A Deserted AI, Trapped Forever in Space

Just as I started writing this article, I realised that I hadn’t really covered the Sacrifice in any meaningful way. I did a spoiler-free review when I completed the quest and I wrote about the Warframe you get from it. I also wrote about the vile treatment of Ordis during that quest. But I didn’t write about the quest itself. It was okay, but Ordis’s treatment in that quest makes me sad. Which reminded me of another unfortunate Cephalon. And that brings me nicely to the ancient quest known as the Jordas Precept.

On the scale of good and bad quests, the Jordas Precept, game-wise, doesn’t fare well. At all. It requires a ton of equipment and reliance on a lot of random chance to progress.

You require Pherliac Pods, which can be made via a blueprint, which only drops from Juggernauts, hideous monsters that have a chance to spawn in Infested missions. But the blueprint only has a small chance to drop. So you could spend days doing Infested missions, slaughtering enemies to get Juggernauts to spawn and kill them endlessly before you finally see that blueprint. The other components needed are all Juggernaut parts, so at least you’ll have plenty of those by the time you actually get a blueprint.

What’s worse is that the fight at the end requires Archwing. Not just your Level 16 Odonata and unfinished Imperator, but actual, properly leveled up and modded Archwing gear if you want to be able to finish the mission some time this year. The boss at the end of the quest (after the massive Juggernaut that you’ve probably already fought tons of) is a massive monster with equally massive health.

But if you’re doing the mission blind, you won’t know that. And you won’t expect it either because Jordas is just an AI in need. The gameplay is mediocre at best, but the story is pretty good.

Jordas is a Cephalon, an AI for a Corpus space ship, one that’s been attacked and taken over by the Infested. He’s losing his mind and is desperate for help. The Infested are trying to take control of him, and Ordis, being the good guy that he is, offers to help. Jordas even has the same random ticks and quirks that Ordis has, but they’re a lot more… aggressive.

Thinking that he needs to calm the Infestation down in order to break free, Jordas gets you to find and make Pherliac Pods. If you’re lucky, you might already have the components. If not, you have to farm them, but luckily you can do that anywhere there are Infested.

Then Jordas tells you that you need to test the pods. So you use one in an infested area and test it. Jordas says they’re not strong enough and sends a blueprint to make them stronger. So you go and do that. Then you go and visit Jordas in person.

Of course, now you’re close, you realise just how fucked up Jordas is. The second voice, the aggressive ticks, become worse and worse. A Juggernaut Behemoth is sent after you, but you tear it down. Ordis is quickly realising that he fucked up and Jordas can’t be rescued. He’s talking about the Pherliac pods, how they’re not enough, Jordas is talking erratically and is barely making sense now.

It also turns out that Jordas is now more than just a ship Cephalon, but a massive, infested Corpus ship that could go and infest others. That’s exactly what the Infestation has been making Jordas do, forcing him to lure other ships in so the Infested can take over.

The boss fight against the Jordas Golem, as the massive ship-turned-infested-monster is called, isn’t that much. You just fire endlessly at its exhaust ports with your Archwing guns until its health runs down, while dodging various attacks. All the while Jordas is shouting at both you and the Infested inside him, begging to be released. Jordas admits the truth as well, that the Infested are using him as bait. By now though, he is too broken, too corrupted to fight back. All he can do is watch as he becomes more and more infested and forced to infect other ships that come to help him.

As you finally kill the Golem, all Jordas can do is say thank you for ending his misery.

The Jordas Precept isn’t that great a quest. If anything, it’s less fun than quests like the Limbo Theorem because it has nothing to do with its reward, a blueprint for the Warframe Atlas, and it can take an insanely long amount of time if you get unlucky with Juggernauts.

Jordas though also appears in the Jordas Verdict. It turns out the Infested keep backups and are still using Jordas to lure more ships in. At this point though, Jordas is a hollow shell of his former self, completely given up on any form of salvation. He just wants the pain to go away. He’s forever trapped in the Infested corrupting grasp, and killing him only gives him some brief respite.

What happens to Jordas is… genuinely quite scary. Being conscious while you are slowly consumed and turned against your fellow Cephalons, feeling a disease feed on and control you and being utterly helpless to do anything about it. All you can do is wait for death. If death ever comes…

Let’s just say, it’s a sad, painful way to go.