Speculations About What The Tennos Are?

[OrdoCorvus]

And I asked for evidence that Tenno in Warframe, emphasis on that word, and not Dark Sector - even though they're in the same continuity - that Tenno are still human. Anything to show me?

 

"They scavenge the outer systems, greedy for the Old War salvage. Their most sought after of all - the Tenno and their WARFRAME armor." -From the Corpus entry in lore.

If the warframe is a proxy body, controlled or inhabited by some bodiless being, then it isn't armor.

 

"While the memories of the Tenno have faded over time, their mastery of guns, blades, and Warframe exo-armor has not." -from the website

 

Exo- Implying something worn outside the body.

Armor- Directly describing something worn outside the body.

 

"Other than you, I can't detect any lifeforms on the ship"- Lotus

Implies the warframes themselves contain a living person.

 

"Each Tenno behind the Warframes have official concepts and idea's to what they look like as stated by Art Director Mynki in Livestream #4 which may or may not be revealed in the future. These concepts may also be subject to change throughout development." -Warframe wiki

 

So, while I'll grant that there has been no direct answer, as to weather the tenno are some kind of transhuman consciousness or dudes in suits, I'd say the majority of evidence points to the latter, and not the former. Add in the events of Dark Sector and the 2004 concept video and I'd say the dudes in suits theory seems much stronger.

 

Edit: missed a citation.

Edited November 7, 2013 by OrdoCorvus

[Tyranthius]

Hmm. I said that a Warframe was a bio-mechanical construct. Imagine a comatose human-like being who doesn't have any outer covering but what is seen of the Warframe. It could still be called armor, just in a different sense; it protects your consciousness from loss, not your body from dying. It isn't a proxy in the Corpus sense, as those are controlled by obvious A.I'.s. 

 

As to the Lotus' quote, the construct I describe is considered a life-form, in that it's alive in a less-than traditional sense.

 

Mynki's quote doesn't actually help either of our cases - and I was about to cite that myself - so, sure, I guess.

 

Now, I think it's debatable whether the "dudes in suits" concept is more viable. Here are some quotes you might like to look at.

 

"...We don't always see eye-to-eye - Well, you don't have eyes..." - Alad V

This might be interpreted as a nod to the faceless helmets, but from the last stream, I think you'll agree that Alad has probably vivisected enough Tenno to know what he's talking about. This suggests that Warframes don't have human eyes, and instead perceive through the Neural Sensors. Additionally, we saw that he didn't even trouble to rip the suit off the EXCALIBUR and MAG units that we saw in that cinematic. This might just be his brutal nature, but he doesn't strike me as the guy who'd do that for the heck of it; that's Grineer territory.

 

"...as I crush him with your metal corpse..." - Sargas Ruk

Now, note that Sargas didn't say "metal suit", he said "metal corpse". This might suggest that the metal he mentioned cannot be parted from the corpse, which would make sense if the Warframes were constructs. I can also presume that Sargas has seen/captured/bought enough Tenno to know what he's talking about.

 

Add in the fact that the 2005 video isn't even canon, and we have ourselves viability for transhumanism.

 

Edit: Grammar.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Tyranthius

[OrdoCorvus]

Hmm. I said that a Warframe was a bio-mechanical construct. Imagine a comatose human-like being who doesn't have any outer covering but what is seen of the Warframe. It could still be called armor, just in a different sense; it protects your consciousness from loss, not your body from dying. It isn't a proxy in the Corpus sense, as those are controlled by obvious A.I'.s.

As to the Lotus' quote, the construct I describe is considered a life-form, in that it's alive in a less-than traditional sense.

Mynki's quote doesn't actually help either of our cases - and I was about to cite that myself - so, sure, I guess.

Now, I think it's debatable whether the "dudes in suits" concept is more viable. Here are some quotes you might like to look at.

"...We don't always see eye-to-eye - Well, you don't have eyes..." - Alad V

This might be interpreted as a nod to the faceless helmets, but from the last stream, I think you'll agree that Alad has probably vivisected enough Tenno to know what he's talking about. This suggests that Warframes don't have human eyes, and instead perceive through the Neural Sensors. Additionally, we saw that he didn't even trouble to rip the suit of the EXCALIBUR and MAG units that we saw in that cinematic. This might just be his brutal nature, but he doesn't strike me as the guy who'd do that for the heck of it; that's Grineer territory.

"...as I crush him with your metal corpse..." - Sargas Ruk

Now, note that Sargas didn't say "metal suit", he said "metal corpse". This might suggest that the metal he mentioned cannot be parted from the corpse, which would make sense if the Warframes were constructs. I can also presume that Sargas has seen/captured/bought enough Tenno to know what he's talking about.

Add in the fact that the 2005 video isn't even canon, and we have ourselves viability for transhumanism.

Has the 2005 video been dismissed as non-canon? I haven't heard either way on it, in an official sense.

Dark Sector, which I do consider canon continuity, explains the technocyte as being a sort of "living metal" that grows out of the host. Which brings about an interesting consideration that I guess would throw both of our theories in the dirt: That the warframe is "Grown" on the Tenno, so to speak. They're still human and they can take off the suit (using the term suit rather loosely, I suppose).

I seem to remember something lore-wise that said the corpus had a hard time actually separating the Warframe armor from the Tenno. May explain the Corpus and Grineer's confusion about our anatomy.

Aslo, since we're quoting bosses, these are compelling:

"(warframe)? Your pretentious suits are no match for my power!" -Ruk

"Beneath those suits exist flesh. Flesh bleeds. (player name) bleeds." -Kril

"Does that second-skin peel away just as easy as the first?" - Kril

"I am Lieutenant Lech Kril. My hammer awaits your skull."- Kril

"You ever get hammered in that suit?"- Also Kril

"We should accessorize your suit with some holes... bullet holes."- Tyl Regor

"You have violated the dress code on this ship."- Regor

And the infested bosses seem to reinforce the idea that the Warframes are made of Technocyte-stuff:

"Why do you destroy us? We are your flesh" j3

"We embrace you. Why do you defile us?"- also j3

Edited November 7, 2013 by OrdoCorvus

[Tyranthius]

Anything in that video was what Dark Sector was supposed to be. If you played the game, you'd know that it plays nothing like the video. That means that any concepts shown in that video were likely retconned and scrapped. Not official, no, but no less complete.

 

And I agree, that does dent both our arguments. But still, Hayden must have lived thousands of years ago. Things must have changed since then.

 

And in regards to the "suits" quotes, though I think it likely that the Grineer and Corpus have cut open Tenno before, I don't think it would be common knowledge that Tenno are transhumans, and anyone who dissected a Tenno corpse would find what they might believe to be a heavily augmented human under a suit.