The Romulan Star Empire in Star Trek: Discovery

[C57D]

My personal headcanon has always been in line with the FASA STRPG supplement on the Roms. Their Fed facing/NZ side was relatively small and other than the occasional BOT-like venture, poorly patrolled.
But this is not due to weakness or a small Empire. It is because their (racially obsessive) interests lie on the other side of their (quite substantial) holdings. To the UFP the Roms are like an iceberg, showing the least while the dangerous most lies hidden beneath!
After all in BOT the Commander said he had fought a hundred campaigns. This assumes at least a hundred planets with sentient life in the RSE to fight against. Not to mention the many without sentient life that have just been colonised. No small Empire then?

 

[Nyotarules]

Trek XI largely ignored it, along with the fact no one was supposed to know what Romulans looked like. The Kelvin's crew recognized Nero as a Romulan, no one was like "why's this Vulcan so pissed off? And you know, emotional."

Which adds to my head canon it was a different universe all along...

 

[INACTIVEUSS Einstein]

Not to speak out of turn on this, but I don't think the comparison to N. Korea is a direct, 1-to-1 analogy, of the Romulan Star Empire, but the peace treaty that was established between the Federation and the Romulans.

Agreed, its just someone above said they might be a 'puny' state manipulated by a larger power.

This why I love seeing the tech divergence that seems to be so objected to in ST 2009. But, from the point of view of the Federation, such a response was necessary.

Yes! I also have it in my head canon that some of the Narada's tech has been reverse engineered by all sides and contributed to the apparent advancement of technology in this era - such as transporters that are far faster than TOS.

Hmm. Interesting.
In BoT, Spock says "Earth believes the Romulans to be warlike, cruel, treacherous, ..."

It always seemed to me that the situation was more like the Korean War, where no side was totally defeated, no peace treaty was signed and there is just a day-by-day armistice

I like this idea because relations along the Neutral Zone do seem tense in exactly that way - a war that never officially ended.

John Byrne's comics depicted the Klingons pulling the strings of the Romulan Empire in the background of the TOS era, much as they acted in "A Private Little War." I thought this was an interesting concept. It's part of my head canon.

As far as Vulcan and Romulan languages not being recognizable as related, I don't think they necessarily need to be. There are plenty of languages right here on Earth that are apparently completely unrelated, some being classified as "language isolates." Why do alien species always have to have only one language (and one culture)?

Kor

Yes I like that idea, and that comic - I've always seen their relationship at that time as being like when both the Soviet Union and China were part of the Comintern - with Mao and Stalin formally cooperating before a great falling out - the Sino-Soviet-Split of Star Trek. For a while the Romulans seemed to be the junior partners, although for all we know their empire may be as large as the Klingons.

 

[Timo]

I wouldn't rule out Romulus being a poor pariah state just yet, either. Starships are the primary strategic means of power projection in the Trek universe, and North Korea in our reality has ICBMs, our direct counterpart. Give the Koreans another fifty years and their ICBMs might well be better than ours, for any given value of "us"; all it takes is dogged dedication to shunting resources from superfluous things like food, shelter and medication to weapons projects, plus a few shady international contacts.

And Romulan tech gets around: in "Dax", it is suggested they used to deal with the Cardassians back when they were giving the UFP the silent treatment. Although I, too, prefer to think that the Klingons were playing the Soviet/Chinese to these North Koreans for strategic reasons, sometimes getting the raw end of the deal for their troubles.

(Also, Starfleet has thousands of starships. For all we know, Romulans have eighteen of those warbirds, plus sixty inflatable ones for parade purposes.)

As far as Vulcan and Romulan languages not being recognizable as related, I don't think they necessarily need to be.

The only bump on our road is the inability of Pike's comms officer to tell the two languages apart in STXI. But it is quite possible for this to be analogous to a USN radio operator being unable to tell Russian and Polish apart - "They're speaking foreign, Sir, and it's full of those strange S sounds!" - while Uhura's finesse of telling the three Romulan dialects apart is just showing off and all she really needs is her ability to understand Romulan which is utterly different from Vulcan. Not a matter of nuances at all, just a matter of the male comms officer not knowing either of the languages.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Kor]

I think the TOS Romulans' use of both Klingon ship designs and Klingon weapons show some kind of dependence on the Klingon Empire as at least a "senior partner" in their Comintern-like relationship. The North Korea comparison is fair, as "The Enterprise Incident" was loosely based on the Pueblo incident. And from what I've read, North Korea's military infrastructure relies heavily on old Cold War era vehicles and weapons from the USSR and/or China.

The only bump on our road is the inability of Pike's comms officer to tell the two languages apart in STXI. But it is quite possible for this to be analogous to a USN radio operator being unable to tell Russian and Polish apart - "They're speaking foreign, Sir, and it's full of those strange S sounds!" - while Uhura's finesse of telling the three Romulan dialects apart is just showing off and all she really needs is her ability to understand Romulan which is utterly different from Vulcan. Not a matter of nuances at all, just a matter of the male comms officer not knowing either of the languages.

Timo Saloniemi

Ah yes, I forgot about that.

Kor

 

[Kemaiku]

That's not actually correct. That's what was mentioned in the comic tie-in to Star Trek '09, but like much of that comic, it was contradicted by the film itself. We saw a hologram of Nero's wife before Romulus was destroyed, and she had tattoos too. So it couldn't be because they were mourning the loss of their planet. Most likely they all had the tattoos long before.

Interestingly, she not only had a full head of hair, but she has it styled to pull back carefully to show them off.

Maybe it's the marking of a labour class of Romulans and their families?

 

[Timo]

...Perhaps only the wealthy can afford forehead ridges, and the bluecollars compensate with tattoos?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Kor]

The NuRomulan makeup did include forehead appliances, though more subtle than the ridges from the Trek spinoffs. It's most noticeable at the bridge of the nose.

Kor

 

[Dukhat]

Maybe it's the marking of a labour class of Romulans and their families?

That would have been my guess.

 

[fireproof78]

Interestingly, she not only had a full head of hair, but she has it styled to pull back carefully to show them off.

Maybe it's the marking of a labour class of Romulans and their families?

Or, Nero's crew was not tattooed while Nero's wife was, and Nero and his crew tattooed it in memory and solidarity, as well as shaving their heads.

As a follow up, in the comic, the tattooes are explained as follows:

"There was a tradition on Romulus that when a loved one died you would paint your grief upon your skin. Ancient symbols of love and loss. In time the paint would fade, and with it the period of mourning. Life would go on. We paint these symbols on our skin now. But we burn them deep. So that they will never fade. Because life does not go on. We died with our friends. We died with our families. We died with Romulus. And all that is left is revenge."

So, even if Nero's wife had the marks, they might have been painted on as part of the mourning process for another family member, and Nero took them on after her death, and his crew followed suit.

 

[Dukhat]

Or, Nero's crew was not tattooed while Nero's wife was, and Nero and his crew tattooed it in memory and solidarity, as well as shaving their heads.

As a follow up, in the comic, the tattooes are explained as follows:


So, even if Nero's wife had the marks, they might have been painted on as part of the mourning process for another family member, and Nero took them on after her death, and his crew followed suit.

Unfortunately, since we never saw a single Romulan in TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, or the TOS and TNG films with tattooed faces, it's pretty likely that this wasn't the reason.

 

[fireproof78]

Unfortunately, since we never saw a single Romulan in TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, or the TOS and TNG films with tattooed faces, it's pretty likely that this wasn't the reason.

Because?

Most of the Romulans seen were military, so it might only be a civilian aspect, while the military would maintain order and uniformity in the ranks.

 

[Dukhat]

Because?

Most of the Romulans seen were military, so it might only be a civilian aspect, while the military would maintain order and uniformity in the ranks.

I'm just saying that that quote seemed to imply that ALL Romulans did this. It didn't differentiate between military and civilians.

 

[fireproof78]

I'm just saying that that quote seemed to imply that ALL Romulans did this. It didn't differentiate between military and civilians.

That's a fair point, but I could see some class distinctions between the military and civilians.

It's just a rationale that makes sense to me as to why we didn't see it in the military Romulans.

Or, it's just a massive retcon made up for that movie. Either way, they look very different from most Romulans, which was something I greatly appreciated from that film.

 

[Timo]

A bigger point here is that the tattoos would all have to be applied in mere seconds while the ship was in bloodlusty pursuit of Spock's little ship around the black hole. There simply isn't time for Nero's men to mourn at any point of the story before we first meet them!

But yeah, it's fantastic that we got a new Romulan look that in no way contradicts or detracts from the old Romulan look. If only they could do stuff like that with the Klingons in the fourth neo-movie and in DIS.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[cultcross]

I wouldn't rule out Romulus being a poor pariah state just yet, either. Starships are the primary strategic means of power projection in the Trek universe, and North Korea in our reality has ICBMs, our direct counterpart. Give the Koreans another fifty years and their ICBMs might well be better than ours, for any given value of "us"; all it takes is dogged dedication to shunting resources from superfluous things like food, shelter and medication to weapons projects, plus a few shady international contacts

I quite like the theory of the Romulans being a relatively small and struggling 'empire' who keep abreast of the other powers only through oppressive government and channeling resources disproportionately into military spending. It fits particularly well with the way they are portrayed in TNG, as Trek's truest example of totalitarianism, hiding secret behind secret and deeply distrustful of any change that isn't military expansion.

The only thing that seems slightly lopsided is the way the Romulans are presented as potential game changers in season 6 of DS9. I understand from a narrative perspective why it had to be Romulans in the story for In The Pale Moonlight, the episode wouldn't have worked half as well with some one episode wonder like the Tzenkethi. But the parallel being drawn resembles the entry of the United States into World War Two, i.e. a potentially momentum shifting event. That doesn't sit too well with an Empire that's mostly bluster, secrecy, and a few powerful ship designs.

 

[Kor]

I wonder what kind of ideological propaganda there is on the Klingon/Romulan side of the galactic Cold War to get planets to join their empires instead of siding with the Federation. I am tempted to include that excellent fan-animated Klingon propaganda video in my head canon.

Kor

 

[Timo]

The only thing that seems slightly lopsided is the way the Romulans are presented as potential game changers in season 6 of DS9.

Dialogue described the Romulans as an astrographically separate front, a line behind the lines, a soft underbelly of sorts to the Alpha defenses. It might not matter whether the natives had any guns to add to the Alpha side, as long as the Alpha Axis gained the right to wage war in that particular direction, inside territory that until then had been off limits to them (but not to their enemy).

Imagine Russia waging a relatively conventional war against China and suddenly getting the chance to attack across the North Korean border, too...

We don't know exactly how the astrography works in this particular case. But the old Star Charts setup, based on onscreen DS9 War Room wall charts, suggests a working layout where the Dominion pushes from the left along the lower (rimward) edge of the map to the right where the RSE lies, and flanks the UFP core worlds, pushing close to Vulcan from an unexpected direction where there are no defenses in depth because Vulcan brushes against the RNZ already.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nyotarules]

I wonder what kind of ideological propaganda there is on the Klingon/Romulan side of the galactic Cold War to get planets to join their empires instead of siding with the Federation. I am tempted to include that excellent fan-animated Klingon propaganda video in my head canon.

Kor

Klingon - Qapla! We have the best bloodwine, our women can break your neck between their thighs! Join us or be sent to Sto Var Kor!
Romulan - Sign on or be killed. Jor lan tru

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

^ This ship is a non-canonical one from the Star Trek: Chronology that was used to represent an early Romulan vessel - I've always liked it, as it looks primative like the SS Valiant

I've always loved that ship. It captures perfectly the "primitive space vessel with primitive atomic weapons" description with a TOS/Flash Gordon aesthetic!

One of my all time favorite Romulan ships is also the non-canon Romulan Raptor-class cruiser from the TNG era. It's the Romulan equivalent of the "Nebula" to the larger and more powerful D'deridex/Galaxy-class.