This article was written by Gringat. Please do not add to it without the writer's permission.
Gringat
Character
Group
The Korrothean Lords / The Weave, The Toa Vanembar, Tempesta Colonists
Element
Air
Kanohi
Kulasi (Formerly), Zatth
Status
Deceased
Location
Poliaz (formerly), Le-Korroth (formerly), Atmos Magna (Post humously)
"This one seems... weak, compared to the others my lord. It is a miracle he survived, to be sure, but should we really keep him? Doubtless he may be more harm to himself than to our enemies."
Gringat was originally a Matoran of Air on the island of Poliaz, but became a Toa, and then an Elemental Lord. His last deed was to enable the creation of a colony of Matoran and Agori on a distant planetary system, before his death at the blade of a being known as Ezru.
Gringat's first home was on an island named Poliaz, where he worked as a general handyman and liked to tinker with machinery in his spare time. After a while he became incredibly skilled with machinery, and left to the island of Xia to ply his trade as a weapon and vehicle engineer. His GringatTronics line became fairly popular until he lost business to Nuparu's Vahki and the matoran Ferrum . Unbeknownst to him, many of his designs were also stolen by Makuta Raximoras.
Gringat as a Matoran
After what he deemed a "sucessful waste of a century", Gringat returned home to Poliaz to ply his trade there, instead. It is at this stage he bought a tatou runt he named Biza, to pull his cart. Unfortunately, he could not afford his old home, and had to settle for a small flat over a shop in a rather unfavourable area of the city. It is there that he became the victim of theft once again, this time by a gang of matoran that went by the name of the Black Delta. After Gringat had naiively been selling weapons to both sides, they stole what little blueprints and materials he had left. Furious, and stupidly, he swore revenge on them and joined the Black Deltas' rival, the Red Stars, in an attempt to get back at them. While in the Red Star gang, Gringat became addicted to Weld, a compund made of ground Morbuzakh berries. Fortunately, the gangs did not have long before most of their numbers were arrested by the City Guard after a large gang fight - Gringat included. In the struggle, a Red Star member had shot Gringat close to his heartlight with one of his own stolen weapons.
Gringat had sold his weapons legally, and so had far fewer crimes to his name than the other gangmembers. The Guard captain, Xalos, offered him a way of redemtion - community service. From then on, Gringat focused on equipping the Guard and creating defenses for the island's coasts. Over time he made an uneasy friendship with Xalos, Gratigan (Xalos' deputy), Soleku and, through Soleku, Eki. Gringat fell in love with Soleku the moment he laid eyes on her, but never summoned the courage to tell her this while he was still a matoran.
While the five were together, Makuta Gorast infiltrated the island and brainwashed one of their toa - Tolovan. Eki was also incapacitated by a shadowbolt at this time, and was taken to the island of Korrothis by Lord Nivorn. Their other toa,Lizena, died during a battle with a Kanohi Dragon three years later, in which the remaining four matoran were also involved, although Gringat himself merely remote-controlled his weaponry instead of getting close like the others.
As both toa had then gone, Vanembar introduced a plan to get more toa to defend the island. Working with Lord Reglas, a project was set out to create a new toa team out of volunteers from Poliaz' population. The procedure was extremely dangerous, and many matoran died. Soleku, Gringat, Xalos, Gratigan and Orabmar survived, however, and joined the new team. Abarium and Brogas also joined the team, as they had heard about the plan and were already toa.
Shortly after the formation of the Toa Vanembar, the Leage of Six Kingdoms collapsed. Gringat's mask as a matoran was a powerless green Kualsi.
Gringat as a Toa[]
Toa Gringat
As a Toa of Air, Gringat was given a Kanohi Zatth from Lord Poliaz's extensive collection, which allowed him to summon rahi. He became experienced with the mask and could control what species he wanted easily, and usually get them to understand what he wanted. He could not choose an individual rahi, however, only its species. Unlike with most of the other toa, Gringat also created his own weapons - a naginata infused with his own elemental powers, and a large shield which could fire darts and grappling hooks from one end. His colour scheme remained the same as with his matoran form, and his old mask was donated to Lord Poliaz's collection.
After initial instability, Gringat became very proficient in using his powers over air - moreso than the average toa, and became very inventive in combining his powers with the others. With Gratigan he could create firestorms, Xalos allowed him to create blizzards, Brogas and Abarium let him create choking duststorms, and Soleku allowed him to conjure violent lightning storms. Orabmar's Magnetism powers never really meshed with Gringat's however.
Gringat played the role of support for the team most often, as he could patch up equipment and repair damage to the mechanical parts of his teammates, as well as summoning rahi and robotic drones to assist his team mates in battle. Gringat found himself relying most often on his powers and ranged weapons, as Xalos deigned him often too weak to take on the other enemies up close.
Over time, one by one, each Toa Vanembar was killed in action until only Xalos and Gringat were left. The two went into hiding to recuperate after Soleku, the last to go, was taken by the Brotherhood of Makuta. This was shortly after Teridax had taken power. Xalos and Gringat remained in hiding for many decades until thier discovery by the Dark Hunters forced them into the open again.
At this time, a series of powerful icy storms were wracking the Matoran Universe, killing many rahi and matoran and destroying several cities. Seas froze, forests blew down and hailstones pulverised homes trapped beneath gigantic snowdrifts.
Shortly after this, Soleku, who had been rescued by the Lords Balin and Nivorn, tracked them down and brought them to Korrothis.
Gringat as Airlord[]
Gringat filled the absent seat of Airlord on Korrothis, at Soleku's request to Lord Balin. He was given command of Le-Korroth , and was given the grave responsibility of taking control of the element of Air within the Matoran Universe and keep it in balance after the death of Maelestrakk. His mask was replaced with the Sirion , Mask of Beasts.
Gringat as Le-Nui
The Brotherhood of Makuta were enemies of the Elemental Lords by this stage, but could not afford to attack them should ALL elements run rampant on them and destroy the very world they were trying to take over. Several attempts to take over the Lords were thwarted by Lord Nivorn and Balin, who were makuta themselves. Nevertheless, Korrothis' location made it easy to be attacked by the Brotherhood from any direction, and so Gringat devised a plan to allow Korrothis to fly, using a combination of the lords' powers, and his own technology . After fifty years' work, Korrothis could fly anywhere in the Matoran Universe, and could not be tracked by the Brotherhood.
During his station as Airlord, it was discovered that Varrix , one of his archons, had arranged for Maelestrakk's death. Varrix was banished to the Pit for his crimes, and was replaced by a promising young toa of lightning named Tynne . Tynne and Gringat grew close and later married.
After Teridax ejected the Mask of Life into space, Gringat (with help from Krikitt ) further rigged Korrothis to be capable of spaceflight, and followed the mask to Bara Magna, though not all residents of Korrothis agreed with this. Soleku and Delnok fell during the escape and were destroyed by rahkshi. By the time they arrived Mata-Nui had already united the Glatorian tribes, and Gringat witnessed Teridax's final defeat from orbit. Upon leaving Teridax, all elements within the Matoran universe had gone haywire as well, forcing Teridax to control them himself and weakening him considerably.
Gringat was unable to control Korrothis perfectly as is descended, causing it to crash into the ground. He lost the use of one of his eyes after a direct hit from a rahkshi of heat vision. A new city named Bazryghan was built around it. Gringat stayed here for several decades, teaching new generations the ways of the Weave . Mata-Nui allowed Tynne and Gringat to be the first matoran to have a child , using the Mask of Life. The child's name was Tanggri. They lated created two more; Nilmador and Elithrar .
Gringat in full regalia
Gringat discovered, on Spherus Magna, Great Being archives detailing another planet they had originally wished to occupy, but never had. It oribited a star named Drakus . Gringat became, after Iruni took his position, leader of a colonisation mission to Tempesta Magna, using Korrothis to bring many matoran, agori and glatorian to the new planet. Gringat revelled in the massive atmosphere of the new planet, and named it "Atmos Magna".
Gringat sent regular updates to Spherus Magna from Korrothis, until suddenly they stopped. This was because Gringat was killed after 733 years on Atmos Magna by the spirit of a Great Being that had been lying dormant within Xalos' arm. This Great Being revealed himself as Ezru, and promptly began conquest of the system. After Gringat's death, Tempesta Magna was thrown into a perpetual maelstrom, and the poles froze over. The millions of shards of Gringat's spirit became the savage beings known as cyclonoids. It became impossible for the newly evolved akonians to survive on the surface, and they were driven underground.
Abilities and Traits[]
He was an expert at using his elemental powers, and could create storms, whirlwinds, pressure spots and vacuums. He could also use air powers to throw his voice. Using air to lift his body, Gringat could fly, but this exhausted him quickly. He was very capable in aquatic environments. Gringat's gear-headedness allowed him to sometimes build, speedhack or rewire his way out of tricky situations as well.
As an Elemental Lord, Gringat became one with his element, and could perform air-manipulation feats impossible even to the Toa Nuva. He gained the ability to burst apart into the air and reform again, as well as generate golem s out of elemental air energy. He could create vast storms, lightning, thunder, rain and fogs over entire islands, and breathe even when there was no air around him. It was his responsibility to make sure the element of air stayed under control within the body of Mata-Nui, and most new toa of Air, Sonics or Lightning were seen and trained by him for some part of their lives, though he shared the Lightning domain with Lord Delnok .
In person, Gringat had always been nervous and jittery, and preferred the company of animals or machines to sentient races. Prideful of his work, he would often relish a chance to show off his inventions or a new trick he had perfected. After a long time as Le-Nui, Gringat became wiser and more at ease, focusing much of his time on meditation, teaching and tinkering.
His tools as a Matoran varied greatly, from soldering irons to plasma torches to screwdrivers. He often kept a few tools with him at all times as a toa and lord as well, should the need arise. He made several different spears, shields and naginatas over his lifetime, each more powerful than the last. He also made sure that he always had at least one non-elemental ranged attack as well. As a Lord, Gringat carried a staff of office with a head encased in a shroud of whirling and whispering air.
Trivia[]
Gringat has been built or drawn across the world at least 63 times.
His past versions are all posted on MOCpages
His colour scheme has little to do with Christmas. The idea behind it was to use a clashing colour scheme and stir up some controversy on MOCpages.
Gringat is a primary OC, and therefore has had many iterations and many storylines besides the main.
Gringat's "Tarantula" form was inspired by the Driders from Neverwinter Nights. His design has always been somewhat "elfin" in nature.
Gringat's original name was Gringat the Repugnant. This sounded painful. He also had a brother called Dollop the Clenchy.
His personality is based off that of his maker, but less rigidly than his secondaruy self-MOC, Mezzinus .
As a human, the face design would mean Gringat would have a squarish goatee.
Gringat's storyline interlocks with Greg Farshtey's one up until Teridax's death, at which point I take it into my own hands.
"Fireflies" by Owl City, "Tarantula" by Pendulum and "In this City" by Iglu&Hartley have all been used as themes for Gringat in the past. Currently his theme is "The Wizard" by Uriah Heep.
