Invid

The Invid are a hive-mind race that is driven by the need to take back what was stolen from them (Protoculture), to punish those who use (Protoculture), and avenge what the Robotech Masters did to their race and world. Over time waging war for the sake of conquest and pushing the evolution of the race to perfection became the overriding goals. The Robotech Saga was basically all about the Invid and what came from their world, Protoculture.

Origin
The Invid started out as an agrarian species which knew nothing of hate, war, greed, deception, or manipulation. They were a pretty much sedentary lifeform which used the Flower of Life as food and a narcotic (without ill effect for Invids). When the Tirollian Zor discovered their world, the Regess was curious and took the form of a humanoid to interact with Zor. He seduced the Regess and learned the secrets of the Flower of Life. When he took this information and examples of the Flower of Life, the full potential of that plant was discovered (energy source, cloning, genetic manipulation, & the creation of life).

Power hungry and greedy, the Tirollian ruling elite (the Robotech Masters) sent Zor back to the Invid homeworld and forced him to betray the Invid by threatening his father. With an army of giant soldiers (the Zentraedi) they stole most of the Flower of Life on Optera, ruining the world and devastating Invid society. Filled with rage the Regent and Regess evolved the Invid race into a vast merciless war machine, and went forth into the stars to wage an epic intergalactic war against the Robotech Masters and their Zentraedi shock troops.

As time went on, the Invid built their own vast intergalactic empire just as the Robotech Masters had done. Any world or race that was found with the Flower of Life (planted their by the fleeing Zor) or using Protoculture (due to coercion by the Robotech Masters or trade with them) were attacked and either conquered or exterminated. At first it appears that they were at a stalemate, with both sides winning and losing worlds. Eventually the Robotech Masters found themselves at a disadvantage as the Protoculture Matrix that they required to keep the empire going, had been stolen by Zor (out of guilt at what he had done to the Invid, disillusion at the Robotech Masters' tyranny, and anger at the betrayal of the Robotech Masters who had his father killed). They started to steadily lose ground and when the vast majority of the Zentraedi fleet was destroyed at Earth, their empire was doomed.

Human-Invid Wars
When the humans sent the Robotech Expeditionary Fleet (REF) to get the Robotech Masters to agree to peace with Earth and if not to defeat the Robotech Masters, they discovered that the Robotech Masters were gone. In fact their homeworld (Tirol) was now in the hands of the Invid who had destroyed what remained of the Robotech Masters' empire and had conquered Tirol only to learn that the Robotech Masters had already left and taken what remained of their military forces to Earth in an attempt to regain the Protoculture Matrix. Which resulted in the Second Robotech War, the final defeat of the Robotech Masters at the hands of the humans, and the spreading of the Flower of Life throughout Earth. Soon the REF commanded by Admiral Lisa Hayes with her husband Commander Rick Hunter as her second, found itself in an interplanetary war with the Invid, mostly with the forces of the Regent. They ended up helping an alien group of resistance fighters (The Sentinels) in their campaign to liberate their homeworlds, which were the worlds closest to Tirol. Being in the same sector, they were given autonomy by the Robotech Masters and were also the last to fall to the Invid before Tirol. By this stage, the Invid themselves were near exhaustion and no longer had a vast empire nor vast military resources, their empire basically consisted of the newly conquered worlds in the "Local Group" (Tirol's sector).

Tired of all the fighting, having no interest in conquest, no longer desiring revenge against the Robotech Masters, and completely focused on evolving the Invid race, the Regess left the "Local Group". She took half of the Invid and went to Earth, after they found out that the Flower of Life was now on Earth. In the meantime, the REF found itself not only fighting the Invid Regent but also in a civil war among its forces due to the bigoted, power hungry General T.R. Edwards who went so far as to form an alliance with the Invid Regent. In the end the REF / Sentinels alliance defeated both the Invid Regent and General T.R. Edwards. Earth which had been weakened by the Second Robotech War, did not stand a chance against the Invid Regess. Earth's defenses were swept aside and the world was conquered within a few days. The Invid virtually annihilated the Army of the Southern Cross (which was responsible for the defense of Earth) and every major city and populated region. Hives and Genesis Pits (where genetic experimentation) were established worldwide. Some human communities were used as slaves to harvest the Flower of Life. Other human towns were left alone, as long as they did not use Protoculture and did not resist Invid rule. Gangs, petty tyrants, and bands of rebel soldiers fought for survival, resources, and the loyalty (or obedience) of human communities.

Learning that the Robotech Masters had headed home, the REF after defeating the Invid Regent sent expeditionary forces to Earth to warn them and if necessary fight the Robotech Masters. By that time Earth had already fallen to the Invid and the expedition was wiped out within the first hour. Further REF expeditions (divisions) were sent by the REF with similar results. The survivors of those expeditions would form bands of guerrillas. During that period, the spacefaring bear-like Karbarrans (a member race of the Sentinels) helped the REF by using their shipyards to built starships for the REF (as well as for themselves). In the meantime, the Invid experimented on humans and then Regess created a new type of Invid, human-like as the Regess had come to the conclusion that the human form was the ideal and had herself taken that form since the time of Zor. The final attempt by the REF to reclaim the Earth was the biggest and most powerful, involving both the spaceborne forces sent to Earth (armed with Neutron-S warheads provided by the Haydonites). They were to be used as a last resort against the Invid, not knowing that they had been betrayed by the Haydonites (one of member races of the Sentinels). The weapon would have created a black hole, destroying Earth, the Invid, and the REF. The Regess recognized the weapon that the REF was carrying and combined with the persuasion of Ariel, one of her lost Invid simulagents (human-like), decided to leave Earth. She trasnmutated herself and the Invid with her into energy, destroyed the ships with the Neutron-S weapons and left towards the cosmos.

Species
The Invid have a bipedal slug-like crab form with the Regent and Regess being significantly larger. Being a hive species, the Regess and Regent both communicate with the lower Invid telepathically. The lowest type of Invid acts purely on instinct, higher types have intelligence, and the highest tier (scientists, officers, etc) have individuality. The species can be evolved or turned into energy by the Regess or Regent due to the Flower of Life and their harnessing of its powers. The Regent and Regess themselves also possess great strength and have psionic abilities in addition to telepathy (e.g. psychic blasts).

On the Invid homeworld of Optera and in worlds that have been occupied by the Invid, they have built hives. These hives take one of two forms, a dome or a sphere on top of a long stalk. Some of the stalk-like hives can be as tall as skyscrapers. The largest domed hive on Earth, which was Reflex Point was part of a complex of hives spanning 100s of miles.

Military Capabilities
Invid forces use mecha, starships, robots, and mecha. All of which are bio-mechanical and are equipped with sensors that track anything that uses Protoculture as a power source (which is a weakness when facing technology that does not use Protoculture as their optical and electromagnetic sensors are not as powerful or accurate).


 * Weapon systems:


 * Claws, fangs, & tails that rend armor
 * Plasma cannons (energy discs)
 * Laser beam cannons
 * Mini-missiles


 * Warship types:
 * Invid Flagship (massive star shaped with giant eye, kilometers long ship)
 * Pursuer (a long slender ship with a forward eye, that is powerful enough to split a planet's crust)
 * Scorpion Assault Carrier (three heads each with a laser cannon that can tear a starship in half with a single bolt, two eyes each that fire lasers, and two tails that can slash targets and fire laser beams)
 * Invid Carriers (600 ft long & 500 ft wide clamship that carries 140 to 400 Invid mecha which launches all at the same time)
 * Spherical Ship (used early in their war with the Robotech Masters, carried Invid mecha)