Mikey wrote:Nemesis was the last canon we had of the original-timeline Romulan government.
BigJKU316 wrote:I just see the Romulans as being a lot more stable than the Klingons. Yeah, the Shinzon thing would cause problems but they have a pretty stable government for the most part with a very powerful secret police force that should keep things in line. They had this one big hiccup for sure, but otherwise for all we know they have been pretty stable. Say what you will about them but they are fairly calculating and cautious.
There was nothing left to be stable. The only thing there was a sucking power vacuum. This not long after the events of TNG: "Reunification." Meanwhile, the Klingon government has continued in its current form seamlessly for centuries, perhaps millenia. Now, a particular chancellor or council may do things with which we do not agree, but that seems to be a hell of a lot more stable than the complete nothingness and resultant power-grab that the Romulans would have.
Yeah, but the security forces and internal controls all still exist and would presumably continue operating while a new government is put in place. I mean all he really did was wipe out the Senate. Think if you did that in the United States. Would it cause the US to collapse if Congress were wiped out? Not really. It would be a pain in the ass and certainly would make for an intersting rebuilding, but like Tyyr stated I think it would make a very good story.
I just don't see an outright collapse occuring, particularly if the Klingons tried to take advantage as that would just rally the people together.
As for the Klingons I just think a full out civil war is a lot more serious affair than a coup. Historically the Klingons have more than a few times overreached and nearly paid the price for it by losing everything because they don't tend to think before they leap.
If you wiped out Congress and and the President together, yeah it could seriously mess us up. However the modern US isn't Romulus. Romulan politics are much more Roman in their politics and a huge power vacuum like this could motivate someone who wasn't in line for major power to make a play for it, "For the good the Empire."
Tyyr wrote:If you wiped out Congress and and the President together, yeah it could seriously mess us up. However the modern US isn't Romulus. Romulan politics are much more Roman in their politics and a huge power vacuum like this could motivate someone who wasn't in line for major power to make a play for it, "For the good the Empire."
I agree it would play out a lot like things did in Rome. My guess is you get some sort of military or internal security figure as the new leader and then they reconstitute the senate in some fashion. There is probably a lot of back-stabbing and internal political fighting in the process, but I think it gets sorted out without a major civil war type event, just because that seems to not be the way Romulans do things.
Well I've got my preferred imagining for how the whole thing went down, used if for my story. The big issue with having one figure coming up to take things over is that you need just one guy to want the job. What if two Admirals both get it in their heads to save the Empire? The danger in a decapitation strike like that, and why its so valuable to people Shinzon is that by wiping out a body like the Senate you destroy any clear line of succession. This makes life easy for him because there's no obvious opposition leader. The problem is that Picard then killed Shinzon. So now you have no central figure in charge, and no obvious governing body. How do you determine in charge? Why should the minister of internal toiler paper requisitions get it over the minister of coffee weights and measures? The idea behind such an assassination is to muddle the waters and reduce things to a level where its hard to determine who really has the right of succession.
Mikey wrote:Nemesis was the last canon we had of the original-timeline Romulan government.
BigJKU316 wrote:I just see the Romulans as being a lot more stable than the Klingons. Yeah, the Shinzon thing would cause problems but they have a pretty stable government for the most part with a very powerful secret police force that should keep things in line. They had this one big hiccup for sure, but otherwise for all we know they have been pretty stable. Say what you will about them but they are fairly calculating and cautious.
There was nothing left to be stable. The only thing there was a sucking power vacuum. This not long after the events of TNG: "Reunification." Meanwhile, the Klingon government has continued in its current form seamlessly for centuries, perhaps millenia. Now, a particular chancellor or council may do things with which we do not agree, but that seems to be a hell of a lot more stable than the complete nothingness and resultant power-grab that the Romulans would have.
Yeah, but the security forces and internal controls all still exist and would presumably continue operating while a new government is put in place. I mean all he really did was wipe out the Senate. Think if you did that in the United States. Would it cause the US to collapse if Congress were wiped out? Not really. It would be a pain in the ass and certainly would make for an intersting rebuilding, but like Tyyr stated I think it would make a very good story.
I just don't see an outright collapse occuring, particularly if the Klingons tried to take advantage as that would just rally the people together.
As for the Klingons I just think a full out civil war is a lot more serious affair than a coup. Historically the Klingons have more than a few times overreached and nearly paid the price for it by losing everything because they don't tend to think before they leap.
Completely irrelevant. The issue at hand is not, "Would the Romulan state collapse," it's "You think the RSE is more stable than the KE." After the events of NEM, the Romulan government would be reshaped completely - in fact, it was during the film - while the government of the KE emerged through the "more serious affair" (in your own words) as well as a complete catastrophe like Praxis, all with the shape of their government unchanged. That's the very paragon of stability.
I can't stand nothing dull
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer
Besides, the Klingon empire has in the past managed to come together as a unified force when the time requires it. The threat of a collapse of the empire is one thing I think the Empire WILL pool their resources.
Where as, the power vacuum, if it replicates the way Roman politics played out, would leave several of the surviving ministers and factions all vying for power. It is possible that Tal'Aura has a legitimate claim to the Praetor's throne, she was after all the only known senator that survived. But who knows who else will see the position ripe for the taking.
