“Strong Spirit”

​Wairua Toa was one of the greatest Aho to walk the earth.

​He was stern yet gentle and understanding, exploring the world whilst teaching the art of healing and medicine during his early years.

​Wairua was not happy when the gods drew them into battle with their peers, the Watchers (whom were being slowly corrupted through their use of black magic) – and openly challenged the cause, but as their numbers fell in battle, he had to take up arms against them.

​His great exploits during the Taniwha War earned the deepest mana from his fellow warriors, and Wairua Toa commanded seventy Aho to sweep through the Pacific and rid the world of the Watchers final evolution, the Taniwha.

​Wairua Toa and his warriors landed on Aotearoa (New Zealand) where they discovered a strong gathering of the last remnants of the Taniwha. The battle was long and fierce, and many of the Aho fell in a short space of time. Wairua challenged the gods for assistance, upon where they received the last powerful weapons of the gods.

​Unfortunately, the weapons did not turn the tide of the war, and the last of the Aho turned to the new arrivals, the Māori, for help.

​Wairua Toa was felled in battle somewhere in the Far North, the last bastion of the Taniwha. Some claimed he was killed by Old Wai-makariri, but the Taniwha knew such claims would only make him a great mark, and he denied the charge. What is known is that he was travelling alone with his befriended Moa (known later in stories as Kakati), and his weapons have never been found.

​His spirit returned to the heitiki (greenstone pendant) he imparted to his closest ally, Ra Tere, indicating his passing.