins Timeline)

Rira is the previous Toa of Earth before Onua. He took the role of the Guardian of the City of the Mask Makers during a majority of his lifetime before becoming a part-time gladiator. Later, after his death, he was resurrected as a Toa Kulta of earth known as the Skull Basher.

Biography
50 years before Ekimu fell into his slumber, a prayer was sent to the stars for warriors to protect the island from intruders. Rira was summoned from his respective homeworld, Terragon, and crash landed on the island of Okoto, in the Region of Earth.

Much like the other toa of the time, Rira suffered memory upon crashing into his assigned region. However, unlike the others, he woke up alone, as he had fallen into an underground cavern on impact. From there, however, he was able to grow accustomed to the surroundings until he found the Earth Tribe’s chief, Igneo.

Life as a Toa

After situating himself with the islands, he met up with his Toa team. From there, he quickly made friends with the Toa of Water of the team, often offering strategic advice to her when the time arose. He took the role of the heavy lifter of the team, like his successor.

After the island threat was extinguished, Rira later became the guardian for the Mask Maker themselves. He considered the task honorable, and served with great zeal for several years, despite his comrades warning that such a task was unnecessary. While on the job, he became friends with both the Brotherhood and the Council, eagerly listening to their stories of the two Mask Makers’ creations.

Sometime after, however, Both Makuta and Ekimu decided that his protection was no longer needed, and that Rira was able to do as he pleased. He then decided that his best choice of action was to be of some use to the society, and chose to work in the Arena as a gladiator. He, along with later contestant Amaru, became a champion in the arena, and gained a friendly rival.

He was still acquaintances with Brotherhood member Icarax, up until Ekimu’s slumber, in which Makuta was destroyed, and the Brotherhood disbanded.

Due to the shockwave of elemental power as a result of the battle Makuta and Ekimu had, the elemental power within the island went inert. Because of this, a plague swept over the island, and Rira was of those afflicted. He died shortly after Amaru’s more mysterious death.

Rebirth

Later, he was revived as part of Kulta’s Skull Army, taking the form of the Skull Basher. In this form, he took on his original task of protecting the Temple, this time using his brute force and strategic prowess to overcome his foes. He was, however, still eventually defeated by the Toa Okoto of the time.

Abilities and Traits
Rira was described by his friends as being the kind-hearted member of the group. Quiet, yet thoughtful, Rira was often regarded as the smartest member of the team, being able to think well in tight situations, as well as be quick on his feet, despite his size.

While he preferred quiet over battle, he often did enjoy friendly combat as a way of kindling friendships and settling minor disputes. He felt that battle wasn’t something to be frowned upon, but more so a blessing that could be interpreted in different ways. Due to his intelligence and kindness, Rira also had a habit of telling stories of his Toa team’s adventures, particularly the battles. He would tell the story with such accuracy, making the listener feel as though they were there. It was because of this that he was considered to be one of the best storytellers of his time.

Due to his ability to sense emotions, he often had sympathy to even the wickedest of people, wishing to help them in any way he could. Later, however, his comrades convinced him that some people are incapable of changing and that death is sometimes the only option; it was only after much pondering over the idea that he was more willing to kill if the need arose.

He disliked his comrade’s tendency to make fun of his bull-like appearance and horns (or, as Amaru called it, a beast-man). However, he did not retort to these insults very often; though he did occasionally respond with a sarcastic remark. This made him renowned as one of the more mature members of the team, third to the Toa of Ice and the Toa of Water of the time.

After his rebirth, Rira stood on top of the other skull warriors, having a more cunning and deceptive attitude towards his mission as guardian. He was considered to be far more evil in terms of his personality, and his strategic nature was sadistic than before.

Powers and Tools
Being a Toa of Earth, Rira possessed the ability to manipulate earth at will, as well as have great strength compared to the other toa. He could create seismic waves by stomping the ground and, if desperate, could break a being of stone or rock to pieces if the composition of it was soft or brittle enough.

In addition to these standard powers, he also had an arsenal of his own. Other than having great intelligence, Rira also had an acute sense of smell, given to him by his mask, the Kanohi Kuri, the mask of acute smell. With this ability, he could smell a desired item or person over a mile away, and could even tell a person’s emotion based on the temperature change of the air around them.

He also had two large bull-like horns protruding from his head which he could use for literal head-to-head combat. The horns, composed entirely of opaque quartz, were also useful in holding up large platforms.

His weapon of choice was the Heavy Axe, a large, two-handed, double-bladed axe capable of splitting rocks and crystals. He could use this to channel and further enhance his elemental power, making him a formidable foe in the battlefield and in the arena.

In addition to this, he could also utilize a thin, crystal-bladed sword for fighting when his Heavy Axe served no purpose due to its size. This katana-like sword, while it had no element enhancing abilities, was a good last resort weapon; its lightweight nature and easy maneuverability made it easy to use against skull spiders. This weapon was called the Quartz Blade

His arsenal’s alternate function was the Shattering Lance, a lance made by combining the Heavy Axe with the Quartz Blade. This combined form allowed him to channel his elemental power at an accelerated rate, allowing him to lift large rocks without the use of his head.

Later Arsenal

After his death and temporary resurrection, Rira, now the Skull Basher, possessed very limited earth powers; this power could be increased by using the Mask of Earth of the time.

His sense of smell was lost upon resurrection, due to his original mask’s absence, thus, he was left to use his strategic advantage to fight against the Toa.

Besides this, he used two Hook-Axes as his primary line of defense against his foes. He could effectively wield them together in both hands, or use a single one. He could use them together as a form of “scissor attack”, an attack that would be most useful in breaking ice.

Trivia

 * A running joke with the other Toa was that they would refer to Rira as a girl when he was not around, due to his name sounding a lot like a female’s.
 * Strangely enough, as feminine as the name sounds, Rira is Maori for “strength” or, more appropriately “to be strong”.
 * In the in-universe case, Rira is actually a unisexual name. The other Toa, however, would never discover this, not even Rira himself, due to two reasons:
 * The first reason is because Rira is a name common only to his home world, Terragon. The only other planet that would have such a name would be a planet capable of housing Toa and Matorans of Earth. In that case, it would be Inferna or, more likely, Taro.
 * The second reason, the more obvious one, is because all the Toa lost their memory upon landing on the planet.
 * Mercatorprojection chose Rira to be a guardian in his living days to make more sense out of him protecting the temple during the canon storyline. He did, however, retain the horns and minotaur-like appearance in his living form.
 * How his mask gives him acute smell is a reference to his minotaur-like appearance.

Appearances

 * Tears of the Deceased