USF Species Databank: The Romulans

Jolan Tru (Good Day). Welcome to the Rihannsu. This section of pages is part of Sector 001 on the World Wide Web. These Pages I hope will help you become more familiar with Romulan Culture. And now for a little background information on the Homeworld of the Rihannsu people. Enjoy your stay!

ch'Rihan (Romulus) and ch'Havran (Remus)

ch'Rihan is the capital of the Rihannsu Star Empire, and most government offices and agencies are on this planet. The Romulan Senate is located on ch'Rihan as well, as is the Praetor's office. Headquarters for both the Romulan Military and the Tal Shiar are located on ch'Rihan. Romulus was the first world settled by those who left Vulcan a thousand years ago. Romulus is a beautiful planet of forests, lakes, and waterfalls. Aside from several large cities on the planet, ch'Rihan is largely forest and wilderness. Several areas on the planet's surface are very mountainous. The Apnex Sea is a very beautiful ocean on ch'Rihan.

ch'Havran is the second seat of government and the other Rihannsu homeworld in the Rihannsu Star Empire. Remus, unlike ch'Rihan, is fairly desert-like. Aside from a forested northern continent, most of ch'Havran is plains and desert. Remus was colonized by settlers some hundred years after ch'Rihan was settled.

Aside from ch'Rihan and ch'Havran, the Romulan Star Empire also includes some 100 other planets that have willingly or unwillingly joined the Rihannsu Star Empire. These worlds are inhabited by Romulans and other cultures.

Rihannsu Anatomy

Romulans are usually both larger and stronger than Terrans. The average height for a 30-year old male Romulan is 6'1", while the average height for a 30-year old female Romulan is usually 5'9". Romulans, as a people, are extremely intelligent. This is highly due to an advanced cerebral cortex. Romulans also tend to be on the aggressive side. They are, in fact, the exact opposite of their cousins, the Vulcans. Vulcans are very logical, and reject aggression. Also, Vulcans are usually very small in stature. The most noticible features of the Romulan are slightly green skin, pointy ears, and two bones located on the forehead.

Rihannsu Names

Romulan names include a first name (considered the main name), two middle names, and your last name. Most first names are no more than three sylables. It is perfectly good edicate to address a superior or a comrade by their main name. The two names following these were given to you by your parents. These names are usually only used in extremely formal situations, where whoever you are addressing is so important, that his full name must be used. Your last name is your family name. A family name is always preceded by t' or tr'. This name is only used when identifying someone or when addressing someone of great importance. Some Romulans put Cha' in front of their last names, rather than t' or tr'. Cha' is a more ancient version, so it is much less common than t' or tr'.

It is often a truism that cultures are shaped by their history, but with the Romulans it is a demonstrable fact. To trace the history of the Romulans, it is necessary to go back to the history of ancient Vulcan.

Ancient Vulcans were not at all like Spock, the most well known Star Trek Vulcan. Early Vulcans were an extremely emotional, violent and warlike people. The planet was divided into hundreds of small clans and city- states, each with diverse governmental structures and religions. Because Vulcan was (and is) an extremely dry world, water and resources were scarce. Clans and cities fought violently to acquire the resources to continue to survive. In fact, during any given period on the planet, it was unlikely that any more than 10% of the planet was not at war.

Around 80 BCE, in Terran dating, a Vulcan named Surak began publicly expousing the mental practice of logic, and the philosophies of peace. As one could expect, in a turbulent world filled with wars and warriors, his philosophies were slow to spread. However, spread they did, and Surak gradually gathered a small following of devoted followers -- the first true Vulcans, as we now know them. Among these followers was one named S'Task, keen of mind and heart, and Surak's finest pupil.

In the year 20 BCE, Vulcan received its first contact with aliens from other stars. The signals beamed in from the edge of the Vulcan system by alien vessels so shocked the Vulcans that several wars and declarations of war were put on hold until the matter could be settled one way or another. Officials met, and it was decided that the planet would meet the aliens united. Contact was made via transmissions from Vulcan, and a time and place of meeting agreed upon.

On the day of the meeting Surak was detained by vehicle troubles, but his pupil S'Task was there in his stead. Unfortunately, the aliens were not true to their word of peace, for they were Orion pirates, intent on enslaving the unsuspecting world. When the aliens landed, the Vulcan emissaries were greeted with stun rays and blasters, rather than overtures of friendship, and a large proportion on the leadership of Vulcan was taken prisoner and held for ransom, among them S'Task.

Thus began the "Ahk", the greatest of all Vulcan's wars, which they fought in their primitive ships using their not at all primitive psi- powers. With their mind talents, Vulcan adepts could force Orion pilots to attack each other, or dive their ships into the sun, and the Orions quickly learned that they should not have tangled with this superficially primitive species.

S'Task himself escaped captivity during the war, organizing an in-ship rebellion, overpowering his captors, and eventually crashing the ship into the Orion mothership, narrowly escaping in a rescue pod. He was found, many weeks later, drifting in space, half-starved, and clinging to life only through the force of his own anger.

In this way began the split between Surak and his student S'Task. After his experience with the Orions, S'Task renounced the pacifism of Surak, saying that pacifism was inappropriate in the hostile universe waiting in interstellar space. However, S'Task was not willing to promote his philosophies actively against Surak, for fear of prodding Vulcan back into a state of war and anarchy. Surak had long preached that "The structure of spacetime is more concerned with means than ends: beginnings must be clean to be of profit", and S'Task agreed with his old master. It was with this in mind that S'Task proposed an alternate solution.

The world was not working as it was, said S'Task, so a clean beginning was in order. The followers of S'Task would use Vulcan's newly advanced space technology and venture out into interstellar space to find a new world and make a clean beginning.

Fifty years later, the first Vulcan far-travel ship, Rhea's Helm, cut in its engines and left orbit, sealing a rift in the species which has not been sealed to this day.

In all, there were 16 far-travel ships in the fleet, each carrying approximately five thousand of the "Declared", those who committed to the journey and placed all their property into a trust to build the ships. When the ships left Vulcan, it was with the belief that they would be able to find a suitable planet within 30-50 years of ship time. The ships were designed with a 100 year viability envelope, so this left plenty of time for the Travellers to find an appropriate world, should the first few stops be unfruitful.

Unfortunately, the Travellers planned their route using data taken from captured Orion vessels, and used the data in a very negative way. Because the Orions had lied to them before, the Travellers were inclined to distrust the data, and planned their trip so as to avoid any star mentioned in the databanks. In this way, the Travellers hoped to avoid any further contact with hostile aliens. The undesirable concomitant of this strategy was that the Traveller's course led straight through a particularly barren, lifeless, and consequently unexplored section of the quadrant. Rather than taking 30 years, their journey stretched out over 100 years, and they barely arrived at a habitable world before their ships fell apart from old age.

In the course of the journey, 11 of the 16 original ships succumbed to various disasters: mind destroying aliens, black holes, and gravity wells. The five remaining craft were rewarded for their perseverance with the discovery of not one, but a binary pair of habitable worlds orbiting the star 128 Trianguli. After some discussion, the worlds were named ch'Rihan and ch'Havran, "of the Declared" and "of the Travellers", in the tongue which the Travellers evolved from the Ancient Vulcan dialect to replace their Vulcan language. In this new tongue, the travellers called themselves "Rihannsu", or "the Declared".

At planetfall, the Travellers found themselves suddenly with two empty worlds to populate. Land was distributed by lottery, and most of the population debarked, leaving only a few small "Ship Clans" who were reluctant to abandon the far-travel ships completely. However, life on the two worlds was not idyllic: of the 18,000 Rihannsu who settled on the two worlds, approximately 6,000 died in the first ten years of their settlement.

Oddly enough, these 6,000 did not die of disease or starvation, but mostly from the violent deaths of war. Upon settling down the Rihannsu promptly picked up where things had left off on Vulcan, warring and feuding for various reasons, primarily territory and resources. In such an atmosphere it was only a matter of time before a warlord emerged to impose a central structure on the factions and clans by force, and such a warlord was T'Rehu, the Ruling Queen.

T'Rehu built up an army in about 67 AS (After Settlement) and within 10 years had more might than any in the Two Worlds. When her power was sufficient, she brought her armies to the Grand Council and there demanded recognition. Only S'Task stood before her, and turned and left when the Council granted her demands. A few years later when famine struck the South Continent she called the Council, including S'Task, together. She derided the Council for incompetence, and when S'Task turned his back on her dishonorable display she had him killed, setting herself up as Ruling Queen. As head of the Grand Council and later as Ruling Queen, T'Rehu dabbled in tyranny and beneficence, taking lives and saving them at her whims for some 18 years.

However, 20 years is a short time in the history of a world and after smarting under her rule for several years the warlike clans of the Eastern continents of ch'Havran revolted and defeated her armies. In place of the Ruling Queen a Tricameral house of Praetorate and Senate was set up which was sufficiently resilient to have survived to this day.

So in relative stability, with regular localized factional wars, the Rihannsu lived for well over 1000 years. The Rihannsu enjoyed all the arts and developed them over this time: sculpture, music, painting, science and war. All were relished and enjoyed. And then, the Rihannsu suffered a rude awakening.

In approximately 1600 AS, the Federation vessel USS Carrizal came out of warp at the far edge of the 128 Trianguli system and began surveying the area. They found, to their surprise, two worlds there with an apparently highly developed agrarian civilization on each. The crew dubbed the worlds "Romulus" and "Remus" in reference to an ancient Terran legend. In standard first contact procedures they beamed in messages of peace and good will. They received no response. After surveying the system for a time, they returned to the Federation with the news of their discovery.

On the Two Worlds the arrival of the aliens had an extremely disturbing effect. Tales of the Orion pirates had survived through the years, and the settlers still remembered that the Orions had preceded their treachery with offerings of peace. They were determined not to allow history to repeat itself, and set about organizing their defence. Over the past 1600 years, the Rihannsu had developed an extremely effective industrial system. They knew they could not match the technology of the ship that had entered their system, but years of war had taught them that sheer numbers could overwhelm any technological advantage.

By the time the next Federation ship arrived, the Rihannsu had constructed some 7,000 crude, cylindrical vessels -- impulse powered with particle beam weapons. When the USS Balboa coasted into the Trianguli system, it was blown to bits by the massed particle beams of 50 spacecraft. Shortly thereafter, the Rihannsu captured the USS Stone Mountain, took her apart, studied the design, and added warp drive to their primitive craft. Thus began what was known to the Federation as the "First Romulan War".

The Federation's Starfleet was stymied and confused by their inability to defeat the Rihannsu, who were flying craft that were little more than tin cans with warp power drives. Time and again, larger and larger task forces were sent into Rihannsu space and were systematically obliterated by the Rihannsu. At about this time, the Federation made first contact with the Vulcans, and asked them if they knew anything about this seemly maniacal race. The Vulcans responded with characteristic caution, that they knew of some who might match the description, but that they had left Vulcan long ago. As StarFleet continued to send task forces into Rihannsu space the Vulcans suggested that, if these were indeed the ones who had left long ago, it would be best to make peace. It took StarFleet several more years to realize that they were never going to prevail, and a treaty was eventually negotiated -- the only treaty in Federation history to be negotiated entirely by data upload, as the Rihannsu refused to meet the aliens in person.

The treaty stipulated a band of space between the Federation and Rihannsu territories one light year thick, which has since become known as the "Romulan Neutral Zone". And so the situation stands now: the Rihannsu on one side, fiercely developing their defences to avoid being taken advantage of by aliens once again; and the Federation on the other, completely unable to comprehend the reasoning and historical context behind the implacable hostility of their counterparts.

Rihannsu Government

The main government body of the Rihannsu Star Empire is the Senate. The leader of the Senate is called the Proconsul. There are another three Senators with the title of Vice-Proconsul. These four are in charge of leading the Romulan Senate. In addition to the Senate, the leader of the Government holds the title of Praetor. The Praetor's job is similar to that of the Federation President. The Senate itself votes for and approves laws for the Empire. The Praetor has direct control over the Military, the Diplomatic Corps, and the Tal Shiar. A 3/4 Senate vote can overrule an act implimented by the Praetor.

Military

The Romulan Military is one of the most advanced in the Quadrant. The Romulan Star Empire has a large fleet and several ship yards. Most common ship types are D'Deridex Class Warbird, D'Dejin Class Warbird, and scout ships. D'Deridex Class Warbirds are twice the size of a Galaxy Class Starship. D'Dejin Class Warbirds are 3/4 the size of a Galaxy Class Starship, and scout ships are slightly larger than runabouts. The Romulan Military also has many starbases and space stations throughout Romulan Space. A career in the Romulan Military starts out in a 4-year program at the Romulan Military Academy. Upon completion of this program, an officer is stationed at their first assignment. They continue to work their was up through the ranks. The Romulan Intelligence agency is known as the Tal Shiar. The Tal Shiar are very efficient, but slightly brutal. Most Romulans, however, know that it is extremely smart to stay out of the Tal Shiar's way.

Romulan Weapons

The Romulans have several weapons that they use. These can be broken down into modern and ancient. Modern weapons include disrupters and disrupter rifles. These are used by Government guards, Tal Shiar officers, and Military officers. Civilians do not usually carry or own weapons, at least not of this nature. Romulans also use several ancient weapons, but these are used in a more artistic way. On Romulus and Remus, ancient weapons include the Teral'n, a stick-like weapon with razor blades along the top, and the D'Delak, a small bow and arrow-like weapon. Both of these are usually found at museums and homes of archaeologists.

Shipboard weapons generally consist of disruptors similiar to the Klingon Heavy Disruptors. The D'Deridex vessel is also rumored to have some sort of seeking torpedo device as well, but the Romulans have carefully guarded this knowledge as they do all knowledge. Even during the Dominion war, joint sorties only involved Romulan disruptors.