Sentient

“You're not supposed to be in here! You're going to ruin the surprise!”

The following article/section contains spoilers.

x

Factions

Quotes

Not to be confused with Sentinels.

The Sentients are an artificial race from the Tau System that were the chief enemies of the Orokin during the Old War. Originally suspected to be a truly alien race (whereas the Orokin, Grineer, Corpus and Tenno are all human or trans-human variations originating from Earth, and the Infested are a successive mutation of them), memory imprints provided by Cephalon Simaris revealed that they were originally created by the Orokin as terraforming machines, to be sent to the Tau System.^[1] For this purpose, they were gifted with an extreme degree of adaptability and resilience, bordering on true self-determination. As their name suggests, they inadvertently gained sentience. Coupled with their own innate abilities, they proved to be a formidable threat for the Orokin Empire, almost leading it to its downfall. All Sentients deal  Tau damage, alluding to their home system.

Sentient enemies take increased damage from  Cold and  Radiation, but resist  Corrosive. They also have a hidden weakness to  Void, as it resets the damage adaptation that some Sentient units have.

Characters

Sentients are unique among the Factions, in that they are, so far, comprised of only a handful of characters.

• Natah is the first sentient introduced, although she doesn't acknowledge it until the Natah quest. Although the reawakening of the Sentients in the Origin System has tested both her psyche and her loyalty, she remains a firm ally of the Tenno.

• Hunhow is the second sentient to be revealed. Father of Natah, he was the leader of the Sentient invasion force before allowing himself to be destroyed and trapped in his tomb. Although once enraged toward the Tenno for having caused Natah to disobey her precepts and betray him, he is now more neutral towards them.

• Erra is Natah's older brother. He used to be an ally of Ballas before finally sacrificing himself for the Tenno when he realized the full extent of Ballas' apocalyptic ambition. After his death, his body became inhabited by Pazuul.

• Praghasa is the sentient mothership. She only spoke during the teaser trailer for The New War, although the voice from the Arcane Codices appears to be identical. Though her mind was permanently lost during the Old War, her body remains the most powerful weapon in the Sentient armada and served as the flagship of the second invasion of the Origin System. Her fate is uncertain.

• The unnamed sentient that once roamed the Plains of Eidolon was destroyed by the combined efforts of the Unum and Gara, due to it having discovered the Kuva's ability to restore the Sentients' ability to reproduce. Its fragments still roam the plains at night.

• Pazuul is the most dangerous, intelligent and unstable of the four Archons, Sentient-Warframe hybrids created by Erra during the Old War. Following the shattering of Narmer, Erra's body was recovered by Narmer loyalists and made into Pazuul's new host, who then took charge of Narmer's remnants and began to rebuild their empire for the glory of Tau.

Lore & History

Orokin Era

The Detron Crewman's memory imprint seems to suggest that the Sentients were originally developed as terraforming tools bound for the Tau system. The Orokin crafted them with the ability to adapt to any sort of damage that they would encounter as well as the ability to replicate from damaged components. However, they were developed with a flaw, a weakness to the Void to interfere with their adaptation and replication, which would theoretically have left them stranded in the Tau system once they had finished their purpose. Normally, the Orokin would be opposed to such creations fearing that they would betray their creators, but Ballas feigned vehement opposition to manipulate the other Executors into approving them out of desperation for their dying Origin System and the Sentinent's supposed flaw.

However, the Orokin's fears did come to pass; the sentience they had gained also caused them to realize that their creators would also lay waste to the Tau System^[2], and thus they returned to the Origin System to wage war with the Orokin. With their advanced adaptability they were taking over the most sophisticated Orokin technology, and gradually gaining powerful resistances even to the most advanced of Orokin weaponry. In desperation the Orokin utilized the survivors of the Zariman Ten Zero incident, to whom the Void had gifted immense power, to fight back against the Sentient threat. They were trained in the old ways of battle and given conduits that could withstand, channel and amplify their power. With the use of the Tenno, the Orokin managed to turn the tide of battle.

However, the Orokin were betrayed by Ballas, who desired his own rule and had grown vengeful over the death of his beloved Margulis. Using information provided to him by Ballas, Hunhow sent his daughter Natah, under a human appearance, to serve as a mole within the Origin System. She would destroy the Empire from within and exterminate the Tenno.

Natah completed Hunhow's main objective with the purge of the Orokin but she could not bring herself to kill the Tenno. Instead, Natah chose to adopt them as her own children, as her human predecessor, Margulis, had done before. She hid the Reservoir, the Tenno's only weakness, in the Void, keeping it safe from the retaliation of the Sentient. Denying her old identity, Natah took the name of the flower most beloved by Margulis, the Lotus, and became the Tenno's custodian. The Sentients soon came to believe Natah had been reprogrammed by the Orokin when she encountered her brother Erra on a mission with several Operators, but did not recognize him despite his prodding. This provoked a long-standing disgust Hunhow's family has with Tenno in general, who view Operators as manipulative parasites.

Plains of Eidolon

Although the majority of Sentient forces were driven back in what is now called the Old War, the Glass Shards encountered during Saya's Vigil tell of one massive Sentient that managed to land on Earth. This powerful being laid waste to all but one of the cities and Towers: the Tower of the Unum. The tower's defenses held firm with the help of its people and  Gara, who stayed to help defend the tower while other Tenno had scattered. The Sentient, with its power waxing and waning with the dusk and dawn, would besiege the Unum's Tower by nightfall and retreat by morning. Gara would search for the Sentient's resting place during the daylight as the Unum had forbidden her from fighting the Sentient when it was at the height of its power. To aid Gara's search, the Unum gave her refined Temple Kuva to her followers, and instructed them to feed it to the local wildlife, connecting their consciousnesses to her own and allowing the Unum to discover the Sentient's refuge as the animals roamed.

The Unum's plan had unintended consequences however, as when the Sentient captured one of the infused animals for study, it discovered that Kuva could restore its lost ability to replicate. Emboldened by the hope of rebirth, it escalated its nightly attacks as a result. As the Sentient besieged the Unum, Gara chose to confront the threat, carrying a bomb to its core and falling in battle. As the vile Sentient descended upon the mortally wounded Gara, the bomb detonated, devastating the Sentient in the process and ending its threat on the Unum once and for all.

As testament of this final, climactic battle, the Sentient's fossilized wreckage is littered across the Plains of Eidolon, a peculiar landscape with potent and unique resources. The being's dark power still stains the ground, waxing with the fall of darkness and waning at the crack of dawn, altering the environment each night as the Eidolons, its now-mindless fragments, wander the land in an endless search for completeness.

After Gara's sacrifice, the very site of her decisive battle with the Sentient left what the Ostrons now call Gara Toht Lake, but unknown to all but the Unum and her most loyal followers The Quills, the Sentient's main consciousness lay submerged somewhere in the lake, and it would attempt to make itself whole once more when night fell. However, a Warframe known solely as the Warden would arrive, driving the Sentient back night after night. This trial would continue until one fateful evening, where the Warden foolishly tried to make contact with the Sentient and was overwhelmed. Discovering that the Sentient was using him as a means to reform itself, the Warden cast himself into the lake to seal it. The time spent as an "anchor" to the Sentient would infuse the Warden with its eldritch energies, transforming him into the  Revenant.

Present-Day

Although the Sentients have been wiped out, they began to gradually resurface after Tyl Regor unearthed and reawakened Hunhow's remains on Uranus. Despite being beaten back by the Tenno and resealed, Hunhow and the Shadow Stalker are able to reveal Lua's presence to force the Tenno's true form out of hiding.

Ballas eventually returned, reverting the Lotus back to Natah before manipulating both the Tenno and the Sentients into a new war: he deceives the Tenno into believing that Natah is the true villain, and has Erra, who believes his race is being led to peace and prosperity, deceive Natah into rallying the Sentient forces, who also manipulates Alad V into creating Amalgam soldiers for the Sentients. Despite the Tenno unifying with the Grineer and Corpus to fight back against a shared enemy, Ballas succeeds in banishing the Tenno and the Lotus into a Void portal.

Without the Tenno, the Origin System succumbs to the Sentients as they subjugate all into Narmer, with Ballas at the head. However, this victory is threatened by the Drifter, a paradoxical version of the Tenno's Operator, who recovers the Lotus and receives Hunhow's assistance to save their shared loved one, fighting off Erra's Sentient-Warframe Archons in the process. An enraged Ballas responds by having the Sentient mothership Praghasa devour the Origin System's sun, abandoning Narmer so he can escape to Tau. Erra, realizing Ballas intends to doom the Sentients, defects and sacrifices himself, ultimately allowing the Tenno and the Lotus to kill Ballas once and for all.

Narmer's losses are short-lived, however, as they are regrouped by their new leader Pazuul, a new Archon that hijacked Erra's corpse. Having revived the other Archons, Pazuul continues Narmer's and the Sentient's subjugation of the Origin System.

With the conclusion of the New War, Hunhow has come to regret the circumstances surrounding himself and his family - his daughter effectively abandoning him, and his son being reanimated by forces beyond his control, all while he remains underneath the seas of Uranus, effectively helpless. He advises the Stalker to let go of his own hatred of the Tenno, though to little success. The Stalker eventually leaves Uranus himself after coming to terms with  Jade and his own past, leaving Hunhow alone in the depths of the planet.

Tech and Weaponry

Main article: Category:Sentient

Before The Second Dream events, the Sentients were considered a distant memory by most of the Origin System's population, and even though there are Sentients that survived the Old War, they were few and mostly fragments. After Sentients progressively began to be a threat to the Origin System again, their technology has started to be studied and used by many factions, including the Tenno themselves, a good example being the  Basmu, crafted with Sentient materials, and the  Phantasma. The reclusive Quills in particular, with the assistance of the Unum who witnessed  Gara's final battle, have utilized resources from the Plains of Eidolon to develop modular components for a hand-mounted blaster, which allows select individuals to channel the energies of the Void into more coherent forms for combat. Other weapons directly crafted by salvaging Sentient body parts such as the  Shedu prove that it is indeed possible to use their technology against themselves, by removing their innate damage resistances. The  Paracesis, crafted by using Eidolon Shards, is considered the "Sentient slayer" due to its innate ability to channel void energy, removing their ability to adapt.

Sentient technology as a whole is organic in appearance, emphasizing the use of curves, arches, and symmetry. Even their warships are considered living beings, and are seemingly capable of reconstructing themselves. The average Sentient is formed around a central core of energy which, coupled with their independent development from the rest of the Orokin Empire and its descendants, gives them a suitably "alien" appearance compared to the native technologies of the Origin System. This design philosophy has its drawbacks, as any force capable of ripping a Sentient's "torso" and exposing the core to damage will kill the Sentient easily. Although their ability to replicate from broken components is stunted due to the Void's properties, there's at least one example of a functional weapon created from the remains of a damaged one.

As knowledge of the Sentients has been limited for a very long time, as well as their natural ability to subvert advanced techology, very little progress has been made of developing Sentient-based technology that isn't based on salvaging Sentient remains; Cephalon Simaris has found a means to create artificial copies of Eidolon Shards, though they're nowhere near as potent as actual Shards when it comes to the power they contain. Surprisingly, the Grineer have developed a crude means of containing Sentient energy, which is deployed to troops stationed on the outskirts of Cetus as a means of fending off smaller Eidolons at night. Regardless, the Grineer still err on the side of caution and position their base camps and outposts away from the path of larger Eidolons.

Concerningly, the Corpus are developing their own Sentient-derived projects. One location in the Orb Vallis holds nothing less than a largely intact Conculyst surrounded by several smaller fragments of Sentient devices within a special containment cell, whilst a nearby testing chamber also features a firing range with a  Battacor. Their eventual breakthroughs resulted in a garguantan combat platform whose shields possess the same damage adapation ability that the Sentients have, which combined with other factors makes it all but seemingly invulnerable. Sites within the Corpus Gas City under Alad V's command have also created Amalgams, hybridizing Grineer and Corpus alike with Sentient technology. The Corpus's advancements are stated to "chisel weapons from their bones", implying that they are incorporating Sentient bodies to craft weapons. The most evolved Amalgams, however, can be considered part of the Sentients themselves, and will therefore attack their former faction.

Biology

The Sentients are described as being highly adaptable, being able to change and morph their bodies in order to withstand whatever damage they take. However, they are easily damaged by Void energy, which is presumed to render them sterile, and clears away whatever adaption they have made.

Whether sentients are composed of nanorobots or some kind of cell-like structures remains unknown, but it seems that being sterile doesn't prevent them from adapting to damage.

This ability to adapt is not widely available to every Sentient, however. Some units, like the Brachiolysts and Tyro units posses not damage adaption, so this ability may only show in older, more developed Sentients.

Some smaller Sentients can also be seen being 'born' in the biofluid pools aboard Murex.

Sentient Contingents

Sentients are split into various "divisions" of sorts, which depend on their development, location, and purpose.

	Tyro	Fledgling Sentients that are sent into battle before fully developing. Due to this, they don't possess any innate damage adaptation.
	Anu	Space-faring Sentient units that are employed in raiding opposing enemy ships.
	Eidolon	Eidolons are moribund and heavily fragmented Sentients, and are usually Sentients that are close to death. They generally have a shattered and fractured appearance, with masses of ghostly tendrils taking up the truncated stumps of its limps

Enemies

Sentient Drones

• Aerolyst
• Battalyst
• Brachiolyst
• Conculyst
• Mimic
• Oculyst
• Ortholyst
• Summulyst
• Symbilyst

Main article: Aerolyst

Aerolysts are flying Sentient combat drones with the ability to heal their allies. They are immune to harm until the eight canisters surrounding their torsos are destroyed.

Spectral

• Choralyst
• Spectralyst
• Vomvalyst

Main article: Choralyst

Choralysts are spectral Sentient drones, easily identified by the long energy tendrils extending in place of their arms. They are summoned in large groups by Summulysts, but unlike many sentient drones are not very durable.

Sentient Amalgams

• Amalgam Arca Heqet
• Amalgam Arca Kucumatz
• Amalgam Cinder Machinist
• Amalgam Phase MOA
• Amalgam Swarm Satyr

Main article: Amalgam Arca Heqet

Amalgam Arca Heqets are enhanced Amalgam Heqets equipped with an  Arca Titron. They can only be found in Secret Corpus Laboratories.

Like its normal counterpart, Arca Heqets can generate Spectralysts based off of enemies targets, including Tenno.

Ship

• Gyrix
• Ionyx
• Murex
• Splintrix

Main article: Gyrix

Gyrix is a heavy Sentient fighter that is first introduced during Operation: Scarlet Spear. These briefly appear during Railjack portions of The New War.

Similar to the smaller , they ferry Sentient troops from deep space.

Bosses

• Teralyst
• Gantulyst
• Hydrolyst
• Ropalolyst
• Condrix
• Orphix

Main article: Teralyst

Other

Not every Sentient is an enemy. Some are strictly born to perform laborious tasks, while others are simply vestigial organisms that serve no apparent purpose other than decoration or storage

Kerulyst
Give your Sentinel the appearance of a Kerulyst, diminutive Sentients that evolved to become robust laborers in the Tau System.

Membroid
A non-hostile, sack-like Sentient that acts as a living resource cache.

Neuravyre Syandana
A Sentient spinal symbiote that functions as Caliban’s signature Syandana.

Sporavyre Sugatra
A docile Sentient entity that can be used as a weapon decoration.

Damage Adaptation

Sentients have the ability to adapt up to 4 damage types from attacks: a Sentient's health is gated such that upon its hit points falling below a fixed percentage, it will grant resistance to the damage type it has received the most. The Sentient will adapt to damage once per health gate, at the percentages listed below:

• First gate: 25% Health lost.
• Second gate: 45% Health lost.
• Third gate: 65% Health lost.
• Fourth gate: 80% Health lost.

Subsequent adaptation will be done in descending order of damage proportion for each health gate. A single Sentient can adapt against a maximum of 4 damage types even if another Sentient transfers their adaptation, and Sentients will still receive full damage from any damage that exceeds their health gate before adapting.

On adapting to a damage type, the color of the glowing core on their chest changes to the corresponding damage type they recently adapted to, along with displaying the icon of said damage type below their health gauge.

The adaptation decreases in effectiveness the more damage types it resists.

• For the first adaptation, the Sentients will resist the damage type by 90%.
• For the second adaptation, the Sentients will resist the damage type by 80%.
• For the third adaptation, the Sentients will resist the damage type by 75%.
• For the fourth adaptation, the Sentients will resist the damage type by 70%.

Using the Operator's Void Beam,  Excalibur Umbra's  Radial Howl, a rank 40  Paracesis,  Shedu's pulse on expending all ammo, or  Xaku's  Xata's Whisper will remove and reset all their acquired damage resistances. Sentients can still regain their resistances, however, the aforementioned abilities and weapons will always be able to remove them.

The Sentients also receive another 40% resistance to the damage type at each adaptation, which stacks multiplicatively with the previously listed ones. These resistances cannot be removed by any of the methods listed above.

The damage gating also prevents Sentients from being killed in one shot, as the maximum percentage of health removable in one instance is:

• 25% at full health
• 20% between 75% & 55% max HP
• 20% between 55% & 35% of max HP
• 15% between 35% & 20%, after which there is no limit and the Sentients will take damage normally at every instance

Trivia

• Across the various sources and legends mentioning them, the Sentients are, in multiple cases, referred to as having multiple bodies, heads, voices and pairs of eyes. This suggests that a singular "Sentient" is best understood as a single consciousness or guiding mind, inhabiting and controlling multitudes of bodies and platforms with limited independence. This could explain how, even though Hunhow's body was destroyed in the Old War, fragments of him remain, housing his mind so that he is not truly dead.
• Likewise, in the case of the Sentient of the Eidolon Plains, the destruction of the central consciousness lays waste to its various bodies. As the main consciousness was destroyed by Gara, the remaining fragments, the Eidolons, are little more than mindless animals.
• Although the Sentients were mentioned occasionally in earlier builds of the game, it wasn't until Update 17.0 (2015-07-31) where more detailed information about them was revealed.
• While it's never specified which Tau system that the Sentients were destined to go, the most likely candidate would be the Tau Ceti system, as it is a major candidate for extraterrestrial life to develop and possibly thrive, making it a reasonable choice for colonization. This is further reinforced by the name of the  Ceti Lacera.
• One of the earlier Sentinel Cosmetics is called the "Hunhow Sentinel Mask" and not only does it share Hunhow's name, but its overall design is similar to the faces of the Battalyst and the Conculyst. It remains to be seen if this was a deliberate piece of foreshadowing however.
• Hunhow refers to the Sentient enemies as his "Fragments", implying they, like the sword  War, used to be part of Hunhow himself.
• Despite the Void being "toxic" to Sentients, they can still become corrupted during Void Fissure missions, and behaves as usual. Until now, it can occur in Corpus Gas City titlesets only if a player opens the secret labs. It can also occur if an Omnia Void Fissure is on Lua. Similarly, Conculysts summoned by Caliban via Lethal Progenity also ignores this weakness, and can be even summoned in the Void.

Gallery

Patch History

See also

• Grineer
• Corpus
• Amalgam
• Infested
• Tenno
• Orokin
• Sentinel

References

Collapse Sentient Edit
Drone	Aerolyst • Anu Mantalyst • Anu Pyrolyst • Battalyst • Brachiolyst • Conculyst • Eradicyst • Membroid • Mimic • Oculyst • Ortholyst • Summulyst • Symbilyst
Spectral	Anu Interference Drone • Choralyst • Spectralyst • Vomvalyst
Ships	Condrix • Gyrix • Ionyx • Murex • Orphix • Splintrix
Bosses
Teralyst • Gantulyst • Hydrolyst • Ropalolyst • Condrix • Suda-Hunhow • Wolf of Saturn Six (Amalgamized) • Typholyst