Cunning, deceptive, and strategic, all of these describe the Romulan Star Empire in the Star Trek universe. Since the first Star Trek series, the Romulans have played the role of galactic bad guys. Very deceptive and clever, the Romulans have been a powerful force in the Alpha Quadrant for hundreds of years, but all of that changed as events unfolded after the Remans uprising.
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Shinzon led the Remans against the Romulan Empire.
The story of Star Trek Online begins 30 years after Star Trek: Nemesis, but the events between the last movie and the beginning of the game involve a deep story of intrigue. Well begin our story with just a little about the last movie and proceed to follow the events of the first few years after it as they unfold.
The Reman uprising was led by a man named Shinzon. Shinzon was a clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and a failed experiment of the Romulans. He was sent to the enslaved world of Remus as a child and raised by the Remans. He later became the leader of the Reman people, leading them to strike back against the Romulans. Shinzon killed most of the Romulan Senate in one swift strike and proclaimed himself the new Praetor. However, Shinzon was dying and he needed the DNA of the real Captain Picard to extend his life. As Picards polar opposite, Shinzon lured the Enterprise to Romulus under a flag of peace and secretly pursued them back towards Federation space. When the Enterprise entered the Bassen Rift where communication was blocked, a battle ensued resulting in the death of Shinzon.
After the death of Praetor Shinzon, the situation in the Romulan Empire began to deteriorate. With most of the Romulan Senate dead by Shinzons hand, a power struggle ensued between Senator Talaura, a supporter of Shinzon and one of the few remaining members of the Romulan Senate, and Commander Donatra who aided the Enterprise in defeating Shinzon at the Battle of Bassen Rift. Talaura declared herself the new Praetor of the Romulan Empire and she was supported by Commander Tomalak, the new Fleet Commander of the Imperial Defense Force.
Commander Donatra opposed Talauras claim with the support of Admiral Braeg, but the chance of a peaceful resolution ended when Braeg was executed. After that, Donatra refused to accept Talauras rule. She led a rebellion to oppose Talaura, gathering what loyal forces she could find. However, Donatra wasnt the only thorn in Talauras side as the remaining Reman forces led by General Xiomek, demanded a place to settle with enough natural resources to support the Reman people as payment for hundreds of years of slavery and oppression. In response, Talaura ordered Tomalak to blockade the planet Remus and cut off supplies to the Reman people.
Starfleet, concerned with the possibility of an all out Romulan civil war, began monitoring Romulan space and held meetings with representatives from the Klingon Empire and other Alpha and Beta Quadrant representatives. The meetings proposed intervention to bring peace to the Romulans and plans to contain any part of the conflict that crossed the borders of the Romulan Neutral Zone.
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Commander Donatra helped the Enterprise-E defeat Shinzon.
On Romulus, the Unification movement founded by Ambassador Spock continued to grow and eventually would ally itself with Xiomek of the Reman Kepeszuk Battalion. The two sides were both oppressed by the Romulan government and while they have the same goal, their approach is very different. The Unification movement tries to attain their goals through peaceful diplomacy, while the Remans have a more militaristic plan in mind.
Spock returned to Federations space and presented a formal request to the Federation to aid the Unification movement on Romulus. The Federation Council agrees to consider the matter, but puts off making a decision.
Faced with civil unrest and maintaining the Reman blockade, Praetor Talaura found her forces spread too thin, hindering her ability to stop the forces of Commander Donatra from advancing on Romulan territory. Donatra conquered several agriculture worlds, giving her control of much of the food supply to Romulus. With these new worlds under her control, Commander Donatra declared herself the first empress of the newly-found Romulan Imperial State. Talaura vowed to retake the territory, but with food shortages from the loss of the planets and power shortages resulting from the lack of dilithium once provided by the Remans, the Praetor was unable counter Donatras claim with little more than talk.
As the situation continued to deteriorate, Tomalaks blockade forces were met with constant skirmish battles from Reman ships. The frequency and desperation of the skirmishes concerned the Federation that the Remans were running short on food, so the Federation being the peaceful beacon of the galaxy, offered humanitarian aid to both Romulus and Remus.
With crisis after crisis facing Talaura, she reluctantly agreed to accept food shipments from the Federation, but she adamantly refused the Federations offer to facilitate negotiations for peace. Instead, she ordered Fleet Commander Tomalak devise a plan to retake the planets held by Donatra
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Tension continues to build within the Romulan Empire.
In an effort to restore some semblance of order to Romulus, the Praetor agreed to reform the Senate, but rather than holding elections, the Senate was filled with Talauras loyal supporters, much to the dismay of Romulan nobles. The pleas from the people and the Unification movement to hold elections for elected representatives fell on deaf ears.
With their failed attempt to find representation in the Romulan government, the Unification movement again approached the Federation for support, but the council once again failed to reach a decision after Councilor TLos of Vulcans speech influences the council to wait on reaching a decision.
The result of the unification of the two races cannot be predetermined, while the probable course of the Romulans and Vulcans remaining separate can be reasonably predicted. Therefore, her only logical choice is to protect the Vulcan way of life by opposing unification.
After failing again to gain aid from the Federation, Spock returned to Romulus to aid the Unification movement in achieving their goals through other peaceful means.
With the Romulan Empire in chaos the Klingon Empire decided to take advantage of the weakened state of their age old enemies by striking into Romulan space and retaking Khitomer. The attack was criticized by the Federation, but Klingons claim they are retaking lands that belonged to them stolen by the Romulans. Khitomer is a huge part of Klingon history and is the location of a key event that led to so much hatred between the Klingons and Romulans.
On Romulus, Praetor Talaura began rationing food and limiting replicator use to keep the resources reserved for the military campaign against Donatra, but this didnt sit well with the starving people on Romulus as riots broke out lasting for two days. On the second day Talaura ordered troops to break up the riots, resulting in over 2000 deaths. With unrest growing on Romulus, Talaura pulled the puppet strings on her loyal Senate to help restore order. The Senate voted to expand Talauras powers even further, giving her the power to revoke noble status and even declare war without approval from the Senate.
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The Federation's offer to mediate the dispute is rejected.
In an effort to retake the worlds taken by Donatra, Fleet Commander Tomalak completes his plan for attack and on Stardate 60900.31 he carried out his orders to assault Donatras fleet, but Tomalak was decisively defeated and betrayed by his second in command, Admiral Taris who defected to Donatras side. After Tomalaks defeat, he was removed from his position by Talaura and replaced by Commander Sela, a human-Romulan hybrid and descendent of Tasha Yar.
The Romulan defeat at Xantila cripples Talauras ability to wage an open war against Donatra. With the lingering Klingon threat, civil unrest, and supply shortages, Talaura reluctantly agrees to negotiate with Donatras Imperial Romulan State and establish borders of a new neutral zone. Talaura again rejects the Federation's offer to mediate the talks. Donatra sends Admiral Taris to the Romulan capital as her representative in the negotiations with Talaura.
In a twist of events, on Stardate 61602.00, Talaura was discovered murdered in her chambers. The Tal Shiar investigated and rumors of who carried out the assassination filled the capital.
Lore Resources:
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