With only days before the Tennocon arrives, one of the biggest surprises was shockingly revealed earlier this week, as a teaser trailer prefaced an announcement for the next expansion, The New War, which would mean the climax of the current story arc, started almost three years ago. But what is exactly The New War?
Warframe The New War - The Story So Far
The Lotus Disappearance
After the Lotus, the “mother” of the Tenno mysteriously deserts with the malicious Orokin, Ballas, you find, fight and fatally wound him on the quest “The Sacrifice”, only to discover that the Lotus reverted to her old Sentient form, Natah, and she escapes with Ballas.
Chimera Prologue
Some time after that, a sinister cosmic being called The Man In The Wall prompts you to astral project yourself inside a dungeon, where you discover that Ballas survived and was turned into an Amalgam, working for the Sentients. Seemingly angry at his captors, he creates the sword Paracecis, the Sentient Slayer, and hands it to you as a weapon for the upcoming war.
The Jovian Concord
Sentients are now on the offensive trying to overcome their weakness against the Void, so they force Alad V to create Amalgams, mixes of sentients with other races. They make the Tenno fight the Amalgams to gather data on them, but little they know about Alad V secretly supporting them while they advance and fight the massive Sentient creature, the Ropalolyst.
Natah contacts you to tell you that she’s finally free from the Orokin who made her betray her own race and family, and she’s now ready to finish the war. After defeating the Ropalolyst, you find out it was just another way for the Sentient to gather data about you.
Rising Tide
After rebuilding a Cephalon from old times called Cy, he guides you to build a Railjack spaceship, a galleon from the old war era, to take the fight to the stars. Sentients try to stop you, with no success, and you can now access new territory in the Origin System.
Erra
Once you discover the Veil Proxima, you have a new vision, this time a memory from the Old War, showing you allied with the Lotus and other Tenno against the sentient Erra, the brother of Lotus. He calls for her to no avail, with Lotus rejecting him and all the Tenno using Void Beams to attack Erra.
Once you’re back in the present, you find yourself projected into a Sentient ship where you see Erra alive talking with Ballas, who’s now on a leash. He says that Natah has memory issues and still believes to be fighting the Old War, which makes her perfect to tackle the offensive against the Tenno.
Operation: Scarlet Spear
The beginning of the New War is marked by a mass attack on Earth, where the Sentients send the gigantic Condrix creatures, to gather planetary data for future purposes. Little Duck from Fortuna informs Teshin of this happening and while he initially doesn’t believe it, he quickly starts preparing a response to this invasion. Yours is the task of fending off these Sentient invaders, both from the ground on Earth missions, and on space in Veil Proxima in Railjack missions. The Grineer blame you for this invasion so General Sargas Ruuk and his troops will oppose you as well.
The Maker
In the Sentient Mothership, Erra and Natah talk about their deceased mother, as he compels her to finish the war. Natah’s memories are still having issues since, while still believing to be on the Old War, she also remembers ordering the Tenno to kill Erra. Erra insists, and after seeing Natah noticing that Ballas is an Orokin, he traps her on an energy field, dropping Ballas’ leash and ordering her to finish the war.
The Deadlock Protocol
Parvos Granum, the founder of the Corpus faction, returns from the Void and asks for your assistance after finding the Corpus as a shadow of once they were. He disaproves the current state of the faction under the command of his son Nef Anyo, and decides to make a restructuring in preparation for the upcoming war. However, he ends up deciding that the Corpus may be lost forever, and that it’s time for a new doctrine, inviting you to join him.
Operation: Orphix Venom
Still recovering from the previous Operation, Sentients launch a new attack with machinery that can disable Warframes. As dire as this sounds, the Entrati Family on Deimos assists you with the old technology of Necramechs, retired mechanic rigs that you can use when your warframe gets disabled. While fighting back, you receive a message from Natah, confessing that she developed this new technology, but secretly telling you she’s dying.
And that’s it! You’re now ready and prepared to see the upcoming trailer for The New War, which will show the conclusion for this story arc and (hopefully) bring the Lotus back to the Tenno side!
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