Thought of several questions on Hayden since Khyric is based on him
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1) Would Hayden’s personality be any different from Khyric’s if he himself was in the game?
2) If not Excalibur, which warframe’s abilities would Hayden have? What was his initial reaction to finding out?
3) Would anything have happened if/when the Technocyte virus fully covered his body?
4) Would he be willing to continue going on missions or would he rather have a quiet life on the plains?
this is just Hayden-posting and i LOVE it ohh man. cracks knuckles
for context: khyric is my excalibur OC! he may or may not be comprised of what remains of hayden tenno in the millennia since darkSector happened :) schroedinger's hayden, you might say.
i'm going to go over my personal impression of Hayden's character first, and then go over the questions. darkSector spoilers here and there but i don't go into too much detail, lol
first off, Hayden Tenno is cynical and dour in a way that feels sharp and fresh - in darkSector, he's in the thick of the Technocyte outbreak and for a lot of it, he's either alone or being used. He's awake and lucid while the plague is eating him from the outside in, and while his congenital analgesia makes him able to bear that, the implication is that the plague still causes pain of a different sort. It's new and it's scary and he is worried, especially before he starts coming to terms with it! Behind enemy lines and expected to keep moving even while infected! Another character also mentions Hayden's psych profile declaring him "not fit for duty" and "psychotic" (both of which I'll take with a grain of salt because (a) Hayden does seem a little distant from the here-and-now at times, and he is reluctant and digs his heels in when told to go do something monumentally risky but he is clever and he adapts well, and (b) bro it's literally the antagonist who says it i dont think he's a bastion of truth and clarity lol). Hayden Tenno has it rough in a very... tragic mercenary kind of way. My guy is out here being angry and traumatized but he doesn't have an operator to balance it out - I know darkSector isn't really canon canon to Warframe, but imagining Hayden's transformation without the hope of the emotional bond that warframes and operators have is like... how lonely. and scary. and he just has to keep going post game? like how would the initial virus eventually render him???
1) Would Hayden’s personality be any different from Khyric’s if he himself was in the game?
I think that if you were to have Hayden Tenno's personality perfectly preserved in a warframe far past the events of his game, then you would have an operator with their work cut out for them. darkSector!Hayden is freshly wounded, he's tenser than anything - on the surface he's cold and disinterested in connection but a savvy operator will be able to feel the anger just roiling underneath that. I'd imagine a Hayden!Excalibur would feel very similar to Valkyr - this intense indignity and lack of direction - but with an added layer of almost apathy. Hayden is tired and pessimistic and he's always had this struggle with morality and I think that his regrets pile on so much that he can't even feel them anymore. recommend 60ccs of stubborn operator compassion and three units of found family, stat
I think that pure Hayden differs from Khyric in that Khyric is a little more reactive, overtly noble, a little more attentive to his surroundings, maybe a little more at ease, even? Khyric is Hayden!Excalibur both (a) after a bit of identity loss following ages of being fully infested, and (b) given the time to settle into himself a little bit. He's still scarred up and negative and full of past regret, but he's been in a partnership with Shinoda long enough that she's helped to lighten him up a bit. Khyric is stoic, a little bitter and a lot stressed about infestation for reasons he doesn't remember so vividly, but I'd imagine easier to wring a smile from, so to speak
2) If not Excalibur, which warframe’s abilities would Hayden have? What was his initial reaction to finding out?
Tough one! I like to think that if he weren't Excalibur-class, he'd likely be some wiry, damage-buffing DPS made for quick strikes and even quicker retreat. In keeping with his analgesia, maybe he'd have an ability wherein his damage and speed increase and he gains a brief resistance to stagger and knockdown effects - it doesn't protect him from injury, but it means that if he can get in and out before whatever he's after kills him, then they're probably dead themselves. No self-heal abilities or anything, for the dramatics. I'm also just barely reading the question correctly, as well, so I think my final answer will be that if Hayden was not an Excalibur-type, maybe he would be more of a Valkyr - just without the immunity and self-heal that Hysteria gives. Very mobile and very fast but very much a glass cannon!
3) Would anything have happened if/when the Technocyte virus fully covered his body?
Hm,, my tentative answer is going to be that once the Technocyte virus fully overcomes him, it both hollows him out inside and pulls his personality into a strange sort of dormancy. We know that on the average person, this infestation is agonizing and, honestly, pretty devastating against its victims - Hayden is unusual because he's able to keep his head even as he's slowly succumbing to it. I don't think full infestation would be able to erase him as a person, but if this proto-virus is anything like the strains we know in Warframe, then it's a virus that likes to communicate with itself. I imagine that Hayden would've ended up trapped in his own skin, hyperaware of the virus the way you are of a bad bout of tinnitus, or your own pulse in your ears when you are very sick. Enough to drive most over the edge, but as an ops guy, and esp. being the way he is, Hayden seems more equipped to just - check out of his current reality. just glazes over. bye hayden
4) Would he be willing to continue going on missions or would he rather have a quiet life on the plains?
I think that Hayden would immediately turn his back on missions and spend a long, glorious stretch of time not caring. Yes, the nightmares persist, and yes, he can feel the dermal layers knit together beneath the armor keenly and they itch, but even with the general lack of comfort he would fully take the opportunity to not have to be watching his back every two seconds, or putting his neck on the line for people he doesn't know because he's had an entire lifetime of that. Retirement for Hayden! ... until his conscience comes back to bite him a month in. Even with how done he is and how ugly and checkered his past, he can't quite seem to shake the need to get up and do something worth doing.
5) Would he prefer going solo on missions and only teaming up with other operators if required or is he more open to co-op?
This question is interesting bc it implies that in this realm of thought, Hayden occupies a very strange space between Warframe and Operator. like, he is both the will and the body it moves. almost like excalibur umbra, but maybe a little harder to copilot with someone as stubborn and present as hayden? Whatever the case, I think that once he comes around to the idea, it would almost come as a relief to him not to have to do everything by himself? he works well alone but that's also exhausting. he'd definitely spend a long time observing prospecive squad members before even thinking of tagging along with a group, though. have to know if they're good for it
6) Does he have any preferred weapon types? Would he favour weaponry from one faction or is he open to all as long as it gets the job done?
I think my main thing is that Hayden does. nnnot strike me as the valiant swordsman, which makes him very strange for an Excalibur. Hayden shoots things, and when he can't he cleaves them in half, and when he can't do that he will bludgeon them. Thrown weapons like kunai or, ofc, glaives are second-nature to him at this point - maybe he, specifically, has his glaive as his exalted weapon? tenno weapons like vectis and braton feel closest to the present-day style of weaponry - something that he would be inherently more familiar with, at least. although i think he would kinda vibe with sentient weapons too. yeah he's down with using the bones of the enemy.
oh and rumblejack. i think he can do some great work with rumblejack. shank and taze. delightful
7) Would he use infested weapons?
This early on, I think he still harbors a distaste for anything infested, but it's the same distaste he holds for his own altered body. So yes, if he needs to, but only after exhausting every possible alternative. He knows too well what it means to weaponize disease.
8) Is there anyone he would get along with in particular and are there any he can’t?
I think that Darvo occupies a space that is very familiar to Hayden. yeah, shady weapons dealer - he knows those. There's probably a comfort in knowing that Darvo is out there doing his thing, because it's very similar to what Hayden was used to during his missions. Prob doesn't hit Mr. Deal himself up just to chat, though. Eudico, too, is very much all strats and here's what's next. Though he might chafe a little when Eudi vents her frustrations at turns in the mission, he acclimates really well to her style and is a seamless operative in no time. I think the thing, though, is that Hayden gravitates toward what he knew until it tries to get closer to him in return - overt familiarity and reaching out will have him shying away really fast. Might be really chill with Ticker though bc Ticker is very matter-of-fact in all she does, and would nail the balancing act between casual interaction and personal concern. might think pedlek is a little funny. on the flip side he would hate alad v literally so bad
9) Would he have a companion? If so, what would it be and what would be its name?
If you ask him, no. But on the outskirts of Cetus, there is a kavat known around the city as Verru, which has both managed to outwit and evade Master Teasonai's best efforts and has latched onto Hayden for whatever reason. Verru will turn up to help Hayden out and keep him company from time to time, and if he's been seen giving her scritches while she winds between his ankles, then that's his business.