The Old Improbable Island Wiki

The Norwegian born Synnove Taxeraas goes by the name Syntax or more often the shorter Syn for the sake of convenience while on the Island. She is ridiculously underpowered compared to some of the other contestants and has no special abilities or unusual physical traits to speak of. Still, she can be quite stubborn and is highly resistant to being intimidated, even in situations where it might be wiser for her to be.

Fresh out of college and with a passion for entomology, Syn enrolled in graduate school studying a minimally important but highly endangered species of beetle. After months of searching she managed to find one scarred and slow moving specimen in its natural habitat, possibly the last hope of its kind and the only potential father of future generations. She named him Bob, partly because it seemed like a good name for a beetle but mostly because she wasn't feeling particularly imaginative that day. Thus began a deep, if destined to be short-lived, friendship. She followed him for days, recording his painstaking inch at a time movements and his dull daily leaf hunting activities (the leaves rarely got away). One day she must have dozed off in her observations, because the next thing she knew Bob had rather unwisely decided to cross a busy sidewalk at the exact same moment a high school track team was out for its morning practice jog. It did not end well for the beetle, and the track team member who felt a small crunch underfoot as he went past had a nasty mess to clean off of the bottom of his shoe afterwards.

And so her planned life's work came to a rather abrupt end, leaving her thoroughly disillusioned with wildlife conservation and with a greater respect for Darwin. Living in a cheap roach infested apartment on her pitiful grad student salary had also dampened her love of insects somewhat. Turning on the lights to find your floor moving will do that.

Finding herself without any particular purpose or means of gainful employment left in Norway, she decided to take a bold step and move to America, the much promised land of opportunity, capitalism, and Spring Break. Like her Viking ancestors before her, she would cross the seas to a new continent in search of adventure. Unlike them she would not do it in a rickety boat. She would do the sensible thing and take a plane.

It turned out that opportunity wasn't as abounding as she'd thought it would be. Her move to Florida (she had always wanted to live in a place with palm trees) and the land of sunshine and retirement communities left her completely broke. Soon she was forced to take the first job she could find. She was forced to work for… The Happiest Place on Earth. From then on her days consisted of hours wearing a silly costume and loading people in and out of boats. She grew to loathe small children. And pirates. Their endless cries of “Dead men tell no tales!” and incessantly jolly singing will forever haunt her dreams.

Hands shaking with the need for nicotine (the ride had broken down for the umpteenth time that day and someone had gotten sick in one of the back seats) she went out for a cigarette during her break. She took a seat on a fake rock, trying to think calm, meditative thoughts while counting cracks in the pavement. She had gotten to seventeen when everything went black. The next thing she remembered was waking up on the Island.

Throughout her stay on the Island Syn has been turned into many things by the Drive, most of which she didn't like. She enjoys being in human form as anything else doesn't seem quite right. She tried being a guy for a while, and although that proved to be an enlightening experience, it untimately wasn't her cup of tea.

During this brief interlude living as the other half she practiced saying 'yeah man' and 'dude' a lot to blend in, let her personal hygiene slide, and got into fist fights at the drop of a hat. After foolishly picking a fight with a garden rake in a show of male bravado she found herself stuck on the Failboat, a ship that she would soon find herself intimately acquainted with if not overly fond of.

While on the boat she met a fellow contestant named Joey, and through him was introduced to Vincent, quickly joining the ranks of ROGUE. Eventually she would be made co-leader and come to view ROGUE as a second family.

She and Joey seemed to have made a connection over an old movie reference, and once back in her female form, she started a relationship with him. Things weren't to last however, and after a rather nasty split Syn decided to take some time alone in the jungle to clear her head.