Yo-Yo-The Piraka are Back!

It's no secret that I love Bionicle, it was a formative part of my childhood and my love for it only grew deeper as I learned more about it. This Lore is LAYERED! It also helped pull Lego out of bankruptcy because at the time Legos highest selling products were Lego Star Wars, which means part of all their profits were going back to Lucas Films, so Lego needed to have their own Story and Action oriented series to compete. Lego corporate initially was staunchly against the idea cause they didn't want their toys to promote violence, but then they relented with the caveat that it be very clear who the Good Guys, and Bad Guys were. You would think this would make for some very flat characters but instead the writing team got creative! Later in the series the lines between Good and Evil would become grey, but for now they basically had free reign to make Bad Guys who were depraved, sadistic, monsters and I think no characters exemplify that more than The Piraka, Traitorous through and through! Their Golden Rule is "To do onto Others First!"

Piraka is a Matoran word that means "Thieves and Murderers" but it also has connotations as being either insulting or just a vile word like a swear. While they are a team they have a very different idea of Teamwork than the Toa. Toa value unity and working together for a greater cause, the Piraka have no such noble intentions and are all very aware that their alliance is tenuous and circumstantial at best. They will fight together if they have something to gain out of it, a mutual foe, can be browbeaten into submission, but once they get what they want, the are no other enemies to fight, or their leader shows weakness then it's every Piraka for themselves. As the Leader of the Piraka Zaktan the Snake (100% Cunning, 0% Cuddly) has to be Detached and utterly Ruthless in order to manipulate and intimidate the others into cooperating long enough to get shit done. He is mysterious, brilliant, and equally hated and feared by his own companions.

I decided on the name Zahhak, not only because it is similar to Zaktan but is also the name of the Evil Serpent King from Zoroastrian Myth. Long story short: Zahhak came into power with the help of the spirit of evil Ahriman, much in the same way as Zaktan struck a pact with Makuta Teridax after discovering Teridax's entire secret scheme and decided that this was an unstoppable tide of evil and he'd rather be on the winning side. Perhaps Captain Zahhak also has a dark parton...?