Could Warframes, and by extension Helminth, be considered fungi? Or at least fungal in some form? [Lore]

[Xycelium]

I honestly haven't caught up or remembered specific parts of lore regarding the Infestation and Helminth in particularly, but I actually do wonder if Warframes in anyway are fungi in any way.

Here is the definition of fungi to be clear;

Quote

A group of thallophytic plant-like organisms of low organization, destitute of chlorophyll, in which reproduction is mainly accomplished by means of asexual spores, which are produced in a great variety of ways, though sexual reproduction is known to occur in certain Phycomycetes, or so-called algal fungi.

Basically anything like mushrooms who are the fruit of the mycelium, or even creatures that use a mycelium-like network, like a fantasy mycoid. Also, this discussion could technically extend towards the Infested as well.

Some clues to this being the case are the existence of the Nano Spores that we even use to build Warframes and even Weapons actually; but also the giant Infested-like mushrooms that grow in the Orb Vallis. 

I wonder what any loremasters would have to say in regards to my theory about there being some fungal basis for the Warframes to fall under, or possibly, they are an advanced species of fungi. That would really be somethin'.

Edited September 14 by Xycelium

[AndouRaiton]

It could potentially be classified fungi or at the very least fungi like. The wiki only lists the infested as "a microscopic parasitic techno-organic pathogen."

It is also important to remember there are different strains of infestation that act differently to each-other

https://warframe.fandom.com/wiki/Infested#Strains

So it would be more accurate to assume it is a completely separate/unique form of pathogen, and does not come under any existing definitions.

[ominumi]

There's a lot of algae that function as a multi cellular colony. Kinda like ant colony but as single cell. Then there's bacteria that does something similar to the infested. Assimilating materials into their colony. Fungus is more common and popular to the general public. There's lots of other organism that does the same strategy. 

[(PSN)MYKK678]

10 hours ago, Xycelium said:

I honestly haven't caught up or remembered specific parts of lore regarding the Infestation and Helminth in particularly, but I actually do wonder if Warframes in anyway are fungi in any way.

Here is the definition of fungi to be clear;

Basically anything like mushrooms who are the fruit of the mycelium, or even creatures that use a mycelium-like network, like a fantasy mycoid. Also, this discussion could technically extend towards the Infested as well.

Some clues to this being the case are the existence of the Nano Spores that we even use to build Warframes and even Weapons actually; but also the giant Infested-like mushrooms that grow in the Orb Vallis. 

I wonder what any loremasters would have to say in regards to my theory about there being some fungal basis for the Warframes to fall under, or possibly, they are an advanced species of fungi. That would really be somethin'.

No, they wouldn't.

Put simply, you've only looked into the basic meaning behind some of these words, and thus understand only the basics of them. Nobody should just be expected to know anything about this of course. As an example, you've seen the word "spore" and automatically associate that with plant life. Bacterial Spores exist too though.

Plants and/or Fungi inherently are built to spread, to procreate. Our Warframes show no signs of doing this. In the meantime the game has gone above and beyond to link Warframes to a Disease/Infection. Even explaining that it was one cultivated by Ballas.

So as of 2024, there's a near-zero chance of any links to Fungi.

[Chollynn]

From what I know and understand the whole thing is more about dns level computer virus. We will know more once 99 releases, I'm sure about that.

[SneakyErvin]

No. The infestation and the helminth are more a combination of disease and virus while technological in nature. It is simply a nano-tech creature that can mimic or potentially create biological tissue and technology. One of the closer things to compare it to would likely be cancer, since it is apparently intended to be cell based, which is why it is refered to as techno-cyte.

So the rampant nature of how it connects with and spreads is similar to cancer. Since the cells grow and spread across a subject in order to feed on and change the host for the cyte to survive instead of growing and dying in order to simply refresh/revitalize host. Helminth is altered so it doesnt kill the host, while the infestation simply takes over and effectively kills the host in order for it all to be connected to the hive. However, the infestation has more reason than cancer, since cancer can start at one point and spread through the most obscure and non-connected parts of a body. Like starting in the intestines and eventually ending up in a pinky toe without any rime or reason.

[TARINunit9]

18 hours ago, Xycelium said:

but I actually do wonder if Warframes in anyway are fungi in any way.

Realistically, the heavy use of metals incorporated into their tissues, the hive mind capabilities, and most importantly the ability to infect robots should classify the technocyte as a new kingdom of lifeform 

Edited September 15 by TARINunit9

[mariberry-hearn]

Warframe canon uses the term "technocyte" as a taxonomic descriptor for nanotech-based diseases (unlike in Dark Sector where it's a virus). Think of how e. coli is a bacteria, or how influenza is a virus; in this case, the infestation is a technocyte, with stuff like grey and helminth obviously being strains as directly stated by the source material

[Joezone619]

They're closer to nanites then fungi. If you want to get really technical, they're probably classified as bio-nanite clusters.