SPECIES: ROMULAN

The Romulan Star Empire came into being as the result of rebel factions that refused the Vulcan dogma of logic nearly a millennium ago.  Vulcan's came into first contact with alien life in Terran years B.C. 20.  Vulcan's first received messages from outside their planet, and the realization of alien life so stunned the planet that a total cease-fire was declared until they dealt with this matter.  The message was decoded through some mathematics and revealed messages overtly friendly and promising. The aliens promised lucrative trade and peaceful contact.  In good faith the Vulcan planetary government decided to send emissaries and meet with these aliens.  Surak was delayed by mechanical failure in his shuttle, and S'Task was sent instead on the ambassadorial convoy assigned to greet the alien visitors. They turned out to be Etoshan and Duthulhiv pirates, interstellar criminals who preyed on cultures without interstellar travel. The pirates captured the good-will ambassadors, killing anyone who resisted.   A large portion of the leadership of Vulcan was imprisoned and held for ransom, S'Task among them.  Vulcan had enough pride to refuse extortion and soon was plunged into total war with the pirates.  This is known as the "Ahkh," the war that united all of Vulcan in facing a common enemy.  Though their technology was primitive, the innate psionic abilities of Vulcans helped them overwhelm the aliens, who found themselves attacking each other and piloting their ships into the Vulcan suns.  It wasn't long before the Orion pilots made a hasty retreat and left the planet they should never have made designs upon.  Even while the war raged on, Surak firmly held to his principle of peace and offered a peaceful resolution with the Orion invaders. S'Task, however, was not willing to let his life be decided by the words of an untrustworthy Alien and led a rebellion on his slave ship, killing hundreds of his captors and releasing the imprisoned Vulcans.  At great risk to his life, he then rammed the liberated vessel into the Orion mother ship, killing thousands of pirates. He was found many weeks later in an escape pod, drifting in space, half-starved and nearly dead.  He returned to Vulcan as hero, but Surak did not appreciate his heroics and chided him for having resorted to violence. After this encounter with the hostile world, S'Task realized the universe was too violent and unpredictable to deal through logic and peace alone, and he could no longer follow his teacher's philosophies.  Having seen what hostile invaders could do to a peaceful planet, the student of legendary Vulcan philosopher Surak, S'Task, led a splinter group to colonize other worlds far from their Vulcan home world.  This split between teacher and student deepened into a great fissure in Vulcan society. S'Task believed strength alone could ensure a protected future for Vulcan, but Surak and the vast majority of the society followed the principles of logic.  Knowing they were outnumbered, S'Task and some eighty thousand followers left Vulcan to start anew on another world  from Vulcan.  The differences between S'Task and Surak would never be resolved once the ships left Vulcan.  However, S'Task and his followers had no idea it would take them a century of search to locate a new world, or in their case, two home worlds. They avoided every planet recorded on the Orion ship computers and sought a sanctuary far from untrustworthy aliens.

In a centuries time, they crossed interstellar space with their primitive, not warp propelled ships, and settled or conquered numerous planets.  In the Kaleb sector, the Taugus sector and adjoining areas of space near the later Romulan Neutral Zone and the Klingon Empire, still today the remains of these ancient Romulan colonies can be found, on Yadalla Prime, Calder II, Dessica II, Draken IV.  While these planets were formerly uninhabited, the Romulans discovered in the same sectors planets like Barradas III, which were outposts of another space-travelling civilization - the Debrune.  Either in peaceful coexistence, but most probably by subjugation of the other culture, the Romulans settled there as well, leading to a cross-breeding and mixture of both species.  A few Debrune hereditary factors were integrated into the dominant Romulan DNA.  The Debrune-Romulan hybrids had a slightly different skin color and a characteristic forehead, separating them from the "Vulcan Romulans".  The Romulans finally left the planets in those sectors and moved to Romulus and Remus, two planets which became there definite home, located about 50 ly away from Vulcan.   Although the Debrune-Romulans were in the majority, two Romulan races kept on existing. Consequently, a Vulcan does not stand out on Romulus, since he is regarded as a "Vulcan Romulan".  The Romulans finally left the planets in those sectors  that was located about 50 ly away from Vulcan and relocated to their new definite home.  Of the sixteen ships that departed from Vulcan, only five survived to see the Two Worlds, the center of their new civilization.  The Two Worlds was a binary planet system orbiting 128 Trianguli.  Deemed habitable and distant enough from their original home world, it was named ch'Rihan and ch'Havran, meaning "of the Declared" and "of the Travelers," in the language they developed out of the Vulcan dialect.  In this new tongue, the travelers called themselves "Rihannsu," or "the Declared."

 
Life was not easy for the new settlers, even in the resource rich two worlds. 6,000 Rihannsu died within the first 10 years, ironically at their own hands, since they resumed the old ways of things and feuded over resources once again.
In the beginning, times were hard, as the Rihannsu busied themselves with taming the wild planet.  Many died and the population teetered on the verge of nonexistence before making a rebound.  Their persistence reaped great rewards in the centuries afterwards.  The colonists that ventured to Remus , the sister homeworld of the Romulan Empire, did not fair as well as their Romulus counterparts as the planet suffers from a stellar phenomenon that allows for only half of the planet to be habitable due to the extreme temperatures of the side that faces the sun.  Therefore the Remans, who have an altered physical appearance due to living in perpetual darkness on the opposite side, are considered and undesirable caste in the hierarchy of the Romulan Empire.  The only distinction that has been bestowed upon them is that they are formidable warriors.

Two centuries ago, a starship from Earth, the U.S.S Carrizel, was surveying the 128 Trianguli system when they discovered to their surprise the Two Worlds which had a highly developed society.  The vessel broadcasted messages of friendship and peace, but were met with silence. The left after further studies and turned in the report to Starfleet.  The Starfleet officers aboard the vessel dubbed the planets, Romulus and Remus, after a Terran legend, and left after a cursory survey of the planets.  The next time a Federation starship entered the system, they were greeted with primitive weaponry that nonetheless overwhelmed the Federation starship.  The Romulans were not just antagonistic, they would not sit at the same table with offworlders, insisting that all interactions be done through subspace communications.  The Romulan Star empire was born and was formed as a Constitutional Monarchy.  The Rihannsu were the most xenophobic and mistrusting race that the Federation had ever known.  Brief skirmished flared up constantly, and by 2160, both sides signed the Treaty of Algeron, which established a light-year wide buffer of space between their boundaries known as the Romulan Neutral Zone.  The Romulan Star empire and Klingon empire had an Alliance together that established the trading between the two races.  The Romulans gave cloaking technology to the Klingons in exchange for Klingon D-7 battleships and schematics.  The Romulans achieved warp drives by trade with the Klingons.  The first Romulan constructed warp capable ship was designed and launched, the Bird of Vengeance, soon after this trade.  In 2292 the Alliance crumbled and ever since the  Romulans and Klingons have been blood enemies.  The Romulan Star Empire expanded through the years mostly through military conquest of nearby worlds.  Fallen worlds are tightly controlled through a local government of Romulan overseers. Though the Romulans are passionate in their emotions, they feel nothing for the pain they inflict on so many conquered worlds. Trusting no alien race, the Romulans make it their business to weaken political powers nearby by intensive sabotage and covert efforts. The whole of Romulan society was a study on political intrigue, as a misstep or incriminating word can lead to the mysterious disappearance of the offending person. The Romulans remained isolated and reticent in their territory.  The Romulans emerged from interstellar obsquity when the Borg attacked their outposts along the Neutral zone border.  The Romulans and Klingons have endured on and off again wars, where the Romulans destroyed two key Klingon outposts, in the Khitomer and Narendra systems and they have been in dispute over the system of Klack'D'Kel'Bracht.
When the Dominion threat extended to the murder of the ambassador who had signed a nonaggression pact with them, the pride of the Rihannsu was injured, and a price had to be paid.  They formally joined in the Dominion war fought by the Federation/Klingon forces, they have committed there forces to the freedom of the Alpha Quadrant.  With the victory over the Dominion the Romulans control an area of Cardassian space.  This territory is to be occupied and monitored by the Romulans for at least 10 years.  Rumors have been circulating that the Reman populous of the Empire is organizing for a revolution so that they may be recognized by there Romulan brethren.  At this point they are second class citizens and are used by the Romulans as foot soldiers.  There are whispers that a human male is leading their campaign.

The Romulan government is tricameral in nature, designed to use check and balances to prevent any one segment from seizing power and endangering the system with the Empress T'lel the Fourth having the most power.   The government is run by the Praetor .  It is comprised of both the military High Command members and civilian legion heads, and serves as both the executive branch and judicial branch.  Its main duties include the implementation and enforcement of the laws passed by the Senate.   At times, the Praetor  may also propose legislation for the Senate to consider.  The Praetor  has a final veto on all military decisions passed by the Senate.  At the head of the government is the Fvillha, or Head Praetor, the highest ranking member of the Empire, He has veto power over all decisions, in effect acting as a separate branch of government. The Senate, or Deihu'hrrau, is the legislative body responsible for the proposal and passing of legislation.  It is divided into two halves: the Lower Senate to propose and pass legislation, and the Upper Senate strictly to veto legislation. The Defense Forces are divided into the Imperial Guard and the Tal Shiar, the  Intelligence and Secret Police.  The total population of the Romulan Star Empire is 625,194,000,000.