Cold and Gold

Domi Quia Emi Eu.

Domi Christe Emi Eu.

Domi Quia Emi Eu.

Pace.

Those are the opening and repeating lyrics to a song on the Warframe Soundtrack known as Ghosts of Void and originally known as Cold and Gold. The lyrics are used on a handful of other songs in Orokin-themed areas – the Void, the Derelict and Lua.

As to what the words actually mean, I get conflicting results. The Warframe wiki page for Ghosts of Void says the text translates into “Brought to the home, Brought to the home of the savior, Brought to the home, Peace” but on the page for Derelicts, which uses the exact same lyrics, the text is translated as “Brought to the home because of splendid, Brought to the House of Gold splendid, Brought to the home because of splendid, Peace“. Sticking the text into Google Translate gives me gibberish like this: “I bought it at home Football, I bought it at Christ Football, I bought it at home Football, peace“. Translating the word EU on its own apparently means football but can also mean an interjection along the lines of “Good!” or “Hurrah!”

So what I THINK the lyrics mean is that we were brought into the home (of the Orokin), we were brought in as saviors, then we brought peace. Which somewhat matches what happened. The Tenno were regarded as devils but we saved the Orokin from the Sentients. Then we slaughtered them all on behalf of the Lotus and then we went to sleep to dream for a bit.

I like most of the Warframe soundtrack (apart from the weird piano bashing that is Consume Us for Infested missions) but the Orokin-themed tracks are probably the more beautiful songs on the soundtrack and the only ones with lyrics. Really though, it doesn’t matter what any of the words mean, because Ghosts of Void is one of the most beautiful and somewhat spine-chilling soundtracks I have ever heard. As the name suggests, it is a song of ghosts. In a void.

But it’s more than that. So much more.

Ghosts of Void rises up from the silence, with echoes of lost Orokin speaking through an eerie mist of sound, before briefly fading. But then everything slowly rises up once more, twisted around a strange, singular beat and what feels like an abandoned, golden instrument, slowly playing away to itself. This lone beat and instrument are joined by other, more powerful sounds, the feeling of golden winds drifting through the abandoned halls of splendor the Orokin left behind. It all continues to build before abruptly drifting away, leaving you with the haunted Orokin voices whispering alongside this lone beat and instrument once more.

After that, you are left with a fading beat and a fading whisper, an instrument you can’t quite place, all drifting off into nothingness.

It’s so chilling, but it’s all also rather calming and peaceful. Ghosts of Void is a background song, something that wriggles in and out of consciousness, only just reminding you that it’s there. Unfortunately though, it is rarely not actually heard, mainly because Corrupted, the combat music for the Void, very quickly overrides Ghosts of Void. After all, most people doing missions in the Void are going to be fighting stuff and enemies are almost always alerted. You need to wait around at the start or at the end of a mission to hear Ghosts of Void.

Really though, that’s one of the best ways to experience this haunting track. In your own, in the dark, surrounded by golden silence and nothingness…