The Te-Vikram Brotherhood is an ancient faction that existed on Vulcan (planet) during the time of Surak.
They were known to be a violent yet traditional group that resisted the technological changes on their homeworld, declaring such acts as heresy. Despite this though, they were known to create remarkable pieces of psionic technology which included a coronet that could record the thoughts of its wearer for the ages. The Adepts of Seleya and the Adepts of Gol declared such 'sorcery' as heretical in nature.
Their territory seemed to be located within the Womb of Fire located within Vulcan's Forge. They hold such a location as sacred due to the underlining belief of the Brotherhood which is to face 'challenges' and overcome them which would make them stronger. Despite this though, they were known as raiders and nomads who would butcher innocent travellers and steal their 'water' and kill their enemies with ritual jeweled blades. This made them a constant threat to lone travellers who went off into the desert and the primary reason why the brotherhood was hated. However, they were still known as a powerful force on the homeworld. By the time of the Exile, it was known that the group were the cause of three wars and numerous border skirmishes in the last hundred years. Even though there were hostilities, it was known that certain city dwellers would work closely with the te-Vikram as they believed that they held a vital part of Vulcan's past as well as tradition.
Members of the Brotherhood included acolytes, underpriests, priests, warrior priests and their leaders who were known as the priest-kings. Though a respected leader among their group at the time was known as the Old Mother of Fire. Beyond birthing new offspring, there were other ways for the Brotherhood to grow in number. This included capturing Vulcan females and forcing them to marry one of the tribes unmated males. Another way was to capture young Vulcan children and raise them under the Te-Vikram ideals. One of which included the belief that the use of energy weapons in close quarter fighting was dishonorable.
It is typical for older dying Te-Vikram warriors to disappear into the desert of their homeworld where they would die and preserve the honor of their clan. However, when incapable of doing so they would commit a form of ritual suicide by using their bladed daggers. Should they be further incapable of doing that, then the closest kinsmen would do so in order to preserve their Final Honor.
After the Great Ships left Vulcan, a number of the Te-Vikram found themselve stranded in space with the other factions of their homeworld and were attempting to live peacefully in order to survive.
Despite this though, there were numerous acts of rebellion made by the Te-Vikram on the Exile's fleet. This included capturing one of the Great Ships and attempting to return to the Mother World but instead they were killed when the engineers of the ships rigged them to explode killing all the passengers.
(TOS novel: Vulcan's Soul Exodus and Exiles)
