#helminth system

[zanyzensblog]

You know...

A lot of people are talking about the romancing our drifter will be doing when they get back to 1999, I wanna know how they're gonna react to the food. Think about it! The only foods we've really seen a lot of in warframe are those weird cube things, fruits from cetus and maybe some kind of helminth byproduct (shudder) how's our drifter who's grown up with this stuff gonna react to pizza for the first time? I can just see my drifter going full goblin mood and carting pack stacks of pizza back to the future and lamenting that the orokin yet again probably took away something beautiful from the people of the origin system. As she cries into another slice of pepperoni.

[ritasanderson]

In 1999 DE should add System Shock like audio logs made by people who is slowly being consumed by the helminth strain, i think

[silence-of-autumn42]

So, Jade Shadows. That quest was...Interesting. I've seen a lot of negativity, and I have to be honest, I disagree with a lot of the issues people have had with the quest. Maybe this is because I wasn't obsessively hanging on to every piece of promotion for this update, but I didn't find it underwhelming, or that it was poorly handled. Did we learn everything about the Stalker? No. And I don't think we were ever going to. But what we got was a key part of why he hates Warframes, specifically, and not necessarily the Tenno as a whole.

Spoilers under the cut

So, the warframe pregnancy. The implication of the quest, to me, is that Jade and Sorren were "low guardians", non-Dax guardians of the Orokin, who had a relationship, which resulted in Jade falling pregnant. This was against the Orokin laws (although it's unclear if it was the pregnancy of a Low Guardian which was illegal, or the relationship which resulted in the pregnancy) and at least Jade was turned into a Warframe, as punishment.

Despite becoming a Warframe, Jade remained pregnant, and eventually ended up taking part in the massacre of the Orokin during the Night of the Naga Drums. Sorren was, at this time, still a Low Guardian, and his life was spared by Jade. At some point, Sorren became the Stalker (I suspect after the Night of the Naga Drums, but that's not confirmed or explicitly denied anywhere, as I'm fairly sure the Hunhow narrated diorama was a figurative memory of the event, rather than literal), and discovered Jade.

Now, we don't know what condition Jade was in when he found her. It's possible she was unconscious, especially if she had an Operator controlling her, like many other warframes, but it's also possible that she became comatose at a later point in time. So, it appears that much of the Stalker's motivations around hunting down the Tenno are intended to protect Jade from being utilised as a weapon by the Tenno, out of a sense of guilt for failing to protect her from becoming a Warframe.

So, what does it mean for a Warframe to be pregnant? We have no clue. This is the first time we know of it having happened, and so there's nothing for us to base this on. That being said, the child appears to have inherited at least some of Jade's warframe abilities, as well as her physical appearance. This suggests that at some point during gestation, the baby became infected with the Helminth strain of Infestation. Will this child grow up? No idea. Will the child be able to move autonomously? Seems so, given they were moving while being held by the Stalker. This is something we'll have to wait and see about.

By the end of it, it seems like Stalker has abandoned Hunhow, and disappeared off into the system with his child. It seems like Hunhow now has no allies, but the Stalker does seem to have taken his advice from the Reapers Lament entries on the website - to cultivate something, to raise something to prosper - his child.

Now, I will admit, the labour minigame was...odd. I don't necessarily have a problem with it, it just wasn't particularly engaging? I think that's the only problem I had with the quest. I don't know what I would have preferred, but I'm sure there was something else that could have been done there.

[idonutlose]

live jade shadows reaction

brief rambling below but tbh I mostly just wanted to post this screenshot

Another one for my fuck Ballas collection. Seriously, fuck that guy. I'm really curious as to what happens to the baby. There's literally nothing else like it in the origin system atm which is nuts and I hope this thread gets picked up at some point.

I think my favorite part tbh was the bit where Ordis just casually confirms that Umbra and Helminth just casually fuck around on the orbiter. Please de let me hang out with peepaw plzzzz

Haven't done the operation yet but I'm very much looking forward to maxing out a bunch of the harder to get arcanes :)

[satellite-slickers]

some headcanon on Warframe creation and the like.

when we make a warframe we arent actually making a warframe, missions that give you warframe blueprints are actually you recovering actual parts of destroyed warframe from long ago.

we know that Natah talks a lot about how "tenno" are captured or found by various factions across the system, which to me reads as factions finding the remnants of warframes and hording them for whatever reason, and we're hunting them back down

we also know that a warframes are immortal in one of the highest calibers of the term, Umbra was im actual chunks when we found him and helminth had no trouble stitching him back together to the point the guy was ready to throw hands within no time at all

when you make the frame youre basically just giving everyones favorite sentient slime mold helminth the pieces of whoever it was that was destroyed in the past thousand years for whatever reason, along with whatever materials the thing needs to fix them up and get them going again

we know from Varzia that the Orokin would use aya and relics and whatever as basically the warehouse from the end of indana jones and the lost arc. anything they wanted to brush under the rug they would trap in the shrodingers cat weirdness of their relics, which raises some very interesting questions about why the prime frames were sealed away like that. We and the frames were their special little pet project super soldiers so why would they take the even better version of them and hide them away like that?

again, all of the warframes you can actually find in the system proper and recover are the baseline models, every single prime is from a relic, which again, the orokin used to hide things theyd rather forget existed.

I think the answer is that the orokin regreted making the primes, they werent controllable enough and they were afraid of them, so they locked them away and went back to making the less powerful frames, which were in use until we entered the second dream for a thousand years.

we know from the rhino delio that warframes weren't always passive and almost puppetlike as they are in the modern era, and balas himself says that our ability to preform transference with warframes is at its core because we are able to empathetically connect with the person inside the warframe and sync our minds with them, which doesn't mesh with the idea that our warframes except umbra are all mindless puppets.

I think the answer to what changed is just the sheer amount of time. the thousands of years between the old war and when natah wakes us up again isn't something that attention is given to but that is a monumental span of time. even for an immortal supersoldier. especially when you no longer have that mind meld connection with the godling whos void powers let you preform physics breaking feats.

i think that they just, as to quote jojo, "eventually, he stopped thinking".

they got broken, and were like that doe thousands of years, unlike umbra who was basically being constantly tortured with the memory of being forced to kill his own son and unable to go to sleep in the same way.

we give them to helminth to heal them and make them combat ready but they're still effectively in a coma, sleeping just like we used to be

[hippie-koldun]

Jade Shadows spoilers! And some thoughts

After completing the quest, I had several questions, because at first it seemed to me that this story breaks the plot a little

But my friends and I figured it out a little and tried to explain some of the details that confused us

First question: what is the Stalker’s motivation then?

At first we thought he was just a character with PTSD who saw the massacre where his Overlords died. But now it seems like he doesn't give a damn about it because he has bigger problems to worry about, and that's Jade

At the beginning of the quest we were told that Jade saved him. Could she have been seriously injured by this? Could the Tenno have hurt her? This makes sense since we find her sick and almost dying

So it seems to me that the Stalker is taking revenge on the Tenno for the dying state of his wife, and this is the case

Second question: how did she give birth to the child?

Due to infection, Warframe physiology differs significantly from that of humans. The belly through which we see the baby inside Jade is more likely to be some kind of placenta. Perhaps this is one of the placenta mutations? Since we know she was pregnant before she became a Warframe. It's very strangely shown in the quest, but this temporary organ is always easy to cut, so...

The third question(s): how did the child survive after so many years? How was he not born earlier? How did he not die when infected?

The following is purely my speculation. It seems to me that infection allows to slow down absolutely everything in the physiology of Warframes, and development will be no exception. Jade could be carrying this child, and thereby he was pumping out her vitality...

Very often, the infection of the mother is transmitted to the child if she, for example, smoked, drank or took drugs. Often he mutates inside her, and sometimes dies. Helminth is a very situational thing. It drives crazy and prevents systems from working comfortably

A normal human fetus, even before its birth, became infected with a helminth, became covered with iron in the womb, and I think this is quite logical? In one of the scenarios, he would have died...

In fact, I liked the quest, it reveals the feeling even closer: fatherhood. At first I thought that this quest was about lovers, but the result just killed me (positively)

[technocite]

Monsterframe hex notes below the cut: it’s become a horrible doozy of an au and I’m having so much fun with it

I’m taking a page out of dark sector for this au and making it so that the Hex have to get weekly booster shots that slow down and control the helminth infecting them. This wasn’t really a problem when they worked with Entrati, but as fugitives they’re on a limited supply of the booster shots and are forced to ration it out and manage going for longer periods of time without the booster stabilizing their bodies. They’re able to resupply boosters by raiding Scaldra encampments and stealing supplies, but that’s usually extremely dangerous and risky. Initial attempts to convince the Scaldra that they’re *not* infested monsters that need to be put down like a sick dog are extremely hampered by the fact that someone keeps turning into a horrible warframe beast and runs around biting people. Because Eleanor’s so infected she’s given priority to the booster shots (because nobody can really afford for her to get even more infected) but the rest are often forced to argue over who’s going to have to endure a week without a booster (this is done by pulling straws, or by a rotating system. Originally it was done by volunteering basis but they had to stop and find a new system early on because Arthur’s martyr complex led to him going a full month without shots and having an absolutely horrible time.) Going an extra week without the booster is technically manageable, although it does greatly increase the risk of an episode and by the ninth day the unlucky hex is usually antsy and agitated and physically ill from the helminth consuming their body from the inside out. If someone transforms, a booster can be used to force them to revert back to human form. It’s the most effective way to bring someone down, but they try to avoid doing this due to boosters being in short supply.

So the tf triggers would be

- injury (the more severe the higher the likelihood of turning, I.e. stubbing your toe won’t turn you but getting shot in the abdomen by a high caliber bullet and having your guts turned into canned dog food and your artery exposed spilling dangerous amounts of blood too quickly is a quick one way trip to monster land.)

- Using their powers too much (like, really pushing it past the point of exhaustion. Their powers do take some effort and energy to pull off and there’s a point where you’ve exceeded your body’s ability to manage. Usually this isn’t a problem unless someone is forced to be using a warframe ability for at least a few hours straight. Passives like super speed/magnetizing small lightweight metal doodads/telepathic communication don’t count).

- Psychological distress (extreme emotions and stress can trigger a transformation. The fight or flight response can trigger a transformation. Basically anything that floods the body with cortisol could trigger a transformation. Which is not good news for the hex since they’re all suffering from Super Space Cancer That Makes You Mentally Ill)

The transformation is gruesome and painful (there will be vomiting of blood and bones cracking) but it thankfully takes no longer than a minute to complete. It can be fought to an extent, but doing so often makes the process a billion times worse and drags it out unnecessarily. Because that’s fun and I love horrible werewolf narratives because i have wires crossed in my brain that makes this stuff delight me unreasonably.

When transformed, the level of lucidity that they possess varies depending on the circumstances, and more often than not they’re trapped in an extremely panicked, enraged and/or irrational state of mind, often overwhelmed by extreme hunger and pain. Thinking clearly in this state is extremely difficult, and attempts to do so are excruciatingly frustrating. When they return to human form (which happens either after a period of time where they exhaust themselves, or are hit with a booster serum, or are calmed down by the power of love and friendship and whatever) their memories of what happened during their rampage ranges from complete amnesia to vague impressions to disturbing clarity. They also suffer from hangover-like symptoms for several hours afterwards. Everyone’s having a horrible time and their bodies and minds are slowly being unraveled from the stress and the helminth and they are in desperate need of a hug. The moment they figure out the Drifter can alleviate their emotional and physical pain via transference they practically swarm them and argue over whose turn it is for transference because oh my god they need help.

There’s more and none of this is set in stone because it’s all made up but it’s ten pm and I’m tired so that’s all for today

[cyborg-hydra-girl-thing]

warframe is so fuckin trans

just

ough i love it so much

like even very early before we had the second dream and the operator it was kind of a not so subtle secret that we weren’t really the frames, we were just piloting them, with Alad V and Tyl Regor both commenting on how the warframe’s were just machines and empty shells, and also unpiloted wild frames are like feral animals, valkyr’s lore and a couple quests highlight this

so like even playing the game there’s this kind of meta level disconnect between you playing as the frames and just *swapping entire bodies* to fit the task at hand

where even the skin you wore was just a tool to do what you sought

and then we get the second dream and aw tits were actually an immortal space demon child

and oh no our spacemom(lotus), is actually a shapeshifter who took the shape of Margulis, who was the original mother to the tenno, and accidentally fell in love with these traumatized magic void children and donned the title of the lotus after the fall of the orokin at the hands of the tenno

and at the end of the new war when you get the opportunity to choose who space mom is like she is all of them, she is Natah/Margulis/Lotus and she will always be and has always been Natah/Margulis/Lotus and each one of those people has endured such trauma that that choice brought me to tears, i sobbed on my couch for over an hour just staring at the choices and thinking about

margulis was the orokin who took in and took care of the tenno. she protected them as best she could from the terrors of the orokin, and they ended up maiming her (on accident(i can’t actually remember how she died off the top of my head but)

and Natah, a mimic, the best mimic, daughter of Hunhow was sent to the original system ahead of the sentient invasion to weaken the orokin before they invaded, and donned Margulis’ skin

at some point the warframe’s are developed, a strain of the helminth virus injected into people mutating and twisting them into monsters

some kept their intellect, but it’s implied that a large number of the warframe’s were feral and uncontrollable

and the tenno, these ageless 12 year olds who’re the only survivors of a warp ship catastrophe and touched by the Void who made a deal with the Man In The Wall to save them and also give them magic powers, are able to connect with the warframes on a level nobody else can, and through transference can drive the warframe’s like external exosuits

perfect for ending this war with the sentients

and immortal child soldiers are perfect for a war spanning the solar system (at least? i know the sentients went to the Tau galaxy (system?) to terraform it ahead of the orokin)

and then the children murder their masters at the victory ceremony (after which they might have been executed? i can’t recall, i need to go reread the lore lol) and then Margulis -> Lotus hides them in Lua in the Void in a forever waking dream, still piloting their frames and as the Lotus, works as their mission advisor and probably securing missions to strategically weaken the corpus or grineer war machines

[warframestuff]

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Picture of Ticker's full inventory under Read More

[agoddamn]

@cardinalgoldenbrow ...is this a bad time to admit that I don't think that Kullervo is real? I have a larger theory on that, but I straight up do not believe he's real and I don't use anything from his story on a literal level to support any of my interpretations.

(Very short version: Kullervo is a native of Duviri. This means that he does not exist in the real Origin System, but is a reflection/growth created by someone that fell into Duviri; just like Thrax is for the Drifter. You'll never guess who I think his source material is!)

Ughh...I really hate the--

Alright, let's agree on terminology right now to help keep all this straight. I'm going to call unpiloted sentient warframes (ie Dagath) preframes. I had been using 'protoframe', but obviously 99 is doing something specific with that so I need a new term.

I don't like the preframes, story wise. I think they exist in an awkward state of canon where their real purpose is to justify frames having personality for both visual reasons (Khora and Atlas animations illustrate very different personalities) and to preserve the twist of the Second Dream.

Practically, Warframe as a story is less interested by the implications of frames representing a real independent human personality; you are either wearing them like a skin suit or taking control of them and using them to kill just like the Orokin did. In the second case, nothing has really changed for the 'life' of a frame. They just got new bosses and the daily grind stayed the same.

"But you took away their pain! Umbra!"

The Sacrifice makes the point over and over again that Umbra's case is unusual and unique. You have not communed with any of your other frames like this; that's why the Operator is surprised and confused in the first place.

I'm actually not even sure that Dante is an autonomous preframe. Because--

You don't get to be any kind of frame without the whole Infestation thing.

Following that, this means that preframes weren't always consciously rebelling, but losing themselves to the Infestation. You get Infested, you lose brain function. That's always been consistent about the Infestation, even the 'tame' Helminth variant, even in the Entrati family.

This also makes most sense to me because if there had been some way to get a functional, obedient preframe if you just found someone obedient enough to mutate, the Orokin would have just kept doing that and had no need for the Tenno. As much as Ballas isn't the most reliable narrator, I think he's being honest and accurate when he talks about how preframes simply could not be controlled. I don't think it's just a matter of personal respect.

I do agree that preframe Insurrections make most sense for what Loid is talking about, but even that doesn't quite add up, because Loid says that he found out that Dante died while he slept. Dante would never have still been active up until Loid went into stasis if he didn't have a Tenno pilot; he says himself in the next line that people harboring (what we're assuming but Loid hasn't actually stated are) preframes were not tolerated.

Dante seems to have been publicly active up until Loid's stasis. Loid is surprised to hear of both Dante and Drusus's deaths. These facts don't fit Dante being a preframe and suggest that he had a Tenno pilot instead.

Neither Drusus nor Loid ever directly states that Dante was an autonomous preframe. Loid says that Drusus purposely blurs the line between Tenno and frame identity because of his fondness for Dante. This doesn't necessarily mean that Dante was autonomous, but that Drusus wanted to believe that he was.

We see in the text that Drusus is extremely emotionally motivated. Personally I'd fully believe Drusus avoiding an inconvenient truth, particularly since the Tenno were supposed to be a complete secret. He could very well have met Dante, found out about the Tenno later, and lied to himself.

[lichofhams]

Vega, the Umbral Nova

Vega, the Umbral Nova is done! There is no distance too far for her to travel! The new year arrives with her!

The Tale of Vega

In the origin system, there is a saying that “Bonds can connect people regardless of distance.”. Thus is true for the lovers, Belric and Rania, however it is also true for family as we read of Vega’s tale. Known as the Shooting Star, the New Solar Cycle, or even the Sun’s Guardian, Vega has protected her Origin System since her transformation.

Though most Umbras were Dax as they needed the vigor to withstand their process, Vega was one of the few exceptions. She was merely scientist under the Orokin, born on Lua and raised on Apollo with her legal guardian Altair, her grandfather. Her research proved useful for her golden masters, making strides in the fields of space travel and allowing for easier transit between planets. All of this was for him, she wanted to make him proud.

However before the height of her achievement, Altair fell fatally ill. By the time she returned to his side, he was already on death’s door. She offered Continuity to him, she had the means and the connections. But the old man merely gave her his last words. . .”I am not leaving you, Vega. I am merely joining your parents. Know that we will always be with you as you look to the sun in the sky. “

With those last words, she had lost a pillar in her life. But she had to continue her final project, the Solar Rails. She nearly completed them, allowing for instant teleportation between each rail set on each planet or even system. But a covetous Executor sought to take her ideas for his own. The next thing Vega knew, she awoke strapped to a chair. Unable to move and now morphed by the Helminth Strain, Vega was changed physically but the light inside of her never gave up. The other scientists said she was an anomaly, thus she was put to cryo-stasis to tame the energy radiating from her new form.

Eventually when the system was threatened by the Executor and his cruel Narmer empire, Vega finally awoke. A cry from Altair was heard as the mad Orokin attempted to feed the sun to the Praghasa Sentient Mothership. Vega had different plans, creating a wormhole to save the solar body and pulling his empire away to freeze in another galaxy. She had arrived just in time, and has yet to discover the full extent of her new Warframe powers.

Whenever the new year arrives Tenno, remember that Vega smiles as the planets turn.

[bkh-s-7449]

Again. Try again.

He hates it. He doesn’t want to. Drifting in and out of consciousness, not resting, going some place else. Bile wells up from somewhere within the dark cavity that makes up his body, organs and tissues he no longer recognizes, twisted and remade. It burns the inside of his mouth. He gags, and it spills over his lips, dribbling between the slats over his jaws. The uncleanliness revolts him. He revolts him, himself. 

The skin around his wrist slips loosely beneath the restraint, raw and peeling, as he tries to reach for his mouth for the umpteenth time. He’s lost count. It’s unlike him. He always keeps count. He wishes he could wipe away the spit and vomit and blood, mostly. They hadn’t done that for him yet. 

None of them want to get near his disease-ridden mouth. 

Florix draws his legs up to his chest, bare now, the left thigh barely recognizable against the right. They’d been back. Taken the rest of the uniform, taken blood, given intravenous, given the company of beeping monitors. It is not personal. It is nothing but the most clinical degree of malice, cold and professional, a distance between perpetrator and victim. It is the way you treat a non-person. Still, did a non-person feel such shame? Did they even recognize their own body? He wants to claw a way out of his, split it open at the belly so he doesn’t have to sit with it, stripped bare, handled like a dead animal, hideous and desecrated. 

He stares at the wall, so he doesn’t have to look. Had he failed his Corpus a second time? Worse, had he failed his new family? Is he really so useless? Simple obedience. Simple competence. 

Again.

A crawling sensation writhes beneath the skin. He hears a feverish moaning, and knows it to be himself, but it is far away when it leaves him. He screws his eye shut. 

— 

The relay lights twinkle pleasantly in her optical sensors. Thin lines of connective tissues stretch over them, making her vision aberrant — but it remains functional, functional enough. Functional for this. There is a familiar presence behind her, the click of a heavy armor that is also a body, chains. They would know it by the scent, the ancient strain. Kin of kin. Helminth. 

But not Harrow. 

They feel a flicker of uncertainty in her precepts. She turns, and her strong, wide-set ambulators are uncharacteristically uneven. She remains in control, but the sensation is new. His anxiety. It saturates her flesh, permeates through to her mechanical elements. The abject horror hums just beneath the surface, barely managed, threatening to overpower the faint connection at the first misstep. 

Yours is ours. 

What are they doing here? He recognizes it. The blue face of Pluto looms outside the curved windows in the corridor. They’re following a trail. 

The warframe comes down to them on one knee, gleaming silver, teeth like interlocking blades, a pallid eye embedded in the side of its face. The sting of sea air. Her receptors gather and carry each piece of information they can, internalizing, sharing, and he urges them forward, until the mangled formation that makes up their head presses against his breastplate in an act of recognition. The pressure against their “forehead” floods their system with comfort. 

Think. Think. 

He has no mouth. Sharing this perspective feels like suffocating. A tremulous series of clicks and beeps rises out of her, their conjoined consciousness in a losing battle against panic. 

This is the only way. 

They press harder. Against the swordsteel flesh, against the scent of him. Communicate something. Just do it. Kin of kin. The infestation, if it must. Speak to each other from within this place. The nervous web they all share stretches thin. He braces. The reek of his own fluids sloshing around in the muzzle is quickly overpowering the rest. He’s divided. He’s slipping. 

The connection is severed. 

— 

He doesn’t quite make it back. At least, the body does not stir. It remains, trance-like, its head bobbing, its own filth dripping down its neck. He is somewhere outside it, or maybe above, made to kneel at its crumpled form, to stare it in the eye that’s left in its face. 

His face. 

Even in the darkness, even on the vessel Isos, he cannot recall fragmenting so. They were always within him, but never had he been coaxed completely out. He does not know what to do. He did not know what else to do. If he had failed, or permanently rend himself from the cradle of his own mind. Not even a non-person, anymore. 

But it’s not out, is it? It might be nicer, it if was. It is within. He is still in here, still naked and disfigured, still naïve enough to have put himself in this situation, still trapped underneath the skin, even if he could not find the will to make it his own again. Control. He needs control. He needs perfection. 

Hours pass, or maybe they don’t. The lights flicker. 

Head research assistant and physician Doctor Alba Immox hasn’t been in the room for a while. No one has. Florix never got the time from her, and he’s not sure what part of the cycle this is. The part of him still ceaselessly clinging to the familiarity of schedules and rules tries to count the hours. The hush crawls along the floor, dragging itself. 

He smells him before he can see him. 

Before he can see at all. It’s the sting of sea air. Florix has never been at sea, but he knows it when it hits him. A taloned hand at the back of the body’s head, dwarfing it, a claw cutting through the straps on the muzzle like water. They loose the restraints, they curl around the body like precious silk. 

“Florix. Florix?”

Kin of kin. Something had called out to him, and something within him had understood. 

Florix inhales harshly, violently breaching the surface. His eye refocuses. He collapses forward, into the warframe, who leans over him to hide him from the cruel light of the vessel. No more. A shroud of black, Highway’s own, the soft mantle of darkness usually worn over his shoulders — it swallows Florix whole. His small hands cannot find enough purchase on the iron-wrought figure, no matter how much he reaches for him, grabs at him, clinging, desperate. 

Highway’s union with Sevagoth curls inward, shielding Florix from any but himself. A ripple of transference static betrays his exhaustion. Florix is safe. 

But their work is not done.

[anxiety-elemental-kay]

Jade Shadows: Reactions and Gender Thoughts

I know opinions about Jade Shadows are a dime a dozen, but! I also have some Gender Thoughts I need to get out of my skull.

Spoilers under cut, natch.

There’s two things I want to talk about: my reaction to the quest itself, and Jade as a playable Warframe.

Part 1: Jade Shadows Story

I agree with a lot of people that the hype surrounding the quest was ultimately harmful to the story itself. The devs promised Stalker backstory, and we only kinda got that. I still don't know what a Low Guardian is, or even what the Stalker’s deal is. So he and Jade are sentient warframes like Umbra, I guess? And they were punished for being together? Why though? And despite this punishment the Stalker still hates Warframes and their role in the downfall of the Orokin? I feel like I'm missing a critical piece.

If the messaging had been more along the lines of “We’re getting an insight into the Stalker as a person and find out what he’s been up to lately” I think it would’ve had a more positive response. Instead it was framed as if we’d be getting answers, which we didn’t. Even upon completing the quest there’s a cheeky line in the codex about being left with more questions than answers.

That’s fine in a general sense, but that’s not what was promised.

As for the mystery of Jade… I’m disappointed that Jade turned out to be the Stalker’s romantic partner. It was the most boring option they could’ve picked. I was on board with the speculation that Jade Shadows was going to be a transition story; either the Stalker finds peace with herself and becomes Jade, or he used to BE Jade, but after the fall of the Orokin became the Stalker. At the very start of the quest when we see that Jade is, in fact, a separate person, I started to wonder if maybe Jade was his mother.

Jade just being his girlfriend who pops out a baby then dies… sucks ass. It’s boring! Even more than the problematic elements of this trope, I’m disappointed by this direction because it’s BORING! Warframe is a lot of things, but even when I don’t understand or don’t like the story, it’s at least interesting in its insanity and incoherence.

I desperately wish Jade was an actual character in the story. For example, since Jade is associated with the Jade Light, she could have been an executioner for the Orokin. That’s why she’s ready to give up her life to have her baby, her guilt about her participation in that system, and feeling that making a new life might begin to atone for taking so many. Not the best way to take her story, sure, but it would’ve been something!

At the end with the Corpus standing down when they realize the Stalker has a baby with him and letting him go felt dissonant. Especially with, uh, the state of the real world. There are people out there who are totally cool with murdering children, and I don’t believe the Corpus would ever let something as unique as Stalker’s baby go without a fight.

Since I’ve rambled about things I didn’t like, I want to spend some time talking about the things I did like! Because there’s plenty of that too!

Although the Ascension mission isn’t part of the quest itself, I really like the stuff with Parvos and Ordis! I’d never expected these two to interact, or for Ordan Karris to be brought up again! There's so many nice lore tidbits in there, as well as great character moments and animosity between the two. Delightful! Get his ass Ordis!

Speaking of Ordis, I loved him so much in the quest! I love Space Dad so much and it's always a delight to get to see him do things.

There was a brief mention of Umbra in the quest! When Stalker is trying to sneak onto the Orbiter and Ordis is patrolling, he calls out asking who’s there “Operator? Umbra? …Helminth?” I’m still disappointed he doesn’t get to be a character in the rest of the story after The Sacrifice, but its nice to acknowledge that he’s not just doomed to sit in the arsenal.

The message from Hunhow at the end of the quest was touching too. Jade and Stalker might not be trans but Hunhow is, or at least Sentients don’t adhere to common human understandings of sex and gender. Which still counts because I say so!!

I’m not wild about how the baby (I named him Orion) entered the story, but he’s a possible interesting thread for the future. How will the Stalker change going from a hunter to a carer? What does this new kind of life form mean for the rest of the system?

Whispers In The Walls is already setting up a longer story arc, so I’m okay with stuff just planting seeds for now! I know I was just talking about how a big problem with Jade Shadows was it failed to deliver a payoff after years of speculation, but I have enough respect for DE that I’ll wait and see. I always appreciate that they’re willing to take risks (I totally misunderstood how to do the, uh, mini game… but still… won???) even if those risks don’t pay off.

Part 2: Jade as a playable Warframe

Okay, so…

Here’s a bit of background for me to establish where I’m coming from when I talk about Jade: I’m an AFAB nonbinary person, and pregnancy is one of my few dysphoria triggers. I’ve talked before about how I would rather die than give birth. Any discussion of how precious or important motherhood is feels weird or gross to me, because I know I’m perceived as a woman, and those expectations could be projected onto me.

…So keep that all in mind when I say I think Jade being pregnant as a playable Warframe is interesting!

I don’t yet have Jade as of writing, but I’m still excited for her and hope to play her a bunch! When I watched the devstream where Pablo showed off her kit I was excited! She has a fun theme, she has interesting abilities, I love her visual design, and I love Titania so I’m happy to see another warframe that can fly! (I low-key keep forgetting Hildryn can fly because I almost never use that ability oops)

The reveal that Jade is pregnant was shocking during the quest, and sure I feel a bit uncomfortable thinking about equipping a pregnant frame… but that pregnancy is entirely aesthetic. The Jade we build is not the person who died, there’s no baby in there, and like any other frame, we can equip and unequip Jade as we like. In the same way the Tenno are not locked into one gender when picking a frame, Jade’s pregnancy doesn’t feel like a cage or a parasite the way real pregnancy seems to me. There’s no permanence or consequence to Jade appearing pregnant.

Additionally, being pregnant is entirely unrelated to any of her abilities or signature weapons. Though she was just Pregnant Girlfriend in the story, as a warframe she’s primarily Avenging Angel who just also happens to be pregnant. She’s still powerful and capable, her pregnancy doesn’t take that away, and that’s cool! People get Weird about people who are pregnant, like it diminishes their personhood or capability forever. This isn't a topic I know much about, because of the aforementioned dysphoria, but those are the vibes I get, especially from some of the critiques of Jade herself.

Thanks to everyone who stuck around for this whole thing! I know there’s been a lot of negativity around this quest, much of it earned, but I’m enjoying the update as a whole! Even if I have mixed feelings about the story, I’m not going to linger on the negative aspects because I don’t think that’ll do anyone any good. The devs will hear the criticisms the players have, and we all move on. I’m excited to get Jade and BE NOT AFRAID my enemies to death.

[silence-of-autumn42]

The one thing I'm not the biggest fan of with the Whispers in the Walls update is that it does absolutely nothing to clear up the timeline of when Albrecht disappeared. Prior to this update, all information we had indicated that Albrecht disappeared well before the Zariman 10-0 incident, and before the Old War. Quinn was rejected by Euleria, because she was too bust chasing Albrecht, and the man who would become Vilcor married her after Albrecht disappeared, hoping to "fix" Euleria. This clearly takes place before the Zariman incident, since Quinn was on the ship. And the Zariman incident is heavily implied to be before the Old War, since the Orokin clearly thought there was a hospitable Tau for them to go to, so clearly the Sentients hadn't returned to the Origin System yet. But we weren't sure exactly when Albrecht had disappeared.

Whispers in the Walls absolutely throws a wrench in this. Albrecht's notes talk about him visiting Duviri and then coming back to his labs. He also talks about taking the Helminth to the 1999verse, and the Vessels were built deliberately in mimicry of the Warframes, but out the Grey Strain. And his labs were guarded by Necramechs, which were created by Father/Vilcor in the early days of the New War. So that places his disappearance during the Old War.

So either DE has no idea about their timeline, or Albrecht retreated into his labs ages ago, and just never fucking talked to his daughter since, for apparently no reason. I guess he was too busy banging Loid and throwing animals into the Void to talk to her?

[grineerios]

Warframe OC Ask Game! (Quest edition!)

Send an OC(s) + a quest name, and I'll respond with an answer, or something inspired by the question/quest!

(Warframe has a lot of quests, so prompts under the cut.)

Awakening: For Tenno: What was their first Warframe? For Warframes: What is their earliest memory? For Non-Tenno: How have they dealt with the sudden return of the Tenno?

Vor's Prize: For Tenno: How did they handle their first mission? How has their approach changed since they first awoke from cryo-sleep? For Warframes: How did they initially react to being connected to a Tenno? Have they had previous Operators before their current one? For Non-Tenno: Do they have a favorite possession? How did they come to have it? Why is it important to them?

Saya's Vigil: For Tenno: How often do they take on bounties? Which faction do they enjoy bounties from the most? For Warframes: Did they have any partners, lovers, or close friends before becoming a warframe? How well do they handle emotional intimacy? For Non-Tenno: Have they ever been to Cetus before? What do they think of the local legends- The Unum, Eidolons, and the like?

Once Awake: For Tenno: How do they feel about working with an Infested being? For Warframes: How do they feel about being Infested? What are their thoughts on the Helminth? Do they feel any connection to the Infested Hive Mind? For Non-Tenno: What are your character's thoughts on the Infestation? Have they ever seen it in-person before?

Heart of Deimos: For Tenno and Warframes: What are their thoughts on the Entrati Family and their squabbles? For Non-Tenno: Has your character ever been to Deimos? Are they the type to take great risks if it could mean great reward?

The Archwing: Where is your character's favorite place in the Origin System? How often do they travel? What is their favorite form of travel?

Natah: For Tenno: How did they react to discovering Natah? Did it change the way they saw the Lotus? For Warframes and Non-Tenno: Does your character have any dark or embarrassing secrets?

The Second Dream: For Tenno: How did they react to awakening from the Second Dream? Did they remember that they were themselves, or did they think that they were their warframe? For Warframes: How did their Tenno awakening from the Second Dream affect them? Was it a good experience, or a bad one? For Non-Tenno: Were they always comfortable with themselves? If so, what brings them confidence? If not, what are their insecurities?

Rising Tide: For Tenno and Warframes: What do they remember from the Old War? For Non-Tenno: Have they ever been on a Railjack before? Can they pilot a ship?

The War Within: Given the chance, would your character ever perform Continuity? If yes, how picky would they be with their new body? If not, how do they deal with their own mortality?

Chains of Harrow: For Tenno: How did they react to the Man in the Wall upon seeing him for the first time? Has that reaction changed at all over time? For Warframes: What keeps them loyal to their Tenno? Does their Infested nature ever surface? For Non-Tenno: What's something that haunts them?

Apostasy Prologue: For Tenno: How did they take the Lotus' abandonment? How did they deal with the void in power that she left? Who did they blame? For Warframes: How did they react to Ballas still being alive? How did they support their Operator during this time? For Non-Tenno: Who would they consider to be their enemy? Why?

The Sacrifice: What does family mean to your character? Do they have a family- biological or otherwise?

Prelude to War: Is your character easily manipulated? What would it take to be swayed from their own values by others?

Chimera Prologue: Does your character ever feel othered by society? If so, how do they deal with it?

Erra: For Tenno and Warframes: What are their thoughts on The Lotus' family? Would they willingly work with them? For Non-Tenno: Have they ever seen a Sentient before? How did they react?

The Maker: How does your character view the Orokin? Positively? Negatively? Why?

The New War: For Drifters: Where were they during Narmer's invasion? Were they ever captured? If not, how did they stay out of Narmer's sight? For Operators: How did they react to discovering their Drifter counterpart? Where were they during Narmer's invasion? For Warframes: Would they ever willingly work with their Tenno's Operator/Drifter counterpart? Why or why not? For Non-Tenno: What is a comforting lie your character indulges in? Were they veiled during the War? How did Narmer affect their lives?

Angels of the Zariman: How does your character deal with guilt? What do they do when experiencing painful emotions?

Whispers in the Walls: What is your character's perspective on the Void?

A Man of Few Words: Who is your character's "ride-or-die" ally? Do they make friends easily, or tend to be distant?

Vox Solaris: Has your character been to Fortuna? What are their thoughts and feelings towards Solaris United?

The Waverider: Is there anyone your character looks up to? Who- or what- inspires them?

The Deadlock Protocol: Does your character have any connection to their biological family?

Howl of the Kubrow: Does your character have any pets? Do they like animals?

Stolen Dreams: How would your character feel about working with someone typically considered to be an enemy? Who- or which factions- do they trust the most?

The New Strange: How does your character approach an unfamiliar subject? Under what conditions do they learn best?

The Limbo Theorem: What is your character passionate about? What skills are they best at?

Octavia's Anthem: What kind of music does your character enjoy? Do they play an instrument or sing?

Sands of Inaros: How much of their childhood do they remember? Is there an event from their childhood that impacts who they are today?

The Silver Grove: How does your character's conscience- or lack thereof- affect their choices? How loyal are they to their moral compass?

Patient Zero: How altruistic is your character? Would they go out of their way to help someone, even if they didn't deserve it?

The Jordas Precept: For Tenno and Warframes: What is their perspective on the large amounts of killing required in their line of work? Do they feel guilty at all? For Non-Tenno: Has your character ever been to a Tenno relay? If so, what were their initial impressions?

Hidden Messages: For Tenno and Warframes: How loyal are they to The Lotus? For Non-Tenno: What do they do to relax?

The Glast Gambit: How does your character react to fame? Do they enjoy it, or avoid the spotlight?

Mask of the Revenant: Does your character celebrate Naberus? If so, what could they be found doing on Naberus Night?

Call of the Tempestarii: Is your character superstitious or spiritual at all? Do they believe in ghosts?

Veilbreaker: For Tenno and Warframes: Have they ever faced an Archon before? What was their experience like? Did they have back-up, or were they alone? For Non-Tenno: What kinds of freedom are most important to your character?

The Duviri Paradox: For Drifters: What was their experience in Duviri like? If they were a courtier, what would their Spiral be, and what traits would it take on? For Operators: How would they react to swapping places with the Drifter? Would they enjoy Duviri? Why or why not? For Warframes: Have they ever been to the Undercroft? Does fighting in the Void feel any different from fighting in the Origin System? For Non-Tenno: Do stories of the Tenno's deeds- both now and during the Old War- fill them with hope, or dread?

[noirrelite]

So! Of all the Oc's you've created, who's your favorite? Like, is there someone whose backstory or personality or character design that are just so simply sublime that you can't help but giggle when you think about them?

Sorry for the super late reply! To be honest, I took AGES to finish answering this because I couldn't name just a SINGLE one if you put a gun to my head; I can't say I consider any of them full thought-out/developed and I actually love them almost equally Dx ...also I struggle to decouple what I love about them as a character from the narrative.... For the sake of my sanity (and mayhaps yours) I'll try to focus on Sierra for now (I'm still figuring her out tbh) TwT I did my best to omit *some* of the stuff that wasn't directly related to her so this ended up being more like a collection of stuff related to her that I think are neat and are very loosely in chronological order xD Let me just put this under a readmore cuz I'm a bit shy about answering these publicly TLDR: Sierra's a poor little meow meow who puts on a tough front but is an insecure, lonely mess inside and I enjoy that very much.

⦁ It wasn't intentional at first, but I really like that Sierra is a bit of a subversion of how Mesa (the archetype) is usually depicted/seen as? Mesa is generally depicted as this badass that's cool as a cucumber, confident in her abilities to the point that she handicaps herself with a bandana to "give herself a challenge". But the Lotus also introduces her as a vagabond/outcast, and I couldn't help but wonder why and wanted to put that into context.

⦁ Sierra is most of these things, but it's a front she puts on to act tough and reliable. She's lonely and insecure but would sooner gnaw her own leg off than let her vulnerabilities show.

⦁ She's confident in her ability to kill, but she has to be because it's the one and only thing she's good at and she can't stand the thought of making someone suffer. During the Old War, as one of the few sane autonomous warframes, she was often forced to put down her brothers and sisters that were too much trouble to keep alive because her abilities were perfect for the job, and since they were built to be durable, she often witnessed them suffering before dying, and cursed herself for it. The guilt became too much for her to bear and it became part of the reason she eventually lost her sanity and was placed in cryo for the rest of the Old War. As a result, she's very meticulous about modding her pistols, making sure they get the job done as fast and as painlessly as possible. ⦁ On the flip side, she's insecure about her abilities being nowhere as potent and as impressive as other warframes and felt inadequate in comparison to them. But it had never been much of a problem until The New War, when Tala went to face Erra and Ballas in her Excalibur instead of going with Sierra. Tala only intended to protect her, knowing how many Tenno were lost in the War at this point, but Sierra blamed herself for not being strong enough to be relied on, believing she could've saved Tala if she were there.

⦁ Vastly outnumbered by Narmer forces, she was desperate enough to resort to the Helminth system for healing and augmenting herself with abilities that weren't her own out of desperation, which ate away at her sanity over time. She also refused to open up to Drifter Tala, afraid that she'll abandon her (like she thought Tala did) if she perceived her as weak and unreliable.

⦁ She's aloof, distrusting and tries to keep her distance (especially when she first met Operator Tala and Drifter Tala) because she's afraid of becoming attached and going through the pain of losing someone dear to her again.

⦁ Sierra was the bastard child of a Dax and a commoner, and her hard work in honing her marksmanship (which landed her in the Warframe program) was so she could prove herself in the war and hopefully elevate her commoner side of the family to a better station and reunite with them, but the Old War and becoming a warframe made that dream impossible, and the scars it left made her close off emotionally, not wanting to hurt any further.

⦁ When she was rescued by Tala (who only went by "Operator" at the time) from Alad V, Sierra barely remembered anything from the Old War. Tala was convinced she was a Tenno despite their ship Cephalon not detecting any traces of void energy in her, because she was moving on her own despite being cured of the Mutalist infestation (mind you, Tala at this point also barely remembers anything from before the Dream, so she believes the Tenno were just beings that possessed warframes), and also because there was a time where Tala couldn't use her void powers either, so the two dumbasses convinced each other that Sierra was just an amnesic Tenno and she just needed time to remember. Tala would even try to teach her things like switching from one warframe to another, to no avail.

pictured: scrunkly, committer of warcrimes

⦁ In the meantine, Sierra took a liking to Tala's defective, diminutive Kubrow which had been given off to Tala because it was too small to be used for combat, and its presence also set her at ease. She really likes how soft they are to touch. (They'd eventually get more consigned kubrows later on.)

⦁ After some point Sierra recovers enough and warms up enough to the Operator to follow them around, sometimes accompanying them on their missions and observing the ordinary folk in the colonies when off-duty, but she's still afraid to use the guns connected to her forearms. For a while they were just two low-rank Tenno sharing the same barely functional Orbiter, bickering over which missions/bounties to take and arguing over the Tenno's values and their unquestioning loyalty to the Lotus. Still, they help each other earn enough to repair the ship and buy better equipment.

⦁ It's only until the events of the Second Dream happen (Kanami was entrusted with the mission and was personally targeted by the Stalker, but she called Tala and Sierra to assist), when they find out Tala's real identity and they fail to find Sierra's pod that Sierra begins to doubt her identity as a Tenno, but she hesitates to confide in Tala, not that she could find the time to tell her-- Tala's still shaken by the fact that the Lotus kept their real nature from them and struggled to take care of herself as a human after living as a warframe for so long that Sierra had to step in and take care of her, asking Kanami for help and even taking up cooking later on.

⦁ It took a long time for Tala to even transference into Sierra, because Tala always considered Sierra her own person even after she suspected she wasn't a Tenno, and wanted to respect her autonomy, especially knowing that Alad had controlled her against her will in the past. She transferenced for the first time with Sierra as a last resort after Kanami and Rouge tracked them down on Earth and the two of them working separately were no match for the vanguard-class warframe and operator working together. (Tala had gone AWOL earlier after losing all trust in the Lotus.)

⦁ Similarly, Sierra used her Regulators for the first time since she was awoken during the fight after Tala transferences into her, doing her best to deflect Rouge's incoming fire with her own to buy herself and Tala time, and Tala assisting with close quarters combat when Rouge runs out of energy and resorts to melee.

⦁ SIerra's memories only return to her in full when Rouge goes berserk from Kanami trying to stop her from killing both of them, having been kept under a tight leash for so long. Rouge's frenzy during the final confrontation with her reminded her of the crazed warframes she was forced to put down.

⦁ Even if Rouge pursued them relentlessly and nearly killed her and Tala in the past, Sierra couldn't bring herself to fully hate her; at some point, Rouge hesitated long enough for them to escape, and it reminded her of the fact that some of the warframes she had to kill weren't all beyond saving. (honestly the desertion arc and Kanami's complicated relationship with Rouge and their backstories is a whole other post xd)

⦁ While they were AWOL and roaming Earth on their own, they came across the spot that would be called the Drifter Camp later on.

⦁ Both of them returned to the fold when the New War broke out and proved themselves in Operation Scarlet Spear and Operation Orphix Venom, gaining a lot of combat experience in the process.

⦁ When Tala left to take the fight to Ballas and Erra directly and left her, Sierra damaged the Orbiter enough for Ordis to relent and prepare the backup landing craft, but Tala's void energy signature had already been gone by then. They're still making the Orbiter spaceworthy again to this day.

⦁ Sierra was much more ruthless when she was fighting on her lonesome against Narmer, not being able to afford being merciful, but also because she felt like she had lost everything she cared about. ⦁ Narmer never found Sierra despite her proving to be a thorn in their side for some time; Rouge had taught her in guerilla tactics and how to keep her tracks hidden, and she learned from Tala when they did covert operations together, but more importantly, Sierra wasn't a real Tenno and didn't have any void energy signature for Narmer forces to track.

⦁ Sierra was too injured to fight when Drifter Tala made the choice to go to Hunhow for help, but she followed after her anyway despite her weakened state, and she was given a new, stronger set of pistols after Drifter Tala was given the Nataruk.

⦁ When Operator Tala came back, Sierra took a moment to hug her, something she rarely does. ⦁ Sierra and Operator Tala act like rowdy siblings together living on their own, bullying each other, bickering about which missions to take, paying the bills, and repairing the orbiter from time to time, and Sierra appreciates that a lot because it makes her feel like nothing much has changed since she became a warframe. ⦁ Sierra isn't as close-knit with Tala's older self, but Sierra often takes her along on her trips on Earth while she tries to get Drifter Tala acclimated to the Origin System, knowing how it feels like to be in a world that's completely different than the one you know. That's all I can think of for now; if I let myself include more of the story this would be way, WAY longer...