Let me be more specific: How can any of these races relate to each other? What do they have in common OTHER THAN "we hate Feds?"
There's no way to give you an answer that can satisfy you as long as you insist on reducing entire civilizations to simplified sound bites.
For instance, as I said, the Pact is not about hating the Federation, not for all its members. The Gorn certainly have no reason to hate the Federation, since Picard and Data saved the current Gorn government from being overthrown. The Kinshaya have no history of interaction with the Federation at all, and focus their hatred on the Klingons. The Pact is about mutual defense against
any potential threat; after seeing their quadrant come to the brink of annihilation at the hands of the Borg, they recognize that they can no longer go it alone. That's just being reasonable and pragmatic, and it's something any intelligent nation that isn't just a cartoon stereotype should be able to understand. Stereotypes can't change, but real individuals and civilizations, or plausibly drawn fictional ones, can change when there's a sufficient incentive to do so.
But being so drastically alien, they are governed by different psychologies. The founding Fed members are all vaguely similar in both appearance and general social psychology. This isn't the case with the Typhon aliens, and they are in fact MORE prone to seeking violence as a solution than most races depicted.
Since when does the way different species
look have anything to do with whether they can get along? Anyone who's watched more than a few hours of
Star Trek should understand that's a belief that holds no water in this franchise.
That idea sounds good in theory, but in contrast to what we've been shown on screen in the past, it just doesn't jive right with me.
But that's just it -- aside from the Romulans, and briefly the Breen, these races have rarely, if ever,
been shown onscreen. The Kinshaya don't even
exist in canonical Trek. The Tzenkethi were never seen, and in fact were only ever mentioned in one episode and a single scene of another. The Tholians have been featured in only four episodes and mentioned briefly in a few others, and the Gorn have only been seen onscreen in two episodes -- three if you count the brief glimpse of a Gorn councillor in Elysia in TAS: "The Time Trap" -- and mentioned in passing in two more.
The whole reason that author Keith DeCandido and editor Marco Palmieri chose these races in the first place was because of their obscurity and the
lack of detailed knowledge we had of them -- because they were barely known and Keith and Marco thought it would be cool to develop them more fully. So I don't understand where you're getting this notion that onscreen
Star Trek has provided clear, unambiguous portraits of who these species are and what their psychology is like.
I actually DO like adversarial characters fleshed out, but there are certain aspects of species which show more than others in general due to their psychological make up, and what type of animal they are.
Gorn are something a "reptilian" or "dinosauroid" carnivore.
In appearance, but come on, they're aliens in a fictional universe. Obviously they've been capable of cooperating with each other enough to found an advanced technological civilization, so clearly a slavishly literal comparison with animals they just happen to look like on the surface is not legitimate.
Breen are...something unknown, but relatively cold and callous.
Plenty of human regimes have been cold and callous, but that isn't a racial trait. And seriously, if you'd read
Zero Sum Game, you'd discover how completely, transcendently, comically wrong you are to make any blanket generalizations about the Breen as a species.
Romulans are militaristic and don't trust situations or individuals they can't control.
How the hell is that a trait of what kind of "animal" they are??? They're
exactly the same species as Vulcans! Obviously their militarism is a cultural trait.
That may be true, but there are some groups who, in general, DON'T want peace OR want to be permanently in charge in a malevolent way.
Obviously, yes, but the point is that there are only
some who are like that, and therefore there are others who are
not. The
Typhon Pact novels go out of their way to demonstrate that there are many different conflicting factions within the Pact, some of whom are just what you imagine, but others of whom are completely unlike that.
I tried to read their books before. I'm sorry, but IMO, they read like fan-fics. I'm reminded of Spock saying "Shalom" to a scientist after he tells Spock "Live long and prosper." If it had been reversed, I think it would have been great, but as it stands, I really couldn't help but laugh at the scene.
*sigh* The fact that you look at two people showing respect for each other's diversity and see it as something to mock is part and parcel of why you're unable to understand what we're trying to tell you -- or what
Star Trek is fundamentally about in the first place.
(And perhaps you weren't aware that Leonard Nimoy is Jewish?)
...but as far as large groups go, most people (forced or by free will) tend to follow a certain path with regards to being part of an overall group. We saw that in Unification when Picard asked the soup lady about Pardek, Pardek's betrayal of his long-time friend, the Romulans who the Enterprise crew saved in The Next Phase, Tomolak in The Enemy, Sub-Cammander Selak a.k.a. the artist formerly known as Ambassador T'Pel, Commander Sirol of the Terix, etc.
Most people in the United States used to follow the path that kept African-Americans and women from voting or participating equally in society. Now, most people in the United States fully accept their inclusion and reject those who still push for the old attitudes. Most people in the United States used to follow the path that rejected any acknowledgment of homosexuality, let alone any granting of rights; yet now an increasing percentage of people in the United States support marriage, military service, and other forms of inclusion for LGBT people. Societies can change; in fact, they routinely do. If anything, it's a fairly normal pattern for a new generation to rebel against the attitudes and excesses of the previous one.
"Romulans. So predictably treacherous." -Weyoun
A stereotype can be a neutral observation based on aspects which continuously occur. Romulans aren't trusted because they demonstrate they are generally not trustworthy. Equally, they generally don't trust others. That's a true statement based on events of the past which have occurred with that group. To dismiss it as prejudice and ignore it is ridiculous!
No, it's foolish and wrong because it assumes the entire species is a monolithic group. Weyoun was speaking about the behavior of the
government and dominant culture of the Romulan Star Empire. It is foolish to equate that with the uniform behavior of the entire population. Every society has multiple different factions and blocs within it. In a given generation or era, one such faction will dominate and impose its values on the character of the nation, while opposing factions are marginalized or repressed. But eventually, the dominant faction will weaken and an opposing faction will gain in strength, and the national character will change.
Even Picard kept this in mind with Romulans who had good intentions (re: Jerok.)
With members of the Romulan military -- members of the ruling faction and subculture. When dealing with the Romulan Star Empire
as a political entity and those who were employed in the support of its current policies. A state is not its people. Especially not an oppressive, dictatorial state.
A lot of the posters on this board are German. Would you therefore expect them to be Nazis? I doubt it. Presumably you have enough good sense to recognize that the Nazi Party was only one faction of the German people, one whose dominance of the nation at a certain time in history did not mean that its leaders' values and attitudes were uniformly shared by every member of the German "race" or that they would remain a permanent part of the German character for all time to come. So surely it should be just as easy to accept that the character of the Romulan
government and military at a certain point in history can't be assumed to be a universal, perpetual attribute of Romulans as a species, and that it's just as possible for the oppressive, treacherous Romulan regime to be replaced by a more peaceful, enlightened one as it was for the Nazis to be replaced by the modern, democratic German government.
Actually THIS time I'm also going by the Vanguard depiction of them as being hive-minded. And pretty much anything which is hive-minded is adverse to that which is not part of their group. They are xenophobic - that much is well known. They are a hive-mind. Both those = no alliance ever with anyone, IMO.
Which was entirely true
until the Borg Invasion. Once you've read
Destiny, maybe you'll understand what a complete game-changer that was.
Thanks, friend. These stories are taking place after the destruction of the Romulan homeworld(s) right?
No. That happens in 2387.
Destiny takes place in February 2381, the Typhon Pact is formed in May 2381, and the
Typhon Pact novels to date have gotten up to the fall of 2383 (except for the epilogue of
Raise the Dawn, which jumps forward a year from that point).
. Of course, as recent novels have demonstrated, the Pact nations might start to realize that they're wrong to be frightened of Feddie Bears, because Feddie Bears are more cuddly than fearsome. If you leave them alone and don't antagonize them or intrude into their habitat, they'll leave you alone. Far from a vicious, dangerous creature whose power is a constant threat, the Feddie Bear is a wrongly maligned beast with whom the Pact members can live in peace and mutual respect. The spectre of the Feddie Bear is a fearful symbol of strength and power in these cultures, but since they've started studying its habits in greater detail, they're in a position to start viewing this inspiring animal in different ways, traditional literature and its demonization be damned.
, N'Vek and of course the "Logic cult" that Spock was leading on Romulus, but as far as large groups go, most people (forced or by free will) tend to follow a certain path with regards to being part of an overall group. We saw that in Unification when Picard asked the soup lady about Pardek, Pardek's betrayal of his long-time friend, the Romulans who the Enterprise crew saved in The Next Phase, Tomolak in The Enemy, Sub-Cammander Selak a.k.a. the artist formerly known as Ambassador T'Pel, Commander Sirol of the Terix, etc.
