Macross Colonial Fleets

The Macross Colonial Fleets constitute the many vessels that have returned to the Earth Sphere after the Fleet Recall Act of 0084. These vessels -- almost universally large spacefaring colony ships with a humanoid-shaped battle mode, in the vein of the SDF-1 Macross -- each carried hundreds of thousands of souls, plus more in attached "Island-4" habitation modules.

Mankind's First Steps

The 0060s were a time of almost impossible idealism among the Federation member nations, and nothing is more emblematic of this idealism than the Macross Colonial Fleets. In addition to attempting to carve out new lives with proven technology close to home, humanity scattered its seeds wildly, hoping the galaxy would welcome them.

This idealism didn't last, however; while it usually goes unsaid, it's generally agreed that the dysfunction of space colonization in the 0070s led to the Fleet Recall Act of 0084. Under the Fleet Recall Act, all Macross-class vessels which could receive Fold communications from Earth and had not already established a planetside colony of at least 500,000 people were obligated to return to Earth until further notice. Over the course of the last 12 years, about 80% of the fleets launched by humanity have returned to Earth.

Fleet Culture

In many ways, the Macross Colonial Fleets are a time capsule of the idealism of the 0060s -- a place where, among the survivors, that frontier spirit and belief in the potential of cooperation between sapient beings never died. They are generally tolerant, with large Zentradi, half-Zentradi, and Coordinator populations; enforcement of bans on Coordinator creation is lax, though there remains a modest distrust of human augmentation in general.

More than that, though, the Macross Colonial Fleets are cultural juggernauts. Neither beset by the environmental cataclysms of Earth's last half-century, like Earthnoids, nor having suffered so much under the Federation's bootheel, like Earth Sphere spacenoids, the Macross Colonial Fleets have had tremendous time for leisure and cultural development. High-quality TV and film production takes place over weeks (if not days), compared to the months or even years of Earth-based shooting schedules; practically every street is a Times Square-like barrage of signage and cultural announcements; and, of course, the belief that song can change the world is deeply, deeply culturally ingrained.

As a result, the Macross ships that have returned have an incredibly vibrant music culture, and of course, everyone listens to everyone. Some of this escapes into the broader public consciousness, of course, but fleet residents are always most invested -- for good or for ill -- in the music that originates on the fleets.

Planetside Colonies

There are a handful of planetside colonies formed by the Macross fleets; these generally stem from places with a "direct" or "near direct" Fold path to Earth that can be reached by even small-scale Fold boosters within a day. The largest of these, Eden, was colonized by a short-range colonization fleet within a few years of the Zentradi War. These places generally have the following traits in common:

• An ecosystem that naturally supports humanoid life;
• No previous indigenous sapient species;
• Large quantities of flat land that can easily be connected by linear train.

At the present time, these spaces are largely cut off from the Earth Sphere, due to the paucity of Fold drives.