| Romulan Empire |
On Vulcan, thousands of years ago, the Vulcan people were a militaristic and barbaric race. Like humans, they embraced their emotions, however, in their case they were much more violent than even a drunken Klingon. Wars, desperate alliances, and political marriages all took place like the Middle Ages of Europe, but on a much grander scale. It was when a young Vulcan named Surak began teaching to hide emotion that the group of Vulcans that would later call themselves Romulans decided to leave the planet and go where they could build there own mighty empire, without having to worry about being shunned by their comrades for showing emotion.
After wandering through space for lightyears, the Romulans finally came across a system that they colonized. From there, the Romulan Empire was born. Their government was based on two worlds, Romulus and Remus. The leader of the empire came to be known as the Praetor, and the legslative body was the Romulan Senate.
Upon the discovery of the Dominion within the Gamma Quadrant, the Romulan Empire attempted to close the Bajoran wormhole. After this attempt failed, the Romulan Tal Shiar formed a secretive alliance with the Cardassian Obsidian Order. Combining their forces, they launched an attack on what was lead to be the Dominion "Founder Homeworld." The planet proved to be a decoy, and all ships from the combined attack were lost when a Jem'Hadar attack fleet ambushed the ships.
The losses the Romulans suffered were hefty, including their fleet flagship which was lost in the final assault on Cardassia Prime. Despite these setbacks, the Romulans will recover. Diplomatic relations are sound with the Federation and Klingons, and few threats are on the horizon at the moment.
The Romulans are very odd, capable of being very compassionate creatures, or being extremely hostile. Throughout time they have taken part in numerous wars. One of the first was a long war with their own cousins, the Vulcans, that lasted for more than a century. By 2160, the Romulan Empire again engaged in a fierce dispute with the Federation. This war established what came to be known as the Neutral Zone, which seperated Romulan and Federation space.
In an attempt to share technology, in 2268 the Romulans formed an alliance with the Klingon Empire. The alliance fell apart in 2311 when the Romulans again lapsed into isolation and retreated into their own space. Little is known about this time in Romulan history except that in 2344, the Romulans attacked the Klingon outpost Narendra III. The speedy arrival of the Enterprise-C was only met with the ship's apparent destruction. It was discovered years later that the ship had fallen through a sub space rift transporting it 22 years into the future, changing the timeline. In the alternate timeline the Enterprise D discovered the ship and returned it to the past in order to prevent a war with the Klingons. The crew of the Enterprise-C were taken hostage by the Romulans. However, it meant closer relations between the Federation and the Klingons.
As fears over the Dominion continued to rise, the Romulans yet again retreated into isolation after internal government problems. When the Cardassians allied themselves with the Dominion and troop convoys began pouring through the wormhole, each heading to Cardassian space, the Romulan Council agreed to sign a Non-Agression Pact with the Dominion, keeping them out of the war that quickly followed. A year later, Romulan Senator Vreenak, who negotiated the Pact with the Dominion, was asked to stop by Deep Space Nine by Captain Benjamin Sisko. When he arrived, he was shown a Cardassian data rod which had recorded several Dominion officials planning the invasion of Romulus. Vreenak determined it was a fake and then left the station to head to a diplomatic meeting with the Dominion. After leaving the meeting, his ship was destroyed, and the rod was discovered. The imperfections were blamed on the explosion and the Romulans declared war on the Dominion.
