WARFRAME Wiki
Register
Advertisement
WARFRAME Wiki
ArchimedeanYonta
“Very well. Keep your secrets.”
This article/section contains unofficial information, concepts, or terminology derived from or based on community discussion, invention, or knowledge. It may be subjective and contain information or terminology that is not used by Digital Extremes or in official WARFRAME communications, and may not be an officially recognized concept.
AladVPortrait d
“You're not supposed to be in here! You're going to ruin the surprise!”
The following article/section contains spoilers.
Sgt Nef AnyoIcon
“Orokin secrets cannot remain secret forever! Start talking!”
The following article/section is conjecture. Content is subjected to change/removal as the game progresses. Please do not use this article for critical in-game information.

They were called Tenno. Warriors of blade and gun: masters of the Warframe armor. Those that survived the old war were left drifting among the ruins. Now they are needed once more.

The Grineer, with their vast armies, are spreading throughout the solar system. A call echoes across the stars summoning the Tenno to an ancient place. They summon you.

Allow the Lotus to guide you. She has rescued you from your cryostasis chamber and given you a chance to survive. The Grineer will find you; you must be prepared. The Lotus will teach you the ways of the Warframes and the secrets to unlocking their powers.

Come Tenno, you must join the war.

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[]

Orokin Era[]

106 by sbigham-dbqynav

An Orokin tower

Long before current events, the Origin System was 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 eponymous aristocratic ruling class of this civilization was dominant for an extended period over the System — perhaps for centuries or millennia[1].

They were known for their mastery of biotechnology and gene manipulation, to the degree that they created a caste of cloned workers, the Grineer, that were genetically programmed to obey their Orokin masters.[2] They were also known for their skill in merging organic material with the inorganic, as seen with the living Orokin Towers or the Infestation — an engineered infectious techno-organic parasite that subverts, mutates, and assimilates any biological or synthetic matter into a new infested lifeform.[3] They spent a great deal of time building large outposts throughout the Origin System[4] as well as performing numerous genetic experiments of creatures found on Earth.[5][6] It was during this era that the Void was discovered, a parallel dimension whose contents allowed for further developments of Orokin technology into fantastical heights[7], spearheaded by the famous Entrati family.[8]

The benefits of the Orokin's advancements were, however, not shared equally among all members of their society. The rigid hierarchy allowed for only a few lucky individuals to live fairly comfortably as servants, scholars, and enforcers for the Orokin elite. Though these servants were still subjected to the whims of their often cruel masters, the rest of the population were exploited for labor and used as disposable soldiers, as well as subjects for experiments.[9] There were families of farmers who toiled for their Orokin masters for generations, the Orokin exploiting their harsh manual labor to build their empire and fuel their whims, giving little compensation of their honest work in return.[10] Many of these farmer families — and others belonging to the lower classes — would eventually congregate together under the teachings of Parvos Granum, forming the Corpus and adopting its doctrine: the belief that anyone has the right to achieve fortune regardless of their social status.[11]

Orokin culture was centered around aesthetics, elegance, and beauty.[12] Among the Orokin ruling class there was also a focus on youth and extravagance.[13][14]

At some point, the empire began to look to populate other star systems, particularly Tau, presumably to quell their problems of overpopulation, overconsumption of resources, and pollution of the natural world[15].

The Zariman Ten Zero Incident[]

Vitruvian Zariman

Zariman schematic as seen in the Vitruvian

AF0F9A9D-2886-44A0-A210-C243D55356B8

Zariman as seen in Rell webcomic

The Orokin continued experimenting with the Void. At some point, an experiment was conducted where a colony ship containing a large group of people and their families was directed into the Void in an attempt to travel to and populate the Tau System.[16] The ship was lost and it was many years before the ship resurfaced.[17]

Due to Void exposure, the adults on the ship became crazed, hunting down the children.[18] The children, however, had survived exposure to the Void, retaining their sanity, but they had changed during the process. The children developed uncontrollable Void related powers that were capable of mutilating or killing anyone who came into contact with them. In self-defense, the children killed the unhinged adults, even their own parents, being traumatized for what they did.[19][20]

After the rediscovery of the ship, the Zariman children were deemed dangerous by the Orokin. They were hidden away[21] and forgotten out of shame and fear, being known as "Void demons". The Zariman children became known later as the Tenno, called such for the Zariman ship's designation of Ten-Zero (Ten-0).[22]

Margulis and the Zariman Children[]

Margulis was an Archimedean, a human of great intellect, and a prominent geneticist. Margulis discovered the Tenno and adopted them as her own, empathizing with their suffering. She sought out a means for the Tenno to control their powers and interact with the world normally.[23] Margulis received some opposition for her work and was advised by her secret lover[citation needed], the Orokin Executor Ballas, to cease her research and forget the Tenno. She refused and continued her research. Eventually, Margulis imposed "gates" on the Tenno's powers and created the Dream, a state of dreamy but lucid consciousness in a cold, dark environment, which helped bring their Void powers under some control, but this was not before an incident where she was maimed by the same Void powers which left her blind.[24]

The Birth of the Sentients[]

The Orokin had long since realized that they were bringing harm to the Origin System and still required a solution for "The Plan" of colonising the Tau System, after the failure of the Zariman mission. A reliable means of traveling to Tau needed to be developed, as would Tau need to be terraformed for habitation. It was proposed by Archimedean Perintol that he could contribute to "The Plan" with his new creations. He proposed the creation of a race of synthetic beings, which later evolved into beings known as the Sentients, to spearhead an expansion of Orokin influence beyond the Origin System into the Tau System. By reaching the Tau System using the Sentients, and beginning terraforming operations for their arrival, the Orokin sought to expand and prevent their empire's destruction.[25]

SentientMeleeTrooper

Sentient fighter

These original creations could adapt to any kind of damage and reproduced by fission while developing resistance to whatever had harmed them, making them the perfect tool to cross the perilous journey to Tau,[26] building a Solar Rail along the way. They could also use any materials surrounding them to repair themselves. As a result, these Sentient-precursors would also be useful to enter the hostile terrain of Tau and begin the terraforming process. However, there was a risk that these new lifeforms, with their adaptability and reproductive capabilities, could evolve into living, thinking machines and turn against the Orokin. Such ventures were forbidden under Orokin Law[27][28]. Archimedean Perintol said that there was an intentional "flaw" in their design; the Void, a working principle of the solar rail that would connect the Origin System to Tau, was poisonous to them, and so they would not be a danger to the Orokin should something go wrong.

The machines in Tau evolved and grew into the Sentients, gaining their namesake sentience along the way to Tau.[29] Realizing that their Orokin creators would only bring ruin to Tau eventually as well, they rebelled.[30] Exposure to the Void, which they needed to travel through to return to the Origin System, did not kill the Sentients but merely rendered them sterile, unable to reproduce.[31][32] The Sentients under their leader Hunhow would start the rebellion, thus what would become known as The Old War began.

The Old War[]

ExcaliburPrimeInErraQuest

Excalibur Prime fighting a Sentient fighter on Lua

From this point, The Old War erupted between the Orokin and the Sentients. With their ability to subvert high levels of technology, the Sentient quickly overwhelmed the Orokin.[33][34] There were attempts to militarize their Grineer slaves[35] which also failed as a countermeasure. The Orokin quickly discovered that their method of fighting proved ineffective against the faction.[36]

The Corpus faction grew to the point where they were in the business of war-profiteering, developing and selling technology for the war effort. As such, the Orokin were aware of the Corpus existence, calling them "Industrialists" and a "merchant cult", and monitored their movements, due to their potential influence over the Orokin System.[37][38]

Development of Warframes[]

Faced with losing the war and with their technology useless, the Orokin needed to create something new that could aptly fight the Sentients. At first, they developed Necramechs, autonomous and remote-controlled machines with heavy weaponry, Void shielding, and immunity to Sentient Orphix pulses.[39] These machines were eventually retired due to their lack of adaptability.

In their desperation, the Orokin were forced to unearth their forbidden knowledge of the Infestation that once destroyed their colonies in the past due to an uncontrolled outbreak.[34]

At some point, Ballas began researching new uses for the Infestation by experimenting on willing and unwilling subjects drawn from Orokin warriors and other castes. Ultimately, this research led to the creation of Warframes — human subjects mutated through a specially engineered strain of the Infestation called Helminth.[40] However, while the new Warframes were powerful and initially did well against the Sentients, they retained some remnants of their former consciousness. The echoes of their lost selves manifested as intense rage and despair, making them unpredictable and just as likely to turn against their Orokin masters.[21]

Margulis, the Zariman Children, and Ballas' Warframes[]

Through events involving experiments on a Warframe similar to Rhino[21], the Orokin came to the conclusion that the Warframes alone were as uncontrollable as the Sentients, but realized that through Transference, another mind could take control of a Warframe, a process that would later be developed into a technology by Margulis.

Margulis' research eventually led her to work with an Archimedean specializing in Infestation manipulation named Silvana.[41] Together they intended to develop a substitute body for the Tenno and allow them to move freely and interact with the world, as a part of Transference Therapy. As only the Zariman children were capable of carrying out Transference safely, being able to empathize with the Warframe's traumatic experiences, they were intended by the Orokin[42] to become the new "operators" of the Warframes, a distant mind synchronized with a surrogate body.[40] Margulis came at odds with the Orokin, refusing to develop war machines that exploited the children's powers, and commiting Apostasy[43]. Meanwhile, Silvana was forced to continue her development of Warframes like Titania[44]. It was demanded that Margulis recant before The Seven, members of the judicial branch of the empire. Despite Ballas' pleas that she recant, Margulis continued to refuse and asked Ballas to save her. Ballas could not save Margulis and as a result, she was executed using the Jade Light.[45] Ballas was filled with grief and realized that he wanted Margulis back. Heartbroken at Margulis' execution, Ballas began planning to overthrow the Orokin.[46]

WhatRemainsComic8-10

Mag PrimeIcon272 Mag Prime in an Odonata Prime fighting Sentients

The Zariman children were trained into the fighting force known as the Tenno, serving their Orokin masters but bound by honor. Through Transference, they wielded Warframes to wage war against the Sentients, proving to be highly effective. Abiding by combat disciplines taught by the newly founded Tenno Focus Schools, Tenno-operated Warframes were equipped with melee and ballistic weapons to circumvent the Sentient interference of high-tech weaponry.[47] With the help of the Tenno, the Orokin managed to turn the tide of war over several lifetimes[48], leaving the Sentients helpless against the combination of archaic combat techniques and Void powers employed by the Tenno, that is until Ballas defected.

Ballas' Rebellion and Allying With Hunhow[]

Sgt Nef AnyoIcon
“Orokin secrets cannot remain secret forever! Start talking!”
The following article/section is conjecture. Content is subjected to change/removal as the game progresses. Please do not use this article for critical in-game information.
Unclear about the order of events with new info from Ropalolyst dialogue and Erra (Quest). In particular, when did the Orokin reprogram Natah, when did Hunhow 'die', and when did the Tenno turn on their Orokin masters? Was it under Lotus' command that the Tenno killed off the Orokin if the Orokin were the ones who reprogrammed Natah?

Octavia's Anthem/Transcript: "The Naga drum sounded, subversive, unknown. Coordinating the slaughter of your masters across the gap. Did you end our war? Or merely set the stage for the next?" planned by the Tenno, Natah may not know the truth during Ropalolyst, the betrayal happened after the war (Stalker codex) so Hunhow had been defeated (but did that end the war?)

As I understand it: return of Sentients, techno panic, Necramechs made (too predictable), Warframes made (too unreliable), Tenno transferred (just right), sentient beatdown, Ballas betrayal, Sentient plan/'sequence', Natah born, Hunhow & Natah cross gap (Hunhow as cover?), Natah betrays (Tenno stay in trances, can be used as weapons twice at once), Erra 'killed?', Hunhow shatters, Orokin 'win'/Sentients retreat, Tenno kill everyone at once (coordinated by drums), Collapse. Giga Martin (talk) 03:04, 4 January 2021 (UTC)


Ballas, with the intention of destroying the Orokin Empire, began to conspire with Hunhow. In a series of Vitruvian recordings, Ballas revealed to Hunhow the secret weakness of the hitherto unstoppable Warframes — the Tenno operators themselves. The Tenno, sequestered in a semi-conscious Transference state in the Reservoir on Lua, would be unable to protect themselves in such a state. Hence, Natah, Hunhow's daughter, was born as a last-ditch attempt to destroy the Tenno. Being a unique breed of Mimic Sentients, she is able to visually morph into whatever form she likes.[49] So she mimicked Margulis' appearance[50], allowing her to serve as a spy and infiltrate the Orokin backlines.

Lotus used the Tenno against her Sentient brethren,[51] although this may simply have been part of Ballas and Hunhow's original plan, given that her manipulation was done by Ballas[52]. Meanwhile, the Sentients' leader, Hunhow, sacrificed himself in a final battle over the waters of Uranus[31]. However, this plan of Hunhow was either unknown to Erra or had been partially led astray by Ballas' imperfect[53] fundamental reprogramming of Natah, causing Erra to be troubled by the defeat of Sentients at Natah's directive. This led Erra to infiltrate the reservoir in a panic, pleading Natah to return to him, her only remaining family[54]. However, due to her reprogramming, Natah believed herself to only be the Lotus and ordered the Tenno to kill Erra. The Orokin then imprisoned the Lotus in an isolated chamber on Lua where she commanded the Tenno forces.[55]

As high-ranking Orokin gathered in the Outer Terminus of Pluto to celebrate their 'victory' against the Sentients, the Tenno under the leadership of the Lotus betrayed them[56][57], motivated largely to retaliate for the execution of Margulis[58], killing most of the Executors and members of the Council.[59] This triggered a historical event known as The Collapse which led to the fall of the Orokin Empire.[60][61]

The Collapse[]

Photo-4

The Lotus

With the Orokin leaders dead or missing, Natah's final goal was to finally destroy the Tenno. However, she had previously been caught by the Orokin and was reprogrammed to be similar to Margulis and retain her memories, perhaps exploiting a "gap" in her systems from crossing through the Void.[62][63][51] Natah's identity was subverted as a result, becoming the Lotus, mother and guide to the Tenno. However, her particular motivation by the "gap" might have been a lie that was additionally programmed into her, to avoid her from questioning her identity.[64][65]

As such, she did not kill the Tenno.[66] 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.[67] 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[68] 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 GrendelIcon272 Grendel.[69]

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.[70] There were attempts to rebuild the collapsed empire[71], 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.[59] They stole Orokin ships[71], 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.[72]

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.[73] 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[74], the two groups continued to compete and skirmish intermittently[73], 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.[75] The extent of their reach is unknown, but their presence was not insignificant.[76]

Current Warframe Era[]

Some indeterminate number of millennia later[77][78][79], 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.[80] 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.[81][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.[82]

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[83]. 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.[84][85]

Warframe Era[]

Tenno Awakening[]

Awakening[]

Warframe_Cinematic_Intro_-_TennoCon_2019

Warframe Cinematic Intro - TennoCon 2019

Main article: Awakening § Synopsis (edit)

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[]

CaptainVorFK

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[]

QuadrupedAvatar

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[]

DEGrineerFomorian

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

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[]

CB NoseyMF

Cephalon Simaris

ArcaneMachine

Arcane Machine

Annotation 2019-09-05 141726

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:

ALL IS SILENT AND CALM. HUSHED AND EMPTY IS THE WOMB OF THE SKY.

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 ChromaIcon272 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[]

Scout

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, cutting off transmissions immediately 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.

The Lotus seduced the Tenno. Led them on a complacent path like oxen. I failed the Orokin but I will preserve their legacy. The Tenno. Now is the time for action. Cast off your harness and become a pupil of The Conclave. Through trial combat, I will prepare you for the evils beyond the Outer Terminus. A warrior only grows if they face the ultimate enemy. Themselves.
—Teshin's introduction to Conclave

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, pleading 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:

...Natah, where are you? You cannot hide from me.

The Lotus reveals that her old name was Natah when she in her Sentient form, 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".

Natah was the daughter until I destroyed her. Now I am the Lotus. Now I am the mother.
—Lotus

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[]

SentientStalker

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).

This is who you really are. A Tenno. More than human... but once a child like any other.
—Lotus

The War Within[]

Teshin

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.

Margulis lied to you, a lie of omission. She did not cure the Zariman children — she erased them. My only hope is that truth still lingers inside you, buried within your mind. The power and the misery... of the Void.
—Teshin

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 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

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[86]. Instead, he sacrificed his life, bound his spirit to his Warframe, HarrowIcon272 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 HarrowIcon272 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.

Hey kiddo.
—The Man in The Wall

The Lotus' Disappearance[]

Apostasy Prologue[]

BallasPrologue

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[]

ExcaliburUmbraFull

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 helm, 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 UmbraIcon272 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 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. A Dax soldier 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.

And it was not their force of will — not their Void devilry — not their alien darkness... it was something else. It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing — and take away its pain.
—Ballas in the Vitruvian

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[]

Sentient Ballas2

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 Paracesis , learning its blueprint in the process. — The New War is coming.

Alad V's Amalgams[]

AmalgamHeqet

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.


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[]

ErraFace

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 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[]

Main article: The Maker § Synopsis (edit)

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[]

ScarletSpear Keyart

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.

ScarletSpearLittleDuck

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.

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, leading them 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.

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 a fictional storybook. 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.


Alad V Arc[]

DEAlad VDuo

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 ValkyrIcon272 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[]

NaniteInfestedMoa

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[]

InfestedAladV2

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 MesaIcon272 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[]

  1. "They were deranged children run amok. Centuries of progress - destroyed. But they never destroyed me. Never caught me. And our end only proved our correctness... that our laws had been just. Too late. But. It's never too late, is it, Nora?" - Nihil
  2. "Grineer" Cephalon Fragment
  3. "Infested" and "Infestation" Cephalon Fragments
  4. See Orb Vallis
  5. "Wildlife" Cephalon Fragment
  6. Raksa Kubrow, Sunika Kubrow, and Sahasa Kubrow Codex entries
  7. "Void" Cephalon Fragment
  8. Requiem Words lore entries in the Necraloid room of the Necralisk
  9. Alluded in Arid Eviscerator and Lancer Synthesis imprints
  10. "Day after day we toiled, my father, my brother Cladius, pulling grains for the Orokin takers in the city, as our kind had done for generations. We were young but the work made us old. Our backs ached, our hands bled, the sun tortured our skin. In the worst times, it felt as though death would claim us before the day was through. [...] The city. Those towers. I was struck with awe. What glorious totems of greed those Orokin had built. Built on. Our. Backs. Their wealth was my wealth. I was starved, while our masters were fat. and full. and warm." - Parvos Granum in The Tenets
  11. "My gift to the future is an idea; an idea that wealth need not settle as a crust upon the upper echelons of the populace. No. Any poor grain farmer can, should he feed his Desire and apply his wisdom, take fortune for himself. [...] 'Ours is the grasping golden hand. We are desire. We are Corpus.'" - Parvos Granum in The Tenets
  12. "Orokin" Cephalon Fragment
  13. "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 fascia that snaked around our bodies and into the Lora Device embedded in our palms. We made them uncomfortable and they made that known; that is, until they were sick or hurt and then we were saviors." Corrupted Ancient Synthesis Imprint
  14. "...everything is filthy." I was rambling. "They manufacture filth. My robes have gone from yellow to black. I'm so tired, I don't even feel Orokin anymore." - Guardsman Synthesis Imprint
  15. "As I log this, I'm looking out the stained plastic of my field tent into the dead-yellow sky of Earth. I smell the vague sulfur and toxins leaking through the seals, yet somehow I'm going to miss this place. Leaving her feels like I'm giving up on my dream. My dream to see green and blue return to this sick and dying mother of us all." - Silvana during The Silver Grove
  16. Operator: "The soft lines of a hand, my mother's, I think. We were watching the stars, awaiting the jump to Tau. She was afraid."
    Lotus: "Memories. From your time aboard the Zariman Ten Zero, before the Void-Jump accident. It was years before the ship was recovered. It was drifting dead in space, all her crew gone... except the children."
    - Dialogue during The Second Dream
  17. "Kaleen coughed, straightened: 'The Zariman was lost making the fold from Saturn to the Outer gates. Mechanical failure. I notified families and filled a report with the inspectors. Nothing ever returns from the fold, so I closed the case.' 'But you reopened the case, days later.'" - Ember PrimeIcon272 Ember Prime's Codex entry
  18. "The grownups are howling at the door... drowning mad in the Void ocean but you... you are at ease swimming within the depths! You remember then how the howling stopped - they had broken through." - Elder Queen during The War Within
  19. "No crew aboard, only the children... only the parricidal monsters they had become. The endless Void, the gazing abyss, the bottomless ocean of horror... it coiled itself around your tender heart." - Elder Queen during The War Within
  20. Rell (Webcomic)
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 Rhino PrimeIcon272 Rhino Prime's Codex entry
  22. Lotus: "It was here Margulis put you into the dream, tried to heal you... tried to give you the strength to tame the Void within you. In a way, this is where you, where all Tenno, were born."
    Operator: "But we weren't born here, were we?"
    Lotus: "No. When the Zariman was found adrift, the Orokin did everything they could to erase their mistakes. Transit recordings, personnel logs... everything was wiped out. The only thing they kept was... you."
    - Dialogue during The War Within
  23. "You were so brave - but the Orokin were afraid of you. The Void had changed you and you couldn't control it, no one could. They were about to destroy the orphans of Ten-Zero but Margulis... she loved you, she found a way..." - Lotus during The Second Dream
  24. "We couldn't help it, the outbursts. We hurt her, blinded her, but even then, she never abandoned us. In the dream we found peace, and she sang to us in that cold, dark..." - Operator during The Second Dream
  25. Alluded in Detron Crewman Synthesis Imprint
  26. “The crossing to the Tau system is perilous. Adaptation and replication are the only way a terraforming journey can be made." -Archimedian Perintol in the Detron Crewman Synthesis Imprint
  27. “Our laws are sacred but do not forget The Plan, Ballas.” “And when it completes its task, what will prevent it from turning against us, as the Seven Principles say?" -Executor Tuvul, as seen in the Detron Crewman Synthesis Imprint
  28. "My search began as the essential question: What am I? Bones of steel and space, lungs that make air. If I am a machine, how can I think? This would be forbidden by the Orokin, a manifestation of their true enemy." -Ordis, from the Cephalon Fragments
  29. "My father was a farmer. My mother, a carpenter. Given light by the Golden Lords, to build for them... a better world. But my family's journey was long. Time began to change their light. Creativity. Pride. A will to live." - Natah during Ropalolyst boss fight
  30. "What led us here? You did. You vile blasphemies. Machines... thinking... breeding... You were to bear us a new, promised land. But when you arrived at that distant world... you knew that in time, we would bring ruin to it as well. As we had to Earth. And so it was... we came to war." - Ballas during The Sacrifice
  31. 31.0 31.1 "We crossed the gap, wombs in ruin, to bring an end to this. We severed the worlds, let them destroy me, why is the sequence not complete?" - Hunhow during Natah
  32. Lotus: "All missions to the Origin System required a sacrifice. Me and my kind become barren when crossing the gap. It is the one flaw that we never overcame. Hence, they could return to the Origin System for this price."
    Teshin: "Natah wanted children of her own."
    - Dialogue during Natah
  33. "Orokin Outer Terminus positions have fallen to the Sentient Armada. Our orders: Behead the fleet. My Crew: Sukhin, Krodhi, Zada. There are none finer. We are... Family. We will stop this war in its tracks. We are... the Orokin Empire's best hope. We were." - Cephalon Cy during Rising Tide
  34. 34.0 34.1 "Our hubris shone like a black star... for our technology, our war-machines were your kin. How easily you turned them against us. We were forced to older means. Not circuits, nor light... but flesh and disease. Our horrors past, our ravaged outer colonies... became gardens!" - Ballas during The Sacrifice
  35. Lancer Synthesis imprint
  36. Excalibur PrimeIcon272 Excalibur Prime Codex entry
  37. "Lust was my sin. But greed is the blight that weakens our steel. These industrialists have gorged on the harvest of our long war. Their mind drones; Their mechanizations, toil in foundries remote. For what purpose? We must set watch upon them. Baiting our snares with the worms of profit." - Ballas during Vauban PrimeIcon272 Vauban Prime trailer
  38. "Corpus" Cephalon Fragment
  39. "Look, you were the second wave, kid. The Necramechs were Void-shielded, Sentient-pulse immune... as bright as a bag of hammers and just as dependable. Not like you." - Father during Heart of Deimos
  40. 40.0 40.1 The Sacrifice quest
  41. The Silver Grove quest
  42. "...I know we are desperate, Executor, but these aren't Dax soldiers. These are golems possessed by devil minds." -Ballas, during The Second Dream quest
  43. "...so shame on you! You Orokin, so perfect on the outside but you're rotted... through and through!" -Margulis, during The Second Dream quest
  44. My childhood dream has become a nightmare. I don't blame Margulis, she's as much a victim as the children we're working with. At first, the project seemed therapeutic and nurturing. I was myself. But now... Transference therapy is being turned into a weapon. Now I build these vile weapons called "Warframes" all for one purpose: death. I've become everything I hate." -Silvana, during The Silver Grove quest
  45. Ballas: "I told you not to speak out. If you recant, maybe-"
    Margulis: "-You lied to me, Ballas. You're no different than the rest of them."
    Ballas: "Margulis... please... forgive me. [...] Honored Seven, we have gathered here today to carry out the sentencing of Archimedean Margulis... You face the Jade Light, recant, and we will grant a merciful death." - Dialogue during Apostasy Prologue
  46. "Yet you couldn't understand why I'd give my secrets to our enemy. How could I betray my own kind? But you have never had to sacrifice your love for faith. Imagine. To live, forever, with only one memory: seeing the one you love, die." - Ballas during The Sacrifice
  47. "Warframes", "Warframe Technology", "Archaic Weapons" Cephalon Fragments
  48. "(Transference) You thought you could out-play me? I've had lifetimes to plan my defection. You spied on me, intercepted my communications. But I saw your move long before you took it. And so... we come to the consequences..." -Ballas, during The Sacrifice quest
  49. "So the Golden Wrath came. And after, I was born. A mimic, a spy. Conceived to burrow into nests and swallow the pitch-eggs of their war machine: The Tenno." - Natah during Ropalolyst boss fight
  50. "Great Sentient Queen, forgive me, but what you are, what you've made of yourself... is merely drawn from the dreams of these divine children. You are not she, you are not... Margulis." - Palladino during Chains of Harrow
  51. 51.0 51.1 Erra: "Look at what they've made of you! You're a God. You're a Queen! But somehow the bees have you as a hostage. Do you even recognize me anymore?"
    Lotus: "I recognize the enemy."
    Erra: "No... sister. It's me. Erra—The Makers caught you. Unraveled your mind. They're using you to kill us! 'The Queen of the Aphids' with her Eye in the Void. But I don't blame you... I blame... them! You believe these are your children... But I'm the only family you've got left! So choose! Our family, our people... or these parasites. Choose Natah! Choose!"
    Lotus: "I am not... 'Natah'... I am... THE LOTUS."
    —Dialogue during Erra (Quest)
  52. "I remember... my old self... dissolving... beneath your fingers. Shaping me. Directing me. Lua." -Lotus during the ending battle of The New War
  53. "You HAD to have a 'child' - and with an open heart I gave you... this. And my reward? Being left to watch as all your love- MY. LOVE. - poured into the bottomless well of this... abominable child." -Ballas, during The New War quest
  54. "The Makers caught you. Unravelled your mind. They're using you to kill us! 'The Queen of the Aphids' with her Eye in the Void. But I don't blame you... I blame... them! You believe these are your children... But I'm the only family you've got left!" -Erra during the Erra Quest
  55. Apostasy Prologue quest
  56. "She and her void brood toppled a golden age of order and honor. Do you really believe this chaos is freedom?" -Ballas in The New War quest
  57. "The Naga drum sounded, subversive, unknown. Coordinating the slaughter of your masters across the gap. Did you end our war? Or merely set the stage for the next?" - Hunhow, during Octavia's Anthem
  58. "She put us into the dream, brought us peace. I remember we could still hear her voice, raging at the leaders for their mistreatment of us. When they executed her... well... I could not let that go." - Operator during The Second Dream
  59. 59.0 59.1 Alluded in the Guardsman Synthesis imprint
  60. Stalker/Shadow Stalker Codex entry
  61. "The Collapse" Codex entry
  62. "Natah was the daughter until I destroyed her. Now I am the Lotus. Now I am the mother." - Lotus during Natah
  63. "But when I saw your tender faces, I took mercy. Or so we were told. But in truth, we were both imprisoned in Lua's belly. My light remade by the Creators. I became a memory, a ghost. Reprogrammed to destroy my family, my people, my history." - Natah during Ropalolyst boss fight
  64. The Lotus helmet could be the source of this interference, alluded to when Ballas disconnected Lotus from her helmet during Apostasy Prologue
  65. "So the Golden wrath came. And after, I was born. A mimic, a spy. Conceived to burrow into nests and swallow the pitch-eggs of their war machine. The Tenno. But when I saw your tender faces, I took mercy. Or so we were told." -Natah, during the Ropalolyst fight
  66. 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
  67. "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
  68. "How could Rell have lived this long? Without the long dream?" -Lotus, during the Chains of Harrow quest
  69. GrendelIcon272 Grendel's Leverian entry
  70. "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 NezhaIcon272 Nezha's Leverian entry
  71. 71.0 71.1 Arid Eviscerator Synthesis imprint
  72. Kuria poem
  73. 73.0 73.1 Anti MOA Synthesis imprint
  74. "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
  75. "Derelict" Cephalon Fragment
  76. Corrupted Ancient Synthesis imprint
  77. "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
  78. "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
  79. "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
  80. 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
  81. As seen during Invasion missions as well as on Dark Sectors.
  82. The Second Dream quest
  83. "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
  84. "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
  85. "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
  86. BLINDED SHE CAST HIM OUT
Advertisement