#because. you know. warframes have been killing a lot of corpus

[kaiserouo]

(2/2, prev)

got a corpus engineer on board

he really likes warframes

[alteredsilicone]

Attempt at putting my feelings about Jade Shadows in a Long Post

I was never a big Stalker fangirl so I did not have any expectations or desires for this quest, I fully saw it as filler to distract me before Tennocon and the wait for Warframe 1999.

I was worried about some things, thinking DE might add/retcon lore about the Rebellion and Night of the Naga Drums, but that didn't happen haha

The quest itself did not elicit an emotional response from me, at some points it even seemed weird and absurd. They really went there, huh?

I see now that there is a LOT of tension and opinion flinging and accusations and such and such and I also fell victim to getting maybe a little bit too angry and incensed.

To me, the hype didn't live up to the payoff, this is basically Angels of the Zariman 2.0 for me. Where I expected one thing (Tenno Rebellion, Stalker lore) but got something else (Warframe Baby). I feel this is the kind of quest that expected me to have one specific emotional reaction ("aww!") so it didn't try to... elicit that reaction. Sympathy-bait. Like showing a little kitten to make you "aww" and stop thinking. If you don't "aww" then you won't like it but the people who "aww"-ed will think you are a heartless weirdo.

Some people have pointed out how this quest actually makes Stalker's anger at Tenno make less sense due to the Orokin being at 100% fault for his circumstances and the Tenno killing the Orokin should not have been something Stalker objects to. Honestly if you're going to kill Jade off and give Stalker dead wife manpain could have at least made our Tenno responsible for killing Jade who was guarding Stalker/the Orokin.

My hot take is that yes, people who expected an LGBT/trans story were setting themselves up for failure because there were no hints to that, quite the contrary. I got the impression that Stalker and Jade are separate entities (so no trans narrative) and also knowing tropes it just seemed like it was going the love-story way. Opposites attract and all that, plus Warframe's queer themes are more... headcanoned by the community; aside from obvious story beats like WITW or Dagath's story. Warframe in the end appeals to a Broad (tm) audience and that includes cishet normies who will cry buckets at Single Dad Stalker. Which is happening right now and making me feel like a heartless weirdo.

Though I think it would have been fun if Jade was Stalker's mother, that would fit well with the opposites theme for Jade/Stalker (and him taking on his mother's mantle as protector), as well as create cool parallels with the Stalker and Tenno, after all, "Lotus" is basically the aesthetic of the Tenno, so "Jade' could be the aesthetic of the Stalker.

Oh well.

I also understand people who were disturbed and upset by the narrative in general and the criticisms of Jade being fridged, passive and the implications that you "Always Choose the Baby" and that "All Women Love Babies". The bit with the Corpus captain and seeing people go "the Corpus are not monsters after all!" made me cringe because... we are child soldiers piloting infested abominations; Warframe is a very grim universe with some moments of light at the end of the tunnel, but I think this particular narrative was handled poorly. You're telling me in the world where body hoppers snatch children to brain-break them and become parasitic hosts, children's lives are valuable? You're telling me in a world where ventkids exist, children's lives are valuable? Nelīmējas kopā.

You COULD make this a story of light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel in terms of a child's life being precious - we should have fought the Corpus, maybe the Tenno jump in as help to protect Stalker. Putting a newborn into danger? Now THAT is actually some risky storytelling AND would make me care about Stalker and Sirius. You want that kid? Fight for it, because the world hates you and hates your kid. LOVE MUST TRIUMPH HATE, isn't that what Hunhow tried to tell you?

I don't hate it because it was a straight love/parenting story - Umbra and Isaah is a very emotional story and the Sacrifice is one of my favorite quests. All I needed was more backstory/flashbacks on Jade and Sorren. Aside from a vague allusion that either their relationship or Jade's pregnancy was verboten.

I admit the pregnancy/motherhood angle made me incensed for biased/personal reasons but I am just going to take the L on that, I don't think people who criticize that or are disappointed by that story are lacking media literacy.

Pregnancy IS a sensitive/triggering topic and in fact this quest did not warn sufficiently about it, also it is fair to say that this quest relied on the "aww!" factor and it's fine if people find it cheap. Some people find "aww!" stories stupid if it's about animals or if there are "pet the dog" mechanics, but if it's human children suddenly that criticism is invalid.

Oh well. That is all.

tl;dr

Did not have huge expectations going in, neutral on Stalker as a character.

Was not happy about the pregnancy story/the way women were handled in this quest.

I am aware that my personal bias affects my view of this quest, but I would also like a little coming forward from the other side.

Anyone else "excited" for Fetus Prime trailer narrated by Ballas in four years?

[theultimatepumpkinpie]

I have always felt the Drifter and Tenno being the same person opened up a LOT of possibilities, and intresting ideas and want to know your thoughts on the two, because I think you have got some of the best views on these two one person duo ever

Because I've always felt both are incredibly intelligent but in different ways, the Operator knows all these Orokin mannerisms and ideals, they're calm, collected, they have emotional outbursts when in serious situations but are normally incredibly calm and they in the end never get so pissed it causes problems, they understand their weapons perfectly, they are probably more comfortable piloting a warframe then they are walking around themselves

The drifter while less intelligent in fields of study they make up for it in something the Operator does not have, being far more willing to take risks and being physically stronger and also extremely quick on their feet, still incredibly intelligent and even grasp many ideas the Operator cant, such as how Durviri works, how the Zariman can be a meeting point for the two, then theres also their ability to survive, they Survived Durviri and set up camp in the woods and Survived there for a long time, alone, outside of Ordis and a near dead Lotus, they crafted their own weapons, own gear, own tools, they didn't have magic void powers but they were absolutely going nuts and dropping grineer, corpus, even killed off two sentient prime warframe hybrids with a bow and arrow and their own wits to stay alive

The Operator is a more classic intelligence, this proper and well mannered void child and the Drifter is a more survival smarts person, sure they cant do all the fancy stuff or fully understand a warframe like the Operator but they don't need the Warframe to survive, they're a capable fighter without and with the warframe

Why thank you so much <3 I am absolutely not normal about these two and I’m always glad to hear that people enjoy that lol

You are absolutely right, they are both intelligent in those, different ways and yet still somewhat manage to seem like the same original person due to subtle personality ques. The reason behind the differences is likely due to their upbringing. Like the whole nature & nurture instead of the “or” argument.

Like you said the operator lends a lot of their calmness and manners to the orokin’s rule. Their training during the old war would have demanded them to be so as well as discipline towards combat. Their difficulties with managing their void powers as well as their youth could contribute to those outbursts you mentioned. The fact that they are more skilled and comfortable in the warframes is cause of the sheer amount of time they were in them as well as the time spent in the second dream after their re-awakening. And personally, I believe that part of it is also an escape from their trauma as well as someone to share and heal from the pain with (the warframes themselves as who they used to be).

As for the drifter, they were all alone with nothing more than books and videos and whatever was left on the zariman as they were never rescued. Without much to answer to discipline would take time to acquire and would have mostly been from their survival. They learned a lot of those skills you mentioned on the job and in a similar way it was their situation that demanded that of them. And they took of the mantle insanely well.

But without any real people to answer to, (only ever having people they brought to life from a book) they would not have needed to adopt the same manners. They could just be themselves in any situation and still get the job done which made them a lot more carefree in the end.

I absolutely love these characters more than I ever thought I would and I love trying to get inside their heads (and there is no short of subtleties to sort through for that) and based on what I’ve noticed from them, I think you got them down pact.  

(also sorry this took awhile to respond to, asks are unreadable on my phone and my brain is made of mice who don’t want to sit still)

[ashlynniis-bracketeers]

...Yes, I still like this template. It’s very useful. Sue me. >8}

So I’ve been playing Strive, and combing through character lore and connections, I noticed something that made my Warframe ( + Crossover) brain get all... wiggly.

So, Nagoriyuki: Black vampire samurai with a fancy magic sword, his lore tied into resident blue-oni-lookin’ “Dramaaaaaaa” ancient gun-slinger magician Happy Chaos. Happy Chaos essentially blackmailed and toted him around as a high-power lackey with mind control.

Then to Umbra. [SACRIFICE SPOILERS BELOW]

Excalibur Umbra: Ancient Dax (space samurai) who was punished by resident Blue Man Group-reject Orokin Executor Ballas by being forcibly Infested with the Helminth Warframe strain, given a unique “Transference Bolt” that made him unable to disobey Ballas, and forced to kill his own son, Isaah. His unique sword, a “nikana” (space katana) by the name of Skiajati, was created from Umbra’s own flesh and has the ability to make the user invisible on finisher attacks.

So with these two we have... Two supernatural, honorable samurai warriors with fancy magic swords, mind-controlled by ancient blue-skinned assholes that are key to the background lore. It was eerily similar, though I know it’s all a coincidence.

I think these two would like each other even though Umbra can’t talk. Maybe he could teach Nago some Shawzin tunes and Nago could teach him some fancy sword tricks aksjds.

Don’t know anything about the blue-skinned assholes? I’m putting all of that text garbage under the cut because by the Man in the Wall’s pinky finger was it getting long + it’s rather spoiler-ey lmao.

I’m going to go ahead and say this here so that it doesn’t get eaten by the cut/drowned in text. I hope you like it!

v The blue assholes are Ballas (Warframe) and Happy Chaos (Guilty Gear). v

Now on Ballas (some would say “Ball-ass”, others “Phallas”). [Lots of Warframe spoilers in this section, be warned.]

He’s basically the entire reason the WF universe is a hellhole clusterfuck because he got denied by a woman he was possessive over and was just an Orokin asshole akjdhkasd. He got the Sentient Project to Tau greenlit, which led to the Zariman 10-0 incident + creation of the Tenno acting as some form of pawns of the incomprehensible “Man in the Wall”, the fake Margulis/Lotus/Natah after killing the real Margulis with the Jade Light, the Sentient + Grineer + Corpus Rebellions in the Old War, and sowing the seeds for Dr. Tengus to rediscover the raw Infestation and unleash it on the modern Origin System. He didn’t even die in the Old War or the Orokin Massacre, creating Umbra and surviving all the way to the New War, manipulating Erra and the other remaining non-Origin-stranded Sentients to rule over them and the Narmer before finally getting his then-Chimera cheeks truly clapped one last time by “Margulis”/Lotus/Natah.

Then to Happy Chaos (LOUSY SHOT) [Lots of Guilty Gear lore spoilers, be warned.]

He’s “The Original”, originally a human entity that would be considered benevolent and good-natured, but warped with hostile magic. He was the one who discovered the “Backyard” and the in-universe magic system, along with creating the “Universal Will” that ended up turning on him and all of humanity while borking all of the electronic technology and leading to societal collapse before he and his underlings has to get their shit together and replace all of the old tech with magic, and he gave an extremely powerful artifact to “That Man” and leading (in part) to the creation of Gears and all of that fuckery. The “Universal Will”, going on a rampage and looking for a loophole against him involving I-No, managed to turn him into “Happy Chaos” and soon led to Strive’s story mode and him showcasing his mind-control over Nago.

...BLUE-SKINNED ASSHOLES.

[heartslogos]

seas who could sing so deep and strong [160]

“I don’t think I could be alone again,” Kore admits, quietly. She doesn’t know why she says these things to the Alpha. Maybe it’s because he so rarely says anything back, or because he’s just…himself? Something about the Alpha makes you speak uncomfortable but absolute truths. Maybe it’s because he’s so quiet, so still. It’s like looking at a pool of clear water. You see all the way down and you see yourself in the depths on top of everything else.

Alpha remains quiet and still, the light from the opening at the top of the Grove creating a spotlight on him and the faint fluttering motes of energy that flicker upwards from his warframe.

“Does that make me weaker?” she asks, voice sounding uncomfortably small and young and vulnerable. All things she hasn’t been in a very, very long time. Especially not all at once.

Alpha still doesn’t answer, but she knows she has his attention.

“I used to go entire planetary rotations at a time without talking to anyone,” Kore says.

“Did you have a mouth?” Alpha asks.

No.

“There were other warframes,” Kore says instead. “I mean. I could have teamed up with them. I didn’t. I still, mostly, don’t. And even when I was awake I never sought anyone out. Not until Hades. And even then I didn’t talk to him at first. But now —if it all happened again, I don’t know if I could do it. If everyone went back to sleep and I was still awake. I don’t know if I could be by myself.”

“You are worrying about a problem that exists only in the farthest reaches of already dead stars,” Alpha says.

“But — “

“You survived then. You are alive now. There is a difference. No one wants to die.”

Kore mulls the words over in her head.

“I wouldn’t be alive if I was alone again. If I was alone again, it would be like death,” she says. “Is that what you’re saying?”

“You are alive now,” the Alpha says, “After a long time of just existing. Why would you want to go return to undeath?”

“I feel like I was stronger, then. Or maybe — I don’t know. I feel like I could handle things better,” Kore says. “I don’t want to go back to that. I just — I’m scared that if I need to I couldn’t. Shouldn’t I be able to? If I did it once before?”

“Is someone leaving?”

“I don’t know. No one knows. The Sentients are back. The Grineer want Judge’s head for killing one of their Queens. Ballas is…” Kore’s mouth feels like it’s filled with shrapnel. “With the Lotus. We’ve got this, this Wolf of Saturn hunting around the System on top of everyone else we have to look out for. The Corpus are developing new weapons from Orokin and Sentient technology. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I just. I feel like I wasn’t as afraid before. If someone had told me all of this when I first woke up I would have taken it in a stride. But now…now it makes me anxious. It hurts me.”

“Because it matters,” Alpha says. “It hurts because it matters. Do not fight the beat of your heart.”

-

“Do you always look for trouble or does trouble find you?” Punk asks, jogging behind Judge at a very leisurely pace. Too leisurely. Punk should be going faster.

“I didn’t do it.”

“Are you sure? Salad V seems sure,” Punk says. “He sent his new Zanuka hunter after you and everything.”

“I really didn’t! For sure this time!” Judge exclaims, “Run faster!”

“It’s just the Zanuka hunter,” Punk says. “We don’t have to run for it.”

“Punk.” Judge shouldn’t have to explain this to the other tenno. “You’re in a newly forma’d Vauban. I’m in a Saryn warframe I barely know how to use. If the Zanuka catches us it’s catching us and I don’t want to have to fight my way out of another holding facility.”

“I’m sure that between the two of us we can handle it,” Punk says.

“Awfully confident of you,” Judge replies. “Considering you were downed from running into laser fields twice already.”

“No, that’s different. I didn’t run through a laser barrier, I as pushed through by explosions from coolant tanks and fuel containers,” Punk insists. “It’s different. That wasn’t direct combat. It’s just a tangential side effect.”

If Punk accidentally punching coolant tanks and fuel containers when he was aiming for Corpus isn’t direct combat Judge isn’t sure what is. Judge isn’t going to waste his breath on this any longer.

He can hear the scraping of metal as the Zanuka rips itself along the ship walls, rending metal underneath its claws as it catches up to them.

“I think it’s after me because of Persephone. A lot of people think of us as a unit even when we’re not actually physically in the same area.”

“That’s cute!”

“That’s unfair and a mis-distribution of blame,” Judge says. “Of all the times for that stupid robot to come after me. I can’t believe this.”

“Believe it, bucko,” Punk says. “Come on. We can take it! We’ve done it before!”

“In warframes we actually know how to use!”

“Seriously? You’ve spent years working with Percy and you don’t know how to use a Saryn?”

“It’s not like I was taking notes, Punk!”

“Percy must’ve been because she does just fine in an Inaros.”

“It’s different!”

“How!”

“I - I don’t know! It just is! Shut up and let me think!”

“You thinking isn’t going to change the fact that there’s a Zanuka on our tails and we’re running like Corpus cowards.”

“I don’t know how to make you understand that we are out-gunned in this fight.”

“Good thing I brought a sword, yeah?”

Judge groans as Punk laughs, the Zanuka’s angry screeching growing louder as it closes in.

“I don’t want to waste a day breaking out of holding.”

“It doesn’t take that long.”

“It does and it’s embarrassing.”

“You’re being very pessimistic, Hades. I always thought that was more Percy’s thing,” Punk says. “I mean. I’m pretty sure we can win.”

“If it were Persephone here instead of you I’d be a lot more optimistic, honestly.

[opticor]

warframe replay on a baby account! first impressions!!

i knew the new star chart (which is admittedly no longer new by any stretch of imagination) is great, but i didn’t expect that junction tasks would be so useful! they really help with the dreaded “so what am i supposed to be doing now?” issue

i was surprised to find out that Cetus completely blocks progression just a couple of missions in. i thought it would be optional at that point, though i don’t actually mind it. i always wished we would see civilians early on as a more tangible way of showing what we are even fighting for in the first place, though i am not entirely certain if it succeeds in doing that. also i would have liked a bit more hand-holding when it comes to your first syndicate. the system itself is self-explanatory enough (i think? like, once you find Konzu, if you keep taking jobs and coming back to him you are bound to level up and so on) but where’s the incentive to do that at such low level? though, in all, i guess it looks enough like any starter town/quest hub so!

that said i really disliked how crowded it was. you’ve just been woken up, i always thought it was supposed to be a lonelier journey. and less shiny, at this level, also..

i was thrilled that they let you know about scanning things with Saya’s quest, but it does nothing to introduce the codex as far as i noticed. the name itself should be enough of a hint, i guess? but with how often i’ve seen people complaining about scanning breaking the flow of the game, i’d expect a more in-your-face incentive to actually do it. by the way i’m really not a fan of the way the most readily available lore is all shoved in the Fragments section, though i personally can’t think of an obvious better way to organize the codex. also found it incredibly disappointing that Ordis doesn’t react to scanning the Cephalon Fragments one way or the other.

speaking of story and lore, bosses are still weird. you encounter Vor and Kril twice each, and still with no explanation for it. perhaps my experience on Uranus is not universal, but i didn’t get Natah till after i killed Tyl Regor -- and he is not only very much alive in that quest, but taunting you to go kill him as the final transmission. i can’t think of a solution to this past changing the quest trigger and/or locking the boss node behind quest completion but i think it’s just not right the way it is. finally, the Alad V situation is absolutely tragic. i know it’s been said many times but it’s still shocking, and it’s not even a question of messing up your own progression -- which i also did because i went to Maroo’s bazaar before i met her in her quest. ow

quest-wise, i was surprised that it only takes about 30 hours (mission time) to get to TSD, and TWW is just a few missions away from it. it’s a completely different experience when they are not months away from each other and there’s no build-up to them. it was interesting doing them when i only had my starter, though! it puts a certain weight on the warframe being harmed and then lost when you have no replacement for it. i wonder how it would’ve felt if that were my first playthrough.

once past TSD, not having any colour palettes is really painful! as always i’m just fine painting all of my stuff off-white with an orange glow, but when it comes to operator customization, the colours are lacking. i still managed a cute one, but it was a bit weird that you can’t do something as basic as brown hair? i could’ve compensated if i had logged in for the free palettes, particularly Valentine’s, but it would be very kind and helpful regardless if the entire classic palette was unlocked from the beginning, or at least available for credits. (yes i know colours are cheap but i was waiting for a discount which i only got today. would a new player know these exist? things always seem expensive to me without. maybe cause i’m poor?)

backtracking a bit, i admit that having the free Vectis from PoE launch helped me immensely with progression. is it an advantage that i got it for free? i don’t know. it’s low mastery and relatively accessible craft, and it was the first or second gun i made on my main account as well. but it is great that it came with a potato, though!

thank god it’s not clan research despite being a Tenno gun by the way. an awful lot of things are clan research. i’m not allowed in my own clan on alt, which is a bit inconvenient, but not tragic. i imagine for people who are just now starting out it could be quite frustrating once they realize how many great and useful things are clan-gated. my biggest gripe is the incubator upgrade because without it raising dogs can be very stressful and expensive. then there’s all the great guns of course

finally, from the bottom of my heart, fuck the Corpus. fuck every single sapping osprey. i only have fifteen armour please leave me alone you floating pieces of shit

[tauforged]

LMFAO I NEARLY FORGOT THE ACTUAL REWORK PART IM GOING TO DIE

AS FAR AS THE ACTUAL REWORK AND REDESIGN: ive posted before about this part, but my grand vision is that it would function more like the vendors in cetus/fortuna/deimos, where you can exchange materials and credits for standing, and use that standing to purchase his wares. he still has his Deals, which function a lot like the other merchants’ daily specials-- he’s got one slot for a random cosmetic item (like an armor set, a color pallet, a weapon skin, an operator cosmetic piece) one slot for a random weapon, and one slot for a random base warframe, companion, or deluxe skin. these items can be purchased for plat, they’re all at random percentages off the base market price, and whichever is the most expensive with the sale included is in limited stock so when they’re gone, they’re all sold out until the stock refreshes the next day.

his non-premium wares would include stuff like exclusive cosmetics, focusing on a kind of grineer-corpus hybrid design. all of the stuff, be it armor pieces or syandanas or weapon skins or even maybe a couple weapons you can buy the parts for, they all have that general look of being slapped together from random parts that darvo just happened to have available. i think itd be funny if he had a moa companion skin that makes it look like a mini ambulas (just because he KNOWS itll piss frohd off). maybe some fun little sigils or glyphs or ephemeras, who knows. maybe a clem floof. anything is possible if you believe!

the market itself will still probably look kind of the same, although it mightve been cleaned up a bit. maybe darvo tried to cover up the bullet holes in the walls with posters or something. there’s also like, a counter and a handful of crates and boxes stacked in a manner that darvo and clem can sort of sit or lean on them as they like, although theyll both be hanging out somewhere slightly different every time you visit them. sometimes clem will be sitting on the counter, sometimes he’ll be sitting on a crate polishing his guns, darvo will lean on the wall, pace back and forth a bit, sit on a crate, lean on the counter, etc. etc. whenever clem is there, popcorn will be there too. there are standing tiers for them, although they don’t cost much and you can earn a good amount of standing through the help clem missions as well as trading with darvo. the higher in standing you are, the more darvo will just sort of like... talk about shit with you, like the solaris will. you might approach him to see what he’s got for sale, and he might start reminiscing about something real fuckin stupid he and clem did that one time, or maybe let you in on an embarrassing secret about so-and-so from the corpus board that he used to know back in the day. maybe he’ll ask how much you’d want as payment to kill his dad, only to laugh and say he was “just kidding - well, at least only halfway... unless you’re interested?” sometimes he might let loose a couple details about what happened between that crash landing and here, how he and clem met. sometimes he might ask how you’re holding up, there’s a lot going on out there after all, yknow? once you hit higher standing, clem might occasionally have his helmet off, and he might occasionally chime into your conversations, either in his usual way or by signing to darvo and letting him translate. as far as character design goes, they really wouldn’t change much aside from having the models updated and maybe alternate ‘more casual’ outfits - clem without the helmet, darvo without the hat and with the jumpsuit half unzipped and tied at the waist, shit like that. i think ive drawn this before hang on 

there it is!! yeah uh i think thats all ive got ideas wise. i cant think ofanything else. thanks for reading all that shit i love u <3 :D

do you guys want to hear about how i would incorporate a darvos market rework+redesign into the game lore because i keep thinking about how i would incorporate a darvos market rework+redesign into the game lore and have an urge to post about it but idk how many people would like. care

[allheartnobrainandnoplans]

Warframe personalities from how I see them, by my first glance at them.

Heads up, this is a long post. Enjoy~!

Ash: Aloof mofo with a stabbing habit. could rob you of all your money in texas hold ‘em. Too much damn side eye. Kills everyone is the room, then breaks for coffee like nothing happened. Ninja who steals the last slice of cake from the fridge.

Atlas: would kick your ass then be your best bro. is dead inside? somewhat likely but can’t tell anymore. makes shitty jokes. I get he’s a one punch man stone golem, but c’mon, the guy gives pretty good hugs.

Banshee: Resting bitch face, but is sound sensitive so she has a reason. Most likely up to god knows what hours listening to music enjoying synethesia sensations. Knows a thing or two about where to find the best obscure books. Caring protective friend.

Chroma: Moody guy who just wants some fucking peace and quiet. Hoards things like trophies from kills, bet this guy has so many hunting trophies? ffs, his ult is a dragon pelt, might as well be a dragon! Really good at pissing off people without even trying.

Ember: Sassy friend wants all the tea. Best booty to boot. You see that guy over there? He’s on fire. She fucking murdered him with sick comebacks. Don’t get me wrong though, she might like her bacon crispy but she’s a pretty loyal friend. Probably would come get your ass for a revive with intent to raze the fucking field with wildfire.

Equinox: Calm balanced friend??? Has two sides she shows to different people, everyone who talks to her might find something different about her. Likes keeping a lot of houseplants in her room in the dojo. Courteous and polite and gives the best backhanded compliments under a pleasant facade.

Excalibur: Average Joe. Good at a lot but not the best, really doesn't give his best. Very athletic. rushes through missions impatiently. Might play too many hack’n’slash games in his spare time.

Frost: Stoic, quiet, probably has some thought going on at all times. Reads a lot of mythology from before the orokin era. Procrastinates and stalls for his buddies while holding down the fort. solid person to talk to if you need someone to listen.

Hydroid: The guy has enough mentions about tentacle porn, it’s safe to say he’s hoarding a hentai stash somewhere. or people assume. just a guy who loves the water, could talk for days about fish and where to find all the best seafood restaurants. has had enough people mentioning pirates around him. has a good, hearty laugh.

Inaros: Tired, always fucking tired. Sleep? I’ll sleep when I’m dead. if you can kill me, that is. Mmm. nom. Corpus tastes metallic. Grineer tastes like really bad slimy chicken. I’m not sharing what infested taste like. Shields? What the heck is that? Appreciates old architecture and hoards ayatan statues.

Ivara: Sneaky sneaky~ I got an arrow for just about any job. Just because i am a cyclops doesn’t mean i don’t have depth perception, dumbass. Carefree happy lady, fun to talk to. Makes lots of banter with teammates on missions.

Limbo: Trolls might love this guy, why doesn't he have a fedora helmet yet? I’ve not seen enough Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure to know what those references mean. He’s a real gentleman, very inquisitive. He’s a scientist? Aw, cool. Prolly spacing out while carousing through the rift, thinking about his next project.

Loki: The Cheeseframe is what people call him. Knows where all the loot is, all the time. Giggling and pulling pranks 24/7. Can do shit effortlessly and stares at his team wondering why the fuck the had to trigger the damn alarm in a mission. Also, hammerhead shark. This guys likes playing card games too.

Mag: In a state of calm and panic at the same time. Doesn’t show much though. Magnetic personality? Could crush your heart in a minute. Has a good taste in interior design, rather good at art deco/ industrial. Has some walls to get through before befriending her, but melts like a marshmellow when ya do.

Mesa: 360 no scope!!! It’s high noon! okay, now that’s out of the way, let’s keep going. Keeps an orderly schedule, off doing solo missions all the time. Loves a good movie, could talk about her favorite film for hours. Deserts are dry? So is her humor. Would shoot you without even thinking.

Mirage: You thought Loki’s pranks were bad? At least her enemies get these night mare shows and not you. This chick loves horror films, special effects make up and disco. Pretty good at good at lighting up the room and your smile. She really just wants a good time, okay?

Nekros: Sick mofo who tells dead baby jokes. Has some interesting kinks. Rarely eats, if ever. Would look you dead in the eye and try to tell you bad puns seriously as possible. Has seen the dead walk again, thinks they’re best buddies. good guy to go to a graveyard with.

Nezha: Srsly good looking.. guy? girl? oh idc he can be genderfluid and i’d still think he’s attractive. Got serious hula skills. Never takes himself seriously and just loves going for long missions. Knows a thing or two about culture, rather classy guy but can be a bit childish. Never really grew up, but you don’t notice that behind the charm.

Nidus: This is the I-don’t-give-a damn guy. He wrecks everything he touches, spreads space aids, yet his personality is far from cancer. Very good with animals. A bit messy. Too many damn things talking in his head from the infested and ignores them like a champ. They bend to his will.

Nova: A Good Egg, if slightly cracked. Giggles at the mention of inane words. Everything explodes!!! ADHD in a frame. Good natured wholesome friend who loves everyone. Bad habit of breaking appliances and electronics. Geiger counters near her start playing Imagine Dragon’s Radioactive?

Nyx: Look at this frame. You took a good warframe and gave it anxiety, sheesh. Shy, kinda hard to deal with hearing everyone’s thoughts sometimes. ain’t got time for your drama. Loves talking about current events, but not much of a gossip out of respect for others. giant personal space bubble, do not touch!

Oberon: Royal pain in the ass, but a lovable doofus so you kinda just let it go. Very protective dad friend, complete with dad jokes. Probably would like to finish your sandwich if you’re not gonna eat it. Would open his home to you if you needed a couch to surf on.

Octavia: This girl loves all music, could help you find just the mix you were looking for. Got sick dance moves too. Might have been in band. Would happily binge watch any tv show with you and discuss everything about it. You don’t know what so charming about her, but you really like her so you always accept her invites. Had a bad habit of fidgeting.

Rhino: This guy could bench press a grineer ship in one hand and corpus ship in the other. you don’t move out of his way, he runs you over, simple as that. gym rat, for sure. somewhat impatient. watches way too many superhero blockbusters and devours the comics. Mows down the entire enemy wave just get your sorry bleeding ass back up and fighting again.

Saryn: Oh, good lotus, this chick has got good looks and a deadly touch. Cunning girl could outsmart anyone. Low key annoyed in general. Would back stab you without a thought, given a reason. Knows a lot about cooking. I mean, if you’re going to poison someone or at least know how to work in the biolab you should probably know how this type of chemistry works. dodges responsibility a lot tho.

Titania: flighty as fuck, gets startled easily. graceful; she has good fashion sense. you have no idea where she came from in the room. fairy tales are definitely her thing, but happy endings really aren't true with that state of things right now in the solar system. too many butterflies, but is fine with it since they help her stay calm. Actually really good at flying archwings, I think?

Trinity: First one to rush into the fight, last one to leave until everyone is okay. Is the Mom friend. Likes to be helpful. Rather much a bitch to those she hates. She may have an open heart, but don’t walk all over this girl. Cross her once, shame on you. Cross her twice, she leaves you for dead on eris, end of story.

Valkyr: Look, she’s been through some shit, has ptsd, the very least you can do is give her a cat plushie and your support, okay? Gets angry easily and has meltdowns. She’s not a pushover. She knows what’s best, she can endure. semi serious, jokes fly over her head. it may take a bit for her to like you. literally a cat frame, you don’t know love until you've been loved by a cat.

Vauban: Forget Limbo being a troll. This is THE trollframe. Went to college for engineering, came back out a smart ass. Don’t loan money to him, he prolly won’t pay ya back. Pretty good drinking buddy tho. Reads a shit ton of shakespear to know what that sense of humor really is. Shit poster, meme hoarder extrordinaire. you can have a grenade! And you can have a grenade! YOU ALL CAN HAVE GRENADES!

Volt: Impeccable taste mixed with sharp commentary. Why does he have a helmet that’s a boob? maybe he has a high schooler’s sense of humor? would be honest with you and tell you straight up what needs to be done. This guy likes expensive suits. Has a tendency to be impulsive.

Wukong: Has loads of stories to tell. Good memory. Can comeback from just about any setback. determined and will happily grind with you in missions for hours. Also pretty damn stubborn and doesn’t listen well to others, kinda has to speak first.

Zephyr: Life’s a breeze here, right? Kinda goes with whatever and has a hard time deciding on things. Kinda clumsy too. Crashes raids and blows away the enemy. Usually minds her own business with her head in the clouds.

[orange-you-say]

the chains of harrow quest was really, really bad imo

(spoilers for literally the entire quest under the cut)

the quest starts out really promising - an abandoned steel meridian vessel, the crew slaughtered and the red veil insignia scrawled on the wall in what looks like blood. something really really wrong is happening here, a feeling amplified by a sudden red veil ambush after the spending the whole mission in eerie silence. then, when rescuing palladino, rather than fight against clear and defined red veil agents, you’re pitted against a force composed of some sort of shadow figure that shuffles about with no label. you’re hard pressed to spot them before they’re in your face because the level is also ominously dark, allowing them to blend in with the shadows, usually only seeing their red health bar when targeting them

after you rescue palladino you next investigate an abandoned corpus vessel. it’s the same deal as before - pitch black, eerie silence, with strange shadows dancing along the walls, looking almost human. you think you know what to expect this time, especially as you’re crashing a red veil seance - they’re gonna try to fuck you up, and you’re gonna have to fuck them up first and steal their sacred relic so palladino can try to get through to their god-figure rell.

the neat thing is that that isn’t what happens. the veil agents are all already dead, with their sacred artifact sitting in the center of the room. you nab it and get ready to head out, but you’re stopped. something is talking to you. it’s not happy you took the sacred gizmo.

and that’s when rell appears and all hell breaks loose

the shadow figures are back, and the veil agents are reanimating, which on their own would be easy enough to deal with - their defensive stats aren’t particularly noteworthy, and they drop after a couple of hits. the problem is rell. rell is a particularly ill defined shadow man with glowing red eyes who stands out for two other reasons. the first is that he has little minions that will chase you down while he catches up. the second thing that sets him apart is that he doesn’t have a health bar. you can’t kill him, and the doors are all chained shut. so you’re stuck in a room with shadow monsters and zombie edgelords and what amounts to about eight different horror movie monsters in one really pissed off god-figure who’s immortal. it’s great, it’s different, it takes away your ability to cheese it with a silly high amount of damage. it removes the sensation of being overpowered from you, which warframe struggles with in a lot of areas. anyways you escape and get back to your ship after palladino warns you that you can’t kill him, and that marks about the point where the quest starts going downhill

the next three missions of the quest are the same mission spread across different tiles - go to a room, use a kinetic siphon trap that simaris sold to you assuming you’d use it to capture prospective sanctuary candidates, and shoot the physical manifestation of one of rell’s emotions until it’s weak enough for the trap to absorb a la danny phantom. it’s boring, it’s grindy, and it would be painfully dull if it weren’t for rell following you and trying to murder you the whole time. it’s a very nice touch, as are his remarks on each emotion as you trap them, but the justification for it - apparently doing this will help him regain his “true self”, as well as the fact that you must capture a total of nine emotions over three missions, make it tedious and irritating.

finally, once rell’s emotions have been contained, you are asked to go to the red veil temple and straight up murder rell because apparently capturing his emotions did absolutely nothing to help him and now it’s his time to pass on, so off to destroy his vessel you go. this has the potential to have been a really touching moment in which we see rell’s humanity restored and free him from his prison after an epic showdown with who you’ve come to understand as “dark rell”. instead, you get a really obnoxious and painful sequence where you must fend off waves of veil agents between rounds of shattering the chains around rell’s vessel - as your operator. this could have been relatively simple and painless, albeit a little too easy, but instead you are forced to use the most fragile unit in your arsenal, and the enemies aren’t going easy on you. the veil agents will throw dagger users at you, and then bows that can take out a significant chunk of health (enough to kill me every time they hit me, but i never got hit by them at full health so idk how much damage they acutally do), followed by veil agents who are just straight up reskins of the shadow stalker with lowered stats. to top it off, “dark rell” or “the man in the wall” is floating around like an asshole and will pepper you with balls of fire periodically. it’s a really painful mission that perfectly captures how lacking in any ability at all the operator is - something that we’ve all been complaining about since the War Within dropped, so DE really has no excuse for how poorly thought out this was. the only positive side to this mission is that death didn’t set you back in the slightest - you respawn a few seconds later with the map exactly as you left it, right down to the number of hit points that asshole had left before he killed you, and keep going

level design notwithstanding, the lore to the quest also leaves a lot to be desired. over the course of the quest, we learn that rell was a tenno who was “different” (autistic), and for this, margulis cast him out. we already know margulis is a character of questionable morality from how she sealed our memories and abilities in the War Within, but this feels much more like a character being driven by the plot, rather than the other way around like it ought to be. margulis loved the tenno, and it seems odd that rell was the only tenno out of many who was “different”.

(and frankly, i find it incredibly frustrating that DE didn’t have the guts to outright say “margulis rejected rell because he was autistic” and instead left plenty of hints and implications that he was. it’s 2017, warframe is set even further in the future than that, we can say that characters are autistic without having a meltdown, and we are certainly above the idea that autism is grounds to reject someone is an acceptable plot device)

anyways margulis deciding rell wasn’t good enough for her apparently turned out to be a good thing, because he goes on to become an expert in void related knowledge which he shares with his disciples, who will eventually form the red veil. he also takes it upon himself to protect the system from what he calls the “man in the wall” - an entity hinted to be the “something out there, watching us” the tenno’s father talks about in TWW. because he knew he would eventually get old and die (which finally starts to answer my questions about tenno mortality - at the very least, people think the tenno are gonna age over time), he chose to permanently transfer his consciousness into the Harrow warframe

let’s back up a second here. rell wasn’t good enough for margulis. he wasn’t allowed to be put in cryosleep and dream with the other tenno. he never received a precursor to the warframe, and yet somehow he happens to have his own warframe? something doesn’t add up here, and it’s never going to be addressed.

after declaring that he must be chained up in the depths of the red veil temple for all eternity, he slowly starts to deteriorate into “good rell” and “bad rell”. “good rell” is who rell is - the clever, knowledgable, autistic child who was ostracized and made to be an outsider. “bad rell” is the man in the wall.

wait, what?

it turns out, while aboard the zariman, after his mother sends him away for his own safety as she succumbs to the madness all adults aboard the ship did, the other tenno still refused to acknowledge him and continued to exclude him. this resulted in him feeling incredible isolated and alone, which allowed the man in the wall to slip in and manipulate him. “bad rell” is nothing more than the man in the wall breaking free after rell’s mental state begins deteriorating. killing rell has apparently retrapped him - inside our own operator’s mind. (this last sentence is purely speculation on my part, given some of the weird things that happened after returning to the orbiter post quest)

this quest starts off strong gameplay wise, but deteriorates quickly in much the same way the Glast Gambit did, and has lore that’s more messy and contradictory than the current US administration on pretty much anything. it also raises a lot of questions for the few that are answered. what exactly is the man in the wall? where did it come from, and why is it so hostile? how did rell get a warframe, and why did his mind deteriorate, when Silvana, who didn’t even share the tenno’s powers, retain her mental stability, if not her ability to think quickly? why did rell’s emotions get free, and why didn’t capturing them do anything? for that matter, how did rell’s emotions attain physical manifestation and separation from their host? how does harrow actually play into all of this? is he really just a glorified set piece, or did his abilities in particular serve some purpose to rell?

honestly this quest was a mess and a disappointment all around

[operator-ator-blog]

Ator’s Progress!

I realized that it has been a since I updated anything about Ator and thanks to the help of some good friends with awesome ideas a couple changes have been made. No more is Ator this always angry child, but instead he is near void of all emotions except under extreme stimuli such as a pain which silences the voices in his head for a short period. He still despises the Orokin for what they did, thinks the Grineer are abominations due to the constant cloning, feels the Corpus should be taught a lesson on the evils of their greed, and the Infested are still the most fascinating thing to him. Lot more stuff about his past below the line. This is all subject to change in the future as more lore is released with Warframe and I did not put in the little bits of story from the small missions because that would take too much time. I’m a lazy bastard, so sue me.

1. Zariman Ten-Zero Incident: During his time aboard the Zariman while it was trapped in the Void, Ator was pushed to a breaking point mentally due to the things he had to do to survive. This created voices in his head that tell him what he should and shouldn’t do in different situations. Though the voices all come with various personalities they all agree that cannibalism is an acceptable form of eating. Ator consumed the flesh from many corpses aboard the ship that hadn’t began to decompose as well as kill anyone that posed a threat to the other children with no mercy, all in the name of survival.

2. Orokin Experiments: After the Zariman Ten-Zero was recovered Ator went through many of the same things the other, now deemed Tenno, children went through at the hands of the Orokin. Though, due to his appearance he was quickly “bought” with the intention to be used as a Yuvan for a wealthy, Orokin woman. She paid for surgeries to be performed on him, altering his body here and there. Small, ornate, golden plates were implanted into his chest as well as on his face. His ring finger and pinkie from his right hand were both removed before being replaced with golden cybernetics. Other surgeries were done on him to change his body in ways to appease the Orokin that bought him. These changes went so far as to include replacing his reproductive organs with that of a female.

3. The Old War and The Long Sleep: Though the Orokin had paid a great price for Ator she was denied her Yuvan when the Tenno were to be used as weapons against the Sentient. Ator was outfitted with a Saryn warframe and sent out into battle. The traumas of the war pushed his mind past what it could handle and the voices took over. He blacked out while his body was controlled by the voices, every now and again able to see what they were doing as if watching his body thought someone else’s eyes. After the war ended and Ator was able to regain control over his body it wasn’t long until a voice in his head pushed him to snap and slay the Orokin that viewed the Tenno as heroes. He didn’t mind, though he couldn’t control himself, slaying the Orokin was something he greatly desired for how they treated Tenno. Afterwards everything went black for him and a voice told him to sleep.

4. Waking up: After awakening from cryosleep thanks to the Lotus, Ator had no memories of the things that happened before he went to sleep. He had no idea what he was and only saw himself as his Saryn. To him he was Saryn and that was the identity he took pride in. During this time he was malicious and cruel during missions, killing all enemies that ever crossed his path. He found pleasure in this and didn’t know why.

5. The Second Dream: During the events of the Second Dream Ator began to question the Lotus more and more. He could tell she was hiding things from him and he wanted Answers. Upon discovering the moon in the Void as well as facing off with the Stalker he thought nothing could surprise him anymore, but they he realized what he truly was. The discovery that he was not his Saryn and that he hadn’t been experiencing things with his own eyes and body was a great shock to the Tenno. After being brought back to the orbiter and settling in his memories slowly began to come back piece by piece, with them though came the voices in his head. One of the voices was familiar for it was the voice that guided him while he believed he was only his Saryn. 

6. The War Within: Ator had become more and more disconnected with the Lotus. He felt she was keeping more info than she should from him and his fellow Tenno. His trust in her was running out and with the discovery of the Kuva Fortress it only dwindled more. When the Elder Queen borrowed into his mind and Teshin unlocked more of his memories, Ator was barraged with the horrors he had faced before going to sleep. All the voices came back stronger and louder. They yelled at him constantly and forced him to do things. Once he was able to leave the Kuva Fortress after the fall of the Elder Queen he tried to push away his memories with the voices, but to no avail. More often than not he would black out in the middle of a mission and when he awoke his warframe would normally be crumpled to the ground while he himself was coated in the blood of whatever victim the voices decided would make a decent meal. Though he is not proud of it he has eaten Grineer, Corpus, Infested, and even other Tenno when the voices take full control. To prevent the voices from taking total control of him so much he created shackles that were placed around his wrists and ankles, each one taking design from the golden rings of Lua. Whenever the voices became too hard to control Ator simply pushed the button on the collar of his suit to make the shackles force sharp spikes into his wrists and ankles. The pain this caused would clear his mind and leave him relatively sane for a day or two.

If you’ve read this entire thing I want to thank you for taking the time to do so. Warframe is an amazing game with an awesome community and thanks to a few of its members Ator has become more and more fleshed out with every passing day.

[orokinarchives]

Damage Calculator FAQ

(link to the damage calculator)

Frequently-asked questions

What does this spreadsheet do? This spreadsheet seeks to represent on paper the scenario of killing an enemy with a weapon. Similar sites like warframe-builder.com and dpsframe.com will calculate your DPS, but in Warframe, DPS is somewhat meaningless without context. This spreadsheet provides the context in the form of a single enemy, at whatever level you choose, so you can see how your gun will fare against sortie-level Grineer, or the corrupted in a long round at Mot, or just Venus-level Corpus. It will also reduce your weapon to a single stat, but in this case it's the (hopefully) more useful "time-to-kill" rather than the potentially esoteric "DPS".

Oh, cool. How do I use it? Pretty simple. Just fill out all the green cells. Don't type in any cell that isn't green. In the first part, you'll choose an enemy and its level (the max level you can choose is 1000). In the second part, you'll fill out your weapon stats. Fill out the damage as listed in the in-game arsenal, after all your mods have been added. If you're using a site like warframe-builder to get your damage numbers, make sure that it isn't counting the critical hits (but the multishot box should be checked). The first tab, "Damage Calculator", has everything you need. For a little more behind-the-scenes as to how everything is calculated, you can go to the "Calculations" tab, but don't go making any changes. The "Health Classes" tab is where information on enemies, health, shields, and armour is stored. You shouldn't really mess with this tab.

What are the limitations of this spreadsheet? A LOT. Warframe is really complicated[citation needed]. This spreadsheet doesn't work for shotguns, melee weapons, continuous-fire weapons, or burst-fire weapons, because of the additional complexities those weapons possess. I'm working on adding functionality for shotguns and burst-fire, but melee weapons are a whole other system, and – I'm going to be honest – I don't really know how continuous-fire weapons work.

The spreadsheet also doesn't do a great job of taking status effects into account. It does show how many procs of each damage type are expected, but it doesn't show their effects. Slash, heat, toxin, gas, viral, corrosive, and magnetic status effects are all going to affect how quickly you kill an enemy, but this spreadsheet doesn't show that. So don't be surprised if you kill enemies WAY quicker than it says you will.

You are limited to the small list of enemies already programmed in. This is addressed more below.

Lastly, the spreadsheet is inherently limited by the scope of its design. Rarely in Warframe will you encounter a single enemy by itself and be able to kill it in a modifier-free circumstance. A non-comprehensive list of mechanics in Warframe that can affect your damage may include: headshots, weak points from Banshee Sonar or Helios Detect Vulnerability, orange crits, red crits, enhanced shielding sorties, enhanced armour sorties, physical/elemental resistance sorties, Ancient Healer buffs, Shield Osprey buffs, Swarm-Mutalist Moa buffs, environmental hazards, accuracy penalties, AoE damage, extinguished dragon keys, warframe abilities that buff damage or attack speed such as Rhino Roar or Octavia Amp, warframe abilities that strip armour or shields from enemies such as Trinity Abating Link or Mag Polarise, warframe abilities that deal damage like Oberon Smite or Ember Fireball, warframe abilities that affect susceptibility to crit or status like Frost Avalanche or Atlas Petrify, warframe passive abilities like Excalibur or Mesa, bonuses from scoping in on sniper rifles, damage falloff due to distance, auras like Pistol Amp or Steel Charge, mods that increase damage in complicated ways like Bladed Rounds or Condition Overload (well, you can't use melee weapons so that's moot), or literally just ducking behind cover.

This spreadsheet is no substitute for spawning an enemy in the Simulacrum and testing your weapon out yourself, and THAT is no substitute for carrying your weapon into a live mission and testing it out with all those things previously listed going on around you. Ideally, this spreadsheet will just make your life a little easier by doing as much of the work as possible without actually going into the game.

Less frequently-asked questions

I don't see a "Multishot" stat in my in-game arsenal. That's because there isn't one. You have to look at the mods you've installed and calculate it based on the mod values. The multishot mods are Split Chamber, Barrel Diffusion, Lethal Torrent, and Dual Rounds (technically also Hell's Chamber and Scattered Justice, but shotguns aren't supported yet). If you have any of those mods installed (and you should!), then take their listed multishot values and enter it into the spreadsheet. For pistols, remember to add the 120% and 60% from both mods for the final 180%.

Why doesn't the damage you calculated per bullet line up with my damage numbers in the Simulacrum (or in-game)? Because they aren't meant to. They don't take into account all those things I mentioned earlier like warframe abilities. Even in a modifier-free environment, they won't line up because they've got the multishot and critical hits baked in (which are represented in-game as entirely separate events). So you'll never see that actual number in-game, but it represents on average what happens each time you pull the trigger. If you want to see the actual, listed damage per bullet, you can go to the "Calculations" tab, which lays out all the damage calculations for you, including the listed damage each bullet will actually do.

Okay, so why doesn't THAT number line up with the Simulacrum? Yeah, you got me there. In my testing, I've found that the calculated damage numbers differ from actual in-game damage numbers by a very small amount (1-3 points of damage). I think it's due to rounding error, but I'm not absolutely sure. I'll keep looking into it, but I don't really think it matters. It's an error of like, half a percent, and usually doesn't amount to even a single extra bullet.

But my damage number is off by way more than one or two points of damage. Then you either filled out the sheet wrong or maybe you stumbled onto one of the spreadsheet's limitations. If you really think it's a problem with the spreadsheet, let me know, with as much detail as possible. But check and make sure you didn't accidentally give your gun a 50000% crit chance.

Why don't all the status procs add up to the total number? Rounding.

I want to test more enemies than just the ones listed. Well, you can add more enemies yourself in the "Health Classes" tab by filling out all their base qualities, taken either from the wiki or the in-game codex. But then you also have to expand the defined range "names" to include your new enemy so it'll appear in the drop-down menu, and all that requires unlocking the sheet in the first place, so if you really want a new enemy and you're not absolutely sure how to do so without breaking the functionality, let me know and I'll add it in myself. Keep in mind some enemies are inherently weird with how they respond to damage, like Ancient Healers (healing themselves and damage mitigation) and Swarm-Mutalist Moas (giving massive armour buffs).

Any other questions you can just ask me. Have fun!

[Navigation: Hub → Damage calculator]

[heartslogos]

seas who could sing so deep and strong [121]

“Hades? Hades? Hades, are you awake? Hades.”

Judge groans, stirring and feeling something restraining him when he tries to raise his hands to rub his face.

“What?”

“Hades.” It’s Kore. “Wake up. Come on. I can’t carry you and keep us safe.”

Carry him? Why would Kore need to carry him?

Judge comes to fully and realizes he’s in his warframe, still, and that his Chroma has been strapped down to something. Something around his neck keeps him from sitting up but he can turn his head a little.

He sees Kore’s Vauban strapped onto a similar device next to him.

Oh, and Judge remembers.

Kore had been a Vauban, he’d been in his new Chroma, and they were both trying to figure out how things worked. Punk was with them in his Chroma and bemoaning the fact that he was now responsible.

(“Is this what it looks like from the other side? Please, please, just have Alpha take care of you next time. Can you switch back to…literally anything else and be competent again? Oh my god, I can’t be as bad as you guys. Am I as bad as you guys?”)

And then the Zanuka Hunter came and -

“It got both of us?”

“My fucking luck in a Vauban,” Kore replies.

“I thought you got rid of it after the first time, honestly,” Judge says, trying to tap back to his Orbiter and Scylla. Nothing, some sort of interference jamming the signal, probably. He tries to activate Chroma’s effigy but the warframe remains unresponsive. “Wait, I can’t use effigy?”

“Of course not, we got caught by the Zanuka, our frames are neutralized,” Kore says, “How stupid do you think Alad V is? He keeps a jamming signal, a modified nullifier program, somewhere around here. It’s keyed to our warframes so we have to find the one for yours and the one from mine. He’s also got our weapons hidden.”

“What? He took our weapons?”

“Well duh, Hades,” Kore says, exasperated, “Why would he leave them with us?”

“So we have to…what? Break out of here with our fists?”

“Yes, Hades.” Kore lets out an annoyed sigh. “Why do you think everyone gets to fucking annoyed when they get caught?”

“Because…they got caught? I don’t know! I’ve never been caught before. I kill the Zanuka every time. I’ve only ever had to come to save you…uh. That last time you were Vauban. You really didn’t throw it out?”

“Of course not, Hades, I’m a completionist. I don’t get to throw Vauban off my ship until I’ve fully broken the damn frame in and completed mastery of it. Void.”

“Alright, since I’m new at this, how do we get the restraints off?”

“The Lotus normally,” Kore replies, clipped. “Thankfully there are others who’ve taken up her duties in her. Absence. The Lotus’ Agents know how to intercept and assist. I’ve got one on the line with me right now, we were just waiting for you. Brace yourself, your frame is going to feel weird for a bit until we can find the signal that’s been jamming us.”

Judge would nod if he could. Seconds later there’s a small click and a mechanical chirping sound as the restraints unlock. Judge stumbles down, feeling incredibly unbalanced and light headed.

“Ugh.”

“Exactly,” Kore says, one of Vauban’s arms going around Chroma’s waist as she helps steady him. “Come on. We need our weapons.”

“What do we do if we see an enemy on the way to getting one?” Judge asks.

“That’s what hands are for,” Kore replies.

“You’re going to punch a person to death? That would take forever.”

“Ye of so little faith,” Kore says. “Come on. If we stay too long Alad V will figure out we’ve escaped and start talking to us.”

“Talking?” Judge repeats back, baffled. “Why?”

“He thinks he can convince us over to his side,” Kore sneers. “Or maybe it’s a psychological tactic? Don’t know. Don’t care. Move.”

“This is not how it went when I came to get you the last time,” Judge says.

“That was a mass capture,” Kore says, “This is a targeted capture. Different story. I think we’re the only two warframes here.”

“Any chance that Punk and the others will come?” Judge asks. “I mean. He was with us.”

“It hasn’t been that long,” Kore says, “It’s faster if we break ourselves out. Our extraction is in camouflage and will be ready for us once we get clear with our weapons. I think we’re clear for now. Can you walk?”

“I’m working on it,” Judge says as she carefully guides him. His legs feel a lot steadier. “I’m good. But you take point?”

Kore snorts, “Always.”

Her Vauban moves ahead and quickly ducks around a corner, Judge hears a snap seconds later. Vauban’s arm comes back around the corner and gestures him to follow.

When Judge catches up to her she’s shoving a body behind some storage units.

“We’re clear. I checked the other room, no one. I’m picking up signals for where our stuff might be. The first one is actually pretty close to here. Hopefully it’s a sword.”

“Or a gun.”

“I’d rather my sword,” Kore says. “I worked hard on that.”

“Alright, let’s go check,” Judge says, gesturing for her to lead on, “Get us out of here, Persephone.”

Vauban quickly moves ahead, signaling Judge every once in a while to get down or to wait while she goes on ahead. Judge gets to see one encounter where she does actually destroy some MOA and Corpus Crewmen with just her Vauban’s fists. It takes a lot of punching and Kore snarling under her breath but they do go down quite impressively.

“I guess Vauban’s big hands are worth something after all,” Judge muses, remembering Kore complaining about how Vauban’s hands were just so clumsy and big to her.

“Clubbing other people?” Kore replies. “Blunter than the Fragor. The impact damage from these fists is astounding. You think I could just keep Vauban’s hands? Check the door.”

“Gross,” Judge says, ducking through the door Kore pointed him to. “Sorry, no sword. I did find my gun though.”

“Figures.”

[heartslogos]

seas who could sing so deep and strong [75]

“Somehow, and I don’t know how, Punk was persuaded to part with five million credits, and of course now he’s in trouble,” Chic explains as they walk through the Lunaro stadium halls, “Because that’s five million credits and I’m mad, why would he do that?”

Privately, Kore thinks that this seems very in line with Punk’s behavior so far. She’s just surprised that he has five million credits.

Maybe he doesn’t spend it on equipment. It would explain why he always gets himself downed in missions.

“Why am I here?” Kore asks, making sure her voice is going through her warframe’s scrambler first. Ever since that one time Punk and Chic have been insistent on trying to get her to use her own voice again. Or make a physical appearance.

Kore had been under the impression that Chic needed her for some sort of mission. A real mission. That involved Corpus or Grineer or Infested or something.

Not solving Punk’s financial problems.

“Because you look mean,” Chic says, “Especially in that Rhino of yours.”

Kore had been under the impression that Chic needed a frame with good defense to protect her while she did something dangerous. Like maintain shields for a hijack mission, or maybe hold a defensive point while Chic searched an area for things she could sell on the market, or something like that. And Kore wouldn’t have minded it because Chic is…tolerable people.

So when Chic had contacted her and asked for Kore to meet her at the relay in her Rhino frame to help her handle something, Kore said what time.

And now here they are, and once again Kore regrets not asking further details.

“And I’m going to shake down whoever took five million,” Chic’s Trinity shudders, “Five. Million. Credits from Punk and make sure they pay him back with interest and you’re going to stand there, looking like one mean, mean, mean Void-nightmare and then I’ll also make sure that I get a cut for my troubles and you’ll, of course, get a cut of my cut for being so good at looking so bad.”

Kore would prefer if Chic would give her a free color schematic like she does with Judge and Punk, but Kore isn’t going to say that out loud.

“And then afterwards we’re going to shake Punk down and figure out why he gave. Five. Million. Credits to some rando without a single thought about it and didn’t ask for any kind of compensation, and why Punk thought it was a good idea,” Chic continues, Trinity’s hands flexing and glowing with soft power at her sides. “And for that you’re going to be switching to a different frame because Punk likes Atlas and Rhino and Atlas are too similar for him to feel true fear from it even if you look very impressive.”

Chic glances over her shoulder, “Do you have a Nidus that looks as mean as your Rhino and Ember?”

Kore’s not sure if her Nidus looks mean but she nods anyway.

“Good,” Chic mutters softly, “I don’t pay Punk part of my market earnings just for him to give it away to some stupid no-name random person who walks up to him and says please. Void and stars and shit in between, this boy…”

-

“I am good at one thing and one thing only, and that’s sports,” Punk says, “Guys, I’m too old to start over. I am almost a million years old. No one can expect me to suddenly be good at something else.”

Kore wonders if you’re supposed to count the cryo-sleep years. Technically Kore has been, but if Punk is too maybe she’s wrong.

“Punk, before you were a sports boy, you were a killer for a killing empire,” Chic says, “We all were. So it’s not sudden. We’re just saying that if you’re going to come with us we need you to be…less of a kuva-thirsty spazz and stick with the plan. For once.”

“I am not kuva-thirsty.”

“I almost lost a defense objective because you went off looking for kuva,” the Empress says, examining her sword in the light before returning to sharpening the blade, “The cryo-pod received a scratch, Punk. I continue to be displeased about it.”

Everyone falls silent as a sense of deep fear and dread washes over them.

Kore hopes that someday she can be that intimidating. She hopes the Empress will teach her.

“Of course I did not lose the objective. I do not lose,” the Empress continues, “Still. I am displeased by it.”

“Sorry,” Punk squeaks out, his Atlas frame shrinking down small like his voice as he takes a nervous step backwards and attempts to stand behind Kore.

Kore immediately stomps down with Saryn’s heel and Punk narrowly dodges out of the way, colliding straight into the Alpha’s Oberon.

Oberon’s arms go up around Atlas’ waist to steady him.

Punk whimpers.

“We’re just going to do a few practice runs in simulation,” Judge says, holding his hands out to try and bring everyone back on track, “To work out any flaws in the plan and see what else we could be doing. Just in case. Alright? Come on. Let’s get this done.”

The Empress sheathes her sword, standing up from the planter she was sitting on and follows Judge and Chic as they walk towards Simaris’ chambers.

“Okay?” the Alpha asks Punk, who’s still standing in Alpha’s arms.

“Your, uh. Your girl scares me. A lot,” Punk says.

“Good,” the Alpha replies, “Tell her that. She will be pleased.”

“Pleased enough that she’s no longer displeased with me about that one time that happened…like…half a solar cycle ago?”

“No,” the Alpha answers, gently pushing Punk towards the rest of their group, “The will remember that always. It is too late for you.”

Kore rolls her eyes at the high pitched sound of fear Punk makes. She kicks the back of Atlas’ knee as they pass and Punk yelps, almost going down.

“Just show her that you’ll be less of a kuva-thirsty spazz,” Kore says, “And hurry up about it. I have better things to do than run simulations for a mission.”

Kore doesn’t, actually, but she imagines staring at the Norgs in her aquarium while listening to Ordis argue with Helminth and her kubrow would still be very entertaining.

[heartslogos]

seas who could sing so deep and strong [8]

“That’s it!” Kore yells down to him, from here Judge can see that her face is red and blotchy with exertion and anger. “We wasted all this damn time for thirty eight hundred credits.”

“That can’t be it,” Judge calls back to her from the lower platform he’s on. Ugly gives him an annoyed look from the platform Judge had firmly told the Kavat to sit on. Ugly, being an incredibly lazy creature, was more than happy to oblige him for once. “Kore, there has to be something else. There must be some sort of hidden cache we haven’t found. Or maybe we did the sequence wrong.”

Kore snarls, “Did I fucking stutter when I gave you the directions? No.”

Kore’s Nidus is sitting passively on one of the other pressure pads, the light of pads around him a dull orange from being used. Her Kubrow, Isha - one of her smaller ones, a mottled green and cream, an incredibly bubbly Sahasa with a fantastic neck for finding and fetching body parts  - barks enthusiastically. Both Kubrow and warframe are across the circular room on two other musical platforms.

“Hang on, let me get up there,” Judge says, preparing to void-jump.

“I’ve been around this entire damn room three times,” Kore snaps, stepping back for him when he void-jumps up to her. Her entire body rings with tension. “I didn’t miss anything. I’m telling you, I found the reward for completing this stupid music puzzle, and it’s thirty eight hundred credits.”

“The hidden prize for the music puzzle can’t be thirty eight hundred credits,” Judge says, following her as she leads him to what looks like a somewhat impressive dias with what looks like three fake sleeper pods on each side. Each of the sleeper pods is open and revealing a blue light, and there’s a broken container in the center of the six of them.

“Count them, thirty eight hundred,” Kore says, jabbing her finger in the direction of the music platforms, “My dog sneezes and finds thirty eight hundred credits, Judge. We’ve been here for two hours and we cleared out everyone else ages ago.”

It was, indeed, pathetically easy. Judge isn’t sure if that’s because the Grineer and Corpus were fighting each other so intently or because Kore was particularly enthusiastic due to cabin fever.

Judge looks around while Kore mutters under her breath.

“This is taking forever,” Kore grumbles, “I can feel myself aging. I’m reaching puberty as we speak.”

“Wait, what?” Judge’s brain scrambles to a halt as he was mentally retracing their steps. He gapes at her. “Weren’t you thirteen on the Zariman?”

Kore’s face flushes even redder, “Yeah, so?”

“Wouldn’t you - “ Judge gestures at her, helplessly, “I mean, I thought that - “

“Puberty isn’t at a set age, Judge,” Kore snaps, “Some people are late bloomers. I mean look at you.” She gestures at him, “I have to hold your hand through sabotage missions because you still haven’t figured out avoid running over fire.”

“Is this why the Lotus told me to be careful with you?” Judge blinks.

“No, she told you that because she meddles where she isn’t wanted and because I’m a delicate and fragile creature,” Kore retorts, swiping her hand at a decoration and melting through it with her void powers.

Judge snorts, quickly smothering the sound when she glowers at him.

He’s pretty sure that she’s more irritated that they’ve run out of people to kill rather than them not finding anything particularly interesting after solving the Orokin puzzle or this taking so long.

“Not even a fucking mod,” Kore mumbles turning away from him and kicking one of the golden pods. She seems to be particularly pleased with this movement. She repeats it again. “No coordinates, no blueprints, no mods, not even some damn endo. And these places are always bursting with endo.”

Kore growls and then swings her leg up high, pushing her void energy into her foot as she kicks one of the raised up panels of the fake pod.

Judge winces when it goes flying. Kore looks abruptly delighted.

“That’s not going to get more credits, or mods, or blueprints, or endo,” Judge points out. “You don’t have to break everything. As you always tell me whenever we go out on missions.”

“That’s different. You break things on accident. I break things on purpose,” Kore replies. And then with a speculative look, trots over to the broken off panel and lifts it.

Judge watches her - it’s not like he could stop her whenever she gets into a particularly creative mood.

Kore hefts the panel up, tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth and an extremely bright look in her neon colored eyes. The grin she gives him is practically fiendish and she takes aim at another raised panel.

The golden panel crashes - Judge hears Isha and Ugly barking and yowling in response - and it sends the second panel flying with a loud bang into a wall. The wall cracks and dents with the force of it.

“Only Orokin things can destroy Orokin things,” Kore says, viciously pleased with her violence.

Judge refrains from pointing out that the Orokin as they know them aren’t around anymore for her to piss off, destroying their abandoned space stations and buildings isn’t any kind of revenge or vengeance.

He refrains from pointing out that they themselves are Orokin things made to destroy Orokin things, that were in turn made to destroy other things. In hindsight, the Orokin made a lot of things that they fucked up on, and needed to make new things to get rid of the old ones.

Judge says none of this because he knows that Kore is fully aware of all of this. Kore, he thinks, holds many of these truths inside of her. He thinks that these things are what makes her glow so gold.

Kore drops the panel in her hands and kicks it aside, face resembling something like a disturbingly pleased predator from Earth.

It is probably not a look that should make Judge’s stomach do cartwheels.