What exactly comports Romulan Society? What parts do we know, what part can we speculate? If you had to write about Romulans, how would you depict them?
My initial guest would be like treating them like a Roman-like society. They have their Patricians, their Tributes of the Pleb. They have "Conquered Provinces" (planets). They have a Figurehead "Praetor", and they have "Consuls", "Proconsuls".
They great senators and polical minds are also their military leaders. But unlike Rome, they do their best to avoid infiltration of Romulan society and politics by foreigners, which explains their incredibly amazing Intelligence Services.
(not entirely roman-like. This is the Romulans we are talking about, so there's got to be differences).
Hmmm... what does that says of a culture that developped Romulan Ale?
Darn. I meant figurehead Emperor. Or not. I think they might have been a Republic in the past, or alternatively switched between Republic and Monarchy during their long history.
I don't think we actually have an solid facts about typical Romulan society.
Given all the Roman influences the writers were trying to work in for them, I tend to just assume their society is Rome In Space.
Hell, I'd pay to watch a Klingon Vs Gorn gladiatorial match.
"You've all been selected for this mission because you each have a special skill. Professor Hawking, John Leslie, Phil Neville, the Wu-Tang Clan, Usher, the Sugar Puffs Monster and Daniel Day-Lewis! Welcome to Operation MindFuck!"
Which is why I ask you to make up something. I didn't asked write about what you know, but how you'd imagine it. How do you think the Romulan Society is, if you had to make it up based on what you know?
How is its internal politics? It's culture? It's parties?
Well, I'd imagine it almost like a "psudo-monarchy". I think the term "Empire" might be a misnomer, as we've never heard of a Romulan Emperor. We see that the Romulans have a senate, much like ancient Rome, and a Preator who seems to hold the top bill. I would imagine the RSE is something just a bit different from the other Empires we've seen, like the Klingon Empire or the Terran Empire. More politically motivated as we've seen that Romulans are political animals. Perhaps the Preator is an elected position in the senate. We've seen nothing to dispute this, and explains the Romulans overwhelming ambition.
Romulans tend to come off as a bit more "focused" and disciplined than your formar Roman, so while I'd imagine they enjoyed a bit of revelry, I realistically don't see them engaging in the debauchary common to Rome. A Romulan orgy would just be hard to imagine, and if they were REALLY pervs such as that, I'm sure we'd have heard of Quark's "Romulan Orgy" series.
They seem to be quite seperated, not quite as for as castes, but close. You've got the politicians, the warrior/soldiers, the merchants, the commoners, and the Tal'Shiar (who seems to operate outside of normal Romulan society). I'd imagine it's the lifetime goal of a Romulan to move his way up the social ladder, which explains the apparent large number of troops the Romulans can field (I'm basing that on the troop capacity of the standard warbird), if battlefield honors can propel one forward. It would make sense for a commoner or younger son of a "noble" (or whatever the term is) to join the military and hope to distinguish themselves, thus moving forward into the upper echalons of command, or into politics later.
Anyway, thats my take.
They say that in the Army,
the women are mighty fine.
They look like Phyllis Diller,
and walk like Frankenstein.
Mark wrote:Perhaps the Preator is an elected position in the senate. We've seen nothing to dispute this, and explains the Romulans overwhelming ambition.
Indeed. Quite the contrary - there's some strong evidence that supports the theory. Neral rose from proconsul in Unification to Praetor during the Dominion War.
Only two things are infinite - the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe: Albert Einstein.
I take "Empire" as in the latter days of the Roman Empire - in fact, I see the whole Romulan/Rome parallel as being specifically targetted at the post-Empire days of Rome - with the power being vested in a senate, moderated by tribunes. While there were still emperors in Rome, they were nominal - and served more as religious moderators in the days since Diocletian.
I'd like to know how the core worlds of the RSE came to be named for figures from Roman mythology... from Earth.
I can't stand nothing dull
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer
Perhaps the words Romulas and Remus have different meanings in the Romulan language that in the Terran language? It really wouldn't surprise me to find similar words in different languages.
Or, most likely, itd just what the humans "named" them. And thus they are translated from Romulan into "Common" via the universal translator.
However, we all know that the real reason is a lack of creativity on the part of certain Trek writers back in the day.
They say that in the Army,
the women are mighty fine.
They look like Phyllis Diller,
and walk like Frankenstein.
