Mask of Conjuring

This is one of several Kanohi masks whose shapes were originally made in official Bionicle art but their powers were unestablished. Swert of biosector01 and I came up with powers to use those shapes for the Aethion Expanded Multiverse, and Greg Farshtey canonized them as the powers for those mask shapes. Note that my art shown here is not canon. Many of these masks were only partially shown or were otherwise unclear; the sketch is meant to theorize what the rest of the mask looks like, and also to portray the EM version.

Canon version: www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bon…

Official power, as defined on biosector01: "The Mask of Conjuring is a Kanohi that allows its user to program a limited power into the mask for a brief period of time. The user must describe in detail the power desired and at least one weakness. If the phrasing is spoken wrong, it causes intense psychic backlash in the user's mind. The user can use a programmed power for fifteen minutes (with a Great version), and after the time is out, the user must wait thirty seconds to activate the mask again. The Noble version will only work for five minutes. Another weakness is because it takes time, any enemies nearby can hear in detail what power to expect and what its weakness is. Because of this, the usage of the mask is more commonly done alone."

Source: biosector01.com/wiki/index.php…

Bio from the 100-page Aethion guide PDF: "Enables the user to speak out loud what he wants the mask to do, with strict constraints, actually using Matoran language (which is programming language) to determine the power temporarily.

The main constraints are: 1) you can't conjure "godmod" powers; there always must be a tradeoff or a weakness specified or your instructions are ignored, 2) you must describe exactly what you want the mask to do; you cannot just say "Hau" or "Shielding" to mimic a Hau, you must say something like "make a protective forcefield bubble around me that blocks incoming projectiles if I am aware of them", 3) the power is very temporary, around five or fifteen minutes (for Noble/Great respectively), and there's about a thirty-second period after a power fades when the mask is totally powerless, and 4) if you make the slightest mistake in your instructions, the power will backfire, and something horrible could happen to you, like messed up computer programming.

Constraint 2 is a weakness also because it takes more time, and any sapient enemies nearby hear in detail both what power to expect you using and what its weakness is (unless they do not speak Matoran). So the conjuring is best done when alone before entering a fight. The power is rarely used due to its dangerous downsides."

PDF link: biosector01.com/swert/Multiver…

This power was inspired by the revelation that the Matoran language is actually a programming language applying both to protodermic powers and the programming of the giant robot. The power essentially activates a programming interface to the advanced molecules making up the mask, similar to what Great Beings did when creating the Matoran Universe and programming Mata Nui, the consciousness controlling the giant robot. The psychic backlash was Greg's addition.

I have theorized that to help minimize the risk of backlash due to improper defining, several Toa throughout the Matoran Universe have put together a guide of exact definitions. It would be similar to a magic book of spells, like the one in Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis. I have used this idea, with some modification, in my retelling of Bionicle for BZPower, The Destiny of Bionicle. Some version of it is likely in the canon, but is not confirmed.