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Timeline of Romulan History

This chronology is a first attempt at writing a document which accurately dates various important events in Romulan history, by drawing on canon sources. The reader will note numerous areas in which the dates provided are not well defined, particularly the date of Planetfall, from which many other dates are measured in the Romulan dating system. Any additional information gleaned from the sources cited, or from the television broadcasts and movies, which sheds light on the hazy portions of this document would be greatly appreciated. Please send your submissions to Jo.


68 BC
Surak born on Vulcan as the light from the sigma-1014 Orionis nova reaches Vulcan. 1
23 BC
Vulcan receives first radio signals from Orion pirates arriving in their system. 2
22 BC, January 18-19
First meeting with the Orion pirates. Orion ship lands, stuns and kidnaps most of the official Vulcan delegation, murders the rest. Surak is not present due to travel difficulties. S'Task is captured. The `Ahkh' begins. 3
22 BC, March
End of the `Ahkh'. Vulcans drive off the Orions using a combination of traditional warfare and psi weapons. 4
22 BC, November
Cloaked Orion spy ship destroyed. Hulk left in desert outside Te'Rikh as a monument. 5
23 BC
Riots on Vulcan as militaristic Vulcans in favour of arming to meet the interstellar threat clash with the more numerous pacifists supporting Surak. 6
7 BC
The number of the `Declared', Vulcans pledged to follow S'Task on the Journey, reaches 12000. S'Task first suggests that those who wish to go on the Journey should donate all their possesions to the cause. 7
11 AD
The number of the `Declared' reaches almost five percent of Vulcan's population. Ultimately, the limited number of ships, and the waning of early excitement about the project will substantially reduce the number of Vulcans who leave on the Journey. 8
25 AD
Rea's Helm leaves orbit and begins a three month tour of the solar system before accellerating out into interstellar space. Shortly followed by Warbird, Starcatcher, T'Hie, Pennon, Bloodwing, Corona, Lance, Gorget, Sunheart, Forge, Lost Road, Blacklight, Firestorm, Vengeance, Memory, and Shield. 9
55 AD
The fartravel ships arrive at the first star on their tour, 88 Eri. No habitable planets are found, and after reconoitering the system the ships continue on towards 198 Eri. 10
UNKNOWN
Seven ships -- Pennon, Starcatcher, Bloodwing, Forge, Lost Road, Lance, and Blacklight -- are caught in the event horizon of a newly formed blackhole nearby 198 Eri. All seven ships are lost. 11
UNKNOWN
The remaining fartravel ships reach 198 Eri. Demoralized after the blackhole disaster, they spend 3.5 years in orbit, storing up energy and debating the future of the Journey. S'Task prevails in the debate and the ships continue on to 4408A/B Trianguli. 12
UNKNOWN
Two ships -- T'Hie and Corona -- lost to the mind destroying race called the `Iruhe' at 4408B Trianguli. The remainder of the fleet flees 4408A/B at high speed. Firestorm and Vengeance become separated from the rest of the ships and wander for several years before rejoining the fleet. 13
UNKNOWN
Warbird suffers a drive failure and falls into 114 Trianguli while attempting a slingshot maneuver. 14
UNKNOWN
Shield is lost or destroyed. 14
UNKNOWN
Memory suffers a drive failure and falls into a black dwarf while attempting a slingshot maneuver. 14
UNKNOWN
Sunheart abandoned after disease kills most of the crew. 15
~533 AD
The four remaining ships -- Rea's Helm, Gorget, Vengeance and Firestorm -- arrive in the 128 Trianguli system and find two habitable worlds. 16
~534 AD, 0 AS (After Settlement)
The two worlds are named `ch'Rihan' and `ch'Havran' and the first Travellers begin to disembark from the fartravel ships to colonize the two worlds. 17
~537 AD, 3 AS
The last of the Travellers disembark from the ships, leaving only the Ship Clans. 18
~594 AD, 60 AS
Under the rule of Councillor T'Rehu, the nation of Elheu raises a standing army and begins threatening its neighbors. Between 60 AS and 72 AS, T'Rehu invades several smaller neighboring nations. 19
~606 AD, 72 AS
T'Rehu receives the Grand Councillorship after intimidating the Grand Council with the possible use of her armies, and her alliances with the technologically advanced Ship Clans. S'Task walks out on her, and she swears he will never do so again. 20
~612 AD, 78 AS
Famine strikes the South Continent of ch'Havran and 1500 die. T'Rehu has S'Task (aged 248) murdered in the High Council when he attempts to walk out. She declares the beginning of the `rule of women' and takes the title of `Ruling Queen'. 21
~630 AD, 96 AS
A faction from the Eastern continent overthrows T'Rehu and sets up the Tricameral system of government. 22
~784 AD, 250 AS
By this time, the technology in the four remaining Ships has substantially degraded and fallen into disrespair. The Ship Clans have dwindled, and the Romulans now lack an interstellar travel capacity. 23
~835 AD, 300 AS
Over the years 300 AS to 400 AS, the orbits of the Ships decay and they all fall from the sky. 23
~1043 AD, 508 AS
The Romulan government completes a small satelite warning and defense system. 24
~2034 AD, ~1499 AS
The Romulans develop the technology of artificial gravity. 25
2134 AD, ~1599 AS
The USS Carrizal enters the Romulan star system, evades the satellite warning system, and beams radio first contact messages to the two inhabited planets. The Romulans do not answer them, and the Carrizal leaves after completing its studies. 26
2137 AD, ~1602 AS
The USS Balboa enters the Romulan star system and is destroyed by the massed particle beams of fifty newly built Romulan ships. The USS Stone Mountain is captured while answering the Balboa's distress call and dissected to acquire warp drive technology. 27
2162 AD, ~1627 AS
After a bad defeat at the Battle of Cheron discourages the Romulans, and the Vulcans pursuade the Federation, the two sides negotiate the Treaty of Alpha Trianguli via subspace data upload. The Treaty establishes the Neutral Zone as a one light year buffer between Federation and Romulan space. 28

Notes

  1. The Romulan Way - Page 40. The date of first physical contact with the Orions is given as 22 BC. Page 39. First contact is described as being "forty-five years [after]" the birth of Surak.
  2. The Romulan Way - Pages 39 and 40. Radio contact is described. Vulcans debated the issues for "several months" prior to physical meeting. Hence the date of first radio contact has been set approximately one year previous to the established date of first physical contact.
  3. The Romulan Way - Page 40. Explicit terran date given. Vulcan year 139954.
  4. The Romulan Way - Page 41. War is described as a relatively brief conflict. S'Task spends "several weeks" in orbit after destroying Orion mothership.
  5. The Romulan Way - Page 42. Orion ship is brought down at the end of the same year as the "Ahkh". Further evidence of the shortness of the actual conflict.
  6. The Romulan Way - Page 42. Riots late in Vulcan year 139955, one year after the "Ahkh".
  7. The Romulan Way - Page 73. Vulcan date given as 139970. Terran date derived using a ratio of 11/12 terran years to every vulcan year, as described in Spock's World.
  8. The Romulan Way - Page 74. Vulcan date given as the late 139980's. See 7.
  9. The Romulan Way - Page 43. Vulcan date given as 140005. See 7. Duane gives the names of 17 fartravel ships, but on page 103 describes the loss of "seven of eighteen" ships in the black hole disaster. We will infer that only 17 ships left Vulcan and page 103 is an error.
  10. The Romulan Way - Page 102. While the travellers felt only a few years of time due to relativisitic effects, to the rest of the universe their tour of the 88 Eri system took thirty years.
  11. The Romulan Way - Pages 103 and 104.
  12. The Romulan Way - Pages 104 and 105.
  13. The Romulan Way - Pages 105-107.
  14. The Romulan Way - Page 108. Note that at this point the loss of Shield has not been accounted for. No reference is made to it after the initial listing of ships leaving Vulcan, but it is not included in the list of surviving ships on page 108, so it must have been lost before then.
  15. The Romulan Way - Five ships are cited here on page 108: Rea's Helm, Gorget, Sunheart, Vengeance and Firestorm. Rea's Helm completed the journey, since it was carrying S'Task. Gorget and Vengeance are mentioned on page 141 as having carried settlers who arrived on the South Continent of ch'Havran. That leaves either Sunheart or Firestorm as the ship which was lost during the last legs of the Journey. Firestorm was arbitrarily chosen as the ship which survived, and the disease references of pages 108 and 109 were chosen to explain the loss of Sunheart.
  16. The Romulan Way - Page 192. The time between first contact and settlement is cited at "sixteen hundred years". First contact can be dated at 2134, using The Romulan Way and a reference from the TOS episide Balance of Terror. 26
  17. The Romulan Way - Page 112.
  18. The Romulan Way - Page 115. It took "some three years" for the whole population to disembark.
  19. The Romulan Way - Pages 136 and 137. The rise of T'Rehu in her nation would have taken place somewhat earlier, after she succeeded her father.
  20. The Romulan Way - Pages 139 and 140.
  21. The Romulan Way - Page 142.
  22. The Romulan Way - Page 143. Refers to T'Rehu's reign as one of "eighteen years".
  23. The Romulan Way - Page 165.
  24. The Romulan Way - Page 166.
  25. The Romulan Way - Page 193. Refers to artificial gravity being mastered "a century or so earlier" than the date of first contact with humans.
  26. The Romulan Way - Page 191. The date of first contact is derived from the date of the end of the first Romulan / Earth War, which is set at approximately 2162 in a reference from the TOS episode Balance of Terror. Page 194 shows the length of the war to be 25 years. Page 193 gives the time between first contact and the start of the war with the destruction of the USS Balboa to be 3 years. Subtracting 28 from 2162 gives us the first contact date of 2134.
  27. The Romulan Way - Page 193.
  28. The Romulan Way - Page 195. The date of the end of the war is derived from the TOS episide Balance of Terror, in which the date is known to be 2260 and the end of the war is referred to as "a century" ago.

Research Sources

The Romulan Way, Diane Duane and Peter Morwood. Pocket Books: New York, 1987.

Spock's World, Diane Duane. Pocket Books: New York,

My Enemy, My Ally, Diane Duane. Pocket Books: New York, 1984.

Star Trek Chronology, James Dixon. http://cruciform.cid.com/~werdna/sttng/trek6.html, 1993.

Time line was written by Jo, / joachim@tos.net / Copyright © 1995, TOS Enterprises, all rights reserved.