Theory: The Corpus and the Ostrons have common ancestors

[evilChair]

The Anti MOA imprint gives us an image of early Corpusites being basically junk-peddlers; the Mara Detron's description states that it was used by smugglers during the Orokin era; the crewman entry states that the term "corpus" may also mean "family" or "close associates". Meanwhile, Onkko's audio-entries speak of "clade-families" that existed back in the Orokin days, and Konzu mentions his uncle who used to trade on Eris (this last one is important because it confirm extensive travel by the Ostrons). There's also a case to be made that some Ostron letters look like Corpus writing set in heavy cursive (D, T, K, P, M, N).

Taking all this into account, especially their similar social structures, there's a high likelihood that the Corpus started out as a network of Ostron families with fairly low social standing, who had to participate in smuggling to survive. Avoiding death in the post-fall system meant that they had to ditch the ethics, something that well-heeled Ostrons probably never took kindly to. After developing an ethics of hoarding, their first robots, and certain guns for self-defence, they started gaining an industrial edge that the "other" Ostrons didn't have. Eventually, the hoarding became greed, the work-assistance machines became proxies, and their guns stopped being safety precautions and instead became both means of pressure and merchandise. At this point, the split was total. By the time the first warframes became active again, this had become forgotten history, and when Sigor Savah left his notes in Cetus, he didn't know that he was leaving them among very distant relatives.

[DerGreif2]

They are both human so... yeah I think so.

[--RV--Dopekoke]

not a theory, fact.
Orokin society was highly stratified, with only those at the very top being regarded as actual Orokin. The Orokin constructed a caste of genetically engineered slaves to serve their most basic industrial and military needs, while the rest of the empire was made up of less wealthy and advanced populations performing technological and economic services which would eventually congeal into the Corpus.

https://warframe.fandom.com/wiki/Orokin

[XRosenkreuz]

I mean this with total sincerity, props to you for drawing that conclusion with the facts at hand.

But yeah, this is something that's pretty well spelled out in the lore.

[Gingingt]

Well they're all human and that's all you need to know.

[evilChair]

1 hour ago, XRosenkreuz said:

I mean this with total sincerity, props to you for drawing that conclusion with the facts at hand.

But yeah, this is something that's pretty well spelled out in the lore.

1 hour ago, Dopekoke said:

not a theory, fact.
Orokin society was highly stratified, with only those at the very top being regarded as actual Orokin. The Orokin constructed a caste of genetically engineered slaves to serve their most basic industrial and military needs, while the rest of the empire was made up of less wealthy and advanced populations performing technological and economic services which would eventually congeal into the Corpus.

https://warframe.fandom.com/wiki/Orokin

my first impression was that the ostrons and the corpus were in fact two entirely different and competing castes during the orokin period (that had nothing to do with each other in terms of "national" origin), with the corpus enjoying more privileges, hence their technological autonomy at the time of vor's prize, while the ostrons must still rely on remnant orokin structures as they were denied means to development. i was running on the assumption that the corpus had formed long before the sentients were even created (because i misinterpreted the crewman entry), and that the ostrons were simply competitors, and not that the corpus had formed much later, with a fraction of participant ostron population in it.

alright then, so why did the ostrons never join the corpus when it had formed? did the unum tip them off as to what they would become if they joined, or are the current ostrons the descendants of an older ostron faction that refused to assimilate for some other, non-clairvoyant reason?

[Marcu3s]

That's why Nakak is more Corpus than most of Corpus.

She is the true Prophet of Profit.

[evilChair]

Just now, Marcu3s said:

That's why Nakak is more Corpus than most of Corpus.

She is the true Prophet of Profit.

hell yeah we can see how rich she is from bartering papier-mache masks for chunks of fish and one (1) maprico

[--RV--Dopekoke]

4 minutes ago, evilChair said:

my first impression was that the ostrons and the corpus were in fact two entirely different and competing castes during the orokin period (that had nothing to do with each other in terms of "national" origin), with the corpus enjoying more privileges, hence their technological autonomy at the time of vor's prize, while the ostrons must still rely on remnant orokin structures as they were denied means to development. i was running on the assumption that the corpus had formed long before the sentients were even created (because i misinterpreted the crewman entry), and that the ostrons were simply competitors, and not that the corpus had formed much later, with a fraction of participant ostron population in it.

alright then, so why did the ostrons never join the corpus when it had formed? did the unum tip them off as to what they would become if they joined, or are the current ostrons the descendants of an older ostron faction that refused to assimilate for some other, non-clairvoyant reason?

I don't know, but I'm going to take a guess.  In the lore it says
Kept safe from Grineer aggression by the arcane powers of the Unum herself, Cetus serves as their central trading hub in the Origin System and a refuge for all others who come to it with peaceful intentions.

So based on the how the Ostrons live, dress, and live together with the Unum, I'm going say that they saw the Corpus as the opposite of what and how they live.  Not enough information, I can only speculate.

[--RV--Dopekoke]

2 minutes ago, evilChair said:

hell yeah we can see how rich she is from bartering papier-mache masks for chunks of fish and one (1) maprico

Thats another thing I want to add, they barter instead of purchase with some form of money whereas the Corpus is about profit and credits and stuff, again, only speculation.

[TARINunit9]

45 minutes ago, evilChair said:

hell yeah we can see how rich she is from bartering papier-mache masks for chunks of fish and one (1) maprico

Credits are effectively worthless, the inflation rates are through the roof, yet the Corpus will wage wars over a couple hundred thousand

Nakak is maybe 12 years old, yet she is the Cetus Quartermaster during times of war. That's free room, board, and meals, and 18 hours of free time a day to make masks to sell for extra profit

In terms of assets it's obvious the Corpus are richer. But in terms of affluence Nakak is miles ahead

[Loza03]

I feel like you're probably right. I get the feeling that the Corpus haven't just absorbed the Ostrons already because they use the Ostrons as a kind of 'price check' system. Left unchecked, the Corpus Economy, or even society would collapse because every guild will wind up having their own price for everything - usually exorbitant ones for things they can't get anywhere else, and then use the profits to kill anybody selling it for less.

The Ostrons prevent that, as they act as a 'gold standard' of sorts. If the Ostrons won't accept X item for two of Y item, then whatever X item is worth is twice what Y item is worth. That way, Corpus can't deviate too much from the set prices, because other Corpus can sniff them out pretty quickly by just asking the Ostrons. Probably not a perfect system, but better something than nothing. Might also be why the Grineer want the Ostrons dead more badly than usual. If the Corpus don't have some kind of price setting, then sooner or later they'll collapse and leave the system ripe for the picking.