I’m surprised nobody’s brought up valve’s description of the Advisors from Raising the Bar.
aaaaaand, what might that be? 
I’ve yet to read the book.
In the five years I’ve been following this mod, I have finally decided to create an account for the sole purpose of posting in this thread. To begin, Soviet, I see where you’re coming from. I have to agree with Omega Absolute, though, and here’s why:
Valve, I don’t think, will repeat the same storyline or hierarchy structure in half-life 2 as they did with half-life 1. It’s repetitive, which is something Valve doesn’t like. Though, I see your point in believing there is an ultimate power governing the advisors, because their name is “advisor”. The advisors could be in the same position as those mini-nihilanth creatures (the ones that fly and fire those orange orbs at you). These mini-nihilanth creatures answered to the Nihilanth but, again, repeating the same storyline is repetitiive and would be disappointing. Your theory, Soviet, is what I believed initially, but Omega Absolute brings a great point.
What if the Combine’s success is not because they have one leader, but multiple leaders? What is the purpose of a single entity, anyway when the advisors could be linked together with their telekineses and operate as a single entity, which is what I think Valve is aiming for due to their extensive introduction of the Advisors throughout Half-Life 2. Think of it: every advisor linked with every other telepathically, sort of like the Vortigaunts. I mean, for all we know, Vortigaunts do not have a leader. No leader was ever mentioned, even when they were on Earth, and this may be because they’re all linked together with the Vortessence. The advisors could be linked with eachother in the same manner, though this is just an assumption.
I initally had the same belief as you, soviet, with a single entity leading the advisors, but I think Omega’s idea is more unique–the advisors linked together and operating as a single force through telepathic communication, and I think that is what Valve is aiming for.
Hum… yeah I agree with this. By the way, wellcome to the forums
Wait, what?? You just called him a troll 2 seconds ago!
Because his post was incomplete.
His post was like “I have to agree with Omega Absolute, though, and here’s why:” and nothing more, so I thought he might did this on purpose, but when he edited the post I saw it wasn’t the case… and I didn’t see his post time before posting, otherwise I would waited some more.
yeah this forum glitched and when i pressed enter it hit “post quick reply” lol.
oooh, yeah I saw that too and I was gonna ask “what’s why?” but I figured he was gonna edit it or something.
Yeah, there’s some pretty sweet ideas floating around here, I’m not even sure where I stand as of yet. 
Why is your screen-name not “Crunkulus?”
Starts skimming over the book looking for that section
The striders weren’t conquered, they are made from the population of the conquered worlds.
You can’t really compare an Advisor to a Strider. That’s like comparing a human commander to a tank - the tank certainly has a lot more raw power, but can’t be expected to run an army.
Regardless, I sort of agree with both Soviet and Omega Absolute. I don’t believe that the advisors we’ve seen are particularly high ranking in terms of the entire Universal Union, as I doubt the Combine care enough about earth to put several of their rulers here, but I also don’t think there’s some kind of extremely powerful entity in charge. It seems more likely to me that the things running the Combine are probably very similar to the Advisors, but are at a much higher in status. Sort of like the relation a president of a country has to a board member of a city council, only more so.
Alright… From HL2:Raising the Bar:
Combine Advisor
“In designing this character we wanted to suppose that an organism, not unlike humans, began to depend on technology that was originally created to improve it’s quality of life. Over the course of its evolution, it became grublike, with limbs no longer able to support its own weight, eyes to feeble to see without aid, a body now incapable of movement, fully dependant on the technology that is created. It was, however, incredibly evolved in its ability to reason, invent, and dominate the minds and cultures of other beings. This design was also in part inspired by the writings of Frank Herbert.”
Well that pretty much ends my idea that the advisors might just be another synth. I wish Raising The Bar was more readily available. I like the idea that the advisors might be the one mind, linked telepathically, rather like the Vortigaunts, although at this point its all speculation as to the details of the advisors rule.
My goal here was to show how some elements about the Half Life 2 story arc we’ve come to take for granted could be baseless assumptions with equally plausible alternatives, but I’m delighted to have been shown how wrong I was. Not only is there evidence behind all of what I thought were assumptions, its solid evidence, not just good speculation. Congratulations guys
Yeah, it is. You can buy it second hand for $150, for a new one it can be up to $300+
[COLOR=’#212121’]Download the ebook
or just download the torrent PDF.
The torrent definitely isn’t here.
Also, could it be that the BM forums have finally seen a civilized debate? Surely something is amiss.
End the thread now! Before it turns into a flame war!
Also, I think you all missed my hidden text.
Oh you sneakster
Plus Gman to get it all started. He’s probably a host body for an advisor. The EYES they’ve got one hell of a combine feel to them