When discussing a people's culture, it is customary to describe their pastimes, the events and activities to which they dedicate their lives. Are they fishermen, traders, and athletes? Are they painters, sculptors, and soldiers? In the case of the Tenno, their description is as simple as it is tragic: the Tenno are warriors. Most Tenno were trained from birth for battle, and never learned any other way of life. This has led to a focused culture, naïve in many ways, inhumanly competent in others. Of particular note is the mentality the Tenno have developed; the core of their culture and philosophy can be summed up in only four phrases. These phrases are the three Tenno tenets and the word jehnadaye-eeaem. These four things encapsulate the culture of the Tenno. They adapt and overcome their enemies, protect and serve their masters, and trust and complete their allies. Their entire philosophy on battle can be roughly described by their blessing, jehnadaye-eeaem. The details of these aspects will hopefully enlighten generations of humanity on the people they call saviors.
First of the tenets, the purpose for which the Tenno were created: adapt and overcome. The Tenno were designed to be a mutable, unpredictable fighting force, capable of defeating any enemy. To this end, they were taught strategy, tactics, and fighting styles and mentalities from all eras of history, from the ancient Norse berserker to Orokin naval doctrine. A Tenno was taught that every situation can be overcome, given the proper mindset and application of force. The entire Tenno combat style was based around this tenet. Three weapons to each Tenno, each easily modified to suit the mission, each capable of dealing with a different form of threat. Tenno rarely mastered more than three to six weapons, but all Tenno are considered experts in most weapons ever conceived, from the humble Fang dagger to the bizarrely esoteric simulor. They exhibit humility in this accomplishment, claiming that "it is easy to become proficient in a weapon, when one wakes up to fight and sleeps only when the mission is complete." It is currently uncommonly-held knowledge that there is a third application of the tenet, beyond mind and blade: the Warframe. Many believe these humanoid constructs to be synonymous with Tenno, interchangeable in purpose and connotation. The truth is that the Warframes are another tool – albeit a complex and impressive one – that the Tenno adapt to their mission and foe. Even the famous Excalibur user, Lihruh, occasionally used alternative Warframes during missions ill-suited to the Excalibur frame. Because of the common belief regarding Tenno, Lihruh was never recognized in these cases. It is a pity that the laudably adaptive nature of Tenno in battle does not translate into a more adaptive culture overall. While popularly considered more "human" than when they originally awoke, most Tenno still find it difficult to relate to any outside their own Clan, let alone outside their race. At least their nature makes them a merciful, powerful ally to the innocent.
The second tenet, protect and serve, was a point of controversy among the Tenno for years before its current interpretation became popular. Many wished to do away with the tenet in its entirety, as it only reminded them of their slavery to the Orokin creators. This is unsurprising, as the Tenno must have thrown off the shackles of this tenet in the late period of the Sentient War, when legend has it that they turned on their masters in the midst of the very ceremony that celebrated the Orokin's victory. It is almost amusing to think that the Orokin, unable to learn from the mistakes of the Sentients, Infestated, and Grineer, neglected for years to create the second tenet, commanding the Tenno to obey any Orokin's judgment and protect the Orokin people. In the present day, the Tenno could be said to have claimed the tenet as their own, modifying their understanding of it to allow the freedom they so deserve. Now, they choose who they protect, working to preserve the lives of those weaker than them, most notably our own people, humanity. Their servitude is willing, though the manner in which they were raised has left the vestiges of indoctrination in their minds. Now, they work as soldiers often do, fighting at the cost of their very lives for those they have sworn themselves to. Their dogged protection of humanity from the terrors of the War of the Second Dream is a testament to both their power and loyalty. Even after the destruction of the moon, the surviving Tenno never wavered. They fought the Acolytes to a standstill on all fronts, facilitating refugee evacuation where possible, even sacrificing themselves to protect us in that last year of the war. These were acts of heroism that only the Tenno culture could inspire so consistently. It is fortuitous, given their proclivity for such risk and self-sacrifice, that the Tenno become so much stronger together than they are apart.
In spite of their legendary silent exterior, the Tenno are not machines, nor do they disregard their friends and allies on a personal level. In truth, the third tenet applies to every aspect of their lives among their own: trust and complete. It is a tenet both ironclad and flexible, born into being near the end of the Sentient War by the Tenno themselves, unbeknownst to their Orokin masters. To the Orokin, the Tenno were a weapon, and their feelings towards one another were a factor that probably never occurred to the ancient tyrants. The solidarity that inspired the Tenno to create this tenet and the unity it inspired must have been unimaginable to their creators, and it led to the end of an empire. Firstly, the trust Tenno had for one another meant that they made choices as a whole and believed in the outcome regardless of their personal feelings. While this sometimes led the Tenno to disaster, such as when they chose to spare the dreaded Corpus scientist [REDACTED], it also meant that the Tenno acted as a whole, and were more powerful for it. The Acolytes' break from this tenet is the primary reason for the Tenno's zeal in hunting them, for the trust Tenno hold for each other is ironclad, and great shame falls on any who break it. In stark contrast, the tenet "complete" is a far more versatile concept. The Tenno complete each other in combat, working as a single unit, or cell, using styles, weapons, and warframes that complement each other, shoring up any weaknesses and capitalizing on their strengths. Here the versatility of their training truly shines through, as any Tenno is capable of filling almost any role in a cell, creating a unit that adapts as readily as any individual Tenno, but is impossible to catch off guard in its default state. The Tenno also strive to complete each other in training, working hard to ensure each Tenno is as strong as they can possibly be. To an outsider, Tenno training methods can be brutal and excessive because of this tenet, but this only enforces the first half of the third tenet, trust. A Tenno's decisions, no matter how dangerous and seemingly cruel, are made for the sake of the cell, the clan, or the Tenno people. Their acknowledgement of and loyalty to this truth allows instructors to surprise and manipulate their trainees without fear of alienating them. Finally, the Tenno complete each other in a spiritual aspect. Perhaps the most prevalent example, the most famous in our histories, is the case of the first Valkyr frame, experimented on by [REDACTED] until its Tenno was driven insane. Her rescuers very nearly suffered fatalities on their first encounter, yet they refused to give up on compassion, taking their maddened kin in and training her to become a warrior in her own right. For years, Valkyr's rage on the battlefield was legendary, but even until her heroic death, her clan never gave up their attempts to pull her from the depths of madness.
The heroic death is a fundamental of Tenno culture, best explored through analysis of the term jehnadaye-eeaem, a unique Tenno form of well-wishing. Generally given at the start of a mission, the most common version is actually jehnadaye, meaning "fight, win". What makes this fascinating is the roots and multiple meanings of the words. Jehn can mean, depending on context, "battle", "birth", and "life". Similarly, daye can mean either "victory" or "death". The adverb -eeaem is a Tenno concept meaning, "with great effort", and so jehnadaye-eeaem means "fight well, great victory." The phrase is, in full, a wish for another Tenno to be challenged, to fight their best, and to emerge victorious in the end. This is a perfect demonstration of the Tenno's warrior mentality, their wish for a great fight that tests them to their limit, and at the same time a blessing for a successful mission. However, an alternative translation of the phrase is just as valid, and reads, "live well, die well." The stark similarity of the phrasing implies its fundamental assertion: that life equates to battle, and death equates to victory. The Tenno live by this creed as much as by their tenets and are, as a rule, ever willing to give their lives in the service of their mission. For this reason, there is no better shorthand than jehnadaye-eeaem for their mindset. It is also interesting that the term daye-eeaem is a blessing of glory, while dayeaeeaem means, "die well," and is a more mocking version of the phrase. This further emphasizes the closeness of death and victory in the Tenno culture, but also points to a certain melancholy, an awareness the Tenno have of the tragedy of their one-dimensional existence. We, as a race that owes its existence to them, can only hope that they eventually learn to discard their need for self-sacrifice and learn a happier, more contented way of life.
It is true the Tenno as a whole have a simple identity, but it is a profound one. Their code of honour, the three tenets, embody teachings of the Orokin, but that does not make them inherently flawed or evil. Rather, the Tenno's steadfast loyalty to these principles suggests the opposite: there is a kind of sublime, if simple, perfection to the tenets. They are a set of morals humanity itself would do well to aspire to, because they are what allowed – no, drove – the Tenno to become the force for good in the system that they eventually did. If, in the centuries and millennia to come, the Tenno themselves are forgotten, humanity can only hope that their way of living becomes a part of our identity, guiding us to greatness and kindness in the same way it did the Warriors of the Moon.
-A Brief Study of the Warriors of the Moon,
by Anonymous colonist of the newly-rechristened Remnant.