I think I actually know, but thought I'd check my understanding:
So, each warframe "type" started as an Orokin human (are they human?), who was turned using infestation tech into a biomechanical thingamajig. That's why warframes have genders, and even personalities. They aren't suits of armor; they're more like... the living dead.
I assume then that there was a single, original warframe for each type. An original Wisp who used to be a person, an original Mag, etc.
Each of these originals then was used as a template to mass-produce copies. Orokin-era copies were what we call Prime warframes.
Tenno in modern times first start using inferior copies (non-prime warframes), but can find original, Orokin-era blueprints to create antique Prime versions that are better than the modern equivalent.
Blueprints, then, are instructions to "3D print" either modern/inferior, or antique/superior, copies of the original, once-human warframes. No warframe that any Tenno uses in the game was ever a human being; we're only using copies.
That sound about right, or am I getting any of it wrong?
