Mono-Tenno Theory Confirmed.

[SilentMobius]

That's just it, in order to maintain continuity of "my tenno's" personality I have to effectively stop using a good number of things in the game. Basically if I have warframes set up to be different "characters", like "white knight Excalibur" or "malicious punk Mirage" it then becomes incongruous with both of them being the same tenno due to both being on my account.

 

Basically my main issue with the mono-tenno thing is that it kills character creation/immersion. Especially considering the strongly themed frames we've gotten recently. While I *could* maintain a continuous personality/archetype for my tenno across all frames it gets hard to justify pirate Hydroid or gentleman/magician Limbo both being humble warrior-monks, and it also seems a bit of a waste when each could be a unique character.

 

Now I get the idea that DE is trying to be all meta about it saying, "Tenno is YOU" but that just doesn't cut it honestly, because that just means that they're making "tenno" into an unneeded layer between the player and immersion. In other words if "Tenno is me" then I effectively have a "tenno character" in the game, who then plays as a "warframe character" in another layer of the game. The warframes are the characters you can customize, the tenno is just this unseen thing for NPC's to address, it's unnecessary and raises questions about the nature of this creature that is our unseen avatar.

 

I'm not sure if that explanation is the easiest to follow but I can't think of a better way to describe why mono-tenno ruins immersion for me. 

 

Poly Tenno ruins it for me.

 

If you have a multi-character game then make it properly multi-character. MMO's have done this for years. Separate characters means separate story, equipment, progress track. A complete character with their own history, actions, equipment, likes and dislikes. DE didn't do that, they made a single-character game, all the way through. With identical acquisition tracks for guns, melee and armour. Warframes are the armour part... Super cool anachronistically-styled part-organic armour with void-imprinted personality quirks made by super-gold-people, but armour non-the-less, just one of the types of gear.

 

Warframe has one progress track, one set of equipment, one POV for the whole game, the Tenno, your Tenno. Without that it's just 3rd person LoL or DotA no notable story or progress that isn't just numbers, pointless and meaningless battle arena. Having 20+ "characters" that can't make a meaningful decision in the world or do anything by themselves relying on thousands of invisible actions done by hidden ghosts.... _that_ ruins immersion for me.

 

I just don't see the problem with the suits pulling a _tiny_ bit of personality with them. I just don't see the Warframes as being "a character" short of an animation set. they have a style, sure, but that isn't a person, it's at most a stereotype, a hollow shell that player provided personality fills (Which is a good analogue for the physical suit-ness of the Warframe), it's just an affectation, brought on by advanced tech. Nothing that stops a player from having a defined satisfying character with an actual relationship to the game world.

 

The annoying thing is that if the Warframes were giant robot suits, no-one would be batting an eyelid. but because they are human-scale and have identifiable sex characteristics everyone suddenly loses their minds.

Edited October 30, 2014 by SilentMobius

[ndantony]

...mono-tenno theory and transhuman.

There goes out of the window my fantasy of Valkyr and Nyx... LOL

[RahuHordika]

...mono-tenno theory and transhuman.

There goes out of the window my fantasy of Valkyr and Nyx... LOL

Eh, do not worry mate, nothing has been actually confirmed. It's just the typical case of people making everything out of nothing.

DE knows this is a delicate topic and if they were to deliver us an answer I highly doubt this would be the way to do so.

[Riot_Inducer]

Poly Tenno ruins it for me.

 

If you have a multi-character game then make it properly multi-character. MMO's have done this for years. Separate characters means separate story, equipment, progress track. A complete character with their own history, actions, equipment, likes and dislikes. DE didn't do that, they made a single-character game, all the way through. With identical acquisition tracks for guns, melee and armour. Warframes are the armour part... Super cool anachronistically-styled part-organic armour with void-imprinted personality quirks made by super-gold-people, but armour non-the-less, just one of the types of gear.

 

Warframe has one progress track, one set of equipment, one POV for the whole game, the Tenno, your Tenno. Without that it's just 3rd person LoL or DotA no notable story or progress that isn't just numbers, pointless and meaningless battle arena. Having 20+ "characters" that can't make a meaningful decision in the world or do anything by themselves relying on thousands of invisible actions done by hidden ghosts.... _that_ ruins immersion for me.

 

I just don't see the problem with the suits pulling a _tiny_ bit of personality with them. I just don't see the Warframes as being "a character" short of an animation set. they have a style, sure, but that isn't a person, it's at most a stereotype, a hollow shell that player provided personality fills (Which is a good analogue for the physical suit-ness of the Warframe), it's just an affectation, brought on by advanced tech. Nothing that stops a player from having a defined satisfying character with an actual relationship to the game world.

 

The annoying thing is that if the Warframes were giant robot suits, no-one would be batting an eyelid. but because they are human-scale and have identifiable sex characteristics everyone suddenly loses their minds.

Indeed it seems the original intent was always for Warframe to follow one PoV, but the nature of the tenno got muddled when they decided against gender as a customization feature, something that had they not removed I know a lot of people would be less uncomfortable with mono tenno theory. Personally though it's the personality imprint part that bothers me.

 

I know you feel warframes are just armor and animation sets but honestly that's the biggest way we are able to interact and express individuality in the game world, tenno don't speak and warframes offer no emotable facial features, that leaves what color they paint their gear and how they move (the animation sets) to define themselves.  

 

Tenno are defined by the warframe and for that warframe to impose personality traits on the tenno...well after you've switched warframes a few times who's to say what part of their personality, their identity, is the tenno or the warframe? While I do find that dilemma somewhat fascinating in it's own way it's not one that can be answered until DE tells us more about the tenno.

 

In the end I don't begrudge DE for whatever choice they have in mind for the Tenno. I just want to understand it, clearly, so I can comfortably immerse myself in this universe they've created. If I don't understand the creature I'm playing as how can I become immersed? 

[Morec0]

Though I was avidly poly-Tenno before this update, I have come to see mono-Tenno as the FAR superior option

 

Because it allows for BOTH of those interpretations of Tenno characters to exist simultaneously.

 

For the sake of in-game story and whatnot, you ARE just one character, and that's cool, but when looking at making your own stories - for either completely personal reasons or to share with other people - you now have the freedom to either say "this character switches between frames as he wants" AND "this character COULD switch between frames, but he just feels most comfortable and at his strongest in the Ash-frame".

 

===

 

I'm also seeing a lot of "noooo, this is wrong, DE clarify" comments (or at least did earlier when I had time only to glance over them) and to them I have to say this:

 

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Even if you dunk it's head into the bottom of the river.

[Gwaiyn]

i always assumed that ordis was talking about a single tenno similar to the player who happened to be using the Limbo warframe rather than an "original" Limbo, that's why he says that he hopes you will be more careful when you specifically use the frame

 

i also assumed this quest was meant to be done by newer players long after limbo was released

[RoboDoge]

This is one of the issues that is dividing community opinions.

[(PSN)ShuhanX]

Only being one Tenno doesn't necessarily mean you have to abandon the unique personalities that you have attached to each Warframe. I've always based the personalities of each Warframe I use on my perception of what the original wearers' personalities were. I see each Warframe as both a physical and mental representation of the first Tenno to ever don each Warframe. That a portion of each original's consciousness resides in their respective Warframe, and when donning these replicas, we essentially become that legendary warrior him/herself to an extent. The way I see it, our Tenno is a single blank canvas, with 20+ different ways to paint it.

The fact that we have little to no information about the personalities of each original wearer in this case actually works to our benefit. Well, at least to my version of Mono Tenno theory. It allows me to still give each Warframe their own unique personality and playstyle, while still following Mono-Tenno logic.

I kind of like the idea of our Tenno being a silent, unseen hero that acts as the avatar of the primordial warriors of legend from a time long past. Not the first time this concept has been done in science fiction, and for this game, it's a concept I find enjoyable. I think this allows us to maintain the spirit of both Mono and Poly Tenno theory, in the sense that we only use one Tenno, but can still adopt a unique personality for each and every Warframe we use. Lore-wise, things can essentially be an amalgam of both concepts.

Edited October 30, 2014 by (PS4)ShuhanX

[(PSN)Shadow_Of_Hunhow]

The biggest flaw in the poly-tenno theory, is how does the person come to be when you build the frame? Is there an entire planet of tenno of every shape size and build imaginable, including some that are near impossible proportions like Nekros, Oberon, and Nova, just waiting for your frame to be done so they can be put into it? This is highly improbable, especially since they're would need to be limitless copies of the limitless possibilities too, to account for the other thousands upon thousands of other players.

Steve said we WERE human, not that we still are. Besides, being human can be heavily debatable, as you get into what exactly makes a human, human and so on.

The mono-tenno theory is the only one that truly makes sense in my eyes, a tenno to each frame seems to unlikely with everything already in the game.

[arch111]

Wow. This topic more or less *is* warframe lore. And it needs to be laid to rest.

I do not subscribe to the "Let everyone dream up their own headcannon", because it just leads to this thread, again and again.

Easy way: Operator is the player. The characters are just game avatars. We know it, but that is boring and common place imo.

Single Tenno: The tenno wears a *custom made* warframe. The ship takes the tenno and then builds the tech around "the twisted one".

So in actuality, all players are of a different size and build, even gender.

This route is not that hard to do.

Poly Tenno: Tricky. The codex, indeed everything about warframes describe them as living individuals.

I still feel Loki is very different from Rhino for example.

So how to solve this?

1) Tenno = warframe. I know I know. Corpses, Ordis comment bla bla. But it would be far easier if the warframes were built AND a Tenno, say Nekros, was awakened/resqued by Lotus in the process.

We have resqued enough to fill the Hub anyway.

This come with a bonus if as you change Tenno, you get to decorate the Liset and coming Hub-home? in the theme of the warframe.

Frost would obviously live in sub-zero and decorate with snowmen and such, Oberon would live in warm temperatures with plants and a nice mist.

I think Ordis comment is directed as US, the players. Steve have said Tenno is the Player. He just cant escape our need of immersion.

Meta is so over.

[MihawkDulacr1]

(I btw. love such genuine discussions, this is why i lunger around the forum sometimes...rather more of such thread then ,,(insert frame) is useless'' threads)

 

As a personal story writer, i cant much see the dedication in the poly-tenno theory. (Maybe i see it wrong) but it gives you even less proof of what you are and more generalizes you into ,,you are Ember Nr. X, go save your brothers.'' (this is a little bit excagorated)

In my opinion I see it more like player wanting to be that one type of personality that the one had before, and totally forgetting to make their own story with it. But this is also just a debate that lies in the eyes and opinion of each us and what works better with us.

 

If the iron man theory doesnt work, then i will give it another way with the ,,Majoras Mask-Principe.'' Same thing here as there, Link is up to fight the bad guys and inherits the souls and powers of certain personalities from the different races(Zora , Goron, etc.) on his way which then become or transform into a mask from which out he can use their power and personality. Now i see that this wont work on warframe , as i cant see the tenno putting a mask on and then ,,hurp derp'' he is limbo(or else).

But it would theoretically work very well and contribute to both the immersion , that you would still have your AND the warframes personality which do not interact with each other, and mono-tenno followers can have the badass armory.

 

I, as i said personally like the theory of me being the tenno that learns about his ancient brothers and sister, learning what they have done and for what arguments and which fights they fought while barely finding pieces of my memory back.

But sadly as many already said..there is just too less evidence to properly convince one or the other..i hope we'll solve it so we have something more to discuss in this matter :3

[Erusa]

nobody here is thinking outside the "box" so...

Warframes are actually virtual bodies controlled in a virtual space by the Tenno via a simplified control scheme of another world...Rumors indicate that this scheme uses two devices, one for movement, the other for turning, to achieve results.

 

Furthermore, these devices are supposedly interchangeable with other devices from the same tech tree. Apparently these devices have existed long before the Void was discovered, and even long before The Ancients were able to move away from a single planet.

 

The Tenno, masters of the old ways, are beings that seem to be even more otherwordly than the Void itself. It is said that they are those who wield these strange devices in a myriad of ways that the Corpus can only dream of.

They are not always available, no, most of them do not even know Warframes exist, or that somewhere out there, wars are being fought in the name of power, resources, and balance. Even so, when a few of them find out about this virtual space, they jump into it. Some of them doing it to relenquish themselves of some sickness called "stress", some of them doing it to feel the power of entitlement that comes with controlling these powerful bodies called "Warframe"...Others?...They just enjoy collecting Nano Spores.

 

Of what little information there is left of these...Tenno...There is only one thing that is of certain...They are creatures of another world peering into to this world through a screen, controlling it's politics from this screen, aided by devices that cannot even be imagined in this world....

 

ε=ε=ε=ε=┏(;￣▽￣)┛

[RoboDoge]

nobody here is thinking outside the "box" so...

Warframes are actually virtual bodies controlled in a virtual space by the Tenno via a simplified control scheme of another world...Rumors indicate that this scheme uses two devices, one for movement, the other for turning, to achieve results.

 

Furthermore, these devices are supposedly interchangeable with other devices from the same tech tree. Apparently these devices have existed long before the Void was discovered, and even long before The Ancients were able to move away from a single planet.

 

The Tenno, masters of the old ways, are beings that seem to be even more otherwordly than the Void itself. It is said that they are those who wield these strange devices in a myriad of ways that the Corpus can only dream of.

They are not always available, no, most of them do not even know Warframes exist, or that somewhere out there, wars are being fought in the name of power, resources, and balance. Even so, when a few of them find out about this virtual space, they jump into it. Some of them doing it to relenquish themselves of some sickness called "stress", some of them doing it to feel the power of entitlement that comes with controlling these powerful bodies called "Warframe"...Others?...They just enjoy collecting Nano Spores.

 

Of what little information there is left of these...Tenno...There is only one thing that is of certain...They are creatures of another world peering into to this world through a screen, controlling it's politics from this screen, aided by devices that cannot even be imagined in this world....

 

ε=ε=ε=ε=┏(;￣▽￣)┛

Huh?

 

 

This kind of creativity needed some serious "boosting" by suspicious substances.

[Erusa]

Huh?

 

 

This kind of creativity needed some serious "boosting" by suspicious substances.

Let's call it... "work-related stress".

[cs310]

Ooh. 

 

Well, there goes that debate. A shame, there were some fun threads about it. 

 

So, the next question: what is a tenno, then? A ghost? Are tenno gender-neutral/gender-fluid? A brain in a suit? 

 

 

My own Theory then:

 

The Tenno clan was founded by Hayden Tenno.

Remaining Tenno are his ancestors and they all bear leftover bits of his DNA, which allows the tenno to channel his energy into Warframe, triggering the powers they were created to have.

[arch111]

Its all a dream, Neo.

[Tesseract_The_Pariah]

Its all a dream, Neo.

Life the amnesia of a waking dream. 

[Sixty5]

Thinking about it more, mono-Tenno has been the direction all along.

Bosses refer to you by name and the frame as an item.

Kubrows treat all your frames the same.

Ordis calls you operator (singular)

And syndicate score is universal across all frames.

[arch111]

Agreed.

If we logged off and re logged as a new frame, then it would make perfect sense. But then each frame/tenno would have their own xp-gain and separate story-arches.

That would be a fun game, but a different game.

[ElHefe]

@ arch111 ... What if there is some type of "shared" consciousness?

 

The original "Void Imprint" that resides in the warframe itself and the player

The "Void Imprint" gives you use of their powers

The player shifts their consciousness - not their physical body - from frame to frame

This presumes that there is something inside the "armor"

 

If the armor is a living biomechanical device and there is residual (technocyte infected?!) flesh inside the frame that retains the Void Imprint, then by joining the player becomes the self-aware part of the symbiotic organism

Edited October 31, 2014 by ElHefe

[Etsoree]

You can inhabit any Warframe.  You inherit powers from the Warframe you wear, which is shaped after the original wearer.  Think Eldar Phoenix Lords.

 

I posted a topic about this months ago.

[Aimop95]

I advocate mono-tenno because there are HUGE hints toward it. one of them being this quote at the start of this thread. 

We can scream "it's gameplay mechanics" and what not, but in all honesty, it would be extremely easy for DE to make a game that supports poly-tenno theory without having it's proponents resort to "gameplay mechanics" argument every single time. Because otherwise, it then that implies that DE doesn't know how to make games, and I'm pretty sure they do.

 

My personal theory is that the player is some sort of biomechanical being, once a human, now twisted by the void. And whatever suit they take on, they also take on some of the personality of the original wearer, because the warframe and the tenno are closely linked to each other. That is my explanation for why our "ingame" tenno has "personality" changes from a gruff rhino to a seductive ember. We've been so twisted by the void and amnesia that we've lost almost all self identity, thus accepting remaining strains of personality that linger in the blueprints of the warframe we pick (also a large amount of warframe personality I see in the forums is based on fanfiction and assumptions of stereotypes (Rhino's a tank, so he must be the stoic orc). 

 

My head cannon also accounts for the reason that we start out with weak powers in a new warframe. We're getting used to a new weapon, exploring what it is capable of (the new ability system further solidifies my point because as we level up, we discover the abilities of our frame).

[VampirePirate]

<snip>

I advocate mono-tenno because there are HUGE hints toward it. one of them being this quote at the start of this thread. 

We can scream "it's gameplay mechanics" and what not, but in all honesty, it would be extremely easy for DE to make a game that supports poly-tenno theory without having it's proponents resort to "gameplay mechanics" argument every single time. Because otherwise, it then that implies that DE doesn't know how to make games, and I'm pretty sure they do.

 

me: They did make it a poly-tenno game and it has been like that for years.  When the liset cam into existence, people began to doubt.  At first, that was the only reason, but now...  well... anyhow, even if it was just about just about "game mechanics", that would not at all mean that DE does not know how to make game.  They just made one, called Warframe, and that is just one of many.  I don't think there should be any doubt in anyone's mind that DE knows how to make games.  Why undermine the devs for making a game you enjoy playing?  Implied or not.

 

My personal theory is that the player is some sort of biomechanical being, once a human, now twisted by the void. And whatever suit they take on, they also take on some of the personality of the original wearer, because the warframe and the tenno are closely linked to each other. That is my explanation for why our "ingame" tenno has "personality" changes from a gruff rhino to a seductive ember. We've been so twisted by the void and amnesia that we've lost almost all self identity, thus accepting remaining strains of personality that linger in the blueprints of the warframe we pick (also a large amount of warframe personality I see in the forums is based on fanfiction and assumptions of stereotypes (Rhino's a tank, so he must be the stoic orc). 

 

me: That is actually an interesting idea and explains things better than the many ideas I have seen posted.  However...  everyday that I look in the mirror, I do not see a "biomechanical" being.  I see me.  Until DE actually makes a way for you to see yourself within the game, so you can say, "yeah, I'm a biomechanical creature with human form that likes to switch between male and female warframes", I rather wait to see what they come up with.  You do make some good points though.

 

My head cannon also accounts for the reason that we start out with weak powers in a new warframe. We're getting used to a new weapon, exploring what it is capable of (the new ability system further solidifies my point because as we level up, we discover the abilities of our frame).

 

me: The ability system was not always like this.  I don't think that validates anything until we get solid evidence or facts straight from the devs or the game.  It could be that all these recent game changes are in preparation for this new lore that tell us we are shape-changing energy beings or biomechanical zombies with no sense of gender or self-identification, but... I guess we won't know until DE makes it known.

[Aimop95]

-snap-

1.) I wasn't there for closed beta or early open beta (was there when we were all kneeling though), so maybe there still was a lot of ambiguity about poly and mono. Also, we didn't have really that much lore related stuff going on back then, it was just warframe after warframe being pumped out. Now that ambiguity is being cleared up. DE themselves said on one of the latest dev streams that they would be focusing on lore more now.

 

2.) I could argue that the "ingame" you still sees yourself as human, but in reality, you're actually your kubrow with identity issues. A "denial" of sorts. But yes, I too wait to see what DE says, since that's really the only thing one can do.

 

3.) "The ability system was not always like this". Yes, that's why I said the new system further supports the idea of each new warframe we find as a weapon, not a new "person". But there's still enough vagueness to argue over it, so yeah, nothing can really be confirmed.

[arch111]

The movies are all obvious unique characters to me.

The story is a one tenno/one cell Journey.

The multiplayer aspect of it should not matter, but it does since we are faceless and without a voice.

Now since the animations are shared between all frames, they lost their only individuality as well.

If Ordis was to welcome us by our warframe when we swap, it would confirm we become several Tenno.

Now, I take it Tenno are quite small and biomechanical. Anakin Skywalker lost arms and legs and became Darth Vader. Maby Tenno are similar.