Is Nora a Synth ?

[TheGadget1945]

I was putting the finishing touches to Red Rocket today (left it till very late in the game) and it occurred to me that despite Nora having lived a few hundred yards from it 210 years ago, she never commented on it. She would have passed it several times a day, known the owner, gone to Concord regularly but she seems unmoved by the current fate of these places and has no flashbacks to her old life. No mention of her job and not the emotion you would expect from seeing her dead husband who she has never bothered to give a decent funeral. Also despite no military background she seems pretty handy with a gun from the start.

So is she a Synth ?

[TummaSuklaa]

Why would you freeze a robot?

[Ephemera91]

No, she's a human. :)

 

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Nora

[iXenite]

It's just a workaround from Bethesda. They didn't have to bother with more exposition from the Player Character in regards to their Pre-War life (which to be honest would only have given the game more undeserved hate), and they clearly designed the games heavy reliance on combat on the notion that the male Sole Survivor was a war veteran. Overall, it's no different then the idea of a 19-20 year old kid stumbling out of the Vault and being capable of putting down groups of Raiders with ease like in Fallout 3. It's for the sake of the game you have to suspend your disbelief.

[TheGadget1945]

 

"Why would you freeze a robot?"

 

If you wished it to believe its own programmed life you would freeze it for a while so that when it thawed everything "made sense".

[iXenite]

 

If you wished it to believe its own programmed life you would freeze it for a while so that when it thawed everything "made sense".

 

 

The games story really doesn't make sense if you're a Synth. Especially if only one of the spouses was a Synth, in this case, the female spouse.

[TheGadget1945]

 

 

If you wished it to believe its own programmed life you would freeze it for a while so that when it thawed everything "made sense".

 

 

The games story really doesn't make sense if you're a Synth. Especially if only one of the spouses was a Synth, in this case, the female spouse.

 

 

Nor does it make sense that if Danse was a Synth he should have had DNA identical to Shaun/Father and closely linked to Nora but the BOS didn't comment on this when they analysed the DNA. In fact they could use Danse's DNA to check anyone since they should all have Shaun's DNA.

If Nora was a Synth and her memories were programmed the dead body in the Cryo Pod didn't need to be her real husband. Codsworth could have been a Mr Handy specially programmed to back the story up.

[iXenite]

 

 

Nor does it make sense that if Danse was a Synth he should have had DNA identical to Shaun/Father and closely linked to Nora but the BOS didn't comment on this when they analysed the DNA. In fact they could use Danse's DNA to check anyone since they should all have Shaun's DNA.

If Nora was a Synth and her memories were programmed the dead body in the Cryo Pod didn't need to be her real husband. Codsworth could have been a Mr Handy specially programmed to back the story up.

 

 

I suppose if you're really dedicated, anything can make sense. Even if it doesn't. Not hating, just saying.

[fsbo]

The DiMA suggestion about your being a Synth and the whole Acadia/Synth quest line, changed the game for me and my view of synths, the Railroad and the Sole Survivor. The fact that DiMA, independently behaves just like the institute, is story changing. The synth story line follows very typical Hollywood trope (Cyclones in BSG/Blade Runner/etc.), but based on the info we have, the people of the Commonwealth have every reason to be afraid of Synths, especially after DiMA/Acadia’s behavior. The Railroad are misguided in that they will choose toasters over people, they are modeled on the Underground Railroad which given its historical significance imbues “The Railroad” with a legitimacy for the player. Plus the Railroad are the group of locals actively fighting the Institute (again an act that gives legitimacy to the Railroad). So with that said, I went back to the back story and what bothers me about it. Why did the Institute choose you as the backup and your child as the primary for the DNA of their synth population? Besides the obvious, it’s in the script and gives the Sole Survivor motivation to get involved by searching for their son.

New back story: the Institute chose Shaun, and Nate/Nora because they were already pre-screened for desirable genetic traits. The Sole Survivor was in a genetic superman breeding program. Nate and Nora are chosen because of desirable traits to help the old world US breed supermen. This program is non-voluntary, we’ve seen plenty of evidence of this in game canon already (Robobrain’s/Super mutants/FEV/ West-Tek/Vault-Tec/etc.). Nate is a fallen/disgraced war hero while Nora is a Libertarian or ACLU styled Lawyer who was made to disappear. They are chosen to breed with each other and are put through brain washing/reprograming (Jason Bourne style) this is why no lasting memory other than the last day. Sanctuary Hills is an open penal site to give the illusion of the ideal of 2077 American life. Vault 111 is close by, as it is the epicenter of the breeding program. We just haven’t seen that portion of the facility, it has a secret area just like Vault 81, where the non-cyrostorage portion of the lab is. Ever wonder why the wooden bridge to Sanctuary Hills doesn’t look like it is capable of vehicle traffic? Why the heavy military presences in Sanctuary Hills on October 23rd, 2077? The citizens not getting through the gate at the exterior fence entrance to Vault 111 are support staff to the Sanctuary Hills penal program site, and as they are not the genetically desirable program participants, are denied access to the “safe house”. Nate and Nora are the first successful participants to produce a genetically superior child, thus no other children in Vault 111’s cryostorage. This gives logical reason for the Institute to choose Shaun and the Sole Survivor.

The Institute as we are aware of it are involved in numerous machinations, they cannot be in just the one location and must have satellite sites. They have long been involved in the down loading of personalities and memories from living subjects (killing the original in the process), Nick is an example of just how long they have had this ability. Like any genetic program the institute requires variety, so they have been after vault dwellers and vaults for some time. The Vault 111 breeding program held advantages in the process for the institute, less searching for traits they looked for. The Institute ended up allowing those with less desirable traits die in their cryogenic tubes. Not all Gen3 synths are your genetic offspring, but quite a few are, so little Shawn is genetically related to you but Danse isn’t. The broken mask incident is less an overt act by the Institute and more a conflict of earlier model Gen3’s (ie. Gen3 v.01) memories/personalities and programming. I think the Institutes big mission is an attempt at achieving immortality. With the long term goal to download the elite into the perfected version synth, which takes up most of their efforts that is why they the cybernetic programs which seemed quite successful are shut down as the perfect is not achieved, and is taking away too much needed scientific talent from the synth program. It also explain the efforts that the Institute goes to retrieve runaway synths they need to be studied so the next gen can be perfected and their failings learned from. The institute cares nothing for the Commonwealth, other than as a laboratory for study, a crucible for testing and insuring to the safety of the Institute. If the Commonwealth is kept in its current state the institute will not be in jeopardy of a powerful group interfering with their plans. The Brotherhood of Steel is the single greatest threat to the institute for this reason. The institute is aware of the Brotherhood of Steels history and modus operandi so they know the danger they are in. This also explains Danse's lack of knowledge of being a synth. In order to get into the inner circle he had to be unaware of his status as a synth. Side note who is the Covenant? Who pulls their strings? They are presented as part of a bigger operation and are quite capable, as they hide out in the middle of the Commonwealth and no faction seems to really be aware of them.

That is the back story I envision for my Sole Survivor, and helps answer some unanswered questions I've had, and makes logical sense while staying in the frame work of the story as presented, plus answers some of the Sole Survivor is/isn't a synth.

Edited August 28, 2016 by fsbo

[TheVampireDante]

Why did the Institute choose you as the backup and your child as the primary for the DNA of their synth population?

 

It's mentioned during the story - Shaun's the purest source of pre-war DNA they have access to. The parents, as adults could have been exposed to outside factors that may affect them, or the results of any work done using their genetics, plus there's the fact that a child cannot argue or fight back.

Indeed, Shaun's entire experience was likely spun into being a positive for him during his childhood, everything done to and with him angled at being "for the betterment of mankind" - and he accepted that obviously.

 

 

Nor does it make sense that if Danse was a Synth he should have had DNA identical to Shaun/Father and closely linked to Nora but the BOS didn't comment on this when they analysed the DNA. In fact they could use Danse's DNA to check anyone since they should all have Shaun's DNA.

If Nora was a Synth and her memories were programmed the dead body in the Cryo Pod didn't need to be her real husband. Codsworth could have been a Mr Handy specially programmed to back the story up.

 

They could be using it as base material only, manipulating and altering it to fit purpose, mixing it and combining with other samples from differing subjects to see what they could gain as a result.