A to Z Challenge: Optera

I already talked about the Invid but there's really nothing else for O so here I'm mentioning that their homeworld is Optera.  In a way it's really on Optera where the Robotech saga takes root, at least according to the books.  Optera is the lush planet where the Flowers of Life first grew and were feasted on by the docile slug-like Invid.

Flowers of Life

Then Zor came to town and found out that the Flower's seeds could be harnessed into a power source.  And like with Africa and the Americas this discovery turned out to be bad for the natives.  Zor cozied up to the Invid Regess to help gain the secrets.  Then he dumped her and the Robotech Masters with their Zentraedi warriors pretty much razed the the planet.

But the Invid survived and eventually took their revenge.  Though Optera never went back to its original state, it did recover somewhat.

Invid Regent

In the Sentinels series, Optera is the home of the Invid regent and the ultimate goal of the Sentinels.  It takes four books before they finally get there for the final showdown with the Invid during which Breetai and the regent kill each other in a final throwdown and the planet is eventually freed from the regent's control.

Regent and Breetai throw down.

Which really is only possible because the Regess took her half of the Invid to Earth to enslave the planet.  D'Oh!

The planet is given to the Amazon women of the former planet Praxis, which was destroyed by the Regess's Genesis Pit expriments.  This "New Praxis" is reseeded with Flowers of Life to create a second Protoculture matrix that powers the REF to Earth.  But later the Regess returns to Optera to start a new hive and begin again in her ancient form, sharing the planet with the Amazons.