Questions of the Machine

A Vision(?) of Castle of the Damned.

It's no secret that the re-release of Quake 2 was a pleasant surprise to everyone. While I previously struggled to revisit that game, Nightdive Studios' offering was able to pull me back in not just with the achievements. The game felt more fun and engaging than it did before. Not that Quake 2 is terrible game, but it just wasn't able to grab my attention again as is. Part of that is typical sense of novelty accompanying this re-release (as it does with announcements and other things like that), but some changes like the removal of Machine Gun's recoil go a long way to mix things up. However, that's not exactly what I want to talk about.

Going through both Quake 2 64 and Call of the Machine were definitely the highlights in my good old achievement hunting. While the first offers some neat gameplay experience, new expansion created by Machine Games provides some interesting food for thought in case you're a silly lore dork like me. Similarly to Quake Champions, I think there're some small fragments that could be utilized in the future whenever the franchise get its grand return. To be specific, contents of this post is just me making things up based on my impressions on Call of the Machine.

Mystery of the Strogg-Maker.

There's not much to go off with expansion's narrative. Its hub, Gateway Station, is likely another hidden outpost on orbiting stations close to Stroggos. I would assume that marines managed to take control of the Station during the events of Quake 2 and its Mission Packs. After all, some Units lead you to both Earth and Moon. Discovering some information about "Strogg-Maker" would surely interest Human forces, leading them on a wild goose chase for more intel... Except they didn't found what they were hoping for.

It's hard to say if Humans managed to recover any details from the failed OPERATION: Darkest Depths before losing contact with dispatched marine. I'll get back to that, but before that I would like to talk more about the Temple of the Creator. If you're paying any much attention, you would quickly realize that there was no Strogg-Maker present there. Marine was only able to slaughter a bunch of Stroggs, Mutants, Servitors & Masters of Machine before getting thrown into the abyss:

"With the Masters of the Machine dead, the Strogg are severed from their Maker. Your work is done, vengeance has been wrought upon the enemy, and you are lost in the infinite cosmic void."

Final Stand in the Temple of Creator.

Despite some losses and what some might consider to be a success, Strogg-Maker is still out there, and I don't think its identity is as obvious as some people might assume. There sure is a lot of hints towards Shub-Niggurath and her spawns Shamblers to playing some role in Strogg's existence. I'm not saying that she doesn't have anything to do with it, just that it's more likely that it could've been a joint venture between multiple beings. At least that's one of the options I could think of.

Honestly, it gets more confusing when I think about it. More I think about Quake's narrative, the more I get reminded that there's really nothing in there. Champions definitely tried to add something for its characters and such, but prior games on their own don't really have much to offer when it comes to lore. Even "the Strogg side" of the series... Nah, I will not play "it's forgettable" card. That's a cheap move. My "Quake knowledge" could probably use some work though.

What the Chthon?

There're some very thin connections to Chthon, even if you can call them that. It's hard to not ignore similar names of the newest expansions for both Quake re-releases. Obviously, these titles ('Dimension of the Machine' and 'Call of the Machine') are references to Machine Games, but in situations like this people will cling onto every miniscule detail and blow it out of the proportions. There's probably no direct connection between the machine that was leading to secret Chthon sanctum and... whatever was the machine hidden within Temple of the Creation. Seriously, nothing close to it was even shown in the map.

You know, that actually would've made the finale of Call of the Machine even better. An idea of those two Shamblers actually operating some kind of prime Strogg production facility is funny as is, but having more visual implication of that would've made the joke even funnier. Similarities between Fatalism with Modir and The House of Chthon most likely supposed to further connect Quake to its sequel. Same goes to the thumbnail of this "article" since Dimension of the Doomed, the first episode of the original title in the franchise, comprised of the most recognized maps for obvious reasons.

Quake 2(-like?) Textures in Fading Embers.

However, the idea of bringing Chthon here came from the Dimension of the Machine and its industrial aspects. Although you can argue that this expansion from Machine Games was mixing and playing with both aspects of the original, The Machine (Hub) itself with its Runes powering portal to Chthon was... okay, it was a good mix of magic and technology. However, the Hazard Terminal map from the Realm of the Astrologers with its cosmic ship or station section definitely had some snippets of Quake 2 in there. Well, kind of. In fact, I believe that some expansion maps (such as Fading Embers) even made use of some textures from the sequel. I should look into that and post the screenshot here... If it's not here, I ended up being too lazy. Although you can argue that both expansion might feel similar in some places because they were created by the same people, which is totally fair. Anyway, back to the OPERATION: Darkest Depths.

What I find more interesting is the fact that it was an excavation site. Not that there was a hidden temple on some planet, but that Stroggs were hard at work digging it all out. Personally I have a hard time imagining them as "believers", so that leaves me wondering just what the hell Stroggs were looking for there? Was it a promise of some ancient artifacts? Desire to get a hold off Shambler flesh to expand their ranks? Or Stroggs actually don't know who created them and Makron wanted to uncover that mystery?

Makron's Program.

After all, that fella was definitely onto something... retroactively, let's be real. It's perfect time to talk about Lore Scrolls of Strogg & Peeker again (I've went through them very briefly in the first days of this blog). Who knows just how much fun and work went into these silly texts for a select few nerds who play Quake Champions, but what I read does seem like developers used them as an opportunity to build up a backstory for its characters and (at least sometimes) that also leads to existing Quake titles getting more narrative throw into them. When it comes to Strogg & Peeker, their Lore Scrolls serve as a retelling of Quake 2's events from the perspective of the sole Infultrator in Cerberon.

I have to note that Strogg comes as more of an "individual" here in a sense that he has his own thoughts, but I think that might be more of a Quake 4 thing? Something tells me they were initially more mindless and one of the Scrolls makes a point of addressing that by most Stroggs remaining at Cerberon were former Greiss (Scalebearer, one of the characters from Champions, is Greiss) and they're not talkative due a lot of neocortex being removed during Stroggification. So yeah, Stroggs aren't limited to just humans.

Either way, the first Lore Scroll makes it clear that Strogg isn't happy with the Makron. As he mentions in a message to Peeker, "It has been showing signs of irrationality lately" and everything seems quiet before humans launch their attack on Stroggos. Things take an interesting turn starting with the fourth Lore Scroll:

"A guard reported a lone human survivor advancing toward the Outer Base. Makron has ordered all units to kill it on sight—except me. As the sole infiltrator left in Cerberon, my duty is to surveil the human and record its death. Makron gave me specific instructions not to engage the human in combat under any circumstance. Only me! Irrational, but I cannot question it, even if Makron seems… deranged."

Our Strogg was the sole Infiltrator on Stroggos and Makron was using him to observe Bitterman's movement on the planet. He's constantly surprised by his progress and laments how he kill the marine, but has to obey Makron's orders. Eights Lore Scroll is the last one related to the events of Quake 2, which is a collection of messages for Makron:

"Outgoing_Message(11294.8, Infiltrator1815) Makron, human has disabled EMP generator ::: Makron, human is nearing inner hangar ::: Makron, request immediate permission to process human ::: ::: Makron, human has disabled hangar doors : Advise ::: Makron, I do not understand “runes” or “magic” : Clarify ::: Makron, human has entered launch command : Advise ::: Makron, request immediate permission to process human: Advise ::: ::: MAKRON, HUMAN IS NEARING SINGULARITY GENERATOR ::: MAKRON, I HAVE SENT DRONE TO STRIKE HUMAN TARGET ::: MAKRON, CONDONE MY SELF-WILL OR ADVISE IMMEDIATELY ::: MAKRON, I WILL STOP THE HUMAN NOW ::: FOR THE STRO—! :::"

Since Quake Champions takes places 20 years before Quake 3 Arena and its manual says that Bitterman ended up getting captured on Stroggos, I think it's safe to assume that Strogg & Peeker were the ones who ambushed him. Lore Scroll is cut off after the distraction of Black Hole Generator (or "Singularity Generator", as referred by Infiltrator) and you can only assume what actually happened next since that's the point from which the pair was dragged into The Arena Eternal and that corner of the franchise is best treated as its own "alternate universe" type of thing (especially with both Blazkowicz and Doomguy).

If anything, all of this only adds to that one simple "Follow me, human" phrase that Makron says to Bitterman as he was approaching the slipgate to Final Showdown. Leader of Strogg not only observed the marine in all Units of Quake 2. Perhaps Bitterman victory was always part of the plan born out of Makron's "irrationality". I'm not exactly sure that it's something close to Rampancy from Marathon franchise. Only recently it finally dawned on me (as I was writing this and re-reading Lore Scrolls) that something similar has already happened before. In different time, in different universe.

Dreamed Ambition.

Quake Champions also has a collection of Lore Scrolls related to its Elder Gods. Each of them tells a story slightly related to them, offering more backstory to the universe of game's characters. One of these Elder Gods is Goroth who reportedly took over the Dimension of the Doomed from Chthon after his defeat (even though it's just easier for me to think of Arena/Champions as a different plane of existence separate from Quake, its sequel, DOOM & Wolfenstein franchises) and, naturally, its collection of Lore Scrolls titled "Commander at the Slipgate" is about reality of original Quake and the events leading up to the main game.

These Scrolls offer more perspective on Dr. Wendell Gilman: the creator of Slipgates, Quake's Grunts  and most likely at least helped with creating Visor who surely does remind me of Stroggs (oh yeah, I'm going in this direction). They're written as an audio logs of base counselor Tácito Flores close to the Slipgate Complex where he had a couple of sessions with Col. Montell Rice. You see, the current commander of the marine had some anger issues after becoming "the Dark Young". That revelation (to be more specific, "his sternum") scared the hell out of Tácito. The last Scroll was clearly recorded by Montell:

"Hello, Mr. Flores. Thank you for leaving your FUCKING TAPE here for me to exalt our Maker, YOU CHATTEL SCRAP. Gilman is already through. Ascended. Here’s what happens now. I give our very last marine a ring-yes, Mr. Very Special Veteran, you know the one-and tell him to get here on the double. “You’re our best man. This is Operation Counterstrike and you’re in charge.” Then I go through the Gate because THEY ARE WAITING FOR ME. Then he goes through the Gate because HE IS THE FUCKING OFFERING. Blood will flow. Lava will flow. Thanks, buddy. We’ll be seeing you!"

I guess that's what you would call "a huge lore dumb". Besides the direct reference of "The Story of Quake" section from original game's manual and it also potentially elaborated on Ranger's Lore Scrolls. He mentions how Slipgates leads him to original four Runes, questioning whenever "someone or something wanted me to find them". While I would prefer "something" option (have an idea in mind, but keeping it to myself), "someone" clearly directs to Gilman. It's unlikely that he wanted or even expected Ranger to kill Shub-Niggurath. To me, him being "an Offering" means "he's the best candidate for the perfect Dark Young". However, Ranger clearly didn't follow that plan and ascended Gilman had to search for other options instead of going with Visor.

While Shub-Niggurath's death is definitely a temporary thing, it made more sense for me to see Gilman go in his own direction after aforementioned "ascension" and Quake's finale. I really should mention that Wendell himself is a reference to Walter Gilman, a character from original Lovecraft mythos who studied things like Necronomicon. Perhaps Quake's Gilman also got his hands on these books and used them for his research and then came into contact with Shub-Niggurath. Either way, the idea of Gilman further perfecting his "Dark Young project" in other universe to a point of creating the Strogg race seems too obvious. I don't think Wendell became god-like. If anything, I'm leaning more towards the classic "crazy evil scientist viewing himself as a god and wants to conquer everything" type of thing. As for "different universes"... Well, Arena & Champions already played with idea of multiverse. You might argue that many people are tired of it (and for good reasons), but that's exactly why I think that it'll stick to the Quake franchise.

Quake 2's manual mentions how Makron is chosen from Strogg's Warlords and his death would lead to them fighting each other to determine who would become the next leader. While Ranger might've not becoming the Offering in a way Gilman was hoping for, I would assume that he accounted for similar turn of events and programmed Makron to act accordingly. Once Bitterman proved himself as worthy Makron, letting him escape wasn't an option hence he gets captured by Strogg & Peeker. Obviously, that's me further making up more narrative nonsense. Bitterman not being the next Makron in Quake can be explaned with Call of the Machine and Gilman being the Strogg-Maker. Stroggs were severed from their creator, so there was no way for him to ensure that things go according to his grand plan. No idea how that Nexus thing from Quake 4 fits into this equation though, but it's not like many people would care to bring that up.

Conclusion.

This "article" was supposed to be much shorter, so I'll just cut it right here. Who would've thought that I would end up being so inspir    ed to write so much text by Quake 2? It's very ironic since initially I decided just one small paragraph to Strogg & Peeker's backstory, but now everything went completely out of control. I really should put an effort to redirect all this creative energy (if it can be even called that) into something more worthwhile. Like, I don't know, finally manifesting Trial of Runes into existence in some shape or form.

Again, I highly doubt that this amount of work was actually put into building up a more cohesive backstory. Even though I will admit that these re-releases of Quake titles might suggest that a new game in the franchise might be just a matter of time. If something is being created behind the closed doors of Bethesda Softworks, I'm still betting on Roundhouse Studios taking a lead here with some help from MachineGames. There's no denial that Swedish developer clearly wants to work on Quake, their hands are already full with Indiana Jones game and Wolfenstein 3. Meanwhile, former team of Human Head Studios was working on something since August last year besides helping out Arkane Austin with the development of Redfall.

Why not id Software? I just think they're too focused on DOOM franchise, that's all. You know, we just got to wait and see. Only time will tell whenever MachineGames was just having fun while making the most out of their hobby or it's a calm before the storm. There were no major announcements on QuakeCon 2023 (aside from Quake 2's re-release), so it's unlikely we would see any sort of new Quake announcement in the near future.