Strogg
The Strogg are a fictional alien race who are the enemies in the first-person shooters Quake II and Quake 4.
The Strogg attacked and devastated Earth before being driven off. Rather than leave them alone, Mankind elects to launch a retaliatory attack on the Strogg homeworld (Stroggos) in Quake 4, with the aim of causing chaos in the Strogg society by eliminating the Makron, the foremost Strogg leader, and crippling important military facilities. The prior reigning Makron was taken out in Quake II, which was assumed to be a tactical advantage until it was realized during the events of Quake IV that a new one was already in power ("Makron" is a title, not a name, much like how "president" refers to all persons that have held the title of president, not anyone in particular. This minor conundrum has caused a small level of confusion among some players).
Overview
The Strogg, being a warlike cybernetic race, are infamous for extensively replacing significant portions of their bodies with weaponry and mechanical prosthetics, so no two Strogg are ever truly the same. They maintain a massive global military-industrial complex, with mines, ore refineries, light production plants and heavy industrial manufacturing facilities all over Stroggos. This heavy reliance on industry however has managed to kill most of the plant and animal life on their planet. The living animals have also been subject to horrible mutation. One of the most notable features of the Strogg is their complete lack of sense for the macabre or cruel and are willing to do anything to anyone so long as it serves a practical purpose and is in their best interests.
Strogg capture policy
The Strogg expand their armies and population by taking non-Strogg species and depending on circumstances, prepare them in some way that serves to help the Strogg race. As of Quake 4, the following are known.
- Forced Stroggification. This is exceptionally painful and brutal as the Strogg do not use anaesthetics, instead electing to utilize excessive doses of steroids via hypodermic needle that would permit the person to be able to live through the process. This entails amputation with a circular saw, and implants which are best described as simply being jammed into the person and haphazardly-wired (One of the doctors onboard the MCC Hannibal comments that Stroggification resembles mutilation more than anything else). The end result, if successful, is a horrific-looking cyborg with at most half of his original body left, but has physical strength, speed and agility well-above the human norm.
- Experimentation. The Strogg medical community has no qualms regarding the testing of captured humans. They will perform twisted experiments such as removing various organs just to see how long a person can last without them, performing surgeries while keeping the victim alive and conscious with massive doses of steroids, and tests to observe limits to environmental stresses such as extreme heat or cold.
- Recycling. In the field of biological materials recycling, the Strogg are without equal. They have perfected technology which allows them to break any living thing back down into its sheer molecular components; amino acids, enzymes, mineral structures and so on. The Strogg do not particularly care if the victim being recycled is still alive when it happens.
- Torso unit. Strogg facilities often integrate human torsos lacking limbs, with some missing their heads. They are still alive as they can be seen moving but it is highly-unlikely that the ones that still have their heads are aware of their predicament as their faces behave as if "stoned", possibly under heavy intoxication of some sort, which can be considered a blessing. Torso units are integral to the power supply, distribution and regulation of Strogg facilities. Damaged units must be replaced immediately or the area which they are based in will switch to emergency power. It's interesting to note that the Makron itself has a human torso attached to its upper body which is likely powering it. Whether this is the previous marine from Quake II or not is unknown but it's likely just to be another human.
Strogg technology
Strogg technology is portrayed to be superior to anything humanity at the same point of time has. They excel humans in all scientific disciplines, and their complete and utter lack of ethics towards any species that is not an original Strogg has helped push this further by allowing unfettered research and development into all aspects of warfare. Of note but not detailed enough to warrant their own subsections in this category are their ability to make practical use of black holes to effectively travel at Faster-than-light speeds, and their possession of functional teleportation, refined to the point where it is possible for certain Strogg troops to use on a personal basis, with the larger dedicated machines capable of mass transit.
Most of their research, development and technology goes towards enhancing their warfaring or industrial capacity, with seemingly little concern for anything and anyone else. All things considered, the Strogg seem to quite literally live to fight.
Nourishment
The Strogg are nourished, fueled and lubricated by a viscous liquid known as stroyent, which is made from the processed corpses of their victims. A system of pipelines, pumps and distribution vessels runs throughout Stroggos. At the core of this system is a massive creature which serves as the processing plant for the stroyent.
The Nexus
The Nexus is a vast computer network that stretches over the entirety of Stroggos. It relays information to and from Strogg military leaders and soldiers in the field, allowing them seamless wireless communications at all times regardless of location or proximity. The Nexus is based mostly in massive fortresses that house the primary relay points, called tetranodes. Tetranodes are massive, operate continuously and are cooled to subzero temperatures. If a tetranode continues to operate with its cooling systems inactive, it will eventually overheat and destroy itself.
The central component of the Nexus is the Nexus Processor, housed within a huge fortified structure aptly called the Nexus Core in the middle of a heavily-industrialized area, which is itself located in the Doggus crater. The Processor is actually a gigantic living brain which according to Corporal Johann Strauss of Rhino Squad, only the Makron has seen before. Just outside the crater's rim and situated at equal distance to each other are three smaller but still gigantic structures. One handles Data Storage, another Networking and the last does Processing. While it is unknown what is the height of these structures, one of the internal lifts at the towers reads going up to floor 1986. The structure is taller than this as the aforementioned lift does not cover the entire range of floors.
The Nexus is critical to the Strogg military. Without it, communications would completely fall apart and their forces would collapse into disarray. Attempting to disrupt the Nexus forms a core component of the Stroggos campaign in Quake 4, initially based around disrupting the tetranode in the primary invasion area but later against the Processor itself.
Strogg computer systems appear to use the same underlying principles as human computer systems, making the two surprisingly compatible with enough relevant equipment present.
Cybernetic augmentation
For their population and armies, there seems to be no limit to the bizarre cybernetic designs the Strogg are willing to consider and put into the field. It is not uncommon for them to field grotesque enhancements, such as replacing legs with caterpillar tracks, an arm with a reloadable missile launcher, and entire sections of their bodies with higher-performance machine counterparts. It is also not uncommon for a Strogg to have a weapon directly integrated into his body and linked to his central nervous system. The Strogg also make use of nanomedicine to maintain what's left of their organic bodies after the augmentation process (Doctors onboard the MCC Hannibal noted that Strogg medical nanorobots would attempt repairs even after death, and would continue to do so even when the body part they're currently housed in was removed from the rest of the body). Also, because the amputations severely reduce normal locomotive ability, the person's existing musculature is reinforced with servomechanisms and artificial muscle.
Therefore, it is difficult to conclude that the Strogg is a unified race or even know what the Strogg originally looked like, due to its cybernetic augmentation technology. With this technology, any biological creature can be transformed into a Strogg provided that the body is compatible with Strogg enhancements. In fact, the Strogg even capture quadrupedal creatures and augment them in order to have lethal bio-mechanical "guard dogs" guarding critical entrances. Larger specimens would be modified to have enhanced endurance and firepower in order to serve as bosses. It's possible some of the Strogg have a relation due to the appearances of the heads of the "Berserker" and "Gunner". The "Iron Maiden is likely a female from one of the two Strogg unless the "Berserker" and "Gunner" are the same species except stroggified in two different variants. The heads of the "Heavy Tank" and "Light Tank" also appear similar which also suggest a possible relation (Not to mention that both have the word tank in their name). A common characteristic among them and other humanoid Strogg is that their eyes have a glowing orange color.
Soldiers that are forcibly Stroggified eventually have their higher-brain functions completely atrophied, entirely taken over by a transceiver unit that links to the Nexus. For a while after activation however, they are aware of their predicament but mostly have no control of their new cyborg bodies, a hellish scenario. In fact, when Matthew Kane's squadmate Lieutenant Scott Voss was captured, he was turned into a large Strogg to serve as a level's boss Strogg (Voss's head and torso was the only recognizable human portion of the new Strogg boss). For a brief moment, Lieutenant Voss yelled at Matthew Kane to leave the place at once because he did not know for how much longer he could maintain his free will. Unfortunately, the Strogg programming kicked in quickly and Lieutenant Voss relentlessly attacked Matthew Kane as a fully developed Strogg drone with no memory of their previous friendship as squadmates aboard the MCC Hannibal.
Botched attempts that didn't make it through Stroggification are sent to biological-recycling facilities, where they may still be active anyway and resemble zombies. Strogg that work in facilities that deal with hazardous chemicals, such as the aforementioned one, also suffer from continual exposure to such chemicals, progressively degrading their hippocampus and somatosensory system in particular. Their success rate far outweighs the failure rate however, and as such the Strogg can easily enhance the size of their armies.
Aerospace engineering
For aerial vehicles, Strogg engineering is superior to anything humanity has to offer. Early on in Quake 4, two combat engineers looking over a Strogg gas turbine jet engine roughly estimate that because of the way the Strogg have the fuel intake and turbine designed, it is (at the very least) fifteen percent more efficient than anything they have at that point, and should immediately be brought to the USS Hannibal for reverse engineering.
Before that, Matthew Kane uses one in a testing facility to burn a hole through reinforced-glass. The impressive jet produced, as well as the ease at which it melted the glass, has one of the marines commenting that the engineers would love to get their hands on it.
Only low-altitude Strogg aircraft are encountered in Quake 4. No doubt the Strogg have other models, merely that they are unseen. Among those seen are what seem to be dive bombers, troop transports, and some sort of machine that appears to rely on thrust vectoring.
War-time engineering
Their ground-based vehicles also reflect this. Their Harvester mech are so well-designed they can survive several hits from tank-fired and man-portable armor-piercing munitions before being disabled. In addition, they also sport bizarre designs such as a sphere-shaped mobile gun turret that can roll about with extreme speed and acceleration.
The Strogg also have contingencies for areas which lack protection but need it. Low-orbit aircraft can drop specially-designed non-mobile turrets which, through the sheer velocity from such a drop and their spike-shaped lower-half, can smash their way through the roof of even a fortress and deploy, instantly bringing to bear heavy weapons fire against any enemies in the area. This is often deployed in conjunction with additional forces until an armed force of proper size can come to defend the area.
Architecture
With regards to their architecture, Strogg designs reflect their practical, industrialist nature. Facilities of a medical nature or that work with biological materials often resemble slaughterhouses. They have dried blood on the walls, rusting metal pipes, biological residue on computer equipment and so on. Industrial facilities are somewhat better, but still have the occasional rusted pipe or steam leaking out of a valve, along with heavy machinery operating out in the open with little safety devices. Exceptionally-important Strogg facilities such as those housing communications equipment are the most well-kept. They are immaculately-clean, all areas are well-lit, equipment are well-shielded and everything is constantly monitored to ensure maximum efficiency.
Facilities which handle biological material may in themselves use biological material as part of their systems. The most apparent and noticeable example of this is a gigantic heart that is part of a facility's biochemical fluid transfer system. According to the nearby computer panels, it only has two chambers, an atrioventricular node and a sinoatrial node, both pumping an enzyme acid solution. The heart is also possibly attached to a large creature known as the Stoyent Processing Creature. It's possible as the creature has many tentacles that spread through out the facility with some leading to the heart and the creature itself is used a power source as well.
Automation is heavily-used. Bridge and ramp systems have to be actively-deployed, similar to Doom 3. Damage to critical systems is often met by the deployment of repair bots which operate autonomously. In critical structures, repair bots can number in the hundreds and possibly thousands.
Culture and Language
Through out Strogg facilities and bases are a variety of banners and signs with the insignia of a skull or lightning bolt with stylized wings dilating up on both sides. The presence of nationalistic symbols suggests the Strogg have a culture although it is heavily suppressed by imperialistic expansion and highly disciplined industrial priority. The Strogg are augmented with neural implants that not only allow them to communicate to one another electronically as if psychic, but also to control or otherwise override their individualism so that they serve their purpose in society and only that purpose. Those that work only work and those that fight only fight. The only form of art and culture present is in the form of racial representation (flags, emblems, etc) and most likely only serves the purpose of symbolism so that they may refer to themselves or represent themselves by something other than "us". If the Strogg express creativity or self-exploration through art, music or literature, it has not yet been portrayed in the Quake series.
The Strogg, despite being able to transmit information through electromagnetic radiation (whether with radio or microwave is never explained) rely on written text for consoles, machinery and location signs. This language is presumably also that which is spoken by the Strogg when the player encounters them. This may be the language of the first race to become or to have found the Strogg race or may be a quilt of many languages of the races previously conquered.
Other
Much of the backstory of the Strogg is not fully explained in Quake II (apart from the manual), but a great deal more is learnt about them in Quake 4.
It is interesting to note that the Strogg insignia can be found on some crates in the first levels of each episode of the original Quake, suggesting that they may exist in the same universe. It's also worth noting the Grunts and Enforcers are the only enemies in Quake with futuristic armor and weaponry while the rest don't. This could be due to Strogg intervention. This seems unlikely, however, since id Software have stated that Quake 2 should not be considered a direct sequel to Quake (in the same way that Quake 4 is to Quake 2); rather, the name Quake was kept for primarily commercial purposes.
One soldier on the Hannibal ship in Quake 4 states that he heard a rumour that the Strogg were a race of super soldiers left over from an ancient war in a different part of the galaxy, and that the main reason they invaded Earth was because it would be a tactical strong-point to launch invasions of other civilizations.
Humans have developed derogatory names for the Strogg, calling them "squibs", "squips" or probably just squids.
Strains
Notable Strogg
- The Makron
- Corporal Matthew Kane
- Lieutenant Scott Voss