Optera

In the Robotech storyline, Optera is the homeworld of the race known as the Invid. The Invid lived in peace and harmony with their Flower of Life for millennia until the arrival of Tirolian scientist Zor.^[1] Zor seduced their female ruler, the Regis, who revealed certain secrets of the Flower of Life to him. These secrets were eventually developed by Zor into Robotechnology, a complex fusion of biology and machinery. After this discovery, Zor was returned to Optera with the Zentraedi Armada at the behest of his superiors, the evil Robotech Masters (who were also the ruling faction of the Tirolian Mercantile Empire). This would forever change Optera and the Invid, as following events led to the Flowers of Life being stolen from them and their homeworld left devastated by powerful herbicides.

In the following years, a savage war would erupt between the Robotech Masters with their fearsome Zentraedi warriors, and the ravenous Invid, who were desperate to regain their stolen flowers and seek revenge. With the surface of Optera rendered nearly uninhabitable due to the actions of the Tirolians, the Invid ventured to deep space to continue their war with the Masters and search for the Flowers. Any beings found in possession of the Flowers or the protoculture derived from them were attacked and destroyed without mercy. When the Zentraedi were defeated by the RDF in the First Robotech War, the Tirolians' Empire was left to fend for itself, as the Robotech Masters set forth in their massive Space Fortresses and left for Earth. The Invid wasted no time in exploiting this weakness. They quickly re-inhabited Optera, and launched deep strikes against the remnants of the Tirolians' Empire. The Invid's centuries long war of vengeance came to an end with the conquest of Tirol, homeworld of the Robotech Masters and the Tirolian peoples.

In subsequent Robotech spinoffs, they clash with the Robotech Expeditionary Force, notably the Invid Regent who dies while fighting against Breetai, who led a suicide attack to Optera. In the Robotech storyline, the fate of the Invid is unknown as they part from Earth when the Regis realizes her people will face mutual destruction from the massive counterattack by the REF, and begin searching for a planet where they can reach the pinnacle of their evolution. It is canon that the Regent maintained himself over Optera, withdrawing from the Regis ideas of evolution and keeping tight control over Tirol before the arrival of the Robotech Expeditionary Force.

The fate of the world is unknown though the original Sentinel comics, which have been removed from primary canon and relegated to secondary canon status, stated that the Praxians settled the world and named it New Praxis after the destruction of their own homeworld of Praxis.

References

1. ^ [1]