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
Like all other De-Matoran, Sonitous was created by the Great Beings on the world of Spherus Magna during the Core War. Lacking true consciousness, Sonitous and his kin aided in the early construction of the Matoran Universe, the interior environment of the Great Spirit Mata Nui. After a considerable period of heavy labor, Sonitous was placed in the northern region of the Northern Continent, along with a small population of other Matoran. There, he continued to carry out his purpose by maintaining his settlement to ensure the continued functionality of the Great Spirit Robot.

Shortly after the successful launch of the Matoran Universe, Sonitous gained true sentience during the Awakening, which had been caused by Velika's tampering with the Matoran species. Although he continued his original task, Sonitous was thus imbued with emotions and became self-aware, developing a keen strategic intellect among other idiosyncrasies. During the reign of the League of Six Kingdoms, the Northern Continent and inhabitants fell under the control of Pridak. During the final year of the League around 80,000 years ago, Sonitous' strategic mind was noted, which resulted in him being forcibly conscripted into the Matoran Rear Guard Unit, one of the Barraki's legions. Sonitous was present when the Brotherhood of Makuta captured the Barraki in a preemptive surprise attack, and deserted the League before he could be taken prisoner.

Upon returning to the Northern Continent, Sonitous settled down in a mixed Matoran town, where his enhanced hearing resulted in him finding work as the village's sentinel. Working mostly in the evening, Sonitous would keep watch for Rahi or other dangers. Among his fellow villagers, Sonitous was known for recounting the myths of Grimlox to scare other guards assigned to night duty. Although this was his official role, Sonitous often kept himself preoccupied during his downtime by working voluntarily as the village courier. With the assistance of his pet Mahi, he would often deliver food, tools, supplies and messages to the other local settlements.

From time-to-time, as a token of appreciation for his watchful eye over their region, Sonitous would also deliver supplies to Makuta Krika on behalf of his village, which Krika would use in his experiments. When Krika was tasked with monitoring Zakaz as well, Makuta Scarla was briefly assigned to observe Krika's territory in his absence. Unaware of her irrational paranoia, Sonitous once delivered Scarla a basket of food that she was convinced was poisoned. She responded by abducting Sonitous and interrogating him for three days to find out who he was working for, before Krika returned and set him free. Despite this, the tale of Sonitous' experience with Scarla ultimately tainted his entire village's perception of the Makuta. After the Great Cataclysm struck the universe approximately 1,000 years ago, Sonitous' village was forced to contract the Dark Hunters as their protectors when Makuta Icarax began his conquest of the Northern Continent with a small army of Manas. This deal initially ran very smoothly until the Brotherhood put Icarax in line and ended his invasion. Although their contract had ended, the Shadowed One, seeing an opportunity to make easy money, had his agents harass the village until they paid them for their continued protection. Sonitous himself attempted to stand up to the Hunters, although this only resulted in him being 'disciplined' by a particularly nasty Dark Hunter codenamed Faceless.

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 the protector of his village for around two years, during which he rigorously trained himself in an effort to master his new powers. Not long after, 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. Being a part of the first generation of Toa to have emerged after the Great Cataclysm had a big impact on Sonitous' outlook. The conditions of the aftermath of the cataclysm proved tough, unforgiving and gruelling for a young Toa.

During one mission, 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. As time went on, the survivors of Sonitous' team were picked off by Dark Hunters and Brotherhood agents until only he remained. Sonitous then decided to go solo instead of join another team, feeling it would make him far less conspicuous.

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. Over the years, Sonitous was a frequent client of the boatswain Flidus, who took particular delight in making suggestive advances on the Toa of Sonics. By all accounts (including a few drunken tirades by Flidus himself), Sonitous never reciprocated Flidus' advances, although this has not quelled rumors that Sonitous' continued association with Flidus implies that the two are closer than they are letting on. After one particularly stormy voyage to Stelt, Sonitous agreed to blow off some steam with Flidus at a tavern named the Tahtorak's Talon. Within minutes of arriving, Sonitous was forced to break up a fight between Flidus and a Su-Matoran thug named Glidus, who had insulted Flidus' vessel.

Unsurprisingly, Sonitous has encountered a number of other wandering Toa during his travels. Sonitous once assisted Toa Barionk in destroying a secret Makuta weapons factory. With Toa Lesovikk, the sole survivor of the Toa Cordak, Sonitous travelled to northern region of the Southern Islands to suppress a remnant of Barraki Carapar's army which sought to revive his warmongering kingdom. He met Toa Jareroden whilst attempting to take down a rogue Mana Ko, unaware of either's connection to the Order of Mata Nui. Toa Tourik crossed paths with Sonitous when the pair tipped off the Shadowed One of a Brotherhood spy who had infiltrated the Dark Hunters during the Brotherhood of Makuta/Dark Hunter War. With Toa Soalaz, Sonitous encountered him only once when the pair fell into a nest of Dagger Spiders, and both left with a strong resentment of the other following the experience. Supposedly, there was once talk of these Toa banding together to form a new Toa team, although if such talks ever happened, they never came to fruition.



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. At some point, Toa Tuyet and her empire discovered a small Bohrok nest deep within the Maze of Shadows. What followed from this discovery were a series of experiments intended to uncover a way of shattering the Bahrag Queens' control over the Krana, which were seen as potential tools for enslavement. The ultimate aim of the experiment was to to supplant the Bahrag with Tuyet as the commanding figure in the Krana's programming. Having already been subjected to extensive brainwashing, Sonitous was deemed a suitable test subject. The experiment was soon abandoned when a Krana-controlled Sonitous attacked the Toa present at a project demonstration before attempting to stage a Bohrok uprising, proving once and for all the Krana could not be reprogrammed. Following this experience, Sonitous was immediately sent back to the Re-Education Center in order to completely purge the Bohrok's lingering influence.

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
Although mild-mannered and unassuming, Sonitous is a genuinely brave individual who is supremely dedicated to his duties as a Toa. Since he allows little else to command his focus, Sonitous has been accused of taking his role too seriously, though this simply stems from 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 will happily engage in more casual conversations with those he trusts. Amongst his few friends, he is known for his wry, if cynical sense of humour.

Rather unfortunately, however, a quiet pessimism has been instilled deep within Sonitous' heart, largely due to his formative years as a Toa being shaped around the bleak conditions of the Dark Times. Perhaps most shockingly of all, Sonitous has lost his faith in Mata Nui, believing the Great Spirit had either died or abandoned his people. This pessimistic streak peaked during Teridax's reign and has persisted on Spherus Magna; Mata Nui's recent decision to retreat into the Kanohi Ignika at a time when a leader is needed has done little to restore his faith. No matter his doubts, Sonitous has never failed uphold his duties with anything other than vigour, as he reasoned that the Toa, and therefore himself, were all his universe had left to maintain law and order.

Although he works very efficiently in groups, Sonitous often prefers to strike out on his own. This mostly stems from a deeply irrational fear that any team he joins shall eventually befall a fate that will split them apart, as was the case with his original Toa team. This, however, has caused many to misconstrue Sonitous as antisocial. In battle, Sonitous prefers to think his way through a problem, hence his focus on defensive combat. This particular attribute has made him both a thoughtful and cautious as well as an excellent tactician.

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' Matoran form features in Zero Hour, a comic-styled story serial released in mid 2014, written by BobTheDoctor27. His STARs form was previously slated to appear in The Powers That Should Be until its cancellation.
 * Although photos depicting older incarnations of Sonitous' MOCs are used on his page, this is explained story-wise as Sonitous simply modifying his armor to account for the damage it has sustained over time.
 * In his MOC's older incarnations, Sonitous has what appears to be jet boosters attached to his ankles, although these do not actually have any in-story significance.

Appearances

 * The Voyager (First Appearance)