Tenno Factions, aka Space Mom vs Space Dad

[Riflebird]

   VS   

 

Concept

As of right now, all Tenno are united under the banner of the Lotus. Our space mother has protected us from harm and leads us on the path to maintaining order in the Origin System. But what if someone came along to offer the Tenno a second path? A path to order not achieved through balancing Grineer and Corpus, but by conquering them? And what if the one who offers said path was Ballas himself?

Ballas

Ballas was the Orokin Executor who was the principal responsible for creating the Warframes, and he was also Margulis's lover. Using his dead love's research into Transference as a basis, he created the Warframes in order to contain the Tenno's massive, uncontrollable powers, thus giving them a role as the Orokin's warrior servants in the war against the Sentients. By doing so he probably prevented the Tenno from being destroyed, as they now had a purpose in the eyes of the Orokin leaders. If Margulis (and by extention, Lotus) is called the mother of the Tenno, then it is quite fair to call Ballas the father. 

In this concept, Ballas survived the War with the sentients, the Tenno uprising, the collapse of Orokin civilization, and the rise of the Grineer. When the time was right, he revealed himself to his wayward children and gave them an offer to join him. He would plead his case that Lotus (a Sentient, the enemy, a false mother, impersonator of his beloved) has led them on the wrong path, a path of circular motion that leads to nowhere, a path full of blood and death and killing that has no end. He says by maintaining nothing more than a standstill to the conflict between Corpus and Grineer that the Tenno are only prolonging the suffering of the innocents they claim to protect. He offers another solution: To wipe out the Corpus and Grineer and take up the mantle of conquerors themselves. He argues that the Origin System can only achieve peace if a strong, central force takes control. That force will be the new Tenno Empire.

Two Tenno Factions: Lotus and Ballas

The Tenno (aka players) will then have a choice: Either to remain with the Lotus and fight for the balance, or to join Ballas and achieve peace through conquest. If Tenno join Ballas then they can join in on "darker" versions of the usual missions we get, each narrated by Ballas instead of the Lotus. Sabotage missions may have a different slant to them, as instead of destroying Grineer miners or Corpus facility reactors, we instead have to destroy Grineer birth ships or Corpus employee bunkers. And all the while Ballas will speak to the players as Lotus has, praising their abilities as she did though with a darker, more morbid air. 

 

  "Good work, Tenno. By snuffing these infant clones in their crib, you have prevented the next generation of Grineer murderers."

 

   "We have struck at the heart of the Corpus machine: their wallets.

With the death of their accountants, clerks, and salesmen, the Corpus ability to do business has been dealt a deadly blow."

 

Versus Missions

With Factions, players can also participate in a whole new slew of PVP or Competitive PVE missions. Examples can include competitive Excavations or Capture, where a team of Violet and Gold Tenno race to get as much resources as they can or to capture the target first, all the while fighting not only AI enemies but each other as well. Sabotage missions can also have a new flair to them as one team attempts to sabotage the ship or facility while the other team tries to prevent them from achieving it. Survival sees which Team can survive the longest against each other and Defense sees one team defending the target while the other team tries to destroy it. Archwing missions can be much more fast-paced, with teams of players competing against each other.

These Versus missions will be much different than Tenshin's Conclave. In Conclave, the matches are friendly and meant only to increase one's skill. In Versus missions, it is pure carnage, and to the victor go the spoils.

Conclusion

Player Factions will add a whole new dimension into the world of Warframe. Not only will it give players a sense of identity with a side in the conflict to choose, but it may also reinvigorate PVP by introducing a competitive, lore-based side to root for, a factor that is presently absent in Conclave missions. Ballas is also a very interesting character, and in my opinion one of the only characters in the Warframe universe capable of becoming a true rival to the Lotus. 

 

* Thanks go to undergroundwubwubmaster for the great art on Ballas.

[RedGoat989]

THIS IS BETTER THAN USING THE STALKER AS NEW TENNO FACTION I VOTE THIS MORE JOIN THE OROKIN JOIN THE OROKIN

 

but i still want the vay hek lotus voice pack but this ballas dude could use mr lotus or dismal voice it would be cool

[Burre.png]

I like the concept quite a bit.

Edited April 2, 2016 by Burre.png
Focused on wrong thing

[Jarl44k]

Awesome Idea, Since the Infested were also created by the Orokin as Pre-Tenno, maybe Ballas may have a method of using the infested to subjugate the infested. Since he is an Orokin survivor, he could give more bonuses in Void missions, but less against other factions due to having less influence on them, while it can be opposite for the Lotus, who has ammassed much knowledge and influence since her emergance.

[OverlordMcGeek]

Them boobecks pecoobs?

[Robin-da-Reaper]

While the overall concept displayed above sounds quite interesting and would be entertaining, I feel I can never really stand for the idea of Tenno killing Tenno, no matter if it is through warframes or not(I still believe there is a chance the Tenno can be killed with a low success-rate through killing the warframe, seeing the Lotus' continuing worries despite the Oro).

Lore-wise the number of Tenno would probably be nowhere near the number of actual players, as in the lore the Tenno likely number in the hundreds, or low thousands. In-game systems such as clan-sizes don´t strike me as reliable pieces for the lore, as they are mainly made to facilitate player-socialization.

[-BM-Mitz]

I like the concept but I'm worried about making this game I enjoy into a devoted competitive pvp mess and toxify the community. I don't want warframe to be another cod or something. It's not why I play it. 

[Xeo_Nespydonum]

Yes to more factions, mace wimdu with a flower hat is amazing; but I'd rather pvp was kept entirely out of the effective warframe universe and stayed in Conclave.  Darksector2.0 was a salt mine.

[Rehtael7]

This presents a LOT of lore problems. Sorry, but there's little to no intelligent reason to stop being under the Lotus. It's through the Lotus that the bulk of our intel, gear, credits, resources, etc. comes from. And I think the Dex weapons fairly firmly establish how strong the bond is between Tenno and Lotus.

[TheTruthHurts]

This is a great idea and well thought out. I also like the concept of Lotus vs Ballas. Like Ballas look. Maybe you can only enter missions with members of the same side and you can run into the opposing faction mid mission, turning it into a contest of power. Maybe even allow the factions to invade the opposing faction during missions and act as a player controlled stalker. Though which side would the REAL Stalker go on? Maybe a Neutral "Screw this I roll with the Stalker" kind of deal where you side with the stalker in an effort to covertly keep the sides in check. I don't know, but I love this idea very much and would love to see it in game. It would be epic

[Jarl44k]

DIfferent Faction, different Objectives, same mission map.

[(PSN)glider700]

In my opinion I would rather have this as an event that goes away in a couple of days not perminant. Because that's why I play warframe it's a PVP and PVE game. 

[(PSN)glider700]

 why would we side with someone who was involved with the creation of the sentients. Why would we side with someone who right away told margulas to kill us. Why!

Edited June 16, 2016 by (PS4)glider700

[Schregger]

My only question is, if the Tenno are the kids that the Orokin used and abused them like tools, why the hell would any of those kids want to fallow this guy?

[voltocitygel]

Interesting idea. I'm not opposed to more player factions, because well... It'd make things more fun, and add more lore. But making it into an all out war and hate fest is just toxic for the community. Maybe something where Tenno compete, or have different morals / objectives, but don't kill each other. Competitive PvE: yes. In mission PvP: no. That deserves its own game mode. Dark sectors were a good take on PvP with PvE elements, but that belongs in its own mode, not in the main PvE mode. It would be interesting, and fun, but would destroy the community, fracturing it into clans and alliances, rather than a Tenno whole. Syndicates are a much better option, overall. Side - affiliations, separate from the Tenno whole. (I would not be opposed to more syndicates either. We could use more.)

[(PSN)glider700]

On June 16, 2016 at 1:21 AM, Schregger said:

My only question is, if the Tenno are the kids that the Orokin used and abused them like tools, why the hell would any of those kids want to fallow this guy?

Exactly.

[-Mandachordian-Tenno-]

Don't you think Teshin would be his confidante and advisor/updater to the tenno's activities since he was hiding or whatever?

Ballas X Teshin when

[o.0-]

Hmm, what if Teshin is Ballas in disguise?

 

Teshin, comes to us Tenno, to ask for help in a new cinematic quest and slowly through the progression of several missions reveals details of the Lotus creating a divide and confusion among the Tenno ranks.

Then in a bid to win over the Tenno for good, ultimately decides to reveal his true identity (which could back fire in some way, such as the Stalker revealing that Ballas tried to have us killed in the past) and at the very least sets up a seventh syndicate that alters the balance of power in the system, if the duality between the Lotus and Ballas is too much.

[Azurian-Draguard]

I thought....Magulis was another name the Lotus obtained when we heard the two voices talking to each other in Second Dream , one sounding just like the Lotus while the other being Ballas.

 

Just like how Sentient Hunhow calls the Lotus ; Natah

[-Mandachordian-Tenno-]

basically, Natah assimilated Marghulis' stored memory banks and technically made Natah a digital copy remnant of Marghulis and her powers so Natah can wake the tenno/unlock things etc.

[(PSN)glider700]

4 hours ago, SPARTAN-187.Thanatos said:

Hmm, what if Teshin is Ballas in disguise?

 

Teshin, comes to us Tenno, to ask for help in a new cinematic quest and slowly through the progression of several missions reveals details of the Lotus creating a divide and confusion among the Tenno ranks.

Then in a bid to win over the Tenno for good, ultimately decides to reveal his true identity (which could back fire in some way, such as the Stalker revealing that Ballas tried to have us killed in the past) and at the very least sets up a seventh syndicate that alters the balance of power in the system, if the duality between the Lotus and Ballas is too much.

There is a flaw in your statement ballas is a lover, engineer not a fighter, he was involved in creating the sentients.

teshin is a combat guy who served under the orokin.

[o.0-]

5 minutes ago, (PS4)glider700 said:

There is a flaw in your statement ballas is a lover, engineer not a fighter, he was involved in creating the sentients.

teshin is a combat guy who served under the orokin.

Remember the dude was an Executor, and seems to have had involvement with the Sentients, and then later Warframes. When the Orokin were killed by the Tenno, he could have survived and thus had a very long time to himself, and he did lose the love of his life and was responsible for the Sentients. Such trauma can have a great influence on a person. Ballas could have continued working on ways to improve the Warframes, knowing that the Sentients would return at some point, so he has unfinished business.

The persona of Teshin, could have been his way of leaving his old self behind, as he pursued this new endeavor. Remember that Teshin seems to know too much about the threat the Sentients possess and wants to make sure the Tenno and their Warframes are able to meet the challenges that the Sentients present. As to the different voices, Teshin's voice could be masking Ballas' voice with some modulation, since there is some reverb in Teshin's voice and not in Ballas', and with practice and/or time one can gain or lose an accent!

The question would then be, do the devs have such a connection in mind, or do they want to keep these two as separate people?

[Teloch]

Can't be asked to read

IBN4 Space Dad!

Make the Terminus system great again!

[CapAllan]

[DE] Steve for VO?