Orokin

The Orokin was an ancient civilization that ruled over the Origin System in the distant past. During what was known as the Orokin Era, they built technological masterpieces that surpass even present day technology, while exercising complete dominion over the known world. Although details about the Orokin are scarce, they are almost entirely responsible for the current state of the Origin System.
== Overview ==
The Orokin's origins are unknown.
Their history prior to their fall however, is well-known - as the ruling class of the Origin System, they held control over all planets and colonies within the system. While they had impressive technology which surpasses virtually any and all modern-day instances, their society was an incredibly oppressive one, with most Orokin generally viewing all others as inferior, and many violations of law warranting a form of cruel and unusual punishment, including, but not limited to, outright execution, "glassing" (the conversion of an individual into a Celphalon) and other forms of torture. Even law-abiding citizens were not immune to these punishments, as several Orokin occasionally plucked innocents to use in their schemes, as told by Grandmother. 
The Orokin high class generally engaged in activities normally considered inhumane and immoral, including human trafficking"...moon palaces and body market hurling around our golden sun." - Albrecht Entrati (for use in Continuity) and torture (as told by Grandmother.) By the Old War, their capital and "home world" to speak of was Earth's moon, now known as Lua.
In an attempt to expand their reach and combat the overpopulation issues within the Origin System, they attempted to colonize the nearby Tau System, with the first attempt, facilitated by the Zariman Ten-Zero colony ship, ending in failure, with the adult crew dead and the children mutated with unique and nigh-uncontrollable powers, now known as "Tenno". The Orokin's next attempt came with the Sentients, who would go rogue when they realized their creators would plunder the Tau System like the Origin System.
When the Sentients returned, the Orokin remained on the backfoot until they turned to the Tenno, the children survivors of the Zariman. Utilizing research from Archimedian Margulis (the late surrogate mother of the Tenno) and Orokin Executor Ballas, the Orokin managed to turn the tide of the war in their favor, effectively winning. However, during the victory celebrations, the Tenno slaughtered the Orokin in revenge for the execution of Margulis, among other heinous acts.
With Orokin leadership slaughtered, the empire fell shortly after, with various splinter groups vying to replace them.
== Lore & History ==
Regardless of origins, the Orokin eventually came to power over Earth, Venus, Mercury, Mars, and their moons in the Lith Era as the ruling class of a highly advanced but highly stratified human civilization. Over the course of 4 eras (Lith, Meso, Neo, and Axi), they would expand their influence over the entire solar system, accomplishing this task in its entirety in the Axi era. Over the course of their empire, the Orokin would experement with and create technology that far surpasses modern-day examples, with some of their inventions such as the Solar Rails remaining in use to present day. However, various issues plagued the Origin system, including overpopulation, which prompted the Orokin to set their sights on colonizing the nearby Tau System.
Their first attempt was the Zariman Ten-Zero, a colony ship designed to make a Void Jump to the Tau System and prepare it for Orokin occupancy. However, the Zariman suffered an accident where it slipped into the Void for several years, driving the adults insane and mutating the children onboard with inexplicable powers. When the ship reappeared and was recovered, the incident was covered up, with leadership claiming the ship was a military vessel and had no children onboard. These children, now called Tenno, would be initially cared for by Archimedian Margulis, who continued even after being blinded by their powers, and developed a way for them to focus their power in a method known as "Transference" which allowed the Tenno to possess surrogate bodies. However, she was eventually executed by the Orokin Seven for refusing to kill the Tenno as per their wishes.
Their situation growing more dire, the Orokin authorized the creation of the Sentients, highly adaptable and regenerative terraformering machines that could build a Solar Rail to Tau System and terraform the system for the Orokin's arrival. However, the Sentients became aware of the fact that the Orokin would plunder the Tau System like the Origin System, and they would return to the Origin System to wage war. As the Sentients absorbed and adapted to Orokin technology, the Orokin were forced to return to the Tenno, and using the recent efforts of Ballas to create technology that could not be affected by the Sentients, created the Warframes - Infested human subjects who were morphed into living suits of armor, which could then be possessed by the Tenno through Transference and channel their powers. These Warframes would turn the tide of war in the Orokin's favor, but they would be betrayed.
Ballas, having grown bitter because the late Margulis favored the Tenno over him, informed Hunhow of the Tenno's weakness: their Reservoir on Lua, which contained the actual bodies of the Tenno. Hunhow then sent his daughter, Natah, into the Origin System as a mole, with Ballas claiming he had managed to reprogram her to serve the Orokin.
When the Orokin had finally pushed the Sentients back, they launched a series of celebrations to honor the Tenno which had enabled their victory. However, under the orders of Natah, now known as the Lotus, the Tenno would slaughter the Orokin across the Origin System.
Most of the high-ranking Orokin who escaped the initial slaughter would be hunted down by the Tenno before they eventually went into cryosleep, though some still eluded the Tenno, such as Ballas and the Entrati family.
After the Tenno's reawakening, Ballas would eventually find the Lotus, and convince her to leave the Tenno with him. Afterwards, he would confront his rogue creation, Excalibur Umbra, and initially destroy it - when they meet again however, Umbra, with the assistance of the Operator, is able to grievously wound Ballas, who is spirited away by a Lotus converted back to her Natah identity.
Ballas would be "healed" by the Sentients by being turned into an Amalgam, and he would feign anger towards the Sentients for denying him his "perfect death" to the disguised Tenno, offering them the "idea" of his blade, the Paracesis. However, he was still continuing to work with the Sentients, and would be present as the Sentients returned to the Origin System once more to wage the New War.
When the Tenno arrived onboard to assist Teshin Dax and the Lotus, Ballas would be present, taking the life force of the Lotus and then banishing the Tenno and the Lotus into a nearby Void portal. With the Tenno gone, he is able to establish his Narmer empire, where he is able to use Narmer Veils to warp the truth to his favor, painting himself as an innocent victim of the Tenno.
However, when he learns of the return of the Tenno, he decides to use the sun of the Origin System to fuel his escape to the Tau system, but the Tenno and the Lotus confront him before he is able to escape. After a lengthy battle, the Tenno is able to subdue Ballas, who is fooled into kissing the Lotus, and his life is drained from him, finally ending his life and threat to the Origin System.
==Culture==
===Aesthetics and Fashion===
Details about Orokin culture are scarce, but it is evident from their architecture and relics that they were obsessed with splendor, luxury, beauty, and excess."...so shame on you! You Orokin, so perfect on the outside but you're rotted... through and through!" - Margulis during The Second Dream"No... No... My beauty, my grace, my humanity-- [...] But... She gave me the gift of life! [...] Fool! This... This is no gift! She stole my death! My perfect death." - Ballas during Chimera Prologue"The Orokin had a visage imbued with variation, beauty and symmetry [...] Their skin was silken..." - Corrupted Ancient Synthesis imprint The Orokin favored white, gold, black, grey, tan and blue in their aesthetics, and tended to construct massive structures adorned with innumerable golden ornaments complemented by long hallways and extremely high ceilings.See Orokin Tower and Orokin Moon tilesets"I looked out the viewscreen, the massive Executorial Frigate begin to pivot toward our tiny Runner. Its marblesque exterior was aglow in the light of the sun. How I missed those white hallways with their perfect golden trim, all busy with Orokin of high station discussing the business of Empire. I belonged on that ship, it was my birthright." - Guardsman Synthesis imprint Orokin-made items all share this luxurious design, from tea sets and clothing to even their most basic infantry rifles, and their distinctive relics have continued to influence cultures all the way up to the present day. Some high-ranking Orokin even modified their own bodies to obtain a more aesthetically wild and beautiful appearance than would ever be naturally possible, with blue skin and an elongated right arm.
===Class and Aristocracy===
Despite their futuristic splendor, much of Orokin culture was heavily influenced by ancient culturesAncient cultures refers to real-life history, not necessarily based on in-game lore. It is unclear how much of the WARFRAME universe draws from real-world cultures/history., with much emphasis placed on honor, propriety, loyalty to one's superiors, and acceptance of the status quo. Being dominated by an immortal aristocracy with access to highly advanced technology, Orokin culture was also extremely conservative and repressive. Class mobility and ascending beyond one's station were exclusive privileges offered to very few, while most people were expected to offer unquestioned servitude to their quasi-divine masters. Economic practices under doctrines such as capitalism were viewed with suspicion for their potential to raise individuals beyond the class of their birth"Those kneeling at the altar of commerce will be returned... to the Void" - Ballas in the Vauban Prime trailer. Social repression took many forms, from restricting access to technology and resources (to the point where serfdom and back-breaking manual labor were common in agriculture despite the option of industrialization), forcible genetic manipulation (as was done to create the Grineer slaves) to the outright seizure of children from their homes to be sold off in Yuvan markets"A Yuvan theater, long abandoned. In ages past, I would have stood guard as the young and exotic were paraded through the mountain pass and marched by the viewing pane. They'd barter here, the Orokin. Withering and coughing-[sic] as they prepared for their Continuity." - Teshin on a Yuvan Theater during The War Within. Punishments for even the smallest transgressions were brutal, often collective, and ranged from mutilation (such as hands being cut off as punishment for theft"I was brash and bold. I struck at midday. I cried, "I take what I am owed!" as I ripped jewels from their tower gates and ran. I did not get far. For my blasphemy they dragged me to the tower square, throwing me to the ground in front of the sneering crowd of Orokin servants that mingled there. The guards held aloft my satchel, containing the proof of my crime. I grasped at it, determined to reclaim what was mine. He snatched my arm, held me high and... with a dash of his plasma dagger... severed my left hand. The crowd jeered." - Parvos Granum in "The Taking" fragment) to execution via the Jade Light (which incinerated people entirely) to conversion of the condemned into Cephalons as a means of perpetual servitude"See, in the old days, crime and punishment was all in the hands of those Orokin judges, the Seven. Mercy was a quick flash of the Jade light... But - if they wanted to make an example, they'd suck up your soul and make you a prisoner of the glass, forever." - Nora Night in Nightwave Series 3: Episode 1. Notably, Orokin society rejected automation via robotics despite being evidently capable of it: while advanced robotics were commonplace for minor, menial tasks such as environmental surveillance, the creation of true machine intelligence was generally forbidden"The greatest Orokin fear is a machine... aware." - Ordis in the Cephalon Fragments and only employed in the direst circumstances. Manual labor from slaves and serfs was always preferred.
====Hierarchy====
Orokin society was highly stratified, with only those at the very top being regarded as actual Orokin. Based on various loose lore descriptions, we know that the empire was led by multiple Emperors"The Tenno appeared at the Terminus, gleaming and victorious. Our cold and gold Emperors, breathless, bathed you in saviour's silk." - Stalker Codex entryThis highly decorated armor was once worn by the personal guards of an Orokin Emperor - Targis Prime Armor whose names and details are unknown. The Orokin's judicial bodyOnce worn exclusively by Orokin Judiciary, the Yamako Syandana is a symbol of wisdom and authority. - Yamako Syandana was a council known as the Congress of Executors (mainly referred to as the Seven.)"See, in the old days, crime and punishment was all in the hands of those Orokin judges, the Seven. Mercy was a quick flash of the Jade light... But - if they wanted to make an example, they'd suck up your soul and make you a prisoner of the glass, forever." - Nora Night during Nightwave Series 3Arid Eviscerator Synthesis Imprint Another high-ranking body is presumably the virtually unknown Orokin High Court.An ancient and golden syandana, worn only by those chosen to lead the Orokin High Court. - Yamako Prime syandana
Classes beneath them include Archimedeans (scientists and scholars), Lorists (healers)Corrupted Ancient Synthesis imprint, Sectarus (navigators or ship operators)Guardsman Synthesis imprint, Enginus (an unknown role), and Temple Guardians (another unknown role)Discovered in the vaults of a drifting derelict, this Syandana was worn by Temple Guardians before the fall of the Orokin Empire. - Misa Prime Syandana . It is unclear to what extent these were regarded as Orokin rather than servants or underlings of the Orokin. In addition, the Orokin constructed the Grineer, a caste of genetically engineered slaves to serve their most basic industrial and military needs, while the rest of the empire was made up of less wealthy and advanced populations performing technological and economic services which would eventually congeal into the Corpus, following the teachings of Parvos Granum. A small conclave of warriors known as the Dax served as the Orokin's most elite soldiers. The Dax were enhanced with technology to be more lethal and agile in combat, while also made mentally unable to disobey their mastersSee The War Within.
===== Known Class Members =====
* Executor
** Executor Ballas
** Executor Tuvul
** Executor Karishh
** Executor Avantus
* Archimedean
** Archimedean Margulis
** Archimedean Yonta
** Archimedean Silvana
** Archimedean Suda
** Archimedean Javi
* Lorist
** Lorist Ontella
** Lorist Remballa
* Sectarus
** Sectarus Bilsa
* Dax
** Teshin Dax
** Varzia Dax
** Dax Menz
** Dax Isaah
** "Umbra"
===Virtues and Beliefs===
Culturally, the Orokin held seven virtues to be of utmost importance, collectively known as The Seven Principles."'Did our ancestors, burned by fire, reject its power? No. They conquered their fear and learned to control it. The Seven Principles are a joke.'" - Detron Crewman Synthesis imprint These principles were speed, power, cunning, agility, endurance, cooperation, and stealth.See Halls of Ascension There are indications that, in an older era of the Orokin civilization, Dualism"Before the vain faith - our people held Dualism as truth. That all things were of two parts. Mind and body. Consciousness and matter. Of our world... and the Void. It was from there that our answer finally came." - Ballas during The Sacrifice was a central concept in their culture as well, although this was eventually replaced with a vain and unquestioning faith towards the thousand legems and Orokin rule. In addition, the Orokin practiced many ancient pastimes, such as the playing of Komi, Lunaro, the musical instrument known as a Shawzin, and celebrating Naberus, a holiday that celebrates their achieved immortality."It's Naberus! You... do know what that is, right? The ancient Orokin festival of death, darkness and deviance? The happiest time of the entire year? I've dug out all the old family decorations!" - Daughter on Naberus
==Technology==
The Orokin represented and continue to represent the height of technological achievement in the Origin System. Of particular note is their mastery of biological engineering, allowing them to modify their own bodies, construct armies of cloned slave labor, tame and semi-control a bio-tech plague, produce terraforming drones that could adapt to any obstacle they encountered, convert invaders into unwavering allies, and create almost indestructible humanoid warriors for the Tenno to command. On a larger scale, the Orokin constructed massive Solar Rails enabling fast interplanetary and even interstellar travel, terraformed some of the most inhospitable planets in the system, and learned how to navigate the alien dimension known as the Void.
Orokin obsession with luxury and domination often combined with their unparalleled technology to form highly disturbing results. The Orokin ruined much of the Origin System in their search for resources to feed their addiction to excess, which was ultimately the cause for the Sentients' war against them.See Story and History Of particular note is the ritual known as Continuity, which the Orokin would use to obtain effective immortality."The applause peaks and fades. I feel a sense of shame but the end upon me. Ballas is above me, Executor of the Seven, smiling. He says, 'How simple and pure you are, you idiot beast. We have died countless times! Yet remain eternal!' I close my eyes to die just once." - Ordan Karris in Cephalon fragments The ritual allows an individual to transfer their consciousness to another's body by filling them with torment and despair until the host is nothing more than an empty husk. This is the process through which the Grineer Queens survived as long as they did, although they were eventually forced to practice the ritual upon defective Grineer bodies.
;Known Technology and Creations
==Orokin Language==
The Orokin written language is largely based upon English but with a coarser, often more phonetic spelling. The characters are diagonally slanted and are usually written left to right when on flat surfaces. Vowels take the form of polarity symbols written above the regular characters. The direction of writing frequently varies when it is found on both the left and right of an object, presumably because it was copied and flipped from one side to the other during game development.
Although there are no live excerpts of the Orokin script to demonstrate how it is spoken, the Lotus, Ordis, Tenno and the Red Veil presumably understand and can speak "Orokin" as their local language.
==Notable Members of the Orokin Empire==
===Families===
*DeNas - Whose children were stolen by the Scoria political assassination school and became their "students", with their memories suppressed. The children were rescued by .
*Entrati - A partially-infested dysfunctional family residing inside the enclave of Necralisk, on Deimos. After the Tenno reaches Rank 5: Family, they are fully welcomed into the family under the name of Ayatan.
===Characters===
*Alarez - Orokin assumed to be lower than Enginus class, as Bilsa noticed his symmetry was off and his eyes were dull. He was killed by Veytok after making contact with Bilsa in the Guardsman Synthesis imprint.
*Albrecht Entrati - Orokin scientist known for being the first one to access the Void. He is also an ancestor of the Entrati family.
*Avantus - Orokin Executor who was killed by Grineer Veytok in the Arid Eviscerator Synthesis imprint.
*Ballas - The Orokin Executor responsible for the creation of the Warframes. He survived the Old War by betraying the Orokin Empire and manipulated the events of Prelude to War and The New War to become the Origin System's new ruler under Narmer, only to be killed by the Lotus and the Tenno.
*Barroc - a member aboard the same Railjack crew as Vilcor during The Old War."There were four of us. Barroc, Kailen, Mutaru, and me, patching ruptures on the a rust bucket of a Railjack off the Delta Proxima. I remember our first sight of a Sentient Murex... Eh, maybe some other time." - Father during Operation: Orphix Venom
*Bekran Zaft - Floor-washer of the Dabaoth-Kra prison. Sole survivor of the prison's demise at the hands of and lived to tell the tale. Leverian entry
*Bilsa - Sectarus class Orokin who joined the Grineer Veytok in building an army after he killed Avantus and took her prisoner in the Arid Eviscerator and Guardsman Synthesis imprints.
*Corphel and Irilia - Orokin couple who had a secret forbidden affair with their Dax cavalrywoman, implied to be of high status as the affair was never publicly addressed. After the cavalrywoman became a Warframe who would later be named , the couple tired of their lover as their relationship was longer considered taboo, and had her killed via a dissolution beam to the face; the following morning, the Warframe took her revenge and left the couple as faceless as she was.
*Daughter (Kaelli Entrati) - The daughter of the Entrati family. She is a partially-infested Orokin researcher and biologist, who resides inside the enclave of the Necralisk, on Deimos.
*Father (Vilcor Entrati) - The father of the Entrati family. He is a partially-infested Orokin weapons expert who resides inside the enclave of Necralisk, on Deimos.
*Grandmother - A member of the Entrati family. She is a partially-infested Orokin who resides inside the enclave of Necralisk, on Deimos. Described as "never a soldier or a scientist".
*Grineer Queens - Former Orokin twins living in Grineer bodies after the Old War.
*Javi - An Archimedean who specialized in transmutation and thus was imprisoned in the Dabaoth-Kra prison for heresy. Convinced to follow in his footsteps of alchemy and was reborn as one of the serpents on Lavos's arms.
*Karishh - Orokin Executor and a glutton who survived The Collapse and escaped to the famine-struck city of Riddha. Was later killed by .
*Kailen - a member aboard the same Railjack crew as Vilcor during The Old War.
*Margulis - The Archimedean who decided to become a mother for all Tenno after the Zariman Ten Zero incident and was executed for this reason by Ballas.
*Mother (Gomaitru/Euleria Entrati) - The leader of the Entrati family. She is a partially-infested Orokin scientist, mathematician, and philosopher, who resides inside the enclave of Necralisk, on Deimos.
*Mutaru - a member aboard the same Railjack crew as Vilcor during The Old War.
*Myrmidon - An Orokin hunter who killed Warframes, and by extension erased them from history. He was being controlled by an Orokin Executor as a test for warframes. He was later defeated by .
*Nihil - The Orokin judge and executioner responsible for the creation of the Cephalons. He survived the Old War by glassing himself and was later imprisoned in an oubliette in the final episode of Nightwave: Series 3 - Glassmaker.
*Porvis - Orokin Historian who tells the tale of (which Drusus narrates in the Leverian) from The Secret History of the Orokin Court.
*Son (Kermerros Entrati) - A member of the Entrati family. He is a partially-infested Orokin researcher and biologist, who resides inside the enclave of Necralisk, on Deimos.
*Suda - A famous Archimedean who dedicated herself to preserve Orokin history and knowledge for future generations. Willingly turned herself into a Cephalon after she developed an unspecified neurodegenerative disease that was destroying her memories.
*Tuvul - Orokin Executor first mentioned in the Detron Crewman Synthesis imprint and a member of the Seven. Some of his recordings can be found on the Zariman Ten Zero. Head of the Yuvan Clerisy, conductors of the Continuity. Was killed by when attempting to escape The Collapse by performing Continuity into an Operator.
==Trivia==
*The Corpus are hellbent on gathering Orokin technology and relevant findings in order to harness their power and sell them on the market. Their goals were the primary cause of certain events, namely The Gradivus Dilemma and Operation Oxium Espionage.
*Several characters in the game are suggested to either be Orokin or have direct descendants from their bloodlines. Members of the Corpus leadership claim to be of pure Orokin lineage, Alad V is addressed as an Orokin by the Sentient Hunhow during The Second Dream, and by the Misery Acolyte.
**According to the The Tenets fragments, the Founder of Corpus, Parvos Granum, was once a farmer who worked under his Orokin masters. The wealth disparity between his family of agrarian serfs and the upper classes of Orokin society drove him to create a new doctrine centered around the right to pursue one's Desire.
**The Grineer Queens are heavily implied, if not outright confirmed, to be Orokin who have performed continuity into Grineer bodies. Their lineage is further implied by the Elder Queen's ability to command Teshin, though this could also have been attributed to her possession of her Kuva staff.
*According to 's lore, a Dax engaging in relationships with their Orokin masters was deemed taboo and punishable by execution.
*So far, the only non-Orokin boss shown to explicitly harness Orokin technology is Captain Vor (namely Void Keys).
**The Necramechs found roaming on the Cambion Drift and warding the Isolation Vaults can be considered the first true example of Orokin-made bosses.
*The Corpus Fusion MOA and Oxium Osprey are the direct result of the Corpus utilizing advanced Orokin technology, as a rare (due to cost and rarity of Orokin materials) upgrade to normal MOA and Ospreys respectively.
*The word "Orokin" may be a portmanteau of the Spanish/Italian word "Oro", and the Japanese word "Kin" (金), both words meaning "Gold" which fits the Orokin's aesthetic, who predominantly use gold in their architecture and design, although the literal "gold gold" meaning makes this possibly less plausible. An alternative to "kin" is the English word referring to family or close relations, indicating a "golden family".
**With the existence of Oro as an in-universe force the "Oro" in Orokin may be in reference to that, rather than any real-world counterpart.
*Corrupted enemies are identified by the Orokin faction in-game, rather than their own separate faction.
*High-ranking Orokin commanders were gifted the Imperator Syandana.Before the fall, the Imperator Syandana was bestowed upon only the highest-ranking Orokin commanders. - Imperator Syandana
*The Scaldra spoke in Orokin text in the 1999 prequel webcomic.
*Knowing that Sol and Lua were worshipped as dieites in the year 1999, the Orokin may have established themselves on Lua to equate themselves to the deity of Lua.
==Gallery==
File:FactionsOrokin.png
Orokin Woman.jpg|An Orokin Woman
FRAGMENT 24 OROKIN.png
File:Orokin Moon Structure 3.jpg
File:Branislav-perkovic-evolution0028-vent-system-and-generator-4.jpg
File:Branislav-perkovic-bp-orokin-life-support-system-tubes-revised.jpg
File:Branislav-perkovic-bp-orokinrandomobject-4.jpg
File:Branislav-perkovic-bp-wf-solar.jpg|Concept art of an Orokin Solar Rail
==References==
==See Also==
*Factions
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es:Orokin
Category:Factions