Reman Remans were the humanoid and at least partially telepathic inhabitants of the planet Remus . History and culture . The Remans were the slave labor caste of the Romulan people since at least the 22nd century and forced to work in the extremely hazardous dilithium mines of their world . ( ) As Remus was a tidally locked planet , the Remans lived on its dark side , and thus were extremely sensitive to light . Some Remans , if not all , possessed telepathic abilities similar to those shown by Vulcan s and Betazoid s . ( ) According to Data , the Reman language was " a most complex language " that utilized pictograph s representing certain verb roots . ( ) Among the Romulan people , Remans have historically been known as great warriors . As such , Romulan senator Vrax employed two Reman bodyguards to intimidate possible opponents . ( ) Remans were used by the Romulan Empire as " cannon fodder " during the Dominion War , and were often deployed in the fiercest engagements . In 2379 , the Remans usurped the power of their Romulan overlords in a military coup , installing their leader , Shinzon ( in actuality , a clone of Jean - Luc Picard ) , as the new Praetor of the Romulan Senate and thus the empire . As an act of war against the Federation , Praetor Shinzon – with his warbird , the " Scimitar " – then attempted to destroy all life on Earth . However , with the destruction of the " Scimitar " at the Battle of the Bassen Rift , after Shinzon ' s supporters on Romulus turned against him , the bid for Reman superiority was prematurely ended . ( ) Appendices . Background information . It has never been established in canon whether the Remans are an offshoot of the Romulans / Vulcans or if they evolved separately . While certain Reman features , e . g . , their telepathic abilities , pointed ears and their forehead patterns , are in agreement with a genetic relation to the Romulans / Vulcans , production sources have consistently referred to them as a " species " distinct from the Romulans ( although this might still be interpreted as " sub - species " ) . When writer John Logan came up with the idea of featuring Remans as the villains of the film , he first had to explain to a perplexed Rick Berman and Brent Spiner exactly who the Remans were , that alien race never having been established in canon " Star Trek " before . Berman and Spiner eventually approved of Logan ' s idea , giving him the go - ahead to write the species into the upcoming movie . Logan later explained , " " Brent and Rick agreed it would be fun to explore the Remans and their relation to the Romulans . " " ( " " , pp . xviii & xix ) The Remans were created as a response to the challenge of devising a new , terrifying alien race for " Nemesis " . " " The idea of the Remans being vampirelike slaves , laboring away in the dilithium mines , never seeing the sun , grew out of our desire to create a truly monstrous race , " " recalled John Logan . " " It seemed obvious to me that the Romulans would subjugate some other race to dig dilithium for them . Much too messy for our pristine and elegant Romulans . " " ( " " , pp . xviii & xix ) The concept of the Remans looking akin to vampires was also inspired by their lack of exposure to sunlight . " " [ Director ] Stuart Baird and Rick Berman had the idea that they wanted the Remans to have an almost Nosferatulike feeling , but without making them into vampires , " " remembered makeup supervisor Michael Westmore , referencing the vampire from the 1922 horror movie . ( , p . 216 ) Indeed , the script for " Star Trek Nemesis " described the Remans as having " a disturbing resemblance to the original Nosferatu . " Count Orlok actually served as inspiration for the Reman makeup design . Westmore related , " " Stuart [ Baird ] handed me a picture of Nosferatu and said that was exactly what he wanted . He said , ' I need an alien [ species ] that looks like this . ' And that ' s exactly what we did . I did some sketches for him and then we went to town on it . We designed the head and ear s . " " ( ) The Reman makeup , consisting of foam rubber prosthetics , was ultimately highly elaborate . " " It was a full appliance makeup , " " explained Michael Westmore , " " with a complete face piece that blended in with a headpiece . The actors ' lower lips and chins were their own ; but everything else was covered with the appliances , which were airbrushed with a marbleized pattern [ . . . ] We had eight Reman performers , and we didn ' t know which one Stuart [ Baird ] was going to pull up front [ in closeup ] , so they all had to have the full makeup , which included teeth and contact lenses and hands painted to match the face . " " ( " Cinefex " , No . 93 , p . 103 ) The Reman head was sculpted by Earl Ellis . ( " Cinefex " , No . 93 , p . 103 ) The Remans ' ears were made of a semi - translucent latex and included veins . " " The ears were neat , " " commented Michael Westmore . " " Stuart [ Baird ] said , ' I want to be able to see through the ears . ' I made the ears out of clear gelatin , so if there ' s any backlight behind them you can see through them . Then we painted veins on the back of the ears , so if the light was showing through you could even see veining through them . " " ( ) Executive Producer Rick Berman once wondered how the Remans operated the push button controls of their ship with such long , curving fingernails . ( audio commentary , " Star Trek Nemesis " ( Special Edition ) DVD ) The length of the Reman nails actually caused problems during shooting . " " No matter how well we glued them on , someone was always popping a nail , " " recalled Michael Westmore , " " so the makeup artists were chasing the performers around with little packs of nails all day . " " ( " Cinefex " , No . 93 , p . 103 ) The Reman uniforms were specially painted to appear iridescent , a delicate process that involved several coats . The uniforms were later modified and reused as Xindi - Reptilian uniforms on " " . Ron Perlman , who played the Reman Viceroy in " Star Trek Nemesis " , enjoyed the fact that the Remans had never previously been viewed by audiences . " " We ' ve never seen the Remans , so it ' s kind of cool to present something that ' s fresh and uncharted , " " he said . " " A mysterious race . " " ( " " , p . 216 ) The voices of the Remans were digitally lowered in post - production , giving them an unearthly quality . In the final draft script of , Remans were described as having " pallid , bat - like faces . " The Remans who appear in that episode ( and presumably also ) reused masks originally created for " Star Trek Nemesis " . ( ) A pair of Reman guards were also included in a deleted scene from " The Aenar " . ( ENT Season 4 DVD ) A Reman rifle was among the items which were sold off on the " It ' s A Wrap ! " sale and auction on eBay . In , Remans were included in a list of " Top 50 Alien Species ! " which was published by IDW . Commenting on the selection , comics writer Mike Johnson referred to the Remans as " a cool species . " ( " Top 50 Alien Species ! " , " " issue # 50 , " Live Evil , Part 1 " ) Apocrypha . According to the novel trilogy " " , the Remans were descended from the telepathic Vulcans who refused to give up their abilities during the exodus to Romulus , and were enslaved by the majority non - telepaths who became the Romulans . The novel " Articles of the Federation " describes the Remans as being voluntarily transported to an uninhabited Klingon world as a new homeworld a year after Shinzon ' s death . Shinzon and his regiment of Reman shock troops are the protagonists of the short story " Twilight ' s Wrath " in " Tales of the Dominion War " . In the " " novel " Taking Wing " , the newly - appointed Captain Riker is ordered by Admiral Akaar to proceed to Romulus to assist negotiations between the Remans and the Romulans following Shinzon ' s failed attempt to wage war on the Federation after his assassination of the Romulan Senate . Riker successfully convinced a faction of Remans who had been part of Ambassador Spock ' s Unificationist group to cease attacks on Romulus in return for the land that they had been attempting to demand from the new Praetor Tal ' aura . The Remans made a brief appearance in the comic book series " " , a tie - in to the 2009 film . A fleet of Reman ships captured and boarded Nero ' s mining ship the " Narada " while it was mining decalithium in the Kimben System at the farthest edge of the Romulan Empire in 2387 . The Remans were planning on executing Nero ' s crew as well as Ambassador Spock , who was on board , before the ship was rescued by the and Captain Data . In " Star Trek Online " , which incorporates the story of " Countdown " , the Remans have colonized Crateris , a failed Romulan colony , with Donatra ' s blessing . " Star Trek Online " also shows the Remans as the direct cause of the destruction of Romulus , having intentionally made the Hobus system go supernova under orders from then - Praetor Taris . In the " Cloaked Intentions " feature episode series , a resistance force under the Reman leader Obisek arose to challenge the Tal Shiar ' s efforts of supremacy over the unstable Romulan Empire , by claiming the secret Romulan factory station known as " the Vault " . The Reman resistance would later join with dissident leader D ' Tan to settle on " New Romulus " , and defend the Vault from Tholian attackers . In the first expansion pack , , the Remans became a playable race under the new Romulan Republic , which also introduced female Remans .