RIHANSSU (ROMULAN) HISTORICAL SUMMARY

Of the many races the United Federation of Planets encounters on a regular basis, few are more
mysterious and deadly than the Romulans. Lieutenant Commander Terise Lobrutto, a Federation
deep-cover operative went underground in the Romulan Star Empire some 50 years ago (for a
duration of 8 years), mostly for sociological background information. She went in at the same
time as the USS Enterprise aquired a Romulan cloaking device (Stardate 5027.3). At that time,
very little was known about Romulans and the following is a cultural summary of that enigmatic
race:

*Vulcan's first contact with an alien race (the Orions) on Vulcan Old Date 139954 (Jan 18,22 BC
on Earth). After the Orions took 800 important hostages, a brief but violent war occurred, after
which the Orions steadfastly left the warlike Vulcans alone.

*Surak's reforms began spreading rapidly across Vulcan. Vulcan wars had escalated with time
and technology to astonishing proportions. Over a 10,000 year period, there was only one period
of ten standard years which as much as 10% of Vulcan was not at war. Without Surak, the planet
probably would not exist today except as a ragged band of radioactive asteroids in the second
orbit out from 40 Eridani. S'Task and the Eighty-thousand, in opposition to Surak and the
Reformation, began the task of self-exile from Vulcan, becoming the first Rihanssu. In their
absence, under Surak's tutelage, Vulcan became one.

*Possession of more than one's needs was evil became widespread thinking of the Eighty-
thousand before leaving Vulcan. This peculiar mindset reinforced Rhihanssu thinking about
deprivation. Personal possessions and wealth were amassed in great amounts for starship
funding.

*The Vulcan banking community began to worry as the depreciation nearing as much as 10-25%
of the total capital wealth of Vulcan might be completely removed from the banking and credit
system. The Vulcan financial system could not withstand such a blow: Any withdrawal of funds
and labor greater than 18% would cause a depression too deep for the planet to recover from.
The major banking cartels conferred over this problem for nearly a year, and then took the only
action possible to them: one that cost them the equivalent of billions of credits, but both saved
Vulcan from a depression and made them a great deal of money later. They financed the building
of the starships themselves, as well as much necessary R&D. The technologies born in the
shipbuilding paid for themselves many times over, since all major patents were owned by the
banking cartels.
*With psi assisted bootstrap acceleration, the first Rihanssu ship Rea's Helm, left Vulcan on
Ahhahr 140005. Behind her, in two's and three's, came the other seventeen ships: Warbird,
Starcather, T'Hie, Pennon, Bloodwing, Corona, Lance, Gorget, Sunheart, Forge, Lost Road,
Blacklight, Firestorm, Venqence, Memorv, and Shield.

*After forty years of searching, seven of the eighteen ships were lost over the event horizon of a
newly collapsed black hole in the 198 Eridani system. Pennon, Starcatcher, Bloodwing, Forge,
Lance, Lost-Road, and Blacklight all came out of boost phase of the psi-based bootstrap
acceleration to find themselves falling down a "hole'" in space. Those from the surviving ships
unlucky enough to be in mindlink with them succumed to psychoses and died quickly, possibly
in empathy, or slowly, raving to the end of their lives.

*Three and a half years went by while the surviving ships grieved, argued, and continued
searching. S'Task had not come so far to turn back. Using boot-strapping again, the ships headed
for 4408 A/B Trianguli, a promising "wide" binary with two possible stars. 4408B Tri is, of
course, the star around which orbits the planet Iruh, and the travelers could have not have made a
worse choice of a world to examine for colonization. The first two ships, T'Hie and Corona,
slipped into regular orbit of a habitable world. Not even Vulcans were capable of holding out
against the influence of a species rated one of the most mentally powerful in the whole galaxy,
with a reconstructed psi rating of nearly 160 (the most highly trained Vulcans rate about 30, most
Terrans about 10).

When the T'Hie and Corona were in optimum range, the Iruhe proceeded to suck the life force of
the entire compliment of both ships, over 12,000 men, women, and children. Then they crashed
the ships full of mindless, still-breathing husks into Iruhe's methane seas, and waited eagerly for
the rest of the feast. The Sunheart coasted in next, and her crew noticed with instant alarm that
the ion trials of the T'Hie and Corona stopped suddenly around Iruhe, and did not head out into
space again. The fleet immediately made the wisest decision possible under the circumstances:
they ran. Many more ships and several planets were to fall victim to the insatiable mind-
predators. Not until some 1,700 years later, when the Organians were asked to intervene, could
anything effective be done about the Iruhe. And the irony is that no one knows to this day just
what was "done". The planet is empty-and-quite now, and there is a Federation research team
there, sifting the ruined landmasses for what artifacts remain.

*As the ships reached their hundred-year envelopes, food was beginning to be scarce in some of
the ships, systems were breaking down, and almost all replacement parts were used up. Warbird
was lost to a massive drive system malfunction; she had no adept left who could bootstrap her,
and she fell into 114 Trianguli trying to pick up more boost. Memory went the same way, trying
to use a black dwarf. The remaining ships-Rea's Helm, Gorget, Sunheart, Vengence, and
Firestorm - kept going as best they could.

*More than 1,700 years before the first Klingon/Federation contact with the Rihanssu, the last
ships coasted into a binary system with two habitable planets rotating around each other. They
named them ch'Rihan and ch'Havran.

*When the EarthUnion ship USS Carrizal (Captain Dini) made initial reconnaissance of the
ch'Rihan system, he detected the Rihanssu civilization. Even though contact was not established,
Rihanssu sensors detected the EarthUnion ship and a xenophobic military buildup began. During
the next year, ch'Rihan built over 3,000 spacecraft, ch'Havran over 4,000. It had been 30
generations since the settlement of the ch'Rihan system but Rihanssu had become militant
xenophobes. The Romulan Wars begin between the EarthUnion and the Romulan Star Empire.
The war is fought with particle accelerators and nuclear weapons, and the Romulan fleet is not
even equipped with warp drive (until the capture of the USS Stone Mountain).

*During the next four years, multi-system battles occur with the Romulans trying to flank
EarthUnion forces. At the height of the war, Romulan vessels use terror tactics against populated
planets to force Earth to surrender. The following Earth colonies were decimated:

Baja
Devon's World
Great Reef
King
Orchards
Rajput
Snowhi
Tsiolkovski
Victoria
*Earth fleet units desperately push Romulan forces back into Romulan space, inflicting heavy
losses on both sides. Earth forces mass for final push through Romulan space. The major
Romulan base at Cheron is reinforced with over 500 Warpships. At this time, Vulcan, Tellar, and
Centaurus are massively supplying EarthUnion forces.

*The Romulan War (2156-2160) ends by the Battle of Cheron. The Romulans suffer a
humiliating military defeat at the hands of EarthUnion forces. Romulan Peace Treaty signed,
establishing the Romulan Neutral Zone. All negotiations are conducted by subspace radio. The
pact is known as the Treaty of Algeron and prohibits EarthUnion forces and allies cloaking
technology.