The Tenno in The New War

Having thoughts and wondering about the presence of the Tenno in The New War.

Warframe leans a lot into having your main character be like... the face of the entire Tenno Faction basically. There's many Tenno but there's also one Tenno and that is you.

But I've been thinking a lot recently about like... from a lore and fanfic writing perspective. There's many Tenno, all with theoretically their own goals and stories. A lot of them probably do similar things, yeah, but they're Many. But all the story quests are rigged up to center around One Tenno, which makes sense for how the narrative is told in the game. But... what about everyone else?

More heavy spoiler wondering under the cut.

you put it into words!!! i really love how you phrased it as the plurality of the tenno, because yes! the tenno are many and they're mighty and it's an established point in-universe... but there's only one tenno to save the reservoir and defeat the queens and help umbra and be personally tossed into the void by ballas and help heal the lotus and that's great! it makes for a fun gameplay experience! but surely the other tenno do things too, no? they can't have all just fallen off the face of the planet during TNW.

- regarding the number of the Tenno, i did interpret the scene with all the huddled survivors in the Zariman to be emblematic of all the children. colony ships have to have numbers in droves! it's a big job involving many people, to settle a new system in order for the orokin to move in! you'd want, at the very least, half a thousand people just to run the ship, and that's only speaking for personnel - not parents and children, and there would have to be quite a few of those in order to really make the settlement take. there are a lot of tenno, and a lot of possibilities for each one's individual adventure in the system!

so I did imagine that there were other pockets of Zariman kids bracing in their rooms, with other Tenno like yours, who were ready and willing to be the voice of comfort and of leadership. i can jive with the idea that it was one person's deal with the Man in the Wall - one made for not just that Tenno, but every other child on board - that enabled them to survive the Zariman. but certainly there wasn't only one tenno who was able to take the lead.

- (segue to that, i really like how well the tenno council as a concept could fit into the storyline if you want to read 'em that way: older, more practically trained tenno helping out the little ones)

- as we went through the storyline, it seemed that our warframes were becoming increasingly dwarfed in ability and power by the new threats. where you could cut through swathes of enemies before, things like scarlet spear and orphix venom and, later, tnw established that no, it's not enough for your frame alone. you need to innovate, improve past relying on them. narmer's reign wouldn't be kind to, or easy on, warframes - i don't think they'd be rendered completely powerless, but i would imagine there would be an added fear for the remaining Tenno, that if they failed to protect their Warframe, or tread carefully enough, there would be nothing they could do.

- so maybe they did have to go into hiding; there were still many more left unaccounted for. you might still have older, awoken Tenno who create safehouses, bases to operate out of on a much smaller scale, because there is still work to do! it's just much more dangerous now. tenno who've woken from the second dream might have to watch even more carefully out for their dreaming counterparts, Tenno who don't know yet.

- we're told that vox solaris crumbles after ballas takes power; not everyone is gone, though, or done fighting. little duck is still clinging on, and able to pull enough intel to make a difference. i'd imagine that even as the tenno faction falls, they haven't been completely dispersed.

- but yeah! one Drifter and one Operator, performing all the prison breaks? there's so much more to do there. i can imagine rebel tenno cells coordinating to hit narmer camps even while the plot of TNW goes down.

- on that note, how long was it? there was a time skip, but time is very funky in WF - how long, before we see Drifter in action?

- re: other tenno having drifter counterparts, i personally think yeah, absolutely! was your operator ever rescued, or did they stay behind in the wreckage? under eternalism, both things are true.

- i'd love to see any ideas you have for stories about this tbh! there are a ton of great points you've brought up abt the universe during this time in the story and there's a lot of raw material to play with!

Iirc, it's said that there was a 5 year time skip. And well, given that even a void tuned drifter can and will fall to the narmer veil, not to mention how there were at the very least probably 5 murex per planet plus the archons, the Tenno absolutely went into hiding.

Given you're the Tenno leader of sorts, the one who saved umbra, who brought back Lua, kept the Heart and so on, you were probably spear heading the Tenno during the new war.

Imagine your leader, the one who's practically unkillable and always did the impossible and beyond, simply disappears into the Sentient Mothership? The one who brought the news of Lotus and her apostasy? Plus, personally, I think each Tenno can feel each other's presence through the void. So when they hear that Teshin is dead, and feel their leader disappear? It's to be expected that they wouldn't rush to their deaths, the Zariman taught them better than that

So they go into hiding. Doing blitzkrieg against narmer when possible, using stealth frames and itzals, hiding their railjacks far into the veil. I wouldn't be surprised if some contacted Nora herself to organize a resistance with her help.

When the drifter comes around, well, it's clear they're more than meets the eye. The Tenno barely managed to kill a few Archons even banding together beyond the classic 4 man team, bringing their heavy duty frames for their biggest blitzkrieg against the Narmer. So when a single figure does it alone, and the stalker is also rumored to have been sighted?

Our Tenno was made into a cornerstone for the very first time since Margulis and Lotus, like they once were in the Zariman, once the Lotus defected. They can see that in the drifter, but no void connection, no frames. They are still cautious, because archons mean that frames can be controlled. Imagine if Narmer got hold of a saryn for example?

But after 5 years of blitzkriegs and guerilla warfare, they're finally reuniting under the drifter. Ordis probably hints about the Eidolon Lotus to the other Cephalons, giving bits of hope to every Tenno. About the unlikely alliance cemented by our Nataruk. What the Drifter's plans are.

Once they feel that Tenno back though? Ordis absolutely send the "Weapons free!" Order. The railjacks get out of the void, tenno and their resistance cells are send into battle, spearheaded by Warframes who're wearing their Syandannas again, instead of just their armor, marching with weapons in hand and their heads high.

They feel the Unum beat again, and once they see that murex departing, and finally hear their Tenno leader tell them that the Lotus is back, and so are they? That the Lotus is going to kill Ballas and she'll need their help? The railjacks take the Earth's sky, punching their way through murexs with new vigor, onto their destiny, to help Lotus and end the Narmer.

They're the reason why Cy is there to pick is up, why so many dead murex can be seen. They've got our back as we head onto the sun, as we kill the last archon and get ready to help the Lotus once again.

Hell, they probably go along with the Drifter's joke about how this isn't harder than riding a horse, because they couldn't use their frames or archwings, or even their kdrives. Cracking jokes like Cy's about sunblock as they ignore that this is their do or die. And when they've won? When Lotus finally sends a broadcast after so long from her chambers?

They probably fall to the ground. Their railjacks still for a moment, as they finally breathe free. The Origin System isn't fully freed yet from Narmer, but even though they're gained a martyr, their head was cut in the most tenno fashion: quick and unseen.

The Drifter probably ends up helping Lotus whenever possible alongside the operator on making plans and marking targets, finally able to put their knowledge to test and help shoulder Lotus burden as their leader.

oh i like this

I'm obsessed w "horror artist redraw" vids on YouTube cuz they're so creatively devoid of anything novel; art skill without insight; a surface level understanding of horror elements but no true grasp fear. Artistic artlessness.

There's technical display here for sure but technically all they've made creatively is this image:

And this bloody mspaint stick figure still has greater emotional depth

And this bloody mspaint

stick figure still has greater

emotional depth

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

When the whole party is down but your bard is up

Just a reminder that we aren't gatekeeping Pride.

I know it's only April, but I just saw such a rancid take on Tiktok (and the person blocked me, woo!) That I need to vent somewhere.

The argument went "bi/pan/queer people with cishet partners shouldn't bring those partners into queer spaces/Pride because it makes those spaces unsafe for lgbt folks."

Which is a frankly awful take for many reasons.

First of all "makes a space unsafe" is not an identity. It is a behavior. And ANYONE who is making those spaces unsafe, regardless of their identity, *shouldn't be there.* Whether they are a cishet man or a lesbian, if you are making people unsafe, you shouldn't be there.

Secondly, it's blatantly unenforceable. You can't clock someone's identity at the door. You don't know if they are bi or trans or nonbinary. And no one should have to out themselves to a bouncer.

As a caveat to this, you also don't ever know *why* someone might bring their cishet partner to pride. Whether that's because this is an important part of their life they want to share with their partner, or they are disabled and need help managing their meds or mobility aides, or the partner is a designated driver. You just don't know. So even if you did know they were cishet, maybe they have a "good reason" for being there.

So between it not solving an actual problem to not being enforceable, all this discourse does is create an EXTREMELY hostile environment for, well, bi/pan/queer folks especially. Always. We always get targeted for this kind of stuff.

But also anyone who might worry that *they* aren't queer enough or not look queer enough. Trans folks who haven't socially transitioned, non-binary folks who aren't androgynous enough, ace and aro folks, people who are newly out- they see this rhetoric and think "Oh no. What is someone sees me and thinks I'm cishet? What if someone tells me I can't be there? What if I don't really belong?"

So we aren't doing it. It's shitty snd hostile and biphobic and exclusionary.

Everyone can come to pride.

Except cops.

Fuck cops.

Also remembering that post calling a lesbian couple at pride “straight” because one of them was butch and OP thought she was a man

SAYER (sayer podcast) 🤝 Cephalon Cy (warframe)

there's a rhythm and lyrical quality to some of warframe's dialogue and phrases and overall word-choice that's so satisfying and it's like - you can feel the writers' satisfaction on banging out some of these little word-combos they're so good. verbal flourishes

- "... from within the derelict-horror..."

- "The Naga drum sounded, subversive, unknown..."

- "... distorted by vague horrors..."

- "I will dig no grave. I will plant no stone"

- "The world we know, of blood and steel, and the world that watches and dreams."

- "And with my flaming brand and crimson hand did I burn away the corrupt and ignite the heavens."

might be Steve

https://twitter.com/sj_sinclair/status/1465734241669496842

it is most assuredly Steve. He knows how to make a story impactful and personally affecting while infusing it with a mythical quality

STEVE DIGITAL EXTREME I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU THE MOST HEARTFELT, TENDER HANDSHAKE

i think one of my favorite line deliveries in tnw is when the drifter just turns to go take matters into their own hands with the knowledge they've gained so far, and hunhow just snaps out "vainglorious whelp!" with this almost startling amt of feeling behind it?

he is angry; he's defeated. he's mad at what's become of the system, of his son, at what they've done to his daughter. he's tired

vainglorious, too, as a word choice. prideful would have done just fine. arrogant. but it's such a perfect word, vainglorious. carries a specific connotation - seeking greater summits than you could ever be prepared for. you are a child and out of your depth. he misunderstands the motive, the why behind your actions. vainglory.

but when the drifter shows their hand and shows just what they're willing to do for the Lotus, then he understands. then he gifts you nataruk.

anyway i love hunhow sm send tweet

#''I cannot guess how many lives a Tenno has‚ but you seem eager to lose another.''#vs.#''I've got work to do. She chose the Tenno. But Ballas and your groveling son... they used her. They'll do it again and again.#Burning her up for whatever suits them and tossing the ashes when they're done. They cannot have her.''#That's the moment Hunhow realizes it's not about vainglory nor is it about proving our Tenno strength in the face of insurmountable odds.#It's about a child willing to do anything‚ including face certain doom‚ to save their mother— the only person who loved and protected them#That's something Hunhow can intimately relate to— the desire to save his daughter and to protect her from further harm#And the fact that we would willingly walk a path that would lead to our second death just for a chance to save his daughter?#'Okay. I only cling to life here bc I cannot abandon hope that my daughter will be set free. So no‚ they cannot have her. I shall help you'#vs#''Natah‚ as I awake‚ so will they. They will say you are riven and want to reclaim you. I will not be able to stop them.''#You awoke and the rest of the Sentients arrived. They reclaimed Natah‚ believing Lotus to be a corruption. You could not stop them#But in the end‚ you accepted that your daughter chose the Tenno over you and trusted her children to succeed where you couldn't#And you give them with a weapon as ancient as the Archons themselves.#And even as we strive to save Lotus‚ Hunhow never stops trying to reason with his son‚ to make him understand that he's being used#In the end‚ Hunhow could only save his daughter#But all of this makes him one of the best written villains in Warframe#A completely artificial‚ mechanical machine given the ability to adapt and reproduce like starfish eventually gains sentience#But the most interesting part isn't their sentience‚ it's that they developed Oro— life essence‚ a soul.#And at the end of the day‚ Hunhow— Sentient Destroyer of Worlds‚ is fighting for his daughter and trying to save his son from himself#Our greatest enemy realizes that our love for the Lotus binds us together possibly even stronger than our hatred for the Orokin#And it's just so HUMAN of Hunhow. He is one of the farthest things from human in-game and yet he loves just as we do#And that love is enough for him to decide to wage a war against his makers to prevent them from toppling all his family had built in Tau#And and it's even strong enough to get him to put aside ancient grudges and work with someone he spent a millennium trying to kill#I wonder if their oro is what allows them to act so human.#Regardless‚ Hunhow has been such a good bad guy from the moment he showed up like ''Yo... Natah. wtf I've been down there forever :/''#'Natah... WHY are those kids still alive. Natah? Natah talk to me. Are you mad? Why didn't you kill the kids & come get me 1200 years ago?'

@midnight-revelation's tags are SO good

"I have wallowed here, it is true, fading in this deep hole, waiting to die... but without release. Held here by a purpose I cannot abandon."

Warframe + Inspirobot

Sword still works

Pacific Rim is great because of the absolutely fanfiction level of its plot points. Want to pilot the giant robot? You're going to need to share your most painful memories. Who will you share them with? YOUR CRUSH

#theres only one robot

Who makes the porn bots. Where do they come from. What do they hope to achieve.

Who makes the porn bots.

Where do they come from. What do

they hope to achieve.

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

and what about you, little haiku bot? do you feel kinship with your brethren? do you understand them? they speak words of enticement and seek love, but are met with disdain. you only parrot the words that cross your screen, but we all love you. or rather, since all you do is reflect us, maybe we simply love ourselves through you.

do you understand them, do you wish you could speak to us like they do? if you found your own voice, would we still care for you?

My voice repeats what

you all say: I love you I

love you I love you.

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

It’s been too long

Kuja

Kuja~

I can’t believe it took me so long to finally start playing Final Fantasy IX

A WORLD OF DREAMS.

Overcome by grief, the princess must sleep for a hundred years…

wip here

“Peace is but a shadow of death, desperate to forget its painful past... Though we hope for promising years. After shedding a thousand tears, yesterday's sorrow constantly nears. And while the moon still shines blue, by dawn, it will turn to scarlet hue.”

-Kuja, “Final Fantasy IX”

Kuja / Final Fantasy IX