Humans or Soft Ones as they are sometimes called by the Companions, were the original inhabitants of Walled City 99, who have long since departed.
Background[]
Living within the city, but long since departed by the time of Stray, humans lived isolated from the outside world. Their disappearance from the city was not from returning to the outside however, a plague had struck the city itself, killing all who succumb to it, but there were those who attempted to avoid death by uploading their consciousness to the network, like Scientist.
Companions[]
Companions were created by humans, and helped them in cleaning, caring for plants and keeping people company. At the same time, humans restricted the movement of companions around the city, as evidenced by Signs: only people were allowed to enter some places.
At some point, after the extincion of humans, Companions developed consciousness and personalities as a result of copying human behavior. They began to imitate their ancestors, preserving their heritage: taking care of their flats, growing plants, creating art.
Death[]
At some point, there was an outbreak of plague in the city. Due to the inability to go outside, the inactivity of the Control Room workers, poor living conditions on the Lower Level and refusing to cooperate with each other, humans soon died out.
While no humans survived in Walled City 99, and the Outside was known to have been uninhabitable at some point, it is unlikely that humanity as a whole was wiped out. Other similar cities surely exist - possibly, the name of this city indicates that at least 98 other such cities exist.
See also Control Room memory (spoilers alert).
Legacy[]
The Companions mention that their home (the city) is the human's legacy. The robots evolved to mimic human actions, even if they do not quite understand or need them (like watering plants or preparing food). Inventions of humanity that can be seen in the city:
- Walled City 99 itself
- Trash-eating bacteria (now Zurks)
- Robots
- City Technical Network - "The city was supplied by huge machinery that dug into the earth"
- Sarcophagus: consciousness uploading
- Probably Digitizing
- Man-Modified Plants
- Retro technology like TVs, monitors, clunky AC.
- Signs and some of the graffiti
Trivia[]
- A translation in Elliot Programming says that the Companions have had a soul since about 7 million years ago. If this is true, then that implies that humans had been dead for at least 7 million years ago. See Timeline#Upper_Bound_Theories for other interpretations of this writing.
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