Another thing to consider, the entire generation of people who grew up in the 1970s and early 1980s literally knew nothing but war in their childhood. If you were born in 1969 then you were 15 years old the first time you actually experienced peace. And if you were a kid who grew up in that time period the first time you knew that it might be possible that you wouldn't be horribly killed by moon-monsters is when you saw footage of Operation Moonhammer, specifically footage of Dagon in a giant armored space-suit wielding a 155mm assault rifle loaded with W48 72 ton tactical nuclear shells.
That sight, in addition to being a pretty awesome visual even without context, is what told an entire generation of youngsters that the war might actually end and they might actually survive it.
And that happened 124 years ago. Most of the humans who were born before this event are dead. Those members of that generational demographic who are still alive are only still alive because they had Deep One immortality genes spliced into their DNA as soon as the technology became available.
Literally, the only people alive who can remember a time when Dagon wasn't the Hero of the Union are Deep Ones, hybrids, and transgenics.
The only people alive who can remember a time before the Earth-Moon War are Deep Ones and Hybrids, and possibly a tiny handful of really old transgenic first-adopters depending on when we put that tech on the timeline.
Most of the characters in this setting will have grown up learning about Operation Moonhammer in history class and through
tragic action-romance movies and
popular video game franchises.
Also, Y'ha-nthlei's involvement in the Earth-Moon War basically parallels America's involvement in World War II. They started out highly isolationist and almost irrelevant to the surface world, took one really tiny hit, got extremely pissed off, and came out of it a global super power.
Remember, Y'ha-nthlei controls nearly half of the world's oceans. In terms of sheer surface area, they're bigger than all of the surface nations combined. It's also really fucking hard to hit targets that are on the bottom of the ocean, so they came out almost entirely unscathed. They are a superpower and one of the three major power blocs in the Union, along with the remains of the former NATO and the former Warsaw Pact. They're also much more unified than the other two power blocs, because they didn't have their government decapitated in 1970. Other than the Rlyeh schism, they've maintained continuity of government for nearly a million years.
Modern Y'ha-nthlei has huge pressure domes to accommodate air-breathers and massive factories. It is the safest place on the planet for people to live and the safest place for important manufacturing because Ryleh is the only major antagonist faction capable of sustained underwater warfare and they have been understandably reluctant to risk bringing Dagon down on their heads when the stars aren't yet right. The guy doesn't want to kill his own children, but he does have limits and the Ryleh faction rightly fears him.
As a result, there are tens of millions of air-breathing humans living down there under Y'ha-nthlei's flag, and nearly as many amphibious transgenics in addition to over a billion Deep Ones and hybrids. It's also one of the largest producers of high-quality manufactured goods on the planet.
Being a Deep One traveling abroad in 2097 is really a lot like being an American traveling abroad in RL 1997. Y'ha-nthlei is an economic and military superpower and open trade has led to a great deal of cultural exchange. Of course, there are also Deep One immigrants and native-born hybrids on the surface and they've been living openly amongst humans for 170 years. The fact that many hybrids retained loyalty to their native countries was the largest contributing factor to the Schism in the first place, and why so many of Y'ha-nthlei's citizens joined the Allies in WWII. But I'm getting off track.
My point is that Y'ha-nthlei is extremely rich, it's extremely safe, it's considered a land of opportunity, and it's citizens are afforded a decent amount of respect worldwide.
Deep Ones aren't really blacks who are fish people. They're more like Americans who are also fish people, right down to nuking the fuck out of a defeated but stubborn enemy. Y'ha-nthlei is the most powerful and least assailable nation on the planet, essentially by accident of size and location.
