Ta-Metru was home of the "makers" on Metru Nui, where skilled workers fashioned molten protodermis into tools, Kanohi masks, and other items used throughout the city. Ta-Metru was filled with factories and foundries, and the temperature in the Metru was too hot for most other Matoran to handle. The skies above Ta-Metru were traditionally filled with steam and smoke, making it a place residents of other metru preferred to avoid. Ta-Metru was the site of the Great Furnace, the Fire Pits, the Protodermis Reclamation Yard, the Protodermis Reclamation Furnace, and Vakama's foundry. One of the Great Disks was hidden in a fire pit in Ta-Metru.3
Notes
Toa Vakama was the guardian of Ta-Metru, relying on his Kanoka disk launcher to protect the home of the mask makers. Here molten protodermis was cast into Kanohi masks, tools, and more.4
Ta-Metru was the production center of Metru Nui. Here protodermis was solidified and moulded into various shapes.5
In one Ta-Metru forge, construction tools and other equipment were cast from molten protodermis and then sent on to Po-Metru for finishing.6
Ta-Metru was the "home of the makers." Its skyline featured cone-shaped factories, scorched by ages of use, which stood next to the homes of smiths and crafters. These were the Matoran who molded protodermis, the substance of which everything on Metru Nui was made, into thousands of shapes and forms. A molten river of raw protodermis ran through the center of the district, drawn from below the city and fed into the Great Furnace. From there, it traveled to each factory to be turned into masks, tools, and anything else that might be needed.6
To Ga-Matoran or Ko-Matoran, Ta-Metru seemed like the harshest, least hospitable spot in all of Metru Nui. The searing heat of the forges and the Great Furnace, the heavy smell of molten protodermis, the constant sound of crafters hammering away – all of this made Ta-Metru seem like a nightmare to Matoran from the quieter districts.6
Vats of white-hot molten protodermis were conveyed on chains to their forges. Since molten protodermis burned everything in its path, accidental overflows or leaks were always bad, and spills were extremely dangerous. Normally, the vats never stopped moving. The vats were monitored from a forge control center by a Matoran control room attendant.6
Kanohi masks that were tossed as flawed were sent into the furnace for meltdown. Before this, they were gathered in a reject pile.6
As of early story year 2004, the northern reaches of Ta-Metru were a place no Ta-Matoran ever wandered, for fear of his life. It had once been one of the most active sections of Ta-Metru. The whole neighborhood became desolate and abandoned, surrendered to the power of the Morbuzakh. Half the buildings were reduced to rubble. Most of the Matoran who had lived there fled, finding refuge with friends in the heart of the metru. Those who chose to stay were never seen or heard from again. Turaga Dume declared the whole area off-limits, but soon found that dispatching Vahki to guard the place was unnecessary, since no one wanted to go there. Nuhrii was trapped in an abandoned mask maker's house in this area.6
A mask maker could hire another Matoran as a mask-making apprentice, as Nuhrii did with Vakama.6
It was common practice for a mask maker to keep a record of his achievements in the form of a plaque.7
Ta-Metru was filled with massive factories, scorched and colored by the river of molten protodermis that flowed through them. Protodermis farmers harvested the previous raw material, which Ta-Metru's master mask-makers used to craft new Kanohi masks.7
Ta-Metru mask-makers used worktables in their homes to craft Kanohi masks from Kanoka disks.7
Ta-Metru was famous for its foundries, crewed by Ta-Matoran renowned for their skill with protodermis.7
Just about anything made from protodermis was forged in Ta-Metru. Once the protodermis had been purified in Ga-Metru, there was almost nothing that the Ta-Matoran couldn't make.7
Flawed constructs were melted down in molten protodermis for later recasting.7
Ta-Metru was a land of fire, where molten rivers of protodermis were forged into masks, tools, and other objects. Buildings crowded in close, and all of them reflected the red glow of the furnaces. The sound of crafters' tools striking in unison and the hiss of cooling masks seemed to come from every side.8
According to legend, Ta-Metru was the first metru built.9
Some of the liquid protodermis that was purified in the Great Temple was passed through pipes and superheated on its way to the foundries of Ta-Metru, to be used in the creation of masks, tools, and other items. Molten protodermis that went unused was allowed to return to the sea.10
The first thing one noticed when crossing into Ta-Metru was its heat. It came in waves from hundreds of furnaces, foundries, and rivers of molten protodermis, so intense that it was almost suffocating to those not accustomed to it. The skies were full of steam and smoke vented from the massive, cone-shaped factories. Everywhere, the clatter and banging of Ta-Matoran laborers hard at work could be heard. Matoran from other metru tried to avoid visiting Ta-Metru. At the same time, they knew that Ta-Metru was the most important site in Metru Nui. It was the district where Kanohi Masks of Power, tools, disk launchers, and virtually everything else used in Metru Nui were forged from molten protodermis. Forging these items was hard work, and it was best not to interrupt a Ta-Matoran in the middle of it; a single, tiny flaw could ruin a day's work and send an item to the scrap heap to be melted down again.11
Kanohi masks were forged in Ta-Metru and sent to a number of different places in the city. All other goods made in Ta-Metru were shipped to Po-Metru, where carvers and other workers readied them for use.12
In a metru full of factories and furnaces, the Great Furnace stood out above them all.13
The dangerous street sport "Kanoka toss" was a favorite in Ta-Metru.1
Parts from Ta-Metru were shipped to assembers' villages in Po-Metru.1
Molten protodermis pipes lined Ta-Metru.14
Molten protodermis waste pipes were on the coast of Ta-Metru, where Infernavika lived.15
Objects could be crafted in Ta-Metru from piped-in molten protodermis, then easily shipped to other districts for assembly and use.16
At the time of "The Many Deaths of Toa Tuyet," Ta-Metru had many safeguards to ensure the safety of Matoran in the presence of things like molten protodermis vats.17
Ta-Metru was the home of the mask. It was once filled with working forges and vats of molten protodermis. Spillage from the vats melted much of the metru. After this, only small portions were habitable.18
Ta-Metru was filled with factories and foundries. It was home to skilled workers who made tools, equipment, Masks of Power, and all the other items used in the city. Molten protodermis was piped into the metru, then poured into molds and cooled. The air in Ta-Metru was always filled with smoke and steam, and the temperature there was too hot for most other Matoran.19
Molten protodermis from Ta-Metru fed the Mangai Volcano on Mata Nui.20
Ta-Metru was the production center of Metru Nui.21