Romulans
Class: Humanoid, warlike
Home planet: Romulus
Values: Cunning, strategy, treachery, strength, military might
Feature in: TOS, TNG, DS9
Romulans of note: Commander Tomalak, Senator Pardek, Commander Sela
As earlier explained, Romulans share a common ancestry with Vulcans, but rejected Surak’s total-elimination-of-emotions and full-on logic to the point that they abandoned their home planet and set up on a new one. In temperament they are the reverse of Vulcans. Though they also espouse logic to a degree, they are more fiery, combative and indeed even more arrogant than their counterparts. They are also racist and supremacist. Again unlike the Vulcans they have set up an empire, and military conquest occupies their every waking thought. They are the creators of the “cloaking field” which allows vessels to remain undetected and invisible while in flight, however this drains so much power from the warp core that in order to be able to fire their weapons they must deactivate it and risk being detected. While Vulcans can be said to be based upon the Greek ideals of peace, reflection, literature and art, Romulans (as their name suggests) more closely resemble the Roman Empire of the late centuries BC and the early ones AD. They utilise a similar government structure, with titles like Praetor and Consul, and of course Emperor.
Romulans also resemble Cardassians in terms of being a police state. Their people are constantly monitored by the Romulan secret service, the
Tal Shiar, and dissenting opinions are not only frowned upon but actively discouraged in line with the methods of the Obsidian Order. They are one of the few alien races in which women seem to have equal status, being able to serve on or even command starships, stand for office and own property. Although they look very similar to Vulcans there is a harder, more militaristic tint to their features, and they do not have, or have lost, the mind-melding talents their Vulcan cousins have. Their blood is, however, the same colour --- green --- being based on copper rather than iron. They are a proud, arrogant and manipulative people, having been known to have caused several conflicts and wars between other races, while staying back in the shadows, often unremarked, like puppet masters. They are known to be one of the most devious peoples in the galaxy, leading Picard to once remark to Lursa and B’etor, Klingon sisters of Duras, “You have manipulated the circumstances with the skill of a Romulan” (words that would normally anger any Klingon but which the two rebels took as a backhanded compliment), and also to describe the race as being all about “move and countermove”.