Vulcan isolationism is somewhat of a gambit

[Granitehewer]

So a) if the vulcan isolationist dissident and her movement in 'Gambit' TNG was successful, or b) V'Las and his romulan collaboration wasn't foiledpre Vulcan Reformation (ENT: "The Forge", "Awakening", "Kir'Shara") or c) Spock and his reunification movement had gained momentum, what would be the outcomes for the 1) united federation of planets, 2) vulcan and the 3) romulan star empire?

[Teaos]

The Federation wouldnt suffer much. If anything the Vulcans would hold them back from being more adventures. They might lose a little bit of honor though with a founding member leaving.

The Romulan empire would gain a lot of knowledge but I cant see them playing together nicely.

[Sionnach Glic]

The Federation would lose virtualy nothing.

Vulcan may well be in a worse position.

The RSE gains very little.

[Teaos]

Vulcan WOULD be in a worse position. They go from being senior members of the most powerful alliance in the AQ to the Romulans bitches.

[Granitehewer]

the parsimonious issue here is how important is Vulcan to the federation and vice versa

[Teaos]

The Federation doesnt really need them. They offer a bit of industry and population but nothing over whelming. The Vulcans need the Federation more than the Federation needs them.

[Sionnach Glic]

Not very, I imagine. The Vulcans no longer have a tech lead over humanity, so they won't lose any tech advantage. Their planet doesn't really seem to be that densley populated, so they won't be losing a big chunk of their population. We've never heard of shipyards in the system, so the Federation won't be losing any industrial capacity. And the system has little, if any, military forces, meaning Starfleet won't be affected.

[Granitehewer]

i always imagined,again imagined rather than collated data,that the vulcans were one of the prime movers in the united federation of planets from their infinite diversity in infinite combinations ideologies and prime directives, to technologies, had always imagined that the vulcans were on a rough par with the romulan star empire and so their loss would heavily impact the federation but perhaps this would have been more valid during the TOS era......

[Sionnach Glic]

They were one of the prime movers in getting the UFP to the way we know it now, but they're no longer necessary for it to function. The only thing the UFP would lose is their ego, nothing more.

[Granitehewer]

yeah!!! kill them all!!!! lol

[Teaos]

Yeah back in the day they were important but TNG+ they are nobodies.

[Mikey]

Well, the Federation would be losing an important source of... um, sand.

[stitch626]

And sunburn!

[Mark]

The only problem I can see is that a hostile power is now located inside the core of Federation space, and within striking distance to the other founding member worlds. Somehow, that scenario has written Section 31 all over it. Watching their response would be interesting, though.

[Mikey]

This raises an interesting sub-question: would the Vulcans be a mitigating influence on the Romulans, or would the Romulans be an aggressive influence on the Vulcans?