Order of the Great Beings

The Order of the Great Beings is a civilization in BZPB. The Great Beings are known for their technological expertise, military might, and creativity.

Government
The Great Beings are led by the "Council of the Great Beings", also known as the "Leading Council". This is a parliamentary body with representatives elected/selected from each planet falling under its purview. Because of the size of the species, most known Great Beings have some sort of involvement in the Council, whether it be as a delegate or as someone working behind the scenes. The Council is housed on the capital of the Great Beings' empire, Mordor.

The Council's leader, known as the Chairperson, is the executive of the species' government. He or she is the ultimate authority in all leading matters. The first known executive was Angonce, though he was later overthrown by TPK, and then Ganos Lal ascended to the position after TPK's death. The power of this position has increased over time, especially since the Uterio War and TPK's takeover. The Chairperson has his own cabinet at his or her disposal, though this functions much more like an inner circle rather than anything else.

The "Knights of the Great Beings" function as a military for the Council. Their hierarchy of command is much like that of a typical military, but at the top lie individual Great Beings (each commanding his/her own faction) and a "Generalissimo". The army consists of soldiers from a number of different species coming from the planets allied with, or under the command of, the Great Beings. An example of a regiment includes the Knights of the Keruvim, an elite order of special forces created to protect the aforementioned artefact.

History
The Great Beings were created by the Users a long time ago, and tasked with overseeing all forms of biomechanical life in the Original Universe.

The Great Beings were involved in halting the expansion of the "Rider" Empire in the Rider-Vrai Wars. They constructed the Mata Nui Robot, and formed relationships with their equivalents in other universes, including the Dark Mirror Universe and the Shattered Mirror Universe, to ensure that their interests were met wherever possible.

Their empire expanded to new heights. Many planets were either under direct or indirect control of the Great Beings, whose capital was on the planet Mordor (they moved here after realizing Spherus Magna was too dangerous for them).

After the First Rider-Vrai War, the Great Beings' interference came back to haunt them. With the Riders temporarily out of the picture, the known universe was dominated by the Great Beings and the Vrai, and a conflict became inevitable. In the year 610, the Vrai launched a full-scale attack against multiple Great Being outposts, and a war began that would go down in history as the Vrai War. After a brief series of high-intensity clashes, the war descended into a stalemate, as any advance the other side made was almost immediately countered by the other. In 625, the Vrai made a daring attempt at breaking the stalemate by attacking Mata Nui, hoping to gain control of him and use his immense might to finally defeat the Great Beings. However, they countered by creating the Elite Makuta, who successfully drove the Vrai out of the Matoran Universe and therefore forced the Vrai to negotiate. In 627, a peace treaty was signed, in which the two species agreed to abandon any territory they had claimed in the war, and withdraw from a zone 100 light-years wide along their borders, which would be occupied by a neutral party. At some point in time, Naju recruited a Rider named Uterio di Armechio and began training him and experimenting on him.

At another point in time, they created the Keruvim to ensure balance between light and shadow, and recruited several different creatures from across the multi-verse to defend it.

Later on, Naju betrayed the Great Beings and was exiled. However, Uterio had already ascended to a high rank, and would soon become the leader of the armies of the Great Beings, coincidentally at the same time Angonce was elected as leader of the Great Beings.

Several centuries later, Armechio convinced the Council that it was necessary to declare war on their universe to subjugate it to order. Several recent events, including Pandorica and attempts to steal the Keruvim, had convinced many of them to follow Uterio's call to war. The remaining Great Beings either left to join the Rebels, or went their own way.

The Uterio War killed an untold amount of Great Beings and soldiers. Its catastrophic effects shattered their position on the intergalactic stage. Mass instability gripped Mordor, resulting in a coup by TPK. Angonce was imprisoned after this.

Currently, the GBs still have formidable power and are a force to be reckoned with. However, not many worlds are as loyal to them now as they were in the years of the war. In addition, their government is attempting to recuperate after the aforementioned coup. Until recently, it only consisted of those fanatically devoted to TPK, or those too frightened to speak out against him. Members of the Council and armies who still have Uterian sympathies were killed, arrested, or part of a group with a mysterious logo. Those who defied TPK for other reasons were forced into exile, but have now been welcomed back following Ganos Lal's appointment as Chairperson of the Council of Great Beings. So far, few have accepted the offer, though Master Big Star is one of them.

Traits
Each Great Being has a specific power in their own right. This, combined with a knowledge in particular subjects, creativity, and command over a small army, makes an individual Great Being mighty, and extremely dangerous.

Alternate Universes
The Order of the Great Beings existed in most alternate universes at one point, but most of them were eventually killed by OU Naju during his rampage across universes. In the universes where the Order did not collapse as a result of this massacre, they recruited members of other species to take seats on the Council and prop up the organization. While these versions of the Order still exist, they have very little power and influence compared to the Great Beings of the Original Universe, who are recognized as the multiverse's "definitive" Great Beings and are respected as such. Most versions of the Order across the multiverse will cooperate with one another regarding threats that endanger more than one universe.

Two known alternate Great Beings are Okk and Teridax, who were both members of the Shattered Mirror Universe's Order.

Trivia

 * The Great Beings of BZPB were inspired by the Great Beings of BIONICLE, in that they were an ancient alien race of scientists and inventors. However the BZPB GBs have been heavily expanded upon - we now know much of their intentions, worlds, and civilization.