Protoculture (Macross)

The Protoculture are an ancient race who are the ancestors of Humans and being the creators of the Zentraedi. Their name comes from the fact that they were the first intelligent form of life in the cosmos who had developed their own culture. As a result, they named themselves the Protoculture who were once a powerful race that dominated the galaxy long ago.

History
According to murals, the Protoculture were once a proud race of beings who developed their own culture long ago before all other creatures living in the universe. Thus, they took the name Protoculture as they were the first beings to developed culture. Their origins were traced to a planet with an abundance of greenery where they developed a society of small settlements, gathered food and generally lived in peace. Eventually, their race developed tools, implements and industry as well as learnt to plow their lands. At this time, their population had grown considerably whereupon they divided themselves into two separate factions that lived in different areas. As their industry and agriculture developed, many political and economic exchanges came before the race. With their continued advancement, the Protoculture developed the capacity for space travel and ventured into the stars. But the differences between the factions of Protoculture eventually led to conflict erupting between the two and war was the result. So great was this conflict that it spread throughout the universe. It was during this time, that the Protoculture felt that they could not stain their hands with blood and thus decided to fight the war by proxy. This led to their science creating a race of giant warriors known as the Zentraedi to fight their battles. (Macross 7: Episode 37 Mystery of the Ruins?)

In time, the war continued to escalate which led to the development of even more powerful weapons being developed by the Protoculture. This led to an even stronger and more powerful version of the Zentraedi being bred who were known as the Evil. These creations were eventually possessed by energy beings from another dimension that emerged from a warp in space-time. The creatures were claimed by the Protoculture to be like devils and thus they were named Protodeviln. These newly created beings lacked the ability to produce a life force which they called Spiritia and thus developed into vampiric beings that fed on others for this nourishment. Thus, they began to feed on Spiritia of all living creatures across the galaxy. However, they became too greedy and the number of Spiritia beings diminished and nearly became extinct in the universe. The war between the Protoculture was known to had been both long and fierce which seemed to go on forever. However, a mysterious power known as the Anima Spiritia emerged which managed to seal the Protodeviln in a world that became known as Varauta where they were entombed within the ice. Ultimately, the fall of the Protoculture was attributed by the Protodeviln. Elements of the history of the Protoculture were retained within an ancient ruin located on the planet designated GGT "Rax" where it resided beneath the sea. (Macross 7: Episode 37 Mystery of the Ruins?)

The Macross 7 Colonization Fleet stumbled upon the ancient ruins of the Protoculture that were excavated by Sivil before she temporarily departed the planet. This allowed Exedore to arrive with a contingent of soldiers where they examined the relic and uncovered the origin of the Protoculture along with the Protodeviln. (Macross 7: Episode 37 Mystery of the Ruins?)

Culture and society
They are were known to create murals that were written in their own language which the Zentraedi writing system was seemingly based off and allowed them to translate. The Protoculture also believed in the sign of peace which was an individual that contained the mixed blood of many different races. (Macross 7: Episode 37 Mystery of the Ruins?)

Technology
Within the ruins of a Protoculture base, an automated guardian resided that could only be awakened by the sign of peace. After its awakening, this entity detailed the experiments that led to the creation of the Protodeviln. The Protoculture also developed powerful barrier shield technology that protected their installations from attack. (Macross 7: Episode 37 Mystery of the Ruins?)