Gaming Guild
What is Robotech?
Robotech is a story of a multi-generation war waged by humans, genetically created
beings, alien races, and an evolved hive species fighting with giant machines,
bio-mechanical systems and reconfigurable mecha. Its story is on a scale in which
whole worlds and races and the very fabric of the universe lay in jeopardy. It is told
through different mediums; a Japanese animation series, or anime, an adult
novelization, role playing game sourcebooks and comics which results in a
conflagration of different points of view points relating to the specifics of the
Robotech Universe. Though there are as many different answers as there are fans to
the question of what Robotech is, most people would agree that it is one of the
greatest science fiction epics of our time.
The Story of Robotech
(Preface, which is revealed through flashbacks and story telling
throughout the
series.)
Long ago in a distant quadrant of the galaxy, an explorer and scientist from the
planet of Tirol named Zor explored the planet of Optera. On Optera there lived a hive
species called the Invid, which fed and depended on a native plant called the Flower
of Life. The Invid had a male leader, the Regent, and a female leader, the Regis.
From the Regis, Zor learned that the Flower of Life could be used to make a
remarkable energy source called Protoculture. By working with Protoculture, Zor
created a new type of technology called Robotechnology. Zor introduced
Protoculture and Robotechnology to his planet’s leaders, the Robotech Masters, who
became corrupted by the power it gave them. The Robotech Masters genetically
created a warrior race of giants called the Zentraedi and seeking a monopoly on
Protoculture, ordered the Zentraedi to defoliate Optera. The Invid were forced to fight
for their survival and became a race of fierce warriors which battled with the
Zentraedi and the Robotech Masters.
Zor became disgusted by the way his leaders used Protoculture and
Robotechnology and vowed to undermine them. He built a powerful ship and hid in it
the Protoculture Matrix, a vast Protoculture resource, and dispatched the ship and
died. The Robotech Masters, who needed the resources of Protoculture the Matrix
held to maintain their empire, dispatched the Zentraedi to find it.
In the year 1999, an alien ship crashes on Earth on a small Island called Macross
bringing an end to a civil war on Earth. The people of Earth unite and rebuild the
ship, which they name the SDF-1. During the reconstruction, a large city named
Macross City, rose up around the fortress. From examples recovered and
information learned from the SDF-1, the Terrans learn about Robotechnology and
apply it.
SDF-1
It takes ten years to rebuild the SDF-1, but in 2009 it was finally done.
On the
launching day of the SDF-1, the Zentraedi arrive and the First Robotech War begins
as they try to reclaim the fortress and the Protoculture Matrix it contains.
The Cast
Rick Hunter becomes one of the pivotal characters in Robotech. He starts as a
civilian, becomes a fighter pilot to follow in the footsteps of his older kid-brother Roy
Fokker, and becomes the leader of the SDF-1’s fighter group in Roy’s place after
he
is killed. The SDF-1’s First Officer, Lisa Hayes, falls in love with Rick. Rick,
however,
is in love with Lynn-Minmei, a young singer and popular icon in Macross City. Later
Rick and Lisa realize their love for each other.
Rick, Lisa and Minmei
During the war, the Zentraedi in the fleet sent to recover the Matrix are
exposed to
Terran culture and emotions for the first time. They refuse to fight and wish instead to
abandon their war-dominated culture to join theirs. One female Zentraedi, Miriya
Parino, and a Terran pilot and friend of Rick, Max Sterling, marry and have a child,
Dana Sterling.
At the war’s conclusion, the ships of the Zentraedi fleet are
summoned to Earth for a
final showdown against the SDF-1 and the renegade Zentraedi which allied with
them. The Earth is bombarded and its surface is all but sanitized of life. The entire
fleet of the enemy Zentraedi is destroyed although remnants of it survive on Earth
and continue to fight a brief guerrilla-style war. At the conclusion of First Robotech
War, the SDF-1 is destroyed and plans are made to send a force to Tirol, the home
of the Robotech Masters, to prevent another war from coming to earth.
Robotech Links :
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