Elder Queen canonically dead?

[(PSN)poonugget99]

I noticed while running the Kuva fortress defense mission that Lotus says "The queens are trying to create kuva through alchemy." and found it odd that she says "queens" since we gain access to the missions after we "kill" the elder queen, so my question is; is the elder queen actually dead? She still feels like a threat and is even presented as a current threat despite being defeated. 

If she's not dead, did her body survive or is she going to use the process of Continuity to survive?

p.s I love the elder queen and I think she's a really well made villain and I hope she isn't actually dead and I hope she returns

Edited January 31, 2017 by (PS4)poonugget99

[Xaero]

I guess none of the game bosses can be considered dead.

[Yami666]

Actually it is an "universal" line. Just classic lotus transmissions without tracking your choices during missions. Don´t pay too much attention to it. For example lotus has a "Walkers incoming" line while playing against corpus. Few update/hotfixes back when you were playing against infested on eris and found the room with hanging jackals, there is a platform where broken moas spawned but they were called "walkers".

[Captain.Mustache]

iirc, the younger queen is using the kuva siphons to accumulate enough kuva to revive the elder queen.

[Genesis7000]

When you don´t kill her her body dies but because for some wierd orokin things her spirit is still there

51 minutes ago, Mister_Posh said:

iirc, the younger queen is using the kuva siphons to accumulate enough kuva to revive the elder queen.

Yes 100% ture

[Sziklamester]

We are talking about video games, the possibilities are endless. Why they should kill their creation? It can be spawn any time anywhere.

[Miser_able]

The process of converting that sludge into kuva was started before we killed the elder queen so technically the queens planned to use it to make kuva. She is dead but the young queen wants to bring her back.

Edited January 31, 2017 by Miser_able

[arch111]

They  can't die. Orokin found the holy grail/philosophers stone to live for ever, but in new bodies.

They are sort of like the Guaold in Star Gate.

Expect Ballas to pop round for tea any day now.

[rytisrytis]

Dead untill someone like balus puts her soul into another body, orokin are basically immortal able to posses bodies. If someone managed to attain that they could revive orokin empire.

[Xekrin]

1 hour ago, (PS4)poonugget99 said:

f she's not dead, did her body survive or is she going to use the process of Continuity to survive?

Pretty sure they are harvesting kuva to heal the queen.  Whether you decided to kill her or not, I'm pretty sure the end result is the same, she dies one way or another and she has to find a new body or something.

The fun part is when you think about how we all did the same quest, then canonically discuss it afterward.

---

"Hey, I just encountered the Grineer Queens!"

"Me too! I had Teshin chop that nasty monstrosity in half!"

"Really? I killed her myself, so I don't see how you could have ..."

"What are you two talking about, I just got back from the caves of my brain and I let her live.  Seriously, I got Teshin's special disc thingy to prove it."

*Other two warframes hold up their own Discs*  "So yeah, did Teshin mass produce these things?  He said it was special and one of a kind!"

"I'm so glad I made him drink that nasty kuva crap..."

"You did what!  The single drop of kuva on the queen's staff which is unique and special? I drank that!"

---

And so on...

[Bibliothekar]

21 minutes ago, arch111 said:

They are sort of like the Guaold in Star Gate.

Goa'Uld. Also, you can kill a Goa'Uld while it's outside a host. Or you just burn the host to ashes, kills them as well. If you get pulverized, your tapeworm isn't going to survive that, either.

The Orokin, on the other hand, are just a floating consciousness while they're outside a host, kinda like Voldemort before he decided to rent out that guy's back of the head.

[arch111]

1 hour ago, Bibliothekar said:

Goa'Uld. Also, you can kill a Goa'Uld while it's outside a host. Or you just burn the host to ashes, kills them as well. If you get pulverized, your tapeworm isn't going to survive that, either.

The Orokin, on the other hand, are just a floating consciousness while they're outside a host, kinda like Voldemort before he decided to rent out that guy's back of the head.

Yeah fair enough, the souls of the orokin seem to be stored as in a harddrive in that nanomuck juice of theirs though. 

I don't buy the voldemort-ghost thing.

After all, one became Orokin after ingesting the red substance, in my view that is technocyte that records every scrap of an organism.

The same tc can recreate it given enough material.

So if we find vials of the Emperors,  and get some Yuvan they can be reborn.

Right? 

[Bibliothekar]

3 minutes ago, arch111 said:

After all, one became Orokin after ingesting the red substance, in my view that is technocyte that records every scrap of an organism.

The same tc can recreate it given enough material.

So, Cruciform style? Yeah, I can get behind that.

[arch111]

12 minutes ago, Bibliothekar said:

So, Cruciform style? Yeah, I can get behind that.

Never heard of that before. But yes, that is very similar.

Warframe is like a blend of ideas from alot of sources with the common idea of biotechnology and immortality at its core.

There is one aspect left that [DE] have not explored fully, and that is the psudo-religious nature of the VOID. There are things they are not telling us that I think have influenced this game for a very long time, ever since they mentioned the Elder gods of C´thulu as a source of inspiration.

 

Quite some time ago by now, before operators, kuva, yuvans and oro, I had the idea Warframe would at some point pit light vs dark against each other as angels and demons, or demigods if you will. That the Orokin, no matter how twisted and inhuman they became, was still the Light side to the Voids Darkness.

When someone worships the void that feels like they are offering tribute to Hell. Like Alad and Anyo both "Commit/return thee to the Voidl." and things like that.

 

Another thing, the Plan to find a new home for humanity and the Orokin must have had some very serious reasons. Was the human Yuvans dying, or becoming corrupted by infestation? We don´t know that either.

[(PSN)robotwars7]

2 hours ago, arch111 said:

Expect Ballas to pop round for tea any day now.

if that happens, I'll throw a scalding kettle at him. he needs to die after what he did to Margulis.

11 minutes ago, arch111 said:

Another thing, the Plan to find a new home for humanity and the Orokin must have had some very serious reasons. Was the human Yuvans dying, or becoming corrupted by infestation? We don´t know that either.

I believe it was simply because the Empire was collapsing under it's own tremendous weight, the system was becoming overpopulated with humans, whom the Orokin hardly cared about. food and medicine would have become difficult to come by, so moving to another galaxy to restart the process would have been the best alternative.

 you're not necessarily wrong of course, there is a chance that perhaps the earliest strains of Technocyte had a part to play in the Empire's desire to move to Tau, but there's no evidence to support or debunk this. hopefully U20 will answer more questions about what was going on with the Empire.

Edited January 31, 2017 by (PS4)robotwars7

[arch111]

1 hour ago, (PS4)robotwars7 said:

if that happens, I'll throw a scalding kettle at him. he needs to die after what he did to Margulis.

I believe it was simply because the Empire was collapsing under it's own tremendous weight, the system was becoming overpopulated with humans, whom the Orokin hardly cared about. food and medicine would have become difficult to come by, so moving to another galaxy to restart the process would have been the best alternative.

 you're not necessarily wrong of course, there is a chance that perhaps the earliest strains of Technocyte had a part to play in the Empire's desire to move to Tau, but there's no evidence to support or debunk this. hopefully U20 will answer more questions about what was going on with the Empire.

 

Can you actually provide evidence that it was Ballas himself and not the Council that killed Margulis?

Everyone wants him to be the big villain but I would like it more if he was less onedimensional. 

[Blakrana]

1 hour ago, arch111 said:

Can you actually provide evidence that it was Ballas himself and not the Council that killed Margulis?

1) Ballas is an Executor

2) The Executors voted for her Execution as that seems to be how sentences are decided; consensus with the Congress of Executors.

3) He read her sentence with pretty notable gravitas. It was only after judgement was passed that he questioned why, though that sounds more like questioning Margulis than the decision.

4) Supposedly there are/were seven Executors for 'seven hands raised' to be as relevant as it sounded; we know the names of three as yet, Avantus (dies in Evisceratior Synthesis), Tuvul (named opponent to Ballas in Crewman) and of course Ballas himself. It's unknown as yet if the other female in Crewman Synthesis was Avantus or another Executor. In either case, there's three, possibly four if the unnamed woman is not Avantus.

Ergo: Ballas was involved in the decision as part of his office as Executor. If it bothered him, if it really mattered, his delivery of the sentence could have been much more sombre or what have you. Instead he declares 'Seven hands raised! The sentence...is death.' with considerable aplomb. 

Sure. This is deduction based on existing evidence than 'caught red handed' but seeing as there's no contrasting evidence to his involvement, it's a reasonable one I find. Until we gain new information as to the extent and specifics of matters, it's the most we can do. Burden of Proof only goes so far when you're working with limited resources.

4 hours ago, Xekrin said:

The fun part is when you think about how we all did the same quest, then canonically discuss it afterward.

Such is the problem with the Singular Character narrative approach with most MMO's out there.

It's certainly not for nothing people express interest in the responses for everyone else that isn't this One Hero character, rather the proverbial nobodies that we all are. The world may seem to turn around the actions of a few, but what are those world changing moments if we can't get to experience or witness this figurative change in the winds from outside, not the eye of the storm?

3 hours ago, arch111 said:

Another thing, the Plan to find a new home for humanity and the Orokin must have had some very serious reasons. Was the human Yuvans dying, or becoming corrupted by infestation? We don´t know that either.

Yuvan's weren't a caste in the way Operator isn't a caste, more of a designation. They were a term for gathered people from whatever places the Orokin felt like fishing. The 'young and exotic' easily feeds to an idea that certain colonies at time would be considered 'in vogue' in a way, to look for a new body.

Strictly speaking the whole nature of Yuvan's is that eventually they'll die...so the Orokin shop for a new one to go through the process all over again (unless you're in the better deal that the Executors seem to have had, laughing off Ordan's actually breaking of necks). Infestation has no clear direct link beyond being involved in some manner for the fall and loss of Earth, seeing as it's an Infested mess according to Silvanna's account and Ballas notes that someone, maybe Margulis maybe the other Executor's, used to dream of old Earth and how he aims to reclaim it 'from the spores and the ruin'.

3 hours ago, arch111 said:

I had the idea Warframe would at some point pit light vs dark against each other as angels and demons, or demigods if you will. That the Orokin, no matter how twisted and inhuman they became, was still the Light side to the Voids Darkness.

Light does not equal Good just as much as Dark does not equal Evil. Saying nothing of the fundamental necessity the other has to exist anyway...

And if the Elder Gods are an inspiration point or element, bear in mind that their horror comes from their not caring or recognising humans. The crushing existential reality that you don't matter whatsoever or how things exist far beyond ability to comprehend. It may just be if the Void is something more than a place...it can just be indifferent to humans, or sapience in general. It may just...be...and that's all there is to it.

It may operate on some weird rules, it may have some resonant psionic aspect perhaps...but all that happens as a result of the Void is down to humanity chasing it and pursuing it. All the texts relating to the Void are very sincerely treating it in a deific manner, though then it varies between being a 'praising/damnable' context a lot. It can be both an expression for death and loss, and it can be a force that supposedly reveals something.

Though I don't think we can expect an effective sense of horror, what with horror being very toothless if you can just obliterate the source of it at a moment's notice. The only groups that'd regularly suffer horrific scenarios are the civilian outfits, really. Infested for the average person is horrifying, inexorable and pretty much a one way ticket to wanting a way to kill yourself quickly should the worst come to happen. For us, Infested are just another thing to blow to pieces over a day.

Which leads to a simple reality: if the Void is meant to be a 'thing' or force beyond our ken, it'd have to be so in a way we can't fight it, we can't struggle or strain. It'd be like trying to defy gravity, impossible. A force of nature, as it were. Whatever the Void is, would need to be on a Narrative rather than Mechanical level. Otherwise...the idea of being able to just shoot the place beyond even the Orokin's fathoming (though how what with all their Void based tech...) would be sorely anticlimactic.

Either way, apologies for going on, as ever.

[arch111]

13 minutes ago, Blakrana said:

1) Ballas is an Executor

2) The Executors voted for her Execution as that seems to be how sentences are decided; consensus with the Congress of Executors.

3) He read her sentence with pretty notable gravitas. It was only after judgement was passed that he questioned why, though that sounds more like questioning Margulis than the decision.

4) Supposedly there are/were seven Executors for 'seven hands raised' to be as relevant as it sounded; we know the names of three as yet, Avantus (dies in Evisceratior Synthesis), Tuvul (named opponent to Ballas in Crewman) and of course Ballas himself. It's unknown as yet if the other female in Crewman Synthesis was Avantus or another Executor. In either case, there's three, possibly four if the unnamed woman is not Avantus.

Ergo: Ballas was involved in the decision as part of his office as Executor. If it bothered him, if it really mattered, his delivery of the sentence could have been much more sombre or what have you. Instead he declares 'Seven hands raised! The sentence...is death.' with considerable aplomb. 

Sure. This is deduction based on existing evidence than 'caught red handed' but seeing as there's no contrasting evidence to his involvement, it's a reasonable one I find. Until we gain new information as to the extent and specifics of matters, it's the most we can do. Burden of Proof only goes so far when you're working with limited resources.

Such is the problem with the Singular Character narrative approach with most MMO's out there.

It's certainly not for nothing people express interest in the responses for everyone else that isn't this One Hero character, rather the proverbial nobodies that we all are. The world may seem to turn around the actions of a few, but what are those world changing moments if we can't get to experience or witness this figurative change in the winds from outside, not the eye of the storm?

Yuvan's weren't a caste in the way Operator isn't a caste, more of a designation. They were a term for gathered people from whatever places the Orokin felt like fishing. The 'young and exotic' easily feeds to an idea that certain colonies at time would be considered 'in vogue' in a way, to look for a new body.

Strictly speaking the whole nature of Yuvan's is that eventually they'll die...so the Orokin shop for a new one to go through the process all over again (unless you're in the better deal that the Executors seem to have had, laughing off Ordan's actually breaking of necks). Infestation has no clear direct link beyond being involved in some manner for the fall and loss of Earth, seeing as it's an Infested mess according to Silvanna's account and Ballas notes that someone, maybe Margulis maybe the other Executor's, used to dream of old Earth and how he aims to reclaim it 'from the spores and the ruin'.

Light does not equal Good just as much as Dark does not equal Evil. Saying nothing of the fundamental necessity the other has to exist anyway...

And if the Elder Gods are an inspiration point or element, bear in mind that their horror comes from their not caring or recognising humans. The crushing existential reality that you don't matter whatsoever or how things exist far beyond ability to comprehend. It may just be if the Void is something more than a place...it can just be indifferent to humans, or sapience in general. It may just...be...and that's all there is to it.

It may operate on some weird rules, it may have some resonant psionic aspect perhaps...but all that happens as a result of the Void is down to humanity chasing it and pursuing it. All the texts relating to the Void are very sincerely treating it in a deific manner, though then it varies between being a 'praising/damnable' context a lot. It can be both an expression for death and loss, and it can be a force that supposedly reveals something.

Though I don't think we can expect an effective sense of horror, what with horror being very toothless if you can just obliterate the source of it at a moment's notice. The only groups that'd regularly suffer horrific scenarios are the civilian outfits, really. Infested for the average person is horrifying, inexorable and pretty much a one way ticket to wanting a way to kill yourself quickly should the worst come to happen. For us, Infested are just another thing to blow to pieces over a day.

Which leads to a simple reality: if the Void is meant to be a 'thing' or force beyond our ken, it'd have to be so in a way we can't fight it, we can't struggle or strain. It'd be like trying to defy gravity, impossible. A force of nature, as it were. Whatever the Void is, would need to be on a Narrative rather than Mechanical level. Otherwise...the idea of being able to just shoot the place beyond even the Orokin's fathoming (though how what with all their Void based tech...) would be sorely anticlimactic.

Either way, apologies for going on, as ever.

Ballas was one of the Seven yes, but the 7 was not the only orokin.

I have had this conversion before; the argument is that because Ballas was an Excecutor and that he was part of her Trial, he must be evil and a very bad guy.

True, only small signs exist to contradict this.

1. He remembers her to reclaim Earth.

2. He pleads with her to save her life; presumably after the Warframes became operational.

3. He conspired to have the Sentients go to Tau, violating the Principles.

These three tells me he was not all black and horrid. I am probably pretty alone in this.

 

[Bibliothekar]

27 minutes ago, Blakrana said:

4) Supposedly there are/were seven Executors for 'seven hands raised' to be as relevant as it sounded; we know the names of three as yet, Avantus (dies in Evisceratior Synthesis)

I feel like you're mixing up the title and the people to hold that title here. I'm not sure of the timeline right now, but it's possible that Avantus was not (yet or any more) Executor when Margulis was sentenced.

[(PSN)H3x3wahn]

5 hours ago, Xekrin said:

Pretty sure they are harvesting kuva to heal the queen.  Whether you decided to kill her or not, I'm pretty sure the end result is the same, she dies one way or another and she has to find a new body or something.

The fun part is when you think about how we all did the same quest, then canonically discuss it afterward.

---

"Hey, I just encountered the Grineer Queens!"

"Me too! I had Teshin chop that nasty monstrosity in half!"

"Really? I killed her myself, so I don't see how you could have ..."

"What are you two talking about, I just got back from the caves of my brain and I let her live.  Seriously, I got Teshin's special disc thingy to prove it."

*Other two warframes hold up their own Discs*  "So yeah, did Teshin mass produce these things?  He said it was special and one of a kind!"

"I'm so glad I made him drink that nasty kuva crap..."

"You did what!  The single drop of kuva on the queen's staff which is unique and special? I drank that!"

---

And so on...

My thoughts exactly.

[Danjal777]

Ballas put Margulis to death because duty demanded it.  His feelings are inconsequential on this matter.  It didn't help that she stood her ground on her beliefs, you have probably seen this in countless stories, like braveheart.  Facing death with dignity only reinforced her cause, look at what Ballas did after, instead of wiping the Tenno out, he aided our weaponizing.  

 

As for the elder queen?  We will see her again I am sure.

[(PSN)Silverback73]

4 hours ago, arch111 said:

Never heard of that before. But yes, that is very similar.

Warframe is like a blend of ideas from alot of sources with the common idea of biotechnology and immortality at its core.

There is one aspect left that [DE] have not explored fully, and that is the psudo-religious nature of the VOID. There are things they are not telling us that I think have influenced this game for a very long time, ever since they mentioned the Elder gods of C´thulu as a source of inspiration.

 

Quite some time ago by now, before operators, kuva, yuvans and oro, I had the idea Warframe would at some point pit light vs dark against each other as angels and demons, or demigods if you will. That the Orokin, no matter how twisted and inhuman they became, was still the Light side to the Voids Darkness.

When someone worships the void that feels like they are offering tribute to Hell. Like Alad and Anyo both "Commit/return thee to the Voidl." and things like that.

 

Another thing, the Plan to find a new home for humanity and the Orokin must have had some very serious reasons. Was the human Yuvans dying, or becoming corrupted by infestation? We don´t know that either.

If you watch the old Sci-Fi movie, Forbidden Planet, it delves into what might happen if a super-race were to create a technology that was so advanced that it's creators could tap into it with their mind and use it's energy to do almost anything.  Hint:  The race went extinct almost immediately after.

[Blakrana]

Just now, arch111 said:

Ballas was one of the Seven yes, but the 7 was not the only orokin.

He's an Executor, which makes him part of the judging body. He is not devoid of responsibility for his involvement.

At no point did I declare he was the only Orokin. Orokin are a caste and the Executors appear to be the upper echelon, if not truly the leaders itself. The only time we've heard of the Emperors were during Stalker's codex, past that it's been the Executors for all 'big events'.

2 minutes ago, arch111 said:

he must be evil and a very bad guy.

The evidence for Ballas' character being manipulative and cruel actually predates the Second Dream, seeing his first named appearance is during the Crewman Synthesis playing the whole floor to his own end, whilst post Second Dream he's directly responsible for Ordis' particularly elaborate punishment.

Till we see accounts of Ballas doing something that isn't serving himself or being rather malicious (Ordis' fate is hardly a kindness), the 'he's a good guy really' is lacking in the evidence department. The complexity of his character is the clear fact he's got an agenda and that agenda is worth him playing the Heel for Perintol's trial. Ballas' angle is what's interesting. What he does just highlights how he, and likely all Executors, were not ones to be crossed, let alone questioned.

Unless we get some entries about his own thoughts on things, we can only evaluate Ballas on his actions. And even then...No-one considers themselves the villain, as one always looks for a way to justify one's own actions and thoughts.

1 minute ago, Bibliothekar said:

I feel like you're mixing up the title and the people to hold that title here. I'm not sure of the timeline right now, but it's possible that Avantus was not (yet or any more) Executor when Margulis was sentenced.

Quote

Avantus’s Executor status meant that she, and by extension I, were among the few people who could move freely about the massive vessel.

Emphasis is my own, but I believe that should be suitable.

Sure. We can go 'oh but was Avantus an Executor at the time?!' but that's fruitless. And bear in mind I stated that Avantus is a named Executor. She may or may not have been involved, but she is a named Executor.

This is exactly why we need to see what the other Executors were doing. Ballas has been hogging the spotlight quite a darn lot.

4 minutes ago, Danjal777 said:

instead of wiping the Tenno out, he aided our weaponizing.  

The implication seems to be more that Margulis was executed for resisting the weaponisation. Ballas didn't have a change of heart, the Orokin simply found a way to make use of the Tenno. Margulis was an obstacle to this for as long as Transference therapy was still intended as such. Most Ballas gets is 'cog in machine' but then he's a pretty high tier cog if that...he plays the part that suits his ends it seems, rather than being 'an unfortunate victim of bureaucracy' as some arguments seem to be angling towards.

Orokin MO seems to be: If it isn't useful, dispose of it. No more, no less. And any dissent is to be silenced irrevocably.

[Danjal777]

23 minutes ago, Blakrana said:

He's an Executor, which makes him part of the judging body. He is not devoid of responsibility for his involvement.

At no point did I declare he was the only Orokin. Orokin are a caste and the Executors appear to be the upper echelon, if not truly the leaders itself. The only time we've heard of the Emperors were during Stalker's codex, past that it's been the Executors for all 'big events'.

The evidence for Ballas' character being manipulative and cruel actually predates the Second Dream, seeing his first named appearance is during the Crewman Synthesis playing the whole floor to his own end, whilst post Second Dream he's directly responsible for Ordis' particularly elaborate punishment.

Till we see accounts of Ballas doing something that isn't serving himself or being rather malicious (Ordis' fate is hardly a kindness), the 'he's a good guy really' is lacking in the evidence department. The complexity of his character is the clear fact he's got an agenda and that agenda is worth him playing the Heel for Perintol's trial. Ballas' angle is what's interesting. What he does just highlights how he, and likely all Executors, were not ones to be crossed, let alone questioned.

Unless we get some entries about his own thoughts on things, we can only evaluate Ballas on his actions. And even then...No-one considers themselves the villain, as one always looks for a way to justify one's own actions and thoughts.

Emphasis is my own, but I believe that should be suitable.

Sure. We can go 'oh but was Avantus an Executor at the time?!' but that's fruitless. And bear in mind I stated that Avantus is a named Executor. She may or may not have been involved, but she is a named Executor.

This is exactly why we need to see what the other Executors were doing. Ballas has been hogging the spotlight quite a darn lot.

The implication seems to be more that Margulis was executed for resisting the weaponisation. Ballas didn't have a change of heart, the Orokin simply found a way to make use of the Tenno. Margulis was an obstacle to this for as long as Transference therapy was still intended as such. Most Ballas gets is 'cog in machine' but then he's a pretty high tier cog if that...he plays the part that suits his ends it seems, rather than being 'an unfortunate victim of bureaucracy' as some arguments seem to be angling towards.

Orokin MO seems to be: If it isn't useful, dispose of it. No more, no less. And any dissent is to be silenced irrevocably.

I don't see Ballas as evil, he is cold and pragmatic to a fault, but he isn't doing malicious things for the sake of pleasure or to others suffer.  He has a goal or ideal in mind and will make every decision that moves the goal in that direction.  He probably didn't view Ordis as a real entity, from his perspective, he was just spare parts to build a cephalon out of.  The ceremony although may have seemed cruel, was Orokin opulence at its best, flashy red carpet event to honor the occasion of sacrifice.  I feel that they were so advanced that they were completely disconnected from the human condition, this seemed cold and evil.  But what if to them it was all a game, a game that had grown stale.  In order to feel anything, they would hold ceremony adorned with gold, and make decisions without care for the individual or outcome.  Think about it, what happens in an MMO when you are the maxed out guild leader and have done everything there is to do.  You grow bored.

[Blakrana]

1 minute ago, Danjal777 said:

don't see Ballas as evil, he is cold and pragmatic to a fault, but he isn't doing malicious things for the sake of pleasure or to others suffer

Eh, certainly seemed to savour the irony of Ordan's punishment.

2 minutes ago, Danjal777 said:

He probably didn't view Ordis as a real entity, from his perspective, he was just spare parts to build a cephalon out of.  The ceremony although may have seemed cruel, was Orokin opulence at its best, flashy red carpet event to honor the occasion of sacrifice.

Bear in mind that Ordan was supposedly to be honoured and the only reason he was punished was for attempted assassination (even if it didn't work, principles). Though the fact the Orokin laughed and applauded the attempt is a mark of how far removed they all are from understandable human concerns. 

3 minutes ago, Danjal777 said:

I feel that they were so advanced that they were completely disconnected from the human condition, this seemed cold and evil.

I think it's safe to say they lacked empathy. Certainly callous and dogmatic. Evil is a somewhat overly simplistic though.

Whether or not it was a game or not...really depends how much they actually enjoyed the struggling of those under them. In order to applaud Ordan's attempted murder, they had to be far too used to the idea of death and injury for it to be no more than a bemusing distraction.

The Orokin as a whole were after something, the question is what...and whether or not certain members had differing views of how to reach it, let alone their own agendas. Ballas has one...what I want to know is did the other Executors.