While we were able to find solid and legitimate supporting evidence for essentially the whole story as it is written, this interpretation comes from a variety of sources, and each of those pieces of information was likely written by a number of different people. This article strives to be more than a simple compendium of disparate lore tidbits. We took in all of the various bits of lore information and documented them in a chronological and readable way to produce the most complete story possible.
This page will be regularly updated as the developers, Digital Extremes, release more information. In addition, due to the nature of unreliable narrators, content is subjected to change.
Transcripts[]
- A Favor For Darvo/Transcript
- A Man of Few Words/Transcript
- Angels of the Zariman/Transcript
- Apostasy Prologue/Transcript
- Awakening/Transcript
- Call of the Tempestarii/Transcript
- Chains of Harrow/Transcript
- Chimera Prologue/Transcript
- Erra (Quest)/Transcript
- Heart of Deimos/Transcript
- Hidden Messages/Transcript
- Howl of the Kubrow/Transcript
- Jade Shadows/Transcript
- Mask of the Revenant/Transcript
- Natah (Quest)/Transcript
- Octavia's Anthem/Transcript
- Once Awake/Transcript
- Patient Zero/Transcript
- Prelude to War/Transcript
- Rising Tide/Transcript
- Sands of Inaros/Transcript
- Saya's Vigil/Transcript
- Stolen Dreams/Transcript
- The Archwing/Transcript
- The Deadlock Protocol/Transcript
- The Duviri Paradox/Transcript
- The Glast Gambit/Transcript
- The Jordas Precept/Transcript
- The Limbo Theorem/Transcript
- The Lotus Eaters/Transcript
- The Maker/Transcript
- The New Strange/Transcript
- The New War/Transcript
- The Sacrifice/Transcript
- The Second Dream/Transcript
- The Silver Grove/Transcript
- The War Within/Transcript
- The Waverider/Transcript
- Ties That Bind/Transcript
- Veilbreaker/Transcript
- Vor's Prize/Transcript
- Vox Solaris (Quest)/Transcript
- Whispers in the Walls/Transcript
- Zariman ARG/Transcript
Orokin Era[]
An Orokin tower
The four Orokin eras are Lith, Meso, Neo and Axi, which ended with the slaughter of most Orokin officials by the Tenno. These eras seem to correspond with the four void branches: Phobos, Europa, Neptune and Sedna.
Lith Era[]
Long before current events, the planets Earth, Venus, Mercury and Mars, as well as the moons Lua, Phobos and Deimos, were controlled by a highly advanced and stratified human civilization called the Orokin Empire, whose capital was on Earth's moon, now known as Lua.
The void experiments of Albrecht Entrati likely began in this period.
Meso era[]
As the Empire expanded, it conquered Ceres, Jupiter and Europa. As the Kuva Fortress is made of asteroids, Kuva itself might have been discovered in this era.
Neo era[]
The Orokin conquered Uranus and Neptune.
Axi era[]
After the conquest of the last objects in the Origin system, Pluto, Eris and Sedna, the Orokin set their sights on the Tau System. Their first attempt at colonizing the system was the Zariman Ten Zero. However, the void jump failed and most adults became insane. After a deal with The Man in the Wall, the protagonist splits into two: the Drifter, who remained in the Void, and the Operator, who escapes with the other children, Now known as Tenno.
After the failure of the Zariman Ten Zero, the Orokin grow increasingly desparate, and eventually accept Archimedean Perintol's plan to send artificial robots: the Sentient, to terraform the system and build a solar rail to allow easy travel between the two.
However, the Sentients, led by Hunhow rebel against the Orokin. Initially, the Orokin were overwhelmed, with only ancient weapons viable as the Sentients hijacked their machinery. They eventually developed the Warframes, which managed to slow down the advance of the Sentients. However, they too became out of control due to the Helminth infestation.
As a last resort, the Orokin used the Tenno to control those warframes using transference. This turned the tides of The Old War, and the sentients made a plan using the information provided by Ballas, which was named "The sequence". Hunhow would let himself be destroyed, and his daughter, Natah, would take on the form of Margulis in order to manipulate the Tenno. After celebrating the defeat of the sentients, Natah ordered the Tenno to slaughter the Orokin, marking the end of their civilization.
The last action of the sequence was for Natah to slaughter the Tenno. She, decided not to, as she wanted children of her own.
As such, she did not kill the Tenno.[1] Abandoning her final objective, she phased the moon, which also housed the Reservoir, into the Void to keep it out of Sentient reach, as well as masking its location with some sort of cloaking technology to protect the Tenno from tracking by any remnant enemies.[2] After fending off against what was left of the Sentient forces in the system, the Lotus commanded most Warframes around the Origin System, if possible, to be put into cryosleep, to preserve their bodies, although many Warframes were left in the open. The Long Dream[3] was used to put the Tenno as well in a cryosleep-like state, preserving them, and effectively ending The Old War. Some still roamed about, with the occasional mission to hunt down remaining Orokin leaders as seen with 
Grendel.[4]
Collapse era[]
Between the Orokin era and the start of the game, many events unfolded.
Without centralized power, groups of people who were once oppressed were now free from the empire's shackles. In the resulting power vacuum, the Origin System saw conflict between many factions to claim domination over the territory and resources once controlled by the Orokin.[5] There were attempts to rebuild the collapsed empire[6], but these plans were squandered by dissident groups that would eventually evolve into the Grineer and Corpus factions we know today.
The Grineer took advantage of the chaos to initiate revolts all across the system.[7] They stole Orokin ships[6], weapons, and managed to secure the cloning technologies that created them. During this period, the outcast Orokin Twins used this opportunity to enact revenge and began to amass armies of loyal Grineer to their cause, which eventually led to their joint ruling of the Grineer.[8]
The Corpus, in the name of profit, eventually made a grab for the system shortly after the Grineer rose to power, quickly occupying wrecks and crash sites on various planets to scavenge Orokin technology and grow.[9] The two factions eventually grew in strength and became equals. While the Corpus began to trade technology with the Grineer in exchange for raw materials and currency[10], the two groups continued to compete and skirmish intermittently[9], with planetary invasions occurring to this day.
With the collapse of the Orokin empire, the Infestation was left uncontrolled in isolated Orokin ships to spread freely across the Origin System with the occasional outbreaks.[11] The extent of their reach is unknown, but their presence was not insignificant.[12]
Some indeterminate number of millennia later[13][14][15], the Corpus are widely considered the governing force in economics and research, with the Grineer dominating the system with their military might and brutality. The Grineer both fight with the Corpus for power and buy manufacturing supplies to support their military development.[16] At one time, the Infested had all but conquered a few of the Origin System's planets but have been pushed back to their residence on drifting ancient Orokin Derelicts and recently conquered Eris, apart from the occasional outbreak on populated planets.[17][citation needed] All that is left of the Orokin are their terraforming efforts such as on the Orb Vallis, Venus, the few standing structures such as the Orokin Tower Unum, forgotten Prime weapons they built, and Tower ships stranded in the Void.
The Corpus now exist as money-worshiping corporations with workers worshiping the very idea of a profit. Individuals like Nef Anyo act as religious evangelist-like leaders for the normal Corpus worker. In the meantime, the Grineer research ways to overcome their genetic degradation caused by many generations of repeated cloning. At one point, Grineer researcher Tyl Regor finds and breaks open a tomb on Uranus where an ancient Sentient was held within, unknowingly reawakening an old enemy of the Origin System.[18]
Syndicate factions also emerged, each with their own ideology on the fate of the Origin System amidst the glaring conflict between Grineer and Corpus empires from seeking the restoration of humanity on Earth to a system-wide purge to restore peace.
The Tenno are being reawakened by the Lotus, not remembering anything of their past, possibly due to the abrupt awakening[19]. These Tenno awake from dormancy already connected to a Warframe that the Lotus informs them how to use, and so are unaware of their true nature, enabled by the lack of memory. They are then set loose upon the Origin System, either alone or in small squads to tackle a wide variety of missions designated by the Lotus to maintain a balance between the Grineer and Corpus factions or to quell Infested uprisings.[20][21]
Warframe Era[]
Tenno Awakening[]
Awakening[]
Warframe Cinematic Intro - TennoCon 2019
For countless centuries, the Tenno have been dormant, but with the Grineer Empire on the rise, the Lotus begins tracking down and awakening the Tenno. Unfortunately for the Lotus, Captain Vor has been one step ahead of her so far and has been killing off the Tenno as they awaken, before they are strong enough to stop him. His latest find takes him to Earth, near an Ostron village, where he finds a dormant Tenno just as the Lotus reawakens them.
This time, however, he has a different plan—to capture said Tenno. He attaches an Ascaris device to the Warframe, ordering his soldiers to spare it; he intends to use the Ascaris to control the Tenno, and take it to the Twin Queens as his prize. Presumably the first of many or a proof of concept, Vor would then seek to capture more Tenno; once armed with loyal Tenno soldiers, the Grineer Empire would become unstoppable.
The player must evade Vor and his soldiers, arm themselves, restore a ship to functioning order with the help of ship Cephalon Ordis, and ultimately confront Vor to put a stop to his plans.
Vor's Prize[]
Captain Vor
Continuing with their efforts to stop Captain Vor, the newly awakened Tenno travels around Earth, looking for parts to repair their Orbiter ship with. With the help of ship Cephalon Ordis at the helm, they manage to rescue a Corpus black marketeer named Darvo who was imprisoned by the Grineer for being sympathetic to the Tenno cause. Darvo helps the Tenno retrieve ship segments that unlock basic functionality such as Market or Foundry access.
In the end, the Tenno successfully disables the Ascaris device, freeing them from Vor's control. However, the device has an anti-tampering failsafe that will cause it to detonate if it is not disarmed. They then seek to assassinate the captain, defeating him on a mining asteroid off Earth's orbit, ultimately disarming the Ascaris device.
The Lotus counts on the Tenno to travel across the Star Chart to bring balance to the Origin System from the dominating forces of the Grineer and Corpus factions.
Once Awake[]
Infested Charger
Dr. Tengus, a Grineer doctor, has been experimenting with a bio-weapon of some sorts and the player is tasked to investigate. The player discovers that this bio-weapon the Grineer was working on was a strain of the Infestation that survived the events of The Old War. After a failure in a testing lab, the Infested broke out from quarantine and invaded Grineer outposts and ships on Mercury. As the possibility of an Infested outbreak was a threat to the Origin System, the Lotus commands the player to eradicate the Infestation. With the help of a Cascade Bomb infused with Void energy, the player successfully eliminated the source of the Infestation. However, because of the continued research efforts of Dr. Tengus, the System is not immune from future outbreaks.
The Archwing[]
Balor Famorian
The threat of a Grineer Balor Fomorian, the capital ship of the Fomorian fleet, tips the balance of power within the Solar System. Councilor Vay Hek declares war on the Corpus and the Chairman of the Corpus Board of Directors, Frohd Bek, in an attempt to seize total control over the Origin System.
The player is forced to construct an Orokin-era mechanical wings, an Archwing, along with an Archgun and Archmelee, to destroy it in space combat. To do so they will need to find the 
Odonata component blueprints that are scattered across Orokin archives throughout Venus. After obtaining their new gear, the player tries to sabotage the Fomorian, only to realize that they do not have enough firepower to do so. After destroying dozens of Grineer fighters, the player performs a tactical retreat, leaving the real battle with the Fomorian to happen another day.
Discovery of the Arcane Machine[]
Stolen Dreams[]
Maroo
Lotus tasks the player to search for the mysterious Arcane Codices. Their importance is unknown, but the Grineer had sought it for a potential cure to the Cloning Decay Syndrome that has plagued its faction and the Corpus had sought to strike riches with them.
In search of these codices, the player captures a thief named Maroo who recently stole a piece of the codices and went into hiding. Upon interrogating Maroo, the player finds out that she has been hired by Grineer scientist Tyl Regor to steal them from an Orokin Derelict. However, after the Corpus outbid the Grineer for the codex, she broke her contract and deceived Regor, swapping the real codex with a fake one, and sold the real codex to Corpus hands.
In exchange for protective custody, Maroo reluctantly join forces with the Tenno after cheating the Grineer. Maroo then revealed the locations of the codices, and after a series of Spy missions, the player successfully retrieved all six codices with Maroo's guidance. After Ordis' musings on transcribing the codices, she then informs the player that she had found a machine in the Orokin Derelict from which she had extracted her Arcane Codex. Upon entering an Orokin Void gate on Mars, the player reached the Derelict that housed the enigmatic Arcane Machine. Uploading the codices to the machine yielded a cryptic message, to which the Lotus cannot ascertain its meaning. In confusion, the player returns to their ship, empty-handed, while Maroo sets off in her own path.
The New Strange[]
Cephalon Simaris
Arcane Machine
Close up on object on Arcane Machine
Cephalon Simaris, a Cephalon construct that seeks to immortalize creatures into data for knowledge, requires the Tenno's assistance to free his Sentinels from custody of the Grineer. After freeing his Sentinels, the Lotus discovered "fragments of a biological signature" within the prison's security logs. Ordis plays the log and a mysterious message came up, with a voice similar to the one found from the Arcane Machine from the end of Stolen Dreams.
After refusing to answer on the subject, Simaris tells the Tenno that, in exchange for deciphering this mysterious biological signature, they must assist him in Synthesis, the process of scanning targets to be uploaded for storage in his Sanctuary. After helping Simaris, he says that the signature is of Tenno origin. A blueprint for a beacon derived from the signature is given to the player to help track down this creature. Crafting this beacon sends a signal which turns out to be a transmission from the Arcane Machine:
The Lotus informs the Tenno that this creature has been going to locations where the Arcane Codices were found, slaughtering Grineer and Corpus to cover somebody's tracks; somebody doesn't want people to know the existence of such codices or the Arcane Machine. After extracting information from a Corpus network, this creature turns out to be the Warframe 
Chroma who has gone rogue — not controlled by any Tenno. The hunt leads the Tenno back to the Arcane Machine where they encounter a hostile Chroma who destroyed the machine. Simaris asks the Tenno to synthesize it for its unusual behavior. However, Chroma escapes being synthesized after being scanned once. As a result, Simaris reveals to have a piece of the Arcane Codices of his own and discloses another location that holds an Arcane Machine. Luring Chroma to this particular machine results in a successful Synthesis and the Tenno receives a Chroma blueprint for their troubles. Unbeknownst to the Lotus and the Tenno, this second Arcane Machine contains a projection of a Sentient relic, hinting at future events to come.
The Revelation[]
Natah[]
Oculyst
On Uranus, the Tenno encounters strange drones that seem to be looking for something... or someone. Upon scanning them, the Lotus will ask the Tenno for their assistance. Assuming that they are of Corpus origin, Lotus sends the Tenno to Earth to investigate these drones, only to discover an Old War wreckage which heightens her confusion. In an epiphany, the Lotus realizes these drones are Sentient Oculysts and immediately cuts off transmissions with the Tenno. An individual of the Orokin-era, Conclave master Teshin offers his aid to unravel the truth about the mysterious Lotus, suspicious of her true motives.
In search for information on these drones, Grineer scientist Tyl Regor has lead efforts in excavating a tomb from the Old War in the depths of Uranus. The Lotus suddenly reappears, claiming she went dark to hide her tracks and pleads to the Tenno to stop Regor from entering this tomb. Their efforts were in vain as Regor accidentally awakens a Sentient, that being Hunhow, destroyer of worlds:
The Lotus reveals that her old name was Natah and was formerly a Sentient, ordered to eliminate the Tenno during the Old War. From the Tau System, where the Sentient stronghold resides, she crossed the Void to reach the Origin System and complete her mission. However, because the Sentients were programmed by their Orokin creators to be vulnerable to the Void as a safeguard against a rebellion, the Lotus subsequently lost her ability to procreate. With the Old War coming near at the end, there was no need to kill the Tenno. Wanting children on her own, the Lotus decides to hide them away in the "second dream".
Once the daughter of Hunhow, the Lotus betrayed her own kind out of selfishness to become a mother. Hunhow will soon finish where the Lotus had failed: elimination of the Tenno.
The Second Dream[]
Shadow Stalker
The Sentient Hunhow awakens from his slumber, seeking revenge on the Tenno for their actions during The Old War. Allying with the Stalker, they seek to destroy the "womb in the sky", later revealed as the Tenno's weakness: a Reservoir on Lua that was hidden within the Void by the Lotus to protect the Tenno from the Sentients.
The player is tasked with finding Hunhow, who infiltrated the Lotus' mind during the events of Natah. With the unexpected help of Alad V, all traces lead to a Sentient relic on Uranus, dug up by the Grineer. Interacting with the relic, the Lotus tries to ascertain the location of Hunhow, only to be foiled by allowing Hunhow to know the location of the Reservoir. With the Stalker en route, the player chases after him to prevent him from reaching the Reservoir first. The player follows the Stalker through a Void Gate into an Orokin Tower in the Void, realizing that this Reservoir is on Earth's moon that was hidden within the Void. Disabling the Orokin Tower's Void mask mechanism allows the moon's location, known as Lua, to be detectable. This allows Ordis to pick up the player from the tower and drop them onto Lua, where Stalker begins to collapse the void. The player is forced to phase Lua back out of the void in order to avoid it being crushed by the weight of the Void. Now that Lua is no longer protected from the Sentients by the Void, the only option left is to protect the Reservoir.
The truth behind the Reservoir is that in it lies the Tenno's true form, the Operator. In the Reservoir, the Operator directs their Void energy to control the Warframes remotely, a process called Transference. The Stalker rendezvous with the player but upon seeing the Operator, he hesitates to kill, leaving the player to deal with hordes of Sentient fighters with their newfound power: the ability to channel Void energy to fight in their Operator form.
Upon the Orbiter, the player has to put their Operator into a new Transference vessel: the Somatic Link at the back of the ship. In the final clash between the player and the Stalker, the player proves victorious and subsequently encounters the Lotus in-person for first time. As the Lotus carries the unconscious Operator into the Somatic Link, the player regains some of their memories of being a Tenno, remembering one of the five great schools that they once belonged to in the Orokin Age (the Old War).
The War Within[]
Teshin
A disturbance on Reservoirs in Lua prompts the Tenno to investigate the problem. Turns out Teshin has intruded the same location where the player retrieved their Tenno body on Lua, to lure them out, revealing that he is a double agent for the Grineer Queens. In pursuit of the truth, the Tenno follows Teshin's deployed Specters who leads them to a supposedly uninhabited asteroid field. Disabling the security matrix exposes the Kuva Fortress, the central base of Grineer operations and home to the Twin Queens. The Tenno realizes the base's mobile state prevented them from encountering it.
Infiltrating the fortress, the Tenno discovers the Queen's lair, along with Teshin, under control of Queens' Kuva Scepter due to his status as an Orokin Dax soldier. The Dax were biologically programmed to not disobey those with Orokin blood, Kuva. So, unrelentingly, Teshin has brought the Tenno to the Queens for Continuity, the ritual of transferring consciousness between bodies for everlasting life. Due to repeated cloning, the Queens' bodies had suffered the Cloning Decay Syndrome with each cycle of Continuity, so to preserve their immortality, they need a new, young body. Before they capture the Tenno, Ordis cuts off Transference, in an attempt to protect the Operator while leaving their Warframe behind. However, the Queens will start the process of Continuity, burrowing into the Tenno's mind through their Warframe surrogate.
After a transitional period into a vision, the Tenno, now in Operator form, appears on an mountain under a snowstorm. There they meet Teshin who instructs them through the mountain pass to regain their memories as a Tenno, which were suppressed by Margulis in an effort to protect them from the Void. The tragic Zariman Ten Zero incident becomes clearer to the Tenno as they regain their ability to manipulate the Void without the need to channel it through a Warframe.
With their original powers back, the Tenno return back to the Kuva Fortress to save Teshin from the Queens. After a series of battle with the Queens' guards and Teshin himself, the Tenno finally circumvents the Queens' defense and steals their Kuva Scepter. Now vulnerable, the Tenno and Teshin kill the Elder Queen, leaving the Worm Queen to escape the confines of death.
Back at the mountain pass vision, the Tenno decides what to do with the Kuva stolen from the Queens. Regardless of their decision, a mysterious figure whispers in their mind, foreshadowing the outcome of regaining their Void powers.
Chains of Harrow[]
Harrow
- For more backstory, see Rell (Webcomic).
The Tenno receives a strange transmission from an abandoned Steel Meridian ship that draws their attention. Upon arriving on this ship, they discover its crew murdered in cold blood. Odd messages written in blood are scattered throughout, haunting the Tenno as they track down the suspect. Here, they meet Palladino, the Holy Speaker of the Red Veil, who says that their syndicate is in shambles. Their sacred muse, a Tenno named Rell, abandoned his post in their temple, causing chaos throughout their organization. Unlike other Tenno, Rell did not go into cryosleep in the Lua's Reservoirs for he was cast out by Margulis and his fellow Tenno for having blinded Margulis[22]. Instead, he sacrificed his life, bound his spirit to his Warframe, 
Harrow, who became a resting vigil towards The Man in The Wall itself.
Requesting protection, the Tenno brought Palladino to the Steel Meridian base, Iron Wake, where she will be watched by Steel Meridian personnel. To contact Rell, Palladino asks the Tenno to bring back a sacred relic in order to complete her seance. Apparently, Rell still retains memories of his humanity despite having a manic episode that resulted from losing control over Transference due to attacks from The Man in The Wall. To resolve this, the Tenno captures Rell's manifestations of emotion, disturbances made of Transference energy, and return them to the Red Veil temple in the Void.
In order to end Rell's suffering, the Tenno frees Harrow from his chains, allowing Rell to rest in slumber. However, with no vessel to protect against The Man in The Wall, the Tenno will have to deal with the consequences.
The Lotus' Disappearance[]
Apostasy Prologue[]
Ballas
A faint purple orb at the end of the Orbiter's Personal Quarters beckons the attention of the Tenno. Upon interacting with it, the Tenno is transitioned to somewhere on Lua where they begin following a purple trail that retraces the path to the room where the player recovered their Tenno body from the Reservoir. As they travel through, they experience the final moments of Margulis before her execution leading up to the discovery of Lotus' enclave at the end of the trail. There, Orokin Executor Ballas appears to apologize to the Lotus and promises to not abandon "Margulis" again. Holding hands, both Ballas and the Lotus disappear into a mysterious light, leaving the Tenno in their Operator form clutching at the remains of Lotus' helmet. The Lotus has left. The mother has abandoned her children.
The Sacrifice[]
Excalibur Umbra
The Tenno hears faint whispers of the recently abandoned Lotus. Her voice directs them towards her helmet within the Orbiter's Personal Quarters. As the Operator touches the helmet, visions of a Warframe being restrained by Ballas and Sentient fighters flow in their mind, prompting them towards Earth to investigate.
The Warframe in question, 
Excalibur Umbra, was out of sight — only his remains survived his fight with the Sentients. Ordis attempts to recreate him in the Foundry based on scans of his remains but lacks sufficient data to do so. Trace minerals on Umbra's 
Skiajati Nikana suggest that more information can be found on Lua. A visit to Lua yielded a Vitruvian device found within a containment lab that belonged to Ballas. This Vitruvian contained recordings made by Ballas on his betrayal to the Orokin during The Old War and the origin of Warframes. Uploading the Vitruvian into the ship's mainframe gave the ability to craft Excalibur Umbra. Upon equipping him in the Arsenal, he immediately goes berserk and damages his own helmet to reveal an eye, then pins the Operator into a wall until they enter his mind using Transference. The Tenno learns of Umbra's origins as a personal punishment from Ballas upon a Dax soldier for spying on him during his late betrayal of the Orokin. The Dax soldier was subjected to injections of a Helminth Infestation strain to produce skin-grafted armor and modified organs, akin to the typical Warframe design process during the Old War.
The memory abruptly ends, and the Operator finds out that Umbra has escaped the ship, rejecting Transference. They chase down Umbra as more entries of the Vitruvian become unlocked by accessing his memories. He contains the key to the secrets of the Warframes themselves.
After multiple tries, the Operator eventually accesses Umbra's final memory: killing his own son Isaah when the Infestation takes over his body and Ballas forces him to act through the modified Transference Bolt. The Operator intervenes in this event, telling Umbra that he doesn't have to relive this event in solitude, instead, they will face this grief together through the duality of mind and body. Umbra as the hand, the Operator as the soul.
In this revelation, the minds of Umbra and the Operator are linked — Transference was successful. With this newfound power, the Operator and Umbra fend off a Sentient assault and return to Earth to face Ballas.
During the final confrontation, Umbra successfully stabs Ballas in the gut, defying Ballas' subjugation thanks to the Operator. After questioning him on the whereabouts of the Lotus, she appears from the sky in a Sentient battle form, taking Ballas with her as she returns back to her Mother. The Lotus seems to no longer be the motherly figure that the Tenno loved.
Prelude to War[]
Chimera Prologue[]
Amalgam Ballas
The Man in The Wall manifests itself in the Orbiter's Personal Quarters, luring the Tenno towards the Lotus' helmet, dropped during the events of Apostasy Prologue. When the Tenno touches the helmet, they are transported to Lua, where they begin to follow The Man in The Wall. The Man in The Wall leads the Tenno through the Reservoir, and into the Chamber of the Lotus. A portal at the end of the room transports the Tenno into a Sentient chamber that seems to imprison Ballas, now malformed with Sentient growth. Cursing the Lotus for allegedly deceiving him, Ballas discreetly constructs the "Sentient Slayer" away from what he claims to be Lotus' watchful eye. The Tenno grasps the image of the legendary 
Paracesis , learning its blueprint in the process. — The New War is coming.
Alad V's Amalgams[]
Amalgam Heqet
- For the related event, see Operation: Hostile Mergers.
- Main article: Fragments/Partnership
Alad V returned to work for the Corpus back on Jupiter, although due to the failure of the Zanuka Project and the Mutalist Incursion incident, along with Nef Anyo's Orb Vallis terraforming project winning the favor of Board of Director Frohd Bek, Alad's reputation has since severely diminished. He was approached by an old acquaintance, Regus, who offered him never-before-seen Old War tech. Alad immediately jumped the chance and begun investing, quickly signing a contract that Regus immediately agreed to despite Alad's attempts at manipulating loopholes. However, he soon came to realize something was very wrong when Regus flashed at him with an inhuman smile.
Alad realized too late that the Regus that approached him was actually a Sentient Mimic; to his horror, he had entered an unwitting partnership with the enemy. Alad's attempts to defy submission instantly met in failure; he had no choice but to comply with the Amalgam project and create soldiers for the Sentients, or the Ropalolyst would raze his gas city and his Corpus rivals would execute him for treason.
The Amalgam program turned out to be a success. As per agreements, the identities of his partners would be kept confidential, instating a strict no-fly zone on their craft. All while Alad V told to himself, "Life is Profit."
In addition to creating the Amalgams, Alad V also works to receive combat data against the Warframes and sends it over to his partners. However, his boasting about his "exciting new product line" is merely a facade, even encouraging and expressing gratitude to the Tenno when they fight the Ropalolyst.
Ropaloyst
- Main article: Fragments/Partnership
The Sentients trick Alad V into partnership, forcing him to create the Amalgams, Grineer/Corpus hybridized with Sentient powers. These new units, along with their combat data against the Tenno, would further serve the Sentients in their preparation for The New War.
During the mission to kill the Ropalolyst, Natah informs the Tenno that the belief that she spared them as an act of mercy was false: rather that she was forced into doing so by the Orokin, and that they were both "imprisoned in Lua's belly", shedding light on the events of the Apostasy Prologue as a result. Natah also addresses that she "has seen the wall's other face", implying that during her time in her chambers on Lua, that the Void affected her as well with The Man in The Wall. Furthermore, she establishes the Tenno as the evil entity for the "destruction of my people" following the Ropalolyst's defeat, and foreshadows the events to come in The New War.
Erra[]
Erra, Natah's brother
In preparation of The New War, the Tenno travels to the Veil Proxima with their Railjack crew, only to discover a Murex Ship. With their Paracesis in hand, they board the Murex to fend off the Sentient threat. Afterwards, they destroy a mysterious red crystal at the end of the Murex, which upon re-boarding the Orbiter reveals flashbacks about The Old War and Natah's brother, Erra. A vision of the Sentient Mothership exposes a meeting between Erra and Natah, hinting at an escalation of the war with Natah's war cry.
The Maker[]
Inside the Sentient mothership, Erra is telling Natah that their mother, who she wrongly believed to be alive, is dead and urges her to finish the war as "[she has] her fire". Natah notes that she remembers ordering the Tenno to attack Erra and that he was destroyed. Erra objects and states that she remembers wrong and will need time to completely heal from "what the Makers had done to [her]". Natah is not convinced and points at leashed Ballas asking if he is one of the Makers.
Erra suddenly grabs and throws Natah at the pedestal behind him, where she is trapped in a field of energy. Erra tells her to "finish the war" and drops Ballas's leash. Revealing that his imprisonment was a deception, Ballas stands as he and Erra silently watch Natah.
Operation: Scarlet Spear[]
The Sentients are invading the Origin System—their first destination: Earth. Tenno must coordinate their efforts to fend off Sentient Murex warships in space and Condrix drop ships on the ground. Little Duck has set up a Scarlet Spear Flotilla Relay off Earth's atmosphere as the Tenno's primary base of operations during this invasion.
Angered by the presence of Sentient and Tenno alike, General Sargas Ruk of the Grineer faction tries to sabotage the Tenno's efforts in fending off Condrixes on the forests of Grineer-controlled Earth, believing that it is the Tenno's fault for the Sentient invasion.
Operation: Orphix Venom[]
Following the Tenno's victory and the Sentients' defeat in Operation: Scarlet Spear, Erra and the Sentients have retreated and gone into hiding. The second Sentient invasion in the Origin System thus begins, and the Orphix Sentient Units return, but this time they have been taught to override Warframes by deploying weaponized pulses cleverly designed to disable them, leaving the Necramechs as the Tenno's last option.
During the Operation, Natah transmits messages to the Tenno, revealing that she was the one who taught the Orphix to disable Warframes. Her messages about deploying the Orphix series, containing a letter followed by a number, reveal a code from ordering the numbers, which says: "I AM DYING".
The New War[]
The Sentients, led by Ballas and Erra, launch a full-scale invasion on the Origin System. The Tenno are forced to form an alliance with the Grineer and Corpus to unite against a common enemy. However, despite the efforts of Grineer Kahl-175, Corpus Veso, and Teshin, the Origin System falls as Ballas banishes the Lotus and the Operator into a Void portal, attempting to trap them within their own history under a recursive timeline.
Without the Tenno, the Origin System crumbles under the Sentients as Ballas becomes its new ruler, brainwashing the masses into subservience under Narmer and using his position to defame the Tenno and manipulate everyone's memories of their actions. The mysterious Drifter fights back against Narmer, having somehow brought back the Lotus, now a dying Eidolon. They team up with Hunhow to claim Sentient shards from Erra's Archons to heal the Lotus. However, she fails to recognize the Drifter and becomes hostile. After a segment about the Operator during the accident on the Zariman Ten Zero where they accept The Man in the Wall's deal, the powers are granted to the Drifter. This act also allows the Operator to return to the Origin System in the Drifter's place, causing the Lotus to cease hostilities and leave with the intent to fight Ballas.
A confused Operator travels to the Zariman Ten Zero which has come halfway out of the Void, confronting the Drifter, revealing the Drifter to be an alternate reality version of the Operator. Ballas, enraged at Lotus and the return of the Tenno, sets in motion his plan to use the Sentient mothership Praghasa to devour the Origin System's sun to escape to the Tau System alone, thereby ending all life, organic or otherwise, in the entire system. This forces Erra to defect and lend his aid to the Tenno for the survival of his race. After a long battle, the Lotus and the Tenno finally kill Ballas. Their victory is cut short by the arrival of The Man in the Wall, appearing as a giant humanoid embedded into a wall, who bellows in a heavily distorted voice before mysteriously vanishing.
With Narmer now destabilized, the Origin System begins to slowly recover. The Tenno returns the Lotus to Lua, who reveals conflicting personalities between herself, Natah, and Margulis. The Tenno asks her to choose one voice to lead the others in the near future.
Veilbreaker[]
On a Murex above Deimos, Kahl-175 removes his Narmer Veil. His distress signal is picked up by Daughter, who lends her support in exchange for information on Narmer's new leader Pazuul. After freeing captives and escaping, Kahl sets up a base of operations at the Drifter's Camp. His campaign to free his brothers is only just beginning.
The Duviri Paradox[]
Trapped within the Void in an endless loop, the Drifter time and time again fails to escape Duviri as they are repeatedly sentenced to death by the time-resetting mad ruler Dominus Thrax, leaving them in a depressed and apathetic state, no longer remembering who they are. One day, following a strange sensation of being stabbed, a mysterious hand appears providing the Drifter with strange powers. The hand guides the Drifter to Teshin, an old wizened man, who explains that they have received aid from beyond the Void-made "walls" of their "prison" and gradually teaches them about the ways of the Tenno and the Warframes sent as aid through the paradox from a storybook titles Tales of Duviri.
Drifter acquires a piece of a toy figurine, after being momentarily transported aboard an abandoned derelict, through a "paradox;" and are led to Teshin who explains that gaining more pieces from the paradox is the key to escaping their prison. The Drifter sets forth to collect the remaining pieces, experiencing days from the "Duviri Tales" brought to life in the world around him - each day molding the world after the emotion Thrax felt at the time. With each obtained piece, the Drifter experiences a memory about the emotion of that day. Teshin tells the Drifter that these memories may belong to Thrax himself, who may be a Tenno from the Zariman, the derelict spaceship in the background of Duviri. In Teshin's history, this ship was lost traversing the Void and was recovered after the ordeal granted the Tenno mysterious powers of the Void. But here, the ship seems to be stranded instead.
Meanwhile, Dominus Thrax grows increasingly frustrated and eventually has Teshin tracked down and killed. Enraged, and finally feeling strong emotions again for the first time, the Drifter is able to possess an Orowyrm and raid Thrax's throne, claiming the final part of the figurine. Upon seeing that the figurine is one of Thrax, the Drifter realizes that they themselves were the Tenno that inadvertently created Duviri - a manifestation of their emotional trauma aboard the Zariman, based around the Tales of Duviri. The Drifter takes control for a brief moment to reset the world and resurrect Teshin, thereby giving back Thrax the throne.
No longer bound to Duviri, the Drifter can choose to leave to the Origin System to repay their assistance. Teshin warns that if they do leave, they will not be who they are now, but who they were then.
Post-New War[]
Angels of the Zariman[]
Due to the events of the New War, the Zariman Ten Zero is accessible from the material world. The appearance of the fabled ship draws the attention of the Worm Queen's Grineer and Parvos Granum's Corpus, while a strange song emanating from within attracts the attention of the Tenno and the Lotus.
Once aboard, the Tenno finds that the Grineer had arrived first, loses the Lotus' signal, and meets The Holdfasts, the last remaining survivors of the Zariman's crew who were known to be dead. Led by Quinn, they exist in a form in-between life and death, defending the Zariman from that which would destroy it, including the Void itself. They inform the Tenno that the Zariman is suffering a Void Cascade that threatens reality itself, accelerated by the Void Angels such as Kira, who was a former member of the Holdfasts before succumbing to the Void's call. The Tenno is able to stop the Void Cascade with their powers, but the Angels proceed to break through the Albrecht Membrane and cause a Void Flood. After sealing the flood, the invading Grineer along with Kira begin a Void Armageddon and head to attack the Reliquary Drive powering the Zariman directly. Cavalero of the Holdfasts explains that while the Zariman was a colony ship and not provided weapons, the Reliquary Drive was too important to leave unguarded and so it was equipped with Auto-Fabricating Armaments. Using the Armaments, the Tenno is able to successfully defend the Reliquary Drive from the encroaching Grineer troops and destroy Kira, putting a stop to the song and the threat.
Quinn suggests creating a memorial for everyone that was lost in Kira's favorite location, which the Tenno visits to honor them. The Tenno is encouraged by Quinn and the Holdfasts to continue helping defend the Zariman, and to use it as a new home and fortress against both the Void and the enemies of the Tenno.
Whispers in the Walls[]
Due to Ballas's attempts to open Void portals on an unprecedented scale during The New War, the Indifference grows increasingly restless. In response, Loid awakens "The Kalymos Sequence" precept and urges the Tenno to Deimos. Behind the Entrati family's back, Loid guides them to Albrecht's Laboratories hidden beneath the Necralisk, revealing that Albrecht Entrati has been engaged in an ongoing battle with the Indifference's forces: The Murmur.
After awakening the Sleeper, the original human Loid, and meeting with the Cavia, Albrecht's animal experiments that speak only Voidtongue, the Tenno interact with Albrecht's incomplete Vessels project and discover that Albrecht Entrati fled to the year 1999 to escape the Indifference. Meanwhile, Loid becomes increasingly aggravated as the Murmur escalates their attacks.
Tracking down Albrecht's messages, the Tenno are able to produce the Jahu Gargoyle that auto-translates the Cavia's Voidtongue, who reveal one final message from Albrecht that Loid threw away. The message reveals Albrecht's praise for Loid's servitude as his assistant, displaying an emotion of love that Loid long since craved which pacifies the Indifference. With renewed determination, Loid makes preparations to send the Tenno to 1999 and find Albrecht.
Alad V Arc[]
Alad V and his Zanuka proxy
- Main article: Alad V#Lore
As Alad V plays an important role during the events of The Second Dream, knowing his history with the Tenno is paramount to understanding why he was so eager to helping them, despite being of Corpus origin.
The Zanuka Project[]
The Gradivus Dilemma[]
Corpus scientist and entrepreneur Alad V discovers a cache of Tenno in cryosleep on Mars, intending to use them for his secret weapon: The Zanuka Project. Grineer General Sargas Ruk responds by invading Corpus territory and expanding their control over the Origin System, under the excuse that the Corpus violated a contract regarding the weaponization of ancient Orokin technology: the Warframes. To tip the balance of power, the Tenno is under a dilemma: to free their kin, or to let Grineer expansion run amuck.
After a six-day war, the Grineer proved victorious over the Corpus, holding the most sectors under their control.
The Hunt For Alad V[]
- For more, see Zanuka Project.
Despite losing The Gradivus Dilemma, Alad V continued to work on his Zanuka Project in secret, capturing a Warframe called 
Valkyr and dissecting its parts for the creation of a new Corpus proxy with Warframe abilities. Corpus Board Member Frohd Bek's pending position as the CEO of the Corpus is being threatened by Alad's research. As Alad's direct rival, he is afraid of his success and attempts to sabotage Alad's work, sending ships to his laboratory. However, Bek's ships have been infected for some unknown reason.
In desperation, Bek pleas a deal with the Tenno, to help him rid of the Infestation and in return, he'll disclose Alad's research facility. After doing so, the Tenno raids Alad V's laboratory in the gas cities of Jupiter and successfully frees Valkyr, who was modified with Corpus constraints. Physically and mentally scarred as a subject to Alad V's brutal methods, Valkyr was used to construct a Zanuka prototype which never reached mass production due to the Tenno's valiant efforts. With the lack of support and funding to his project, Alad V had to develop the lesser Zanuka Hunter as a result, who now hunts down the Tenno to gather more Warframes to continue his project.
Suspicious Shipments[]
The Lotus detects an unusual amount of Corpus vessels that are traveling outside their normal shipping routes. Upon investigating these highly secured ships, the Tenno discovers that Alad V is researching the Infestation, remarking the Corpus' ban on Infested biotechnology. Reconciling his shortcomings in his Zanuka Project, Alad explores forbidden knowledge in hopes of getting the attention of the Corpus Board of Directors and be subsequently promoted for reaching new heights in the name of profit. Soon, Alad will conceive the Mutalist strain that he sought for, albeit with horrible consequences.
The Mutalist Experiments[]
Operation: Breeding Grounds[]
Infested MOA
With the Zanuka Project slowing to a halt, Alad V decided to look into the Infestation for answers to his disappointing portfolio. His studies resulted in a new development of the Infestation, the Mutalist strain, having the ability to infect inorganic beings such as the robotic MOA. To transmit his creation throughout the Origin System, he engineered Infested Hives, tumors that are capable of corrupting ships and colonies in a matter of seconds.
The Lotus learns of a massive Infested outbreak off Eris and sends the Tenno to destroy the Infested Hives, fearing a system-wide outbreak. Despite temporarily hindering Alad's plans, he mocks the Tenno's futile efforts on stopping the inevitable: the domination of his Mutalist empire.
Operation: Mutalist Incursions[]
Mutalist Alad V
After the failure of the Zanuka Project, Alad V ventures off to research the Infestation, only to return with a new look, being exposed to the Mutalist Infested strain that he has been experimenting on. He introduces existing Corpus proxies blended with Mutalist flesh such as the Mutalist Osprey, along with new Infested units like Brood Mother and Boilers. Under the partial control of the Infested, he declares a new Mutalist Empire, boasting his research as the next evolution of humanity.
To counter this threat, the Tenno successfully purged most of these Mutalist enemies from the Origin System, reducing their danger to the Orokin Derelicts and the Infested planet Eris. However, Alad's actions have left the system vulnerable to random Infestation Outbreaks, leaving the Tenno to fend them alongside the Grineer and Corpus in the future.
Patient Zero[]
Coinciding with the events in Operation: Mutalist Incursions, Alad V, now turned Mutalist, continues to thrive and populate his Mutalist creations throughout the Origin System. The Tenno attempts to triangulate Alad's location by sabotaging Infested ships. Eventually, they reach Alad's lab and destroy it, after which he unveils his newest creation: a 
Mesa Warframe controlled by the Infestation. Putting Mesa out of her misery, the Tenno obtains information on Alad's true location. They eventually assassinate Mutalist Alad V on an Infested Corpus ship, drifting in orbit around Eris.
Remarkably, Alad V survived, but the Tenno crippled his ability to deal further damage with his experiments on the Infestation.
Operation: Tubemen of Regor[]
The Lotus intercepted information on Grineer scientist Tyl Regor's secret cloning labs in the depths of Uranus. Deciding it was the perfect opportunity to weaken the Grineer Empire, who were already struggling to revert the effects of their Cloning Decay Syndrome, the Lotus instructs the Tenno to go to the Grineer Sealabs, allowing them to choose whether to destroy Regor's research or to steal it.
Alad V, a shadow of his former self, begs the Tenno to find a cure within those labs, in hopes to cure himself of the Infestation he was exposed to during his prior research. In response, Corpus plutocrat Nef Anyo offers to pay the Tenno to destroy the cure in spite of Alad V's traitorous actions to the Corpus.
Regardless of who the Tenno sided with, Alad V eventually finds a cure, becoming one of the few survivors of the Infestation.
Post Second Dream[]
Operation: Shadow Debt[]
After helping the Tenno during the events of The Second Dream, Shadow Stalker's followers, the Acolytes, hunt Alad V in vengeance. Alad V requests the Tenno to protect him as part of their deal for helping them unveil Hunhow's tomb. To triangulate the Acolytes' locations, the Tenno acquire security data from Grineer and Corpus systems through a series of Spy and Mobile Defense missions. The hunter becomes the hunted as the Tenno pursue Acolytes across the Origin System. In the final confrontation with the Acolyte Misery, the Tenno successfully fend off the assassin. Alad V is safe, for now.
References[]
- ↑ Lotus: "There are gaps. I had my mission and I completed it. All but the last sequence."
Teshin: "To destroy the Tenno."
-Dialogue during Natah - ↑ "Hunhow's found it. The Reservoir, hidden in the Void, a place Sentients can never reach. We must do everything to keep it there. It's the only way to keep the Tenno's power alive." - Lotus during The Second Dream
- ↑ "How could Rell have lived this long? Without the long dream?" -Lotus, during the Chains of Harrow quest
- ↑ Grendel's Leverian entry
- ↑ "With no Dax to keep the peace, and no Parvos Granum to hold the Corpus Board together, bloody land grabs were routine. The fertile fields of Reshantur changed hands many times. With each 'hostile takeover', slain workers became 'fertilizer' for the next yield of crops - tended by the survivors - and so. It. Went." - Drusus in
Nezha's Leverian entry
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Arid Eviscerator Synthesis imprint
- ↑ Alluded in the Guardsman Synthesis imprint
- ↑ Kuria poem
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Anti MOA Synthesis imprint
- ↑ "Using a single unified currency helps reduce many problems that arise when making complex trades -- such as Grineer bidding on Corpus weaponry or Corpus purchasing raw materials en masse from various mining colonies." - Cephalon Cordylon Entry 15
- ↑ "Derelict" Cephalon Fragment
- ↑ Corrupted Ancient Synthesis imprint
- ↑ "Deep within this millennia-old Orokin-turned-Infested ship lurks a creature created to fight in the Old War. Make your way to its location and dispatch this monster." - Lotus on Lephantis
- ↑ "The Vallis lifeforms emerged like memories, as Venus herself remembered who she was. This, here, is one of the most distant, most precious remembrances – an original Orokin strain, unseen for millennia." - The Business on Red-Crested Vermink
- ↑ "Specimen VK-7, unlike the others, did not come from a gene record. She was found, frozen, in a sealed closet close to the environmental control station. Her unassuming tomb for millennia. Here, then, was an intact example of Orokin-era fauna." - Sigor Savah on Venari
- ↑ The dogs are barking again. They somehow figured out we have been stockpiling. This upsets them given how we have been tightening the leash on their contracts. The Sisters are demanding we lower our material prices or suffer retribution by some new supership they have. Obviously they do not teach economics at obedience training. - Intercepted message by Alad V during Operation Sling-Stone
- ↑ As seen during Invasion missions as well as on Dark Sectors.
- ↑ The Second Dream quest
- ↑ "They escaped. We are working on tracing them. Separate this Tenno from the flock and it should be easy to kill. We shattered its Warframe and expect such an abrupt Cryo purge will have damaged its memories." -Captain Vor in his Excerpt after completing the Vor's Prize quest
- ↑ "The Grineer and Corpus are tireless and you are the only thing standing between them and total domination of the Origin System.
I am counting on you, Tenno." - Lotus at the end of Awakening - ↑ "Doctor Tengus' experiments with this plague are grossly irresponsible and have threatened the entire system. All that is needed is an infected ship to reach a populated area and we'll be unable to contain its spread. There's no controlling it; the Grineer will be in just as much peril as we are." - Lotus at the end of Once Awake
- ↑ BLINDED SHE CAST HIM OUT
