The Race (also known as "Lizards" by Humans) is an alien reptilian race that invade Earth in 1942 during World War II. Their planet of origin is called Home, and their empire possesses two other nearby worlds.
Characteristics[]
They are a reptilian race, advanced for the human standard of the World War II era, but with weapons and technology only partially superior to the human one of 21st century.
They have features that resemble the chameleons, including eyes that move independently. They have, however, a stubby tail and their height is same as a human child.
The Race doesn't use clothes, but the males and females feature a complicated system of hierarchical body paints, to indicate the military rank or their civilian employment.
A significant difference from the human race is the lack of family bonds: the Race experiences mating seasons and no familiar bonds are created between males and females.
Culture and behavior[]
The society is highly organized and their culture is slow to accept changes and innovations. They are ruled by an Emperor that is perceived as a divine being. The Race has already conquered two worlds before attacking Earth; such invasions are motivated by strong ethnocentric beliefs.
Individuals of the Race have a rooted feeling of obedience, trust in the long-term planning and the belief in the right of the Race to expand its rule.
Individually, protagonists of the Race have shown a general contempt toward the human race and the Earth itself as planet (their home-world is desert, and the northern regions of Earth are considered too much of cold and wet places), considering the human race (called by them Tosevites, or "Big Uglies") as uncivilized, dangerous, violent and disgusting beings.
Captured Lizards show no sign of resistance toward their captures (if they receive a good treatment) and are prone to obey the orders at the point to reveal secrets and technologies.
Despite being ruthless soldiers in war, they've proved to be respectful of truces. Captured aliens in the hands of humans have proved to be able to interact amicably, even humorously, with the humans.
After the Cairo peace's agreements, humans and lizards often cohabited in a number of regions around the world: this led to further conflicts but also episodes of mutual understanding and even friendships among open-minded individuals.
History[]
Little was known about the Race, aside from the fact that 75,000 EY ago, Home was circumnavigated by a male Race named Sherran, who would later be known as a folk hero by the Race. At the same period, the Race somehow learned how to harness nuclear energy. Slavery was abolished even before the unification, although the exact time and date of the abolishment is unknown. Around 50,000 EY ago, Home was united under a unified government headed by the Emperor. Centuries after the unification, Rabotev-2 was conquered in 14,000 EY, while Halless-1 was conquered in 9,000 EY.
Around the Middle Ages, the Race deployed satellites to observed to Earth, later known as Tosev-3 by the Race. After determined the planet was inhabited and humanity was technologically underdeveloped, the Race spent 800 years preparing themselves for the conquest. The Conquest Fleet, under Fleetlord Atvar, arrived in Sol System after 20 human years of cyro-sleep. Upon receiving radio transmissions from the planet, the Conquest Fleet was shocked to find humanity had evolved into an industrial society, which was far more advanced than what the satellites had reported.
Regardless, Atvar commenced the invasion of Earth in 1942, which, at the time, was at the height of World War II between Allied and Axis Powers. The Conquest Fleet detonate several atomic bombs on Earth's atmosphere in an attempt to disrupt human communications, and, after hours, attacked human aircraft and ground vehicles in and around designated zones. Once the site was secured, dropships began to land and unload the troops.
The Race quickly conquered Africa and South America, but the advance in North America, Europe and Asia was faced with strong resistance from the both Allies and Axis Powers: the human nations put aside their conflicts to make a united front against the invasion. The conflicts turned ever more bloody once both sides started to employ nuclear weapons: a number of historical cities of Earth were destroyed by nuclear attacks launched from both sides. On the Race's side, however, things did not go well, as attritions and close-quarters combat cost heavy casualties at the hands of humanity. In Siberia, the Race were not prepared to face the harsh climate of the Soviet Union, leading to their disastrous defeats by the Red Army. The Race's hierachical society was strained by their inability to conquer Earth and the mounting losses humanity had dealt to them. This led to splits within the higher ranks of the Race military, with disgruntled soldiers in Siberia led by Ussmak mutinied against their officers.
The effects on the Conquest Fleet was deep, with many regarding the invasion as failure due to the fact they only conquered half of Earth within days, contrast to their expectations of the entirety of Earth. With no choice left and casualties mounts, the Race establish a truce with the Allies and Axis. The southern part of Earth was conquered, while nations remained on human control were named "Not Empires."
History after the Cairo Agreements[]
The Colonization Fleet eventually reached the Earth, however, shortly after their arrival, the Colonization Fleet were suddenly attacked by an unknown Tosevite nation (when the actual perpetrator was the United States), destroying twelve starships and killing countless colonists. The colonists were reasonably surprised and shocked to find only a partially subjected planet. They were expecting Earth to be a medieval civilization, only to find a far-advanced alien race at war with the Race. The Race was forced to face a number of difficulties, including military threats and competitions from the Not-Empires. The Not-Empires themselves also kept making technological progresses and begun their own space programs. Relations between the Conquest Fleet and the Colonization Fleet was relatively low, with the colonists find the Conquest Fleet to be "addled," and were also blamed for their exposure to "degenerate" cultures of Tosev-3.
In occupied territories, guerilla wars happen all across China, instigated by joint KMT-CCP coalition (in addition to Japanese soldiers). In Arab worlds, the Race faced violent riots from Arabic populations and terrorist attacks from Islamist groups, after a botched attempt by the Race to implement their own religion and looked down upon human religion, referring to Gods as "Big-Uglies."
Another great challenge was caused by the effects of ginger. During the Invasion, it was discovered that such spice was a powerful drug for the Race. Ginger became an even greater issue when it was found how could force females to go in heat, altering the reproductive cycle and causing countless of dangers to soldiers and colonists (due distractions caused by pheromones). It was also discovered that gingers also weakened the Race military, leading to Fleetlord Atvar to ban ginger. Despite Fleetlord Atvar banning ginger and the crackdowns, the addiction gets even worse that the Conquest Fleet had difficulties to enforce the law. This led to drug-trafficking spread throughout Race-occupied territories, and female members of the Race resort to ginger for prostitution in exchange for money. Some Race even defected to Not-Empires, where not only ginger is unlimited, but they had also took up the human style of marriage. Secretly, many human nations took the opportunity to undermine the Race culture. For instance, the Soviet Union launched missiles carrying ginger powders on the Race-occupied Australia.
Sometime in the 1970s, the Race left Earth, but the damage done by human society had left the Race culture scarred by criminal activities back at Home. Even after the Race left Earth, the ginger addiction from the Race colonists presumbly plagued Home, which led to detective Garanpo to make crackdowns on contrabands like ginger, even during humanity's visit to Home, Garanpo and the police force inspects their ship for potential contraband.
By the time of Interstellar Age in the late 20th Century, the Race still remained plagued by what's left the legacy of human society had impact them, as evidenced by Garanpo's inspection upon human arrival. By this point, humanity had surpassed the Race to the point the Race had fallen behind. Humanity would set out an interstellar travel through the starship Admiral Peary. Alarmed by humanity's advance in interstellar technology, the Race government debate whether Earth should be annihilated with their nuclear technology for the sake of their kind, but the arrival of FTL-powered starship, the Commodore Perry, in Home's orbit, even greatly alarms them, forcing the Race to scrap their plans to destroy Earth. The travel of Commodore Perry between Earth and Home only lasts in five and a half weeks, contrast to the Race's Colonization Fleet, which last over thousand years.
By the mid 21st Century, the Race's technology had been overshadowed by humanity, and a resurgent Germany began developing their own space program, posing potential risks to the Race. As a result, a large area of galaxy was opened to human colonization, diminishing the Race's status as a powerful civilization.
Relationship with human nations[]
Axis Powers[]
Third Reich[]
The Nazi Germany is part of the "Big Three": it's one of the most effective human military power able to counter the Race invasion. German military has been shown to be the most effective force in frontline battles with the aliens. The Third Reich has been able to destroy the first Race spaceship (with a long-range massive gun). Despite losing ground in Eastern Europe, Poland and France, the Germans managed to hold back the Race attempts to penetrate in the original German territory (both on France and Polish frontline). The German tanks have been the most effective in dealing with the Race tanks, even if with a negative kill-ratio. Jet fighters and long range rockets with use of lethal gas has made the Race pay a heavy toll for the war against Germany. Hitler himself has shown to be obsessive in the fight with the Race (especially after the destruction of Berlin), showing no restrain in nuking Rome (that has been turned the main Race operative base in Italy). Males of the Race have learned to fear and hate Otto Skorzeny because his covert operations caused heavy losses in lives and materials. The Third Reich has been a demanding partner during the Cairo negotiation, the stern request of returning Poland to the Reich has been a point of collision also with other Human nations. The Race has expressed the most stern repulsion and dislike toward the Nazi Germany, with bewilderment and inability to understand the Nazi political, social and moral claims in addition to disgust for the Nazi extermination of Jews.
Empire of Japan[]
The Empire of Japan appears to have suffered an huge setback when the Race destroyed Tokyo. Japanese forces in China lost ground to the Race advance and most of them were forced to enter clandestinely or join the Chinese in guerrilla action. The Japanese nuclear program was wiped out with the destruction of Tokyo. Japanese are peculiar for their bad treatment of male prisoners: like the human POW, they're shown as disgraced enemies that had not committed an honorable suicide, thus they're subject of ill-treatment. Even if not part of the "Big Three", the Empire of Japan was allowed to be present in the Cairo negotiation as an observer.
Reign of Italy[]
Already weakened by the WW2, the Reign of Italy quickly fall under the attack of the Race. Italy turned a major bridgehead for the Race operations in Europe. Benito Mussolini was at first captured by the Race, but freed by Otto Skorzeny raid. However the fascist leader chose the United States as place of exile. It's known that a guerrilla warfare was fought in Italy against the Race. However Italy suffered greatly from the former Axis allies, when the Germans decided to destroy Rome with a nuke detonation (to wipe out the large Race command center). Italy had no part in the Cairo negotiations, but Germany demanded the retreat of the Race from the country.
Allies[]
United States[]
After the Third Reich, the United States made one of the most effective resistances against the Race. The aliens occupied the southern states and attempted to split the country in two. The US Army employed a number of different tactics in the war with the aliens: from trench-warfare (close to Denver), to urban fighting (Chicago), to cavalry raids in the south. The United States suffered greatly not just because of the loss of a number of cities by nuke bombs (Washington, among the others), but also for inner displaced people and lack of food. However, vigorous counter-offensive alongside the use of nuclear weapons managed to prolong the fighting and halt the Race offensive until the Cairo negotiations. Captured males of the Race in United States see probably the best treatment: this has generated reports of fraternization between POWs and their guardians, with males that quickly learned American habits. The third leader of the invasion fleet (Strasha) chose the United States as country of exile for this reason, during his defection.
After the War, the Unites States were the most important country to show young ones (born after the war) to display interest for the Race: this led to a number of youth fashions and trends including using Race's words, keeping few clothes, shaving the heads and painting body paints.
United Kingdom[]
The British Islands were at first ignored by the Race because they considered the United Kingdom as a minor threat due the small size of the country. This mistake was reverted by the Race with a disastrous attempt to air-lift a ground force into England. British forces managed to fully evict the invasion, causing one of the most humiliating defeat to the Race (even if the British army had to employ gases to break the aliens forces). Despite this victory, the United Kingdom as a whole suffered greatly from the invasion: having lost most of the colonies (with exception of Canada), the British Empire lost most of its possessions. Despite having employed modern weapons (as jet fighters), the lack of a nuclear program prevented the United Kingdom to be included among the "Big Three" (United States, Third Reich, USSR), even if they were invited as observer in Cairo negotiations. Male Race prisoners face a good treatment like in the United States. To the end of the war, the United Kingdom managed to get German help to start their own nuclear program.
After the war, the United Kingdom saw an increasing political alliance with the Nazi Germany: a growing anti-Semitic intolerance caused a number of British Jews to leave the country.
Soviet Union[]
The Race advance in Soviet Unions was faced with energy by the Soviets, but with huge ground losses. The entire Soviet air force was almost wiped out from the skies, with the exception of the small but effective PO-2 biplanes that were used in many raids against the aliens. The Soviet Union was the first human country to use the nuclear bomb (built after materials captured), halting the alien advance toward Moscow. After this setback, the aliens engaged Soviets also in Estonia, where local Soviet partisan forces made a fragile alliance with the remains of the German army. The Soviet nuclear program made slow progress and the Race attempted a bold move invading eastern Siberia, hoping to cut the country in two. However, the Race suffered greatly because of the cold climate and the terrible conditions caused the first known armed mutiny in the Race history. When the garrison gave up the arms to the Soviets, the Soviet Union acquired items that were traded with the United States to help in the nuclear program. Stalin made calculating moves toward the end of the conflict, being fine with allowing the presence of the Race in Poland (close to the Soviet borders) as a buffer-state between Soviet Union and the Third Reich. The Soviet Union is second only to the Empire of Japan regarding the treatment of the prisoners: they have been shown to suffer heavy interrogators from NKVD and then are sent in gulags. The Race leadership is particularly adverse to the Soviet Union: it had been an utter shock and outrage knowing that some decades earlier, the Soviets had killed their former emperor (the czar), which was a concept abhorred by Atvar, leader of the Invasion.
Neutrals, collaborators and minor factions[]
Jews[]
The Jews has been a controversial group among the humans. Facing the extermination under the Third Reich Nazism, at first the Jews in Poland saw the Race as liberators and saviors. A militia of Jews was organized to fight alongside the Race, and it was only later that the Polish Jews realized how the Race demands absolute control. The Polish Jews has employed a controversial conduct: officially allies with the Race, but often making obstructionism and creating accidents. Among the humans, the Third Reich exploited the Jews-Race alliance to stress the suppository evil nature of the Jews: because of needs for strategic alliance, the United States and the United Kingdom had to ignore the evidence shown by the Race an the Polish Jews about the Nazi extermination camps.
In Palestine, Jews were similarly close to collaborate with the Race, being eager to evict the British colonial presence in the country. Jews milita fought against the British during the Race conquest of Jerusalem.
Other nations[]
China[]
In China, both the Koumingtang (nationalists) and the communists had led a guerrilla warfare against the Race. Such fight is strong both in countryside and in cities, employing also terrorist attacks (bombing) and killing of collaborators. Nationalists and communists (and remnants of Japanese forces) officially collaborate, but all the groups are eager to weak the rivals (often causing the Race to blame a rival group for an attack). The Race has been stern in negating the presence of Chinese in Cairo negotiations. Among the two main Chinese group, the communists has shown a more leading and effective role in fighting the Race thanks the direct support of Soviet Union.
Arabs[]
During the war, Arabs remained quiet in the Middle-east. But after the Cairo Agreements, they expressed a growing desire to fight back: such riots turned in organized guerrilla especially after the futile attempts by the Race to introduce the cult of the Emperors. Arabs were supplied with weapons by other independent human nations. The Arab resistance however suffered a blow when the Shia leader Khomeini was captured.
Others[]
Prominent pro-Race collaborationists are the Polish nationalists (even if there are other Polish guerrilla fighters that keep on the struggle). Collaborationists are mentioned also to be the Ukrainian nationalists. The Ustasha (croats) were believed to be collaborationists, but they secretly fought and collaborated with the Third Reich and were employed in covert operation led by Otto Skorzeny. Attempts to organize a black militia in the southern United States failed (with defections), but some of them engaged in battle with the American Army. Partisan guerrilla movements have been mentioned in many countries of the world as in France (with sabotages). The Vatican had attempted a neutral policy, that was welcomed by the Race, but the nuke in Rome killed the Pope and destroyed the Vatican itself. In India, passive resistance has been employed.
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- In some covers, individuals of The Race are wrongfully depicted as large bipedal iguanas with longer tails.