The Deadlock Protocol/Transcript

Quest description[]

A power struggle within the Corpus elite has erupted. Seeking control, Nef Anyo looks to the past... to the very origins of the Corpus itself.

Intro cinematic[]

Nef Anyo: "Seven for, seven against. Cast and recast, seven times." (download, history)
Nef Anyo: "So, it is decided. The fleet has been retrofitted and redeployed to begin at once." (download, history)
Nef Anyo: "New lanes, trawling for old things." (download, history)
Nef Anyo: "By profit and Void, by the blessed handless founder... we hereby invoke The Deadlock Protocol." (download, history)

Decrypt Nef Anyo's Deadlock memorandum (Espionage, Venus)[]

Vox: "Solaris. Be you sumper, rail agent, crud diver, or pit boss, hear this: Your comrades, your friends, your family - good people with clear debts - are being taken. Vanished. Nef Anyo, in his hubris, is writing checks and cashing them with Solaris lives. There is upset in the halls of Corpus power. The foundations of their kleptocracy tremble. To Nef, we say this: You are seen. To the Solaris: make yourselves heard. To those who have aided us in the past: join us now. You are needed." (download, history)

Eudico: "Sparky! Yes, Biz and I may be over in our heads in this one..." (download, history)
Eudico: "Listen up: this Deadlock spat is costing Solaris lives. The Corpus founder, some long-dead cove named Parvos Granum, carries a lot of messianic clout. Well... Nef's claiming the old man's got an heir. If true, that heir can, by rights, claim total control of the Board. Board schisms and infighting might be the main reason why SU's survived this long. If the Board unifies under one person... one 'found' by Nef...? Our people will never see daylight. I need you on this. You in?" (download, history)

Eudico: "It's Nef alright. Patching through." (download, history)
Nef Anyo: "Like all of you, I was born poor, with but a meager derivatives portfolio and limited vesting options. I never knew my parents. But - as an orphan, poor as I said - I found great riches within the Tenets of our glorious Founder! Parvos, Granum. The Corpus became my family." (download, history)
Eudico: "They've fuzzed the band. Keep at it." (download, history)

Nef Anyo: "But over the years, as my wealth blossomed, and my humility grew vast... I began to see a certain similarity. I wondered... who am I really? After a protracted negotiation, my birth mother sold to me the secrets of my conception! She had been a..." (download, history)
Eudico: "Wait! What? Get that signal back!" (download, history)

Nef Anyo: "She had been a surrogate in a very special, very secret succession program! It was an epiphany! It would seem that I am one of the sons of our late, great Founder! And... more importantly... his heir. Now, I have only to prove it. That's where all of you come in." (download, history)
Eudico: "The brass on this mucker! I have to protect my people from this trust-fund lunatic. Do your thing. I'll check in with my whisper network, let you know what they're saying. Talk soon. The brass!" (download, history)

Visit Eudico in Fortuna[]

Eudico: "Got dirt that isn't safe to shovel out in the open. You know where to meet." (download, history)

Eudico: "So. Nef's making a succession play. Sumper thinks he can prove he's a sprog of noble descent. No idea how; Parvos was assassinated before any of us were an itch. Biz?" (download, history)
The Business: "Look familiar, Outworlder? Warframe, yes, but one-of-a-kind. Protea. Legend says she was built specifically for and assigned to one Parvos Granum. Yes. Part of a deal Granum cut with the Orokin themselves. Granum... was no amateur. He had real power. Our ear inside says Nef's techs have found a lead on Protea's whereabouts. 'Protean traces' they're calling them." (download, history)
Eudico: "Granum. The original taxman. Killed when someone - a Board member most likely - sabotaged the Void drive of his transport. Nef wants gene-proof. But there's nothing left to scan." (download, history)
The Business: "And yet, so they believe, they've found Granum's Warframe bodyguard - who was with him when that Void drive went critical. So who is to say what's true?" (download, history)
Eudico: "Our people are vanishing because of this. That's true. I know it. I don't care if Parvos Granum is dead, alive, or making change tap-dancing in a Grineer officer's mess. Sparky: you find what Nef's looking for... You'll find out what happened to our people. Get on it." (download, history)

Learn the fate of missing Solaris ("Volunteers", Venus)[]

The Business: "Protean detectors should be onboard. Not sure what they'll look like. See what you can find." (download, history)

Eudico: "It's... a... right. It's a great big... hand." (download, history)
The Business: "Granum Tribute. Story is Parvos was missing his left hand. See if you can--" (download, history)
Nef Anyo: "Another engineering blunder! We need confirmation. Reset and get our next volunteer into position." (download, history)
Eudico: "--What was that?" (download, history)
The Business: "I think it was a Void-temporal shift. I'm not entirely sure, I've never seen one before. Small, though. About as big as a... person? Patch me into the system." (download, history)

The Business: "Could do with some noise while I'm eyeballing the bits." (download, history)

Vox: "Nef Anyo. You are found. Remember the first days of Fortuna. Your failure. Our victory. Without the Solaris your... 'aspirations'... are nothing. Return our Solaris brothers and sisters. Or to nothing, so I swear, you will return." (download, history)
Nef Anyo: "You and your bleeding heart Tenno thugs. I really don't have time for this. My Robotics, on the other hand, do. Kill-crews, take care of this, I have history to make!" (download, history)

Eudico: "He'll pay for this. "Volunteers". He's killing our people for some kind of... weapons test." (download, history)
The Business: "Maybe not. I'm still pulling signal from that jockey's rig!" (download, history)
Eudico: "What kind of signal?" (download, history)
The Business: "I don't know yet. Outworlder, don't let them cut the signal before I decode it!" (download, history)

Return to Fortuna[]

The Business: "We'll be waiting for you, Outworlder." (download, history)

Nef Anyo: "To the Corpus Board and my many, many supporters across the Origin System: Everyone is asking when will I, Nef Anyo, end this unprofitable, squabbling, Deadlock? People are saying: "Nef Anyo's perfect for the big seat. A visionary, an exemplar, a protege of the great Founder himself, Parvos Granum!" Friends, our time is at hand." (download, history)

Eudico: "How many kids are going to grow up in the vents because of this? How many parents lost, because I couldn't do my job." (download, history)
The Business: "Eudi. There's a ventkid, a very long time ago, who would have hero-worshipped the woman she became. You're enough." (download, history)
Eudico: "If Nef intends to visit that 'pocket' for his proof, he won't risk himself... not at first. Sparky, you can beat him to it. Biz has figured out how to activate Nef's Granum Tributes. You won't believe this." (download, history)
The Business: "These tributes... are essentially... coin operated. You'll need a 'Granum Crown'... you'll have to search the ship." (download, history)
Eudico: "Nef as the Corpus figurehead, with a united board behind him, will be hell for us and workers everywhere. See if you can get across first. Tax whatever proof he's hoping to collect, muck up his plans and find our people." (download, history)

Beat Nef to Granum Void (Tributes, Phobos)[]

Eudico: "To cross over you'll need to find a Granum Crown first. Search the area." (download, history)

Eudico: "If you make it across, keep an eye out for our people. They may have survived. I've told more than enough kids that their parents aren't coming home." (download, history)

Nef Anyo: "Crews. The tomb verified intact! Dispatch the treasurer with my offering. It's time I paid Tribute myself." (download, history)
Eudico: "Alright, here's our chance. Time to tax the taxman!" (download, history)
Nef Anyo: "If only Parvos could have lived to see this day! Imagine his face, beaming with pride, as he bestowed upon me, his son, that sacred Golden Hand! My surgeons have... assured me the procedure will be quick and painless? A pound of old flesh for a glorious new legacy!" (download, history)

Eudico: "I'd pay top credits to crap in Nef's coffin. Double if he was still alive." (download, history)
Nef Anyo: "One scan of Parvos Granum and my lineage shall be proven! None shall deny me-- what? Tenno? Again!? Not today! As Parvos' heir, it is my offering to make! I am coming, Father! It is I who shall pay Tribute! Your Nef is almost home!" (download, history)

Nef Anyo: "They must not reach him before we do! Is that understood?!?" (download, history)
Eudico: "'Him'? As if the body would still be intact? Something's off. Get to the Tribute... expect some friction." (download, history)

The Business: "The Tributes won't activate with combat nearby. You'll need to take out those troops before moving in." (download, history)

The Business: "We've got a lock on you, Outworlder. Good luck!" (download, history)

Nef Anyo: "You thought to stop me Tenno? This is my ordained fate. It is... by Void." (download, history)

The Business: "Outworlder, Nef has eyes in here. How escapes me. Our channel's masked, he doesn't know we are here." (download, history)

Parvos Granum: "It has been so long since these old eyes beheld another living thing, here, in this sanctuary." (download, history)
Parvos Granum: "I... am Parvos Granum. Thank you for finding me." (download, history)
Nef Anyo: "By the Void. You. are. Alive. My faith never wavered." (download, history)
Parvos Granum: "I live. Treachery seethed within the heart of the faith I had built. When the Board's assassins overloaded my transport's Void drive, Protea... my beautiful Protea... and her gift for manipulating time... preserved me." (download, history)
Nef Anyo: "Yes." (download, history)

Cutscene

Parvos Granum: "But at the cost of all that she was. Now she is nothing more than a Specter of her former self. My beautiful Protea." (download, history)
Parvos Granum: "That is why you have been invited here." (download, history)

Nef Anyo: "Father. Permit me to show you all I have built in your name. Do Nef Anyo that honor." (download, history)
Parvos Granum: "'My name'. Hmm... I have watched you." (download, history)
Parvos Granum: "Monuments to narcissism. Demanding others sweat in your stead. Gorging upon that upon which you have not earned. Watched... as you claimed for yourself my teachings of self-reliance, perverting them into a flaccid philosophy of sloth. Of... Idleness. Is that you, my son?" (download, history)
Nef Anyo: "No, that must be a different son." (download, history)
Parvos Granum: "You know nothing, falling short as you do of every ideal that I value. Your words, your efforts, are the model of inadequacy. I called you, Nef Anyo, but I do not need you. I need... (download, history)
Parvos Granum: "...them." (download, history)
Nef Anyo: "'Them'? Tenno?! Father! You're making a mistake! Come now!" (download, history)
Parvos Granum: "Protea has scanned her kin... and with that, she is reinvigorated." (download, history)
Parvos Granum: "Now, my lovely, if you wouldn't mind? Show our guests the door." (download, history)
Nef Anyo: "No! Father! Father! Daddy? What? Breaches? Breaches! The Protean field arrays! Oh no! All crews to tributes! We are... we are... being invaded!" (download, history)

The Business: "We've got a lock on you, Outworlder. Good luck... What the hell? Outworlder, I'm pulling sensory feeds from a trip you haven't taken yet. And hearing myself say things I've never said in a place I've never seen. Parvos...? Eudi, you should see this. What if Nef has similar logs?" (download, history)
Eudico: "Biz has a handle on the time jump but we've got bigger problems than Nef now. Get out of there!" (download, history)

Nef Anyo: "Not good enough, am I? Inadequate, am I? You've been 'watching' me, have you? Well. Watch as I show you how we do things these days! Crews! Repel those Specters! We have bigger fish to fry." (download, history)

Nef Anyo: "Errant specters in Section 8! Crews? Crews? Respond?" (download, history)

Acquire parts to build the Xoris (The Xoris, Europa)[]

A NEW DEAL

Vox. Solaris. - our 'interests'... have come to align. Now... this 'situation' is no one's 'fault' and I am not one to point fingers, but my fleet and your workers are facing the same danger... Convince your Tenno servant to reenter Granum's domain, and dis-able that Protea Specter. I have just the thing they'll need but there is some assembly required. You want to rescue those comrades trapped in there and I want to keep the past where it belongs. Dead and buried. Deal?

—Nef Anyo

(download, history)

(Attachment: Xoris Blueprint)

Eudico: "Nef's a bloviating narcissist with the morals of a haunted chainsaw but at least that makes him predictable. Parvos? That mucker is something else. I don't trust Nef, but if any of our own are still alive in there... we have to try. Biz will lead the build on this... 'Xoris' gizmo." (download, history)

The Business: "Nef's given us a cipher for an old Granum file. "Phantasmic Scintilla and Motive Forces." We'll need more specifics to build whatever this tool is." (download, history)

The Business: "Hmm, looks like a partial find. Let's see if Anyo's cipher works as promised." (download, history)
Parvos Granum: "Some doors ought to remain closed? That's not in my world view. Fire. Fusion. Void. Progress always comes entangled with risk, with violence. With the precious sample obtained, development is accelerating. The Entrati have kept their secrets long enough." (download, history)

Parvos Granum: "I am calling it the Specter Particle. As my Archimedians explain, mimicry is in its nature. An echo. Exposed to precept circuits, we are able to imprint behaviors! Like an infant mirroring her surrogate. Only this infant can set the world on fire." (download, history)

Parvos Granum: "The palace birds think they can control us. They hit our research site with a Warframe assault team. Of course they did. I baited them to do it. The whole site lit up. Eighty mega-therm bloom. The whole lab, vaporized, those Warframes with it. Fire. Fusion. Void." (download, history)
The Business: "Parvos Granum originated the Specter Particle Theory? Guts. This old coot is a whole order of intelligence, and that's bad for us. Get back to your ship. I need to figure out this Xoris thing." (download, history)

Use your Xoris to free Solaris captives in Granum Void (Parvos Granum, Neptune)[]

Eudico: "Thanks for the fast work, Biz. Sparky, listen up: Biz's findings indicate Parvos might be close to translating himself from that reality into our own. We're not exactly sure how but we're getting some odd readings. You've got to build the Xoris before Parvos gets free." (download, history)

If Xoris is not crafted yet

Eudico: "Have you assembled the Xoris device yet? The sooner we get back there, the sooner we can get our people out of there and throw away the mucking key." (download, history)

The Business: "A weapon? Glaive-class but with an energy trap... Specter Particles, maybe? Has a mid-flight detonation trigger. Tricky, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. Gear up and lets go." (download, history)

If Xoris is not equipped

The Business: "Outworlder, you'll need the Xoris glaive for this." (download, history)

Nef Anyo: "You're too late! The Tributes are jammed open and the old man's Errant Specters have control of my ship. They're spreading through the fleet. I have no choice. If I can't have my fleet no-one can!" (download, history)

Ship Broadcast: "Reactor vents sealing. Warning. Catastrophic overload imminent." (download, history)
Vox: "This was not the deal, Anyo. We have yet to rescue our people. Disengage the destruct." (download, history)
Nef Anyo: "I can't do that. But don't worry. I'm already at a very comfortable safe distance." (download, history)
The Business: "Eudi: the fleet's going to blow. Outworlder, abort--" (download, history)
Eudico: "--Wait! It's a time prison, right? Sparky, if you can get back inside before the reactor tilts... you'd theoretically have all the time in the world..." (download, history)

Ship Broadcast: "Reactor failure imminent. All crews: thank you for your service." (download, history)

Eudico: "Biz... Biz. I don't think they made it..." (download, history)
The Business: "Outworlder! Eudi, they're alive! Listen: Nef's whole fleet is overloading. Huge energy spike! We need to take out Protea! Ready that Xoris!" (download, history)

The Business: "There! Our rig jockeys! They're trapped in some kind of energy enclosure. You'll need to charge the Xoris to break it open." (download, history)
Parvos Granum: "Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing. There's no stopping this, without stopping Protea. A bit like eating your own, no?" (download, history)
The Business: "Here they come! Take out the Errants, then use the Xoris to trap the Specter Particles that escape! You'll have to time it just right." (download, history)

The Business: "Full charge! Now - target the enclosure trapping our jockeys. You'll need to trigger your Xoris to discharge near them." (download, history)

The Business: "Well done Outworlder! Now bring the rest home!" (download, history)

Parvos Granum: "By now your friends have noticed that the overloading engines are preventing the exits you opened for my captives... from closing. Well done. And goodbye. Enjoy your stay." (download, history)
The Business: "That... cunning... old... Outworlder! You've got to get out of there!" (download, history)
Protea Specter: "I am your beginning. I am your end. Entwined. Forever." (download, history)

The Business: "There's got to be an opening! Maybe while she is reversing the temporal field!" (download, history)

The Business: "She's reversing the temporal field! Try to interrupt it! A fully charged burst from the Xoris might do it!" (download, history)

Protea Specter: "Entwined. Forever." (download, history)

Protea Specter: "Forever." (download, history)

Nef Anyo: "You're too late! The old man's Errant Specters have-- huh? The Protean trace is... gone!? Where is he? Where is my father?" (download, history)
The Business: "That temporal effect again! And... yes. There are your sensory feeds, just like last time. So, the Xoris worked - in a battle that never happened. Or did it. I have a headache." (download, history)
Eudico: "Our people are calling in, Sparky, they're coming home. Tonight all of Fortuna will be singin' a verse in your honor." (download, history)

Conclusion[]

Vox: "Solaris. We are reunited. Parents to children. Family to family. Take this time to hold one another, for tomorrow our struggle continues. We will persevere. Know that our emancipation is writ in the stars with Solaris, and Tenno, united." (download, history)

Inbox Message[]

RECIPROCITY

The System shall change. No more clutching at sunk costs, imposed ideals, hand-me-down hopes. No, we are better than that. The Corpus shall know a violent restructuring, but with time enough to face the impending threat from Tau with renewed and absolute vigor.

Or not. Perhaps the rot is too deep. Perhaps the father should abandon his children. Perhaps it is time for a new philosophy. Hmmm.

Life's just a bargain like any other. Yours is no different. Would you like a seat at my new table? Perhaps with your... masked friends alongside? The Business, was it? A curious name. And Eudico too, of course. All people who know what they want.

I know what they want. But what about you? Tell me, friend: What is it you Desire?