Quake Lore: Delving into Quake 2 War on Stroggos - Operation Alien Overlord Phase 3&4 (Part 3)

[@twohorsesinamancostume7606]

"Today it rained food" is such a perfectly Strogg way of referring to being invaded.

[@jerglow]

That forgot to add Bitterman to their cost/benefit analysis

[@enenra6417]

​@@jerglowthat day they found their new leader

[@Akitoscorpio1]

I am actually genuinely offended at how few people are viewing these videos for how amazing they all are.

[@Eddman368]

I apologize I just found this channel, currently working my way down the playlist.

[@lazyafrandomnumbers]

1. this is so fucking cool 2. the production value is top tier 3. this is so fucking cool

[@voodomastergambill3892]

i love how the infiltrator try's to stop him from blowing up the place while saying "for the strogg!" while just being too late lmao. Also when bitterman meets the macron, he just doesn't even let the macron do his villain monologue lol thats the funniest part

[@Shredtrench]

This is amazing, I never thought Quake would get a lore explanation with this level of quality.

[@Ebin_Heart]

The chanting from the Geks was the most haunting and memorable moment I had in that mission pack. Also remember turning off the ost to listen to it

[@aurorafox1283]

"Try to assimilate this you alien bitch" is such a cheap yet very good one liner. Also i never thought a lore video get me more hyped and excited than the game itself

[@XavierBetoN]

One of the best narrations I've encountered so far. -including Attenborough WH40K Lore. May your railgun never run out, holy sir!

[@benfletcher9659]

I love how people are still making things for this game, 26 years on. Duke 3D, Doom, Quake, Quake II were part of the golden age of PC gaming for me 1996-2002.

[@megacide84]

I've heard many theories on the Strogg's origins and in my head-canon. It went like this. Shub-Niggurath was involved and was directly responsible for what they ultimately became. Long ago, Stroggos was a lush Earth like world with a civilization similar to ours. Suddenly, out of nowhere. The Strogg experienced a horrific Eldritch invasion similar to Hell's invasion of Earth in DOOM II. The population fought back but the war went going badly. Worse yet, they were highly susceptible to Shub-Niggurath's influence and Eldritch artifacts. As a final last best resort. The remaining population underwent Stroggification. This gave them two major advantages. As cybernetic super soldiers along with captured Stroggified Eldritch minions, they managed to fight back and turn the tide of the war in their favor. Second, under the control of an A.I. hivemind (The Nexus) they were immune to any adverse effects of Eldritch mind control. After decades of fighting. The Strogg finally pushed the Eldritch off their world and even followed the retreating forces into their dimension. There, the Strogg rampaged and wreaked havoc all over the place. If left unchecked. They'd utterly destroy the realm. The Eldritch stopped the incursion when they destroyed all portals leading directly to Stroggos. Without reinforcements and ample supplies (hence why we saw Strogg crates scattered throughout Quake 1) Whatever remaining units were slowly picked off or starved due to lack of Stroyant. With the Eldritch threat neutralized, the Strogg emerged victorious. However... It was a Pyrrhic victory. Stroggos was now a barren hellscape nearly depleted of natural resources. The population now consisting of augmented war machines. Their programming long gone haywire into perpetual warfare after decades of fighting. (This to me was the "Frankenstein event" Matthew Kane spoke of after his Stroggification and rescue) Hence why they ventured out into the cosmos attacking and conquering other civilizations including Earth. Leading to the events of ET: Quake Wars and Quake II/IV.

[@lechumqc7910]

A Strogg vs. eldritch armies fighting in the dreamland would be pretty epic to witness. It's interesting to see in your theory that Shub-Niggurath is at war with the Strogg.

[@megacide84]

@@lechumqc7910 That could easily explain the ruined dilapidated landscape of the Dreamlands. In the aftermath of prolonged battles against the mighty Strogg war machine.

[@KonigDesTodes]

Interesting idea to pit strogg against Shub. We do know that Shub didn't create the strogg (or to quote the dev SyncError, "there is no connection between Shub and the Strogg"). My theory goes somewhat differently, and is largely based off of Quake Champions, Dimension of the Machine, and Call of the Machine. From QC, we know that Elder Gods cannot be killed, and Chthon was simply ousted when Ranger defeated him, to be replaced with Goroth. In Goroth's lore scrolls, we see that the Dimension of the Doomed is home to cybernetic monstrocities very similar to the Strogg. Now in Dimension of the Machine, it gets established that after Chthon was outed out of his domain, he settled in the realm of the same name (Dimension of the Machine), in a similar matter to how the Lurching King settled in The Rift after being outed by Volkerh. In Call of the Machine, not only do we briefly visit the Dimension of the Doomed in Operation: Darkest Depths, which seems to be located on one of Stroggos' moons, but in the finale it's stated we're going to the Dimension of the Machine to find the Strogg-Maker though only manage to find the "Masters of the Machine" instead. So to seek out the Strogg-Maker, we go to Chthon's dimensions, except Chthon is no longer there because Ranger ousted him twice. This all makes me think that Chthon is directly tied to the origin of the Strogg, either converting them into cyborgs fully against their will, or pre-cyborg Strogg worshiping him, stroggifying themselves, and waging war on the rest of the planet and winning. Fun fact: In doma, we visit a space ship (Realm of the Astrologers) which is capturing eldritch entities. This space ship *very curiously* uses a very small handful of Q2 textures. The ship was manned by Grunts, Enforcers, and oddly, the sole Vore in the ship was at the helm. From QC, we know that Vore are servants of Ithagnal, the Elder God ruling the Netherworld. It's hard to tell whether these are tied to the Strogg or not due to just a handful of shared textures, but it's an interesting setup that hints at Ithagnal opposing other Elder Gods, possibly with Chthon's aid? Or in opposition to Chthon.

[@megacide84]

@@KonigDesTodes Another thing I see in the Strogg incursion of the Dreamland would be changes in their primary mission. At first it would be a search and destroy, scorched-earth policy of totally eliminating the Eldritch without mercy or pity. However... During the expedition. They discovered the secret of the runes and the immense power they held. They now sought to capture said runes and take them back to Stoggos. Of course, Shub-Niggurath and her Guardians couldn't allow this to happen no matter what. To the denizens of the Dreamland. The Strogg were seen as high-tech mechanical abominations that had absolutely no place in the magical realm. They already had a foothold and given enough time. They would have carved out large swaths of the Dreamland and established a permanent presence. The Strogg had to be stopped no matter the cost. As the war in the realm raged on and soon became a stalemate. In a climactic final battle, the Guardians unleashed the combined power of the runes. Devastating the Dreamland but also taking out the bulk of invading Strogg and destroying all slip-gates to Stroggos. Whatever surviving Strogg would have been picked off or starved out. A few could have found slip-gates to other worlds and made their escape. I can easily see some Strogg finding a slip-gate to Earth and making contact with Dr. Gilman during the events of 'Project Mountain King'. Arranging safe passage to Earth in exchange for advanced technology. Once on Earth, they commandeered the installation's long range communication system and sent a distress signal back to Stroggos. Alerting their comrades of their survival and a resource rich world just waiting to be plundered. Afterwards, they went into hiding until the Strogg invasion fleet arrived decades later.

[@szeltovivarsydroxan9944]

This is like watching a movie. Thanks for this masterpiece series!

[@jacobj3933]

Makes you think what would happen between the Infiltrator and its fellow strogg, if it was ever to return home. Having been separated for so long from the hive, it clearly gained an independent mentality out of necessity. Some independence is present for all strogg, but not to the degree that the Infiltrator developed for itself. What would it/he do if it came back to stroggos and witness its decrepit state? Likely it would witness much internal conflict between warlords trying to obtain full control over the remnants of their empire. But the infiltrator is unique, it knows how to survive without the hive mind, something the rest of its kind doesn't know. It could be the first amongst them to bring forth a sect of strogg which no longer depends on the hive mentality, something that wouldn't be as affective, yet prove to be incredibly vital to their survival as they no longer can operate as they used to. This is a major IF, as the infiltrator would have to earn the respect of the other strogg and would need to deal with the remaining warlords who are both bigger and have more advanced weaponry than it, but the infiltrator has learned to think outside the box, to be ingenuitive, during its time in the arena. It, much like the humans, could strategically kill off these warlords.

[@ComradeStrogg]

Top-tier vid. Narration, editing, music - perfect as usual. Thank you! Can't wait till we get to Quake 4 segment of the lore.

[@DaEphssis]

Man, the way you put all together is amazing. ( fr this is all cannon for me haha.) I'll admit i've always avoided Quake 2 but after watching your lore videos. I actually bought the remaster and turns out Quake 2 became my favorite quake.

[@Cotac_Rastic]

This was amazing. Looking forward to quake 4 when it happens. Realised this reminded me of the Resistance series in how hopeless the whole Alien Overlord operation was, would be amazing if Resistance was also covered eventually in the same manner, would suit amazingly well.

[@Alpha-T800]

Great job Marine keep up the good fight 💪🏻 Rip and Tear 🤘🏻

[@StroggKingu]

That was really nice, and good job in portraying Strogg free and not free will.

[@Gospodin_Kurac]

This video has a high production quality. They way you interconnected all Quake games into a story is amazing.

[@ArcboundX]

This series is a triumph.

[@ZulkirVT]

I AM BEYOND fuckin impressed... HOLY... *SHIT* !! Well done!

[@sergionunezcabrera]

This was such a fantastic video! I was blown away by that Quake I rune being hidden in plain sight during all this time! Superb video editing and voice acting.

[@Mx.Dmg1999]

Your quake lore vids are done so cinematically, I never knew Quake 1 had such intricate lore

[@dank6554]

Fuckin phenomenal as usual.

[@-CrimsoN-]

Can't wait to see you dive into Quake 4!!

[@temuulen83able]

Thank you for making this great video. I hope people realize Quake's greatness.

[@v8matey]

Love how this is put together. Very professional documentary about the Strogg.

[@WhisperingSoundscapesYT]

Thank you for this!

[@loscopihues2343]

you're really doing more for the lore of quake tha ID itself haha

[@shinpud]

top tier narration man

[@danilonakazone386]

Again, I can't wait to see the next parts. Quake 4 is the second QUake game I have played, I like the story

[@sebs-shenanigans]

Dropping in once again to admire the Solidness of the writing The Tastefull Visuals The voice. You have my respect, lad

[@garthhancock3373]

Nice. Been waiting on this bro.

[@warmasterchief]

These videos are amazing!

[@kolyaad]

This is an ABSOLUTE EPIC! 🤖 A passionate Ode to science fiction! . 9:43 I love how Scalebearer suits this case 🙃

[@japaneseaction6483]

Fantastic video but I just wanna point out at 21:40 oooooooo baby that song that pops in absolutely slaps!!! Great video!!!

[@wilhelmwagner3353]

awesome video man

[@KonigDesTodes]

Great video as always. Interesting artistic license in the dialogue of Joker, Bitterman, and Makron here. Will you be doing a Quake 4 video next? And do you ever plan to go back and do a Part 4 to Quake 1 to cover the events of Scourge of Armaggon, Dissolution of Eternity, and Dimension of the Machine?

[@sixsik6]

I concur, those additions would be top tier 👌

[@otiugeid1497]

Absolutely sick

[@jeromehelion4766]

A fine well done video. Thank you for remembering Quake 1 and 2

[@jacobj3933]

You feel the frustration and desperation of the infiltrator. Has the guy in his sight and is in reasonable range to kill him, and there's no response at all from the Makron who can easily give the order to finish off this threat. Don't blame the infiltrator being fed up with waiting for official permission to kill the marine.

[@MrDOODLive]

Incredible work. Thank you.

[@fallout44454]

Thank you for making these videos, they are absolutely incredible

[@skepticalmagos_101]

Another awesome lore drop... cant wait for more!

[@danilonakazone386]

I wonder why the Makron is so reluctant to finish the player invading all their complex lol. I know it’s mostly for gameplay reasons, but I would love to see an ingame lógic

[@lostShadowLord]

Three possible reasons 1)he/the hive mind/nexus didn't think that they would actually be able to complete the objectives. It would be a better use of resources to deal with the two ships and any possible reinforcements. 2)there wasn't a fall back plan in case something like this happened, so the decision making process was stuck in a loop 3)what ever is controlling the Strog wanted to see how it play out and prevent the Macron from overwhelming the three. And extra on reason: 4)due the the high threat in 3 different locations , the control system wasn't able to select the most important one and just stalled, resulting in local defences/resources being used and only nearby support requested.

[@danilonakazone386]

@@lostShadowLord thank you

[@CaliCracksGaming]

LETS GO! IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!

[@jsnification]

Great series! Amazing job! Keep it up

[@damondempseyjr1241]

This is amazing

[@CarlosElHalabi]

Amazing series

[@c4ns3r53]

Wait a second, I just noticed something, the Jorg looks like Klesk from quake 3. Same face, same spikes and same frame. Ps: this is too damn goog. Keep it up

[@danilonakazone386]

This was so cool to watch! a good quality video, very entertaining

[@fullauto86]

this is a really awesome set of videos man, fuckin good stuff.

[@aarongerard7277]

This has been a fun series to watch. Are you interested in doing ones for Doom or Wolfenstein?

[@lechumqc7910]

I was tinkering about doing something for Doom 1, 2, and 64. I'm not to familiar with Wolfenstein but it could be fun to look at! ^^

[@dahleozr5960]

Absolutely amazing video! Keep up the awesome work. Well done.

[@slimebuck]

great work my man. very entertaining and enjoyable. keep up the great work

[@alexeipino3994]

I love so much when games about a desperate war get expansions with other perspectives, I thought half life was the only one doing this since I cant run the rtx remaster so I didnt know about this

[@miguelmackay4851]

LETS GOOOOOOO

[@TheStrayHALOMAN]

Zombie in medieval armor... Sounds about right.

[@necrosteel5013]

21:00 i need to know where this particular ost track is from... I heard the entirety of quake 2,3 and champions yet don't remember where this one was.

[@lechumqc7910]

The name is "Invasion Of Aliens" by Saltonbria. But I dont think you will find it on youtube, it is a lisenced music from Motion Array. I agree, it is very similar to the music of quake champion ^^

[@AnisterStarlight]

I wonder where Quake 2 64 fits into the timeline...?

[@lechumqc7910]

It's a bit murky. It would possibly take place before or during the first wave attack, but there isn't much information about it.

[@KonigDesTodes]

Sadly the Quake 2 64 game is the one with the smallest amount of story (due to no opening / ending cinematics or even unit summaries). Based on the manual, default player name (Viper) for console version, and mission objectives, the narrative set up is basically: Viper is a space marine Special Operations and is sent on a reconnaissance mission of Stroggos. Viper's first mission was to infiltrate a strogg military outpost and steal a data disc to upload to command, then infiltrate an orbital defense station and destroy it. In escaping the orbital defense station, Viper lands on (one of?) the Stroggos moon(s?) and shuts down a Zaxite Mine operation before returning to Stroggos via teleporter, infiltrates a compound where captives are tortured and processed to access into a deep underground facility and destroy a "Command Core" (zero details on what, exactly, that is or why it was the ultimate objective for Viper). It's hard to really guess whether it's meant to be an alternate depiction of the base campaign's narrative, but with its own unique set of levels (three of which taken from one of Q2's and two of TR's levels), or if it's part of the greater narrative. If the latter, then it would make the most sense as being a prequel to Quake 2, as there is no orbital defense stations ever suggested in any of the three campaigns - the closest we get would be the Makron's asteroid base, and the moon base. And before a ground invasion can occur, known orbital defenses would need to be taken out.

[@TheWaMaster]

Don't forget Call Of The Machine! Unless that is confirmed not to be canon. Or maybe it takes place after Quake 4?

[@lechumqc7910]

There is not a lot of information for it yet. If it's canon, my guess would be before the events of Quake 2, but that's a very large guess. The only hint that gives me this impression is the 'Ruined Earth' level, where you witness a sort of giant Strogg mining ship drilling on Earth. The settings and locations are amazing, but there isn't much story to be uncovered. Lots of speculations are brought up, but not many answers, sadly.

[@KonigDesTodes]

We don't really know when Call of the Machine takes place. Could be during Quake 2, between the two, during Quake 4, or after Quake 4 for all we know. Though I'd like to headcanon it's post-Quake 4, personally. As to canon or not - depends on your point of view. According to Quake Champions, *all* expansions are non-canon - Scourge of Armagon, Dissolution of Eternity, The Reckoning, Ground Zero, Team Arena, and yes, Dimension of the Machine and Call of the Machine. But when there will be another Quake game, they may consider any or all of these canon again. Id software can be fickle with what it draws its lore from, but tends to treat all installments as canon in the large scope of things.

[@KonigDesTodes]

@@lechumqc7910 I personally don't think "Ruined Earth" is meant to take place on planet Earth - too many Gekk and Mutants, not enough humans, it makes me think the term in the title is more generic referencing land/ground instead, and I interpreted it to be the ruins of pre-cyborg Stroggos.

[@angusmitchell4026]

this was amazing if you need help with the story of quake 4 or anything to do with the game or characters im happy to help

[@lechumqc7910]

I might take a pause from the Quake Strogg war and try to cover other games before tackling Quake 4, but I can't say no to help ^^ thank you!

[@mastadonking3816]

25:24

[@EF-by1kp]

I not fan of quake but i thought quake 4 is different storry line thta other quake , but i was wrong. Hoping you can make quake 4 after this thank you.😊

[@mattjindrak]

I liked the atmosphere of one better but i like the gameplay of two better

[@AydenGangaram-vq6hh]

I like your new profile-picture.

[@jacobj3933]

Woohoo!

[@mattmc9812]

You fight the makron and then its turns out to be the french president 😂😂😂

[@MateMaterial]

Your quality of video is amazing. Your adit work is very good and using of ai voice is very for video without shadowing on your work is gneiss most of ai content on KZbin is very lazy without much of work of them self their is no surprise must people no longer can respect using of it even for really useful part but you not 👍

[@phantomhurricane666]

cover quake 4.

[@heinrichfletcher6954]

It is a coincidence that I had found these this week after starting to play Quake 2 RTX the first time and this makes me appreciate and love the games even more and I don't know how much I can say I enjoy these. Curious, are you going to do the Flesh Eaters from Turok?

[@szeltovivarsydroxan9944]

Oooh, Turok lore videos would be much appreciated :D