Amalgaverse Profile: The
Invid
Sphere of Influence: Unknown, somewhere beyond Human Space
Government: Deistic Socialist Monarchy
Homeworld: Optera (however, they are currently in exile)
Nobody knows exactly where the Invid have taken roost after their
flight first from earth and then from the pocket dimension where the Regis and
a large segment of the race was trapped with the SDF-3. It is believed,
however, that the Invid have found several habitable planets beyond Human
Space, which constitutes a roughly 300 light year in diameter sphere around the
Sol System and includes our local star group, as well as the Hyades and Ursa Major star
clusters. One advantage the Invid have over other protoculture-using
species is their flawless ability to spacefold. It is
believed their leaders, the Regis and Regent, or an Invid Brain, can fold a
fleet of Invid to anywhere in the galaxy, possibly the universe, with unerring
exactness in an instant. Military strategists have expressed dire concerns for
human fleets if the Invid ever evolve beyond their primitive swarming attack
tactics and begin to use spacefold assisted flanking
maneuvers. The end result is that the Invid’s new homeworld, or worlds, could be anywhere, far beyond the
reach of humanity’s ability to strike back. Who knows how many massive star
hives they’ve constructed in the cold depths of farflung
space, where there shipyards might be, and if those shipyards are producing
tens, maybe even hundreds of starships every year. It is one of the most
valuable bits of intelligence in the galaxy, and many will die or kill to get
the coordinates for the new Reflex Point, the central hive of the Invid
species.
The Invid do not have a government as we usually know it. They are
headed by two god-like beings, the Invid Regent and the Regis. It is believed
that the Regis did not exist until first contact with Zor
approximately 600 years ago. The collective mind of the Invid created the Regis
in order to better communicate with Zor. She is the
heart of the Invid, possibly immortal and invulnerable (no one knows for
certain) with nearly god-like power. The first regent was created when the Robotech Masters defoliated Optera.
Out of the rage and pain of desire for vengeance the Invid felt, the Regent was
born. He embodied all of the anger and pain of the species, purely destructive
feelings which led him to conquer the Robotech
Masters’ empire and eventually destroyed him. The Regis recognized these traits
as negative and split the species, taking her half and invading earth.
Now, it is said that there is a new regent, human-looking, like
the Regis. He is her war general and perhaps wields similar power. No one is
sure, because no one has ever seen him and lived. Intelligence forces are
trying to determine whether this new Regent is simply a Stage 5 Invid “prince”
with expanded command over the Regis’s armies, or a
new being created by her or the species as a whole (really little difference
there) with powers to rival the old Regent. Most experts on the Invid lean
toward the latter theory.
It should be noted that the Regis may indeed be indestructible. If
she is the embodiment of the consciousness of the Invid species, then
theoretically even if her body was destroyed the Invid would subconsciously
recreate her over and over again. As long as there are Invid, there is likely to
be a Regis.
History: The
history of the Invid up to the departure of the Invid from earth is well
documented, and unchanged in the Amalgaverse. It
appears, however, that the same anomaly that caused the SDF-1’s fold engines to
disappear also caught up most of the Invid race as well as the SDF-3. For a
time, the SDF-3 and a fragment of the Invid race were caught in some sort of
hyperspace, until rescued by Scott Bernard and Dana Sterling. However, this
fragment was not the whole of the Invid consciousness, who
spread to unknown stars and began to rebuild. The universe had hoped to see the
last of the Invid. It seems Earth has, at least. The Invid have not been seen
in Sol system since what is known as the Great Transmutation. But the Regis did
indicate on her departure that she felt the calling of another planet where the
flower of life could grow. It is believed this was through one of the famed
Invid Sensor Nebulae, none of which were at earth during the occupation.
However, the departure from earth did not lead to any great change in Invid
thinking. They have continued to attack anyone who uses protoculture,
but they do so more cautiously now. They do not try to hold planets, but they
will raid, scoop up or destroy every source of protoculture,
and then depart. It is not believed that they are doing so for sustenance, for
there seem to be more Invid now than ever before, but they seem, instead, to do
so to prevent others from utilizing it. Some say the Regis still knows of
secrets to discover, terrible secrets, within the Flower of Life, which Zor had not puzzled out. It raises many questions, for
certain. No one has yet ascertained how the Invid “transmute” pure energy into
complex structures. The power of the Regis and the Regent goes far beyond even
fabled practices of alchemy. When one considers they are able to create
intricate, complex, technological and bio-organic mecha
with a thought, turning lead to gold becomes child’s play by comparison.
Perhaps it is this secret of alchemy that the Regis and Regent wish to destroy.
Perhaps it is something more. No one knows for sure. All that is known is that
Invid raids are getting worse and worse, and Invid simulagents
seem to be looking into any indications of protoculture
research. This is likely to lead to a clash between the Southern Cross and the
Invid in a big way in the near future.
Notes on Spacecraft and Mecha: The Invid and their inorganics are
virtually unchanged over the last century. The only difference is that now both
the Regis and Regent’s unique units, such as the Inorganics
and Pincer Command Units, are all part of the same army. Further, there are
far, far more Stage 4 and 5 Invid than ever before. Stage 4 Invid represent the
species in its natural form, and Stage 5 Invid are
what the Regis seems to think to be the next evolutionary step for the species.
This means that there are many, many more Royal Command Battloids
and Invid Enforcers now, although the main troops of the Invid still consist of
vast numbers of scouts, troopers, shock troopers and inorganics.
People mistakenly believe the Invid Clamship to be
the main space vessel due to their use on earth. This is incorrect. The Invid,
for the most part, travel space in the dreaded Invid Assault Carriers and Hive
Ships (the Hives seen on earth during the television series are spaceworthy vessels). The Clamships
act as light carriers and planetary defenders and serve no purpose but storing
lower-ranked masses of Invid for easy deployment. In space battles the Clamships stay back and the Invid rely on a few Assault
carriers and a LOT of armored scouts and shock troopers, led by a few pincers
or RCBs. Another vessel in the Invid arsenal is the
Invid Terminator, the largest form of Inorganic. This vessel is more than a
mile long. Its sole purpose is to chase down an enemy vessel, latch onto it,
and self-destruct. In the early days of the Invid-Robotech
Masters war, it was the only way for the Invid to take out the massive
Zentraedi battleships.
Invid in Space Battles: Many have wondered how anyone could consider the Invid a threat
in space. They shun long-range strike vessels except for the assault carrier,
and their scouts and troopers are virtually unarmored and lightly armed. This
is all true. However, the Invid are fearsome opponents in space nonetheless.
Once the autonomous fighters are deployed, an enemy must fight until each and
every one is destroyed. And in most instances they prefer to outnumber their
opponent anywhere from 5:1 to 10:1. What’s more, anti-
ship weaponry is rendered nearly useless against the small Invid mecha, which are designed to swarm an enemy, punch through
any defense screens, and penetrate enemy vessels. Their heavy reliance on claws
and close-in weapons allow them to devastate enemy vessels. The Zentraedi
perhaps got the worst of it, as the size of their vessels and hallways allowed
Invid scouts and troopers to actually enter their vessels and devastate their
crews. All it takes is one or two Invid to reach the reflex furnace and the
ship is lost. On human-sized vessels that’s a bit more complex, so the Invid go
for crew compartments, bridges, gun emplacements, and shred the hull, exposing
the crew to vacuum and disabling sensitive systems. This is why the Zentraedi
and Robotech Masters never got into large, destroid-like mecha. Almost all
Zentraedi and Robotech Master war
machines are sized to maneuver inside of their vessels, in order to root out
Invid invaders. In fact, it was a duplication of Invid tactics that Breetai used to nearly take the SDF-1 in 2011, when he tricked
the humans into commiting a “Daedelus
Attack” on his command vessel. Human mecha are far
more armored, durable, and more heavily armed than anything the Robotech Masters or the Zentraedi ever fielded, which is
why there are more Royal Command Battloids and Pincer
Command Units than ever before. The battle for earth convinced the Invid Regis
that the “salad days” of an armored scout being the match for the zentraedi battlepods are long
over. A battlepod only had 50 M.D.C., a match for an
Invid Scout. The Armored Scout, in fact, actually is MORE durable than the
Zentraedi Battlepod, it’s
traditional foe. The Trooper and Shock Troopers are veritable tanks compared to
most original Zentraedi mecha, something that gets
forgotten when the Invid are compared to contemporary veritechs.
A note on Invid biology and “Voluntary Evolution and
De-Evolution”. One of the more famed and
misunderstood abilities of the Invid are the various stages of the Invid organism.
While the Regis definitely wielded nearly mystic abilities in her creation of
the Stage 5 Invid, the process of creating different Invid is similar to that
of many insect species on earth.
All Invid, if left uninfluenced, would develop into fertile, stage
4 Invid, capable of reproducing like any other species. However, like bees and
ants, the denial or addition of certain proteins and protoculture-based
nutrients, leads to alternate forms. The Stage 1, 2, and 3 Invid are simply the
result of fast maturation of the Invid. Each stage progressively represents a
shorter development cycle. In times of extreme stress and war, the Invid must
reproduce extremely rapidly, thus the stage 1 Invid, which is incapable of
survival outside of its mecha. The Stage 2 Invid are allowed to develop a bit longer, and a fed more protoculture, the Stage 3 even more. The Invid Hive Brain
results from the introduction of a particular jelly derived from the Flower of
Life to a normal Invid. And Stage 5 Invid are the
result of an infusion of energy and genetic restructuring by the Regis herself.
Now, where Invid eggs come from? That’s a question nobody has really anwered. However, it is interesting to note that female
Stage 5 Invid are fertile with all human species (earth humans, tirolians, zentraedi, etc.), kirn (who can adjust their biology to mate with nearly
anything humanoid) and Stage 4 and 5 Invid (though this is mainly conjecture).
Interestingly, there is no actual recorded incident of two stage 5 invid free thinkers mating, but there has been one recorded
incident of a stage 4 and stage 5 Invid mating and producing a stage 4 Invid
offspring. Whenever two Invid mate, the child will be a stage
4 Invid. Mating with other species will either produce (90%) a normal
child of the non-Invid species or (10%) an Invid Free Thinker.
Stage 4 Invid who are part of the hive are sterile. Those who are
broken free of the hive will become fertile in 4D6 months with regular
ingestion of the flower of life, particularly the fruit. Stage 5 Invid are
fully capable of reproduction at any time, but it is believed that the Regis
forbids the activity of Stage 5’s mating uncontrolled in the Hives.
Relations with Other Governments: None.
Invid politics are fairly straightforward. All they care about is
who is using protoculture. Those, they destroy.
Everyone else they leave alone. They have no trade or political ties to any
government.
Invid raids are inflicted on those groups that openly use protoculture, such as the