Do Warframes Age? + Hypothetical Chroma Lore

[Brycko]

It's kind of a weird question, given that we still know so little about the inner workings of the Warframes themselves. Based on Chroma, with his wrinkled, almost grandpa-like appearance, and his codex, which verifies that he is "an ancient warrior", I concluded that Warframes do in fact age in some way or another.

 

Disclaimer: Most of my assumptions are based on codex entries and Warframe appearance conflicting with each other. 

 

Chronologically, though, it doesn't add up (don't worry, it does in a paragraph or two). It's common knowledge that "Excalibur was the First", but Chroma, "An Ancient Warrior", makes it shady of which Warframe is actually older, and it would be weird if, out of all the Warframes, Excalibur was the oldest. 

 

So lets run with the theory that Warframes do, in fact, age. But why?

 

There are two things things that are generally agreeable on the subject of the Warframes: The First is that Warframes do contain some form of life (they bleed, they need oxygen to survive, they die i.e: Mirage and Limbo) and that Warframes are somehow, one way or another related to the Technocyte virus (infestation saying "We are your flesh", etc...).

 

Running with the theory that a Warframes are partially built from Technocyte, Chroma's aging would make sense. The Infested do age, as evident per the Ancients (Healers and Disruptors), which ultimately means Technocyte ages, and since Warframes are made out of "refined" Technocyte, they age, similar to Chroma. 

 

Most Warframes are younger because they went into stasis after the fall of the Orokin empire, with the exception being Chroma. Under this theory, Chroma could still be younger than Excalibur, as Excalibur was in stasis and did not age, whilst Chroma stayed awake and helped the Lotus.

 

Why did Chroma stay awake after the fall of the Orokin Empire? Probably because the Lotus needed one Tenno to awaken the other Tenno when the time came. Although the in-game tutorial shows that the Warframe cryopods can be opened in the event that a void gate is opened, it is also shown in multiple game trailers that other Warframes were required to protect awakening Warframes; This was probably Chromas job. Who knows, maybe there were Warframe before Chroma that died of old age waiting for the Tenno to awake, and that Chroma was simply the next guardian in line before the Warframe era. This works soundly with the theory that Excalibur was indeed the first, but that Chroma is biologically older. 

 

But then, who's the youngest Warframe?

 

Sidenote: I'm still not fully convinced that the Tenno (Operators) actually each have their own Warframe specific powers, like stated in Embers codex. That aside, the Tenno (Operators) definitely add an extra complex to Chroma's lore. Who was controlling Chroma for all that time? 

[fakeBOSHI]

To age the warframes need to be alive (as distinguished from decay of nonlife). It's a hotly debated topic whether warframes are even alive or have any cells.

I believe they are alive. The cryopod that Excalibur falls out of seems to imply that there are some critical "alive" components that need to be flash frozen to preserve.

[xRufus7x]

You are all over the place for your lore.

 

1. If the warframes do age it likely wouldn't impact their appearance as we build a brand new Chroma once we complete his quest and it does not impact his appearance.

 

2. We don't have an established chronology for the Warframes. We just know that Excal was apparently the first fully functional frame put into use. The operators are all ancient though so the ancient in Chroma's lore is pretty subjective.

 

3. You need to play the Second Dream quest.

[Genitive]

Warframes might be partially organic and they need cryogenic preservation, so I would say they might age, although there is no evidence for it.

 

When it comes to Chroma, it is the pelt that is wrinkled, rather than Chroma himself.

 

Also, Chroma was not controlled by the Tenno. If it had been, the Lotus wouldn't have been surprised to see one. Lotus is capable of waking the Tenno up, as well as taking control of warframes for a short period of time.

 

Chroma is considered ancient because it was thought to be lost and had not been seen until The New Strange, not because is older than Excalibur.

Excalibur is still the first warframe made by the Orokin.

[(PSN)Axel_Klauser]

woaahh, never even thought about this.. gREAT. now im gonna stay awake at night thinking about this fFFF

[(XBOX)MK Ultra K11]

To age the warframes need to be alive (as distinguished from decay of nonlife). It's a hotly debated topic whether warframes are even alive or have any cells.

I believe they are alive. The cryopod that Excalibur falls out of seems to imply that there are some critical "alive" components that need to be flash frozen to preserve.

For blood you need blood CELLS, so they do have cells.

[fakeBOSHI]

For blood you need blood CELLS, so they do have cells.

It hasn't been confirmed that it is in fact blood. There are other forms of circulatory systems that do no require cells to distribute nutrients.

[NinthAria]

It hasn't been confirmed that it is in fact blood. There are other forms of circulatory systems that do no require cells to distribute nutrients.

 

If it looks like blood, and acts like blood, and comes out when blood's supposed to come out...

 

Also, Chroma's appearance is rough and wrinkly because he's wearing a pelt. If you cast Effigy, the "true" Chroma has a very similar design aesthetic to other warframes.

[Kasseopea]

For every Warframe lore "fact" there is a "fact" contradicting it. And i am not even talking about the ludonarrative dissonance of Valkyr having the same skillset, even if she is pre-corpus.

 

Gave it up long ago to find any kind of sense in here.

[Wurdyburd]

Warframes do have biological components, such as Neural Sensors and Nano Spores [the latter of which is actually infested material], and we know that they suffer the effects of being in deep space without an air supply. They can also be bled and poisoned [though corpus tech can as well so that means very little]. They are also found in cryopods, suggesting that they require some form of stasis.

As far as actually aging, I heavily doubt it. Not going to dip into Second Dream stuff so much, but frames appear to have more mechanical components than organic.

 

As to the youngest frame, I'd immediately say Nova, since she was supposed to be a modern frame designed and created by the Tenno themselves using up-to-date technology [which relates to it's origin as a community-approved frame], but DE blew that out of the water when they made a Prime of it.

[(XBOX)MK Ultra K11]

It hasn't been confirmed that it is in fact blood. There are other forms of circulatory systems that do no require cells to distribute nutrients.

Thats not very probable. It 99% probably blood. Looks like blood:check, Acts like blood:check,

Warframes have flesh that this blood comes out of:Check(see second dream quest for details). Dude.....it's blood. Saying its not blood is like saying that when you open a can of pepsi that the liqiud inside is not really pepsi but its a different liquid that is identical to pepsi in every way but its still a different liquid.

[(XBOX)MK Ultra K11]

Warframes do have biological components, such as Neural Sensors and Nano Spores [the latter of which is actually infested material], and we know that they suffer the effects of being in deep space without an air supply. They can also be bled and poisoned [though corpus tech can as well so that means very little]. They are also found in cryopods, suggesting that they require some form of stasis.

As far as actually aging, I heavily doubt it. Not going to dip into Second Dream stuff so much, but frames appear to have more mechanical components than organic.

 

As to the youngest frame, I'd immediately say Nova, since she was supposed to be a modern frame designed and created by the Tenno themselves using up-to-date technology [which relates to it's origin as a community-approved frame], but DE blew that out of the water when they made a Prime of it.

Tenno were once able to make primes....boar prime for example BUT Why would we find Nova PRIME in the void?

[(PSN)CL_Poloboyzz93]

So, in a world where AI is so abundant (Ordis, all the cephalons) we can't just come to a conclusion that warframes are some sort of AI? I mean, not exactly like ORDIS, way more advanced and can function in physical form. Or maybe they're just well surrogates, for the tenno, nothing more than that.

[(XBOX)MK Ultra K11]

So, in a world where AI is so abundant (Ordis, all the cephalons) we can't just come to a conclusion that warframes are some sort of AI? I mean, not exactly like ORDIS, way more advanced and can function in physical form. Or maybe they're just well surrogates, for the tenno, nothing more than that.

I think they are exactly like hayden tenno but charged with void energy by the operator and controlled.

[Lakais]

Do frames themselves age? Not likely, but if they do then veeeeery slowly. I mean, you need to understand what aging actually is. Aging happens because of errors in our cell reproduction over time. Our bodies replace damn near every cell in a period of time ( can't remember exactly what it was). And that constant regeneration ends up creating errors and failures. Alone they mean damn near nothing, but they pile up. Basically aging is us falling apart due to wear-and-tear, and just very slowly. 

 

Why I think frames themselves don't age is because of how resilient they are. They can bounce back from some pretty nasty injuries with barely a skip in their steps. With such impossible regenerative capabilities/technologies coupled with whatever the hell else makes them different from baseline human might very well mean that frames are technically ageless. 

And besides, given their purpose I doubt a frame would ever be "retired" due to age. They'd be vaporized on the line of duty far before that ever comes a problem. 

 

I think frames are basically cloned human flesh, HEAVILY modified via cybernetics, controlled Void exposure, genetic manipulation and flesh-crafting (maybe with a purpose modified Infestation strain). Crafted to not only resemble the appearance of the Tenno that the frame is based on, but also "printed" with some kind of ancestral memory of that first Tenno that gives these frames the specific skills and personalities they have. 

Why the frames were ever in stasis pods is because the frames have, at the very least, the capability of self-aware action. That they are not just mindless puppets, but that they are capable of moving and acting on their own. And even without a Tenno controlling them, they are still purpose built weapon platforms designed for genocide. You wouldn't leave something like this just sitting around somewhere. 

I believe that's what the Stalker, and possibly the Acolytes are. Frames who were abandoned for so long that they learned to act and function on their own, learning to hate the Operators along the way for abandoning them. If that is the case, then Stalker would be centuries, if not millennia old. 

 

Now the interesting question is: Can the Operators age? 

The quick and easy is "no" since everyone is apparently a Zariman kid. But I'd argue against that logic because of how many of us there are. The Orokin likely "made" more for reasons. But to answer in more depth: why OUR Operator is a kid is because of the pod he/she was in for the entire Great War, not to mention the time before spent in a freezer. 

Why I think Operators CAN age is because of the seat on the ship, it looks big enough to fit a larger, older person. 

[Gelkor]

Chroma's pelt is just a melted Sentient.