Character Base

• Character Name: The Operator
• Age: ~14 years old in appearance, but centuries or millennia old in reality
• Canon (Date/Year Released)/Canon Point: Warframe (2013)/Some time after “The Sacrifice” questline, released 2018
• Items Coming Along: Amp, clothing
• Content Warnings for Character: Violence (including violence towards children), medical abuse, body horror, cosmic horror, ableism

Character Background

• History: Here
• Core Relationships:

1. Margulis: For all Tenno, Margulis is a figure of absolute adoration. She is the one who treated them as children when the rest of the system regarded them as devils, the one who turned their nightmares into a transcendent dream. The Operator is no different in this respect, seeing Margulis as something akin to a saint. Indeed, it was her martyrdom that drove them to seek vengeance against the Orokin and it is a grudge they hold to this day. It is very telling that the Operator remembers almost nothing of their biological parents but vividly remembers their love for Margulis and her love for them. Their loss of Margulis is also a factor in their loyalty to the Lotus, who adopted Margulis’s appearance to comfort the Zariman children. Even after the Operator learns what the Lotus truly is, her resemblance to Margulis is enough to foster a deep sense of loyalty towards her.

2. The Lotus: In some ways, the Operator’s relationship with the Lotus is very similar to their relationship with Margulis. Like Margulis, the Lotus adopted a motherly affection for the Tenno and sought to protect them from their enemies. Unlike Margulis, however, the Lotus is not above commanding the Tenno as soldiers. Thus, though the Operator loves the Lotus as one would love a mother, they are also loyal to her as their commander. That said, with the reemergence of their true identity, they had begun to question some of the Lotus’s decisions, sometimes even disobeying or arguing with her. Now that the Lotus has vanished, they deeply regret these arguments and wish more than anything to be reconciled with her.

3. The Warframes: The Operator’s relationship to their Warframes is a complex but unquestionably close one. Many assume that the Warframes are simply mindless puppets, being tugged along by the Operator’s strings. However, the truth is far more complicated. We get a fuller picture of the relationship between Operator and Warframe in “The Sacrifice,” a questline in which the Operator must subdue Excalibur Umbra. Umbra is a rogue, unbonded Warframe still living in a state of violent, grief-fuelled madness after being horrifically abused and forced to kill his son, Isaah, by Ballas in his past life. After transferring into Umbra several times and reliving his painful memories, the Operator remembers how they came to first bond with their Warframes: by using Transference to soothe them and take away their pain, as Margulis did for them. Through Transference, the Operator appears as a comforting presence in Umbra’s memories, standing by him as he endures Ballas’s abuse and assuring him that it isn’t his fault. As Umbra breaks down and retreats further inside his own mind, the Operator follows and soothes him. Eventually, they guide him to peace with the words: “We accept this memory, and move beyond its reach.” It is then that Umbra becomes “their” Warframe, allowing the Operator to fully transfer into him. Ballas’s notes on the Warframes and Transference process confirm that this is the manner in which the Zariman children came to control all their Warframes—not by the force of their Void powers, but by “[seeing] inside an ugly, broken thing and [taking] away its pain.” This is further implied by the scene in which the Stalker almost kills the Operator, but is stopped when their Warframe acts of its own volition to save them. Thus, the Operator’s relationship to the Warframes is one of empathy and kindness, in stark contrast to the warlike ends for which they were bonded. Yet, it is not a relationship without its own dangers. In “The Sacrifice,” we see the Operator confusing Umbra’s memories with their own, referring momentarily to Isaah as “my son.” Furthermore, following the quest, the Man in the Wall appears to the Operator and asks how they feel. They then “confess” to killing Isaah, much to the Man in the Wall’s satisfaction. Thus, it appears that in taking away the pain of their Warframes, the Operator takes some of it upon themself. In this example, though they have freed Umbra from the guilt of killing his son, it is now a guilt that they themself feel in his stead. In this way, the Operator’s relationship with their Warframes is one of mutual sacrifice and protection, with the Warframe accepting the Operator’s will, while the Operator accepts the Warframe’s pain.

4. Cephalon Ordis: Ordis is the ship’s Cephalon “AI” aboard the Operator’s ship. Created and reprogrammed from the consciousness of “Ordan Karris,” a psychopathic mercenary for the Orokin, Ordis is now a doting and avuncular caretaker of the Operator and their ship. Though Ordis technically answers to the Operator, they have a warm, familial relationship with one another, with Ordis constantly fretting over and encouraging them and the Operator responding with good-natured exasperation. Notably, the Operator seeks Ordis’s permission before doing anything that might risk his safety, such as when they want him to analyze a Vitruvian device that might temporarily alter his software. Rather than ordering him to obey, the Operator instead pleads with Ordis to analyze it for them. Oddly enough, Ordis provides the Operator with something like a normal family relationship; unlike Margulis or the Lotus, Ordis is a quasi-parental figure to the Operator who hasn’t been deified or otherwise placed on a pedestal.

5. The Man in the Wall: Also known as “The Lidless Eye” or “The Indifference,” The Man in the Wall is the ancient Void entity that granted the Operator their powers and helped them and their fellow Tenno survive aboard the derelict Zariman ship. The nature of The Man in the Wall’s relationship to the Operator is ambiguous. On one hand, it was his intervention that saved and empowered the Zariman children. On the other, he appears to want something from them in return and even seems malicious towards them at times. He first appears to the Operator after they regain their memories from the Zariman, momentarily possessing them and asking, “Hey kiddo, did you forget? You owe me.” From then on, he occasionally appears on their ship as a Void-eyed doppelganger, reminding them of their deal and mocking them with the same phrase each time: “Hey, kiddo.” His ambiguous relationship to the Tenno is never more apparent than with Rell, the only Zariman child who was rejected by the others, including the Operator. Before the Void Jump catastrophe, Rell’s autism made him a target of bullying and ostracization from the other children, who eventually left him to fend for himself after the ship descended into chaos. Thus, he encountered the Man in the Wall on his own and was left with a life-long dread of the entity, even going as far as to bind himself permanently to a Warframe in a ritual to seal the entity out of normal space. Centuries later, when Rell’s remaining consciousness has begun to fragment, the Operator is called to destroy the chains that bind Rell to the Warframe, releasing his spirit but also allowing the Man in the Wall deeper access to the other Tenno. Yet, instead of showing satisfaction at being freed into normal space, the Man in the Wall speaks angrily to the Operator for their treatment of Rell, saying, “But the in-kids don't care about the invisible outs. If you were alone in that drift... you'd need a friend... even like me." He also resists the Operator’s attempts to free Rell’s consciousness, saying, “I won’t let you take me… from me.” Thus, the Man in the Wall’s motives and perceptions of the Tenno seem fluid and unpredictable, with his interactions towards them ranging from helpful to possessive to mocking to hateful. Curiously, though they are forced to face his manifestations many times and have even spoken directly to him, the Operator never speaks of the Man in the Wall to anyone else, not even to the Lotus. Though the reason for this has not yet been made clear in canon, it is possible that, like Rell, the Operator is afraid of him. In any case, the Man in the Wall seems determined to be an influential figure in the Operator’s life, even if they themself dare not speak his name.

Character Personality Through Key Moments

(2+) Positive Experiences:

The Operator is honorable. Even to their enemies, they keep their word. This much can be seen when they honor their promise to repay Alad V, a long-time enemy, for his assistance in locating Hunhow’s remains. They also take pride in fighting with honor, relying on their skills and bravery to protect the weak, whether that be hapless colonists or Grineer defectors.

The Operator is compassionate. It is their compassion that empowers their most powerful ability, Transference. As we see in “The Sacrifice,” the Operator joins with their Warframes not by force but by forging a bond of empathy. The Operator also shows compassion by helping the helpless, even those who once belonged to hated enemy factions. For example, they help the Entrati family reconcile with one another despite their being Orokin and they help Kavor defectors despite their former allegiance to the Grineer. Though the Operator can be bloodthirsty, they are quick to offer mercy to those who ask it of them with true intentions.

The Operator is loyal. At least, the Operator is loyal to those who earn their loyalty. The most extreme example of their loyalty is their vengeance of Margulis. For simply showing the Tenno kindness, Margulis won an eternity of devotion, to the point that they razed an empire just to achieve justice for her death. The Operator also shows extreme loyalty to the Lotus, continuing to love and care about her even after learning that she is a Sentient and even after she seemingly abandons them.


(2+) Negative Experiences:

The Operator is ruthless. The Operator has no qualms killing hundreds, if not thousands of unsuspecting Grineer or Corpus with a single word from the Lotus. These are not kind deaths either; the Warframes show every bit of their Orokin roots in the numerous grisly ways they have of dispatching their enemies. Impalement, burning alive, corrosive spores, freezing solid—these are just a few of the ways the Operator has killed those who opposed them in the past. The Operator feels no sympathy for those they kill, seeing in them the sins of the hated Orokin.

The Operator is impulsive. The Tenno were once known for their wisdom and patience. However, that was before the Operator woke up. Now that they have remembered that they are, in fact, an eternal teenager, they are prone to impulsive, petulant decisions. For example, after the warrior Teshin angers them by calling them a child, the Operator proceeds to ignore the Lotus’s warning to leave him be and instead pursues him into enemy territory, leading them right into a Grineer trap. Unarmed and without a Warframe, they then lunge at Teshin to try and punch him in the face for his betrayal and are predictably knocked to the ground for their trouble. It seems that the Operator does not always make the most well-thought-out decisions, especially when they feel they have something to prove.

The Operator is vengeful. It is not an exaggeration to say that the grudges the Operator holds are centuries old. In fact, that’s a conservative estimate. Their hatred for the Orokin extends to all those they see as guilty of their sins, such as the Corpus for their greed and the Grineer for their insatiable destruction. It is this vengeful spirit that drives them to act with such remorseless violence towards those factions. Indeed, they speak openly of “prey[ing] on the Grineer” and refer to the Corpus with obvious hatred in their voice. The Operator is not an impassive killer, blindly following orders; they kill with a passionate conviction that their victims deserve their fates.

Deer Country Attributes

• Canon Powers: The Tenno’s most powerful ability is known as “Transference,” which refers to their ability to psychically connect with and control Warframes and other bio-mechanical Orokin constructs. Transference also doubles as a form of limited teleportation, as they are able to teleport into their Warframe across great distances, assuming they are unimpeded by anti-Transference measures such as an Orphix field. Once Transference is activated, the Tenno's physical form vanishes and their consciousness is transferred into their host. While using Transference, they can also communicate with their Warframe and see their Warframe’s memories, if any.

The Tenno also has a number of abilities that they can use without a Warframe. Most notably, they can channel powerful beams of void energy through their hands, which can be further intensified by a device worn on their arm, known as an Amp. A sustained volley of these beams is powerful enough to totally disintegrate a target. The Operator's other powers include: Void-walking, which allows them to become invisible and intangible; Void blasts, which shoot out of their hands and knock down and disorient enemies; and Void-dashing, which allows them to move very quickly for a short distance and knock over any enemies in their path.
• Blood Type: Warmblood
• Omen: A Vulpaphyla, an Infested, fox-like creature from the Operator’s canon
• Blessed Day: October 25th
• Patron Pthumerian: Cloverfield
• Blood Power Manifestation: The Operator is a Warmblood and I intend to have them keep their canon powers rather than evolving new ones, at least initially.

Writing Samples

One: TDM thread with Linhardt
Two: TDM thread with Junia

The Player

• Player Name: Sue
• Player Age: 27
• Player Contact: crimsonxiphos or PM at this journal
• Permissions: Here.