The real relationship between the aggressive, distrustful
Romulans and the peaceful, logical
Vulcans has been a source of much speculation. Are the Romulans descended from Vulcans or is the relationship more complex than that? Why did the Romulans leave
Vulcan? How do the Remans fit in? New information on these topics often raises more questions than it answers. We address a few of those questions below and provide our own speculative answers. We may never know the truth.
Are Romulans and Vulcans Different Species?
Life in the universe is relatively rare - intelligent life, even more so. The chance that the hundreds of occurrences that add up to the evolution of intelligent life will occur, in the right order, is very slim indeed. Rarest of all, though, is the possibility of two intelligent, humanoid species developing on the same planet. However, this has been known to happen. Like Homo Neandertalensis and Homo Sapiens who cohabitated Earth in the Paleolithic period, as well as the Valakians and Menk of Valakis, two intelligent humanoid species evolved on the planet Vulcan simultaneously.
There is one key difference between what happened on Vulcan and what happened on Earth and Valakis. On Vulcan, both species evolved and developed at the same rate, and neither species overcame the other biologically, in intelligence, or in technological advancements. In all things they were equal. The only physical difference between the two species was the presence of more pronounced ridges on the foreheads of one of the species.
As they evolved, both species became intensely aggressive and warlike. Following the appearance and teachings of Surak, one of the Vulcan species abandoned their warlike ways and turned to logic. The second species, however, vehemently disagreed with these philosophies. Out of outrage and disgust, they decided to leave their hot, inhospitable planet in search of greener pastures. This species soon re-settled on a planet known as Romulus, and proceeded to erase all ties between them and their former neighbors, the Vulcans.
The Romulans, unlike their Vulcan brethren, fully embraced their warrior natures. Once settled on Romulus, they proceeded to conquer and develop a huge empire. Their first step was to overcome and enslave the natives of Romulus' sister planet, Remus.
Though the majority of Romulans think of Vulcans as weak and do their best to forget their ancient connection, in the late 23rd and 24th centuries some changes in attitude began to manifest themselves. For example, there was a trend among young Romulans of embracing their Vulcan roots. They exhibited these feelings by turning to logic rather than aggression more and more often. It was also at this time that some chose to surgically remove their forehead ridges, to resemble the Vulcans more closely. To this day many on Romulus don't think twice when they see an individual on their streets that does not have ridges.
Did the Followers of Surak Push the Romulans off the Planet Vulcan?
It has always been thought that the Romulan Star Empire was a radical offshoot of Vulcan civilization, a minority of Vulcans that denied the philosophy of Surak. In actuality, the events that led to the formation of these two separate societies were quite different.
In the beginning, the Vulcans as a people were violent and emotional. When Surak appeared on the scene, his teachings were influential, but only to a small sect of the society. Around this time, the still-dominant warlike sect of Vulcan society decided to expand its reach (and indeed, create what is now known as the Empire) and mounted a task force to overtake the sister planets Romulus and Remus — they planned to gain territory for themselves, as well as conquer and enslave the indigenous species, the Remans. Their mission was successful, but at a price: while the warlike sect of Vulcan society was concerning itself with conquering the Remans, Surak's followers had gained strength, and rebelled against them. Though the violent Vulcans could have prolonged this conflict, they merely decided to abandon Vulcan, casting their sights on greener pastures (such as their newly acquired sister planets).
The followers of Surak did not wish to reveal that they had, in effect, driven their more emotional counterparts from the homeworld (this sort of action does not exactly correspond with their supposedly peaceful teachings, after all). Instead, they re-wrote history so that it appeared that the warlike sect of Vulcans was the minority, and that they left of their own accord.
Did the Vulcans Really Originate on Romulus?
While it is generally accepted as fact that the Romulans emigrated from Vulcan thousands of years ago it seems more likely — considering the cultural characteristics of the two races — that the opposite is true and that the Vulcans in fact originated on Romulus and emigrated from that planet to the inhospitable sphere that became their home.
That both the Vulcans and the Romulans have an inaccurate view of their own history is not unimaginable. Both races have a long history of keeping secrets, even from their own people, and obfuscating (or repressing) the truth for various reasons. Suffice to say it is possible that the story has been altered over time.
But why should we not believe the generally accepted version of events? For three reasons:
- From what we have seen of Romulus, it is a much more hospitable environment than Vulcan and it is much more likely that intelligent life would thrive in such a place.
- The Romulans are warlike, aggressive and territorial while Vulcans are peaceloving and logical. If there was a conflict between two such races, even in the distant past, it seems highly unlikely that the aggressive race would leave, conceding the planet to the less aggressive people. Leaving a place of conflict rather than staying and fighting to the bitter end is a logical and peaceloving solution.
- The iron discipline of logic that Surak taught would be perfectly suited to a people that were trapped together in a confined space for a long period of time. For instance a population on a pre-warp, multi-generational "ark? ship! This would explain the near unanimous embrace of logic among the Vulcans. It is easier to imagine a whole people accepting logic and rejecting emotions when the horizon is limited. It is more difficult to imagine a warlike people on a vast desert planet all accepting one way of doing things that runs counter to their very nature.
For these reasons we propose the following scenario: The Romulans and Vulcans inhabit the same planet. Perhaps they are the same species or perhaps they are slightly different from each other (like earth's bonobos and chimpanzees). In any case there is a profound and inescapable animosity between the two peoples and eventually either the Vulcans decide to leave the planet or, more likely, the Romulans kick them off. In any case a huge population of Vulcans load onto a gigantic generational spacecraft and set off at slower than light speeds. It takes generations to find a new home and during that time the Vulcans adapt to life aboard the ship by embracing the control and rationality that now characterizes them.
A tragic result of this theory also suggests itself: Perhaps not all the Vulcans could fit on the ark. Perhaps the Romulans conquered the remaining Vulcans and shipped them off to Remus where they evolved into the Remans.
Perhaps we'll never know for sure.
Why Are The Romulans and Vulcans Named After Roman Myths?
Vulcan, Romulus, Centurions, a Senate, these are all words and concepts that existed on Earth millennia before humans joined the interstellar community, so how could they possibly exist? One possible solution comes from an encounter the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, had on Stardate 3468.1.
The Federation ship met with a being that called itself Apollo, and described visiting Earth centuries earlier along with other beings like him. These powerful space faring beings were looked upon and worshipped as "gods? by the culturally primitive humans in the Mediterranean region of the planet.
The misguided assumption that these terms originated on Earth is perhaps the root of the mystery. If one assumes that these beings introduced much of what would later be called Classical mythology to humanity, and if that culture originated elsewhere in the galaxy, then it makes sense to connect the dots leading to a theory that both Vulcans and Romulans also had contact with these beings, contact which had broad-reaching implications.
If these powerful beings had also visited Vulcan and Romulus centuries before coming to primitive Earth, it would explain a great many things, such as why all three planets have so many words in common ("Vulcan,? "Romulus,? "Remus,? etc.).
Then there's the question concerning the split between the Romulans and the Vulcans, and as to how these two cultures, although sharing a planet of origin, somehow managed to end up light years apart.
Despite the cosmetic similarities between Vulcans and Romulans (pointed ears, jet-black hair until old age), there are definite differences between the two peoples. Vulcans not only possess greater physical strength but also mental abilities far beyond the Romulans, who are much closer to humans in terms of strength and psychic power.
Since both Vulcans and Romulans originated on the same world, one of these two planets was settled by one of these races. Given that the planet Vulcan is quite inhospitable in comparison to Romulus, one can speculate that these races originated on Romulus, and something happened which relocated the Vulcans to their current planet.
Perhaps the "Roman God? beings arrived at Romulus and took on their roles as "gods? before the two races. Much like Earth's Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon races, it would not be a far stretch of the imagination to assume that the primitive Vulcans and Romulans were on a course of annihilation for one of the races. Given the physical and mental superiority of the Vulcans and given that this was a time before Surak changed the course of Vulcan history with his views on logic, it would make sense that the Vulcans would have been the aggressors, pursuing a successful campaign of genocide against the inferior Romulans.
The "Roman Gods,? uninterested in such conflicts and more absorbed in how primitive races could serve and worship them, could have separated the Vulcans from the Romulans. Perhaps as punishment for the aggressive Vulcans' treatment of the Romulans, the "Roman Gods? relocated the Vulcans to a harsh, arid world and allowed the Romulans to remain. Maintaining a dim memory of their own suppression by the Vulcans, Romulans would have evolved into a militaristic society where guile and deceit are used to overcome stronger enemies, and eventually a Romulan Star Empire.
The Vulcans, humbled by the experience, made their new planet their home and eventually mastered their own savage emotions and mental abilities via the groundbreaking teachings of Surak and meditation.
When the "Roman God? beings moved on (presumably making Earth one of their stops along the way), their legacy remained in both the language and terms of these two races, as they did for humanity on Earth as well.
Did The Q Continuum Separate the Vulcans and The Romulans?
There has been a great deal of historical speculation on the separation between the Vulcans and the Romulans. The Vulcans reject the notion that they could be related to a race that is so different than their own despite undeniable links, both physical and genetic, between the two races. The Romulans, on the other hand, believe Vulcan to be a lost colony of Romulus ? a theory unsubstantiated by the archeological record.
Common belief holds that the Romulans are decendants of Vulcans, the Romulans having left Vulcan over 2000 years before the current Federation. However, its not widely known how this was carried out since warp technology has been a relatively recent technological advancement for both races.
The answer finally came to the Federation as a result of an incident on the starship, U.S.S Voyager. It turns out that is was in fact the Q Continuum that separated the Romulans and Vulcans from one another, over two thousand years ago, when a member of the Q community indirectly started a war, which almost destroyed the entire planet of Vulcan.
During that time, the Vulcans were a warlike people ? smart, strong, aggressive?.and emotional. Then, a disgruntled Q introduced the concept of logic and control over emotion to Surak as a way to end the continuous fighting on Vulcan. After the Q left, some Vulcans hailed Surak as a visionary leader, others as a madman who was bent on power and subjugation of the Vulcan people. Vulcans took up arms against one another unlike that world had ever seen. Terrible destruction resulted and countless lives were lost.
The Q Continuum realized the incredible impact that the destruction of Vulcan would have on the shape of the evolving universe and was thereby moved to separate the two groups, in hopes that they would come together at a later point. The Vulcans who rejected the teachings of Surak were moved to another planet in the blink of an eye, left to fend for themselves. While thousands died as a result of the displacement, they quickly dominated the planet. When they finally developed space flight, they immediately conquered the nearby planet, Remus, and subjugated the Remans as slave laborers.
While the hopes of the Q for the Vulcans to be reunited with their displaced Romulans has yet to occur, a number of peace accords between the Federation and the Romulan Empire have started to make this a reality.
Did the Romulans Leave Because the Vulcans Refused to Fight Anymore?
The history of other planets and cultures in our galaxy features remarkable stories of violence, intrigue and epic proportions, none more so than the true story behind the Romulan and Vulcan split that occurred 2,000 years ago.
The planet of Vulcan contained two main continental bodies, the larger, hotter one that spawned what we know today as the traditional Vulcan look and ideology, the other, approximately 10,000 kilometers apart, featured the race we would later know as the Romulans. The races looked remarkably similar, with the Romulans featuring a more pronounced forehead than their far-off Vulcan brethren who resided across the massive T'Kala Sea.
At one time in their history, both races were violent and frequently at war with each other. However, once the Vulcans began to embrace the logical teachings of one lone, stoic prophet of peace — Surak — the Romulans decided that if they remained on the planet any longer, then they would find themselves in the strange position of trying to wage war with a foe that no longer had the taste for blood. The Romulans saw no challenge, honor or anything to be gained by this. The Vulcans shifted to the total opposite of what they once were and even gave up meat eating entirely. The Vulcans had evolved into what they felt was a higher station in life.
A couple of millennia ago a benevolent, unknown alien race offered the Romulans a new future in a far off star system. The Romulans were enthusiastic and what followed was a mass exodus to another world to begin life anew. The very idea of living unencumbered by any other cultures — on a far away planet free to rule and conquer as they pleased — was too enticing for them. However, following their mass exodus, the Romulans turned on the very aliens who transported them to this new solar system — a bi-planetary configuration called Romulus and Remus — and they were never heard from again. Popular theories suggest that the Romulans stole much of their technology, yet almost no information of this race exists today.
Prior to their arrival at Romulus, the Romulans were informed that the Reman world contained life; the neo-conquerors were on Romulus for a few hundred years before they began to subjugate their Reman neighbors, just as they had tried to with the Vulcans back on their original homeworld. This early in their new setting, Romulan priorities were to establish their own new world first, erect their cities and such, before they could branch out into the galaxy and establish what would later be called The Romulan Star Empire. The rest is history.
?And Where Did Those Bumpy Foreheads Come From Anyway?
There has been much speculation about why Klingons of the mid-23rd century look so radically different from those of earlier and later periods, but far less discussion has been devoted to the more subtle disparity of the Romulan appearance between the Captain Kirk era and the Captain Picard era. But the question is just as significant: When did Romulans develop those protrusions in their foreheads, and how?
The first visual contact with Romulans by the Federation in 2266 revealed them to look identical to Vulcans, and it was learned they were actually offshoots of the Vulcan race. Yet by the time the Enterprise-D encountered the Romulans almost a hundred years later, there were differences. Is it possible there was some sudden evolutionary spurt due to a genetic advantage of having forehead bulges on planet Romulus that finally caught up with the ex-Vulcans during that century?
Not likely, because — aside from the biological improbability — it wasn't even a century. During the post-Praxis peace initiatives between the Federation and the Klingons, there was a Romulan ambassador on Earth named Nanclus who had a smooth forehead (not to mention a receding hairline). That was 2293. And the U.S.S. Voyager was visited by a protruding-forehead Romulan named Telek R'Mor from the past, i.e. the year 2351. So that's a period of only 58 years. Assuming Romulans have the same relatively long lifespan as Vulcans, that's not even close to one generation. So what happened?
Well, how do we know something did happen? How do we know the protruding-forehead Romulans weren't around in the Captain Kirk era, but we just didn't happen to see them? In fact, they were around — because we know that Pardek, the bulgy-headed Romulan whom Spock had a long friendship with, became a senator in 2278, so unless he was less than 12 years old at time, he would have been alive at the time Kirk's Enterprise first encountered his people.
And how do we know the smooth-headed Romulans aren't still around in the 24th century? Take this into account: In 2368, we saw Spock dressed in Romulan clothes walking openly through the capital city on Romulus ... and no one batted an eye. Apparently Vulcan-like Romulans are still a common sight a hundred years later.
We know there are several different races of the species called human, and if an alien didn't know better he might think they all came from different worlds. We know at least part of the population of Vulcan is dark-skinned, as evidenced by Tuvok and his family. Perhaps there is more than one race of Romulan as well, and one of those races is distinguished by a protruding forehead.
It stands to reason that Romulan blood, while originating on Vulcan, has not remained purely Vulcan. The Romulans are known to be imperialistic, and any time one race conquers another there tends to be a certain degree of cross-breeding. While Vulcans are generally averse to mixing chromosomes with other species, there's no evidence that Romulans are the same way. And let's not forget about the Remans, the Romulans' closest neighbors — could those forehead protrusions have something to do with them? We also know that in ancient times Romulans or "Romulan offshoots" settled on planets such as Barradas III, Calder II, Yadalla Prime and Draken IV, and who knows what genetic mutations might have developed among isolated groups that eventually merged with others on Romulus.
So it is entirely possible, and in fact probable, that the Romulan Star Empire encompasses several "nations" whose histories are as varied and complex as those on Earth. We've also been reminded several times that political machinations and power shifts are the norm in this multi-world government. So it's not a stretch to conjecture that the smooth-headed race of Romulans happened to be those that held more prominent positions of power in the 23rd century (or at least, they were the ones who occupied the ships roaming the Neutral Zone near Federation space), and the race with protruding foreheads gained greater political status by the 24th century. But no doubt diversity is a fact of life among Romulans — even if they're not always comfortable with it — as with any significant population.
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