Romulan Empire, why only Romulans?

[Phantom]

Uhlan De'seva defected from the Federation 20 years before.

[LCM]

Originally posted by SIR SIG

...the Italian states of the Semite Tribes, etc.

Uhh... I think you many mean the Samnite Tribes, Sir Sig.

Certainly Italian Catholics and Jews are both sufficiently steeped in guilt that there's not a functional difference... but there is a historical one.

[reimero]

If I understand the Romulan psyche correctly, (and I believe I do or else I wouldn't be posting this ) service in the Imperial military is both a duty and a privilege. It is a duty because every Romulan is required to do a tour of duty on his or her Serona, and it is a privilege because the military are the ones who expand the borders, protect the Empire and most actively advance D'era. The military is a meritocracy; with good work comes renown and promotion and recognition. It is the easiest and fastest way to gain social rank and political influence.

After performing their duties in the Serona, most Romulans return home to begin their normal lives. Some sign on for additional tours of duty, choosing to make a career out of military service. Make no mistake, Romulan military life is a difficult and dangerous life, but those who take that path can reap significant rewards. The biggest downside is that you live your life under an even greater microscope than common citizens.

For racially non-Romulans, being allowed to perform a Serona is a tremendous show of good faith. In essence, that individual is being told, "we have accepted you to the point that we would entrust you with the defense of our Empire." The reward for loyal service is generally citizenship.

As I understand it, the Romulans we see on TV getting involved with the Federation etc are career military types. Romulans and non-Romulans who are doing their Serona are never officers and are rarely placed in a position of any real importance. You'd never see anyone on Serona duty on the bridge or in engineering, for instance. And once the Serona is complete, I imagine the Romulans' legendary xenophobia tends to kick in. There probably isn't too much incentive for non-Romulans to remain beyond their Serona, and I imagine that those few who do are probably either specialists in a field (R&D, engineering, etc) or never really get the opportunity to advance through the ranks that much. Every Romulan does his/her duty to the Empire, but it takes someone special to make a career out of it, so can we afford to place the fate of the Empire in the hands of someone who may not understand D'Era?

I realize this is a long and convoluted answer, but as I said, the Romulans are big on merit. You don't end up on the bridge of a D'deridex-class warbird because you're lucky, you end up there because you did something worthy and someone else saw you do it. For most non-Romulans, citizenship is reward enough for duty, and those few who choose to continue probably never get the opportunity to make a difference. After all, there are certainly Romulans who are more deserving.

[J.P. Gill]

Sudden other thought: those non-racial Romulans who want to serve the Empire might be better used as undercover agents...

[The Tatterdemalion King]

SPOILERS!! SPOILERS!!! AVERT YOUR EYES NOW!! - - IIRC, nemesis may have something in it about usng Remans as "shock troops" in the Dominion War.

OT: One of my favorite alien races from anywhere are the Pfhor from the <i>Marathon</i> games. They used client races in military/administrative/etc. stuff.