Inherit The Earth: Quest For The Orb - Whither Humanity?

Whither Humanity?

One of this game's major themes, although it mostly hid in the background, was the greater mystery of what happened to all the humans. The game's introduction and manual inform us that the humans reformed the Morphs out of their constituent animals, and then mysteriously disappeared.

Most of the human relics are in the third area of the game (although the exterior structure of the dog castle implies it was once human but oddly wrecked). In the third area, the North Island, one spends a good deal of time wandering through ancient human ruins of such places as hydroelectric dams, airports, and solar observatories. Nearly all information about humans, their civilization and their technology has been lost or passed into legend. Even the Rats, the most educated tribe, only know of such things through their documents and exploration of human sites.

The game sets a serious mood but also leavens it with humor for these parts. There are tantalizing clues, like the flashing "EVACUATE" sign in the lobby of the building near the airport, and the fact that much of the equipment in the solar observatory and dam was left on. This implies that a sudden disaster overtook the humans, but this is not necessarily so.

The most perplexing feature of the human ruins that they do not include any human cities or towns. A few theorists postulate the land where all the morphs live is only a chain of islands isolated from the rest of the world (where humans may still exist). Inside a hangar in the airport, there is a vehicle that appears to be an incomplete space-craft. (When the mouse is moved over it, the game identifies it as "A giant dart.") Because of the rocket-like object, some believe the airport might also be an aero-spaceport. There are a few quotes in the game which suggest that the humans may reside in space, watching the morphs' progress. An astronomer/cartographer morph named Tycho claims that the humans literally carved the features of the "Man on the Moon" to remind the morphs that they are being watched.

While the question of what happened to the humans and where they went to is never fully resolved during the game, David 'Talin' Joiner, one of the game's key developers, revealed in an interview that humanity was eradicated by an airborne biological weapon (a scenario that was inspired by the Alistair MacLean novel The Satan Bug). "One of our backstory ideas was that there are still a few humans living in some sort of lunar base. One of the possible sequel ideas involves having a probe from the moon sent down to the earth and discovered by the Morph."-David 'Talin' Joiner.

In an interview Lisa Jennings, one of the original artists and animators, revealed that the game was originally intended to be part of a trilogy, but due to conflicts with the developer and publisher, this never happened. This is why the game ends on a "To be continued" like note.