My proposal for additional Umbral warframes

[Brinstar7777]

I have an idea. One that will open the possibility for obtaining other Umbral warframes without having them lose their charm. Here it is:

Basically, each Umbral Warframe retains it's sentience because of a single, traumatic memory it has, one so traumatic that the warframe has continued to retain it. To acquire a Umbral Warframe, you don't have to just build it, you have to secure it's loyalty by helping it come to terms with it's past traumas.

Part 1: The Discovery

Occasionally, after the Sacrifice quest is completed, a certain tile referred to as an "ancient battleground" may spawn in certain tilesets. In it, there are 4 or 5 scannable components of a Umbral warframe. Scanning them all grants a vision of what happened here (a scene like the teaser cutscene that plays when you start The Sacrifice), and the blueprint for that particular Umbra warframe.

Like with Excalibur umbra, this new Umbral warframe is crafted from a single blueprint and requires only 60 seconds to craft.

Once it's crafted, you're directed to equip it. At which point it goes beserk and runs off, just like in the Sacrifice quest.

Part 2: The Chase

Once that's done, you're directed to go track down the Umbral warframe. Once you find it, you deplete it's shields, stun it with a void blast, and enter the Umbral Warframe's mind via Transference. Doing this grants a snippet of a particular memory from that warframe's past. You then do this 2 or more times, finding out more and more about the memory and what happened in the memory.

Part 3: The Conclusion

After the third time, you go down and face the Umbral warframe as yourself, just like in the penuultimate mission of The Sacrifice. Note that during this mission dying even once before you enter the Umbra Warframe's mind will cause the mission to instantly fail and force you to retry it. 

Once you enter the warframe's mind for the fourth and last time, you're shown a final vision, one that explains why this Umbral Warframe finds it so traumatic. From there, you and the Umbral Warframe face down that trauma together. This is a bossfight where you play as the Umbral Warframe and fight an opponent that's symbolic of the warframe's traumas. Once you beat it, the vision ends, and you've earned the loyalty of the Umbral Warframe. 

Example

Let's use Excalibur Umbra as an example, assuming the Sacrifice quest was reworked to fit the above formula. When you scan Umbra's remains, you get the Sacrifice intro sequence featuring Umbra and Ballas. Then, back on the orbiter, you put Excalibur back together again, and he immediately runs off. 

From there, you're tasked with tracking him down and entering his mind on several occasions, slowly learning that Ballas betrayed him and plans to kill his son, Issah. 

Then, on the 4th and final mission, you delve into Excalibur's mind for the last time, and discover why Excalibur Umbra has retained this memory: Ballas didn't kill Excalibur Umbra's son. He forced Excalibur Umbra too. 

This is where the example veers away from the Sacrifice Quest. Immediately following that revelation, you're dropped into a bossfight with a memory-based proxy of Ballas. Beat him, and you are snapped back into reality. Congratulations! You have secured Excalibur Umbra's loyalty.

[Kokokojo]

Nah.

Sacrifice story was more heavy and Umbra is not sentient by occasion, Ballas himself made him that way.

Everything else is just a copy paste of the Sacrifice quest that would make it redundant VERY quickly.

[Brinstar7777]

4 minutes ago, (NSW)Kokojo said:

Everything else is just a copy paste of the Sacrifice quest that would make it redundant VERY quickly.

Yes, the formula is kind of a Copy/Paste of the sacrifice quest. But the stories that formula tells need not be so redundant. You could tell a story about a ostron who lost her family to a Juggernaught Behemoth, the story of a Corpus sister of parvos who lost her crew and vessel to a murex, maybe even the story behind Gara, the one who volunteered willingly for the warframe project despite knowing the final fate of the participants.

[Kokokojo]

23 hours ago, Brinstar7777 said:

Yes, the formula is kind of a Copy/Paste of the sacrifice quest. But the stories that formula tells need not be so redundant. You could tell a story about a ostron who lost her family to a Juggernaught Behemoth, the story of a Corpus sister of parvos who lost her crew and vessel to a murex, maybe even the story behind Gara, the one who volunteered willingly for the warframe project despite knowing the final fate of the participants.

When everybody is special, suddenly nobody is.

Again, Umbra did not become Umbra by occasion, Ballas himself made him that way and he mentions that more than once during the Sacrifice quest. Umbra is one of it's kind, a "miracle", he is a Warframe that carries a memory CHOSEN by Ballas. He is not Umbra because he has a traumatic memory, he is Umbra because Ballas made him that way, he would just go "oh S#&$ it worked on him, time to start a mass production"