[SPOILERS] Ballas' charming looks

[tennotraveller]

As lore has taught us, Orokin were hedonists. They valued beauty above all, and so the lowest classes (the Grineer) were ugly and disfigured, while "Orokin" themselves were the apex of beauty, with an enphasis on simmetry.

Having seen an Orokin Archimedean in Octavia's Fragment comic, with her looking like a regular human woman...why then does Ballas, an Executioner, member of the most beautiful caste whose supposed perfection made Ordan Ordis waver...

Looke like an horrific blue skinned androgynous giant with a creepily deformed right arm?

I mean, it is a really cool design, but how is that the ideal of Orokin beauty from an in-universe standpoint? Has Continuity got anything to do with it - and if so, why would Ballas take up such a form?

Edited February 1, 2018 by tennotraveller

[lightdragon64]

I guess time took its toll. who knows what ballas has been through between margulus' death and the prologue?

[Tain_OSkoom]

8 minutes ago, tennotraveller said:

As lore has taught us, Orokin were hedonists.

Most hedonists I know drink heavily..

[YUNoJump]

Continuity makes sense to me. Presumably Ballas survived the purge somehow, and has been maintaining himself since. It would make sense for him to be a bit messed up physically. 

This is all conjecture though, I doubt we'll be able to make any real theories until the real Apostasy (or whatever it'll be called) quest comes around. 

[AuroraSonicBoom]

I'm juuuust saying.

[Legion-Shields]

If the Orokin were obsessed with beauty and symmetry and Ballas isn't symmetrical I think it's safe to assume that something happened to him sometime somewhere.

[KokoroWish]

Standards of what constitutes beauty change both with time and culture. See the bound feet of China, the ringed necks of Kayan, or the skinny waisted bodices of medieval England. There have been some standards of beauty that modern westerners would consider horrific. Hell, in the future I feel that many will look back on the supermodels of today and be aghast that people did that to themselves.

For all we know, Ballas is Orokin upper echelon beauty personified, With his statuesque looks and proportions. I think the last dev stream actually made inferences to his arm being a special mark of his office and for the use of his weapon.

Also as a side note, the Archemdians like Suda were not Orokin as the lore understands it. After all, if that were true, she could have chosen a child to pass into, like Orokin do. Instead, her only solution to her failing health was becoming a Cephalon to preserve her knowledge.

Edited February 1, 2018 by KokoroWish

[Firetempest]

beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Orokin may have loved symmetry in architecture and art. But thats no gauge on their body beauty standards. I think they have appreciation for asymmetry, like their synthetic root system though the living buildings..

 

Edited February 1, 2018 by Firetempest

[Eldnacpeek]

3 hours ago, Firetempest said:

Orokin may have loved symmetry in architecture and art. But thats no gauge on their body beauty standards

 

"The projection of Executor Ballas swelled large in front of me. I could see his purity, his symmetry, the beauty of his glittering gold irises. His voice thundered, “The principles are clear. Your sentence is death. May the Void forgive you.”

"The Orokin had a visage imbued with variation, beauty and symmetry, but we had the Lora nodes protruding from our right temples. Their skin was silken, ours was weaved with ribbons of metallic facia that snaked around our bodies and into the Lora Device embedded in our palms."

Edited February 1, 2018 by LazerSkink

[-skimmer-]

They also apparently liked to jump bodies. Its what their immortality is based on.

The Ballas we see now might just be his combat body.

[JCBeastie]

I've had this head-canon since DE started the prime trailers that Ballas has been alive in the void all this time and he in fact produces primed variants of existing tech (yes primes are new not old). I'd like to think that Apostasy hints my thinking was pretty close to the truth maybe.

The Orokin had methods for resurrecting themselves and prolonging their lifespan, who knows what Ballas has had to do since the fall to maintain himself all this time. I very much doubt he always looked this way.

 

[Rakawan]

6 minutes ago, JCBeastie said:

I've had this head-canon since DE started the prime trailers that Ballas has been alive in the void all this time and he in fact produces primed variants of existing tech (yes primes are new not old). I'd like to think that Apostasy hints my thinking was pretty close to the truth maybe.

The Orokin had methods for resurrecting themselves and prolonging their lifespan, who knows what Ballas has had to do since the fall to maintain himself all this time. I very much doubt he always looked this way.

 

Primes have been stated to be the original gear. 

Our current equipment is reverse engineered copies of the Primes.

[JCBeastie]

4 minutes ago, Rakawan said:

Primes have been stated to be the original gear. 

Our current equipment is reverse engineered copies of the Primes.

It's actually stated to be Orokin technology, but not technically actual antique pieces from the era. Or are you suggesting you can somehow build something ancient in your orbiter? 

See what I mean, the Prime access FAQ (https://www.warframe.com/prime-access-faq) reads "A Prime Warframe, weapon, Sentinel or accessory represents technology as it was during the height of the Orokin Era." and the Prime and Prime Access page (https://www.warframe.com/news/primes-and-prime-access) states "Prime Warframes, Weapons and Sentinels are actual pieces of Ancient Orokin technology." if a real Orokin has been building this stuff with long-lost techniques you can certainly claim it's actual ancient Orokin technology, no?

Plus lore is subject to change right, don't write the idea off so quickly! ;)

 

 

[(XBOX)Grihaly]

2 hours ago, AuroraSonicBoom said:

I'm juuuust saying.

Whoa.

[Rakawan]

10 minutes ago, JCBeastie said:

It's actually stated to be Orokin technology, but not technically actual antique pieces from the era. Or are you suggesting you can somehow build something ancient in your orbiter? 

See what I mean, the Prime access FAQ (https://www.warframe.com/prime-access-faq) reads "A Prime Warframe, weapon, Sentinel or accessory represents technology as it was during the height of the Orokin Era." and the Prime and Prime Access page (https://www.warframe.com/news/primes-and-prime-access) states "Prime Warframes, Weapons and Sentinels are actual pieces of Ancient Orokin technology." if a real Orokin has been building this stuff with long-lost techniques you can certainly claim it's actual ancient Orokin technology, no?

Plus lore is subject to change right, don't write the idea off so quickly! ;)

 

 

Again Prime Variants were created during the Orokin era. They are not the new variant, they are the original variant. The fact that we build a copy of said variant in the current times does not make the variant new, it just means we have a new copy of it.

Frost Prime is frost as he was during the Orokin era, not Ballas' modification/recreation of Frost according to Orokin techniques.

Edited February 1, 2018 by Rakawan

[Rakawan]

2 hours ago, Firetempest said:

beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Orokin may have loved symmetry in architecture and art. But thats no gauge on their body beauty standards. I think they have appreciation for asymmetry, like their synthetic root system though the living buildings..

 

Synthesis target lore reveals that the Orokin themselves, or at least Ballas, had symmetry of feature.

http://warframe.wikia.com/wiki/Detron_Crewman

"The projection of Executor Ballas swelled large in front of me. I could see his purity, his symmetry, the beauty of his glittering gold irises. His voice thundered, “The principles are clear. Your sentence is death. May the Void forgive you.”"

[Firetempest]

Can't you comment on "ones symmetry" while they are infact very asymmetric?

Either A. DE didn't want to spoil the idea and make it more shocking later. or B, they decided this was better later and change things on the fly like all those other times before.

Edited February 1, 2018 by Firetempest

[YUNoJump]

10 minutes ago, Firetempest said:

Can't you comment on "ones symmetry" while they are infact very asymmetric?

Either A. DE didn't want to spoil the idea and make it more shocking later. or B, they decided this was better later and change things on the fly like all those other times before.

Orokin executors and such had defining symmetry, and it's probably positive because the Corpus, Grineer, and normal humans still existed in the Orokin era, and they are decidedly asymmetrical. The Orokin were most likely symmetrical because an asymmetrical person isn't particularly noteworthy.

As for Ballas himself, he has conducted many strange experiments in the past (warframes, Ordis, even supporting the sentients originally), so him experimenting on or augmenting himself doesn't sound too outlandish.

[KokoroWish]

Again aside from the arm hidden beneath his voluminous robes, if you take a look at Ballas, specifically his face, his features are very statuesque and symmetrical. Like he's been sculpted or crafted. Facial symmetry like that doesn't exist naturally and can come across as pretty spooky. Again as mentioned, the arm he keeps mostly hidden is apparently part of his office and factors into the use of his weapon.

Edited February 1, 2018 by KokoroWish

[(PSN)Nyxn607]

My theory with Ballas and the warframes as they currently are is this: Every warframe contains a piece of the infested.  I assume this based on what the infested part of the liset says anytime you take a warframe into the room.  It hints very suggestively that it is a part of the warframe.  Going along with this theory, I would suggest that Ballas and the other high executor's may have infested blood in them.  This infested blood is what allows them to become so strong and alter their appearances as much as they do.  As other's have done so already, if you compare the most recent look of Ballas to an ancient, they both have very similar features.

I may be totally off on my theory, but I don't think I am.

[(PSN)BLOOD-LINE-01]

2 hours ago, (PS4)Nyxn607 said:

My theory with Ballas and the warframes as they currently are is this: Every warframe contains a piece of the infested. 

Dude, that's not a theory, that is a fact that has been in the game for quite some time now. Warframes are made from technocyte, which is infested material. The infested bosses regularly ask why you attack them since "we are the same flesh" and the Worm Queen outright calls the frames "infested puppets".

[(PSN)BLOOD-LINE-01]

2 hours ago, (PS4)Nyxn607 said:

As other's have done so already, if you compare the most recent look of Ballas to an ancient, they both have very similar features.

The only trait Ballas and an Ancient share is the fact that they both have a freakishly long right arm. 

Edited February 1, 2018 by (PS4)BLOOD-LINE-01

[OoKeNnEtHoO]

I think Ballas has been infected by the techocyte virus either on purpose or by accident.

He probably did something either naturally (due to being an Orokin) or artificially to curb the infection and it just happens to stop at his arm.

Of course, it may also be an occupation requirement to enhance the body in some way as an Orokin executor considering Margulis did not seem shocked when he pulled out that arm to hold her.

[AuroraSonicBoom]

1 hour ago, OoKeNnEtHoO said:

I think Ballas has been infected by the techocyte virus either on purpose or by accident.

He probably did something either naturally (due to being an Orokin) or artificially to curb the infection and it just happens to stop at his arm.

Of course, it may also be an occupation requirement to enhance the body in some way as an Orokin executor considering Margulis did not seem shocked when he pulled out that arm to hold her.

No, you've got a point. Look at the longer arm, specifically the skin. Don't the scars fragmenting the skin into segments and connecting glowing pustules like they were circuitry remind you of the infested? It's one of their defining design elements.

Stuff happens if you handle that stuff while injecting it into your chosen prime hosts.

Edited February 1, 2018 by AuroraSonicBoom

[(PSN)Silverback73]

12 hours ago, lightdragon64 said:

I guess time took its toll. who knows what ballas has been through between margulus' death and the prologue?

I think the Orokin, to their horror, slowly and inevitably realized that  their "Immortality" was a tainted process.

With an inescapable physical and mental corruption, they must have been desperate to find a cure to their affliction with each "rebirth" manifesting signs of increased degradation to their perfect genetic symmetry and beauty and mental superiority.

Perhaps they thought Yuvans were the answer, and perhaps others thought the complete removal of an organic body would cleanse them.

If the Tenno discovered that the Orokin elite had plans to steal their bodies, you could see how a preemptive strike at the Ceremony would make sense.