Ahrir'fvahir mnean?
(What are we?)
~ Rihanh: Na Temrhae ~
Romulans: The Beginning
To understand the meaning of "Rihan," we must look to the origins of the Rihanh. For this, we must examine the histories of both the Thaessu (or, as they call themselves, Vuhlkantra, known in Federation Standard Aenglish as "Vulcans") and the Rihanh (known in Federation Standard Aenglish as "Romulans"). At the outset we shall acknowledge the widely diverse traditions of all peoples, even from one tribe to the next. The Shiar ih'Saeihr Rihan and its diverse tribes (to say nothing of the various attempts at revisionism under the various regimes which have led the Empire), the Thaessu and their diverse orthodoxies and heterodoxies, the Khreh'dhhokh Mol'Rihan and its diverse tribes, the diverse Houses of the Nneikha Klling'hann, the Syndicate Orhyhon and Thakolarivaj and their diverse Caju -- all -- have their traditions, and discerning any grain of Cthia from such studies is, at best, mere fortunate coincidence. Nevertheless, only by looking at the diversity do we see the Infinite Weave.
We shall begin our examination of these "histories" at the time when our two peoples began to diverge, with the rise of Cthia, the teachings of Surak. Cthia, and especially the various interpretations thereof by Surak's followers, drove a wedge between our ancestors and those whose descendants would become the modern Thaessu.
Surak was a Thaesha (Vulcan) who lived some two millennia ago (the exact date is a matter of debate, but we shall not concern ourselves with that debate here). During what Vulcans call "the Time of Awakening," he established a new worldview which he named Cthia (inaccurately rendered into Federation Standard Aenglish as "Logic," more literally rendered as "reality-truth"), a combination of the academic discipline of logic and various mystical and psychological perspectives and techniques; he also preached pacifism to the point of advocating nonviolent resistance, rather than reacting to conflict with violence. Another major component of his teachings was Kol-Ut-Shan, or "IDIC" ("Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations") as the Terrhasu call it, an acceptance of alternative perspectives which went beyond mere tolerance. Surak also strongly condemned falsehood and guile, due to their being inconsistent with academic logic. The most revolutionary of his teachings, though, was an idea concerning emotion, although the exact teaching became clouded and confused over the centuries, with some Vulcans believing that Surak had taught that emotions must be "purged" (that is, suppressed). Others believed that the goal was not the suppressing of emotions, but their being subdued and made subordinate to reason. Still others believed that the aim was to "master" their emotions and "balance" them with reason. At any rate, this new worldview was his proposed solution to the inter-tribal warfare which was then plaguing the Vulcan peoples.
Not all Vulcans embraced this new worldview taught by Surak. Many had no desire, and saw no need, to go to the extremes advocated by Surak. They saw emotions as natural and as a necessary part of the psyche. They believed that violence was not inherently wrong, and that it was the only proper and possible response to at least some situations, and they would therefore not submit to the teaching that violence must be abandoned entirely (even to this day, our people are known for bearing personal weapons at all times, even into situations which some would view as requiring all participants to divest themselves of their weapons). The followers of Surak referred to these Vulcans as "those who marched beneath the raptor's wings." Vulcan history proclaims that this difference of opinion led to further warfare, between those who followed Surak's teachings and "those who marched beneath the raptor's wings." Eventually, Surak was killed. Vulcan history asserts that his death was due to radiation poisoning during the final battle between his followers and those to whom the Vulcans refer as "those who marched beneath the raptor's wings." Vulcan history also claims (and is supported by Romulan history in this claim -- to some extent) that eventually, these "savage" and "warlike" Vulcans "who marched beneath the raptor's wings" simply left the planet to avoid further conflict, an event known as "The Sundering." The Vulcans learned, much later, that these people had eventually found their own worlds and became the Romulans.
Many of the claims found in Vulcan history are suspect. The most glaringly inconsistent of these claims are the characterization of the proto-Romulans as "savage" and "warlike," in combination with the story that they simply chose to leave in order to avoid further conflict -- these two claims together simply do not even make sense, much less are they logical (and indeed, there were followers of Surak among those who left, who can hardly be claimed to be "savage" and "warlike" by the Vulcans in any manner other than an inconsistent one, since they have admitted that the teachings of Surak were and are pacifistic). Over time, the original writings of Surak, the Kir'Shara, were lost. The teachings of Surak were preserved in several different manuscript traditions which disagreed with one another in several particulars. Surak's teachings became diluted and perverted. The original philosophical worldview he had taught became a religion of sorts. Unscrupulous Vulcan leaders engaged in revisionism, twisting this religion to suit their own ends, ends which often involved militarism and deception. The fact that claims within Vulcan history would be suspect, then, is hardly surprising. A known and undisputed part of Vulcan history concerns the V'tosh ka'tur, another group of Vulcans who left the Vulcan homeworld as a result of differences of opinion with the orthodox establishment over the meaning of the teachings of Surak concerning emotion. Their interpretation was that Surak had wanted the Vulcans to master their emotions and balance them with the rational faculty of the Vulcan psyche, rather than purge themselves of emotion entirely as the establishment taught, and rather than subdue their emotions and make them subject to reason as the Syrranites believed. Vulcan history, however, also claims that one of the first Kolinahr masters was T'Klass, and that he was a student of Surak. These claims about T'Klass may also have become confused (or intentionally altered) over time. All of these things (not least the situation of the V'tosh ka'tur and precisely why they left Vulcan) must be considered in an effort to sift through well over a millennium of tradition and propaganda and discern the truth of Romulan origins.
We must also not neglect the Lore of our own people. Our Lorekeepers say that our ancestors left Vulcan to avoid fighting their own people. Little hint is given in our Lore that our ancestors sought to overthrow Cthia or the followers of Surak; we are told merely that our ancestors disagreed and chose to leave peacefully. That struggles occurred is certain, but the exact nature of those struggles is not specified by our own lore (although the "history" of the Thaessu does more than imply that violence was involved, referring to nuclear war, but without stating who started it, nor discerning the diversity within opposing perspectives to distinguish between the various groups who rejected Cthia, instead lumping them all together as "those who marched beneath the raptor's wings"). Federation historians are of no help here, for the vast majority of their history of the Thaessu is taken directly from the "history" taught by the Thaessu themselves.
A Thaes (Vulcan) philosopher named Tellus established a rival school of thought which espoused retaining passions, rather than suppressing or subduing them. This school of thought eventually became known as "the Way of D'Era." The followers of Tellus themselves became known as the Children of Ket-Cheleb, and were among those who left Thaei in defiance of the new ways. To give a more complete picture of this group, first we should note that Ket-Cheleb is the old Vulcan God of War. Second we should note that Tellus was a lieutenant to the warlord Sudoc, and in that capacity, attempted to spread the rule of Sudoc over Thaei. After the death of Sudoc, Tellus established the Way of D'Era.
Another element of the story which is important to understanding why our ancestors chose to part ways with the ancestors of the Thaessu is the history of S'task, who had at one time been a student of Surak and sought to master his emotions and embrace pacifistic nonviolence. A simple dose of reality led to S'task changing his opinion of Cthia and disagreeing with Surak. The event in question was a diplomatic mission gone wrong. A Duthulhiv and Etoshan expedition visited Thaei (Vulcan), and Surak was to go and meet them, but he was detained and so sent S'task in his stead. Upon arrival, however, rather than making peace, the visitors took all those present captive and sent them to their slave ships in orbit. A faithful follower of Cthia, S'task tried to reason with the pirates, to convince them that reason and peace were preferable to violence and passion, but they would have none of this. In order to escape and free the other captives, S'task had no choice other than to resort to violence, and so used his mental disciplines to kill his captors psionically, and cause them to destroy each other, after starting a slave riot on the ships.
S'task returned to Thaei changed by this experience. He had seen the necessity for violence in some situations, and had learned of people who were unmoved by appeals to reason. To think that all non-Thaessu are unmoved by reason would be an unwarranted assumption, and a false belief. Many species who understand reason do exist, and there have even been Thaessu who have demonstrated a dogmatism which refused to yield to reason. At any rate, the pirates who had visited Thaei at that time were unmoved by reason, and S'task began to grow apart from his mentor. The time came when S'task chose to leave Thaei and seek a new home. He took with him 80,000 followers in twenty large vessels. Those who eventually arrived at the Eisn system would take the name "na Rihannsu," "the Declared Ones."
The story of the Sundering does not, however, consist solely of Surak and his followers and Tellus and S'task and their various followers, for other persons also departed from Thaei at the same time as S'task and his 80,000. Some of these, the so-called "Technocrats," as well as a portion of the followers of Surak, left willingly. Multiple reasons exist for the participation in the Exile of these followers of Surak, not least of which was their adherence to Surak's philosophy, and their rejection of the theocracy which the Vulcan establishment was pushing.
Others did not leave willingly, but were instead accidentally taken. These latter, accidental, travelers were, for the most part, a portion of a reactionary terrorist organization known as "the Te-Vikram Brotherhood," who had launched a nuclear attack upon the Vulcan Science Academy in ShiKahr and took refuge (from the expected radiation resulting from their attack, as well as from the Vulcan law enforcement personnel seeking them) inside the ships of S'task and the others preparing for departure. Also taking refuge on the ships from the radiation were additional Technocrats. These terrorists and Technocrats were still aboard the ships when they left the planet, and thus left Vulcan unwillingly.
After leaving Thaei (the planet Vulcan), our ancestors wandered the stars in search of a new planet to call home. They made more than one false start, the most important of which was their attempt to settle on Dewa-III (the third planet in the Dewa system in the Azure sector of the Tau Dewa sector block). Because of the lingering radiation from a war thousands of years prior, they left Dewa-III, and continued their search, but not before leaving various sorts of evidence of their brief residence there. The most stunning artifact left behind on Dewa-III was a sword, known variously as "the Lost Sword of S'harien," "the Third Sword of S'task," and "the Sword of the Raptor Star." This ancient weapon, forged by the master Vulcan smith S'harien, was carried by S'task when the proto-Romulans left Thaei, along with two other swords forged by S'harien -- it has been said that these three swords were the only examples of the master swordsmith which were rescued from his own choice to destroy all of the weapons he had made after embracing Cthia, although that claim of exclusivity is false -- rescued, strangely enough, by Surak himself, who gave them into the care of S'task at the spacedocks before the latter left Thaei, and asked him to keep them safe on his journey.
The Tal'Diann also teaches history to our recruits. History is a very important discipline in our fight against tyranny and for freedom. All of the preceding information is included in our history course. Also included are our conclusions based on the preceding and the rediscovered Kir'Shara (found in the Earth year 2154 by Captain Jonathan Archer of the Federation vessel NX-01 Enterprise), which conclusions are:
- tribal differences on Vulcan prior to the time of Surak were not as violent (nor as "devastating") as revisionist Vulcan history has claimed
- our ancestors were not any more "savage" or "warlike" than the fanatical and zealous "followers" of Surak (regardless of the teachings of Surak himself, teachings which his "followers" did not exactly follow -- note that I have enclosed this in quotation marks, because actual followers of Surak did exist, but others who pretended to follow his teachings also existed; this is not remarkable, as a study of the history of religions will demonstrate rather clearly)
- Surak did not advocate the purging of emotion, but rather, the subduing of emotion, making it subject to reason, but this was not conducive to the goals of his "followers," who sought to encourage passive submission of the masses to a tyranny over the mind and heart
- our ancestors, especially Tellus and the Children of Ket-Cheleb, did not agree with Surak or his false "followers" on the question of emotion, but would have had more in common with the later V'tosh ka'tur, in more than one respect (although they probably would not have agreed with them completely), including the likelihood that the V'tosh ka'tur were more or less forced to depart from Vulcan by the intolerant establishment -- indeed, at least seven separate groups left Vulcan at various times, all over differences of opinion with the new system which ought to serve well enough as a hint that the teaching of Surak about IDIC was not part of the official religion being established by the government, and that a supposed orthodoxy was being forced on the people of the planet by those in power
- our ancestors, especially S'task and his followers, also disagreed with Surak on the question of non-violence, realizing that survival often necessitated violence, but S'task and Surak did not hate one another
- several distinct groups have been conflated by subsequent Thaes historians, and lumped together under the title "those who marched beneath the Raptor's wings," for there were at least four groups, some very different from the others, who traveled from Thaei to the Eisn system
- Surak was killed at a different point in time than Vulcan history claims and the exact perpetrator(s) of the deed remain unknown (although the Tal'Diann suspects one or more of his "followers" of having orchestrated the deed in order to make of him a martyr and silence him, and there is also some evidence that members of the terrorist sect known as the Te-Vikram Brotherhood, which predated Surak and Cthia, were the actual culprits); it would have been logically impossible for Surak to give three of the swords made by S'harien to S'task before the proto-Romulans left Thaei, if Surak had been killed in a supposed final battle with "those who marched beneath the raptor's wings," so Surak must have been killed after S'task and the proto-Romulans left Thaei , or at least his death occurred after as a result of radiation poisoning from the attack on ShiKahr by the Te-Vikram Brotherhood -- there is no logically possible alternative to this conclusion, if this be all there is to the picture
- our ancestors were opposed to the efforts of the "followers" of Surak to establish an intolerant tyranny which would impose their interpretation of such of his teachings as they cherry-picked on all Vulcans by law and force, an interpretation which was not even consistent with what Surak himself taught
- after some struggles, our ancestors chose to depart rather than fight their own people or submit to false accusations, and this was a combination of free will and a realization that they would eventually have been faced with forced conversion, death, imprisonment, or exile
At some point during the exodus from Thaei (which is usually called "na Hwael," or "The Journey"), the followers of S'task encountered Tellus and the Children of Ket-Cheleb, and the two groups merged. Thereafter, they journeyed together in search of a new homeworld, and S'task and Tellus were recognized as primary leaders of the wanderers. However, also during their journeys, a group split off from the proto-Romulans and went their own way; much information about them has been lost, but they are remembered as the Debrune, and are believed to be extinct.
On several occasions during the journey, the portion of the Te-Vikram Brotherhood who had been taken along attempted to return to their homeworld, and some of the Technocrats joined with them in these efforts. At one point, they took control of one of the vessels, but the commander of the ship managed to destroy his own vessel, and many of the terrorists were thus destroyed with it. Eventually, most if not all of the remaining terrorists were given a shuttle, and they, together with some of the Technocrats, departed from the Exiles. They are believed to have returned to Thaei, but whether they succeeded in this effort to return or not is uncertain. What is certain is that some of the Technocrats continued on the journey.
As previously mentioned, the Sword of the Raptor Star was left behind on Dewa-III, lost, and a second of the Three Swords of S'task was also lost during the journeys of the proto-Romulans as they sought a new homeworld. The sole remaining sword was placed in a chair of the Exile Council as the people continued their quest. The losses of the two swords were not the only losses experienced by the proto-Romulans. Seven of the ships of the exodus were destroyed in the event horizon of a new black hole. The crew and passengers of two more fell victim to a mind-eating creature called the Iruhe. More of the proto-Romulans were killed by various other aliens and some died as the result of internal strife. Illness struck, a mutated disease which claimed the lives of many of the wanderers, including the wife and children of S'task, and nearly killed S'task himself, but he recovered.
S'task was one of the few leaders of the ancestors of the Rihanh who survived to see the eventual discovery of the planets ch'Rihan u' ch'Havran (Romulus and Remus), in the Eisn system. He himself laid the cornerstone of the Council Building which eventually grew into the Deihu'kri (the Romulan Senate building) in the area which became Val'danadex Trel, the Capitol of ch'Rihan (and later, the Capitol of Shiar ih'Saeihr Rihan, the Romulan Star Empire), a city which was eventually renamed Ki Baratan (but see further below). Throughout the remainder of his life, S'task was entitled to, and did, attend meetings of the D'Ekhiel Rihan (Romulan Grand Council).
In this context, S'task witnessed the rise of a woman of the houseclan Rehu named Vriha, who had built an army and, about sixty years Aihkh Eiraaenhr (After Settlement), began to seize control of the government with their backing, and whose ambition extended to a plan to take complete control of the D'Ekhiel Rihan. Vriha t'Rehu had already begun to deal harshly with political opponents, by having them killed or taken prisoner, and captive opponents who still refused to side with her were subjected to psionic assault of a type known as "mindchanging." As the name suggests, this was a technique of mind control at the deepest levels, and a blatant defiance of the ideal of freedom which had motivated Tellus and S'task and their followers to leave Thaei in search of a new home. At her first appearance in the Deihu'kri, S'task chose to simply walk out of the Deihu'kri without so much as a by-your-leave, which act caused t'Rehu to feel threatened. She warned him not to repeat this act, but once he had left, she was able to have the D'Ekhiel to bestow upon her the office of Master Councillor.
A second such convocation some years later, in 78 Aihkh Eiraaenhr, resulted in the same response from S'task, which infuriated t'Rehu and led to her ordering her guards to kill S'task, and so he was publicly assassinated, at the age of 248 years, on the floor of the Deihu'kri. In spite of this murder, the mad t'Rehu managed to cement her position as na ri'Hwathech ih'hwi ch'Rihan (the first Queen of the Romulans), declaring herself mnhei'ri'Hwathech ch'Rehvie Kreen (Ruling Queen of the Two Worlds). She was able to accomplish this because S'task had, since the discovery of ch'Rihan and ch'Havran, gradually lost influence and authority. Many younger Rihannsu regarded him as something of an anachronism, an aged and aging man who had become embittered during the long exodus, an important leader during The Journey, but no longer relevant now that the quest for the new home had come to fruition.
With the coronation of t'Rehu, a precedent was set in the collective psyche of the Rihanh, especially among some in the political class. The ideals of the Rihanh would eventually mutate from what they had been when the people left Thaei. Freedom would, in time to come, become less and less important as a central ideal of the Rihanh to a growing number of Rihannsu in the corridors of political power. This very slow alteration would, in centuries to come, lead to opportunistic machinations, paranoia, plots and plots within plots, deceit, guile, and greed. At the time, however, the reign of t'Rehu lasted only another eighteen years. She was brought down by rebellion started by a group of Havrannsu (residents of the planet ch'Havran, or "Remus"), who killed her in battle on the Aihai ("Plains, Flatlands") outside Ra'tleihfi, the new Capitol City which she was having built. The rebels then dispersed back to their various locales.
Government was thereafter reformed, the Capitol was moved back to Val'danadex Trel (although in time, the Capitol City grew to such a size that it encompassed both the original Capitol of Val'danadex Trel and the city of Ra'tleihfi, resulting in both names being applied to the city -- an attempt was made at one point to settle the question of the name of the Capitol by renaming it to Dartha, but that simply resulted in three names being used for the same city, and eventually the name was changed again to Ki Baratan, but this merely added yet another name to the list of appellations for the Rihan Capitol, and any given person might refer to the city by any or all of these names). Also, the D'Ekhiel Rihan (Romulan Grand Council) and the Ekhiel Rahaen Rihan (Romulan High Council) were restored (having been subjected to purges under t'Rehu, which had rendered both into little more than puppets to "endorse" her edicts), and the office of Fvillha (Praetor) was established to hold judiciary and executive authority.
Nevertheless, a lasting influence from the reign of t'Rehu, which hearkened back to older Vulcan society and which she had promoted vigorously during her reign, was a strong tendency to matriarchy at the basic unit of Romulan society, the hfihar (translated into Federation Standard Aenglish variously as "House," "Tribe," or "Clan"). To this day, any given hru'hfirh, which is the head of a hfihar, is almost always a woman, and descent is matrilinear. With rare exceptions, when a heterosexual Romulan couple marry, the man leaves his hfihar and goes to live among the people of his wife's hfihar, replacing the name of his hfihar with that of hers as his third name, and moving his houseclan name to the middle position.
Having thrown off the shackles of their first (but unfortunately not last) mad queen, the Rihanh, who, for the most part, still held freedom in the highest esteem, went through a turbulent period lasting about a century, involving inter-tribal struggles known as the Clan Wars, but finally, a Tribal Confederation was established. The government under na Aeiiht'kaehht ih'Mhashe Rihan (the Romulan Tribal Confederation) retained the trappings and form of the previous system, with a Fvillha, a D'Ekhiel, and an Ekhiel Rahaen, but political authority was devolved to a greater or lesser extent to the hfihrnn ("Houses, Tribes, Clans"). For the next six centuries, in spite of occasional scandal and unrest, and a very small number of violent conflicts, the Rihanh and Havrannsu were prosperous, were largely at peace, and had a stable and effective government which guaranteed the liberties of its citizens (to understand "citizens" in this context, think in terms not unlike the Classical Polis of Athens, but with a tendency to matriarchy, rather than an actual patriarchy) and the preservation of the diverse traditions of the various hfihrnn, in the form of the Romulan Tribal Confederation.
The six-hundred years of prosperity, peace, and liberty contradict Vulcan propaganda about our ancestors' supposed "savage" and "warlike" nature. While ch'Rihan provided less harsh living conditions than had been present on Thaei, any attempt to argue that those conditions were responsible for this period of peace is nullified by the fact that living conditions on ch'Havran were harsh. Rather, the causes of this peace should be looked for in the fact that the Romulan Tribal Confederation respected tribal differences and valued liberty, as opposed to the government on Thaei, which sought to enforce conformity to the established religion.
Onre: ilhael 2 - Rihanh: Na Caevuus ih'Shiar
(Next: book 2 - Romulans: The Imperial Era)
No comments:
Post a Comment