Talk:Orokin/@comment-76.20.31.167-20131208002325

Speculation based on the new Stalker lore entry: The Orokin were computers, strong AIs ("our cold and gold emperors") and ruled an empire which included the human race. The Tenno destroyed them for an unknown reason at the end of the war with The Sentients, that's the 'betrayal' the Corpus are always talking about. Most of humanity left the Sol system after this event and the Tenno, with nothing to protect and no desire to rule, went into cryosleep. The Corpus, along with most other humans in the Sol system, are a somewhat more recent returning diaspora primarily there to search for Orokin technology.

Perhaps the Tenno destroyed them because they were subjugating the human race, perhaps not. It's not at all clear from Stalker's tone if he approved of Orokin rule and means to punish them for destroying an the empire he served or if he's simply horrified at the Tenno killing what's implied to be a great many humans in the process of overthrowing the Orokin.