What were the Tenno

[Firedtm]

First off I played the game for years now, and I will admit, that I have made mistake of not paying attention to the lore that much.

so my question is the Tenno children of the Orokin, or are they children of a high class in the Orokin Society? Or where were they in the Social class tree that the Orokin had?

[(PSN)sister-hawk]

They were not Orokin themselves, but they certainly were within the Orokin Empire. Since the Zariman Ten-0’s venture into the void was supposedly an experiment (I’m like 95% sure I read or heard that in-game), I would assume the people onboard were mostly of a lower social class.

[Kaotyke]

Considering they were in a Colony ship, they were normal citizens. Part of the Orokin EMPIRE, but not of the Orokin CASTE.

Also, you've seen how the Orokin looks like.

We are not oversized smurfs with Primed Reach on one arm.

[16Bitman]

I don't know what kind of standing they had, but I don't think they were in the high or highest class of orokin, those get bodies with blue skin and a single much longer arm than the others, like Son and Daughter on Deimos, but I'm not sure if those were still kids at the time they went to Deimos or if they just still have "adult children" personalities.

[Loza03]

Probably variable by a huge degree. They were colonists, after all, so whilst I doubt there were any flat-out peasants on the ship, there'd have to be a pretty wide variety of skill sets and roles. There probably were some of groups that are reasonably high-class, like historians to document important moments, scientists and governors, but there'd also be a ton of lower level groups most likely, like farmers, builders, etc. 

'Orokin', remember, is both a catch-all and a specific title. If you lived during the Orokin Empire, you'd probably broadly speaking be 'Orokin'. But the term specifically refers to the immortal elite.

[Artekkor]

Tenno were children of Orokin Empire citizens, but not an Orokin race / caste themselves. All orokin are extremely tall, with blue skin and quiet honestly look alien. We don't know if they were actually a different race of literal blue-bloods, or if its a result of some augmentation / surgical intervention / inbreeding, yadi yada.

But tenno were not that. They were perfectly normal average human children. Until they got irradiated by the void and became vessels for its' energy. Thanks, Orokin.

[IgnisWings]

21 minutes ago, Firedtm said:

First off I played the game for years now, and I will admit, that I have made mistake of not paying attention to the lore that much.

so my question is the Tenno children of the Orokin, or are they children of a high class in the Orokin Society? Or where were they in the Social class tree that the Orokin had?

While they served the Orokin Empire, I doubt they were anything but high-class military with no other input. After all, the beautiful golden lords had genetic social castes and everything. The Tenno were just a military branch made out of children DoomSlayers. And much like him, they had hoped they never had to use them.

[AuroraSonicBoom]

Tenno weren't part of the ruling class, the actual orokin. They were children turned into warriors. The Zariman kids were the first batch, but the Orokin did go on kidnapping raids through their colonies in search of young ones to expose to the void.

[HoustonDragon]

3 hours ago, Firedtm said:

so my question is the Tenno children of the Orokin, or are they children of a high class in the Orokin Society? Or where were they in the Social class tree that the Orokin had?

The crew seemed to be part of the scientific/research group assigned to investigating the Void. So doubtful they were nobles or high ranking officials themselves.

 

The actual kids that became the Tenno were essentially press-ganged by the Orokin into their armies.

[(PSN)AyinDygra]

I have a wild speculatory theory that the Tenno weren't kids when they left on the Zariman 10-0. I think they were soldiers/colonists, and they came back as kids... their "parents" being members of the crew that were not able to assimilate the void power into themselves and went mad, killing each other.

Thus, the Duviri Paradox may well be an alternate same-time-line, where we see grown versions of us that don't have void powers... not being "reborn" from the void as our hundred-year-old child self-projections - the real us.

I know, sounds crazy, and I'm not sure how the Rell situation fits into it, as I haven't read that comic.

 

[RoninFive]

Tenno were children, of who specifically we don't know, but generally of the colonists sent on the Zariman 10-0. There may have been orokin as part of them, as not all orokin looked the same and not all orokin were of high rank. Some low class orokin were indistinguishable from normal humans, i.e. Enginus, Sectarus class orokin (as implied in the Synthesis imprints about Bilsa, a Sectarus, who, after seeing a dax, was wondering if he was even enginus class). Margulis is supposed to have looked similarly to Natah (or the other way around), so she wouldn't have been blue and long-armed either, and she was an archimedian, a high ranking scientist of sorts. It could be that the 1 long arm in high ranking orokin is related to the amount of access they have to orokin technology, as apparently different classes had different access to gene-locked technology. At the same time their pale blue skin and glowing eyes would immediately identify them so others know their status without blunders in between.

At the very least some of the crew was orokin, as it was an orokin project, and supposedly a military ship. As to whether the orokin part of the crew brought their own children as well, unlikely. It may have always been intended to be covered up, but a bit unlikely anyone part of the actual orokin would risk their standing to bring their kids with them on a jump test.

[TARINunit9]

4 hours ago, Kaotyke said:

Considering they were in a Colony ship, they were normal citizens.

Albeit it's left ambiguous whether "colony ship" was genuine, or a cover story invented by immoral scientists to get more test subjects

[HoustonDragon]

39 minutes ago, (PSN)AyinDygra said:

I have a wild speculatory theory that the Tenno weren't kids when they left on the Zariman 10-0. I think they were soldiers/colonists, and they came back as kids... their "parents" being members of the crew that were not able to assimilate the void power into themselves and went mad, killing each other.

Thus, the Duviri Paradox may well be an alternate same-time-line, where we see grown versions of us that don't have void powers... not being "reborn" from the void as our hundred-year-old child self-projections - the real us.

I like this theory

[Zimzala]

I think the WF Universe is the dreams of human children while in some kind of stasis on a Colony Ship that travelled through a 'odd space feature'.

IMO, it's a collective "Lord of the Flies" dream-like state.

[GrayArchon]

1 hour ago, (PSN)AyinDygra said:

I have a wild speculatory theory that the Tenno weren't kids when they left on the Zariman 10-0. I think they were soldiers/colonists, and they came back as kids... their "parents" being members of the crew that were not able to assimilate the void power into themselves and went mad, killing each other.

Thus, the Duviri Paradox may well be an alternate same-time-line, where we see grown versions of us that don't have void powers... not being "reborn" from the void as our hundred-year-old child self-projections - the real us.

I know, sounds crazy, and I'm not sure how the Rell situation fits into it, as I haven't read that comic.

You can read the Rell comic on the Warframe website here: https://www.warframe.com/chains-of-harrow-comic

It sort of refutes your theory, since it shows Rell's mom acting like Rell's mom (or, at least, a possessed version of her). This ties in with the dialogue from the Chains of Harrow quest, which depicts Rell and his mom having conversations on the ship. A the end of the Second Dream quest, your Tenno Operator also recounts their memories of being a child with a family aboard the Zariman. So your theory only works if everyone's memories were changed along with their bodies and identities, including Rell, who was not affected in the same way the other children were.

The theme of the Tenno being children is reinforced in the Apostasy Prologue, The War Within, and The Glast Gambit, with the latter two specifically examining the morality of child soldiers. So I'm not sure why DE would later reveal that the Tenno weren't really children, since that would seem to unravel the emotional impact of most of the main storyline quests, as well as the stories they're trying to tell.

[AuroraSonicBoom]

1 hour ago, (PSN)AyinDygra said:

I have a wild speculatory theory that the Tenno weren't kids when they left on the Zariman 10-0. I think they were soldiers/colonists, and they came back as kids... their "parents" being members of the crew that were not able to assimilate the void power into themselves and went mad, killing each other.

Thus, the Duviri Paradox may well be an alternate same-time-line, where we see grown versions of us that don't have void powers... not being "reborn" from the void as our hundred-year-old child self-projections - the real us.

I know, sounds crazy, and I'm not sure how the Rell situation fits into it, as I haven't read that comic.

 

They need to be kids for the entire premise of the tenno to work though. Adults can handle void exposure because it(spoilerific theory that Im not getting into right now). Unless you want to cast off what the elder queen says in the war within, and the lotus in chains of harrow as lies.

[Kaotyke]

1 hour ago, (PSN)AyinDygra said:

I have a wild speculatory theory that the Tenno weren't kids when they left on the Zariman 10-0. I think they were soldiers/colonists, and they came back as kids... their "parents" being members of the crew that were not able to assimilate the void power into themselves and went mad, killing each other.

Thus, the Duviri Paradox may well be an alternate same-time-line, where we see grown versions of us that don't have void powers... not being "reborn" from the void as our hundred-year-old child self-projections - the real us.

I know, sounds crazy, and I'm not sure how the Rell situation fits into it, as I haven't read that comic.

 

The 3rd Dream.

[(PSN)AyinDygra]

@GrayArchon  and @AuroraSonicBoom

The sense I've gotten since the Second Dream, (when it was revealed by the Lotus, that the Tenno established several schools of training for focusing the void) was that the Tenno are several decades (at least, if not centuries) old. They remain children, not because of cryo sleep, but because they're not really real bodies. Their immortality revealed upon in-game "deaths" and immediate rebirths from the void continue this idea. They're FAR from child soldiers in my mind (it's a nice controversial, and "at-first-glance" type of topic that makes for good conversation though.) The whole "I'm not a child" attitude of the Tenno, I also think, has to do with them really not being children at all... they're grown soldiers who spent years/decades/centuries fighting the infested (as our Operators are fond of reminding us in in-game comments about the infested), the sentients, and serving the Orokin. They're much older than they appear, and yet, the Lotus treats them like children (for other reasons.)

The Apostasy Prologue recounts Margulis' talking about the Tenno as her children, which by the time the returned from the void, they did appear to be children, in line with the whole projection thing going on.

I am aware of the Chains of Harrow story (and apparently, I did read the entire Rell comic... I thought that was just a few pages/teaser type thing), and from my point of view, it still fits in that Rell (and all Tenno) revert to a child-like state of mind to deal with the void and its influence (in the comic, they had already taken on child-like forms, if my theory holds true). He could very well have been an adult being treated "like a child" and answering "like a child", as Autism can cause some to appear child-like while still being incredibly intelligent, but unable to properly express themselves verbally.

The War Within story reminds me a lot of guided hypnosis. It may be the story the Orokin believe happened on that ship, but I'm not convinced it was true. There's enough ambiguity in the lore for it to be "all in their head"... a point of view/perspective change sort of thing. The old queen sounds like she was someone involved in the creation of the Waframes, like Ballas, but could just be taking credit for it as a group/caste. She may have read the official reports about the Tenno, without knowing the real truth, while her recounting of the events "triggered" our own version to fill in the gaps, while not being true at all. DE does like to play with psychological stuff like this.

 

Anyway, I'm not trying to convince anyone else of this wild theory... I'm just watching and waiting to see if it's in the ballpark. There are enough threads leading to this potential picture that I'm willing to hold on to the possibility.

[TARINunit9]

53 minutes ago, (PSN)AyinDygra said:

@GrayArchon  and @AuroraSonicBoom

The sense I've gotten since the Second Dream, (when it was revealed by the Lotus, that the Tenno established several schools of training for focusing the void) was that the Tenno are several decades (at least, if not centuries) old. They remain children, not because of cryo sleep, but because they're not really real bodies. 

This is true in the literal sense, but not in the "what if it's all been a lie?" theory you're going for

As you pointed out:

55 minutes ago, (PSN)AyinDygra said:

The whole "I'm not a child" attitude of the Tenno, I also think, has to do with them really not being children at all... they're grown soldiers who spent years/decades/centuries fighting the infested (as our Operators are fond of reminding us in in-game comments about the infested), the sentients, and serving the Orokin. They're much older than they appear, and yet, the Lotus treats them like children (for other reasons.)

Tenno are decades old, even without cryosleep.

But culturally this is still considered children: people in the Warframe universe live centuries if not millennia, and the age of legal adult status has risen proportionally. Darvo is 105 (likely 110 now), but his father treats him like he's 16

As for "not their real bodies" that mechanic doesn't really prove your point. In War Within, the immortality is revealed to be because it's all a dream; they're not getting injured, Teshin is just restarting the dream. In gameplay after that quest, the Z-kid body you summon to the battlefield is an astral projection; shooting it doesn't do anything, because the Z-kid's real body is still safe on the Orbiter

[AuroraSonicBoom]

53 minutes ago, (PSN)AyinDygra said:

There's enough ambiguity in the lore for it to be "all in their head"... a point of view/perspective change sort of thing.

You might have been able to say that back when WW came out, but not anymore. With everything we know now its very clear what happened in the WW, something that we couldn't really have known lacking a lot of contextual information. I could elaborate, but I'll keep it short for now.

As for the Tenno being chronologically older than physically because they've been kept in what amounts to status - that's a given. What isn't a given is that they've matured into adults in child bodies, which both reality, aka actual child soldiers, and any behaviour they exhibit in game speak against. Add to that the constant quips by various NPCs about them being children(palladino calls Rell ancient child IIRC)

There's also this theory called embodied cognition, which posits that someone's experience is shaped by how they physically interact with the world. If you apply that to the Tenno, who spent a majority of their existence experiencing the world through the lens of killer robots, while having had large swaths of their memories erased, something they're only slowly recovering after they've woken up, I would lean heavily towards them being emotionally still immature, regardless of how long they've fought for the orokin. Wiping out legions of grineer might be second nature to them by know, but being exposed and used to the horrific nature of war isn't the only ingredient needed to turn a boy into a man.

Not crapping on your theory, I'm just saying the Tenno by design need to be mentally childlike, or innocent, if you will. There is also another point to make for why they can't not be still children, involving aspects about wally and the duviri twin, but again, I want to keep it short.

[ebrl]

Whatever they are/were, it is going to be retconned hard in Duviri Paradox.

[(PSN)robotwars7]

one option for the lore to be expanded upon would be to learn more about our parents. it appears the Tenno have no substantial recollection of their lives prior to the Zariman Incident, only the knowledge of the crash itself, the harsh treatment that followed as they were experimented on by The Orokin and eventually trained into their most elite warriors, and their greatest asset in the Old War, and the execution of the Orokin and downfall of the empire prior to entering Cryosleep (the first dream). 

it does seem like we may get to encounter either our adult self or even our parents in the Duviri Paradox, but that's still not coming for a while. 

[(PSN)Kakurine2]

The tenno are a bunch of random kids that where on a ship that got lost in the void.  The adults went insane from the entity we often call wallie.  Which may be some sort of void god/monster entity. They started to hunt down and kill their kids.

The kids instead of going insane somehow mutated and gained void powers. Depending on ehich dialogue you choose during the war within quest.  Either you enjoyed killing your parents. Or made barriers and killed in self defense.

The tenno where found and had powers they couldn't control. The orokin where loding agsinst the sentients and couldn't control the warframes.

By using the tenno with the warframes they gained a new weapon. And won. But after we rebelled and killed off the orokin.

Spacemom froze us in cryo sleep for centuries and hid us on the moon sealed in the void.

Thats the general ghist without heavy spoilers.

The tenno are potentially all powerful god like void entities.  Considering what transference is and the stuff they can do.

The catch is that the void tends to destroy peoples minds.  Our powers are a double edged sword. We push too far and lose control? We could destroy reality, our minds, and bodies.

Some have talked about the moral choices we make in the main story quests. The symbolism behind the choices, dialogue, and the light/dsrk symbol moon dial.

The chains of harrow quest. The dopplegsnger that shows up to jump scare us at times. Is that wallie? Is that real or us hallucinsting? Is it the tennos inner demon void self trying to take control?

We dont have all the answers atm.  Hopefully a new war and duviri paradox will give us more lore.

[vanaukas]

5 hours ago, GrayArchon said:

You can read the Rell comic on the Warframe website here: https://www.warframe.com/chains-of-harrow-comic

It sort of refutes your theory, since it shows Rell's mom acting like Rell's mom (or, at least, a possessed version of her). This ties in with the dialogue from the Chains of Harrow quest, which depicts Rell and his mom having conversations on the ship. A the end of the Second Dream quest, your Tenno Operator also recounts their memories of being a child with a family aboard the Zariman. So your theory only works if everyone's memories were changed along with their bodies and identities, including Rell, who was not affected in the same way the other children were.

The theme of the Tenno being children is reinforced in the Apostasy Prologue, The War Within, and The Glast Gambit, with the latter two specifically examining the morality of child soldiers. So I'm not sure why DE would later reveal that the Tenno weren't really children, since that would seem to unravel the emotional impact of most of the main storyline quests, as well as the stories they're trying to tell.

 

5 hours ago, AuroraSonicBoom said:

They need to be kids for the entire premise of the tenno to work though. Adults can handle void exposure because it(spoilerific theory that Im not getting into right now). Unless you want to cast off what the elder queen says in the war within, and the lotus in chains of harrow as lies.

Well, I'm not gonna say that you could both be wrong disregarding that theory, but...:

Quote

Three figures waited behind a simple table. Their attention on a single chair, bathed in light. An old woman's voice from the shadow: 'Send her in'. Across the room a security officer, stern and plain, opened the door. The outline of a young woman appeared at the door. She hesitated, but only for an instant, then crossed the room and sat.

There was a gasp as the light hit her face. Her right eye was bright and blinking, but her left was a greasy slit. Her skin had been burned moon-white. Her mouth was a sagging gash without lips or expression. Her military beret was pulled snug over a scarred and hairless scalp.

The old voice: 'Your name is Kaleen.' Kaleen nodded. 'You were the principal investigator of the Zariman?' Kaleen's voice was a jagged whisper, a rigid face. 'Yes.'

Kaleen coughed, straightened: 'The Zariman was lost making the fold from Saturn to the Outer gates. Mechanical failure. I notified families and filled a report with the inspectors. Nothing ever returns from the fold, so I closed the case.'

'But you reopened the case, days later.'

'I didn't believe it myself until I stepped aboard the ship. It was completely intact, full environmental, as if it had never left.'

'And the crew was gone.'

'Not exactly.' Kaleen hesitated. 'We thought it was empty but we began to find...' Her face twitched at remembered pain, 'We began to find children hiding in the ship.'

'And that is when you violated procedure?'

Kaleen bowed her head, a tear welling in her sightless eye. 'They were children. They were afraid. They needed comfort.'

'So you broke quarantine and this happened to you.'

There was silence as Kaleen touched her face, 'So what have you done with them?'

The old woman gestured for the officer to take Kaleen away. The meeting was over. When Kaleen reached the door she twisted out of his grip and shot back, 'Why would you do that? Why did you put children on a military ship?'

'We didn't. That would violate procedure.'

https://warframe.fandom.com/wiki/Ember#Prime

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

It's implied that we weren't sent as kids or as civilians at all, Zariman 10-0 had a crew wich is different from what appeared again days after the incident. 

Another one piece:

Quote

"Khra. (Time). An old name, unspoken in the centuries since my mother reared me. A soft hiss, soothing as a viper's gaze. Little Bengel. The other reached out, offering his hand, gliding toward me without moving, as though the distance between us was now collapsing. A confusion, most euphoric, filled my mind. With the shred of wit that remained, I decided that I should run for my life. At once, crazed and frantic, I fled. But I made no forward progress. Instead, the word compressed evermore around me, as though I were an anchor pulling the shore to reach. When I arrived at the door, or rather, the door arrived at me, I howled, hurling myself inside. Out. And then and there, I was. Lost and unlost. Howling on the floor in harmony with my wretched Kalymos. Lacerated in flesh and heart. Scattered as the bell glass. Spilling blood and stomach on the cold, stone floor. But I sensed the other there, at the wall's breach behind me, reaching still. I screamed, but my voice was gone. Forever. I looked, but my eyes would never see again. I swept my fist across the floor, snatching broken shards. And in gripping tightly, I filled my hands with ink. Close it! I wrote."

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

The "man in the wall" can know the past of the beings/people that interact. Little Bengel was the nickname of Albretch Entrati by his mother. The projections we know as operator could be the operators on their teen years, since the void entity reminds you very frequently that we have a debt with it and also is very interested in our memories after The Sacrificies events. Probably a part of its plot for its own agenda, wich Albretch also fears tremendously.

So yeah, that theory doesn't seems to be that "wrong" as both of you implies. Cheers.

[(PSN)Kakurine2]

From the dislogue in war within depending on your choices. The tenno says something like. The youngest were pulled back well the older tenno setup barriers to stop their crazed parents.

Meaning you probably had tenno of many ages. 4 to 14 lets say.  Since they where frozen for centuries they didn't age and before that spent years fighting.  If the tenno age at all its probably slowly.

Even well frozen their minds ehere in a dream state. So mentally they are centuries old.

After war within we don't need the pod for transference. We csn sense our frames st will and transfer into them from any distance.

Transference seems akin to star trek teleporters, transient busrt or instant transmission.

Rell even though his body died his mind hrld back wallie for centuries.

Meaning we don't need our bodies just will power and a uncorrupted mind.  So long as the void doesn't consume our minds like rell. We can at will form whatever body we want wherever we want.

The duviri paradox seems to imply paralell realities. The multiverse theory. Time travel. Etc.