Haydonites

The Haydonites are a fictional, highly advanced cybernetic race that appears in Robotech and made their first appearance in the comic Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles. They are also seen the subsequent movie, Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. To the Invid, they are known as the Children of the Shadow.

Background

The Haydonites live on the world of Haydon IV and wear robes that mask their appearance. The one identifying feature is a single spherical robotic eye that glows in their robes. The eye appears to differ between the various Haydonites but whether this is an individual characteristic among the race or a rank of seniority is not known. After the robe is removed, the Haydonites appear as a floating body with no apparent arms or legs with only a chest region and the heads being apparent on their bodies. After being shot, a greenish fluid was seen on their wounds but whether this is "blood" or some form of mechanical fluid or protoculture is not known.

The world they live on is actually a mechanical construct which is the home of The Awareness, a powerful intelligence that guides the race. It resembles a large Haydonite eye, a holographic image of one was present on the Haydonite command ship where it passed its instructions to its followers. The Haydonites always refer to the plans of the Awareness and go according to its predictions.

Notable Haydonites include the android Janice, who is constructed from both Human and Haydonite technologies and Veidt and Sarna who aided the Sentinels in battling the Invid forces of the Regent.

History

In the distant past, the Haydonites destroyed the surface of the first Invid homeworld. The true reason for this was never explained beyond the fact that they feared Protoculture. This encounter between the two races would result in the Invid referring to the Haydonites as the Children of the Shadow.

According to the original Sentinel comics, Zor communed with the planetary intelligence of Haydon IV on one occasion before his first death. These comics also stated that the Invid managed to occupy the planet through duplicity and only Janice who activated the planet's defenses managed to force the aliens off the planet. However, the Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles comics show that Haydon IV was already freed from Invid occupation before the REF arrived.

The next noted encounter with the Haydonites was when the Robotech Expeditionary Force arrived around Tirol to make peace with the Robotech Masters. Instead, they found the Invid Regent and his forces which attempted to form their own empire in that region of space. The Haydonites were one of the many races that formed the Sentinels which joined forces with the REF to combat the Invid. The Haydonites provided technological assistance to the Robotech Expeditionary Force during its fight against the Invid Regent during the Sentinels War. The Haydonites claimed to have suffered at the hands of the Invid in the past, and used that to explain why they wanted to assist the REF. At the same time, the Haydonites asked that details of the Haydonite assistance be kept secret as the Haydonites wished to live in peace and not be disturbed by other races.

At the end of the Third Robotech War, the Haydonites, known to the Invid as the Children of the Shadow, betrayed their allies and attempted to destroy all races that used Protoculture as a power source as seen in Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. According to the Invid Ariel, the Haydonites attempt to destroy any race that uses Protoculture energy (which they call "protoculture addicts") because the Haydonites "fear its awesome power...".

For the final REF assault on Earth, the Haydonites provided humanity with weapons and defenses against the Invid, including the deadly Neutron-S warhead. The Neutron-S warheads were effectively weapons of mass destruction and would kill millions of civilians as well as devastate half of Earth. But it was anticipated that if the REF ground assault against the primary Invid hive at Reflex Point failed, then the warheads would be needed to destroy the hive. However, the catastrophic results of the Deukalion weapons test, as well as comments by the Invid Regess, suggest that the Haydonites concealed from the REF exactly how powerful the warheads were. The Haydonites expected that the REF would use the Neutron-S weapons and wipe out the Invid on Earth. The Regess foiled that plot when she decided to take the Invid to a new world, and destroyed the Neutron-S missiles as she left.

While it is unknown exactly what would have happened to the Earth if the Neutron-S warheads had hit Reflex Point, the Deukalion weapons test (which appears to have caused the creation of a new black hole) suggests that Earth (currently the only known location where the Flower of Life can properly grow) may very well have been completely destroyed. Further, the Regess recognized the warheads as weapons that had been used against the first Invid homeworld, and a vision from Ariel of the first Invid homeworld revealed a completely ruined world.

With the Invid having fled, the Haydonites decided to focus on the REF. They attacked the REF fleet at Space Station Liberty, and it was revealed that the technologies that the Haydonites had provided to the REF had hidden weaknesses that the Haydonites were able to exploit to catastrophic effect. Most of the REF ships defending the station were wiped out, but one of the Neutron-S warheads stockpiled at Liberty was set to self-destruct, and the resulting blast was large enough to wipe out the entire Haydonite fleet.

The Haydonites' plans following the battle at Liberty are currently unrevealed. But it is known that they were searching for the SDF-3 and its Protoculture Matrix (the only way for the REF to generate more Protoculture energy), and had expected to find it at Liberty Space Station. It is logical to assume that locating the SDF-3 is still a Haydonite priority.

Technology

The Haydonites after the Third Robotech War amassed a large fleet of cylindrical shaped warships which were advanced enough to possess shield technology. The command vessels were capable of opening up to fire multiple energy beams that were capable of destroying starships. They were also capable of firing a disruptor wave that was capable of immobilizing or overloading the Shadow technology they provided the REF. Their ships were also capable of hyperspace folds though the limits of this are not truly known.

The Haydonites made use of wing shaped fighters that were armed with dual energy weapons; and were somewhat similar in design to the Cylon fighters of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series. They also made use of mecha which were somewhat similar to the Invids in that they were insect in shape. Apparently, these mecha required command from a Haydonite to remain functional and damage to the Haydonite can lead to the deactivation of the unit.

The Haydonites were primarily responsible for the REF's development of Shadow devices and Synchro weapon technology. This was mostly because they had planned to destroy the REF once they had defeated the Invid and managed to devastate the REF fleet at Space Station Liberty.

Appearance

In the Sentinels novels by Jack McKinney, the Haydonites were mostly represented by Sarna and Veidt who were charter members of the Sentinels. They originally appeared as floating robed beings with armless bodies, hairless, mouthless faces and a jewel-like object on their forehead. This jewel was capable of emitting an energy beam. Ambassador Veidt makes an appearance in the Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles comic book miniseries in his redesigned form. It is not clear whether Veidt is one of the Haydonites depicted in the movie Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles as none of them are ever named.

With the relegation of the Robotech novels to secondary continuity, it is assumed by fans that the depiction of the Haydonites in the final novel The End of the Circle is no longer considered correct - although information presented in the Sentinels novels (13-17) may still be accurate.

References