A few ideas about an alternate Fate of the humans

[Wes13]

Hey all. I have a few scenarios of what possibly happened to the humans after the "Great Plague" (The event that the cave art with the microorganisms shows).


Scenario 1- Underground Monastery-like habitats/Cyborg Monks.
Other humans realizing the plague could wipe out their race decided to live in deep underground habitats. The humans slowly began to modify their bodies to become more cyborg-like to extend their lifespan and also became more monastic as time went on, collecting the lost relics and knowledge of their once great race. The humans regard their treasures as Holy Relics and worship technology believing that they could soon shed their organic body and become truly artificial beings. They also feel once they are ready they shall rise up once more and regain their land on Earth.
These humans would look something like this http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs17/f/2007/220/b/3/Adeptus_Mechanicus_by_FirstKeeper.jpg

Sceneario 2- Complete Extinction
The Humans were all killed before they could evacuate the planet leaving only their technology behind.

Scenario 3- Cryogenic hibernation.
The humans who were lucky enough to escape the plague were people who had frozen themselves in hope that someone in the future would unfreeze them. This fad of Cryogenics went into it's height before the plague hit so there are a large number of frozen humans waiting for the day they would be thawed out to start their lives anew.

So tell me what you all think of my ideas.

[WolfieInu]

I'll take them in inverse order.

Scenario 3: OK, interesting. That idea did occur to me, and it may be plausible considering how long human devices seem to last in the game.

Scenario 2: One word: DEPRESSING!

Scenario 1: Wow that's cool hey.

*looks at DeviantArt picture*

Oh... uh... O.o

'Kay now it's cool and scary... I wonder how the Morph would react to these half-cyborged maniacal monk type human thingies? I know I wouldn't like it... neither as a human, nor as a Morph

[Lirren Shentai]

I thought that it had been decided that the humans, most of them anyway, had been wiped out by a virus....

[Lost Tribe]

I think that if humans survived, than they would have evacuated the earth in direction of other planets, as the morph tell the legend of the humans ascending to the sky and that they may one day come back from there. However, if humanity found another planet to live on, they won't return unless they have to.
Or on the other hand, the humans were still religious and the story of them ascending to the clouds is simply the interpretation the morphs made up for "going to heaven" when you die. In that case all the humans are dead.

[Lost Tribe]

Anyway, I think the morphs are better of if all the humans are dead. Humans coming back to reclaim the earth would only result in fights, which the morphs would loose, since they have banned all weapons. (Except the boars, who would stand and fight a bit longer that the others...)

[WyrmMaster]

...since they have banned all weapons.

A number of Morph tribes have weapons like swords and bows, but generally nothing more advanced. There are exceptions of course,like the pirates in the comic strip.

[cairn destop]

The only reason the morphs have primitive weapons is because of their level of development.  As I remember it, the strip talks about the morphs coming out of a dark age.  Assuming the equivelent human era, that puts them into the pre-feudal or feudal period.  This is confirmed by the comic strip as there are medievil weapons, castles, a caste system, and primitive housing.

What "contaminates" this idealic picture is the humans have left behind an interesting array of material since they left.  Remember how the rats collected "litters and litters" of puzzleboxes?  Then there are the interchangable batteries.  Though I haven't played the game, there is evidence from postings on this forum that remnants of human technology still exist.  

Some of it, such as the Builder's Orb, have proven helpful.  Then there are the shock sticks, which may help some and harm others.  Finally, we have established a parasitical organization, aka religion, who have manipulated human technology for their own reasons through the Orb of Storms.  And now the strip hints at additional human technology that is about to be revealed.

There is no evidence that the morphs have banned weapons.  It may well be an extension of the Japaness feudal system where only warriors were allowed weapons.  Remember Prince and his guards?  Each of them was armed with a pike.  So there is no overt code or rule that excludes the use of weapons.

Yes, there is the stylized gesture combat used in this comic strip, but that could be due to the lack of metal.  Weapons exist.  Anyone remember the knife pulled by Rufi?  If one pirate has a metal weapon, you can put even money on all pirates having access to them if for no other reason than them being outlaws.

Regarding the fate of humans, Lost Tribe came up with the same theory as I did.  There are two fan fictions, one by myself and another by Allester about the return of humans.  Allester's remains incomplete.  Though mine is finished, I updated it for posting on another site.  That version is a lot better, though the basic story remained the same.

[AllieFiona]

Finding of human artifacts truly does change the course of morph natural technological development, though there are parallels in human history.  One example is the introduction of Chinese gunpowder into Western Europe (not to mention Indo-Arabic mathematics and such).  Many old sciences have been rediscovered multiple times in history, though there's never been a hidden cache of artifacts discovered so far that equals the level of discovery the morphs have made.

I don't think modern weapons have been banned (yet), though I do believe that the morph carry a natural aversion to using the new technology for harm at this point (except the few seen so far).  Unfortunately, as in human history, this can pave the way for a few unscrupulous types to take over.

[Lost Tribe]

It seems I understood something wrong when I thought that morphs had forbidden weapons. Perhaps that prohibition only took place in some tribes, like the fox tribe Rif and Rhene came from originally, or else only some individuals, like Rif, Rhene and Mother Bear dislike weapons. Now that you guys remind me, I remember several occasions, both in the game and the comic strip where normal morphs, and not only outlaws use weapons, like the boars, the dogs, the wild-cats and so on.

Nonetheless, they wouldn't stand a chance if the humans came back to reclaim the planet by force.

[cairn destop]

I'm thinking your misconception regarding weapons is based on this strip:

http://www.inherittheearth.net/comic.shtml?0131


As to the humans coming back, that doesn't seem likely.  If they departed via spaceships, even at light speed, the time factor would make Earth as foreign as any world the humans were trying to occupy.  They would have no reason to return once they established a colony on another world.

[WyrmMaster]

In strip 131 ("A Bad Move") Mama Bear is referring to the rules of Gesture Combat, a ritual form of Morph fighting, where weapons are not allowed.

I should note that Gesture Combat was going to appear in Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb, but was removed from the game when the amount of violence was reduced at the request of Broderbund, the company that was originally expected to distribute the title.

[Lost Tribe]

In strip 131 ("A Bad Move") Mama Bear is referring to the rules of Gesture Combat, a ritual form of Morph fighting, where weapons are not allowed.

I should note that Gesture Combat was going to appear in Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb, but was removed from the game when the amount of violence was reduced at the request of Broderbund, the company that was originally expected to distribute the title.

So Gesture Combat is just one form of fighting and morphs do normally use weapons?

[WyrmMaster]

So Gesture Combat is just one form of fighting and morphs do normally use weapons?

It depends on the tribe. Some tribes are what I would call "warrior" tribes and are more likely to use weapons: Elks, Boars and Dogs in the Known Lands.