Vulcan (Star Trek)

Vulcans are a humanoid species in the fictional Star Trek universe who reside on the planet Vulcan and are noted for their attempt to live by reason and logic.

Culture

Emotion and maturity

Vulcans, as a matter of custom and policy, suppress all emotional influence by living lives of rigid emotional self-control through meditative techniques and training of mental discipline. It is incorrect to say that Vulcans have no emotions; although they themselves make this claim, Vulcans are in fact a very emotional people and have learned to suppress these emotions because of the damage they can cause if unchecked. The advanced ritual of Kolinahr is intended to purge all emotion. In ', Spock was unable to complete this ritual. Some Vulcans, such as T'Pol, Ambassador Sarek, and Ambassador Soval, carry their emotions close to the surface and are prone to emotional outbursts, even without outside influences or illness; there is some evidence to support the hypothesis that Vulcans in close contact with humans for an extended period of time may become more emotional than Vulcans who do not (i.e. T'Pol and Soval), but established canon has yet to make a definitive case for this.

Related Topics:
Emotion - Meditative - Kolinahr - T'Pol - Sarek - Soval

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Some Vulcans have chosen not to follow the path of pure logic, and have instead chosen to embrace emotions. A group of renegade Vulcans who believed in this was encountered in the Enterprise episode "Fusion", while Spock's half-brother, Sybok (seen in the film ') was also fully emotional. An episode of Enterprise entitled "E2" featured an elderly T'Pol in an alternate timeline who had embraced emotion and allowed her half-human son, Lorian, to do likewise.

Related Topics:
Sybok - Lorian

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Many Vulcan children have pets, most notably domesticated sehlats, which are ferocious man-eaters in the wild. Both T'Pol and Spock had sehlats as children. Although one might consider keeping pets an emotional or even sentimental practice, it isn't viewed as such on Vulcan, and may instead be viewed as a practice to instill a sense of responsibility and maturity.

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The speed at which a Vulcan matures "emotionally" (for lack of a better term) seems to vary. It has been established that, with a lifespan of more than two centuries, a Vulcan as old as 100 Earth years will still appear, and be considered, relatively young. Vulcans as young as their 30s and even 20s have been shown in mature roles in their society and acting older than their apparent ages (i.e. T'Pau, Mr. Spock). T'Pol, a Vulcan in her 60s, on the other hand, is still somewhat naïve and innocent compared to other Vulcans and acts very much like a rational woman in her 20s.

Related Topics:
T'Pau - Mr. Spock - T'Pol

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Family and rituals

Traditionally, Vulcans place high importance on family, placing the will of their family above their own.

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Vulcans practice arranged marriage, in which a male and a female are usually matched as children, only to officially marry at a later date. Following the marriage, it is customary for the female to remain on Vulcan for at least one Vulcan year before conducting off-world travel (presumably in order to sire offspring), though it is possible for the female to defer this requirement until a later date, upon negotiation with the male's family. The state of pon farr is not required for marriage to occur.

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A Vulcan female can challenge the proposed bonding by calling for koon-ut-kalifee (spellings vary), in which a challenger for marriage engages the bonded male in a fight to the death. Alternately, the bonded male has the option of rejecting his intended bride and choosing another. It is acceptable for a male to "release" his mate from marriage (effectively the same as a divorce). It isn't known yet whether females have the same option.

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The canon has not firmly established a timeline for Vulcan marriages. Spock was in his 30s (at least) before he was called to Vulcan for his marriage ceremony ("Amok Time"), while T'Pol was in her late 60s by the time her own marriage occurred, which she had put off for several years in order to remain aboard Enterprise.

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It is customary for Vulcan children to undertake the kahs-wan ritual (sometimes spelled kaswahn), in which they are left to fend for themselves in the desert. Not all children survive the ordeal. T'Pol of the Enterprise NX-01 underwent the ritual, while Tuvok of Voyager experienced a variation known as the tal'oth. The kahs-wan was first introduced in the episode "Yesteryear" in which Spock's experience as a child was detailed; however, as the animated series is not considered canon, it has yet to be "officially" stated that Spock experienced the ritual.

Related Topics:
Kahs-wan ritual - Tuvok - Canon

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Contrary to the Vulcan image of expressing no emotion, family bonds can be strong and affectionate just as they are for humans. Tuvok expressed his love for his wife on a few occasions (without actually using the term), Sarek openly expressed affection for both his human wives, and a clear bond of love existed between T'Pol and her mother, T'Les. In addition, Vulcans also value close friendships, even with more emotional beings as attested to by the relationship of Spock and James T. Kirk, and others.

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Names

The treatment of Vulcan names has been erratic throughout Trek's history. Originally, the original series established that male Vulcans had names beginning with "S" and ending with "k"; some non-canon sources have suggested that the rule was the names had to be five letters long and one syllable, though such a rule was never made canon. Female Vulcans, meanwhile, were said to have names beginning with "T" followed by an apostrophe. The earliest reference to Vulcan names following a set pattern dates back to a May 3, 1966 memo from Original Series producer Robert Justman to Gene Roddenberry (later reprinted in the book The Making of Star Trek) in which Justman recommended that all Vulcan names begin with SP and end with K and have exactly five letters.

Related Topics:
Apostrophe - 1966 - Robert Justman

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Beginning with the Star Trek movies of the 1980s and continuing to today, a greater variety of names have been given to Vulcans beginning with other letters of the alphabet, such as Tuvok, Koss, Mestral, Valeris, and Xon to name a few (Xon being a Vulcan character created by Gene Roddenberry for his aborted ' series in the 1970s). There have also been numerous examples of female Vulcans possessing S...k formatted names or variations thereof, such as Saavik and Sakonna. There has been at least one case of a male Vulcan with a T' name. It has been suggested that the S...k and T' form of naming might reflect class distinctions.

Related Topics:
Tuvok - Koss - Mestral - Valeris - Xon - Saavik - Sakonna

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Vulcans have only ever been identified in the Trek canon by one name, however the Original Series episode "This Side of Paradise" has a scene in which Leila Kolomi says to Spock, "You never told me if you had another name." Spock replies: "You couldn't pronounce it." This suggests that Vulcans do have second names, though to date none have been revealed in canon.

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Cuisine

Vulcans are vegetarians. They do not like to touch their food with their hands, preferring to use utensils whenever possible. It is a Vulcan custom for guests in the home to prepare meals for their hosts. Vulcans generally do not drink alcoholic beverages, though they will "indulge" on special occasions. Vulcans are immune to the effects of alcohol, but instead can become inebriated by ingesting chocolate.

Related Topics:
Vegetarian - Alcoholic beverages

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Vulcans in Starfleet

The first Vulcan to serve in Starfleet was former Subcommander T'Pol, who received the rank of Commander and served aboard Enterprise NX-01 during the mid-22nd Century, following her resignation from the Vulcan High Command. After spending a decade aboard Enterprise, she apparently continued to serve in Starfleet following the decommissioning of the NX-01 in 2161, coinciding with the founding of the United Federation of Planets and the introduction of Warp 7-capable starships (episode: "These Are the Voyages...").

Related Topics:
T'Pol - Vulcan High Command - 2161 - United Federation of Planets - These Are the Voyages...

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In an alternate timeline (seen in the episode "Twilight"), she was promoted to Captain and commanded Enterprise for several years, although it has yet to be established whether a similar promotion occurs in the real timeline.

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The best-known Vulcan to serve in Starfleet was Mr. Spock, who served aboard the Enterprise NCC-1701 and NCC-1701-A under Captains Christopher Pike and James T. Kirk. Spock eventually rose to the rank of Captain, briefly commanding the NCC-1701 when it was used as a training vessel.

Related Topics:
Mr. Spock - Christopher Pike - James T. Kirk

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There is a misconception that Spock was the first Vulcan to serve in Starfleet (a fact seemingly contradicted by T'Pol's appointment). In fact, an examination of all ' episodes and films failed to uncover any such reference, though Spock may have been the first to attend Starfleet Academy. During the time of The Original Series, an entire Federation starship of Vulcans, the Intrepid, was destroyed.

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Vulcans appear many times in later series, including Voyager's Chief Tactical Officer Tuvok and Engineer Vorik. Both served under Captain Kathryn Janeway during her seven years in the Delta Quadrant. In other references, Dr. Selar, a Vulcan female, served as a physician aboard the Enterprise-D, while several Vulcan Starfleet officers appeared on Deep Space Nine. At least two Vulcan Starfleet admirals have appeared in TNG and DS9.

Related Topics:
Tuvok - Vorik - Kathryn Janeway - Selar

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Martial Arts

Although generally adhering to a philosophy of non-violence, Vulcans have developed martial arts and techniques of hand-to-hand combat. Vulcan martial arts are highly ritualistic, and based on philosophy, similar to Terran counterparts such as Karate. The most extreme example is the "koon-ut-kalifee" or fight to the death, described earlier.

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Many Vulcans are skilled in a self-defense technique known as the "Vulcan nerve pinch" or "neck pinch", which targets a precise location on the neck, rendering the victim unconscious (sometimes instantly, sometimes after a short delay depending on the subject). Although the mechanics of the pinch have never been explained in on-screen canon, it has been speculated that it can be done by applying pressure over baroreceptors of the carotid sinus at the base of the humanoid neck though other fanon speculations exist involving Vulcan mental abilities. While practiced mainly by Vulcans, it is not exclusive to their race; for example, Data and Jean-Luc Picard have also mastered the technique, the latter probably acquiring it during his mind-meld with Sarek. Likewise, Jonathan Archer learned the technique as a result of receiving the katra of Surak though it remains to be seen whether his knowledge of it continued following the removal of the katra.

Related Topics:
Vulcan nerve pinch - Fanon - Data - Jean-Luc Picard - Sarek - Jonathan Archer - Surak

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The "Vulcan Death Grip," referred to in the original series, was a lie concocted by James Kirk and Spock and doesn't really exist.

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Ethics

By the 23rd century, Vulcans had adopted strong ethics that included a taboo on telling falsehoods. There are numerous examples of this taboo being broken by the likes of Mr. Spock (who characterized it as "an exaggeration" in Star Trek II) and by Lt. Valeris who willingly deceived her superiors in Star Trek VI.

Related Topics:
Mr. Spock - Valeris

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In the 22nd Century, Vulcans, seemingly, also lived by the ethic of telling the truth, however were very willing to lie when necessary. Early in the fourth season of Enterprise, Captain Archer says "Vulcans can lie with the best of them", with the Vulcan High Command's cover-up regarding a secret listening post at P'Jem often cited as a prime example. T'Pol, although initially hesitant to tell falsehoods, eventually began to embrace the idea that telling lies was sometimes necessary, though she also began to lie to her captain regarding her Trellium-D addiction. Following the "kir'shara" incident, T'Pol began to adopt more of Surak's teachings, presumably including the prohibition on lying, though it has yet to be seen whether this is case.

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Throughout the four seasons of Enterprise reference is made several times to a pronouncement by the Vulcan Science Council that time travel is not possible. This pronouncement viewed in light of modern scientific theory would have to take into account Einstein's theory of relativity) which means that any ship which warps space would necessarily also warp time. Gene Roddenberry had originally shown a partial understanding of Einsteinian time relativity when he explained stardates: "This time system adjusts for shifts in relative time which occur due to the vessel's speed and space warp capability. It has little relationship to Earth's time as we know it." However, Roddenberry later admitted he didn't fully understand how this would work, so we're left unsure of the relationship between Vulcan science and real world science. What can be said with certainty is that the fictional world of Star Trek contains numerous references to apparent conspiracies, deceptions and secrets related to time travel.

Related Topics:
Time travel - Einstein - Theory of relativity - Stardate

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