Romulan

The Romulans, a fictional race in the Star Trek universe, are descended from Vulcans and are characterized as being deceitful, cunning, and treacherous. They are the dominant race of the Romulan Star Empire, one of the larger empires in the Beta Quadrant of the Milky Way galaxy.

History

Origins

The Romulan subspecies is a splinter group of Vulcans who refused to accept the Vulcan philosopher Surak's teachings of complete suppression of emotions. Around 400 CE, the dissident group split off from Vulcan society and began the long journey to the planet Romulus.

Related Topics:
Surak - Romulus

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21st Century

The Romulans and Vulcans fought a hundred-year war, which was over at some point prior to 2044. It is unclear whether the two groups knew they were fighting their kinsmen. The war was apparently started by a member of the Q Continuum, although (given this Q's bumbling nature) this may have been accidental.

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22nd Century

The goal of the Romulan Star Empire was conquest. When Senator Valdore questioned this policy, he was dismissed from the senate (although he later joined the military, and rose quickly through the ranks, becoming Admiral by the year 2154).

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In 2152, Humans made first contact with the Romulans when the Enterprise NX-01 encountered a Romulan-laid minefield. Communication was via audio only. The Romulans saw that Humans fostered a spirit of cooperation among the long-belligerent Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites. Realizing that this would bring solidarity to the region and an obstacle to conquest, the Senate took steps to turn these species against each other.

Related Topics:
Human - First contact - Andorians - Tellarites

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In 2154, Romulans conspired with V'Las, head of the Vulcan High Command, to invade Andoria. V'Las' Romulan contact had the stated agenda of reunification with the Vulcans.

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A few months later, the Empire sent prototype holoships that were remote controlled from Romulus to disrupt a peace conference between Andorians and Tellarites. The Romulans piloted the ships using an abducted Aenar, however their scheme was thwarted by the combined efforts of the Humans, Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites, led by the Enterprise. This enraged the Romulans, who vowed revenge upon humanity.

Related Topics:
Andorians - Tellarites - Aenar

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In about 2156, the Earth-Romulan War began. Starfleet did not have many ships in their fleet. For reasons not explained, Starfleet and the Romulan fleet both used atomic/nuclear weapons during the hostilities. These weapons were still in the Romulan inventory a century later. The Romulan ships during the war were seen with birds of prey painted on them. It has also been noted that no visual communication took place between the Humans and Romulans at that time. The war only ended after both sides had fought to the point of exhaustion and realized that continuing the conflict would only result in the mutual destruction of both sides. It has been implied that the Earth-Romulan War reached Earth, heavily damaging it: two centuries later, it was remarked that Earth had not been subjected to the horrors of total war since the date of the Romulan Wars. Though the war ended in a stalemate, it closed with the Battle of Cheron which proved to be a decisive Earth victory.

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In 2160 the Romulans and the humans signed a treaty establishing a neutral zone one light-year wide between their territories. In 2161 humans, along with Vulcans and several other species, founded the United Federation of Planets, which continued this wary peace.

Related Topics:
Neutral zone - United Federation of Planets

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23rd Century

Using a cloaked ship, the Romulans broke the treaty of 2161 by attacking several Federation outposts circa stardate 1709.21 in 2266. In response, the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 tracked down the cloaked Romulan ship and destroyed it. This was also the first time humans saw what the Romulans looked like physically.

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In 2267, it is thought that the Romulans entered a treaty with the Klingon Empire: in exchange for cloaking technology, the Romulans received several D7 battlecruisers, which were upgraded into extremely deadly war machines. (The script of the episode "The Enterprise Incident" called for a Romulan ship to appear, but the original Romulan ship model was not available; rather than go to the expense of building a new one, the Klingon D7 model was substituted. The explanation for this has yet to be revealed onscreen.) It was at this time that the Federation discovered the Romulans were kin to the Vulcans. The events of 2154 suggest the Vulcans withheld prior knowledge of this fact from humans.

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In 2272, Klingon forces led by Kor had a decisive victory over Romulan opponents in the Battle of Klach D'Kel Brakt.

Related Topics:
Kor - Klach D'Kel Brakt

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In 2293, the Romulan ambassador to the Federation, Nanclus, took part in a conspiracy to sabotage peace talks between the Klingons and the Federation. The attempt was unsuccessful, and Nanclus was arrested on Khitomer along with several other conspirators. During the Khitomer conference, the Romulans signed a treaty with the Federation and the Klingons. Notably, Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan sat with his Romulan cousins during the conference, indicating a dialogue, or at least a display of goodwill between the two planetary nations.

Related Topics:
Khitomer - Khitomer conference - Sarek

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24th Century

Isolation

In 2311, the Romulans attacked the Federation, costing thousands of lives, in an event that would later be termed the Tomed Incident. Following some brief skirmishes the Romulans and the Federation signed a new treaty, the Treaty of Algeron, which reaffirmed the neutral zone and prohibited the Federation from developing cloaking technology.

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For the next fifty years, the Neutral Zone was quiet. There was no direct contact between the Federation and the Empire, nor were there any further Romulan incursions.

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In 2344, four of the new D'deridex class warbirds attacked the Klingon outpost at Narendra III. The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C) responded to the outpost's distress call and engaged the Romulan ships, but was defeated and taken with its survivors (among them Lieutenant Tasha Yar) back to Romulan territory. Rumors circulated in the Federation that the Enterprise's broken hull was displayed on Romulus, to boost the morale of Romulan fleet academy students. The Klingons considered this action dishonorable, which strengthened relations between the Klingon Empire and the Federation, and also initiated a Romulan-Klingon war around the 2350s.

Related Topics:
D'deridex class warbirds - USS ''Enterprise'' - Tasha Yar

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Circa stardate 41986.0 in 2364, the Romulan Star Empire ended its five decades of isolation when the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) intercepted a Romulan warbird. Several Romulan outposts had been destroyed by a then unknown force (later revealed to be the Borg). The Romulans opened communications to see if they could glean the information from the Federation, who had suffered similar losses. The Romulan Commander Tebok then said that the Romulans had decided to concentrate on their own internal affairs for the past fifty years. He then said, "We are back," indicating that Romulans would again be active in galactic affairs.

Related Topics:
USS ''Enterprise'' - Borg

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Attempted Conquests

In 2366 the Romulans attempted to trick the Enterprise-D into crossing the neutral zone, where two Romulan Warbirds were waiting to destroy the Enterprise. Captain Picard, however, was assisted by three K'vort class Klingon Birds of Prey; the Romulans, evenly matched, decided that the price of the Enterprise's destruction was too high and retreated. ("The Defector")

Related Topics:
Romulan Warbirds - Captain Picard

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In 2367, the Romulans brainwashed Commander Geordi La Forge of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) in an attempt to incite a Federation-Klingon war, but the plan was exposed and failed. ("The Mind's Eye")

Related Topics:
Geordi La Forge - USS ''Enterprise''

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Later in 2367, during the Klingon Civil War, the Romulans secretly backed the House of Duras. Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard, discovering this, convinced pro-Federation leader Gowron to attack Duras' forces in order to draw Romulan reinforcements out of hiding; when the Romulans attempted to enter the fray, they were revealed by a Federation tachyon blockade, and the Duras family, exposed as traitors, lost all support. ("Redemption, Part I")

Related Topics:
Klingon Civil War - Duras - Captain Jean-Luc Picard - Gowron

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Circa stardate 44995.3 in late 2367, the Vulcan Ambassador Spock was discovered on Romulus, working with an underground movement for the reunification of the divided races.

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The Romulans saw this as a chance to conquer the Vulcans and sent a fleet of ships toward Vulcan, but their intent was discovered and the fleet destroyed. Spock elected to remain underground on Romulus to teach the Vulcan heritage to those who might listen. ("Reunification")

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Sometime in 2374, a 27 member Tal Shiar team commanded by Commander Rekar hijacked the USS Prometheus (NX-74913), an advanced prototype starship to be analyzed by the Tal Shiar. Two Emergency Medical Holograms, one being from the USS Voyager, overthrew the Tal Shiar crew and the ship returned to Federation hands.

Related Topics:
Tal Shiar - Hijacked - USS Prometheus - Starship - Emergency Medical Hologram - USS ''Voyager''

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Dominion War

A brief period before the outbreak of the Dominion War, the Federation obtained a Romulan cloaking device (2371), under the condition that it be used exclusively in the Gamma Quadrant against the emerging threat of the Jem'Hadar and the Dominion and in return, Starfleet would forward all information regarding the Dominion immedietly to the Romulans. ("The Search")

Related Topics:
Dominion War - 2371 - Gamma Quadrant - Jem'Hadar - Dominion

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Several months later the Romulan Tal Shiar intelligence agency and their Cardassian counterparts, the Obsidian Order, launched a preemptive strike against the Dominion; their entire fleet of 20 Warbirds and 20 Keldon class Cardassian vessels, however, was destroyed, and it was revealed that the Tal Shiar officer leading the attack was actually a Dominion agent. ("The Die Is Cast")

Related Topics:
Tal Shiar - Cardassian - Obsidian Order - Dominion agent

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The Romulan Empire signed a non-aggression treaty with the Dominion, which had gained a foothold in the Alpha Quadrant in Cardassian space shortly before the Dominion War broke loose.

Related Topics:
Non-aggression treaty - Dominion War

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Circa stardate 51721.3 in late 2374, Starfleet Captain Benjamin Sisko and Elim Garak tried to trick the Romulans into joining the war against the Dominion by creating fake recordings of a Dominion strategy meeting in which the Dominion revealed their intention to conquer the Romulans along with the Klingons and Federation, and showing them to a high-ranking Romulan senator, Vreenak. In the past, Vreenak negotiated the Romulan non-aggression treaty with the Dominion and was vice-chairman of the Tal Shiar, secretary of the War Plans Council, and one of Proconsul Neral's most trusted advisors. Vreenak discovered the deception and attempted to leave to inform his government, but Garak sabotaged his shuttle and he was killed. When the Romulans examined the wreckage, they discovered the recordings; assuming the incriminating defects to have been caused by the explosion, the Romulan Star Empire entered the war against the Dominion, joining the Klingon-Federation alliance. ("In the Pale Moonlight")

Related Topics:
Benjamin Sisko - Elim Garak

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In 2375, after Proconsul Neral became praetor, the Romulans established a presence on Deep Space Nine and secretly began stockpiling weapons on a Bajoran moon. However, Bajoran officer Colonel Kira Nerys, with the assistance of Starfleet Admiral William Ross, forced the Romulans to back down and remove their weapons. ("Shadows and Symbols")

Related Topics:
Deep Space Nine - Bajor - Colonel Kira Nerys - Starfleet

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The rogue Federation agency, Section 31, had an agent in the Tal Shiar to safeguard Federation interests. It felt that, following the Dominion War, the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire would be the only two powers left in the region and would go to war.

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Later that year, the allied fleet broke through Dominion lines and headed for the Dominion high command on Cardassia Prime. The fight went badly, however, until a Cardassian uprising headed by the former leader Damar turned the Cardassian fleet against the Dominion. After this, the Dominion was defeated and the devastating Dominion War was ended. ("What You Leave Behind")

Related Topics:
Damar - Dominion War

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Reman Coup

Circa stardate 56844.9 in 2379, the Romulan Senate was briefly overthrown in a Reman uprising led by Shinzon. After Praetor Hiren and the senior Romulan leadership were assassinated in the Romulan Senate, Shinzon became Praetor and the Remans took over the Senate; he was, however, dispatched by Captain Picard shortly after his rise to power.

Related Topics:
Reman - Shinzon - Picard

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Relations between the Romulan Star Empire and the United Federation of Planets improved somewhat as a result of Picard's assistance ('). Some fans speculate that a Federation-Romulan peace treaty and the fall of the Neutral Zone will follow.

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