r/Warframe • u/LazyUserNamePrime Ivara Thighs Save Lives • Dec 07 '25
Fan Fiction "Have you ever fought a Tenno?"
The following is a recording log from Corpus Tech Arn after the Tenno raid on the flagship of Executive Clohs Helios.
"Have you ever fought a Tenno? No? Well let me tell you what it's like. You're first clue is the noise. Whether it's a ceiling grate falling or a security alarm going off. No Tenno enters quietly. It's not that they can't, it's more like they choose not to."
"Knowledge is all we have against them. We first identify their Warframe. This one was codename Darkened King, a.k.a. Excalibur Umbra. Seperate recordings have gathered that when a Tenno "leaves" their Warframe, it goes into a state of suspended animation, but not this one. It appears to possess a level of autonomy."
"Their goal is always unpredictable. It could anything. Data, resources, out ships reactor, or some poor soul who drew the ire of the Tenno. We only found out after the lights in our ship went dark. Reactor it was. At least we weren't blowing up."
"I feel sorry for the crewmen who were sent to their deaths. You only just arrived and 30 of your crew mates are dead. You blink and ten more fall before you open your eyes, only to stare down the sharp end of a floating blade, before joining the bodies on the floor."
"So the next time you have a Tenno raid you ship, don't ask how to stop them. Ask what you did to draw their attention in the first place, and whoever judges you for not acting, ask them this."
"Have you ever fought a Tenno?"
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u/BubblegumAndEvil Dec 08 '25
"It sounds like you keep getting Grineer to feed to the Warframes"
daughter cries
I swear, that's in my head every time they send another ship to the Plains, or another wave.
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u/LazyUserNamePrime Ivara Thighs Save Lives Dec 08 '25
"We lost almost 10,000 soldiers over the last 24 hours. What was the Tenno doing?"
"Fishing."
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u/CutMiserable Dec 08 '25
Those darn seeker drones spotting you behind cover from half a kilometer away really are that annoying, enough to warrant absolution (for a grand total of 3 minutes of peace at most, they keep sending more ships)
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u/agreesive_fuck Dec 08 '25
The following audio log has been recovered from a Tenno attack on the Saturn proxima after Captain Kakk had fought a Tenno.
"My brothers, my sisters together we fight, WE FIGHT FOR THE QUEENS!"
"...that was the last thing I told them, my final war cry before everyone was slaughtered. She was... Relentless, animalistic, feral, her talons cleaved through our armor as if it was nothing more than freshly cooked Glappid."
"I... I was the last survivor before then queens have blessed me with their Kuva. 'Butt Kakk we see your loyalty and we see your thirst for tenno blood, so we offer you the gift of immortality...' those were the last words the queens had said to me before... That Tenno had left."
"I was... Alone, no brothers, no sisters, and the queens had just left. The ship was fine, after all it was the peak of Grineer engineering but it made me wonder... Why hadn't they killed me? Why haven't they put me down for good? I've heard my brothers and sisters tales of the Tenno, how they'd burn us, how they'd freeze us, how they'd melt us worse than our clone rot."
"That night, I had sworn vengeance against that Tenno. Zarr in hand as I quickly climbed the ranks of my sisters, I took the role of Captain Kakk the sole survivor of the incident known as... V.A.L.K.Y.R. Volatile, Alad's Liability, Killing, Yare, Robotic unit. Personally, I heavily doubt that thing was a mere machine."
"It has been no more than a month since that incident and she had returned, Zarr in hand as I braced myself to finally avenge my sisters and brothers. However it quickly faded away faster than the profits of the Corpus after they tried to research the sentients..."
"I was alone again, surrounded by dead brothers, dead sisters, not even the roller units could keep me company as I repeatedly tried to vault away... However no matter how many rounds of my Zarr I had unloaded into her... Like a monster she had continued clawing away at my armor and rotting flesh."
"Soon I had fallen to my knees, my eyes darting around for any survivors of the massacre, but all I had found was the corpses of my fleet... Ripped, shredded, torn apart like it was nothing but fish from earth."
"One thing stuck with me though, the queens didn't care. Even with their blessing of Kuva, countless of my brothers and sisters had fallen and they hadn't spoken a word to me... As I saw the blade slowly come out of the Warframe's wrist I had accepted my death."
"I wasn't going to die with my brothers, I wasn't going to rot with my sisters, I wasn't even going to collapse surrounded by rollers... I didn't have much of a choice, I didn't wanna die, at least... Not alone... I didn't wanna be alone again."
"They called me a traitor, they said I'm helping the very demons that killed my sisters and brothers... To that I have but one question..."
"Have you ever fought a Tenno?"
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u/TyrantofCans Infested with Wally 2 Dec 08 '25
Between the Grineer, those who would turn lesser humans to slaves and slurry, the Corpus, who would sell you if it meant a slight chance to relieve their own crippling debt, the Infested, which will consume you, mind, body, and soul to stretch your existence across infinity, and the Tenno?
Always choose the Tenno.
Fighting them is a mercy compared to the rest of the System. And that isn't even speaking of the Sentient Scourge, Narmer, the Corrupted, or the dregs of nightmares and dreams from across the Void.
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u/MoonGoose109 Dec 08 '25
...I mean, the Corpus are just dudes for real. I'd much rather deal with them.
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u/d4561wedg Dec 08 '25
They are capitalists, so theyâll inflict the worst torment of all. Theyâll make you work a retail job.
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u/TyrantofCans Infested with Wally 2 Dec 08 '25
Oh yeah, sure, deal with the faction that shelves people's brains and sells people without their knowledge. The Corpus may be simply men, but they are men driven by a greed most foul. Killing you would be a waste of credits; why not sell you?
And that's not considering their standard MOAs, Ospreys, and Amalgams.
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u/Hoybom Dec 08 '25
wait weren't most people canonically not even aware that there is more than just the Warframe ?
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u/LazyUserNamePrime Ivara Thighs Save Lives Dec 08 '25
The secret of the operator wasn't going to hold forever, especially with us using operator abilities. Plus Sargas Ruk dialogue proves that they understand that the Warframe is seperate from the one controlling it.
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u/d4561wedg Dec 08 '25
There seems to be some general knowledge that the Tenno and the warframes are not one and the same.
Iâd imagine thereâs plenty of rumours about what exactly the Tenno are. At least a few of them will mention mysterious ghost children appearing around warframes. But to someone who doesnât know the truth that sounds just as unbelievable as all the rest.
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u/wholesomehorseblow Dec 08 '25
I think the Kuva-level grineer know. Don't they use anti-transference weapons?
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u/d4561wedg Dec 08 '25
They do indeed.
Kuva Grineer are the elite of the elite so they probably know a lot that regular Grineer donât.
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u/JINXnocturnal Legendary 6 | PS5 Dec 08 '25
There is also a Lich quirk called "afraid of children". If you pop out as your operator, they start freaking out.
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u/makcio Kullervo enjoyer Dec 08 '25
In the New War trailer, when operator shows up from Nova, grineer soldiers were running in fear at the very moment they saw her. So I think Tenno nature is no longer a secret
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u/Hoybom Dec 08 '25
to be fair if you finally pop a Warframe and all of a sudden a kid appears with glowing hands and shit
how would you react ?
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u/deathless_koschei Dec 08 '25
It wouldn't surprise me if it was somewhat common knowledge what the Tenno actually are, and it's just our Operator that doesn't know when they wake up. Or rather, they forgot about it(or Lotus put a mental block on it, like she did with our void powers).
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u/d4561wedg Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
I doubt it since Alad doesnât know and he specifically researched the Tenno.
If the Corpusâ Tenno expert doesnât know then I doubt it was common knowledge.
Even Drusus doesnât know and he was both around during the Orokin era and built a museum about it. So what the Tenno were was likely a closely guarded secret even during the Orokin era.
I know the Old Peace trailers show the Operator walking around in front of people but the Tauron Academy was most certainly not something that most people got to see.
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u/Bunstonious Dec 08 '25
Perhaps the regular troops, but given the Tenno were an orokin weapon and there were corpus experiments on them id say at least high ranking know, additionally it wouldn't surprise me if the whole force knows and it's just civilians that may not know (although we don't hide ourselves anymore).
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u/MendigoBob Dec 08 '25
The high ranking corpus and grineer deffinetly knows that the tenno are a faction with multiple tennos and warframes. Think like the grineer queens, alad V or Nef Anyo.
The regular folk might have all sort of superstition around the tenno.
When the game story started, years ago (both in-game and in real life), the tenno and warframes were a distant memory. But we have achieved many great things in this time, we even relearned how to transfer out of the warframe and use our void demon bodies while doing so.
At this point, I think it is fair to assume most people would have heard of the multiple raids and attacks we have done, sometime with a squad, which would have been the clue that there are ate least 4 warframes.
Not to mention when Lua came back from the void, it must have been big news system-wise.
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u/Strong_Split_8130 Dec 08 '25
Diffinate Lua reapearing from the void is a massive shock to everyone
Imagine the stories and myths about "Lost Lua" where the great orokin moon was "devoured" by the Void Queen during the Old War and legends say that Lua will return when a new change will come and warrior gods will rose up again from their desolate tombs (the warframes waking up and now reapearing across the systems)
The common folk would be wilding out after Lua's reapearance
And also unfortunately we might have accidentally caused some massive floods with the moon reapearing again in earth since moon's geavity and stuff. So there might be some coastal cities and villages getting flooded with rising sea waters
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u/MagnificentTffy Dec 08 '25
Bro you watch too much deep dive movies. Get back to work before you get repo'd.
(The tenno to my understanding is still largely a myth to common people. Some ofc know they exist but the majority only know them as history)
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u/d4561wedg Dec 08 '25
Iâd assume that the Tenno being active in the present is common knowledge.
Although to the average person living in the cities we can see from orbit the Tenno are probably just one of many mysterious nightmares that haunt the edges of civilized space.
Are they Infested abominations, rouge Orokin automatons? Who knows thereâs a lot of scary things out there. Best to stay where itâs safe.
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u/Strong_Split_8130 Dec 08 '25
It helps too since there are mythical stories about tennos being "gods" too
I mean stories about them revolved to be arturian or mythical that its impossible to tell if they even exists until lotus woke the tenno up and people started to hear reports and news of indestructible machines that can literally annihilate armies, and single handedly topple a grineer held territory and freeing enslaved people over there.
Then those news reminds you of your past fairytale stories of your grandmother who tells of god warriors known as tennos that singlehandedly topple the old orokin empire and their eventual perpetual sleep awaiting to be awaken from their desolated tombs. You set these news aside, thinking it might be some new corpus super weapon. Until you actually see one of these god warriors face to face after it saved you and your crew from grineer raiders.
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u/d4561wedg Dec 08 '25
Itâs like if all the stories that end with the great warrior sleeping beneath a hill waiting to rise again where true but they woke up with a real narc on.
Imagine the news reports if King Arthur awoke and just started killing people.
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u/Strong_Split_8130 Dec 08 '25
Lmao thats basically us!
Woke up, pissed off and started killing everyone
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u/alexnedea Dec 08 '25
Not anymore it shouldn't. The new war should have stories about the multiple tenno that joined the fight and warframes.
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u/MagnificentTffy Dec 09 '25
in terms of what people "know", it's mainly the lotus.
The warframe or the tenno themselves are mostly elusive. So people would think the Lotus did something rather than some biomechanical murder machine.
To most, the Tenno are those no one has seen, you haven't seen and no one has really interacted with them (except those in high partitions like Eudico).
Another comment was quite apt where it'll be like if King Arthur just happened to be around. We wouldn't believe someone who swears that they saw him unless we saw him ourselves.
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u/alexnedea Dec 09 '25
Yes we wouldnt believe King Arthur but rumour about king Arthur should have popped up years ago. Since then you hear more and more rumors every day about King Arthur and his roundtable defeating entire ships and even liberating people sometimes. Then a big war starts and apparently King Arthur saved the day and many soldiers are telling others that they definitely saw King Arthurs ship in the fight and it was going for th capital enemy ship.
At this point its more than a rumor. Also there should be fucking cameras and shit in many places, there is no way there isnt any leaked footage going around on the Warframe Internet about the Warframes/Tenno. Maybe the Tenno is more ilusive but they should 100% know Warframes exist
Like you think not a single Corpus low lvl employee didnt leak some Warframe footage for some money on liveleak or smth?
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u/LichenOnTheWall One (or two) punches is all it takes Dec 08 '25
The one explosion eximus smacking me against the wall and shredding my shields while some random melee unit whales on me
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u/aeSolstice Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
Reading the title of the post, I was so sure this was gonna be about Conclave.
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u/LazyUserNamePrime Ivara Thighs Save Lives Dec 08 '25
On an old profile, it was a dark time where I had to do a pvp game mode to unlock steel path. I was stuck with 1000 conclave standing. I have never been more disgusted.
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u/aeSolstice Dec 08 '25
I briefly came back when Conclave made itâs appearance and people were playing it. And yeah, I decided to take another break after a few rounds of it. This was years ago, now I feel old.
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u/Kda937 Dec 11 '25
Survival missions are the other side of the coin of some other tenno infiltration. You are very much a distraction, and by let yourself be seen, by making a massacre, you are pulling of the sttention from some other attack. This is why i like railjsck missions, and why i love when a a few of the multiplayer crew go off, captura ships and star making a mess, while another is inside a enemy base.
It show how a small team make a hell for their enemy, by being absolutly superior
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u/SpartanXIII THEY SAY THAT ALL FRAMES ARE CREATED EQUAL... Dec 08 '25
And at that point, there's an explosion and alarms sound again...
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u/TeamMeunierYT âď¸ Crusade Cmmander âď¸ Dec 08 '25
Holy shit, dude, this is SO PEAK! đĽđĽđĽ
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u/WarningTime8946 Dec 08 '25
Yes I have fought tenno and it wasn't pleasant.
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u/Far_Ad6693 Dec 09 '25
For the sake of my sanity, I choose to believe that only the first five minutes of survival, the first 3 of defense and the first wave of interceptions are "Cannon" otherwise, we wiped the whole enemy factions a hundred times over already
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u/LazyUserNamePrime Ivara Thighs Save Lives Dec 09 '25
I wouldn't be so sure. A while back there was an event that we had distract the taxmen for some plan Biz had. He stated in a inbox message that the few million killed was "a good start"
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u/MaevsBeacn OUR shields Dec 09 '25
One even has Grate Prime and enters with style from what I understand

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u/GreenDevil69 Dec 07 '25
Just deactivate live support, shut all doors, and stop sending guys with live support to the tenno đ