[Hiro]

When were the Skin-spies created and or when did they become operational?

According to Gaörta, when talking to Kellhus in TWP, they are ancient. While the Mandate believes they are recent Tekne creations, from the past 300 years. Which explanation is correct?

[Frail]

most likely a recent phenomenon, the technology was there, but i'd assume they only recently plied the three seas with skin spies.

[TaoHorror]

What's the context of "ancient"? Could be saying those who devised the skin-spies are ancient, not the skin-spies themselves ( or the thing that became a skin-spy was ancient, but became one in the last 300 years ). That and 300 years is a long time ago, maybe not rising to the level of "ancient", but still quite a while.

[locke]

Are the skin spies repurposed sex dolls?

[Simas Polchias]

According to Gaörta, when talking to Kellhus in TWP, they are ancient. While the Mandate believes they are recent Tekne creations, from the past 300 years. Which explanation is correct?

Maybe both? Their simple intelligent sparks could be awaken, conscient and present since the times of the crash or even earlier than that. But their chassis, for the lack of better word, is a later invention.

I won't wonder if they are just a repurposed subsystems of the Arc, which were just hanging from some forgotten wall for millenia until some mangaeccan intern stumbled upon them by chance.

[Cynical Cat]

The line "we are ancient" probably refers to the Consult or the Inchoroi and their inheritors, not to the Skin Spies specifically.   They're likely a recent creation of the Tekne and probably derived from humans, albeit with considerable changes.