Umbra warframes [Discussion & Appreciation][*spoilers*]

[13QZXXTTX]

Spoiler

23 hours ago, Unus said:

What if the myth is twisted here though? The kingdom is decaying rapidly, King Arthur is no where to be seen, and the blade is in the hands of a black knight.

 

What if, in our tale, "Morderd" slew "King Arthur" and burned the kingdom to the ground. 

(Which further raises the question of, if Lotus knew nothing of Harrow's original operator. . . how many others might she not know of? Could the Tenno have culled their own ranks of potential loyalists, save for ones that took drastic measures to ""preserve"" themselves?)

23 hours ago, OmegaShadowcry said:

Well, I mean, the Tenno did slay their Orokin masters, and Mordred did kill Arthur in the original tale...

Granted, Mordred and Arthur both died in the original, so I'd imagine that the Tenno version of that tale has a great many twists.

22 hours ago, Umbrapocalypse said:

Maybe Umbras were designed to protect Lua from invaders? But along the way something happened to them and they became corrupted. Maybe Stalker was one of them. 

16 hours ago, Noioiy said:

oh man, this caught me completely off guard

you win the comments !

Meme: "In Russia, Excalibur pull out another Excalibur".

 

9 hours ago, Vlada91 said:

Maybe he is some dark king frame. And yea thats why he have gold and he is not the prime. He is better than prime. He is king umbra 😏😊👌

6 hours ago, DP_KRoM said:

This is my guess. I think it will be required sacrificing a primed warframe to get its umbra counterpart.

So excal umbra will be only available for founders. 

And Frost Umbra will be released as an "Umbra Access" pack at the same time Excal Umbra is released.

What do you think about this?

6 hours ago, (PS4)CommanderC2121 said:

I really doubt it, only because such a move would kick so many people in the crotch and angry everyone.

 

 

6 hours ago, QuiteCrazy said:

Excal Umbra was introduced cause concentration of whining about Excal prime was too damm high

he's alternate for those who want Excal prime, cause they introduce Excal prime again due to founders terms of agreement

6 hours ago, DP_KRoM said:

Oh yes man. This is really annoying. I am NOT interested in excalibur at all. Im interested in Frost hehe.

But I can understand this feeling in people who like excalibur

6 hours ago, Jeoxz said:

I think this has no bases to stand on. The sacrifice couldn't even be our sacrifice, Ballas was talking to nobodyknowswho on deathbed. Frost Umbra, that's out of nowhere. And making another exclusive for founders 5 years later? Yeah not likely.

6 hours ago, Calwon5 said:

There's no reason or evidence that shows that only founders would be able to receive umbra excal. Nor is it logical to make an assumption that non founders will receive umbra frost instead. 

Umbra Frost i over doing it even before Excal Umbra is Public, after what DE has done with Twitch Prime = Frost Prime. You have to LOOK at Orokin Frost (would be Umbra) anyway. 

6 hours ago, Marine027 said:

I not want to soudn rude but i sitll will do.

I want to punch you in the face for assumpiton such, you relaly want the FOrum to tear itself aaprt apperently.

Why you doing this? causign antoher Excal Prime thread indirectly now projecitng it on Umbra before its goddamn out.

This Umbra Hype already got on my nerves and is unnecesary sicne it won't be the holy grail as some see it.

And now oyu come here claim foudners onyl will get it also. I applaud tz you for this arrogant move.

Reported and hoping this gets closed before it escalates.

This is an MEGATHREAD, and THANKS the Staffs for keeping it clean.

6 hours ago, (PS4)XxDarkyanxX said:

That's a pretty terrible guess, from a business point of view at least.

Why push the hype to the limit at TennoCon if 90%+ of the playerbase won't be able to have it.

Don't think I've heard anything about Frost Umbra neither which, unless I've been paying little attention, serves as another way of proving that this guess is based on personal desire rather than facts and informations.

6 hours ago, N7-CommanderShepard said:

uhm no they gonna release Excalibur umbra to everyone you probably have to do something in excalibur umbra's quest you might have to sacrifce your tenno i really hope this is the case :P

 

5 hours ago, Marine027 said:

Nothing agaisnt if peopel are hpyed but some interpret things into it that will and might not be true and then the disapointed will be bigger, but what pisses me of the msot is that those people in the end will blame DE for not making what there fantasy maked up for them or what missiinformation the hype created not be true.

And well i will be also happy if it will be something unique instead of copy paste powers with just redesigned looks or flashy effects i will be disapointed aswell.

Don't get your HYPE too high then, Umbra Excal would suit the Lore fine(as it would have tie or reason explanation to the Orokin Emperor (or what was).

5 hours ago, Matir21 said:

Excal is a warframe that has it roots in the Dark Sector game and is probably the most promoted frame in game so its fitting they make it first Umbra.

Also, Umbra is going to be tied to a quest, which means it has to be available to everyone, as quests arent founders-exclusive.

I only hope they make some good lore-excuse for presence of the Umbras and release more of them quickly :D

4 hours ago, Dhashruman said:

It would hardly be logical to make 30+ frames all the poster frames for the game

3 hours ago, Eminem37 said:

Personally.. I think they should be limited to the first main frames.. (excal, rhino, mag, loki, frost)

Unless DE wants to turn it into umbra packs.. and sell just like primes, but since it is quest based.. having 30+ quests to get umbra version is just insane.. now maybe the excalibur will be quest based together unlocking a new map tile where we will be able to drop umbras, then yes thats fine to add just 5 more on the list.

As well if there is too much of it, the magic will end, just like primes.. on the start when primes were a new thing, it was just amazing to see it beautiful almost a god version of normal frames, but then it kept going and now I feel like it just a normal character.

Make em a bit harder to get, give em a bit more stuff, and ppl will fall in love even more.

I disagree, DE NEEDS to be continuing Contents for Plain of Eidolons and more to come, while I think DE at LEAST just have an Excalibur Umbra (Extended: Umbra Mastery only give one 600~1000 EXP, while limited to Engulfing only one owned Prime WarFrame at a time).

 

[-Ringed-Umbra-]

26 minutes ago, (Xbox One)EternalDrk Mako said:

spanking with someone else that could fit the pattern of the sigil order inverted to match with past/present 

lotus "frees" tenno > uses void gate > solar flare >eternal stasis> lua awakens> eclipse is imminent

we know lotus used a void gate as she cannot create anymore sentient herself "wombs in ruin" as hunhow put it 

could be saying a lot of things

maybe sigil order means 1 thing , while the descriptions mean another 

maybe the description tells of the past, sigils refer to present path leading up to a solar?/ eclipse

and a real solar eclipse is happening this year aug 21/2017 

 

Well you know, if the writing is non sense, ready it backwards lol Jk.

That would be a lot interesting if they make it happen on aug 21..

31 minutes ago, Corial said:

I hope the next daily tribute milestone after 600th (Primed Shred) will give another clue.

650th milestone should be Sigil, Booster, and Potato if pattern is still followed.

maybe.. or maybe there will be no sigils anymore.

[1tsyB1tsyN1nj4]

5 hours ago, Xenox_Ilz-ot said:

Even with that, what the Warframes were fighting were little Sentients, like Battalists & Conculists, and now we saw that Sentients can be the size of a f*cking planet.

How could we win against that? Were not going to kill them with our archwings.

Except it doesn't say anywhere that we didn't kill them with Archwings, plus the Sentients are going to run out of small parts eventually, which really isn't represented well because it's a game and enemies respawn/ we do and all that jazz, but the lore is written in a way that's supposed to be more realistic without respawns and crit chance and damage numbers for example. Ever do the quest for Mirage? The Lotus even says that she ripped apart thousands of Sentient fighters by herself.

 

3 hours ago, Golmihr said:

It holds up more than fine.

"oh S#&$, enemies from afar that may or may not be of our creation are invading us and we need better weapons. Let's try to improve on the stuff that did work against them."

 

As opposed to your: Somebody broke into a holding facility and released some lethal bio-techno virus they just happened to have made and stored insecurely for no apparent reason. Other than a terrible plot trigger.

Nowhere did I say someone broke in and let it out. I said that the Sentients destroyed a holding facility of the stuff in its raw form. It's a war after all, collateral damage happens bro

Edited July 16, 2017 by 1tsyB1tsyN1nj4

[-Krism-]

1 hour ago, 1tsyB1tsyN1nj4 said:

Except it doesn't say anywhere that we didn't kill them with Archwings, plus the Sentients are going to run out of small parts eventually, which really isn't represented well because it's a game and enemies respawn/ we do and all that jazz, but the lore is written in a way that's supposed to be more realistic without respawns and crit chance and damage numbers for example. Ever do the quest for Mirage? The Lotus even says that she ripped apart thousands of Sentient fighters by herself.

First, no, I never did the quest for Mirage.

Second,(f*cking hell why do I have to explain this), archwings was just an exemple.

[METAHUMVN]

I also think it would be awesome if The Sacrifice released on August 21st. It would be the most epic event to ever happen in Warframe. 

[1tsyB1tsyN1nj4]

2 hours ago, Xenox_Ilz-ot said:

First, no, I never did the quest for Mirage.

Second,(f*cking hell why do I have to explain this), archwings was just an exemple.

The Odonata Prime was around during that time, even says it in the Mag Prime codex. Could fly up to them and attack them directly 20 Tenno at a time and destroy them that way

[-Krism-]

1 minute ago, 1tsyB1tsyN1nj4 said:

The Odonata Prime was around during that time, even says it in the Mag Prime codex. Could fly up to them and attack them directly 20 Tenno at a time and destroy them that way

Oh ok, but what I'm saying is that we're not gonna kill a Sentient the size of a planet :/

We're gonna have some trouble doing that.

[KiroTheTraveler]

5 hours ago, Umbrapocalypse said:

I also think it would be awesome if The Sacrifice released on August 21st. It would be the most epic event to ever happen in Warframe. 

It would be perfect and it would be cool. But I just wonder if they would release PoE in like August time since they said Sacrifice is coming after PoE

Edited July 17, 2017 by CaptainStrawberry

[METAHUMVN]

36 minutes ago, CaptainStrawberry said:

It would be perfect and it would be cool. But I just wonder if they would release PoE in like August time since they said it is coming after PoE

True. It's just a thought, a hope. Most likely, I think PoE will release around mid-late August, and then The Sacrifice would release around late November/early December. 

 

[1tsyB1tsyN1nj4]

5 hours ago, Xenox_Ilz-ot said:

Oh ok, but what I'm saying is that we're not gonna kill a Sentient the size of a planet :/

We're gonna have some trouble doing that.

Doesn't mean it's impossible. Considering that Warframes have limitless stamina as long as they have an Operator powering them from a pretty much limitless supply of void power, enough Tenno attacking a single target while the Sentient is also busy with whatever other cannon fodder and S#&$ the Orokin throw at them you can bring down even a monster that size. Especially cause the largest Sentient Hunhow was betrayed by his daughter and that's what actually got him killed in the end. Even if his consciousness is still alive Voldemort style like the first Harry Potter book, his body is destroyed & buried on Uranus. Usually you don't apply realism to games, but since the lore is written in that way, the Tenno and their Warframes are WAY more powerful than the game suggests, but at the same time, even the Stalker, the Corpus, and the Grineer get lucky every now and then. The only reason the Orokin could control the Tenno at all is because they are kids, scared and alone, and because their bodies happen to be sleeping while controlling their Warframes in Orokin HQ on the moon. The game is actually a lot darker than people tend to think. Think parts of Evangelion meets bits of Dead Space set in an almost Mass Effect style galaxy

[MadHatHacker]

It's widely implied in many places in the game that the Prime Warframes are made from the corpses of the adults that were hunted down on the Zariman. 

It's also heavily implied that the Stalker was imprisoned in the Stalker Warframe by improper transference use. 

As for what Umbra Warframes will be, I think it's safe to assume that the partnered Youtubers had access to more information than we do, since when one of them makes a crazy guess it turns out right, every time I can think of. 

So I'd say something will be sacrificed because they said it would be, and beyond that there's really just not enough information to speculate on. 

 

[Corial]

8 hours ago, Umbrapocalypse said:

I also think it would be awesome if The Sacrifice released on August 21st. It would be the most epic event to ever happen in Warframe. 

Would be quite fitting indeed.

[TheGodofWiFi]

8 hours ago, Umbrapocalypse said:

I also think it would be awesome if The Sacrifice released on August 21st. It would be the most epic event to ever happen in Warframe. 

What's so great about August 21st?

[Corial]

Just now, TheGodofWiFi said:

What's so great about August 21st?

It is the date for next Total Solar Eclipse. 

[TheGodofWiFi]

Just now, Corial said:

It is the date for next Total Solar Eclipse. 

Ah right. Not going to happen.

[Kerberos-3]

8 minutes ago, Corial said:

It is the date for next Total Solar Eclipse. 

Perhaps that is why they delayed Umbra for so long.

[qwertz9105]

So I watched the Teaser many times! And I would like to share my thoughts... SO I learned video "art" breakdown-ing a bit.

The first sceen: shows us a crypod (on Lua), which means there is a Tenno inside. Second shot: falling stones (time passing) and the heart rate monitor comes (bad health issues/end of life). Then the voice tells the story, which ends with "Yours" facing the camera to Umbra. That means Umbra's Tenno had to make the sacrifice. In the last shot Umbra parkouring and standing at the camera (this telling us that Umbra is a "well trained"/strong frame and maybe not a negative character.

All in all I think the Tenno who used Umbra whould died, because he/she had to guard the other Tennos on Lua.The sarifice could be, not using the "long dream" and become old/dead. However, he/she managed to tranfaranced  him/herself to Umbra. And now Umbra is a warframe with a Tenno mind.......

One more thing,I think/want Umbra become a "hero"/ the opposite of Stalker.

[Ricardo58]

So many worrying theories, whatever Umbra quest ends up to be, I just hope we can have a choice in this "sacrifice", I certainly don't want to lose operator mode... 

[-Ringed-Umbra-]

7 hours ago, Umbrapocalypse said:

True. It's just a thought, a hope. Most likely, I think PoE will release around mid-late August, and then The Sacrifice would release around late November/early December. 

 

Sadly the sacrifice is after... or is it? DE lied many times just to deliver things before, they said umbra would not be on tennocon and there was it, steve said no but maybe ? just to hide the surprise? I would hope so. Even so if the sacrifce releases November or earlier but THIS YEAR, I'll be happy and I'll be playing Warframe again with too many yes.

[-Krism-]

7 hours ago, 1tsyB1tsyN1nj4 said:

Doesn't mean it's impossible. Considering that Warframes have limitless stamina as long as they have an Operator powering them from a pretty much limitless supply of void power, enough Tenno attacking a single target while the Sentient is also busy with whatever other cannon fodder and S#&$ the Orokin throw at them you can bring down even a monster that size. Especially cause the largest Sentient Hunhow was betrayed by his daughter and that's what actually got him killed in the end. Even if his consciousness is still alive Voldemort style like the first Harry Potter book, his body is destroyed & buried on Uranus. Usually you don't apply realism to games, but since the lore is written in that way, the Tenno and their Warframes are WAY more powerful than the game suggests, but at the same time, even the Stalker, the Corpus, and the Grineer get lucky every now and then. The only reason the Orokin could control the Tenno at all is because they are kids, scared and alone, and because their bodies happen to be sleeping while controlling their Warframes in Orokin HQ on the moon. The game is actually a lot darker than people tend to think. Think parts of Evangelion meets bits of Dead Space set in an almost Mass Effect style galaxy

Yeah, but as long as they have other materials around them, thay can still auto-reconstruct their body. And since we can't destroy their consciousness, we can't kill them 100%

[Corial]

10 minutes ago, Eminem37 said:

Sadly the sacrifice is after... or is it? DE lied many times just to deliver things before, they said umbra would not be on tennocon and there was it, steve said no but maybe ? just to hide the surprise? I would hope so. Even so if the sacrifce releases November or earlier but THIS YEAR, I'll be happy and I'll be playing Warframe again with too many yes.

Hypothesis; If they told us that umbra will be at tennocon, would have the crowd screamed and cheered like when it was revealed?

From my own personal opinion I think DE has used metaphors to hint towards this new content that was finally revealed. 

For example the teaser at the end of devstream 94 teased both next cinematic quest and day night cycle of Ostron colony.

[-Krism-]

2 hours ago, qwertz9105 said:

So I watched the Teaser many times! And I would like to share my thoughts... SO I learned video "art" breakdown-ing a bit.

The first sceen: shows us a crypod (on Lua), which means there is a Tenno inside. Second shot: falling stones (time passing) and the heart rate monitor comes (bad health issues/end of life). Then the voice tells the story, which ends with "Yours" facing the camera to Umbra. That means Umbra's Tenno had to make the sacrifice. In the last shot Umbra parkouring and standing at the camera (this telling us that Umbra is a "well trained"/strong frame and maybe not a negative character.

All in all I think the Tenno who used Umbra whould died, because he/she had to guard the other Tennos on Lua.The sarifice could be, not using the "long dream" and become old/dead. However, he/she managed to tranfaranced  him/herself to Umbra. And now Umbra is a warframe with a Tenno mind.......

One more thing,I think/want Umbra become a "hero"/ the opposite of Stalker.

It's not a pod, pods are much, much bigger and have a different look, what we are looking at is just an Orokin decoration.

Look:

And even if you say this is a diffrent pod, then where is the "entrance" then?

Edited July 17, 2017 by Xenox_Ilz-ot

[Crashen]

I always figured the Orokin discovered technocyte long before any of our history starts, and maybe "tamed" it (creating Forma) to build their weirdly organic, quicksilver-like architecture. I kind of think Ayatan sculptures are basically Forma-In-Motion, used as artwork.

When the sentients attacked, they used a weaponized strain, unleashing the proto-infestation, maybe hoping that it could out-adapt the adaptive sentients. Or convert the machine-based sentients into vulnerable flesh, stripping them of their adaptability. When that didnt work, they focused on the warframes while the infestation festered amongst the ruins of the Sentient conquests.

Or, and this is my personal crackpot theory thay I doubt is true but hope is, technocyte is the "flesh" of the void, and is what got to the adults on the Zariman. When the ship returned, the Orokin found super powered feral children, and warped monsters, both able to defy the laws of science and nature. So they put the kids on ice, and used the proto-infested parents to explore the benefits of, such as metal that moves and flows like liquid while remaining solid, or giant penis-teeth (flesh towers covered in porcelain).

But they found that when the technocyte was in a higher thinking lifeform, like a human, it was insane and violent and adaptive and near impossible to control. It could be spliced with plants to get pretty, but useless crystalline organic growth. It wasnt until later, the rhino prime codex, that they learned technocyte flesh conducts void energy extremely well (because they are from the same place). Those crystalline arboriforms? Giant fiber optic cables for void energy. Big unstoppable flesh-brute? Slaved to a tenno and powered by void energy, it can stomp so hard it disrupts time or gravity or something.

As for umbra, I do really like the idea of umbra being a tenno who willingly sacrificed his physical form to fully transfer/merge with his frame to act as guardian of Lua and remain awake while the others slept.

Of course, I have another crackpot theory that Specters are alive, sentient, and capable of functioning without tenno...

[13QZXXTTX]

Replying to Comments/Replies on Page 33 of this MEGA-THREAD.

Spoiler

On 7/11/2017 at 11:37 AM, ----Legacy---- said:

I wouldn't be so sure about it since Joebuck, the guy behind conclave balance is also the one at charge of dual wielding, mxing "the only separated team" with the rest and reason why conclave hasn't been going into the right direction recently.^{but this is another topic}

Teshin wirlds a unique dual nikana + dragon nikana with both gemini skins at the same time. The one shown in trailer was unsheathed anyways, so it could be any nikana except from the prime.

I'd make a twitter account just to reply with this:

You :trigger: me to reply, seriously though. Just have some patience, pushing for Umbra content is not going to end well. Like those other game meeting deadline or release date and doesn't have much to show.  

 

On 7/11/2017 at 1:58 PM, Corial said:

Pfff, I found it while searching for pictures from google. It was from forum post x3

Photoshop at it's finest.

On 7/11/2017 at 3:45 PM, (PS4)reddragonhrcro said:

Tbh won't be far from the truth if the helmets are going to be exchangable between Prime and Umbra variations.That made me think, Excal Prime with Umbra helmet, hmm...

On 7/11/2017 at 4:49 PM, Zortyx said:

I don't see why it wouldn't fit into the lore, There's nothing i know about that conflicts with this being possible since we know barely anything about what a warframe actually is

PRIME UMBRA  

 

On 7/11/2017 at 2:40 PM, -Vondred- said:

Thank you for that.  I have no idea why he would blurt out such ignorance.   Some people don't belong on this forum.

On 7/11/2017 at 3:00 PM, Corial said:

My guess would be total boredom.

Welcome to the FORUM, :| Toxic Posters do lurk here.  

 

On 7/11/2017 at 3:15 PM, (Xbox One)EternalDrk Mako said:

OP Edit: 

cleaned main page

optimized news 

log info 

Awesome, also credits to the Forum Moderator, this thread is some thing of hype, speculations and wild out of place thoughts some time, meh.

 

On 7/11/2017 at 4:05 PM, NightmareT12 said:

Well, if you own a Warframe the alt helms are there. What remains to be seen if is hierarchy is Prime-> Umbra or Umbra->Prime or maybe they're their own thing (haven't ever tried the Prsima ones, for instance).

On 7/11/2017 at 4:13 PM, CaptainStrawberry said:

Would having prime helmets alt be ok with Excal Umbra?

 

On 7/11/2017 at 4:53 PM, CaptainStrawberry said:

Maybe the Dragon Nikana is going to get a buff in this quest

On 7/11/2017 at 4:54 PM, (PS4)reddragonhrcro said:

Inb4 Dragon Nikana Umbra

Sound Good, as long the weapon has reason(Quest Related).

On 7/11/2017 at 8:02 PM, (Xbox One)EternalDrk Mako said:

shadow dragon nikana sounds better ...

Umbra ~ Shadow. Umbra is term for say noun I think? Shadow of an Excalibur would be it meaning (Umbra Excalibur). I mean you can call this Quest even Shadow War (Don't ask me it fit). But not really a ringer and overused when you say Umbra's War (which is OK, but we have to see).

 

On 7/11/2017 at 4:57 PM, CaptainStrawberry said:

Here is one way to make Excal Umbra different to his variant. Example he goes exalted blade but it's not all swoosh swoosh, he actually has different combos. 

On 7/11/2017 at 7:39 PM, LordOfScrugging said:

Exalted blade in general needs a second pass. It's a sword, not a fluctus. Don't get me wrong, the waves come in handy, but it feels cheap at the end of the day.

On 7/12/2017 at 0:52 AM, TheGodofWiFi said:

There are plenty of swords in games that create energy waves when you swing them. Destiny has apparently introduced it as well.

The waves are the only thing people use Exalted Blade for. Why on earth would anyone want to take them away? They've been nerfed already. Taking the waves away would only result in people just using their normal melee weapons which are already much more powerful with the Blood Rush and Body Count combo, thereby making Exalted Blade obsolete.

People need to stop asking for nerfs to perfectly adequate abilities. 

Spoiler

^I highly agree on STOP of those necessary  NERF (It happen when you don't see it) to working WarFrame components.  

TRUE STORY.

 

 

 

EDIT: Because some do not know what Excalibur might be. And don't know how far this "power" had reached.

 

 

Edited July 17, 2017 by DesFrSpace

[1tsyB1tsyN1nj4]

3 hours ago, Xenox_Ilz-ot said:

Yeah, but as long as they have other materials around them, thay can still auto-reconstruct their body. And since we can't destroy their consciousness, we can't kill them 100%

That's not true, where did you get that from? Sentients can adapt to damage by making their "flesh" or whatever the hell they're made of have different properties, like being harder to cut, puncture, etc. But they can only do that so much before the material gets weak and dies for good.

 

4 hours ago, Ricardo58 said:

So many worrying theories, whatever Umbra quest ends up to be, I just hope we can have a choice in this "sacrifice", I certainly don't want to lose operator mode... 

Same, I really don't want to be forced into an Umbra frame, especially because I only like the helmet and the body. I could do without the decorations on the arms.

 

10 hours ago, MadHatHacker said:

It's widely implied in many places in the game that the Prime Warframes are made from the corpses of the adults that were hunted down on the Zariman. 

It's also heavily implied that the Stalker was imprisoned in the Stalker Warframe by improper transference use. 

As for what Umbra Warframes will be, I think it's safe to assume that the partnered Youtubers had access to more information than we do, since when one of them makes a crazy guess it turns out right, every time I can think of. 

So I'd say something will be sacrificed because they said it would be, and beyond that there's really just not enough information to speculate on. 

 

Dude, that's implied nowhere but in your head. The Tenno had to kill their own parents, they even say that in the War Within. Nothing is known about the Stalker aside from what happens in the game, the best theory by far about him I think is my own that he's filled with Kuva.

 

2 hours ago, Crashen said:

I always figured the Orokin discovered technocyte long before any of our history starts, and maybe "tamed" it (creating Forma) to build their weirdly organic, quicksilver-like architecture. I kind of think Ayatan sculptures are basically Forma-In-Motion, used as artwork.

When the sentients attacked, they used a weaponized strain, unleashing the proto-infestation, maybe hoping that it could out-adapt the adaptive sentients. Or convert the machine-based sentients into vulnerable flesh, stripping them of their adaptability. When that didnt work, they focused on the warframes while the infestation festered amongst the ruins of the Sentient conquests.

Or, and this is my personal crackpot theory thay I doubt is true but hope is, technocyte is the "flesh" of the void, and is what got to the adults on the Zariman. When the ship returned, the Orokin found super powered feral children, and warped monsters, both able to defy the laws of science and nature. So they put the kids on ice, and used the proto-infested parents to explore the benefits of, such as metal that moves and flows like liquid while remaining solid, or giant penis-teeth (flesh towers covered in porcelain).

But they found that when the technocyte was in a higher thinking lifeform, like a human, it was insane and violent and adaptive and near impossible to control. It could be spliced with plants to get pretty, but useless crystalline organic growth. It wasnt until later, the rhino prime codex, that they learned technocyte flesh conducts void energy extremely well (because they are from the same place). Those crystalline arboriforms? Giant fiber optic cables for void energy. Big unstoppable flesh-brute? Slaved to a tenno and powered by void energy, it can stomp so hard it disrupts time or gravity or something.

As for umbra, I do really like the idea of umbra being a tenno who willingly sacrificed his physical form to fully transfer/merge with his frame to act as guardian of Lua and remain awake while the others slept.

Of course, I have another crackpot theory that Specters are alive, sentient, and capable of functioning without tenno...

I think the Orokin made the Technocyte and all it's different forms, which is what let them take over the system to begin with, because it is stated repeatedly that they are super smart and technologically advanced. And what's better than literally growing your own empire?