What are synths?

[TheOneFreeMan]

So, what do we know about what synths actually are? What are their nature? Do they have minds of their own, or are they just machines?

Obviously they are at least part synthetic, and the natural assumption is that they are created by the Combine. While they seem to be partly organic in nature, we've seen them being repaired like machines inside the citadels and they obviously have technology built into their bodies which are not organic (such as the Striders pulse cannons). There are other indications of organic origins; when killed, a Strider emits a high pitched wail comparable to the death thralls of a natural creature. They also have brains ...

Spoiler

as Dog demonstrated in EP2 when he ripped one of them out of a Strider.

What's our best guess? Organic creatures manipulated for the Combine's purposes and outfitted with technology, or perhaps pure mechanical constructs with some pseudo-organic pieces of technology within them? Or even the ultimate fate of species absorbed into the Combine; biogenetically altered and forced to serve the purpose of their conquerors?

 

[barbarbarbarbar]

You pretty much explained it all.

 

[Fiberawptic]

They were at one point naturally organic like anything else im sure. Once the combine swept through a a world, like Xen, they took the living things and heavily modified and changed them so they are now part mechanical. Synths are like Bionicles or transformers or w.e, just a little different.

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

You pretty much explained it all.

Not so much ... I just stated what I already factually know and asked a lot of questions.

 

[Laivasse]

Quote from Raising the Bar:

When approaching the task of designing the Combine's larger creatures, it was necessary to keep in mind that these lumbering war machines were possibly once organic creatures. Therefore we tried to incorporate elements that were neither strictly organic nor purely mechanical. We didn't want to have giant alien creatures with armour attached or implants added, but instead tried to treat it as a forceful evolution of the characters imposed on them by the Combine rather than nature. In the end, the designs intentionally blurred the line between machine and animal, in their appearance and more importantly their motion and how they reacted to the world around them.

Forced evolution, same thing is being forced onto humans by our conversion to stalkers, Combine Elite, etc...

 

[Hectic Glenn]

So, what do we know about what synths actually are? What are their nature? Do they have minds of their own, or are they just machines?

What's our best guess? Organic creatures manipulated for the Combine's purposes and outfitted with technology, or perhaps pure mechanical constructs with some pseudo-organic pieces of technology within them? Or even the ultimate fate of species absorbed into the Combine; biogenetically altered and forced to serve the purpose of their conquerors?

They are just various organic species from various worlds, we know nothing is native to Xen...so all wild life from the worlds the Combine have previously invaded prior to Earth.

We don't know their nature, but it is likely they are the same as any animal, organic survival machines.

I believe they do have their own minds, but this has also been forcefully evolved for war and fighting.

It is known the Combine Advisers is the only true Combine form, but even this has changed dramatically over the generations. According to raising the bar, they became slug-like with little mobility after becoming so dependent on their psycho-manipulation powers. Now they use pods and mechanical arms as part of the Combine technology support.