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