Synths

"What they wanted was... the perfect machine. So they followed the best example thus far - the human being. Walking, talking, fully articulate... Capable of anything."

- Father on Synths

A “Synth”, sometimes referred to as an “Android” is a type of humanoid artificial life form created by the Institute, the remnants of the Commonwealth Institute of Technology, who, after the nuclear war of 2077, formed an insular, technologically advanced bunker-dwelling society in what was once the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Institute makes use of synths as both laborers and combat troops, armed with advanced weaponry. The earliest “Generation 1” synths were mechanical in nature, with no efforts to disguise their identity, while the later “Gen 2” synths had plastic skin and faces which, while it could hide their identity at a distance, were still obviously artificial upon closer inspection. While most mechanical synths are only semi-sapient, similar to pre-war robots, two fully intelligent prototypes, one with a copy of the personality of pre-war police officer Nick Valentine, and one, named DiMA, who was allowed to develop his own personality. Both Nick and DiMA would later escape the Institute and would later meet the Sole Survivor.

After the escape of Nick and DiMA, the Institute began experimenting with “Gen 3” Synths, which were almost entirely biological and indistinguisable from normal humans, save for a chip in the brain which cannot be detected or extracted without killing the synth in question. In 2229, the post-war wastelanders of Commonwealth became aware of the “Gen 3” synths when one was went on a rampage in the post-war settlement of Diamond City, and was subsequently shot by security. This, along with the supposed assassination of all delegates of the newly-formed Commonwealth Provisional Government by a synth (though Institute records claim they attempted to support the CPG, and its downfall was caused by political infighting), resulted in the citizens of the Commonwealth becoming increasingly paranoid that their neighbors may be synths. Regardless of their generation, combat synths are highly dangerous adversaries, equipped with advanced energy weapons and sometimes active camouflaging “Stealth Boys”, and are often equipped with advanced armor, are immune to radiation and toxins, and are more durable than humans, with mechanical synths being capable of continuing to fight after the loss of one or more limbs.