Who Are You, Tenno?

[DeltaPangaea]

There are different views on what the Tenno are. Some say they're energy beings who pilot warframes. Some prefer pretty humanoids. Some go with humanoid, but only in shape, otherwise twisted, horrific terrors from space beyond our own!

 

Regardless of this though, they're still people. They're conscious, free-thinking individuals (Probably).

 

We don't however, get told who they are, in-game or out. So we think up our own.

 

So who IS Excalibur? Who IS Volt? Who IS Nova, or Valkyr, or Mesa?

 

Who do you like to think they are, for whatever reason?

 

For example, I like to think of Vauban as a brilliant engineer and machinist, but not actually a Tenno. He just built his own suit which matches a Warframe in most respects. Alloy Armor is no worry. Warframes use bog-standard shields, not even Protoshields. All his abilities are delivered though thrown devices as opposed to originating from the suit itself. This accounts for his much more mechanical/cloth appearance as opposed to most Warframes' semi-biological one.

 

So he's a little like Batman. He doesn't have superpowers, but he's good enough, and has enough gadgets to make do. The Tenno appreciate his technological skill, and would much prefer him to be working with them as opposed to against.

 

So who are you, Tenno?

[(XBOX)YoungSykotic182]

Maybe Rhino was some Jock back in school for the Tennoball team before he entered the service.

[SoulDust]

From left to right : Ash, Rhino, Volt, Mag, Trinity, Banshee

[4G3NT_0R4NG3]

As confirmed by the Limbo Theorem and Hidden Messages quest line, you play as one Tenno that switches between the warframes in your arsenal.

 

As confirmed by what we see in the cryopods in defense missions, Tenno are humanoid, and not energy beings or disembodied consciousnesses.

 

As confirmed by putting two and two together, Tenno are capable of changing gender at will. This doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility, since some animals, and even some vertebrates here on earth are capable of doing the same.

 

There are obviously far more Tenno in the field than there are warframes (22 compared to however many people play Warframe) and saying "this frame has this personality" implies that all Tenno who primarily use that warframe all have the exact same personality.

 

Tenno are like humans; what you wear is a reflection of who you are, not the other way around.

 

My personal Warframe OC is a Zephyr that identifies as being more male than female, but is physically female most of the time so he can use his favorite warframe.

 

Don't ask who the warframes are. Ask the Tenno who wear them who they are.

Edited February 28, 2015 by 4G3NT_0R4NG3

[SoulDust]

nothing is confirmed, nothing is obvious, we know nothing...except that mag is a babe. That's all we know.

[4G3NT_0R4NG3]

nothing is confirmed, nothing is obvious, we know nothing...except that mag is a babe. That's all we know.

 

As confirmed by the Limbo Theorem and Hidden Messages quest line, you play as one Tenno that switches between the warframes in your arsenal.

 

As confirmed by what we see in the cryopods in defense missions, Tenno are humanoid, and not energy beings or disembodied consciousnesses.

 

As confirmed by putting two and two together, Tenno are capable of changing gender at will.

[(XBOX)YoungSykotic182]

From left to right : Ash, Rhino, Volt, Mag, Trinity, Banshee

 

 

This is gold. Lol I love it.

 

 

[DogManDan]

Well we can trace back to Hayden Tenno and even a bit earlier in that with some lost style inspiration from Dark Sector the game. Hayden is/was a human in the beginning which I would say is the same for most of the others as well. 

 

Got a playthrough going on if you are interested. Chapter 7 will be going up soon which really starts to tell us more behind the mask!

[DeltaPangaea]

I'm well aware that some things presented in game don't necessarily lend to this sort of thought experiment, but if it helps you think about it in the right mindset, recall that there's also references to 'the original Valkyr' and 'the original Mirage', and both of those instances re referring to very specific individuals. So it stands to reason that there could be an 'original' of each frame. So who was the 'original' then?

 

Do you think Hayden would count as the 'original' Excalibur?

[DogManDan]

I'm well aware that some things presented in game don't necessarily lend to this sort of thought experiment, but if it helps you think about it in the right mindset, recall that there's also references to 'the original Valkyr' and 'the original Mirage', and both of those instances re referring to very specific individuals. So it stands to reason that there could be an 'original' of each frame. So who was the 'original' then?

 

Do you think Hayden would count as the 'original' Excalibur?

I would say hayden counts as the original Excalibur, but he is not the very first Nemesis is before him even

[Akavakaku]

I think the idea of Tenno shapeshifting to fit properly in differently proportioned warframes is a bit far-fetched. I find it more likely that they can transfer their minds into whichever warframe they want, but must have some kind of body in order to survive when no warframe is available.