Strogg

The main Strogg symbol

The more common version of the Strogg symbol

The Strogg are a hostile cybernetic alien race featured as the main antagonists in the Quake 2 and Quake 4 video games, and recently in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. The Strogg are cybernetic constructs of unclear origins that reproduce by taking biological components and fusing them with advanced technology in the brutal surgical process of stroggification that slaves their minds and enhances their bodies for war. The Strogg also require protein from dead flesh to create a substance known as stroyent, which is vital to them for nourishment and the lubrication of their vast and high tech military-industrial complex. They maintain this system on their homeworld, Stroggos, which is heavily defended with various security installations and fully fledged to launch assaults on other worlds.

The Strogg's need to harvest biological components for their own augmentation, and the flesh of slain enemies for the creation of stroyent, is their primary motivation, since it is neccessary for their survival. It is this motivation that led the Strogg to Earth, which they promptly staged a massive invasion on almost immediately upon discovery. This Strogg aggression led to humanity's long war with them that has continued unabated ever since.

The Strogg are recognisable mainly as humanoid figures of decaying flesh with machinery and armour fused onto their bodies, likely because their long war against humanity made humans their main source of biological components. Humanoid Strogg are also recognisable by their orange eyes, caused by the microcellular Strogg nanite technology therein. They come in various different shapes and sizes but the average Strogg is much stronger physically than a human and can easily kill. The most powerful Strogg entity is called the Makron, and functions as the supreme leader among them.

Background

Possible origins

Crates bearing Strogg insignia were found in the events of Quake 1 despite no plausible connection

There are various theories about the Strogg's origins. Some have said that the Strogg are the remnant of a massive war long ago, a military structure that was left without purpose but continued to carry out its mission to conquer even when the original war had ended and their own original allies and enemies had died out. Other theories include that the Strogg were once an alien race, perhaps not different to humans, and their world may have once been like Earth. However, their practice of cybernetic augmentation to keep themselves alive, as well as mutation and nanotechnology, may have changed them, and over time their forms were altered so much that there is nothing left of the original "Strogg" species or any concrete evidence it even existed. All that remains in the Strogg is the steel and merciless will to conquer, perhaps some echo of their ambitions long ago before they were twisted beyond recognition.

There is no existing evidence of the Strogg ever being independent, creative and thinking beings, as their activity seems to be co-ordinated by various control nodes, devices, the neurocytes within their brains and of course the Nexus itself. However, for them to have achieved their state as cybernetic beings would have required creative minds, however long dead by now, a long time ago in their past. It is possible that the Strogg were assembled as a highly adaptive army to protect some other species, but they may have become so advanced that they disregarded their own masters and became resource-hungry in their pursuit of the one item their existence requires- biological components from other (preferably humanoid) species. This desire for biological components led the Strogg to Earth which had become a hub for various interstellar civilisations, and the result was their sudden and devastating attack on it.

A lot can be told from Matthew Kane's words about the Strogg: "created for war, and fueled by the blood of their enemy". This supports the aforementioned idea that the Strogg are supersoldiers left from a major war long ago, since their reliance on enemy bodies as their resource effectively means that the enemy's dead are their source of power. This being said, it means that the Strogg literally feed on death itself, and war is their only source of nourishment. In the eyes of whosoever created the Strogg this may have seemed advantageous because the Strogg would not require any resource other than the dead of the enemy- so they would fight out of their own thirst for blood. However, what the Strogg's creators may have failed to realise is that the Strogg need to kill in order to live, and they would kill their own creators too. If this was the case, the Strogg were like a Frankenstein's Monster gone seriously out-of-control who killed their own creators and unleashed needless terror onto other worlds.

A marine aboard the Hannibal during the Second Stroggos Invasion said that someone had told him the Strogg are the "next step in human evolution" saying when you think how much humans rely on technology, this is not so far from being right. This supports the possibility the Strogg may be a very similar or parallel version of Earth, judging by their humanoid forms and their engineering methods (even down to the use of screws, bolts and modular floor tiles/metal panels/bricks) being so similar to Earth, but their future was much darker than we would like.

The war against the Strogg

Main article: War against the Strogg

The Strogg invaded Earth in the mid-21st Century in search of biological components. Though at first they gained the advantage the humans rallied and defeated them in a long and bloodthirst conflict. The humans then invaded Stroggos and the Strogg were forced to defend their homeworld. A lone marine destroyed their main planetary defence system, the "Big Gun", and killed their leader, an entity known as the Makron. However, they were resilient and regrouped, constructing an new and more powerful Makron. After this, the humans learned of the Nexus, a system that co-ordinated the Strogg Communication Network. After a series of daring operations they destroyed it, crippling the Strogg's tactical and strategic chances of victory because this disorganised them, though they still possessed an army billions strong and continued to fight the humans. In the second human invasion the Strogg also lost many facilities essential to their existence, chiefly the Strogg Medical Facilities where they renewed their ranks with Tactical Transfers, a particularly smart and elite unit, and the facilities that they used for creating stroyent, which is essential for lubricating and fueling them. The stroyent's pumping system, a massive heart, was also lost to the humans' hostile infiltration of their industrial complex. To make matters worse for the Strogg, their reconstructed Makron was killed by a rogue transfer named Matthew Kane along with the Nexus. Whether or not these operations have finally destroyed the Strogg war machine for good remains to be seen. One thing is certain: mankind's survival depends on the Strogg's defeat.

Stroggos, a desert waseland, witnessing the second human invasion

Homeworld

Main article: Stroggos

The Strogg homeworld is host to a vast military and industrial complex with its capital city based at Cerberon, which is the heart of Stroggos civilisation, built into a massive crater called Crater Majoris. The Strogg have mostly stripped the planet of its resources and there is little that remains of the original ecosystem that creatures like themselves would have needed to evolve. However, there is still a small amount of animal life on Stroggos that has undergone horrific mutation and these once-docile creatures will attack without provocation. The entire planet is a desert wasteland covered in various military and industrial facilities.

Life processes

The Strogg are bionic constructs with mechanical and organic parts fused together

Harvesting

The Strogg process of gathering the dead remains of their enemies is known as harvesting. This is the principle way in which the Strogg gather the resources that are their primary source of strength. Though the Strogg possess mechanized walkers called harvesters specially made for harvesting, they also manage without them: Strogg are known to drag the corpses of the enemy dead away, which is part of their harvesting function, so that they can either take organs for building more Strogg or so that they can break the body down into stroyent.

Harvesters themselves are powerful weapons, capable of taking on large numbers of enemies, and are virtually indestructible by most infantry weapons because of their specific anti-personnel purpose. Human infantry are taught not to attract the touch of a harvester at any cost, as such machines should only be faced by vehicles equipped with advanced anti-armour weaponry, such as mechanized walkers or hover tanks.

Stroggification

Main article: Stroggification

The Strogg procreate only by using the various technologies at their disposal. They are known to assemble new soldiers using the remains of their fallen enemies, with the irretreivable bodies being processed into stroyent. Their is also evidence of shared genetic material among the Strogg, for example the Gunner and Berserker have similar heads, meaning these units may have been developed in a genetic project to create supersoldiers. The Strogg practice of assembling new soldiers using the parts of their enemies and their own technology is known as stroggification. Infamously, stroggification is also practiced on live enemy prisoners of war in order to produce the Tactical Transfer, at the Strogg Medical Facilities. Natural limbs are removed and replaced with more efficient mechanical legs and arms that are much stronger. The subject has nanites introduced into them in the cybernetic augmentation process, and finally a neurocyte is emplaced in the brain to link them to the Strogg Communication Network so that they can receive instant command directives and experience the aggressive Strogg thought processes.

Nanites

The Strogg have microscopic technology swimming around inside them known as nanites. These are microscopic nano-robots that repair damaged tissue and keep the technology attached to their bodies functioning. Nanites have some extraordinary properties. They have been known to regenerate the tissue of pieces of Strogg, for example arms, even after being severed from the body, possibly so that it can be harvested intact and recycled. This was only able to be properly studied when humans invaded the Strogg homeworld and were able to bring proper scientific equipment with them.

In addition, nanites may be capable of inflicting harm on their enemies on a microcellular level and are airborne all across Stroggos, which prompted human paranoia of them and they therefore used a decontamination procedure for any marine returning to his base. The decontamination cycle could easily purge nanites with a procedure that used various chemicals. Matthew Kane, a rogue transfer that the humans intended to use as a secret weapon, was not decontaminated when he retuned to the USS Hannibal, possibly because being a Strogg meant that he would automatically infect his surroundings with nanites.

Death and recycling

Strogg decomposition phase

When the Strogg die, their bodies do not rot away like most organisms. Their cells undergo a sudden process induced by the nanites within them that dissolves them, and they are quickly vapourised in a sickly green glow. Presumably the nanites quickly disassemble the body once it is dead, and the particles dissipate into Stroggos' environmet. After this, the particles may be collected in various Strogg facilities and recycled into stroyent production. As a result, dead Strogg will always typically be recycled and used to feed their war machine even more.

However, some Strogg bodies have been recovered that failed to undergo this process, and instead the nanites continued to repair their bodies even after they were dead and the process was futile.

The neurocyte

The neurocyte is a small but vital neural implant inside the cerebral cortex of any Strogg. It is an archive of data an neural link to the Strogg Communication Network. The neurocyte contains the associated tactical program for a particular unit, which is why the Strogg require no training for combat, since it means they already possess the skills via the neurocyte. It gives the subject the ability to understand the Strogg language and get through the security lock-outs on Strogg control panels that normally block out non-Strogg users. The neurocyte also has other effects on the Strogg.

A neurocyte does not inhibit emotion but rather redirects it and amplifies it: the Strogg gain joy from the death of their enemies and show extraordinary excitement, often laughing, in battle. In fact, the neurocyte likely directs their aggression so effectively it makes them disregard their own safety in favour of killing the enemy. Many a Strogg footsoldier has charged into human security barriers and gunfire, or stood in front of a travelling combat vehicle without concern about being crushed. The neurocyte possibly induces such aggression and a desire to kill the enemy, manifesting as utter contempt, that Strogg readily sacrifice themselves to kill the enemy since their components would be recycled to build more Strogg anyway. The Makron possessed an arrogant character, laughing grotesquely at its enemies in combat and shouting "you cannot win!" or contemptuously saying "die, human!" showing that it was capable of the emotions of joy and hate, as most likely regulated by the neurocyte or the Strogg Communication Network's influence thereon.

It is implanted using a large hypodermic needle, driving it directly into the brain of a fully conscious subject at the last stage of stroggification. In human terms the damage to the cerebral cortex during implantation would likely kill a subject but Strogg technology (most likely nanites) has proven otherwise. It then requires subsequent activation of the program to enslave the subject's brain. Far ahead of human medical knowledge, the neurocyte cannot be removed by any forms of surgery, so deeply is it wired in.

Stroyent

Main article: Stroyent

Stroyent health station

The most important substance to the Strogg is stroyent. It is a viscous green slime which contains large amounts of protein and other nutrients that the Strogg require, which is processed from the corpses of their victims and former allies. In addition stroyent is used by the Strogg as a kind of renewable biofuel instead of oil. Stroyent health stations are what appears to be a removed stomach found attached to a device that dispenses stroyent to Strogg requiring medical assistance.

Stroyent seems to be produced using various bio-engineered systems, integrally something called a "stroyent processing creaure" as well as a giant organ much like a massive heart that pumps the stroyent through a series of tunnels and pipelines running across Stroggos. This is part of a biological factory the Strogg maintain for creating stroyent. It is likely this is the central system for stroyent's production and dispersal. However, even during the Earth Invasion the Strogg were equally capable of producing stroyent on Earth and could even convert existing human oil refineries into stroyent factories. For this reason it is likely that the Strogg can create Stroyent with or without the use of the stroyent processing creature and the heart, though these systems inevitably made the process a lot faster.

Unlike oil, stroyent is a non-combustible fuel and is likely only able to fuel Strogg machinery by being fed into various interconnected biological components. Regardless of this, the Strogg still use combustible fuels also, likely stroyent-derived, since there are explosive red barrels in many Strogg facilities, probably containing gasoline or some similar fuel.

Culture

Aged Strogg banners and fortifications

Strogg culture is marked only by the excessive fixation on warfare, with all their efforts being geared towards this single purpose. Buildings on Stroggos are nothing more than countless armoured bunkers, weapons factories, defences and massive fortifications. There is no evidence of any previous era in which the Strogg had other forms of architecture, and many of the buildings show signs of extreme age and crude construction, rusting to the core, though they all tend to have the same kinds of elevators and automatic doors that are typical of human military installations. One sign of the Strogg's culture is their use of nationalistic banners and symbols in orange and yellow colouring, hinting that they may once have had a national identity or took some kind of pride in their culture. Many such banners still hang on or inside Strogg installations, though many of them, like the buildings, are weathered, torn, stained and almost ancient in appearance. It is possible the Strogg still make these flags and display them as a holdover from a past age when they were less enslaved by their technology, since otherwise the Strogg would see them as a waste of resources due to their lack of need for morale or military pride compared to humans.

Language

The Strogg language functions very similarly to English, with various symbols forming seperate words and basically working as letters, as opposed to symbols representing whole meanings in the way that Chinese, for example, works. However, there is little indication that humans have managed to translate it even after years of war agains the Strogg and study of them. Understanding of the Strogg language is gained only from a neurocyte being implanted in the cerebral cortex, and few human translators would volunteer for such a procedure.

Society

Strogg society is market by brutality and savagery without parallel. The biggest and strongest Strogg are automatically the ones with higher authority, with the most superior Strogg taking the title of Makron and having absolute power over the Strogg civilisation and society. Larger and more powerful Strogg have little respect for their weaker brethren, with many a light tank killing or trampling a lesser Strogg footsoldier if they got in its way. Unique powerful Strogg function as guardians and act as subordinates to the Makron, such as the Tower Guardian which was tasked with the outer defence of the three security stations surrounding the central Strogg Nexus tower.

Warfare

Ground forces

Mechanized walkers

The Strogg harvester is a mechanised walker that collects corpses from the battlefield for stroyent processing

Strogg military designations

The Strogg use a variety of different cybernetic constructs as soldiers. Here are some of the different kinds of combat unit:

• Marine
• Grunt
• Berserker
• Gunner
• Pro-Marine
• Gladiator
• Makron
• Heavy Hover-Tank
• Light Tank
• Convoy
• Hornet
• Turret