posted
In fandom the Romulans call themselves Rihannsu, if I'm not mistaken.
Hmmm.. I wonder how they knew that the Romulans had two homeworlds. Earth forces could've actually reached the planets in the war, or it's something from the illusive Vulcan Database (don't tell me those sneaky Vulcans DIDN'T know the Romulans really were their lost brethren).
posted
One would assume that the sensor tech of the era was good enough for Earth to be able to establish that there were two life-supporting planets in the system from which they traced these mystery aliens as originating from, even over a distance of a couple dozen lightyears or more. I mean, we're within arms-length reach of those kind of capabilities today. Signs of inhabitation like radio emissions and pollutants in the atmosphere would also be relatively easy to spot over such distances.
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posted
It could also be that the Romulan war was triggered by the Earthlings stumbling directly into the Romulan home system. Their last report would have been of the nature "We've established standard orbit over these twin worlds, and despite lack of contact, I'm now beaming down with all my top officers, my leggy yeowoman and my pet parakeet. I expect this to be another risk-free mission, so instead of body armor, I'll wear a casual red shirt."
In any case, the expression "twin homeworlds" used in "BoT" can be interpreted in several ways, and "Nemesis" rules out at least some of those. The homeworlds could be environmentally identical like "twins" - but we'll see they aren't. They could have similar orbital parameters - but they don't. So why are they "twins"?
It seems the old fan interpretation, that the planets co-orbit, might be true after all. That would best justify "twin" over mere "two" in Spock's statement. And the idea that both are "homeworlds" for the Romulans does suggest that Remans are of the same stock as Romulans (or at least that this was believed by Spock et al. in the 2260s), and not a separate native, enslaved species.
Also, I wonder how the final expository dialogue in "Nemesis" will read. Will one of the heroes (guess who?) be a complete cabbagehead who doesn't know who the Remans are, so that Riker has to explain it to her? Or will it be made to sound more as if everybody but the audience already knows who the Remans are? If the former, then we could assume that even Riker only found out barely a few years prior. If the latter, then we might say that even Kirk could have known of the existence of Remans, even if he was fuzzy on the details and ignorant of their actual looks...
posted
The Nemesis website has some info on the Remans. The Remans have an "altered physical appearance due to living in perpetual darkness on the other side". The 'bright' side I assume is too hot for life. But if these were originally Vulcans, they must've evolved at high speed. The left Vulcan about 2100 years ago, and probably traveled for quite a while, so there would be at most 2000 years of evolution. OTOH, life has to adapt very quickly in such an extreme environment.
The site goes on to tell us that "the only distinction bestowed upon them is that they are formidable warriors and were quite effective during the Dominion War". So perhaps the Romulans used the Remans as frontline soldiers (aka cannon-fodder).
Remus is the Star Empire's main source of dilithium and home to the heavy weapons construction facilities (probably why they could've built the Scimitar).
posted
It remains to be seen how that website correlates with reality, uh, with the movie. It seems everybody agrees with one thing, though - Remans really are revolting...
If the movie confirms this wording about Remans being "altered", then
a) we can forget about evolutionary speeds - the alteration was probably artificially enforced - and
b) we can safely assume that they were Romulans before this alteration, even if this isn't otherwise clearly stated in the movie. Having them be of any other species simply makes no sense.
posted
One thing. If they are great warriors, as the site suggests, do they wear sunglasses or something? A species completely adapted to living in darkness would probably burn their eyes out in daylight.
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posted
Um, why would the Romulans need dilithium? Their ships aren't powered by a matter/antimatter core. They use an artificial singularity core in the D'Deridex class. Maybe the AS core was something brand new at the start of TNG, and all the Romulan's older ships used M/AM?
-------------------- "A film made in 2008 isn't going to look like a TV series from 1966 if it wants to make any money. As long as the characters act the same way, and the spirit of the story remains the same then it's "real" Star Trek. Everything else is window dressing." -StCoop
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posted
u know dukhat...thats wa realy good point about the dilithium...i dont think ANYONE has pointed it out yet.... my apologies to anyone who has..
that's interesting...besides used in A/AM reactions for propulsion, is dilithium used in weapons tech as well??? in the CANON (on-screen only) environment?
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posted
Dilithium is strange stuff. In TOS, it seemed to be the actual powersource of the ship, while in TNG it was only a part of the M/AM core. There are frequent mentions of dilithium mines, freighters full of 'ore', yet it seems to me that, if each ship only has one crystal in it's core, you don't actually need THAT much of the stuff. So my guess is that it has other uses apart from facilitating the M/AM reaction.
Shik
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posted
I remember hearing in some fandom spot once the idea that dilithium had supplanted diamonds as the hardest readily-available substance known to date.
I say "readily-available" because while neutronium's "harder," it's a bit more of a bitch to obtain. ("Element 121: Unobtainium," Simon?)
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quote:Originally posted by Timo: It remains to be seen how that website correlates with reality, uh, with the movie. It seems everybody agrees with one thing, though - Remans really are revolting...
If the movie confirms this wording about Remans being "altered", then
a) we can forget about evolutionary speeds - the alteration was probably artificially enforced - and
b) we can safely assume that they were Romulans before this alteration, even if this isn't otherwise clearly stated in the movie. Having them be of any other species simply makes no sense.
Timo Saloniemi
I don't see how either of your "assumptions" can be assumed from that wording. It doesn't say "altered from Romulans." They're a separate species that were there before the Romulans, whose appearance was created by their environment and whi were enslaved by the Romulans when they came to settle the system.
In reference to "twin homeworlds," I think that never really meant anything more than double or two planets. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're similar or that they co-orbit each other or anything. Just that there are two of them.
And as to dilithium, the Romulans may still require it for some function in their vessels. And, even if they themselves don't, it's a valuable commodity within the galaxy. Considering how vital it is to so many races, they'd do very well to have it as an export.
-MMoM
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quote:I don't see how either of your "assumptions" can be assumed from that wording. It doesn't say "altered from Romulans." They're a separate species that were there before the Romulans, whose appearance was created by their environment and whi were enslaved by the Romulans when they came to settle the system.
Well, it doesn't say "altered from Romulans," but that doesn't disprove that they were NOT altered from Romulans. As of right now, both assumptions are valid until & unless we learn otherwise when we see the film in six months.
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