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.

Homeworld and empire
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.

Leadership
The Haydonites are ruled by The Awareness. 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 Robotech Expeditionary Force 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 Robotech Expeditionary Force 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 Robotech Expeditionary Force. 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 because the Haydonites "fear its power".

Protoculture
The energy source known as the Protoculture is the main target of the Haydonite race. The Haydonites, were sent to destroy those who had and destroy as much of the Protoculture as they could, for they feared Protoculture due to its extraordinary power.