In the 4th century CE Vulcans "who marched under the raptor's wing" left Vulcan in a group of colony ships. After a century of wandering the survivors reached a pair of worlds which they claimed as their own. Establishing themselves on the new world the exiles became Romulans. The Romulans have a striking resemblence to Vulcans (due to the fact they are a Vulcan subspecies) but embrace a power-hungry philosophy centred on military aggression and imperialism, they have been behind the scenes in many of Star Trek's more prominent conflicts and their animosity with the Federation has lasted generations.