Narmer Veil

“You're not supposed to be in here! You're going to ruin the surprise!”

The following article/section contains spoilers. Please complete The New War before proceeding.

Narmer Veil

He'll give in soon. They all will... and this war will be over before it even begins. Not with bombs and blood... but with truth. They programmed you and your kind. Now it is our turn to program them.

See the veil work. Turning his memories inside out. Making him see the things he's lost. Putting pain where it serves us. A lost love, perhaps... her life, cut short by the very Tenno she had sworn to protect.

—Ballas

Narmer Veils are pieces of technology that are used to brainwash and control the populace of the Origin System and spread the word of Narmer.

Lore

My child... so beautiful to behold. How do you feel?

We found you within the derelict Zariman. Feral. Evil. Void in your heart... but Ballas... he saw a lost child in need of a father. As you recovered, he noticed me less and less. What good was I to him if you weren't sick?

I loved him, but he only loved you. The stasis dreams were the only choice I had. Your Zariman dreams of mother, father... I made them nightmares.

And it worked. You began to see Ballas not as the father, but as the phantom of your nightmares. He confined in me. The deeper your madness, the deeper our love. Ballas was mine.

But he could not be deceived for long. He saw through my deception, and my judgment was swift and true. He cradled you in his arms, saying: "Child--"

--Child, my child, forgive me. Wake from this horrid dream of hers. The world outside is waiting for you. These horrors of Zariman... are lies only to hold you ill. I... love you.

—Lotus and Ballas, seen by the Drifter in their Narmer Veil's delusion

History

Narmer Veils were the main method of how Ballas spread his influence over the Origin System. The veils force their wearer to see their lost loved ones to render them docile, susceptible to manipulation, and easy to control. The wearer's mind is then influenced into believing Ballas' corrupted version of the truth, favoring himself and the Orokin while antagonizing the Tenno.

Judging by Ballas' monologue, the Veils make it seem like the Tenno massacred the Orokin and left Ballas an orphan, imprisoned and tormented the Grineer in vast torture-plexes, starved the Ostron with demands for tithe and tribute, forced the Corpus to worship them under threat of death, and worked the Solaris to death in foundries and factories, demonizing the Tenno as the devils he saw them as.

When worn by the Drifter in order to infiltrate the Narmer Veil Factory during The New War, it twisted their past to portray Ballas as their father figure and the Lotus was manipulating them, saying that she kept the Tenno in the Somatic pods as part of a form of munchausen by proxy in order to "make [Ballas] love [her]", when in truth it was the opposite. Teshin Dax saw his lost love Valeria killed by the Tenno. Ballas saw an idealized version of his love Margulis that submitted to him, this delusion ironically allowing the Lotus and Tenno to overcome him and leading to his death.

An individual of strong will can overcome the delusion and forcefully remove their own veil, which was the case of the Drifter, Teshin, and Kahl-175.

Attributes & Usage

Ballas and his Narmer Deacons are capable of remotely detonating the Veils to kill their wearer in the event they detect resistance to the ideal of Narmer, or they can be accidentally "overloaded" by the strong emotions of Ballas, such as during one fit of rage Ballas' anger caused two nearby Deacons to writhe in pain before his overwhelming wrath caused the veils they were wearing to explode and kill them.

Because the subjugation effectively removes all sense of thought while leaving behind false comfort, some people have willingly donned the Veil. Eudico admits that she liked hearing only the voice while completely deprived of worry or thought, despite being heavily disturbed by the notion after being freed.

Some Veils, like the ones worn by Narmer Deacons, Konzu, and some others, appear to be more ornate than the standard Veil. Whether these additions are purely cosmetic, or serve some other purpose, remains unknown.

In addition to the Veils, areas under control by Narmer hang red swirling mirrors to aid in the brainwashing.

The red mist emitted by the Veils and the red in the swirling mirrors may be Kuva, which the Sentients were harvesting from the Unum's Tower. Concept art of the Veils suggest they are constructed with Sentient components combined with the Tower's flesh and materials.

Removal of the veil immediately reverts the wearer to normal without incurring any physical or mental trauma. Kahl fashions himself with a self-made Veilbreaker device created out of an EMP ram that magnetically and forcefully pulls veils from their wearer's faces.

Trivia

• Narmer Veils are functionality similar to the Neural Sentry devices worn by the Corrupted, as both masks have the ability to brainwash their wearers. However, while Corrupted masks turn wearers into mindless guards of the Orokin Towers, Narmer Veils forces them into believing twisted truth and the usage is more of a manipulation instead of erasing their consciousness.
  • It is unknown if Narmer Veils work on the Infested like the Corrupted masks does, given that Narmer has taken over Eris as well as a failed attempt on Deimos, both of which are Infested-controlled regions. However, considering Infested are usually bound to a hivemind, it seems unlikely that Narmer Veils can control them.

Gallery

Broken Veil concept