@Atuin said:
"When I first saw this set's name, I thought the 'Baranus' is the two-headed Rahi (?) and it had a version number..."

the creature is a spikit. i dont believe it counts as a rahi because it isnt from the matoran universe.
the person riding the chariot is sahmad, and the chariot, which is being pulled by the spikit, is the baranus v7

if you want lore for the set, most of it is in one of the story serials - sahmads tale

here is a link if you want to read it
https://biosector01.com/wiki/Sahmad%27s_Tale

Dang, this is pretty metal.

Hmm, have to brush up on the anatomy of bars.

Then again, I don't think I want to.

@NotProfessorWhymzi said:
"who names a chariot? a car, i could understand, (especially if that name was "Love Commander,") but a chariot?"

Given the “V7” bit I’d suspect that’s less a personal name and more the make and model. The Baranus V7 is just the Spherus Magna equivalent of how we’d say Volkswagen Beetle

This is when Bionicle was getting desperate I think. While Bara Magna was a new world, and the recolors of parts were great, the newest parts, the helmets/masks, were starting to be made with dual functions. Flip it one way, and it's this, flip it the other and it's that. The creature's heads are the same one as the pilot for Skopio just flipped around, there's two biker sets that share the same helmet just flipped around. That's not the first time, the Kraahkan (Mask of Shadows) could be reversed (although for what purpose I really don't know since it looks pretty stupid the one direction) and the Ignika (Mask of Life) fused to Vezon, so there's two faces on him, but this is different; it's a sign of tight budgets, and while a clever solution, you also just can't look at these guys from behind or else the immersion is broken. A few Hero Factory sets did the same thing. And after years of very rarely getting any recolors of mask/helmets, Ackar shares his with Berix, and the pilot for this set and the Thornatus are the same with no reversible function, but I do find that a little weird, too, after years of just not getting general recolors as a standard thing since 2003.

As far as I know the vehicle sets of 2009 weren't sold in the Netherlands. A shame, as these were the last big sets of Bionicle.
The waves from 2008 onward aren't my favourites because of the more fragile ball socket design. And it doesn't help that the aftermarket prices are through the roof especially there.
But I recently saw what's basically the conclusion of the AllOutBrick review series of all main sets from the theme. And it was great to see everything in the flesh in high definition for once. I'd seriously recommend those videos if you want short but to the point reviews of these sets.

The lore of this set shows how off the rails the story was getting.
I'll give some brief lore here for a change:

The Spikit is a creature with two heads but one brain between them.

The driver -Sahmad- is one of the two survivors of an 8th tribe, the iron tribe (the 7th is earth, who wouldhave appeared the next year). His people all died due to a dream plague, which later turns out to be an ancient creature feeding on dreams until someone dies.

It gets worse, because the planet he lived on -Sphereus Magna- became unstable because the people discovered a substance that could transform anything it touched and deemed destined to do so (all else would be destroyed). The tribes started to fight over it and drained it until the planet shattered in three planetoids.
Most of the greenery went with Bota Magna, almost all the water went to Aqua Magna and the largest chunk became Bara Magna, one huge desert and mountain planetoid. Sahmad was stranded on Bara Magna.

The Bionicle story of 2001-2008 took place on Aqua Magna around the giant robot that had been sent away from Sphereus Magna before the shattering.
In 2009 the story suddenly went to Bara Magna. That's how weird the story turned out.

That said, some of these story elements already appeared early on, such as the endless sea (because Aqua Magna is that), energized protodermis (which created the year two Toa Nuva) and the concept of the three virtues that was symbolized with two small dots around one bigger dot (later revealed to be how the planets look).

With a V6, you could have it fire two or three cylinders at a time. With a V8, either two or four cylinders. With a V7, I’d guess you need to fire them only one at a time or you’ll get uneven torque at some point. And it’d probably have to be something like 1-3-5-7-2-4-6 for reasons my dad (former plane and auto mechanic) could explain.

@Binnekamp:
Weis and Hickman’s Death Gate Cycle has a very similar setup, where one world got split into an air world, a fire world, and earth world, a water world, and three other realms that don’t fit the classical medieval element structure. The first few stories feel very disjointed, as you’re following a largely different set of characters going into the second book, but over he course of the entire story it does become a lot clearer why this was the case. Bionicle may have reached a similar point, if it hadn’t been cut short before the ties could be revealed.

Yes yes, I'm late. Expect lore in the mornings 'till at least the end of December.

Long ago the Agori people of Spherus Magna lived in eight tribes named after the element of their region. Among these were the Iron Tribe, who would mine metals and ore in the mountain ranges to the north.

Spherus Magna was home to many ancient forces. Among these was Annona. An eldritch entity would would emerge every 100,000 years or so to feed. Those who looked upon her would see a blinding crimson light with forked tentacles, if they saw anything at all. Her food of choice? Dreams. She would rob mortals of their ability to dream, and often their ability to sleep, eventually driving them mad and leading to their deaths.

103,000 years ago Annona preyed on the Iron Tribe. No one of the planet knew what was going on, and believed it was the result of some strange new illness. They named the event the Dreaming Plague. Survivors of the Iron Tribe sought refuge in the other villages, but were turned away under the fear they carried the sickness. Eventually Annona was full and retreated into slumber. The few surviving members of the Iron Tribe painted their armor to try and sneak into life in the other villages, and some went to wander the wastes. Among these survivors were Sahmad (pictured here) and Telluris.

Spikits were unruly yet popular beasts of burden for Agori society. These green two headed creatures were incredibly strong, making them ideal for pulling heavy caravans of reasources. They came with two issues, however. The first was they were stubbern, and could be difficult to get moving. The second was they were incredibly ravenous. There's an old saying on Spherus Magna that if you fail to feed a Spikit it would eat the whole cart it was carrying and you... a saying founded in truth.

A Baranus is just a model of chariot. Sahmad was among the many Iron Tribe Agori forced out into the wastes. While there he tamed a Spikit, tied it to a Baranus, and then slapped a bunch of spikes on the Baranus to make it more deadly. He became a bandit wandering the wastes. When the Skrall moved south to join in with Bara Magna society, Sahmad made a job of hunting down loose parties or wanderers in the deserts to capture, selling them into slavery under the Skrall. Sometimes he'd even join in Glatorian arena matches, competing for the freedom of people he'd enslaved.

Meanwhile, in the Matoran Universe, something strange was brewing. The five Toa Mahri were sent to Zakaz, the home island of their nemeses the Piraka, to investigate reports of cultish activity. There they witnessed a ritual where the Skakdi people of Zakaz tossed the five remaining Piraka, a Vortixx, a Zyglak, and a Steltian Laborer into a vat of Energized Protodermis. While only the Toa noticed this, the presumed dead sixth Piraka Zaktan then emerged from the shadows and willingly threw himself into the vat.

The end result was a gigantic fusion with a gleaming hide. This Golden Skinned Being had the power to bring the dreams of those around him to life. The Skakdi revered the GSB as a god and fell into his service.

Shortly after this Mata Nui and Makuta had their climactic duel in the sands of Bara Magna. After the fight, all of the people of the Matoran Universe emigrated to Sperhus Magna. The Golden Skinned Being and his Skakdi set up an oceanside fortress.

Meanwhile, Sahmad reunited with his old friend and tribe-mate Telluris. The two met the Ice Tribe outcast Metus who had horrifying news. He had lost he ability to dream. Fearing a new Dreaming Plague was upon them, the three set out to investigate.

Eventually Sahmad and co discovered the truth of Annona, and trailed her to the GSB's Skakdi fortress. A being who steals people's dreams and a being who brings dreams to life are diametrically opposed. You cannot bring to life something that no longer exists. And so a battle broke out. During this conflict Telluris was slain and Metus fled the scene.

Sahmad and the Golden Skinned Being formed a plan to deal with the eldritch monster. Sahmad dreamed that no-one in

Sahmad and the Golden Skinned Being formed a plan to deal with the eldritch monster. Sahmad dreamed that no-one in the world would have the ability to dream anymore (aside from, seemingly, himself.) Annona instantly sensed this shift, of her entire bank of eternities' worth of food vanishing, and demanded it back.

Sahmad decided a compromise. He dreamed of a new world, full of beings Annona could feed on to her hearts content, so she could have food and leave them in peace. Annona agreed and was sent to this new world. But Sahmad had left out one crucial detail of that dream while relaying it to Annona. This world was entirely populated by beings exactly like her, who also fed on dreams. The GSB and Sahmad weren't certain what would happen next, but they assumed they would either all starve to death or cannibalize each other. Either way, Annona would eventually cease to be.

As a final parting goodbye, Sahmad dreamed that the world could dream again, and the Golden Skinned Being made it so.