I jumped into the Treklit universe a few months back and have just finished Taking Wing, but it's left me thinking: What does everyone think of the Romulan-Vulcan Reunification Act that Spock is working on? As I said, I've only just started and have yet to get my head around the politics of the Star Trek universe, but this idea of re-introducing Surak's teachings into Romulan society feels... wrong? I understand the, ahem, logic behind it - but every time it's discussed I feel slightly uncomfortable. I don't quite know how to put into words exactly why I feel this way, but it seems very much like a bunch of people saying "We'll accept you but only if you become like the Vulcans" and that the only way Romulans will ever be reasonable is if they follow Surak's teachings. Yeah, Romulans and Vulcans are distant cousins, but is it really okay to force an entire - and highly emotional - species into pure logic because they're too violent? It's a loose comparison but it's almost like the Federation turning around to the Klingons and going "Yeah, but you're going to have to stop with the bloodthirsty warrior thing." There's probably a better way of putting my argument, but it's not coming to me. Bottom line: What do other people think? Did this idea not sit well with anyone else or is it just me? No spoilers if you can help it please (about whether or not it works etc) and I'll repeat: I'm new and don't know all the facts, so if there's a justification I've missed or I've got the wrong end of the stick, feel free to discuss.
I haven't read any novels dealing with it, but I always thought it was a weird idea in general. Truthfully, I didn't really like TNG's take on Spock in "Unification." I didn't understand why, after everything we had seen him go through, after all his relationships with his human friends, he had left Starfleet to embrace the Vulcan way of life. It seemed odd to me. Add to that his desire to reunite Vulcans and Romulans, which also came out of nowhere. I would have liked to see the parts of Spocks life that led him to that cause. It's not the Romulans split off from Vulcan during Spock's lifetime, and he wanted to see them get back together. It happened thousands of years ago!
The tone of the whole thing could be interpreted as disrepectful to the Romulan culture, but I vaguely remember reading in a novel somewhere the idea that Vulcans would also need to explore Romulan-esque emotions to have a true Reunification, and I like that idea a lot. I'm also really interested in a possible future Reuinification story in the JJ Universe. That would be really different with such a minority of Vulcans being absorbed into Romulan society. Clearly a lot of Vulcans would want to live seperately on a Vulcan colony, but some Vulcans embracing Romulus with the loss of Vulcan seems possible, and interesting to me.
As much as I like the character of Spock - the motivations behind his reunification-movement don't make sense to me, either. It sort of implies that Romulan culture is somehow inferior and needs the enlightenment Vulcans can offer. I'd find it more reasonable if he tried to negotiate a treaty between the Romulans and the Federation, that would be somewhat similar to what he did with the Klingons... but a unification-movement as such? It's not as though the separation happened within the last century after all. They differ on almost all levels, physically, historically, politically, just because they were one race millennia ago, that's reason enough? I mean, TNG showed that humanoid races in ST share DNA... does that mean that a unification process should be started throughout the galaxy? I'd love if the books shed some light on that movement - but not even the most recent relaunch-ones managed to do that for me... unfortunately.
Well it pleases me to see that there are others who question the logic *snicker* of "Unification" and subsequent stories in the story arc.
As a totally-unrelated side-note-thing, I got a chuckle out of this thread's title -- takes me back to older SNL days: "The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. Discuss."
I don't see the reunification happening. The Vulcans are too dismissive of emotions, and the Romulans are too xenophobic. Neither would want to change. Actually, one can see the similarities - both races are a bit overproud.
Suppose it did happen. Does that mean that the join Vulcan-Romulan state has discontinuous sections in space?
Did you see Leonard Nimoy in Prince of Tides???? It was like Butta!!!! I'm getting verklempt. Discuss among yourselves..... The Romulan Vulcan Reunification --- Neither Romulan nor Vulcan -- discuss!
^Exactly. How does the reunification movement make sense if it practically ignores Federation sovereignty?
Yeah, my response is that it might be desirable culturally, but it's wholly and completely impractical politically.
Regarding the mechanics of Vulcan-Romulan reunification, Spock in one of David George's novels--I'm pretty sure it was Rough Beasts of Empire--suggest that it could take place in many forms. There could be a common state created, or Vulcan could secede from the Federation and the Typhon Pact, or the Romulan Empire could join. I do think that there are non-racist reasons for Spock to support the idea of Vulcan-Romulan reunification, especially inasmuch as it involves the Romulans taking up Vulcan cultural norms. From all we've seen, Romulan society seems to be turbulent and violent, this turbulence and violence affecting not only the Romulans' neighbours but the Romulans themselves. Romulan turbulence and violence has practically the same roots as that of pre-Surakian Vulcan, for obvious reasons of common ancestry. If reunification involved the Romulans taking up some Vulcan cultural norms that could help more Romulans live happier and longer lives, what would be the harm of it? That said, I don't think it would work. As Praetor Kamemor told Spock at the end of Rough Beasts of Empire, there don't seem many reasons beyond the sentimental to reunify the Vulcans and Romulans. Theirs are two cultures which have diverged a long time ago and don't seem likely to converge more than one would expect two long-separated cultures to exchange memes. The mechanics are daunting: how would reunification take place? (Given the disparities in size between 40 Eridani and the Romulan Star Empire, Vulcan accession to the RSE might be the least disruptive way. I say this with a sense of irony.) Perhaps most importantly, it's not obvious to me that the Romulans can't find their own way to peace and stability, one that doesn't involve taking up Vulcan culture wholesale. Indeed, under Praetor Kamemor the Romulans may in fact be doing just this. Having the prior corrupt, violent political and military elite all murder each other is one way to enable positive political change. (It's just a shame about everyone else caught up in it.)
I've always found the idea of reunification, as portrayed in the show and books, to be silly, ill-defined, short sighted and frustratingly open-ended. Why? Why bother with reunification? People in a particular society break off and form their own groups. It's a constant non-stop process. It makes no sense to even try to just go back in time like it didn't happen. About the only thing I did like in RBOE was when we finally had an in-universe character tell Spock the whole idea was ill-conceived. I actually cheered when I read it. I seem to recall that the whole reunification storyline did pretty much end although I don't remember the details or what book it was. I was just so annoyed at how Spock was saddled with this goofy idea that, from the time the episode introduced the idea up until recently, was something like twenty years.
That's kind of what I was thinking. This would be like some random British guy starting a movement to get the USA to rejoin the British Empire, and the US only declared independence a few hundred years ago (not thousands of years like the Romulans have had)! Even if he could gain supporters, there would never be enough to make it actually happen.
Oh hey, what about the Remans and the Watraii? And if you follow the idea that Vulcans and other Vulcanoid species are the descendants of colonists from Arret (i.e. Henoch from "Return to Tomorrow") (I personally hate this theory because I don't see how a spacegoing species lost all their historical records), then what about Mintakans, Zami, etc.? I was thinking more along the lines of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Historically, the territory and people comprising those countries has often been part of a single state/cultural region. Even if they could get over all the hatred that exists, would anyone even want to reunify?