Confederacy of Vulcan

The Confederacy of Vulcan is the Vulcan state and a Federation Member State. Located in the Beta Quadrant, the Confederacy of Vulcan was one of the five founding member states of the United Federation of Planets. Prior to the Founding of the Federation, the Confederacy of Vulcan was a major interstellar power throughout what later became the core Federation worlds, and participated in a long-standing rivalry with the Andorian Empire.

Early History
The earliest point in Vulcan history is only known in terms of myth and legend that speak of the Ancient Ones, or Vhorani, who arrived from distant Vorta Vor in order to create the Vulcan species. Scientific theories point out that either the Preservers or members of Sargons race helped in the seeding of Vulcan.

Vulcan would be one of the many worlds that would be conquered by the demonic Furies in the distant past. (VOY novel: The Final Fury)

At some point in the earliest history of the Vulcan people, their race would be invaded by non-corporeal entities known to them as the R'Kaal that would delight in the death they would bring by stealing the life energies of their victims. Normal weapons would not be able to affect them until a skilled leader in Gol developed the Sword of Sajik which was named after himself. The weapons would spell the end of the R'Kaal's terror on Vulcan with many fleeing or being killed.

These early era's of Vulcan history would bring about numerous pieces of advanced psionic technology most of which would be lost during the Time of Awakening. (LUG: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans)

The Age of Surak
This time would be one of bloodshed and war as the Vulcan people fought one another in countless battles that stained the sand of the deserts with their green blood. Wars would arise from either conquest or need for water resources that were scarce on the Vulcan homeworld. The most well recorded of these warlords is the tyrant Sudoc who gained power by assassinating the previous ruling leader. Using his powerful psionic abilities and skilled tactical mind, he led his vicious barbarian armies in campaigns that dominted most of the homeworld. Those who resisted would be slaughtered and those who fell under his rule would be subject to 'telepathic' adjustments to make them loyal.

It was during this time that a young Vulcan boy was born ine city state of ShiKahr known as Surak. His home city would be one of Sudoc's chief rivals and he attempted to assassinate the ruling generals which included members of Surak's family. (Last Unicorn RPG: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans). He would also become a skilled computer scientist but his creations would be used as weapons of war which provoked a response in Surak into developing the goals of logic and peace. (TOS novel: Vulcan's Soul Exodus)


 * Other novels suggest that Surak's father was Stef who was killed in battle on the Ishaya Plains when Surak was a boy.

Surak's new beliefs would spread across Vulcan and take hold the populace who would grow in unrest over the period. Such a time would spell the doom of the rule of the warlords reign on the homeworld. The captured territories of Sudoc would fracture and the tyrant would see the disintegration of his empire until his death by an embolism in his old age which finally fractured his rule. Though members of his loyal cadre that did survive formed the Children of Ket-Cheleb which were led by the warrior Tellus. (Last Unicorn RPG: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans).

Despite the changes being spread across Vulcan, numerous groups still existed such as the Vulcan Northeastern Alliance, the Vulcan Southern Hegemony and the Te-Vikram Brotherhood which threatened to further destabilize the planet and bring about the death of Vulcan-kind. (TOS novel: Vulcan's Soul Exodus)

This era would bring about the Sundering where many groups of Vulcans left their homeworld and developed into many varied groups. One such group landed on a colony and maintained their warrior ways. (TOS comic: Cloak and Dagger, Part I and Part 2). Other groups later formed groups such as the Romulan Star Empire, the Debrune and the Watraii.


 * Different books have different intreptation of the Vulcans-in-Exile. Vulcan's Soul shows them leaving the homeworld with Surak's blessing while the Way of Kolinahr rpg book shows them leaving in defiance of the spread of logic.

The Age Of Expansion
Despite the departure of a great many of the Vulcan people, their civilization on the Mother World would continue to prosper and a new age in their development would begin. Without the constant wars plaguing their society, the Vulcans were free to develop themselves and their world.

The Vulcan space age would have limited space expansion within their own solar system, however, none of these planets would be habitable on the level the Vulcan homeworld was. As time went on, a wormhole would appear near the Vulcan home system which would disgorge invading starships that would attack the Vulcans. Attempts were made for peaceful contact with these invaders which was answered with by violence. Eventually, the Vulcan Council would respond and defeat these incursions. Few knew the origin of these invaders as the wormhole they appeared from was unstable and would close and open randomly. Some suspected that the invaders were actually the warriors of the self exiled Children of Ket-Cheleb who became the Romulan people.

This would change when the scientist T'Vran discovered the secrets of warp drive. Unmanned automated probes would be first used which were successful enough that T'Vran herself participated in a manned flight. This would spark a new age for the Vulcan people who would produce exploratory vessels to travel space which catapulted the Vulcan civilization across the stars.

Colonies would appear on worlds such as T'Khut, Kethri and Mevet. This new age of exploration would last six hundred years with the further aim of locating the hostile force that attacked them earlier but they would never discover the Romulan Star Empire during this time.

Contact would occur with numerous primitive races which would turn violent. This provoked the Vulcan belief in remaining hidden from such races until they 'matured' or developed themselves and would form the initial basis for the future Prime Directive. They would encounter the Andorians in this time which would be a violent encounter. (Last Unicorn RPG: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans) This would be the start of hostilities between the Andorian Empire and the Confederacy of Vulcan.

Humanity and the Federation
One of the changing moments in Vulcan history would be encountering Humans when the Vulcan starship, T'Plana Hath, detected a warp flight made by the species. The ship would investigate which would result in First Contact with Terrans after the end of their Third World War in the year 2063 by meeting Zefram Cochrane. (TNG movie: Star Trek: First Contact).


 * In the Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology and novels which draw from its timeline, first contact between humans and Vulcans occured in 2065 SFC, when a disabled Vulcan ship sent a distress call to the UNSS Amity. The Amity rescued the crew and towed the ship back to Vulcan. In the SFC, this marked humans' first encounter with a truly alien species (as opposed to the virtually human Centaurans). At least one novel (Spock's World) contradicts this and states that humans had encountered Andorians first, which allowed humans to shed their xenophobia before meeting the Vulcans. The specifics of both these versions have been rendered obsolete by later canon, but adapted versions of some events may still have taken place. (TOS novel: Spock's World, reference book Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology)

With their new Human allies, the Vulcan High Command established the Vulcan Advisory Council which coordinated with Earth Starfleet Command and monitored Earths progress. (ENT episode: First Flight) They would also refuse to provide their technology to Earth which resulted in a century before Humanity would journey across the stars. (ENT episode: Broken Bow) It would be the source of much resentment among some Humans who believe that the Vulcans impeded their progress.

By the time of the NX Program, the Vulcans would constantly attempt to stop Earths first space exploration ship stating that their kind was too young for the dangers of space. This would fail and the NX Enterprise would be launched.

At this point in the middle part of the 22nd century, the Vulcans were a regional power which still suffered from tense relations within the Andorian Empire. Before 2151, they established a monitoring station beneath the P'Jem monastery which was tasked with spying on the Andorians. The true purpose of the monastery would be revealed to all by Earth Starfleet Captain Jonathan Archer which became the source of much scandal. (ENT episode: The Andorian Incident) After this event, the monastery would suffer from orbital bombardment from the Andorians and eventually led to the dismissal of the First Minister. (ENT episode: Shadows of P'Jem)

Inside the Vulcan government, power would grow within the hands of the Vulcan High Command with Administrator V'Las attempting to persecute the new Syrrannites movement. By 2154, V'Las would attempt to provoke a war with the Andorian Empire stating that intelligence had gathered evidence of Xindi technology being used to create a superweapon which would be used to destroy Vulcan. Furthermore, the Earth Embassy on Vulcan would be bombed which would bring the NX Enterprise into the matter. The ship would attempt to stop the war by informing the Andorians while Captain Archer discovered the Kir'Shara. V'Las's deception would be uncovered and his reign within the government would be toppled when Surak's true teachings were revealed. A new structure of government would be formed that sought the peaceful pacifistic ways that Surak had taught their people hundreds of years ago. (ENT episode: The Forge, Awakening, Kir'Shara)

The Vulcan government would sign the Coalition Compact in 2155 which made them officially part of the Coalition of Planets along with Humans, Andorians and Tellarites. (ENT novel: The Good That Men Do)

Latter Years
Despite the years of peaceful cooperation within the Federation, the Vulcans contemplated at one point to leave the interstellar state when numerous groups, for various reasons, believed that the Vulcan race's ideals were not being fulfilled with their continued contact with Humans. A Referendum would be called and a debate made with the idea being ultimately rejected allowing the Vulcans to remain with the Federation. (TOS novel: Spock's World)

The Vulcan homeworld would become infected by the 'demonic' entities found within artifacts from the Hydrillian sector. Numerous Vulcans would become possessed by the entities and spread the infection, however, it would eventually be contained the artifacts sealed within the Vulcan Science Academy where they would remain under study. (TNG novel: Possession)

Despite generations of changes between the Vulcan and Romulan people, there would be attempts by the legendary Vulcan ambassador Spock in bringing about "reunification" of the species. However, on one occassion, this nearly brought about the conquest of the Vulcan homeworld by the Romulan military who attempted to use the concept in order to smuggle troops into Vulcan. This attempt failed and did not deter Spock in his goal in bring about bringing the Sundered brethren together in peace with their Vulcan brothers. (TNG episode: Unification)

Alternate Timelines
In one alternate timeline where Humanity never evolved, the Vulcans continued a similar pattern of development but never joined a unified Federation of planets. After encountering the Klingon Empire, numerous wars erupted between the two powers with the Vulcans always becoming the successor but instead of destroying their defeated enemy, they allowed the Klingons to return to their territory. This would continue several times until finally the Klingons attempted diplomatic negotiations headed by Roth. The Vulcans would manage to convince the Klingons to make peace with their neighbours which included the Ri'ani. However, the Romulans would disguise one of their agents as a Vulcan and lulled the Klingons into a state of complaceny allowing the Romulans to strike the Klingon homeworld. The Klingons would see the Vulcans as traitors and liars with the possibility of outright war occuring until a treaty that confined the Vulcans to their world and being neutral was agreed.

The Vulcans of this timeline shared many of the normal characteristics of the Vulcans of the normal timeline but were known to be quite aggressive and made use of deception as well as sudden strikes from their merchant ships. Though they had made a treaty of neutrality with both the Romulan Star Empire and the Klingon Empire, the Vulcans were planning on ensuring the war between those two powers remained till both nations were destroyed. As such, they advised the Klingons to make use of suicidal tactics against the Romulans and also made covert negotiations with other worlds in order to warn them of the threats of the Klingon and the Romulan empires. They advised these worlds to lie low and provided technology in order for them to be ready for the future. This was a dangerous action made by the Vulcan High Council as if the Romulans or the Klingons discovered this deception, they would have attempted to destroy the Vulcan people. This timeline was erased when Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) went back in time to ensure that Humans would develop on Earth. (TOS novel: "First Frontier").

Government and Politics
The Vulcan leadership is the Vulcan Council which was divided into a number of ministries. Normally, all the ministers are considered equals with no ruling member of the council but generally the Minister of State is considered the chief individual. (Last Unicorn RPG: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans)

Matters such as legislation and debate on important issues are handled by three different bodies. One such body is the Proposal Group which exists alongside the Rectification Group and the hr'Khash'te; also known as the Expunging Group. The Expunging Group exists only to remove or veto laws which provides an easy manner for change. The other two groups require a large majority to pass legislation with expunction requiring only one-fourth of the body's two thousand six members to remove a law.

The general idea of this would be that a good law should require a large consensus with bad laws being easy to stop and change. Though a very logic way to determine legislation, it can be exploitable depending on the many political groups that are in power on the Vulcan homeworld. Typically, debate is often a venue for discussion on the subject with a later vote on the Referendum itself. Normally, laws that are removed are done so quickly, however, a piece of legislation that widely affects Vulcan can take a week of discussions to take place. This would remain in effect until the viewers indicate that the time for debate is ver and voting is made by the electorate. Votes can often be swayed by what is said in the debates themselves.

The document that binds the Vulcan people to the Federation is known as the Articles of Association, also refered to as the Articles of Federation. (TOS novel: Spock's World)

Government

 * Vulcan High Command
 * Vulcan Council
 * Vulcan Advisory Council
 * Vulcan Guard
 * V'Shar
 * Vulcan Space Program
 * Vulcan National Merchant Fleet
 * Vulcan Colonial Protectorate
 * Vulcan Science Academy
 * Vulcan Medical Directorate
 * Vulcan Genome Registry
 * Vulcan Mining Institute

Subgroups

 * Vulcan Isolationist Movement
 * V'tosh ka'tur
 * Yhri terrorists
 * Adepts of T'Pel
 * Followers of T'Vet
 * Followers of T'Shan
 * Kolinahru

Diplomatic Relations

 * Coalition Compact
 * Coalition of Planets
 * Tau Ceti Accords
 * Territorial Compromise
 * Treaty of Ka'Tann
 * Ka'Tann Conference

Military
The military wing fo the Vulcan government in terms of its space based assets is the Vulcan Defense Force. They also possess an army known as the V'Ket who serve a more ceremonial role as they are armed with lirpa's rather then the phaser. A police force also exists in the form of the V'Kor.

An elite division of the ground forces is the Vulcan Guard.

Society and Culture
During the formation of the Confederacy of Vulcan, one of the ruling principles that guided the government would be the Theorems of Governance created by Selok. This, combined with the six virtues of Suraks teachings helped recouncile the tradition with the logical imperatives of governence. (LUG: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans)

Within the society itself, there is a high level of participation in civil affairs with 98% of Vulcans having attained some sort of public office by the time they were two hundred. This means that the Vulcan people are highly attentative on government matters and take active part in the voting system to determine whether a certain law is beneficial or detrimental to Vulcan. (TOS novel: Spock's World)


 * Analysis of Pseudodoxy - T'Veen

Artifacts

 * Kir'Shara
 * Vulcan's Glory

Planets

 * Vulcan (planet)
 * Kethri
 * T'Khut
 * Mevet
 * Cor Caroli IX

Conflicts

 * Vulcan Schism
 * Andorian-Vulcan territorial conflicts
 * Babel Crisis
 * Unification