Nidus Prime's Aesthetic

[(XBOX)Nahli]

In the not-too-distant future Nidus Prime will be thing. Prime frames when they're released have something of an Orokin aesthetic to them, and of course Nidus will be no different. Which of the Orokin Aesthetics would or should fit him best though?

Orokin Tower, that seen in Cetus, or the aesthetic from the Orb Valis?

I'd say it has to be the Orb Valid style, and I'd like to offer my thinking as to why.

So here come the spoilers, which will be based off of the lore as I understand it, as well as some personal interpretations. I'll also say that I'm not 100% sure I'm remembering everything spot on and some fannon may have contaminated my internal grasp of cannon.

Now the Orokin had already attempted to make a previous weapon the infestation and it went horribly. A weapon they had developed to fight the Sentients. Sentients they had created because they were desperate enough to break their own rules because of a growing resource shortage. The infestation as a weapon failed horribly, it went out of control and turned on the Orokin, but clearly the Orokin had a stubborn streak as they kept experimenting with the infested and biotech in general. Think about the Tower in Cetus and the Tower Flesh the the people there eat. Consider the Coolant Towers and the seeming fact that they were more grown than built. Lastly of course there was the Warframe project. A mixing of strains of infested biology and Orokin tech combined and fused into a human base.

It can be safely said that Venus was one of the Orokin Biotech research hubs. The Valid alone was and is filled with creatures that are the result of Orokin tinkering. Having failed in the past with the infested one could easily see the Orokin setting up layers of fail-safes to prevent any future repeated and Grand scale losses.

Nidus as I understand it is the first Warframe or at least the first attempt at a Warframe. However the Orokin made some kind of mistake with Nidus, perhaps using too much infested biomass, or using the wrong strains of infestation. In any case something went wrong, so wrong that the Warframe project was nearly it not totally retired, at least temporarily. What could have happened to make those stubborn Orokin give up so easily, and how does this relate to Nidus Prime's aesthetic?

Nidus was designed in part to reclaim the lost project of the infested, to control the infestation and direct it. What I imagine the damning failure was, is that without an Operator Nidus went berserk as seen in the Rhino Prime description in the codex. Nidus did however fulfill his purpose of controlling nearby biotech to wage battle. Nidus took over the Orokin structures on Venus. Look around the Orb Valis and you will find golden orbs spreading out tendrils in blasted craters. Orbs that are always near the Coolant Towers, and the giant fungus. Fungus of one type or another we know is the basis of the infestation. 

Venus was a hot planet, but as stated it is safe to assume the Orokin would implement fail-safes. Thick about the Coolant Towers, does spewing forth rivers of black sludge seem very Orokin to you? No, those Coolant Towers were the last fail-safe. The Nidus Warframe was twisting and consuming Orokin tech like the infested did regular flesh. Nidus was poised to become and even bigger threat than the infestation so the Orokin froze the entirety of the planet Venus. Froze those golden orbs in place, froze the fungus, and froze the Void Gates that Nidus was growing beneath the Venusan surface. There Orokin already desperately short on resources gave up an entire planet because of the threat Nidus posed. Nidus meanwhile would have used available materials to make himself stronger, that is what the infastatio  does after all. Given that it seems Nidus was controling Orokin tech and reshaping it for his own use, Nidus could have gained an Orokin Venus style aesthetic right there. No wonder the Warframe project was retired for a time.

So how does such a dangerous Warframe get made later let alone Primed? Well regular Nidus was found in the Void as we are told in game, so I guess thank the Void. Or perhaps thank The Man In The Wall? As to Nidus getting Primed. As I understand it Ballas did a lot of not all of the Priming of Warframes. Looking at Ballas himself should be all the clue one needs. He has already incorporated infested biology into his own. Ballas uses any and every power he can, he used the infestation and he tried to use the Sentients. It is doubtful that Ballas would hesitate in the slightest to Prime Nidus, a Warfame so powerful it caused the Orokin to lose and entire planet. Ballas is also at least a passable artisan so why not be inspired by the immense feat of scaring the Orokin Empire, and echoing the aesthetic of the Venus style Orokin tech. Or perhaps, just perhaps Nidus Prime was not Primed by Ballas, but made stronger by consuming and incorporating Orokin tech directly. Either option is possible, and the void does seem to have an odd penchant for preserving powerful things in any case.

This all also gives one cause to wonder, what will happen as the Orb Valis continues to warm? What happens as the fungal forests continue the generate heat. Ever notice that? The areas around the fungus seem to be warmer, a bit less snow and such. Nef Anyo may eventually find that all that thermia warms things too much and those golden orbs wake up. Perhaps even more frightening the primal strain, the original Nidus may still be somewhere upon the frozen Venus sleeping in the cold, just waiting for one nice warm day.

[Pizzarugi]

If I had to take a guess, my boy Nidus Prime is going to look pretty and opulent from the outside. Perfectly sleek outer shell with metal trimming. However, as he builds up mutation stacks, that opalescent skin cracks and breaks away to reveal a monstrous infestation underneath.

[NightmareT12]

5 minutes ago, Pizzarugi said:

If I had to take a guess, my boy Nidus Prime is going to look pretty and opulent from the outside. Perfectly sleek outer shell with metal trimming. However, as he builds up mutation stacks, that opalescent skin cracks and breaks away to reveal a monstrous infestation underneath.

Pretty much that would be what I expect. I believe Saryn should be a good indicative of what DE could try to go for its base state.

[SPEKTRE76]

I want him to have a similar look like Ash Prime but with corrosion on the armor.

[(PSN)chris1pat8twins]

I usually call him Derelict Nidus due the Derelict looking more like what I expect Nidus Prime to look. Like the first attempt at a prime warframe that has been forgotten. Being that he is infested I can sort of see him having the typical prime armor like the others but has the infestation growing out through cracks, his hands, and his feet. His armor would probably look the least bit shiny compared to all the other primes. And probably a little bulkier too. 
 

When it comes to his overall shape and mutation form, I’m definitely picturing something that would be from a horror film. Can kind of see his chest opening up to reveal like an eyeball or something. Course the image I have could also be used as a new infested enemy, like an assassin. 
 

Either way I think Nidus Prime/Derelict Nidus would be the most complicated prime for DE to make. 

[azak]

My guess for a Nidus Prime is that he can be a perfect creature, the regular Nidus is a "monster." The Nidus Prime can be the final stage of a creature that has evolved and reached its perfect stage.

[(PSN)CrysJaL]

I'd have thought it would look similar to the orikin structures. White armour with a fleshy underside revealed on building stacks as seen in Cetus. Then there would be white crystal growing out of him like the trees the orokin use to provide or move energy. MAybe some movement effects like Ayatans and Ivara prime's shoulders.

Edited November 29, 2019 by (PS4)CrysJaL

[MrMakaraMan]

I honestly think that Nidus Prime, considering the lore dump I just read, would have gathered together orikin tech to become stronger, i'd imagine he'd be an asymmetrical mish-mash of orikin aesthetics or anything that looks orikin like in terms of build, as if he pulled it off a building and planted it on his person. or he could be something like a beetle, using the orikin tech to look like he has a carapace, but then he becomes more and more infested looking with each mutation stack, the carapace coming apart at certain areas to show infested tentacles and mucus coming from each breach from the skin.