Let's Talk Lore...

[OniDax]

Lotus is a Sentient. As far as we know, the Tenno forced the Sentients retreat but did not destroy them.  It's implied that Sentients subverted whatever they needed/wanted via magic space hacks or something. Close enough really. 

 

Now, the Tenno murdered the ruling elite of the Orokin, we know this from Stalker's codex tidbit. And that murder broke the Orokin empire apart. Sentients get their phyrric victory. The Orokin eventually all die/devolve/become the Corpus/Grineer but as the Sentients quietly watched... the Tenno disappeared into cryopods/dead/wandered around for quite a while. But that means that they don't have a command structure. 

 

What better way to gain the strength of your enemies and subvert them then to take their best soldiers and have them dance around at your command? After all, transmitting information into things like Lotus' portrait wouldn't be difficult. Now you have the Tenno at your beck and call. Due to the hundreds of years of cryostasis, things like remembering their history, so on and so forth are forgotten. A Tenno's aptitude for murderboning everything and anything is still there in muscle memory and possibly hacked/damaged software for the Frames themselves. That and the Corpus/Grineer do themselves no favors by adapting a 'Shoot first' policy.

 

Although that may have been cultivated by the Sentients by having the first Tenno awake and murderborner as Tenno are want to do. So there is that. The Grineer are terrified of anything that can challenge their supremecy, and the Corpus who DO remember the Tenno as the Betrayers... Well, you had some like Salad V who wanted to make the Tenno into giant cat murderboner machines. The other board members may want to dissect the Warframes/Tenno to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. After all, if the Corpus got around to at least finding out that the Sentients are still around and telling the Tenno, Lotus, the guiding voice in our HUDs is not something we really don't want.

 

Enter the Sentients and the Solar Rails where we go into the darkness against foes unknown.

 

But what about the Infested? Well, they do complain that we're killing the same 'flesh.' This leaves me to believe that the Tenno are /NOT/ infested but the Infested see the Tenno as Orokin biotechnology. Brothers in a way. It explains why we don't get infected and shamble about and explode on people. The Orokin would have had the 'vaccinations' or control methods to make sure that their pet space insect zombie hive didn't want to eat them but the Sentients.

 

The Lotus is not a Sentient.

[MagpieOAO]

The Lotus is not a Sentient.

We don't know what Lotus, or sentients are though. So she could be a sentient or one of their proxies.

[OniDax]

We don't know what Lotus, or sentients are though. So she could be a sentient or one of their proxies.

 

I doubt a Sentient would adorn itself like its enemies. And yes, everything about the Lotus's design, including the background of her video feed, is Orokin.

[Radford_343]

It's quite possible that the lotus was originally a construct of the orokin to control the tenno in their various missions. Either originally designed or eventually changing to the point that she desired to "maintain balance" in the system. Obviously with the orokin having turned the tables on the sentients, the balance was now in their favor, and thus the Lotus led the Tenno in rebellion.

 

Once the rebellion was complete, in order to put things into balance once again, the lotus put the tenno into stasis lest they create further conflicts. The "balance" lasted for thousands of years, until the current time period.

 

For me, this is the most logical explanation of what happened with the Orokin, it makes sense from a "machine point of view" with the balance and all. Kind of reminds me of the Reapers from the mass effect series, cold, merciless machine AI.

 

Scary.

[OniDax]

Again, datamined pre-U9 text had the Lotus calling the Orokin tyrants, and telling the Tenno to sleep after they'd killed them:

 

Directive

 

Do you hear that my Tenno? The silence of tyrants who fell by

your blade? Your sacrifice is complete and you should rest. The

cryo-chamber will wipe away the unpleasantness of what has

passed. When you are called to wake, it must be because the

system is once again out of balance. Perform your duties then, as

you have now.

 

Until we meet again,

Lotus

 

Sure, DE can change that, but this fits with everything we know so far.

Edited June 27, 2014 by AntoineFlemming

[MortalSage]

My question is, WHY did they turn on the Orokin? Was it some act of defiance in the interest of restoring order? Or could it have been something... darker?

They threw children into the void and Tenno were a military secret. If we were know about it was as boogey men and secondary citizens. No one ever said we liked the guys that made us into weapons and made us take part in a war.

[OniDax]

I'm pretty sure it was about balance. With the Orokin victorious, there was no balance. WIth the Sentients, the system was 1-1. When the Sentients were defeated, it's 1-0. So logical Lotus said, "Kill the Orokin. Balance." 0-0.

Edited June 27, 2014 by AntoineFlemming

[Mazrim]

The Lotus is not a Sentient.

 

I doubt a Sentient would adorn itself like its enemies. And yes, everything about the Lotus's design, including the background of her video feed, is Orokin.

Anything to disprove that? There is the datamined bit but that was datamined and not actually 'told' to us. So I'm hesitant to accept that as fact.

 

Why wouldn't the Sentient disguise itself as Orokin to get control of godlike murder space marine ninjas? Seems like a solid plan to me.

[vicwarrior]

As far as we know the Tenno were created by exposing people to the Void. The Void gave some individuals powers, the orokin then subsequently brainwashed those people and wrapped em up in warframes to have them control their powers.

 

However in Mag prime's codex entry some of the orokin "zero-tech" soldiers were killed by the tenno but later in the Stalker's codex entry the orokin invite us right into the heart of their empire and treat us as the saviors.

 

Also another question is: why did the Tenno turn against the orokin?

 

We have nothing to confirm that the Lotus existed before the CryoNap but it is pretty safe to assume that it did. The Orokin knew the Sentients for turning their weapons against them, the Lotus might have been an attempt to prevent the Sentients from turning the Tenno against the Orokin by making it so an AI contained within the warframes can give the Tenno enough self-control over what they do to prevent the Sentients from turning them against the orokin but yet have the Lotus make sure The Tenno follow Orokin's interests.

 

Yet the Tenno turned against their so suposed masters after defeating The Sentients.

 

Thinking about it there could be multiple different reasons for it.

 

A plausible reason could be that The Sentients managed to turn the Tenno against the Orokin via hacking the Lotus, this might be the reason why the Tenno now attack the grineer and the corpus because both originate from the Orokin and the infested because they are an infested bioweapon.

 

Another reason might be that the Lotus decided that a "balance" was important and that the Orokin didn't help with that and perhaps murdering their creators its a good way to achieve a "balance" in the solar system.

 

But then you have the gradivus dilemma where Lotus doesn't organise the Tenno in 50% 50% to assure maximum mutual anihilation to keep a balance, she just lets the Tenno fight for whoever they want just for as long as they are killing something which kind of reinforces the first theory.

[SilverBones]

Must... not... post...

 

HNNNG :V

 

On a serious note, it's good to see people with so many different approaches to the lore of Warframe. Good stuff guys!

[Xaiux]

That's the question, does she order them, or does she "Would you kindly.." order them? They obviously owe her a debt for helping them escape vor upon awakening, and giving them some kind of facilities to escape to/base themselves from. 

 

They wake up with no memory, no people, no home, in a hostile solar system that wants to crush or dissect them. The Lotus is their only reprieve. On top of that, she gives them purpose. They are killing machines, weapons without a wielder without the lotus. 

 

So yeah...

Hehehe...

There are orokin towers (pretty close to a lighthouse)

Some of the frames seem pretty close to a man...

and there is a girl in Ember's lore. 

[(PSN)JoeyTwoShoes]

I always kinda thought that the Tenno killed the Orokin (assuming the Stalker's codex entry tells the truth) for revenge. Think about it, we know that they were considered outcasts, and they may or may not have been sent to the void as children to become twisted and develop strange powers. Then they are put in suits and sent to fight in a war, experiencing the horrors related to war, such as the deaths of fellow Tenno and the threat of death or injury.

 

We know from Valkyr that Tenno can feel anger, who's to say that after returning from the war the Tenno didn't have feelings of hatred towards the Orokin for forcing them to fight? Maybe the Tenno killed the Orokin in retaliation for sending them to the void and making them fight, but the Stalker, being a guardian of the Orokin, worded his codex entry (whatever way he would do that) in a way that paints the Tenno as the bad guys.

 

Either way, I don't really blame the Tenno for what they might have done. If I was sent to a weird part of space to have my body changed in strange ways and then forced to fight in a war, I'd probably be pissed at the people responsible.

[Teqnologyque]

Awesome theories so far. It's also good to see the community connecting like this instead of just throwing mud.

 

Someone mentioned that the Lotus is suspected to be an AI. I don't think that's really the case. What if the Lotus was (WAS) at one point just another person, the Doctor Halsey to our Spartans (To use an analogy I'd rather not use), but volunteered to become an AI in a sort of "Always be with all of [Her] Children" in a weird sort of adoptive mother kind of way?

 

If that's the case then DE really might be taking ques from Nihei. There was a similar character in Biomega who considered all of the Synthetic Human Agents "Her Children".

 

Maybe that's why the Lotus had the Tenno turn on the Orokin? Because she could peer into their collective subconscious and "See" the repressed memories of horrific trauma inflicted upon them? Maybe she drew out those memories, causing the Tenno to go berserk and attack the Orokin out of sheer rage.

 

Its an interesting thought so far.

[Suicidal_Bunny]

Awesome theories so far. It's also good to see the community connecting like this instead of just throwing mud.

 

Someone mentioned that the Lotus is suspected to be an AI. I don't think that's really the case. What if the Lotus was (WAS) at one point just another person, the Doctor Halsey to our Spartans (To use an analogy I'd rather not use), but volunteered to become an AI in a sort of "Always be with all of [Her] Children" in a weird sort of adoptive mother kind of way?

 

If that's the case then DE really might be taking ques from Nihei. There was a similar character in Biomega who considered all of the Synthetic Human Agents "Her Children".

 

Maybe that's why the Lotus had the Tenno turn on the Orokin? Because she could peer into their collective subconscious and "See" the repressed memories of horrific trauma inflicted upon them? Maybe she drew out those memories, causing the Tenno to go berserk and attack the Orokin out of sheer rage.

 

Its an interesting thought so far.

didn't [DE]Megan slip up during one of the dev-streams and say that lotus was an A.I.? also as for lotus being a sentient. if you look up at the definition of the word, it means the ability to "feel" or have feelings such as anger, happiness, etc.  so what if sentients were originally "machines or robots A.I.s" that became aware and developed the ability to feel. and i would not be happy and grow angry if my whole "race" was forced into labor ( because lets face it that's the only reason to have an A.I. or a robot, is to make them work for you and do the things you don't want / or that have a potential hazard of death.

 

And as for the Tenno turning on the orokin, for the longest time I could not understand if we were many "people" with suits or just one person (whithc didn't make much sense because some are male while others are female). but then it hit me,  Steve said, that when Focus system comes out and you get exp on an item or frame that been max leveled, that exp will instead go to you " or the tenno inside"  that you will be able to level up and get perks that will transfer to other frames. ( meaning its one and the same "person" that controls different suits ) but then I thought how is that possible? the answer i came up with is that we are no longer human, but an A.I. and our suits are what hold the power now. and we just transfer from one suit to another as an "operating system"

 

Also think about it this way, corpus is hunting us for "parts" for their robotics. A suit would not have much to offer if it was just a protective case. but if we are an A.I. the inside of our suits will hold all the technology and components that gives us the ability to use "powers"  our source of power is called energy not mana or something like that, we "upgrade" our selves with orokin "reactors"  (sounds like something a machine would use to enhance itself.)  

 

I might have went off topic a bit, but if lotus was a sentient.  and we were an A.I. I imagine she would feel compassion for us and try to help us out.

 

***

this is all my speculation and ideas that that make sense to me, just posting it for the sake of having a great discussion about lore because i think it got potential to be great. :D

[-skimmer-]

People seem to throw the word "balance" around a lot, but what does it mean? Is it supposed to keep all forces equal? But not having a winner would result in an endless war. I can imagine few reasons for it, if thats the case:

 

1. Endless war means endless opportunities for mercenary work. Tenno are a weapon after all.

2. Keeping all factions fighting between themselves makes them an easy prey for any new invading faction we dont know about. If the new faction happens to be the Sentients, it would only reinforce the theory that Lotus is also one of the surviving Sentients, using Tenno to prepare the playing field.

 

As you can guess, I'm not really buying into Lotus being the benevolent benefactor she makes herself seem to be.

[NevanChambers]

People seem to throw the word "balance" around a lot, but what does it mean? Is it supposed to keep all forces equal? But not having a winner would result in an endless war. I can imagine few reasons for it, if thats the case:

 

1. Endless war means endless opportunities for mercenary work. Tenno are a weapon after all.

2. Keeping all factions fighting between themselves makes them an easy prey for any new invading faction we dont know about. If the new faction happens to be the Sentients, it would only reinforce the theory that Lotus is also one of the surviving Sentients, using Tenno to prepare the playing field.

 

As you can guess, I'm not really buying into Lotus being the benevolent benefactor she makes herself seem to be.

You and a lot of other people, man trust issues abound ^_^

 

Equally plausible though is that the balance is an ancient Tenno belief and they set up the Lotus to ensure they would maintain it knowning the cryo sleep would wipe their memories. If it was always our core principle then naturally we would wish it to remain as we rebuilt our culture. Perhaps we went to sleep in the first place to clear our minds of remnants Orokin brainwashing. If you think about it Balance certainly wouldn't have been an Orokin objective as it's not much of a logical leap to see how that could have turned out bad for them (and did). 

 

Maintaining the constant war isn't eternal though. Eventually both sides will have suffered such heavy losses that they will be demoralized or gone, and the while forced to split their attention between the Tenno and their other opponents which would not allow them to focus on the civilians we are meant to be protecting with our actions.

 

I'm curious though why do you not trust Lotus? There's almost no evidence to suggest we shouldn't (conversely there is precisely the same amount of evidence we should which is why I'm curious to the motivations of those who don't) Part of the reason I do is out of game logic, she just serves as a way to deliver information to the player, if there is some sort of betrayal DE will have to create a new character to serve the same function and they have successfully gotten much of the player base to bond with her so I'm not sure they'd want to mess that up. If they allow proxy wars to begin serving the same purpose rather than a secondary source then it creates schisms in the player base and we won't feel like a unified whole anymore. Though with PVP dark sectors that argument holds less water than it once did. The rest is just cause I don't want to believe the Lotus is evil and Steve said we are the good guys. Probably the flimsiest reasoning I have but it is what it is until we get some actual evidence one way or the other. 

[Ghost333]

-snip-

 

 

 

As for tenno turning against the orokin, it doesn't take much imagination to consider the super soliders you shot off into a magic space hell and sent on suicidal missions might harbor some resentment.

Christ, what is that, the immaterium? That gave me a headache by looking at it.

Addendum: Or was that something H.P. Lovecraft dreamed of?

[Beas7ie]

I'm just hoping Rhino and Loki Prime get new codex entries that have the interesting lore stories lime what mag ember and Excalibur have

[SirSmite]

And as for the Tenno turning on the orokin, for the longest time I could not understand if we were many "people" with suits or just one person (whithc didn't make much sense because some are male while others are female). but then it hit me,  Steve said, that when Focus system comes out and you get exp on an item or frame that been max leveled, that exp will instead go to you " or the tenno inside"  that you will be able to level up and get perks that will transfer to other frames. ( meaning its one and the same "person" that controls different suits ) but then I thought how is that possible? the answer i came up with is that we are no longer human, but an A.I. and our suits are what hold the power now. and we just transfer from one suit to another as an "operating system"

I don't think that we play as individual Tenno who are able to switch frames on the fly. It is implied in Ember's lore that the powers the Tenno receive from the void are inherent in each individual and not the frames themselves - they mere act as conduits to channel and control those powers. Also, it has already been mentioned in the thread that we can't be AI since the Lotus would always exclaim after exterminations that, "other than you, I see no other life-form on board."

[Zuijin]

Shield your eyes! Wall of text inbound! And Crackpot theory!

 

Excalibur Codex:

The Sentients had won. They had turned our weapons, our technology, against us. The more advanced we became, the greater our losses. The war was over unless we found a new way. In our desperation we turned to the Void. The blinding night, the hellspace where our science and reason failed. We took the twisted few that had returned from that place. We built a frame around them, a conduit of their affliction. Gave them the weapons of the old ways. Gun and blade. A new warrior, a new code was born. These rejects, these Tenno, became our saviors. Warrior-Gods cast in steel and fury striking our enemies in a way they could never comprehend.
Excalibur was the first.
- Orokin 'Warframe' Archives

 

Stalker Codex:

Some have walked these desolate worlds while you have slept. Some like me. I remember what you did. I remember the day.

The Tenno appeared at the Terminus, gleaming and victorious. Our cold and gold Emperors, breathless, bathed you in savior's silk. Then came the sound. Across all our worlds, all at once, the ceremonial Naga drums. A royal salute to the honored Tenno. Ten solemn beats to declare the suffering was over. I watched from a distance, with the rest of the low Guardians. With each beat terror began to crush my throat. The Tenno were not stoic and silent. They were waiting. They were poised. I tried to call out but only a strangled whisper escaped.

When the ninth beat rang a torrent of blood filled the stadium, loosed by Tenno blades. The drums, the Empire, fell silent forever.

Now I hunt, dividing your numbers. Watching from that dark place, cataloging your sins, I am the ghost of retribution. You may forget but you are not innocent.

 

Ember Codex:

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.'

 

Mag Prime Codex

Warframe Archive - Debrief excerpt:

We sat strapped in, safeties off, waiting for the punch. Waiting for death. Through my filthy porthole I saw stars among the outlines of the other Splinter ships queuing for the Solar Rail. It would soon grip us with an incomprehensible power and cast us through the void into the mouth of our enemy.

I watched the ships one-by-one bending and gone. Each crammed with zero-tech soldiers sucking stale air, white knuckling their percussion rifles. Each filled with a desperation that comes from extinction. Our ship would be the last to cross the gap. Our ship had special cargo.

It was essentially empty. Just ten men, like me, strapped in with the best zero-tech suits and weapons the empire could build... and "it". "It" stood in the aisle, a slender and eyeless metal form. A Tenno inside its Warframe. Vaguely human, vaguely feminine. Was this armor or some ornate carapace for the monster that lived inside? I strained against the harness as the ship yawed for final approach. I could see the Tenno standing there freely. Solemn and gold-gleaming, oblivious to the inertial force.

I had been, until then, a Tenno denier. They were ghosts, propaganda, twisted casualties of the void era. Not possibly real. Yet here it was in the flesh. The Empire, in their desperation, was going to turn the demons loose and hope for the best. Who did we fear more, the enemy or this monster? We had our safeties off, could we trust it? Then it didn't matter anymore. The punch came - and our windows became blinding. When we could see again our ship was somewhere else, shattered and dead in an instant.

My lungs were flattened, eyes full of death. Ship debris glittered like a night snow. The alien blue star was dark and blinding beyond us. The countless articulating worm-ships of our enemy, ringed in glowing discs, undulating and heat-bursting the surviving soldiers like me. This is where I died. I was in R-disc, sweeping over my right and setting my blood on fire. My vision flattened, the hearing muffled and buzzed. I could feel the side of my face going slack and wet.

I was in a dying dream. I saw a bright spot blurring and weaving toward me. I felt a tug toward it from the metal clasps on my suit. It reached me, rising up - a gleaming beast, a plume of golden wings rising and unfolding behind it. An angel. It snatched me from my death. I could feel my lungs fill as it wrapped me in its wings. Its Void Shield shimmered blue, strained under the enemy beams. I felt a suddenly tug of acceleration. I closed my eyes and held on it like a child.

I awoke on the floor, the sting of crisping flesh on my face and side. It was standing over me, the wings gone. I heard the cracking of weapons echoing down the corridor. Maybe the mission would be saved, but I was dying and so I waved my hand to send it away. I felt a pistol thrust in my hand as I was heaved to my feet. The angel had saved me, pulled me from hell, but it would not pity me. I was to die on my feet, by its side. I turned my good side toward the gunfire and raised the gun. It nodded, its outstretched metal hand surging and pulsing in ancient shapes as blue shimmered around me. It turned, drawing its blade and together we surged headlong into the hailstorm of death and fire that awaited us.

 

As far as I know, these are the easiest pieces of the lore to find.

From now on, everything is just my personal crackpot theory: feel free to poke at the logic behind it.

 

I would like to begin with the elephant in the room: The Orokin.

Ultimately, we don't know much about him/her/it/them (with cloning, who knows). The Stalker codex describes Orokin as "cold and gold emperors".

This alone picked my interest quite a bit: I can understand the gold part, because Orokin seemed fixated with gold motives for their structures (and gold is a meaningful color and metal, after all)  and probably it was one of their calling cards... but "cold"?

There are many ways to give a meaning to this.

Due to Occam's Razor, let's say Orokins were, at some point, humans (as opposed to aliens from another star, more about it later): "cold" could means they were transhumans, who embraced metal and circuits to separated themselves from the rest of mankind and/ or to prolong their lives to unnatural limits. They were successful in this: after all, it seems their rulership was in place for centuries, if not millennia. Freed from their mortality, the Orokin established their regime over mankind thanks to their superior knowledge and experience hoarded in their long life span, virtually endless.

They were, probably, technocrats, with little to no qualm in enforcing their view over the rest of mankind: Earth become a sanctuary for them, and they reshape the planet thanks to genetic engineering to make vegetations grow out of control, so that it become theirs only. Basically they forced out from Earth billions of humans because they wanted a garden as big as a planet... I don't think Orokins were "benevolent rulers" at all.

Why do I think Orokins were humans, at some point? Because of the Stalker.

 

The Stalker preys on those Tennos who are successful in hunting down the bosses of Warframe: but what kind of enemies they are? More often than not, they are transhumans themselves (Vor, Ruk, Alad V and so on). Why otherwise The Stalker should have that kind of thirst to get revenge for bloodthirsty soldiers like the Grineer and ruthless and greedy corporative managers? I think (and here I'm trying to connect some dots without anything solid) because they remind him a little what the Orokins were at the apex of their glory: humans beyond mankind limitations.

The Stalker himslef was a low guardian of the Orokin (maybe a Shield, instead of a Sword like the Tennos were) and he failed in what he perceive as an holy duty: for a millennia he fed his grudge and  wish for revenge, unable to make Tennos pay for the slaughter of the Orokin. And after a millennia, here we Tennos are again, slaughtering people (bad people, sure) who the Stalker  perceive as descendant of the Orokin, at least in spirits.

In short, I believe the Stalker is nuts with hate and thirst for revenge, with somehow justified reasons to  do so... but it would be interesting to know how the Stalker survived the millennia the Tennos slumbered: he too undergone extensive body modifications to survive? Did he challenged the Void too, like the Tennos, and survived the trip (I suppose there is a reason why he was only a "low" Guardian, instead of a Tenno at the time of the Orokin's fall), acquiring his powers?

Or maybe, the Stalker is just a puppet, created with fake memories by something akin to Neural Sentries to hunt down the Tenno. He could even be a Tenno, for all we know, brainwashed, controlled by something and crazy (and what about corrupted Vor?). But let's back to the Orokins.

 

In the Mag codex, we have the mentioning of something called the "Void Era".

Let's say the Orokin imposed their rulership over mankind thanks to knowledge and brutal strength (you can amass large armies with cloning technology, useful to win wars by attrition alone). But how the Orokin kept their status? I believe they did this with at least 3 pervasive elements who are the long lost origins of both the Grineers and the Corpus.

 

1) Superior Technology: as stated in the Mag Codex, after the advent of the Orokin we had a "Void Era". Probably the era when the Orokin discovered the Void as a dimension and its gifts (in the Excalibur codex the Void is an hellspace where science fails: a place with even different rules of physics maybe, where isn't gravity the glue of the universe, but something else, like inertial force: all the tennos seems to elude gravity in one way or another, abusing inertial force to move and run on walls).

In their own name, the Orokin reaped the gifts of the Void: faster than light propulsion (we've the mention of "folding" in the ember codex), solar rails and many more things, who were even weaponized (mag codex talk about percussion rifle and zero tech suit, implying they were not the standard).

 

2) Military propaganda. As the Stalker codex seems to hint (if red as literally as possible), serving the Orokin was an "holy duty". Being the origin of the Orokin quite mundane in my opinion (they were metal men with a living soul), I think some sort of propaganda and/or brainwashing was in order to instill the sense of duty and honor (the Orokin seems very fond of their Neural Sentries after all).

The legends of the accomplishment of the low guardians could even be the origins of the Grinner regime:

a) indirectly, if the Queens used that soldier's creed to motivate/inspire their troops and create the Grineers from scratch.

b) directly, if the cloning technology the Grineers abuse is one of the Orokin's legacy. And it could be, considering the Grineers suffer from cloning decay over too much copies of the same DNA (generations upon generations of clones: so the Grineer could have been created centuries ago and the Queens are their last rulers, more aggressive and better prepared to expand the Grineer influence over the Origin System).

 

3) Bureaucracy blindly faithful to the Orokin, with the primary purpose of creating profit to fuel the Orokin empire, which at that time (Golden Era) expanded over many planets and colonies in the Origin System.

To this day, the Corpus seems all to happy to hybridize the brains of their members with circuits and computers (neural sensor anyone?): it could be a remnant of the Era when the proto Corpus served the Orokins (nothing like forcing faith in your bureaucracy with computers components in their brain to keep them loyal). It's easy to see why the Corpus worhips the Orokins and their technology: they were programmed to do so a very long time ago. After a couple of century, nobody doubted the righteousness of the Orokin anymore.

 

With these 3 elements, only the common citizens were left unchecked, but what kind of menace they could be for the Orokins? And so centuries passed, while the immortal Orokins continue their rule until....

 

Here comes the Sentients

As for the Orokins, we don't know exactly what the Sentients were: my personal opinion is the Sentients are the inhabitants of the Void. Beings of more will than substance, (thus the name Sentients) spawns of a place with no discernible matters and strange laws of physics (thus the name Void).

The Sentients began to fight back the Orokins and their soldier, to retake back what was rightfully theirs to begin with. Void Towers were built as stronghold in that dimension, but ultimately, the Sentients won that battle. And because much of the technology of the Orokin empire is now based on the Void, in time, the Sentients understand it and use it against the Orokin themselves, no matter how hard mankind try to create better weapons (as described in the excalibur codex).

The ember codex could sustain this theory of mine: the Sentients invaded the Zariman to enter our space in their initial attack to the Origin System, masquerading as the children found on board the ship. An ember was dispatched to clean the mess, leaving a scarred soldier as lone witness.

So the war between Orokin empire and Sentients go on, maybe even for years or centuries: in their desperation, the Orokin created the technocite virus, as a weapon to drawn line in the sand. The Sentients took a city, a colony, a planet, the Orokin deployed the virus to destroy everything, like a nuke, but without the destruction to the infrastructures (and I know WF is inspired on Dark Sector, but as far as I know, is not based: so the technocite of WF could have a different backstory from the one from DS).

If I remember correctly, in ODA missions the Lotus describe the technocite virus as a weapon to fight the Sentients and Lephantis as a sapient weapon who had centuries to evolve.

Unfortunately, this kind of schemes just give some time to the Orokin: they can't win with their military and technology, because their own weapons are based on the enemy, and the technocite virus inflicts heavy casualties among civilians and military alike.

(Some of the infected alerts we face as Tennos could be the result of digs up of hard evidences from that war, still tainted with the technocite virus.)

In their desperation, the Orokin open their Vaults, and allow the use of the last and most terrible weapon from the Void Era: The Tennos. People who accepted some of the Void in themselves, maybe hybrid of human- sentients (Vay Hek defines Tennos as "Orokin monstrosities" and "genetically modified humans" created in test tubes. Which is something, from the last model in a long line of clones. A batch of troops made specifically by the Orokin to fight in the Void?).

The few who come back from their first trip in the Void result changed, tainted by that dimension: "demons" with strange powers. I believe the warframes (the suits) help the Tennos to control our powers, being a "conduit for their affliction", giving us shape and control.

So every suit is an individual, who can't change it: it's parts of him/her like the skin of our body.

 

The rest is quite easy to imagine: the Tennos are so good in fighting the Sentiens (they use their powers, instead of technology) they repel them from the Origin System. And then, they are deployed back to the Void, to end the war once and for all.

To coordinate these soldiers, who fight battles in a place where no humans can survive long, or give orders, the Orokin created an IA, the Lotus, as a sort of commander in chief for the Tennos troops.

The Tennos won, eradicating, or defeating, the Sentients and come back to be honored like saviors.

But what was the Orokin Empire for the Tennos?

A technocratic dictatorship, with rulers too old who call themselves emperors. Gods.

Inhuman monstrosities clad in cheap metal and circuits: not even anymore brains in a jar maybe and corrupted by too many years spent as hegemonic masters.

Acting again as mankind protectors, Tennos do their job again, the only one they know: their blades free mankind from the rule of the Orokin finally, in an act not fully understood by some (again, the stalker, the military proto Grineer, and the proto Corpus).

The Neural Sentries and the Void Towers remains undisturbed (maybe the Neural Sentries were ordered to consider Tennos as enemies after the slaughter of the Orokin) and during the following years (the Collapse) they are forgotten.

 

Without an enemy to fight anymore, the Tennos slumber again in criostasis , until corporation turned to too much greed (human experimentations and so on) and aggressive militaristic regime threaten mankind once again, forcing the Lotus to awaken the Tennos to do their duty: fight to protect humanity.

 

In the end, Tennos are weapons with demigod abilities, that fight for mankind with void channeled powers (this put us in some of a grey area of morality: good ends with terrific means). As mercenaries, we earn enough to sustain the organization of the Tennos (Tenno council, R&D and so on) and maybe open our arms and dojos to humans refugee. "Pecunia non olet" after all, and if you have to feed hundreds of thousands of wanted men and women, hiding them from both Grineer and Corpus, fueling an army (ships, dojos, bullets... those things are expensive), in the name of being protectors, it's better to make the enemy pays for it.

 

Well, that's all folks: rant is over...

Edited June 28, 2014 by Zuijin

[GlamourChariot]

Just stopping by to say I love this thread and you people should keep discussing as much as possible thanks.

[-skimmer-]

You and a lot of other people, man trust issues abound ^_^

 

Equally plausible though is that the balance is an ancient Tenno belief and they set up the Lotus to ensure they would maintain it knowning the cryo sleep would wipe their memories. If it was always our core principle then naturally we would wish it to remain as we rebuilt our culture. Perhaps we went to sleep in the first place to clear our minds of remnants Orokin brainwashing. If you think about it Balance certainly wouldn't have been an Orokin objective as it's not much of a logical leap to see how that could have turned out bad for them (and did).

 

 

Except we still dont know what "balance" means. Its just a fancy word she used and never explained that somehow makes you feel like a good guy when she orders you to murder hundreds of people and/or aliens. True, none of the factions seem to have any redeeming qualities, but Tenno have yet to get a chance to display theirs. Like you said, all Tenno lost their memories(with the exception of stalker I guess). Lotus literally had to teach you all "your" values and culture about balance and honor all over again, while all other lore we could piece together actually implies we took down 2 strongest civilizations in history. One with might and the other with betrayal, which doesnt really seem very honorable.

 

 

Maintaining the constant war isn't eternal though. Eventually both sides will have suffered such heavy losses that they will be demoralized or gone, and the while forced to split their attention between the Tenno and their other opponents which would not allow them to focus on the civilians we are meant to be protecting with our actions.

 

I'm curious though why do you not trust Lotus? There's almost no evidence to suggest we shouldn't (conversely there is precisely the same amount of evidence we should which is why I'm curious to the motivations of those who don't) Part of the reason I do is out of game logic, she just serves as a way to deliver information to the player, if there is some sort of betrayal DE will have to create a new character to serve the same function and they have successfully gotten much of the player base to bond with her so I'm not sure they'd want to mess that up. If they allow proxy wars to begin serving the same purpose rather than a secondary source then it creates schisms in the player base and we won't feel like a unified whole anymore. Though with PVP dark sectors that argument holds less water than it once did. The rest is just cause I don't want to believe the Lotus is evil and Steve said we are the good guys. Probably the flimsiest reasoning I have but it is what it is until we get some actual evidence one way or the other.

 

First of all, there is no evidence of any civilians being around and if there were some civilians, they would probably be Corpus because only their society seems to be the only one that even allows the existence of civilians. Grinner, Infested(obviously) or even Tenno are races of warriors and have no civilians among them. Every defense or rescue misson we are defending Tenno cryopods or captured Tenno operatives, so far its all about defending ourselves, not anyone else. We are not protecting anyone. Only now we got introduced to Red Veil which seem to be some sort of rebelious organization who idealise the Tenno, but they are definitelly not Tenno and look way too human to be Grineer or Infested so they are probably Corpus, fighting their own.

 

Infested or Grinner doesnt seem to be even capable of suffering heavy loses, thanks to their cloning/breeding abilities and both are solely motivated by conquest while Corpus are lorewise described as fighting mainly through their robotic proxies. Locking those 3 into ethernal stalemate is perfectly viable option. Especially if Lotus doesnt even seem to care about who wins.

Edited June 28, 2014 by -skimmer-

[vaugahn]

My vision for future lore would be to focus less on the Orokin and the origin of the tenno and more on current events in the solar system. I'd love to know more about the political and social structures of the grineer and corpus, and there are obviously civilians or at least non-combatants from both factions (capture targets, red veil reference to "popular support"). This would be an interesting way for the devs to release lots of lore while still keeping that sense of mystery.

 

That said, my personal theory is that lotus is a neural sentry who's gone a little crazy, and has somehow subverted the tenno who were meant to remain in cryosleep forever as a means to rebuild the empire. However, since lotus is mostly insane and the tenno have no idea what's going on, this explains the fact that lotus's current goals seems to be all over the place as far as the missions she has you do.

[Muminidas]

I think I could add some thoughts of mine to this thread. Some are similiar to @Zuijin theories wiith a lil'bit more of my view. 

The Tenno

 

 

[...] Unfortunately, this kind of schemes just give some time to the Orokin: they can't win with their military and technology, because their own weapons are based on the enemy, and the technocite virus inflicts heavy casualties among civilians and military alike.

(Some of the infected alerts we face as Tennos could be the result of digs up of hard evidences from that war, still tainted with the technocite virus.)

In their desperation, the Orokin open their Vaults, and allow the use of the last and most terrible weapon from the Void Era: The Tennos. People who accepted some of the Void in themselves, maybe hybrid of human- sentients (Vay Hek defines Tennos as "Orokin monstrosities" and "genetically modified humans" created in test tubes. Which is something, from the last model in a long line of clones. A batch of troops made specifically by the Orokin to fight in the Void?).

The few who come back from their first trip in the Void result changed, tainted by that dimension: "demons" with strange powers. I believe the warframes (the suits) help the Tennos to control our powers, being a "conduit for their affliction", giving us shape and control.

So every suit is an individual, who can't change it: it's parts of him/her like the skin of our body.

 

The rest is quite easy to imagine: the Tennos are so good in fighting the Sentiens (they use their powers, instead of technology) they repel them from the Origin System. And then, they are deployed back to the Void, to end the war once and for all.

To coordinate these soldiers, who fight battles in a place where no humans can survive long, or give orders, the Orokin created an IA, the Lotus, as a sort of commander in chief for the Tennos troops.

The Tennos won, eradicating, or defeating, the Sentients and come back to be honored like saviors.

But what was the Orokin Empire for the Tennos?

A technocratic dictatorship, with rulers too old who call themselves emperors. Gods.

Inhuman monstrosities clad in cheap metal and circuits: not even anymore brains in a jar maybe and corrupted by too many years spent as hegemonic masters.

Acting again as mankind protectors, Tennos do their job again, the only one they know: their blades free mankind from the rule of the Orokin finally, in an act not fully understood by some (again, the stalker, the military proto Grineer, and the proto Corpus).

The Neural Sentries and the Void Towers remains undisturbed (maybe the Neural Sentries were ordered to consider Tennos as enemies after the slaughter of the Orokin) and during the following years (the Collapse) they are forgotten.

 

Without an enemy to fight anymore, the Tennos slumber again in criostasis , until corporation turned to too much greed (human experimentations and so on) and aggressive militaristic regime threaten mankind once again, forcing the Lotus to awaken the Tennos to do their duty: fight to protect humanity.

 

In the end, Tennos are weapons with demigod abilities, that fight for mankind with void channeled powers (this put us in some of a grey area of morality: good ends with terrific means). [...]

 

The Tennos are Orokin children tainted by the Void energy, I agree. Those bits of Lore we have received with Ember's and Excalibur's Codex entries, all lead to this theory. Children are not fully developed individuals, they will grow and their bodies will change in time. Orokins decided to experiment on children to receive a weapon, which would allow them to battle the Sentients. Those few sent into the Void were corrupted, inflicted by this strange and unknown energy that lead every other Orokin individuals to madness. 
While those children were growing, Void's corruption had different effects on them, they could lose their sight, speech (some believe Tenno cannot see or speak) and new senses could develop or those few senses that were left were enhanced (perception, smell, hearing). 

What we are sure of is the fact that Orokins called them Tenno and that those Tenno had powers to manipulate their surroundings, matter, objects, elements(thanks to Void's energy corruption). They could not control those powers (burned Orokin officer from Ember's Lore) thus Warframes were created/rediscovered to help them channel Voids energy into specific set of powers (like powers of Fire) so the Tenno could master it. 

Tenno were wrapped into Warframes to learn how to harmonize with Warframe technology and their were trained in ancient ways of warfare to defeat the Sentients. 

 

What we are no sure is the fact that one single Tenno can use multiple Warframes with different shapes. Tenno are shapeless? Shapeshifters? 

My little theory that is a bit crazy is connected to the quote that old good J3 once was telling. We are your flesh....

Tenno have technocyte virus aspect in them. What if? It's crazy I know, but this would allow them to change their organic body shape when needed. Enough about Tenno. 

The Lotus

 

As Zujijn said Tennos needed a guide that would help them find their targets in the field, that would operate countless amounts of Tenno Cells, that would navigate them in the Void. 

 

Orokin; "Ok. We have this crazy room and stupid helmet, we need crazy Orokin chick to sacrafice her life to connect with an AI to be like an amazing, uber-informed and bugged Ai-human hybrid that would know every movement our Tenno pets are making in the field and guide them to kick the @$$ of Sentients properly and to keep the balance in the Origin System. Any volunteer?"

Rebbeca: "Me! ME! * thinking, I'd be like a Proffesor X from X-Men* 

 

Done! Insert there technologies that keep her alive for centuries and it's all. 

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

However, nobody has ever said Tenno and the Lotus don't have their free will ( we have 'coz we can choose to support Grineer or Corpus whether we want Detron or Brakk). Orokins were tyrants that used our poor Lotus to guide stupid Tennos and would use us like tools. Probably they were bad for locals too as they supposedly were cold and gold. Cold in heart and gold from taking all Prime drops from the community. You get me right? <(^^<) 

 

Lotus said : "No! No! I quit" and had this great and convinient story about keeping balance in the universe etc. as her excuse. 

 

 

Stalker

 

Ok, this will be quick. Why he lives so long? His Shadow 'frame keeps him alive or he's a rly long living bastard ( same as Corpus guys who are becoming adults around their 105th birthday). Why he keeps hunting us for killing Infested, Grineer or Corpus. 

Hello! He was Orokin's low Guardian, kinda into this whole gold&cold thingy and worshiped Orokins. He may get angry whe we kill/destroy Orokin legecy (all 3 factions are based on Orokin legacy).

 

 

The Sentients

 

Orokins couldn't handle them 'coz Sentients copied every technology they threw at them. Looks like robo-AI's job huh? Then why Orokins developed techocyte virus to battle them? Dunno. Sentients are organic and synthetic hybrids controlled by "sentient" AI. That's my theory. 

 

 

Orokins

 

Just to clear some things 'coz I am all tired of all this writing.... they were humans, not robots nor hybrids nor anything. How do I know? Lotus looks like human. Mag P's entry says about soldier who could be wounded and amazed by Mag P, and feared. Ember's says about burnt chick. I guess only human beings are like that. In my opinion Orokins were just a race of super evolved humans from Earth that were greatly intelligent and boosted in technological knowledge. Dunno if it is, but isn't Stalker's entry tellin' us they could bleed?(bloody drums when Tenno were slashing them or sth like that) By bleeding I guess it was about blood, not oil. 

 

Cold as they were hegemonic tyrants in Origin System, who after all got all their uber-crazy technologies.
Gold 'coz they were hegemonic ofc. From history we know most of hegemonic monarchs liked gold stuff like spoons, knives etc. Well, Orokins prefered Boltor Prime for example to be gold and thank them for their liking. Boltor Prime looks amazing!

 

 

These are only my opinions and theories. Sorry for this sarcastic way of writing this in the end by I am not used to writing long theories about every single mystery in Warframe. Hope you liked it guys, thanks for reading. :) 

[Zuijin]

Darkshades2012,
interesting reading, the only thing I would like to discuss further is the quotes from J3 golem (Lephantis and Phorid use similar taunts).
The phrase "We're your flesh" could be red in a metaphorical manner: "we're your flesh" as in we're the product of your masters, made from the Orokin, like the Tennos, to fight the Sentients....
"We're your flesh" as in we are the same (kind of weapons).
Without a doubt exists a connection between Tennos and Technocite virus, but I wouldn't jump to the conclusion Tennos are infected yet: otherwise the Tennos would be immune to the virus, able to survive the Void and test tube humans.... all together. Talk about the chosen ones and blessed with suck!
In short, I think it would too much, even for demigod warriors.
But it's quite interesting to notice that in Dark Sectors the Technocite virus was able to create metallic plates from the flesh of the infected... maybe in WF some sort of bio product of the virus is used to link the tennos to their warframes (plastids for instance, which are needed for many systems frames, but not all of them).
Your idea of the Tennos being shapeless, or unable to achieve a proper shape without a suit is quite interesting... and could link to the theory of them being hybrid of Sentients and Humans too. Or maybe, Tennos simply are so twisted by the Void, even some of their body crumbled away and the warframe could be half power suits, half prosthetics.

Other than that, I think we could keep speculating about the nature of the Lotus (her shape could be the digital projection of the AI) and if or not transhumans can bleed... but I think I would go for topic derailment :S

Edited June 28, 2014 by Zuijin