We know that in the far future of Discovery, Vulcan has been renamed Ni’Var and both Vulcans and Romulans live there. We know that this was the end-result of Spock’s efforts in Unification I and II, that they left the Federation, and that there is considerable political strife between the Vulcans and Romulans.
But we don’t have many more details than that.
Obviously, at some point after Romulans were refugees across the galaxy, Vulcans invited them all back to their home world. But why did they do that? It couldn’t be out of pure altruism, because we know that’s not really how Vulcans work.
It would also be very risky for Vulcan society to suddenly invite millions of very emotional people onto their planet. It would make it a lot harder to maintain the emotional control that they work so hard to maintain. Meanwhile, the notoriously secretive Romulans, who apparently do not have Vulcan telepathic powers, would be opening themselves up to massive invasions of privacy. Did the Qowat Milat and their teachings help in that regard?
So let’s talk about Ni’Var. How did Vulcans and Romulans re-unify on Vulcan without a total societal destabilization?
Please, however you personally feel, let’s accept for the sake of this discussion that Ni’Var is the canonical future of Vulcan for Star Trek shows going forward.
Fair enough, I don’t remember all of those details, but there are still points to be discussed, such as how the practicality of how Vulcan was even able to handle such a large influx of refugees, large enough to be a major political force on the planet. So how many Romulans returned and when? When a Romulan like Laris could be so clearly at home on Earth, would other Romulans on other planets feel the same way? Would they want to go to Vulcan/Ni’Var after that?
Sure, some of them were living in shitty places, as shown in Picard, but we don’t know how many and we don’t know where all the refugees went and how it was all distributed.
And then there are all the Romulan worlds in their empire that presumably were not all destroyed. The empire wasn’t just the Romulus system after all. There wouldn’t be a huge Neutral Zone if it was just one planet. So did those worlds eventually become part of some sort of Vulcan/Romulan federation? If so, how did that work after The Burn and after re-unification on Vulcan? Did they declare themselves the new Romulan empire after Romulus was destroyed? Were they abandoned at some point between the destruction of Romulus and The Burn?
Just some fun questions to discuss on this topic.
I’m sure I can think up more.
Oh 100%. My comment isn’t meant to be like “Ha! I have the answer to your question!” Just some information from the episode to help fill things in and help figure out the gaps. That episode is one of my favorites of Season 3 because the idea of Romulans and Vulcans getting along is so insane to me but seeing them still at each others throats almost a thousand years later just still adds up. Clearly steps being made mind you.
It definitely adds up and I do appreciate you adding those details. If there, hopefully, is a discussion, we’ll benefit from them.