Romulans And Mating...

[Farscape One]

My memory may be off, but I don't recall any of the shows mentioning the Romulans having the same 7 year cycle that affects Vulcans.

Given how close their physiologies are, I wonder if the Romulans have the same 7 year cycle or maybe they evolved past it.

Thoughts? And if it was mentioned in a series, please feel free to correct me.

 

[The Wormhole]

It's never been mentioned, but a theory I've seen online that I like is that it's possible Romulans do experience ponn farr, it's just not as noticeable in them as it is in Vulcans.

The reason it's so noticeable in Vulcans is because they typically do not express emotions. Then, their ponn farr hits and they are suddenly extremely emotional and they resolve this by going home and having a grand ceremony with their family and mate's family invited, which ultimately culminates in sexual intercourse.

Romulans, on the other have are emotive on a regular basis. Once every seven years, they just end up having a bad day which they resolve by going to a night club and scoring tail.

The Romulans, ironically are a lot more logical about this than the Vulcans are.

 

[Farscape One]

I like that theory, and if true, they are ironically more logical about it than Vulcans.

 

[Timo]

The hiccup there is that in "Amok Time", Spock refers to the illogical mate-choosing ritual as the price Vulcans have to pay for their logical ways. Some sort of pent-up rage, then, apparently. Romulans would not have to pay anything...

But Spock is not at his best in that episode, for obvious reasons. He also accepts a comparison to salmon, even though those as individuals do not have a mating cycle that repeats at regular intervals - they only mate once and then die, in the general case.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Also if Romulans only had sex once every seven years, Sela’s father would have been less keen to take on a consort.

 

[Spectre Of The Fun]

I always assumed the Romulans retained all the passions the Vulcans suppressed including the erotic ones. The Romulan Commander seemed like a sensual woman and not at all like T'Pring. I thought Savvik was conceived in sexual violence inflicted on her Vulcan mother by a Romulan soldier.

 

[The Wormhole]

Also if Romulans only had sex once every seven years, Sela’s father would have been less keen to take on a consort.

It wouldn't be the only time the Romulans have sex, just that at this point every seven years, they must have sex. Vulcans can have sex whenever they want, the only condition is that when their ponn farr hits, they must have sex. The Enterprise Incident implies Spock and the Commander slept together, despite Spock's ponn farr only being a year earlier.

I thought Savvik was conceived in sexual violence inflicted on her Vulcan mother by a Romulan soldier.

Not canon in the slightest. Neither is the idea Saavik has a Romulan parent.

 

[Spectre Of The Fun]

It wouldn't be the only time the Romulans have sex, just that at this point every seven years, they must have sex. Vulcans can have sex whenever they want, the only condition is that when their ponn farr hits, they must have sex. The Enterprise Incident implies Spock and the Commander slept together, despite Spock's ponn farr only being a year earlier.

Not canon in the slightest. Neither is the idea Saavik has a Romulan parent.

Where Savvik is concerned I guess I was remembering the novelization of Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock from the 80's. So you're right I just liked it and put in my head but not canon.

 

[Tim Thomason]

The hiccup there is that in "Amok Time", Spock refers to the illogical mate-choosing ritual as the price Vulcans have to pay for their logical ways. Some sort of pent-up rage, then, apparently. Romulans would not have to pay anything...

But Spock is not at his best in that episode, for obvious reasons. He also accepts a comparison to salmon, even though those as individuals do not have a mating cycle that repeats at regular intervals - they only mate once and then die, in the general case.

Timo Saloniemi

There's also the fact that Spock was adamant about returning to Vulcan, saying he would die if not. We don't know if there is something in the Vulcan atmosphere (accurately simulated, I guess, by the time of Voyager with Vorik and Tuvok's pon farr) or if he just knew T'Pring, his telepathically-bonded betrothed, would be there. He may have been exaggerating the effect.

We know that Romulans aren't constantly visiting Vulcan to get it on, and I suspect they don't bother much with telepathic bonding, which may be at the core of the pon farr issue.

 

[johnnybear]

I don't think Romulans go through Ponn Farr! They are not slaves to logic as are the Vulcans so probably have a similar mating cycle to humans and other aggressive races in the galaxy!
JB

 

[uniderth]

The hiccup there is that in "Amok Time", Spock refers to the illogical mate-choosing ritual as the price Vulcans have to pay for their logical ways. Some sort of pent-up rage, then, apparently. Romulans would not have to pay anything...

But Spock is not at his best in that episode, for obvious reasons. He also accepts a comparison to salmon, even though those as individuals do not have a mating cycle that repeats at regular intervals - they only mate once and then die, in the general case.

Timo Saloniemi

The point of the comparison though, wasn't a mating cycle at regular intervals. It was that they must return to their home to mate. A lot of people seem to focus only on the seven year thing, but the other important aspect was that they have to return home or they will die.

It wouldn't be the only time the Romulans have sex, just that at this point every seven years, they must have sex. Vulcans can have sex whenever they want, the only condition is that when their ponn farr hits, they must have sex.

Not canon in the slightest.

I think you just answered your own question there.

There's also the fact that Spock was adamant about returning to Vulcan, saying he would die if not. We don't know if there is something in the Vulcan atmosphere (accurately simulated, I guess, by the time of Voyager with Vorik and Tuvok's pon farr) or if he just knew T'Pring, his telepathically-bonded betrothed, would be there. He may have been exaggerating the effect.

We know that Romulans aren't constantly visiting Vulcan to get it on, and I suspect they don't bother much with telepathic bonding, which may be at the core of the pon farr issue.

True Romulans aren't constantly returning to the planet Vulcan. Spock specifically gives examples of "The giant eelbirds of Regulus Five, once each eleven years they must return to the caverns where they hatched." and "the salmon. They must return to that one stream where they were born, to spawn or die in trying."

So Spock had to return to his specific place on Vulcan. So while that may be quite limiting to Vulcanian offshoots, It also does allow for some outward mobility if a pregnant Vulcanian female had her child off world. Then when that child grew and it was time for their Ponn Farr they would be drawn to that location where they were born, rather than back to Vulcan.

That means that native born Vulcanians are going to be limited to travelling no further than 3.5 years away from Vulcan.

What also might factor into this is that the seven year cycle can be disturbed by "extreme feminine beauty." Now if such a disruption were to occur would that reset the cycle, or just add an extra copulation opportunity? Would the Vulcanian be drawn to this new location as their mating point, or would the original one still be programmed? Also, can the cycle be delayed through the use of suspended animation? Could Vulcanians actually travel further than 3.5 years from home if they were using sleeper ships to extend the journey?

 

[at Quark's]

Didn't the Romulans split off from the Vulcans only a couple of thousands of years before the present? In that case they'd probably still biologically be the same species, making it very unlikely they would have a different mating cycle. Unless that mating cycle is more the result of Vulcan culture than of their biology, or Vulcans have a greatly increased rate of evolution, or the Romulans have done some artificial engineering into their own species to make themselves more distinct from Vulcans, or ....

 

[Mysterion]

Didn't the Romulans split off from the Vulcans only a couple of thousands of years before the present? In that case they'd probably still biologically be the same species, making it very unlikely they would have a different mating cycle.

This. With the Romulan exit ("rexit"?) from Vulcan having been only 2000 years ago (give or take), one would assume that genetically they are pretty much still the same species even though they have diverged socially. I assume the romulans are still affected by pon farr, but my question would be how is this handled in Romulan culture?

BTW - in my headcanon, Saavik is a full Vulcan until I see something to that effect on-screen. Having her be half-Romulan is just gimmicky and adds nothing to the character, IMO.

 

[SolarisOne]

Also if Romulans only had sex once every seven years

Vulcans don't have sex only once every seven years, so why would Romulans?

 

[uniderth]

Vulcans don't have sex only once every seven years, so why would Romulans?

Because Vulcanian males do only have sex once every seven years. That's the entire point of Ponn Farr. The reproductive cycle.

 

[Timo]

Hmm. In "Amok Time", there's no mention of sex, obviously enough. Only about finding a mate. No cycle is suggested, either; when this follows in "The Cloud Minders", there's still no suggestion that it is connected to sex. To keep the censors happy, it's all about mating in the sense of finding a mate.

To which purpose it's useful that at least the females seem to get horny during their once-in-seven-years moment, as per ENT "Bounty" (although to be exact, there's zero mention of "seven years" there, only of a "cycle of mating" of unknown length). Males just seem to get drunk. As the result, a connection is made, and sex supposedly can proceed. Although funnily enough, we see pon farr on screen three times (male pon farr in "Amok Time" and "Blood Fever", female in "Bounty"), and it never leads to sex (or death) in those instances. Nor in the couple of instances off camera but in dialogue.

Nowhere is it suggested that Vulcanoids would need to be in pon farr to get horny or drunk, though. It seems instead that Saavik has sex with Spock easily enough at a totally random stage of her life in ST3. And nobody refers to seven dry years between intercourse, ever. Pon farr is just a possible time to have some sex, in addition to the mate-finding thing, not an obligation to have it (only T'Pol ever claims it would be, or at least she explicitly uses "mate" as a verb there, but she's shown to be wrong about that), nor the only time during which it is allowed.

Whether the Vulcanoids have a "reproductive cycle" at all is unknown. If they have one, there's no evidence it would involve seven-year intervals; no siblings are defined as being separated by exact multiples of seven years, say. It's equally unknown whether Vulcanoids have a "sex cycle" or whether they instead are in constant heat like humans (who have insignificant variations associated with the one-month reproductive cycle). All we know of is the "mating cycle", and even there we don't know if the cycle survives the actual mate-finding or terminates there.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mysterion]

Because Vulcanian males do only have sex once every seven years. That's the entire point of Ponn Farr. The reproductive cycle.

Not quite. Vulcans have to mate every seven years when their pon farr cycle hits. Doesn't mean they can't (or don't) mate in-between times.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Because Vulcanian males do only have sex once every seven years. That's the entire point of Ponn Farr. The reproductive cycle.

Vulcans can have sex any time they want. The point of pon farr is that at that time, they MUST have sex. That's the difference.

Edit: Ninja'd.

As for Romulans: I always assumed that they don't have pon farr, simply because they always express their emotions. Vulcans have it because their emotions are suppressed. That's why they have pon farr - to let off steam, as it were. (Kind of like the Red Hour/Festival on Beta III. That's their emotional release.)

 

[SolarisOne]

Because Vulcanian males do only have sex once every seven years. That's the entire point of Ponn Farr. The reproductive cycle.

 

[XCV330]

Romulans call it "Bringing together of the shoulder pads" and they do it several times an hour. This is why you rarely see Romulans, and why they were the only civilization in the galaxy to invent the inner spring mattress prior to agriculture or the wheel.