"It's always a game of chess with them" Jean-Luc Picard

The Romulans are passive warriors, while not overtly committing to war and conflict, they can usually be expected to be waiting quietly, plotting in the wings for the perfect moment to strike, or respond...

CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

The Romulan heritage hails from ancient Vulcan ancestry, for it is written that a group of Vulcan expatriates fled the planet almost two thousand years ago after being wholly disenchanted with the new peaceful, and logic based social reforms charter brought about by the revered philosopher Surak. Neither their means of escape, or their technological capabilities during this period are known, as detailed records of this time are thin, but on reaching the planet the Federation calls 'Romulus' and its cousin 'Remus' (Romii), the colonists settled and created a new society; a society that took it far away from its Vulcan roots. Today, the race, which collectively embodies the Romulan Star Empire has spread far and wide across large expanses of their native Beta Quadrant encompassing a highly functional, adaptive and technically advanced military machine. 

The central political and governing body over the Empire is the Senate, the controller of which is the Praetor, and the various Proconsuls. Policy and dictatorship is driven towards complete control over the masses, as the preferred method of existence is for one to maintain an orderly, efficient lifestyle, whist keeping private, low profiles. Heavy imperial resources are plowed into the Empire's intelligence services, administrated by a grouped called the Tal Shiar. As well as overseeing internal security and ensuring complete discipline and loyalty amongst its own people, external affairs are also a large department within the agency, as superpower espionage, infiltrations, collusions, sabotage operations and slander are common activities on their political agendas -ones which can even override traditional governmental powers. Few Romulan citizens would dare speak out against Tal Shiar motives and tactics, as such treasonous remarks could see you 'disappear' rather suddenly.

In the mid twenty second century, Imperial scout vessels had first contact with Humans, and it wasn't long until a bitter war raged between the two powers. But with the Earth Force vessels having superior propulsion, and both fusion torpedoes and phaser cannons it was not a long enduring war, and at the critical engagement near the planet Cheron everything changed, and the war was over with a resounding Terran victory. It was a humiliation the Empire has never forgotten. In subsequent diplomatic negotiations arrangements were made to separate the borders of the two forces with a zone of neutral territory. Becoming the 'Neutral Zone', as it was simply known, neither side was permitted entry into this area of space, an agreement that lasted a whole century until violated by the Romulans. Over the couple of years directly after the Cheron incident (or Battle of Cheron), the Humans engaged in an ambitious enterprise to unify their world and resources with those of other races; races they'd maintained close diplomatic ties and trade relations with. The plan was to operate as a single unified body, to explorer space, progress and interact as one - combining cultures, resources and technology. The Humans had had a close relationship with the Vulcan people for nearly a century, and they were the first to back the proposal, and soon after, with other races such as the Tellarites and Andorians coming on board, the Humans formed the United Federation of Planets. The Romulans saw the Vulcan involvement in this as a bitter betrayal, and the final insult by their far away cousins.

In and around the mid 23rd century, the Empire moved into a period of peace and cooperation with their new allies the Klingons. In fact there was a great deal of collaboration, involving the sharing of technology (most notably the cloaking device) and certain ship designs. The alliance did not last long, and they soon began to exploit the Klingons, and this bore a grudging mistrust and hatred, something the Klingons have never forgotten, or forgiven.

After the Federation was formed the Romulans entered significant periods of isolation, resulting in little diplomatic contact between the two superpowers. Various incidents of Neutral Zone violations occurred over the following years and decades involving several notable skirmishes, such as a brutal attack on a Federation colony -an incident which became known as the Norkan Massacre, but an outright confrontation was always averted. And during this time both continued to expand and advance, and knowledge and intelligence on each became more and more scarce. Until that is the Tomed Incident which occurred in 2311. As a result of this battle many lives were lost on each side, with significant losses to Starfleet forces. But subsequent conciliations finally saw the mutual signing of new peace accords, bound by the Treaty of Algeron. The conditions found therein reaffirmed the Neutral Zone arrangements, and stated that violation by either side could be considered as an act of war. The treaty also demanded the Federation cease research and development in cloaking systems and related technological fields. Some of the more outspoken Federation scientists noted this concession as a grave error, as the Romulans would forever have a distinct tactical advantage.

For many, a historic era of peace and co-operation seemed to be on the horizon in 2367. But ulterior Romulan motives were soon exposed... Spock, a noted Federation Ambassador of many decades had undertaken a bold and ambitious initiative to 'unify' the Romulan and Vulcan peoples -whose roots were the same, but had become separated by centuries of mistrust. Unknown to him his Governmental contact, Senator Pardek, had reported all dissident and underground movements to the authorities, and all hopes of the planned social integration, discussion and indoctrination were ultimately doomed. Behind the closed doors of the Romulan Senate the idea of unification was immediately rejected. Such a unity held no significant advantage to the Empire, it was entirely foolhardy, and pointless. Besides, Vulcan was a Federation member, and it was not certain how such a 'reunification' could work, unless, as it was discussed, the Empire could somehow take control of Vulcan by force. This would invoke a full scale conflict with Federation forces, but the Empire being strong and well equipped were fully confident of victory. If the Federation were to lose Vulcan, it would be the most shattering of losses for them. It was a unique opportunity to finally end the stalemate and confront the Federation head on. The Federation though had planted spies on Romulus, who had journeyed into the very heart of the Empire to confront their ambassador and return him to the Federation. In a sickening failure of Internal Security, not only were the spies able to contact Starfleet to apprise them of the situation and that a Romulan invasion force was crossing the Neutral Zone, but they escaped, and safely returned to Federation space. Klingon involvement was suspected, but worryingly, no clear evidence as to the means of their undetected arrival and escape were discovered.

TECHNOLOGY

The most noted technological factor in the Romulan military is the Cloaking Device. The system involves an energy envelope which surrounds a vessel or object rendering it undetectable, as firstly light is manipulated, being bent round the ship rendering it invisible to the eye, which is complemented by several layers of particle scattering fields, which further camouflage the vessel to scanning devices and EM sweeps, as all they invariably pick up is background radiation.

The central power generators aboard modern Romulan Warbirds (pictured) are 'forced quantum singularities'. In essence these are artificially created gravity wells, or micro black holes. These are known to give off abnormal amounts of tetyron radiation, abnormal enough for certain vessels in reasonable proximity to sometimes detect them, even through the Cloaking Device.

Principal beam weapons on their vessels involve a focused, directed-energy discharge, that cause matter disruption, and molecular debonding. Known as 'disruptors', they have certain advantages over the Federation phased energy rectification devices, most notably its basic destructive effect, and power efficiency. Though energetic anti-protons can be noted as a lingering post discharge residue.

RECENT DIPLOMATIC AND MILITARY MATTERS

Perhaps the Empire's biggest threat, other than the Dominion, has been the enduring Federation/Klingon Alliance, something that they've long wished to destroy. The Federation/Klingon alliance initially gained strength via the Khitomer Peace Accords in 2293, and when the Federation went to the defence of the Klingon Outpost at Narendra III during a sneak Romulan raid in 2344, that furthered the mutually growing trust. There have been several attempts to undermine Federation/Klingon relations, so far without too much success, even though the alliance has sustained some serious threats and examinations from other sources. But over the course of several years, ever since the Khitomer massacre, the Romulans managed to forge ties with one of the Klingon Empire's most respected and powerful houses: the Duras family. It was through this relationship that they sought to undermine the alliance structure by affecting changes in the highest levels of Klingon government and forcing Gowron to cede control of the High Council.

What ensued was a political argument that caused divisions in every area of Klingon society. If permitted to escalate it may have precipitated a full scale civil war that could very well have ripped the internal infrastructure of the Empire apart. Keen, yet concerned observers of the situation were the Federation watching from the periphery. To lose an ally of such influence would have had disconcerting ramifications. But, alert to the Romulan involvement, the Federation implemented a blockade of around 20 starships employing an interlinking gravitic sensor network which could detect the location and proximity of any cloaked ships attempting to cross the border. The blockade duly prevented further Romulan subversion, and ended the continued flow of weapons and supplies to the clutches of the Duras collaborators.

In 2374 the Tal Shiar launched a bold campaign to capture a new concept vessel being developed by the Federation. Called the Prometheus, this vessel's advanced technology incorporated a tactically brilliant 'multi-vector assault mode' which was of severe concern to the Romulan military. If the prototype could be acquired, it would be a severe blow to the Federation, for, not only would it be an opportunity to examine the latest Federation technology at close quarters, but the use and exploitation of such technology could be used against them. Unfortunately, the vessel could not be secured due to the ineptitude of the team deployed to recover and pilot it to Romulan territory. A rescue party of several Federation vessels also hindered the operation, and at least one Warbird was lost. This scheme was yet another fiasco of failure and embarrassment for the Tal Shiar, and the Romulan Government in general. Understandably, the Federation were furious, and expelled the Romulan ambassador from Federation space, only to return after profuse apologies some months later.

After much of the Tal Shiar organisation were lost in the Jem'Hadar incident with the Obsidian Order, much rebuilding and regrouping occurred, and to prevent additional entanglements which could further weaken the Empire, the signing of a non-aggression pact with the Dominion had been stamped and sealed in 2373. The initial military opposition of the Dominion had been severely curtailed when the Tal Shiar launched a preemptive strike against the Founders, controllers of the Dominion. Provisionally allied with forces of the Cardassian Obsidian Order, a heavy assault against the Founders homeworld in the Gamma Quadrant was carried out. But a fleet of 150 Jem'Hadar warships were waiting for them, and the massive defeat cost the Romulan Empire dearly, as their intelligence and security agency and perhaps the most important arm of their government had been utterly decimated.

After the peace treaty with the Dominion was established the Romulan Star Empire was not destined to be simply interested observers for long, for they were indeed drawn into the conflict after Tal Shiar intelligence recovered evidence that the Dominion had long term plans to invade and conquer the Empire. They did not have the knowledge that the evidence was a fabrication; an elaborate scheme invented by Starfleet Officer Benjamin Sisko in a desperate attempt to drag the Empire into the war. It was Federation opinion that without the Romulans' assistance, the war could not be won. For the first time in history Romulan forces fought alongside the Federation and Klingon fleets to rid the quadrant of the gravest of threats.

Klingon Empire   Federation   Cardassian Union   Ferengi Alliance

Dominion   Borg