The Romulans

[SIR SIG]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Aedh Rua:
This one is for Sir Sig:

I checked out your starmaps and I like them, but I can't get them to print. How can I get an 8 1/2" X 11" version of them? That is, how can I get a version which will print onto regular copier paper?
</font>

Email me which particular ones you are after and I'll see what I can do.

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Thats Cpt SIR SIG to you!

More then meets the eye,
His a MapMaker in disguise.

[Phantom]

1800 posts for Captain, eh. Only 700 more to go then.

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In the Praetors Name!

[Phantom]

Just like knowing where this thread is...So, BUMP.

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In the Praetors name!

[Aedh Rua]

Ok, as promised, here are some new entries in my Romulan lexicon! Since the VLI has gone down, I had to use print sources, taken from the VLI, of my own. Luckily, they were sufficient for my purposes.

Ok, this post is mostly some political, cultural, and military terminology. The calendar will probably be another post, right after this one.

The Coalitions in the Romulan Senate:

Coalition: Khaddavakh, from Vulcan Katravek, meaning association.

Jaridan Coalition: Khaddavakh t'Vokh, literally meaning "Association of Destiny", referring to their expansionist tendencies.

Nej'ahar Coalition: Kaddavakh t'Akhmanash, literally "Association of Safety", from their law & order stance.

Jol Tan Coalition: Khaddavakh t'Vhonnash, literally "Association of Loyalty", an obvious reflection of their Tal Shiar influenced ideology.

Suketh Coalition: Khaddavakh t'Vhaglan, literally "Association of Foresight", referring to their worries about over-extension.


Some military terms:

The Precepts:

Precept: Nahekh, from Vulcan Nashik, meaning advice or counsel. In this case, the meaning has changed or hardened, so that Nahekh really does mean precept or regulation. The military doesn't just give advice.

Precept of Loyalty: Nahekh t'Vhonnash, kind of obvious, that one.

Precept of Discipline: Nahekh t'Nahr, ditto.

Precept of Strength: Nahekh t'Kharekhash, from Vulcan Kerik'es, meaning "strength".

Precept of Denial: Nahekh t'Govham-vhorte, meaning "Precept of Final Duty". This is (gasp!) a deliberate change from LUG canon to reflect something closer to the Romulan Captain's last words in "Balance of Terror". If you would prefer to stick with Precept of Denial, that would be Nahekh t'Avhaya.

Precept of Watchfulness: Nahekh t'Falotonaya, from Vulcan Palutunaya, meaning "watching over" or "caring for". The real full name of this precept is Nahekh t'Falotonaya t'Ashkhar, or "Precept of Watching over the Military", implying a careful and even tender protection of a beloved institution from enemy inflitration.

The Romulan Fleet's High Tribunal: Avo'ekhorna t'Ashkhar t'Vatakhsu, which literally means "Over-council of the Romulan Military". A Tribune is an Ekhorna'su, or "Council Member".

A couple of cultural/ideological terms:

S'khann: Family, in a very Roman sense, implying all of one's relatives, a true gens. This is the term used for the great families described in the "Way of D'era", but also for lesser families, as well.

Yahtghav: Justice. Note, however, that the Romulan idea of justice is radically different from that of any Federation race. This idea implies no equality, even before the law, but instead mandates that everyone be placed in their proper position in the hierarchy of being, and receive their due according to thier true place in the world. In this sense, Yahtghav is closer to the idea found in the novel Dune of "a place for everyone, and everyone in their place". Many Humans might actually regard it as less justice than institutionalized INjustice, but such are the perils of radically different cultures, languages, and values.

Govham t'Vatakhsu: "The Duty of the Romulans", this duty is the duty of the Romulan race, as the heirs of the Vhorani, to establish Yahtghav throughout the universe. It is also sometimes called Govham t'Volkhansu, or "Duty of the Vulcans", with the understanding that the T'khasesu, or Vulcans of Vulcan, have abandoned their duty.

More to come.............

[Aedh Rua]

Also as promised, here is my version of a Romulan calendar. A couple of notes on its origin. Although Romulus has a moon, this is not a lunar calendar. The reason is that is in fact a modification of the Vulcan agricultural calendar of Jaleyl, the city where most of the original Romulan colonists were born and raised. Vulcan, or course, has no moon, and also has lots of calendars, most of them based on the seasons or the rhythms of rural life.

Only one of these calendars is still in use on Vulcan, the ten-month modern Vulcan calendar which includes such months as Tasmeen.

The traditional calendar of Jaleyl has eight months, each based on some kind of activity or observation associated with farming, stock-raising, or the weather. When the Romulans made "Good Arrival" on Romulus, they modified the lengths of the months, and the form of "leap years" to coincide with the year of their new home. They were lucky in that Jaleyl was a coastal settlement, so that the weather in Jaleyl, while different from that on most of Romulus, was not so different that they could not use more or less the same month names, and still reflect the realities of the seasons.

So, here are the months, what the names mean, and their lengths in ROMULAN days. Note that Romulan days have 25 hours each, and so the numbers would be different, if Terran days were used. The word for "month" also means "season", which is to say, that the Romulans make no distinction between the two concepts. This word is Tavhonokh.

Tavhonokh t'Akal, meaning "Season of Light", beginning at the Winter Solstice, and lasting 45 days.

Tavhonokh t'Shovhmasho, meaning "Season of Rain", and lasting 44 days.

Tavhonokh t'Khashkhaya, meaning "Season of Planting", and lasting 45 days.

Tavhonokh t'Yar, meaning "Season of Green", and lasting 44 days.

Tavhonokh t'Vheyataya, meaning "Season of Ripening", and lasting 45 days.

Tavhonokh t'Gadzhakh, meaning "Season of Feasts", ie. Harvest Season, and lasting 44 days.

Tavhonokh t'Khavh, meaning "Season of Blood", in reference to the fall slaughtering of the herds in preparation for winter, and lasting 45 days.

Tavhonokh t'Mogel, meaning "Season of Dark(ness)", and lasting 44 days.

This leads to a total year of 356 Romulan days. Every third year, one day is subtracted from Tavhonokh t'Mogel, to keep the calendar in balance. Such years are Tavhonlar t'Akal, or "years of Light", becasue their is "one less days of darkness". It would, of course, be more logical to subtract from a 45 day month, and so keep all months either 44 or 45 days in length, but the Romulans are not a logical people, and this arrangement suits their penchant for mysticism.

And there you have it............

[Phantom]

Very nice. Where did you come up with the trranslations for the Senate Coalitions ie. what the coalition names meant? Was there similar Vulcan words at the VLI, or did you make them up based on what you have put together so far?

Keep up the good work. We may yet have enough submits to do some fan based thing for the future.

[Aedh Rua]

Well, like I said, I had the Vulcan-English lexicon printed out off of the VLI site. It was just a matter of searching through Vulcan words, hoping to find some which fit how I saw what the Coalitions' positions on the "issues" were. Eventually, I found some that fit rather well, and used them. Note that I see the Coalition names as being much like modern Terran political party names, as a self-perception and minor propaganda for the Coalition's point of view. Thus the Khaddavakh t'Vhaglan, for example, would only be seen as "Foresighted" by its own supporters. Other Coalitions would be far less compimentary.

This whole process was helped by the fact that I am really starting to understand the grammar, which is sandbox-simple compared to the other languages I speak. For example, if I find a verb ending in -au, I know that I can easily turn it into a noun ending in -aya. This makes the whole thing much simpler.

The Precept names were much easier, because I had two already, and figured the others would be in the lexicon I had printed out. They were, though as my earlier post indicates, there were subtleties of meaning which made the whole thing more interesting than I had thought.

The cultural concepts were just some interesting words I found and adapted while looking the others up. I modified them in accord with what I understood of D'era ideology in the game system, and with my own ideas on how the Romulan mind works.

The calendar I did some time ago, but I didn't post it because I didn't want to seem like some kind of obsessed weirdo, I guess. I really do have a whole lot of life aside from this, and I don't want to seem too much like, well, the kind of person who has nothing else.

I am working on a fanfic, but it is taking a bit of time. I am not nearly as good at producing fiction as at inventing languages. though I really should not calim to be inventing, here. The VLI going down shows me how much my work is just a rehash of other people's work, and theirs was much harder!

On the other hand, I am noticing flaws in the VLI material which are beginning to bug me. There are some obvious and important Indo-European roots, for example, like "tu" for you, and "olozhika" for logic, though that last was obtained from the 1979 Star Trek Motion Picture. In addition, many of the words for spiritual concepts show a very strong Judeo-Christian bias which is not how either LUG or I saw the early Vulcans, whatever they may be like, now.

This doesn't mean that I will abandon the VLI material for my own campaign, but just that I will apply my usual rule -- to use what I like, and ignore what I don't.

Well, I have to go, my lunch break is ending. I am the boss around here, so I suppose I could get away with spending all day online. That would violate my sense of duty, however, so I am trying to keep my posting to official break-time.............

[Phantom]

One question, how many languages do you speak?

Don't worry about appearing obsessed, I think all star trek fans are obsessed about something from the series. After all whole books have been written to try and explain the technology.

What is the Fanfic, exactly?

[Aedh Rua]

I m fluent in German and English, quite conversant in Irish Gaelic, and speak some Swedish, Latin, and Ancient Gaulish.

The fanfic is a sort of Romulan "Space Seed", in which the heroic crew of a TOS-era Bird o' Prey encounter a sleeper ship from the years immediately before Surak. There is only one survivor, a guy who claims to be a monk and martial artist. Actually, he is an Akhinahru of a blasphemous and forgotten sect who wishes to take over the Empire in the names of his dark Gods. It has those elements of Lovecraft, Gene Wolfe, and decadent wierdness of which I am so fond.

It is evolving to be rather fun. The Captain and First Officer of the Romulan ship are a married couple. I suspect that the defeat of the bad guy will somehow involve jealous rage, or possibly a woman seeking revenge on a would-be seducer. Very politically incorrect, but perfect for the kind of tragic drama which I associate with Romulans and pre-reformation Vulcans alike.

There is a Gaulish, actually Galatean, myth which has some bearing, here. Seems that there was this noblewoman named Chiomara. So, the Romans invaded her husband's land, and somehow took her prisoner. Her Roman guard raped her. Eventually, her husband got into secret communication with her, and they arranged to pay a huge ransom to the Roman if he let her go. He was very willing to be bought, and so they arranged a secret meeting between him, with her in tow, and a couple of warriors bearing the ransom. They all met at a bridge. When they were all together at the bridge, Chiomara gave the signal, and her tribe's warriors cut off the Roman's head, and presented it to her, after she was cut from her bonds. She took the head, and took it to her husband's court, where she presented it to him.

He looked at her and said: "A fine thing, Lady, is good faith."

She replied: "Better that one man who has had sex with me is still alive".

So, I don't know how, but I want to use those lines at the end of the story.

[Phantom]

Languages;
Wow, I am impressed. Particularly the "dead" languages, not easy to learn those these days.

A Mindlord, eh? That ought to make strudle out of some of the crew. Interesting premise, especially the ending.

[Phantom]

I will be running a Romulan forum based game on AdmiralACFs Expanded Star Trek Universe game. All parties interested should check out http://pub55.ezboard.com/btheadmiralsgalaxy

Go to the Romulan General thread and post desired postion.

[Captain Zymmer]

Aedh Rua, I swear you should make a netbook on your Romulans I like the way you do stuff my man

[Phantom]

I to would like to see a fan based netbook come from all this.

Oh, since this thread was getting near the bottom of the page...BUMP!

[Aedh Rua]

Hmmm.....

Might be worth a try, IF I could find the time.

[Phantom]

That's the real trick. Isn't it.