as always when i fall headfirst into a new fandom with a character that lets you go all building blocks lego with their backstory/personality (to an extent), i've gone deranged with operator and drifter (and, of course, umbra, who's living rent free in my head alongside AC6's C4-621 and Walter).
since i've got my fic anthropomorphism with Umbra learning to be a space dad to Operator while Operator attempts the same in reverse, and am planning on writing the "Umbra in 1999 with Drifter" fic at some point next week... I was like right, gotta sit down and lock in, build the foundation for these characters that I can expand on and explore as I write. so under the cut, if you're curious about my rough plan for Operator and Drifter, read away~
OPERATOR:
Has forgotten their original name, since the Orokin hadn't been interested in that shit and either referred to them by their Warframe's name, or the serial number the Tenno had been given. As such, Operator has adopted "Operator" as their name.
They have no strong feelings about their gender. While biologically female, Operator has a very apathetic relationship with their gender or presentation and genuinely feels like it's an irrelevant detail about themselves - and their Warframes.
Their memory in general is fairly spotty, just going off of the Second Dream stuff. They remember bits and pieces, but ask them anything pre-Zariman and they draw a complete blank. As it's been centuries since then too, they have no way of ever knowing who they were pre-Zariman.
They act like an old man but have a subtle impish sense of humour.
They're very pragmatic - to the point where some may say they're cold - but that's usually when they're in "mission mode". Outside of that, they're a lot softer, but still fairly formal and stiff for a child.
They worry over Drifter quite a lot, and despite Drifter being older than them physically, Operator feels that they're more responsible than Drifter, and that Drifter is too naive.
Unintentionally, Operator underestimates Drifter.
Likes being the one to "take care of things". They're used to being relied upon, and are harsh on themselves if they fail to fix something or handle something adequetely.
They're also very empathetic, but this also ties in with their desire to "fix things". They can meddle overly much in other people's problems without asking, and get annoyed if they feel like their help is being rebuffed without good reason.
They prefer having Sentinels over live animals as battle companions, as they would stress overly much about keeping the animal alive in combat. They cover it up with the excuse of them just prefering the unfailing obedience of robots, though.
Socialising isn't really their strong point. They get along well with like-minded individuals (long stare at Umbra), but if interacting with children their age who act like children, they flounder a little and are out of their depth.
Preferred Warframes, aside from Umbra, are Voruna or Xaku. Preferred weaponry are battleaxes and either sniper rifles/automatic rifles. They are ruthlessly efficient in battle.
DRIFTER:
Like Operator, has also forgotten their name, and is content to use the name "Drifter" since that's what everyone called them in Duviri, and after several thousands of cycles, it just kinda stuck.
In 1999, though, they kept the nickname "Marty" for their KIM messenger ID, and the Hex use Drifter/Marty interchangeably, after a while.
Reason why Drifter likes "Marty" is because it's a nickname that isn't tangled up with Operator in some way. "Tenno", "Operator", even "Kiddo" - all those belong to Operator, but "Marty" is 100% Drifter's, even if it was an off-hand joke from Amir.
(Bonus that Marty is one letter away from being "Martyr")
Drifter also has no strong feelings about their gender, though they make an effort to present themselves as pretty ambiguous and are equally vague if people ask what their sex/gender is. Mostly it's because they never had to think about it overly much in Duviri, and in 1999 they're somewhat off-kilter at it being an actual topic of discussion, so they just try to avoid it lol
You can fit so many suppressed memories in this fella! Drifter remembers a lot more than Operator did about pre-Zariman, and their time on the Zariman itself, but don't like to dwell on it overly much.
Drifter is a master at compartmentalisation - to their own detriment.
They act far more youthful and childish than Operator, prone to getting excited or openly fascinated with new things, or expressing eagerness/impatience over desired stuff. Saying that, they know when they need to focus and when to act serious, but it does mean people do underestimate Drifter if they never get to see that side of them.
They can be surprisingly pragmatic in a cold and ruthless way, but they're able to balance that with their compassion.
They forget that they can't just die/kill themselves to avoid awkward situations anymore in 1999 - or, they can, but the Hex would likely be like "what the fuck is wrong with you" and that's a whole ugly can of oroworms Drifter isn't planning on delving into this century no siree.
They love fluffy animals - NONE OF THEM HAD FUR IN DUVIRI OKAY. NOT THE WOLVES. NOT THE SHEEP. NOT THE HORSES. NO FUR. DRIFTER SUFFERED IN A FURLESS HELL. So they love Kubrows. They love them a lot. And their floofs.
They sleep in a nest of floofs in 1999 sorry i don't make the rules
Socialising is their strong point, as the Tales of Duviri and their heavy reliance on the emotional regulation the story characters imparted, have Drifter terrifyingly adept and micromanaging their own emotions and keenly sussing out other people's.
This does mean they're VERY GOOD at manipulating people by playing on their emotions - but they only do it for good reasons (in their eyes)! Giving good advice and whatnot to the Hex, but also knowing when to lightly step around sensitive topics or how to navigate towards said topics without triggering an emotional landmine.
If Drifter was evil they would be terrifying tbh
Their preferred Warframes in 1999 are Umbra, Sevagoth and Dante. Preferred weaponry are nikana and pistol, simulating their time in Duviri. They also really like Dante's grimoire... they're efficient in battle but also like making a game of it, a holdover from their time in Duviri.
They also sometimes prefer fighting as a squishy human, usually when they're operating Umbra, and enjoy fighting side by side in melee combat. They're a real force of nature when they get going, those two...
The new protoframes being romanceable really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Religion’s got nothing to do with it - more like it feels like backstabbing the Hex, in a way.
I’m all for new protoframes, hell, I would give all Warframes a face if I could (not necessarily “proto” though). But I kinda don’t want the mall to be overcrowded, rather let them just hang out in the world on their own bases somewhere?
And the fact that they can potentially be a romance interest is… yeah, I dunno. There better be a really good explanation for the possibility, at the very least.
I love the small things about Warframe's design so much. Like, the Duviri architecture.
[Spoilers!]
The houses obviously are just wall parts of the Zariman, arranged to look like settlements/towns. The same goes for many of the harvestable plants, that also mimic Zariman design elements (especially noticeable with the cactus-like Ueymag, that has an unnaturally symmetrical shape, mimicking the often repeated tuning fork-shape).
Duviri has multiple bioms, plains, snowy mountains, a desert, but they are all way too small to exist naturally.
All this paints the picture of a world created by the mind of a child, who might have never seen anything else but the inside of a spaceship. They might have never seen other architecture, so all houses have to look like they were ripped straight out of the Zariman's structure. They know that mountains and deserts exist, but they do not understand their scale, so they become just one more small piece of Duviri. Just like cartographs back in history they fill the unknown of their world with set pieces and the skeletal structures found all over Duviri lend themselves for a comparison to this "Here there be dragons" mindset.
Children build and recreate what they know all the time to learn and better understand it, but also to express their wishes and creativity. This gives the idea of a child, confined in space, wishing to get to be somewhere else, visiting the places they have heard of.
We get to see quite a few rather large settlements in Duviri, but the amount of houses and people does not seem to match. In general, only very few people seem to be roaming the streets. This is not an adult doing extensive worldbuilding, this is a child with a lot of building blocks but very few dolls building a world on which they can project their emotions and memories onto.
Most of Duviris normal inhabitants are just decorations, not existing to be characters, but because a town "needs to have people in it". They are not defined by who they are, but by what they do- and what they do is react to the player, sit around, talk and cower in fear when enemies approach.
The simple shapes of the buildings are very close to the concept of real life building blocks. Paedagogic toys often are simple, to allow for easy handling and more creative freedom.
The theme of death is also omnipresent. Every animal resembles a carcass build from metal plating and even the Dax enemies are skeleton-like, the Gladius' helmets lower part even resembling a rabbit skull. We obviously know how the story of the Zariman ended and the skulls and bones might be just an indicator of potential danger, but what if the skeletal design of Duviri's inhabitants are not supposed to indicate not (just) death, but an infinished state? They are walking skeletons, yet missing a skin, their shape, just like the fractured bodies of the townspeople, not fully formed out in the child's head. Since the townspeople are humanoid though, they look more finished, while all the child might have ever seen of sheep, cats, dogs, horses and owls could have very well been just pictures in a school book, maybe next to a diagram of their underlying anatomy (after all, one of the few things we get to experience of the daily life on the Zariman, is school).
There is also an enemy called the Dax Herald. A Herald was a specialist in ceremonies, making sure that they were held correctly (besides also having diplomativ tasks). Their head resembles a security camera, adding a layer of oppressive social norms normal humans certainly suffered under in the orokin empire
I actually gave my drifter and operator separate backstories and info and im quite glad for it esp if were gonna have an operator centric story next major update.
Should i post my blorbo's here? Would there be anyone interested in that? Hahahahahhahahha
"you're a tenno, you're meant to do this"; "Why couldn't you? That was what you always do" they say.
It was another mission, meant to be a quick in and out capture in Earth's forests. Until it wasn't. Lotus pinged you, only you there, a capture never asked for a squad unless somehow it was in the Kuva Fortress.
A rescue target. Tenno informant from the Ostrons, ally of Steel Meridian too and responsible for tipping off, and allowing communication with potential Grineer defectors.
You made your way to the holding area, without being detected, and killed off the wardens too. All was well until once you found him all cells went open to show heavy gunners, somehow hidden to your sensors and unknown to Lotus intel.
As you carried the target to the extraction point, using your frame to shield him and even Vazarin dash to make sure they were good to go, Ordis kept trying to find a suitable spot.
You finally got to it, a precipice with no way out but it's height allowed for easy maneuver of your landing craft. yet, once there the enemies managed to corner you. After all, all you had was a simple, speed over damage, melee and a Lex. Your shields are long gone and your health isn't faring too well. Operator doesn't seem smart, considering that once you transfer out you won't be able to body shield the target. So you stand your ground.
Once you're inside the landing craft, you rush to do first aid on the target, Vazarin heal won't do on their state. You haphazardly throw bandages to contain the blood loss and tend to the wounds where bullets remainwd.
Still, with a stable rescue target and heading back to Cetus, you get out with the target in your arms, your frame looking a little worse for the wear but nowhere near as bad as it was when you escaped. Ostrons crowd tour landing, curious as to why a Tenno has one of theirs in their arms, and it hits you. A small fishing rod. Again. A fish cutting knife. Fish entrails. So on and so forth. Still you walk ahead. To Konzu. Cowered to protect the rescue target from being hit, you hand him over, and after being invited by him to a private reunion building, you follow Konzu leaving the Ostrons to tend for the informants wounds.
It was their family and children he tells you. They didn't meant any harm, simply were worried for their wounds. You know, is what you tell him. And it's not a lite. It's okay you say, silently thanking your frame because you can't help your expression as you lie to him. They cursed your name, the one you gave them when you started doing bounties. Told you to never come back since all you knew is killing.
You understand where they're coming from, that's the you they know, and you came with one of theirs in your arms, bloodied. Still, you feel for their words,
Back on your orbiter, you transfer out for the day. Lotus calls, thanking you in the behalf of the informant, and for a successful rescue, even unprepared. It's my duty, you answer. Nonetheless, she thanks you again and cuts off.
You know you did what's right, did your best. Still, on days like this you consider retiring. The insults and thrown objects don't hurt, but remembering it does. A killing machine for the empire, patricide on the Zariman. No water or fire will ever wash off the blood, but maybe, just maybe, covering innocent blood with twice as much blood from the corrupted and evil may lighten in. From the Orokin. Alad's, Sentients, the Grineer Queen. Ballas.
Still, days like these the innocent blood on you cries out and there's none to drown it out. Such is the Tenno life.
you know i am very happy that so many ppl are enjoying my very self-indulgent umbra in 1999 fic. it's just me vibing and having fun, and it's good to see that other ppl are vibing with my essay-masquarading-as-a-fic on why umbra should be part of the 1999 quests LMAO
im gonna put umbra and my drifter in so many situations. like i know the tag says it's eventually gonna be arthur/drifter but like. umbra and drifter's familial relationship is gonna be the main focus tbh. love comes in all flavour and one isn't more important than the other.
