XENOLOGY: ROMULAN

Warrior civilization from the planets Romulus and Remus. An offshoot of the Vulcan people who left Vulcan two thousand years ago to found the Romulan Star Empire, the Romulans are a passionate, aggressive, but highly honorable people. The ancient Romulans reached across much of the quadrant with outposts and settlements on such far-flung worlds as Barradas III, Calder II, Dessica II, Draken IV, and Yadalla Prime. SEE: Debrune. In modern times, the Romulans conducted a brutal attack on the Klingon Narendra III outpost in 2344. The Starship Enterprise-C, under the command of Captain Rachel Garrett, responded to distress calls from Narendra III, and attempted to render aid to the Klingons. Although the Enterprise-C was reported lost, the incident led to closer Klingon-Federation ties in following years. Two Romulan officers were found on Galorndon Core in 2366 after the downing of their scout craft. The Romulans believed the Dominion to be the greatest threat to the Alpha Quadrant in the last century. Accordingly, the Romulan government attempted in 2371 to collapse the Bajoran wormhole in order to prevent a potential Dominion invasion. The plan, which would have included the destruction of station Deep Space 9 to eliminate witnesses, failed when a cloaked Romulan warbird accidentally caused Miles O'Brien to timeshift into the near future, where he witnessed the Romulan attack. Upon returning to his present, O'Brien warned station personnel, thwarting the plan. Two years later, when an alliance of the Dominion and the Cardassian Union threatened to destabilize the Alpha Quadrant, the Romulans joined forces with the Federation and the Klingon Empire, contributing a fleet of Romulan warships to the defense effort. The Romulan legislative body is known as the Romulan Senate.