Cetus

Cetus
The splash screen of Cetus.

Swazdo-lah, Tenno! Welcome to Cetus, unique among the stars! Explore the bustling market for all your practical needs! If you're looking for adventure on the Plains of Eidolon speak to Konzu. Stay a while, and come back anytime on your journeys across the Rails.

—Introductory Description

While their floating markets may ply the rails of the Origin system, Cetus is the Ostron home: a trading hub where travelers from across the system meet to exchange information, wares and plunder in safety, protected by the Unum-enforced laws of barter and parley - free from the influence of Grineer and Corpus.

—Cetus Fragment

Cetus is a village built by the Ostrons, located to the north of Mantle, Earth. A humble settlement, located in the south region of the Plains of Eidolon, they are guided by a secretive order named The Quills, loyal to the ever-mysterious Unum, who constantly watches over the plains keeping her people safe from Grineer aggression.

As a city hub, players can interact with various NPCs to purchase items from shops, or accept quests or bounties to be completed out in the plains. Players can enter the plains via a large Orokin door on the town's outer wall, leading to a large room which has another door that leads to the plains beyond. The room acts as a loading screen, and players will be unable to exit out the other end until the loading is complete.

Ostron

Main article: Ostron

The Ostrons are the inhabitants of the Cetus settlement near the Plains of Eidolon on Earth. They are a hardy, mercantile people that dwell in the shadow of the Orokin Tower of the Unum, which they harvest for their livelihood. Kept safe from Grineer aggression by the arcane powers of the Unum herself, Cetus serves as their central trading hub in the Origin System and a refuge for all others who come to it with peaceful intentions.

The Quills

Main article: The Quills

The Quills are a mysterious monastic order that serve the equally enigmatic Unum, a being who resides within the Orokin Tower at Cetus in the Plains of Eidolon. They have very close ties to the Ostron people who also praise the Unum, and are seemingly knowledgeable about the secrets of the Tenno. They are said to be able to divine the future, which combined with their information gathering prowess allows them to preemptively end threats to Cetus through their operatives.

Plains of Eidolon

Main article: Plains of Eidolon

The Plains of Eidolon is an expansive, open Landscape connected to Cetus, an Ostron settlement located on Earth. In the shadow of the Orokin Tower of the Unum lies an ancient battlefield, where an enormous Sentient was defeated during the Old War by  Gara. The Grineer have set up numerous outposts and bases to study and mine the ruins in the area, observing and patrolling the plains for any threat to their operations.

Trivia

• In the eastern part of city outskirts hides an Easter Egg in the form of the Digital Extremes logo, easily recognizable by its emblem. Activating it will show the credits roster for the Plains of Eidolon.
  • In the roster is Hayden Tenno, the main protagonist in Digital Extremes' previous game Dark Sector.
• Cetus is the Latinized form of κῆτος (ketos), the Ancient Greek word for "sea monster" or "huge fish", but in recent times, the word is associated with whales (i.e. cetaceans). Cetus can also refer to a constellation of the same name.
  • Interestingly, one of the stars in the Cetus constellation is Tau Ceti, one of the closest stars to the Sun and is most likely the "Tau" system the Sentients were originally sent to colonize.
  • The people of Cetus harvest Unum's flesh in a manner similar to how whalers harvest a caught whale. 
  • Eidolons vocalize using the calls of humpback whales, as seen in Devstream #102
• Cetus appears to be located at the top or near the Caspian Sea.
• Cetus appears to be next to modern-day Astrakhan, which may have inspired the name of the settlers there, the Ostrons.

Media

Patch History

Update 27.1 (2020-02-04)

• Fixed being able to see outside the level from the gate in Cetus.
• Fixed Fast Traveling to Fisher Hai-luk teleporting the player midair.

Update 25.7 (2019-08-29)

• Fixed players watching two Warframes attempt a handshake in Cetus not actually seeing it happen. Truly the most secret of handshakes!

Update 25.5 (2019-07-31)

• Fixed metallic looking eye textures, predominantly seen in Cetus at night.

Update 23.10 (2018-10-12)

• Added objective marker pointing players to Konzu when entering Cetus for the first time.
• Added more Corpus and Fortuna NPCs (undocumented).

Update 22.0 (2017-10-12)

• Introduced.