Re: Enterprise: The Romulan War: To Brave the Storm review thread
Duane's original version of the Rihannsu had the Earth-Romulan War be a defensive war from the Romulan side, with the Romulans' civilian populations being the one potentially at risk from a numerically and technologically superior opposing force. (Note that I said "potentially".) In FASA's RPG setting, the Romulan War was an expensive deep-space war, fought in a frontier region that seems to have lacked substantial Federation or Romulan civilian populations.
Rather. I can readily believe that, in the timeline with Sisko but without Gabriel Bell, local space readily fell to the Romulans. Who else would have stopped them?
Yes.
(The IRS ambassador before the Borg invasion said that human-Romulan relations were long troubled, did he? Such a master of understatement.)
The willingness of the 22nd century Romulans to engage in genocidal attacks has plenty of implications.
On the positive side, it shows the amount of progress in Romulan ethics towards other civilizations: where Valdore was troubled by the scope fo the attack against Coridan's billions (not so much massacres of minor colony planets) and T'Met was outraged that Draylax's leaders were willing to expose their civilians to devastation by not acceding to Romulan demands, even the radical cabal behind Shinzon's coup was lukewarm to hostile to the idea of using thalaron weapons against Earth. Donatra was making use of common knowledge when she said that Romulans' hands would be covered with blood if Shinzon carried through his plans.
On the negative side, it reinforces the idea that genocidal tactics and technologies are de rigeur in the RSE's military. When Crusher learned about the thalaron radiation in Nemesis, I'm sure that she expected the thalaron projector was a weapon intended for use. Did Ael and K's't'lk and Scotty really fear that unlimited use of the Sunseed weapon could wreck the fabric of space and that the Romulan leadership didn't know about the possibility, or were they just being bleakly realistic? The idea that a Romulan leadership might authorize the use of hyperflare weapons against Sol (and Qo'Nos' sun) wouldn't have been implausible at all.
It's interesting to see that the Tomed tactic--the collision of a starship at high warp with a stationary object, with catastrophic results--has such a long pedigree. Going back to 2312, Vokar's actions would have been perfectly plausible to non-Romulan observers. ("A Romulan commander longing for the old days of empire piloted a starship at high warp into an enemy's targets? Can't be, he didn't kill enough civilians.")
And going way back to the discussion we had of the Borg invasion of 2381, it seems all the more plausible to me that the two Romulan states had stores of metaweapons that they used with little inhibition against the invaders. That's traditional Romulan military behaviour.
Duane's original version of the Rihannsu had the Earth-Romulan War be a defensive war from the Romulan side, with the Romulans' civilian populations being the one potentially at risk from a numerically and technologically superior opposing force. (Note that I said "potentially".) In FASA's RPG setting, the Romulan War was an expensive deep-space war, fought in a frontier region that seems to have lacked substantial Federation or Romulan civilian populations.
Enterprise and the novels established that, in contrast to the traditional depiction in literature of the Romulans as the weaker side, the Romulans were the stronger side. The RSE was the established interstellar power; Earth and the human sphere generally were up-and-coming powers. Only a very few of the Vulcans knew just how the Romulans were; the Romulans seem to have known everything. And the Romulans were able to handily fight wars on two fronts, with Haakona appearing to have been a power roughly equivalent to contemporary Earth.
This makes the particular ferocity of the Romulan campaigns all the more notable. If Romulans were the weaker side, the use of WMDs and attacks on civilian populations would make sense, but the Romulans resorted to these attacks as the stronger side.
This makes the particular ferocity of the Romulan campaigns all the more notable. If Romulans were the weaker side, the use of WMDs and attacks on civilian populations would make sense, but the Romulans resorted to these attacks as the stronger side.
Rather. I can readily believe that, in the timeline with Sisko but without Gabriel Bell, local space readily fell to the Romulans. Who else would have stopped them?
It makes me wonder what hard hearts might still remain even in the 24th century. The Coridanite and Draylaxian representatives on the 24th century Federation Council, for instance. They might very likely be thinking: True peace with Romulus? Never. I'd hope differently, but I wouldn't be suprised if there were people on those worlds who privately cheered come 2387...
Yes.
(The IRS ambassador before the Borg invasion said that human-Romulan relations were long troubled, did he? Such a master of understatement.)
The willingness of the 22nd century Romulans to engage in genocidal attacks has plenty of implications.
On the positive side, it shows the amount of progress in Romulan ethics towards other civilizations: where Valdore was troubled by the scope fo the attack against Coridan's billions (not so much massacres of minor colony planets) and T'Met was outraged that Draylax's leaders were willing to expose their civilians to devastation by not acceding to Romulan demands, even the radical cabal behind Shinzon's coup was lukewarm to hostile to the idea of using thalaron weapons against Earth. Donatra was making use of common knowledge when she said that Romulans' hands would be covered with blood if Shinzon carried through his plans.
On the negative side, it reinforces the idea that genocidal tactics and technologies are de rigeur in the RSE's military. When Crusher learned about the thalaron radiation in Nemesis, I'm sure that she expected the thalaron projector was a weapon intended for use. Did Ael and K's't'lk and Scotty really fear that unlimited use of the Sunseed weapon could wreck the fabric of space and that the Romulan leadership didn't know about the possibility, or were they just being bleakly realistic? The idea that a Romulan leadership might authorize the use of hyperflare weapons against Sol (and Qo'Nos' sun) wouldn't have been implausible at all.
It's interesting to see that the Tomed tactic--the collision of a starship at high warp with a stationary object, with catastrophic results--has such a long pedigree. Going back to 2312, Vokar's actions would have been perfectly plausible to non-Romulan observers. ("A Romulan commander longing for the old days of empire piloted a starship at high warp into an enemy's targets? Can't be, he didn't kill enough civilians.")
And going way back to the discussion we had of the Borg invasion of 2381, it seems all the more plausible to me that the two Romulan states had stores of metaweapons that they used with little inhibition against the invaders. That's traditional Romulan military behaviour.
I really enjoy your insights on the Romulans, rfmcdpei. You're good at tying all the various portrayals together, giving a sense of their nation's history as one big tapestry. 
