The Romulan Star Empire is a major interstellar power situated primarily in the Beta Quadrant
of the Milky Way Galaxy.
The Empire encompasses both the Romulan people and their subject worlds and species.
Xenophobic, ethnocentric and infamous for its policies of extreme secrecy, deception
and territorial expansionism, the Romulan Empire remained an enigma to the rest of the
galaxy well into the 24th century.
Romulan society is largely autocratic with extensive political power residing in the
Praetor who holds authority over both the Romulan Senate and the Continuing Committee,
two of the highest governing bodies of the Empire.
Significant power and influence is also shared between the Romulan Military and their traditional
rivals, the state security apparatus known as the Tal Shiar.
Both organizations maintain their own fleets of starships and pursue independent and at
times conflicting agendas.
Unlike their Vulcan cousins, Romulan philosophy advocates the celebration, rather than repression,
of instinctual, passionate emotion.
Romulans will typically attempt to remain reserved, especially in the presence of outsiders,
but will often revel in strong emotions when alone, among trusted peers, or when provoked.
Romulans can be kind and even loving in one moment, then violent and brutal the next.
This propensity for unrestrained emotions is often harnessed and manipulated by the
Romulan state to achieve complete loyalty to both the government, and the Romulan race
as a whole.
This has lead to a pervasive belief of superiority among the Romulan people, xenophobic policies
and the enslavement of subject races.
Despite a reputation for ruthlessness, the Romulan Empire primarily uses direct force
as a last resort, instead favoring observation, intelligence gathering and espionage.
The Romulans place extreme emphasis on the control of information and their embrace of
the dictum “knowledge is power” is perhaps the most defining characteristic of Romulan
society.
This is best exemplified in their extensive use of cloaking technology, which protects
their starships, stations, bases and even minefields from prying eyes.
The reluctance of the Romulan people to reveal any information that might illuminate their
motivations or ambitions borders on paranoia with even the most basic facts of their civilization
restricted to outsiders.
What is known of Romulan history can be traced back to the Time of Awakening on Vulcan when
the violent and warlike Vulcan people began adopting a new ideology of complete pacifism,
suppression of emotion and obedience to logic under the leadership of the legendary philosopher
Surak.
Vulcans who rejected these reforms became known as “those who march beneath the raptor’s
wings.”
After a brutal atomic war, these dissidents eventually left Vulcan, settling on the planets
of Romulus and Remus, subjugating the native Remans in the process.
The Romulan Star Empire first encountered United Earth in 2152 leading to a period of
rising tensions as the Romulans attempted to clandestinely provoke a war between humanity
and several other species in the region.
The failure of this attempt led to the formation of what would eventually become the United
Federation of Planets.
An open war between the Romulans and Earth broke out in 2156 and ended after four years
of fighting with the humiliating Romulan defeat at the Battle of Cheron.
The resulting armistice established the Romulan Neutral Zone and the Empire retreated into
self-imposed isolationism for more than a century.
In 2266, the Romulans deployed a single ship equipped with the latest generation of the
infamous Romulan Cloaking Device as a means of testing Federation resolve.
This Bird of Prey attacked several Federation outposts along the neutral zone before its
defeat by the USS Enterprise prevented any further escalation of hostilities.
During this same period, the Romulans entered a brief technological exchange with the Klingon
Empire, trading components of its cloaking technology for the latest generation of Klingon
starship designs.
The 2293 Khitomer Accords and the subsequent period of détente between the Klingon Empire
and the United Federation of Planets represented a fundamental shift in the balance of power
and was greatly opposed by the Romulan Empire.
Hostilities between the Federation and the Romulans escalated throughout the early 24th
century, culminating in the Tomad Incident of 2311.
The situation was stabilized following the Treaty of Algeron in which the Federation
agreed to cease any development into the fields of cloaking technology and prohibited the
use of such devices aboard Starfleet vessels.
The Romulans again adopted a policy of isolationism although sporadic conflict and border skirmishes
occurred with the Klingon Empire.
In 2364, the Romulans re-entered the galactic stage following a series of mysterious attacks
on Outposts across both sides of the Neutral Zone.
The Romulans began perusing an aggressive policy towards Starfleet with repeated incursions
into Federation space and the escalation of covert operations.
Most notable among these was the attempt to break the Federation-Klingon alliance by supporting
the Duras Family during the Klingon Civil War and infiltrating the Vulcan Reunification
Movement as a means to gain control over Vulcan.
Both plans would ultimately fail.
The emergence of the Dominion in 2371 presented a new and enormously powerful rival to both
the Romulan Empire and the other major powers of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.
To counter this new threat, the Romulans began a limited collaboration with Starfleet including
the use of a single cloaking device aboard the USS Defiant.
That same year, the Tal Shiar formed a secret coalition with their Cardassian counterpart,
the Obsidian Order to carry out a pre-emptive strike against the Dominion homeworld.
The Tal Shiar however had itself been infiltrated by the Dominion and their combined fleet was
ambushed and completely destroyed.
In the wake of this disastrous defeat, the Romulan Empire signed a non-aggression pact
with the Dominion.
When war between the Dominion and the Federation-Klingon alliance broke out in 2373, the Romulans adhered
to their pact and remained neutral.
When the shuttle of a prominent Romulan senator was destroyed however, the subsequent investigation
uncovered evidence of an imminent Dominion attack on Romulus.
The Romulans entered the war immediately opening a new front against the Dominion and their
Cardassian Allies.
The Romulan involvement in the Dominion War proved to be the turning point in the conflict
and critical to the eventual victory of allied forces.
While members of both sides hoped that the wartime alliance might evolve into a lasting
peace, the devastation suffered by the Klingon Empire and the Cardassian Union during the
Dominion War has left the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire as
the sole remaining great powers in their region of the galaxy and natural rivals in the post-war
era.