How did Vulcans evolve on there? It's such a dry, deserty world really, and it does not have much green.
Vulcan seems pretty inhospitable
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I've thought myself (if it were an actual place) that it would be unlikely for a complex society to evolve on such a planet. But that's just my opinion.
Wasn't it in the episode about Sargon and his people (Return to Tomorrow) that hinted they may not have evolved there? I think Spock says something like, "It may explain certain anomalies in Vulcan pre-history". Perhaps the proto-Vulcans in the episode Who Watches the Watchers came from the same people who were transplanted there by an advanced society like Sargon's people.
Although novels are not considered canon, in the novel Spock's World, it is written that Vulcan was at first a lush green planet. And then some sort of solar event increased the sun's output and drastically changed the climate.
Wasn't it in the episode about Sargon and his people (Return to Tomorrow) that hinted they may not have evolved there? I think Spock says something like, "It may explain certain anomalies in Vulcan pre-history". Perhaps the proto-Vulcans in the episode Who Watches the Watchers came from the same people who were transplanted there by an advanced society like Sargon's people.
Although novels are not considered canon, in the novel Spock's World, it is written that Vulcan was at first a lush green planet. And then some sort of solar event increased the sun's output and drastically changed the climate.
It was always hot and arid around Mt. Seleya and the Forge, but the planet was probably more hospitable and lush before the nuclear war between the Suranites and "those who march beneath the Raptor's wings."
And this is where I shamelessly mention that a new travel guide to Vulcan, written by Dayton Ward, just went on sale this week . ...
https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Universe-Travel-Guide-Vulcan/dp/1608875202
https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Universe-Travel-Guide-Vulcan/dp/1608875202
In Enterprise, T'Pol states the Vulcan's evolved on Vulcan.
Of course Sargon believes humans might be the descendants of his people as well.
T'Pol may have been biased. Also, T'Pol may not have been privy to certain information about Vulcan prehistory that Spock, being the son of the Vulcan Ambassador to the Federation, could have had access to. T'Pol was, at first, a very narrowminded individual, and only became more open to other ideas over time.
War...war never changes.
If Vulcans originally formulated their theory of evolution before venturing into space, it would of course be perfectly compatible with the one path of evolution they had access to - that on Vulcan. By definition, there would be nothing unnatural about Vulcan evolution. Whether Vulcans would discover that meddling gods were a natural component of their evolution, or dismiss the idea as too outlandish, we don't know: we never learn much about Vulcan views on gods.
After going to space, Vulcans would discover other, different paths of evolution on other planets. But they would all lead to sapient bipedal more-or-less-humanoids, and that again would have to be accepted as natural, even though in our universe it would appear unnatural to the extreme. Would that shake any foundations of Vulcan thinking? Probably not. Rather, Vulcans might correctly realize that an external agent was biasing evolution towards sapient humanoids, in which case some of those evolving on a desert world would not be out of place, either.
Yet whatever the Sargonians did should be fairly subtle, so as to remain contested and speculative in the 2260s still. Probably not an outright transplanting, but more like giving a little boost when the forced evolution dictated by the Ancients was leading Vulcans towards extinction on their inhospitable world. Perhaps Vulcan had been better once, perhaps not - the boost might be necessary either way.
Timo Saloniemi
After going to space, Vulcans would discover other, different paths of evolution on other planets. But they would all lead to sapient bipedal more-or-less-humanoids, and that again would have to be accepted as natural, even though in our universe it would appear unnatural to the extreme. Would that shake any foundations of Vulcan thinking? Probably not. Rather, Vulcans might correctly realize that an external agent was biasing evolution towards sapient humanoids, in which case some of those evolving on a desert world would not be out of place, either.
Yet whatever the Sargonians did should be fairly subtle, so as to remain contested and speculative in the 2260s still. Probably not an outright transplanting, but more like giving a little boost when the forced evolution dictated by the Ancients was leading Vulcans towards extinction on their inhospitable world. Perhaps Vulcan had been better once, perhaps not - the boost might be necessary either way.
Timo Saloniemi
Vulcans didn't take that climate change thing seriously either before Surak.
I tend to think that Vulcan is probably more like Earth than not, and even has polar regions & oceans, but they may be smaller (most M-class planets probably do have smaller oceans than Earth, IMO). Vulcans may just be more acclimated to the dry arid regions than Humans are.
A massive thermonuclear war from a race more emotionally and psychologically violent than humans ever have been is going to mess up your planet pretty badly.
At this point, they'll have cleaned what little water is left, the air, removed some radiation from the ground and brought in vegetation that can survive. But a complete healing of their ecosphere may never be possible.
But then, it got sucked into a black hole, so that's not going to happen anyway.
At this point, they'll have cleaned what little water is left, the air, removed some radiation from the ground and brought in vegetation that can survive. But a complete healing of their ecosphere may never be possible.
But then, it got sucked into a black hole, so that's not going to happen anyway.
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