| abstract
| - The history of the Romulan race began on their original homeworld Vulcan during the Time of Awakening that was being spearheaded by Surak who taught a growing philosophy known as cthia. It was a turbulent time on the Vulcan motherworld as their violent emotion filled nature resulted in numerous wars that devastated the planet and threatened to destroy the species. From this chaos came Surak's message of peace which united the planet at which point the world came to the attentions of an alien race. In their attempt at a united front, they found themselves prey to pirates and slavers that looted the world of Vulcans to use as slaves. Only through fighting back were the Vulcans able to defeat the aliens and survive. (TOS novel: Spock's World) However, this combined with Surak's peaceful ways divided many of the inhabitants of Vulcan. Though many flocked to the teachings of Surak, there were many others who did not wish to abandon their emotion filled heritage for various reasons. Some, like the Children of Ket-Cheleb led by the philospher Tellus, wished to retain their passion rather than abandon themselves to the peaceful, logical attitudes being adopted and thus left in defiance of Surak's ways. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of D'era: The Romulan Star Empire) Others, like Surak's student S'task, believed that in order to survive a barbaric universe, one had to be strong and led a large contingent of Vulcans to leave their world in order to restart their ways on a new unspoiled planet. (TOS novel: The Romulan Way) Another account holds that the departure of the proto-Romulans was an attempt to continue the Vulcan race should their violent transformation consume them. This was done with Surak's blessing, who left it to his close friend Karatek to lead the people and leave it to his descendants to return to Vulcan in the future. (TOS novel: Exodus) See Vulcan history to see the history of the Vulcan race. Regardless, what followed was an event known as the Sundering when many of the proto-Romulans abandoned the planet to seek their fortunes elsewhere in approximately 4th century A.D. on the planet Earth. These individuals numbered 80,000 and were led by S'task and they began a long trek through space in twenty large sublight travel vessels that would take them on the journey. Several worlds were discovered but these were uninhabitable by Vulcan standards. (TOS novel: The Romulan Way) Others possessed life on them that could evolve into intelligent sentient beings and these two were left alone as it as decided that the race required an unspoiled planet to begin anew. However, as time went on, numerous casualties were suffered by the travelers. Seven of the large ark vessels were lost in the event horizon of a newly developed black hole. Another two were lost to the predations of the mind devouring creature known as the Iruhe. Some were preyed upon by alien races and others were lost due to internal squabbles among the survivors. (TOS novel: Exiles (2006)) Eventually, a deadly disease erupted among some of the ships resulting in the deaths of many more. (TOS novel: The Romulan Way) All these factors resulted in many of the travelers losing faith in an ever finding search a new world though Tellus and S'task urged their people to continue the journey. Some, however, grew weary of the constant traveling and abandoned the fleet in order to develop their own societies. One such splinter group was led by Admiral Debrune who led his followers to establish their own colonies, however, in time these would degenerate leaving nothing but ruins though there are rumors of splinter proto-Romulan societies living on such planets. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of D'era: The Romulan Star Empire, Decipher RPG module: Player's Guide) Early on, these first Romulans were devastated by a disease known as the gnawing that had a profound effect upon Romulan physiology and psychology thereafter. (TLE novel: Catalyst of Sorrows)
- A "Garden of Eden"-like place known as Vorta Vor was part of Romulan creation myths. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) It is unknown what the relationship between "Vorta Vor" and its Vulcan counterpart Sha Ka Ree is. One possible scientific explanation for the origin of Vulcans, and thereby also of the Romulans, came to light in 2268 with the discovery of Sargon and his people. When Sargon explained that his people colonized many worlds in the galaxy half a million years ago, Spock theorized that Vulcan might have been such a colony world. According to Spock, "That would tend to explain certain elements of Vulcan prehistory." (TOS: "Return to Tomorrow" ) In 2369, evidence was discovered that suggests many of the galaxy's humanoid races were descended from a single humanoid race, the originators of the basic anatomy. Around 4.5 billion years ago they had seeded many worlds with a DNA code to guide evolution to a form resembling their own. Romulans, and therefore also Vulcans, displayed evidence of these DNA sequences. (TNG: "The Chase" ) T'Pol stated that Vulcans evolved on Vulcan in ENT: "The Forge". However, this was roughly a century before "Return to Tomorrow" took place and T'Pol probably just cited the scientific theory of her time. If Sargon's people resulted from DNA by the ancient humanoids themselves, both "Return to Tomorrow" and "The Chase" are in fact compatible. Vulcans were once an extremely violent and emotional people, waging almost constant warfare among each other. (TOS: "Balance of Terror" , "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" , "The Savage Curtain" ; ENT: "The Forge") As their technology improved, the Vulcans eventually reached a point where their violent nature threatened the extinction of their species. (ENT: "Awakening"; TNG: "Gambit, Part II" ) Around 370 AD, the philosopher Surak led his people in a great reformation to embrace logic and pacifism, a period called the Time of Awakening. One group, known as "those who march beneath the Raptor's wings", rejected Surak's teachings and fought against his followers. (TOS: "The Savage Curtain" ; TNG: "Gambit, Part II" ; ENT: "Awakening") At the end, the dissidents lost a terrible atomic war that ensued and left their homeworld. During their travels, some split away to form the Debrune civilization, which became extinct long before the 24th century. Eventually, the group settled on two planets named Romulus and Remus, and thus laid the foundation of the Romulan civilization. (TNG: "Unification I" , "Gambit, Part I" ) In several non-canon Pocket Books novels, "Romulus" and "Romulan" are actually the appellations given to them and their world by the Federation; the Romulans refer to their own race as the "Rihannsu". Some of these books, predominantly The Romulan Way, discuss the Romulan migration as being led by a Vulcan named S'task (β), a follower of Surak who turned away from Surak's teachings and left Vulcan in the 3rd century. According to Q, one of Quinn's "self-destructive stunts" created a misunderstanding which ignited "the hundred year war between the Romulans and the Vulcans." (VOY: "Death Wish") This "hundred year war" was never elaborated on, but Q apparently assumed Captain Janeway to know about it. It is possible this was intended as a reference to the atomic war following the Time of Awakening. In any case it must have taken place no later than the 21st century, when Quinn was imprisoned. According to Admiral Dougherty, it was warp drive that turned "a bunch of Romulan thugs into an empire." Dougherty likened the impact of warp technology on the Romulans to that of petroleum on "petty thugs" on Earth in the past. (Star Trek: Insurrection) Dougherty's remark indicates that the Romulans became warp capable after they left Vulcan. Furthermore, a subsequent vague remark from Captain Picard that the Romulans might have still appeared controllable a century ago (i.e., in the 23rd century) could be interpreted as a hint to when they achieved warp capability. However, such an interpretation was refuted by on-screen evidence shown in Star Trek: Enterprise as well as the fact that the Romulan Star Empire fought an interstellar war from 2156 to 2160 (see below).
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