The Romulan Way " Trapped behind the Neutral Zone – In the heart of the Romulan Empire ! " The Romulan Way is a Pocket TOS novel – # 35 in the numbered series , and the second in the " Rihannsu " series – written by Diane Duane and Peter Morwood . Published by Pocket Books , it was first released in . Summary . The narrative intercuts between the primary action of the novel ( in the odd - numbered chapters ) and an episodic history of the Romulans , taken from Terise LoBrutto ' s writings . On ch ' Rihan , Arrhae i - Khellian t ' Llhweiir , head of household for Praetor H ' daen tr ' Khellian , is told to prepare the estate for a special meal , since the Praetor is expecting important guests . Arrhae is stunned at the identity of these guests : Commander Jaeih t ' Radaik and Sub - Commander Maiek tr ' Annwhi , escorting a Terran prisoner , Commander Leonard McCoy . As soon as his translator device is installed , McCoy angrily says that the Romulans have committed an act of war . Arrhae is instructed to place McCoy in one of the cellars , pending his trial for Espionage and execution before the Senate . After she has prepared his quarters , McCoy gives a quick hand gesture to Arrhae – in reality Starfleet xeno - anthropologist Terise LoBrutto , a deep - cover agent planted on Romulus eight years earlier . " In flashback , Terise is offered the posting as an alternative to serving aboard the ; although Starfleet Intelligence has a fair number of agents in the Romulan Empire , the data they provide is almost exclusively military and political ; the Federation ' s knowledge of the Romulans ' history and culture is still woefully incomplete . As dangerous as the posting is , to a scholar like Terise it is the opportunity of a lifetime , and she eagerly accepts . " Two years ago , Terise ' s reports stopped , and Starfleet began to worry that she had " gone over " to the other side . McCoy ' s capture , aboard a civilian passenger liner on his way to a medical conference , was staged to get McCoy onto Romulus to make contact with her . He was momentarily worried that Terise had in fact defected – in which case he was a dead man – but is relieved when she approaches him in private and tells him in Federation Standard what a fool he ' s been . Sub - Commander tr ' Annwhi approaches H ' daen in secret , offering to " buy " McCoy . McCoy is wanted by the Romulans for his involvement in the theft of a cloaking device . After that incident , many heads rolled on Romulus , and many noble houses , including tr ' Annwhi ' s , lost power and prestige as a result . McCoy is scheduled to be executed by the state , but tr ' Annwhi would gladly pay a king ' s ransom , just for a chance to exact his own , private revenge on one member of the ' s crew . H ' daen is conflicted ; his house is one of the oldest and most honorable in the Empire , but is painfully lacking in wealth or influence . Tr ' Annwhi says he can offer both . In alarm , Arrhae / Terise pulls H ' daen aside and urges him that , whatever enticements tr ' Annwhi is offering , H ' daen ' s honor cannot let him sell a helpless man , even an enemy , into torture and death . H ' daen is shaken , but abruptly orders her to attend to her duties . Arrhae rushes back to McCoy and says he must escape immediately , and is surprised when he cheerfully declines . McCoy introduces his " ace in the hole " : Ensign Naraht , one of the first Horta to serve in Starfleet , who was smuggled onto the planet at the same time McCoy arrived . Naraht hides as they are joined by H ' daen , carrying several nasty bruises and the broken pieces of the credit - chip trAnnwhi was offering . H ' daen told tr ' Annwhi that his house ' s honor is not for sale , and the sub - commander took the refusal badly . While she is out shopping in the capital city , Arrhae is approached by Nveid tr ' AAnikh , a young scion of another noble house , who believes the Empire ' s treatment of McCoy is shameful , and wants to help him escape . Again , McCoy cheerfully declines the offer , but says that Nveid can do him a favor by transmitting a coded message on a certain day , at a certain hour . . . Arrhae escorts McCoy to his trial before the Senate , where McCoy demands the Right of Statement , which he drags on for as long as possible to buy himself time . McCoy ' s epiphany , when it comes , is spectacular : Naraht bursts through the floor of the Senate , knocking aside McCoy ' s guards and dissolving those foolish enough to try to fight him . During the fracas , McCoy grabs Arrhae , pretending to use her as a hostage , while whispering in her ear that if she wants to go home , now is the time to say so . With some surprise , Arrhae / Terise realizes that she is home : she loves her life among the Rihannsu , whereas back in the Federation she ' d be just another Starfleet officer . McCoy understands , and she pretends to break free from his grip , grabbing a phaser to fire at him before she is knocked over by Naraht – a convincing charade to maintain her cover . The renegade vessel " Bloodwing " lands on the Senate roof and Commander Ael t ' Rllaillieu beams into the chamber . It is her first time back to Romulus since her reluctant alliance with James T . Kirk , and she takes the opportunity to tell the Romulan Senate what she thinks of them : that they have given up their honor , their nobility , everything that makes their people great , for the sake of galactic power politics and the need to be feared by their enemies . In a move that stuns the Senate , she removes the sacred sword from The Empty Chair , both of which have remained undisturbed for millenia , and says they are welcome to try and get it back from her – assuming that they don ' t conform to habit and ask the Klingon s to do it for them . With that , she signals the " Bloodwing " to beam her , McCoy , and Naraht out . " Bloodwing " is pursued through Romulus ' s atmosphere by the vessel " Avenger " , with a furious tr ' Annwhi in command . Ael ' s vessel ' s systems are still not operating at peak efficiency , and for a moment it looks like they will be caught . Then Ensign Luks , sent by Starfleet Intelligence to rendezvous with McCoy , pilots a small fighter craft from the " Bloodwing " in a daring attack on the " Avenger " . When his fighter is hit , he decides to go out in a blaze of glory , and drives the fighter in a Kamikaze strike on the " Avenger " that destroys both ships . " Bloodwing " escapes to Federation space , carrying McCoy home . Back on Romulus , big things are happening for Arrhae / Terise . Her actions in the Chamber have made her a popular hero , and she is offered membership in the Senate , to the delight of H ' daen , who no longer has to deal with people like tr ' Annwhi for influence . Terise has also reached her own peace with her adopted home among the Romulans , having realized she prefers it to her " old " life in the Federation . She knows the Romulan people well , and knows that peace and understanding will one day come between them and the Federation . It may not happen soon , but when it does , she – or her children – will be ready for the day . History of the Romulan People . " ( N . B . This history is not canon , although several of the historical episodes depicted have not been explicitly contradicted by a canon source . ) " The First Rihannsu . The simplest explanation of the Romulan people ' s origins is that they were traditionalist Vulcan s born during their planet ' s violent , anarchic period , who reviled Surak ' s teachings and decided to leave Vulcan rather than accept their planet ' s eventual pacification and embrace of logic . The actual historical truth is more complex , and still subject to controversy . The founding father of the Romulan people was S ' task , a Vulcan poet and one - time disciple of Surak . Surak ' s rise to prominence among Vulcans coincided with their first contact with an alien species – which , unfortunately , came in the form of pirate s from the neighboring planet Etosha ( the ancestors of the 23rd century Orion s ) . Under the pretext of peaceful contact , the Etoshans lured many of Vulcan ' s most prominent political , military , and scientific leaders into a trap , killing many and kidnapping the survivors to hold for ransom . One of those captives was S ' task , who , while he professed to be a man of peace , eventually broke out of his prison and led a revolt of his fellows that killed their captors . A bloody war with the invaders followed , in which the Vulcans were eventually victorious . S ' task argued that the galaxy was an inherently hostile place , and the only way to meet it was from a position of strength ; Surak argued just as fervently in favor of peace . Neither man could sway the other , and the " logical " conclusion to their argument would have been civil war , but S ' task was unwilling to go that far . S ' task knew that such a war would result in unacceptable loss of Vulcan lives ; moreover , he was a moral man who had taken his former master ' s philosophy that the ends cannot justify the means deeply to heart . The logical alternative was for S ' task and his followers to leave Vulcan and make a new beginning elsewhere . The Exodus . S ' task began gathering support for his plan in a way that pained his former mentor , Surak : with logic and subtlety . Instead of making a bold public declaration , S ' task began by publishing an article in the journal of the nascent Vulcan Science Academy , examining , in dry academic fashion , Vulcan ' s frequent wars and their hampering or encouraging effects on Vulcan ' s technological advancement and developing interest in space exploration . With this article , S ' task planted the idea that a mass migration was a logical means of relieving the overpopulation and scarcity of resources which tended to lead to war between Vulcan communities ; in other words , that such a migration was not only possible but imperative . While the first interstellar ships were being built in Vulcan orbit , S ' task ' s followers deliberately re - created themselves as a different culture , including a new language . They began referring to themselves as " " the Declared " " ( " seheik " in Vulcan , " rihanh " in their new language , " rihannsu " in adjective form ) . Some elements and artifacts of Vulcan culture were retained , including three priceless swords created by S ' harien , the greatest sword smith of that age . Ironically , S ' harien had begun destroying his own blades after converting to Surak ' s pacifism , and Surak himself " rescued " three swords and gifted them to S ' task for safekeeping . In 14005 , approximately eighteen years after they were begun , seventeen ships left Vulcan , carrying S ' task and eighty thousand " rihanh " , led by " Rea ' s Helm " ; of these , fewer than eighteen thousand , in five ships , eventually reached the 128 Trianguli star system , after the others or their populations were lost to cosmic disasters , disease , or predatory species , after more than a hundred years of relativistic time , equivalent to almost five hundred years by Vulcan ' s reckoning . Discovering two inhabitable worlds in the system , the " rihanh " settled and named them " ch ' Rihan " ( " of the Declared " ) and " ch ' Havran " ( " of the Travelers " ) , the worlds later christened Romulus and Remus by the Federation . Force and Power . Romulus and Remus were both fertile worlds , and their initial settlement was remarkably free of shortages of resources , or the other problems usually attending colonization . Yet of the 18 , 000 " Declared " who landed safely on the Two Worlds , fully a third died during the first ten years after settlement , mostly from the relentless wars , of all scales , fought as the Romulans splintered into factions over land , old tribal disputes , and all manner of other reasons . As the later - condemned historian Lai i - Ramnau tr ' Ehhelih wrote , even in the midst of plenty , the former Vulcans could not rid themselves of the compulsion to survive by seizing as much for oneself as one could . The initial government of the Two Worlds was intended to be an extension of the council system that had administered the ships , but this system quickly became unwieldy and ineffective , especially with the slow progress of building planet - wide communication and transportation systems ( another incentive for conflict , as Romulan families became divided between " haves " and " have - nots " ) . A famine in the southern continent of Remus provided the catalyst for the rise of T ' Rehu , the Ruling Queen , a minor councilor ' s daughter with an unusual charisma . Declaring that the government had failed by not responding to the crisis in sufficient time , she declared herself sole monarch , backed up by the threat of her country ' s standing army ( the first of its kind on Romulus , since prior to then , Vulcans were used to simply assembling warbands of kin and followers on an ad hoc basis ) . S ' task , aged 248 , demonstrated his contempt for her ascension by walking out of the council chamber , and one of her soldiers killed him with a thrown spear – himself a victim of the " old " Vulcan way of life that he had fought to preserve . T ' Rehu ruled for eighteen years , personifying every capricious and bloody habit of the dictator , before she was overthrown in a coup led by a coalition from the Eastern continents of Remus , adopting a Spartan model for their military – small , utterly professional , dedicated and fiercely patriotic – that was able to defeat T ' Rehu ' s more numerous army . In the aftermath came the development of the Romulan government that endures to this day , a resurrection of the council system , combined with the more compact institution of the twelve ministers attending the Ruling Queen : the Praetor ate , which wields executive and judicial power , and the Senate , divided into two houses , which wields legislative power . To an outsider , this system appears dysfunctional and inherently unstable , since it encourages factionalism and secret dealings , and prevents power from resting for any appreciable length of time with one person or group . Yet the system has endured , and the Romulans would not have it any other way : they distrust absolute rulers , and find vitality and strength in the constant intrigues that sustain their politics . Flowering . Having successfully founded a new culture , the Romuluns , paradoxically , suffered a sudden cultural and scientific stagnation ( almost as if they were choosing to retain their Vulcan traditions , even if they attached new names to them ) . Despite the wealth of technical data stored in the Ships used on the Journey , there was little interest in maintaining the Ships , which eventually de - orbited and crashed or were used as museums , or in building new ones . By the middle of the third century after the Settlement , the Romulans could not have left their planets in a hurry even had they wanted to . However , other aspects of Romulan culture flourished . Wars continued , and the Romulans developed into an intensely martial society , that , like the Klingon s , prized honor above all things . For both cultures , war was the ultimate expression of worth , and self , and was an activity to be enjoyed as much as waged for survival or gain . Likewise , with Romulus and Remus being such fertile planets , compared with Vulcan , the Romulans developed an avid interest in cuisine that did not conflict at all with their martial culture , including their wines ( more than five thousand varieties ) and their ales , which quickly became legendary throughout the galaxy . Similarly , the Romulans made enormous strides in literature , painting , sculpture , architecture , and the sciences . One of the lingering outgrowths of this era was the codification of the Romulan religion , which stemmed from a philosophical colloquy aboard the Ships during the Journey , starting with one Vulcan ' s half - humorous observation that " things notice , " which eventually developed into an animistic theology based on the worship of the four Elements – earth , air , water , and fire – and the " Arch - Element " that rules over all . S ' task himself made an occasional contribution to this colloquy , suggesting that it would do the Romulans no harm , and might even bring them benefits in the long run , to " take care of the universe , " starting with their two home planets . The fifteen hundred years after T ' Rehu ' s downfall are generally reckoned a Golden Age of the Two Worlds , which came to an abrupt and painful halt upon their first contacts , coming almost simultaneously , with the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets . The Earth - Romulan War . From the Federation ' s point of view , the Earth - Romulan War was unprovoked and a sure sign of the Romulans ' warlike , aggressive nature . From the Romulans ' , it was a different story . Three years before the war , a single Federation explorator vessel approached Romulus ; its crew was excited when their long - range scans discovered an advanced civilization and transmitted the standard first contact data – language primers , mathematical formulas , images – without receiving a response . It was the Federation ' s misfortune that their innocuous approach bore too close a resemblance to the way in which the Etoshan pirates had probed Vulcan centuries earlier . Fearing another invasion , the Romulans launched a frenzied military build - up , including a fleet of some seven thousand starships . The next Federation vessel to enter Romulan space was instantly surrounded and destroyed , as were the increasingly large task forces sent by the Federation to retaliate . Although the Romulans ' ships were technologically inferior to the Federation ' s , they were superbly engineered and piloted , and produced in such numbers that even the most advanced Federation ships could be outnumbered and overwhelmed . It was also during the war that the Romulans acquired warp drive , which they reverse - engineered from some of the earliest Federation ships they salvaged . The war might have dragged on for much longer than it did , but upon ' s entry into the Federation , its newly - appointed Ambassador , Sarek , advised Starfleet ' s admiralty to sue for peace ( if the Vulcans suspected what the Romulans ' origins were , they did not share it with the Federation Council ; when asked , they responded only – with complete sincerity – that they could not be sure ) . On Sarek ' s advice , Starfleet sought , and received , a treaty with the Romulans , negotiated entirely by data upload , since the Romulans refused to let the Earthers get even a glimpse of them . The result was the creation of the Neutral Zone . The Romulan Star Empire . The treaty that ended the Earth - Romulan War referred to the latter combatant as the " Romulan Star Empire " , but no such entity existed at that time . The Romulans did not seek to build an empire until after the war , when they commenced aggressive expansion throughout their space , against the possibility of future wars . Out of this necessity was also born the first alliance with the Klingon Empire , through which the Klingons acquired the Romulans ' prized cloaking technology , while the Romulans were able to augment their fleet quickly by buying Klingon warships in bulk – a dubious bargain , since Klingon ship design and manufacture were inferior to the Romulans ' in every way except weaponry – in Terise LoBruto ' s words , " " the equivalent of Rolls Royce buying parts from Ford . " " The Romulans remain xenophobic and distrustful of the Federation . Some moderates in the Romulan Senate have pointed out that the Federation certainly has the resources and the numbers needed to conquer the Empire , yet they have refrained from doing so . In response , the more numerous " hawks " dismiss this as cowardice , or worse , a cynical desire to use the Empire as a buffer against the Klingons . Terise ' s history closes by saying that the debate continues to rage , but she believes it cannot last forever , and when the Romulans and the Federation finally reconcile their differences , there will be no limit to what either can achieve . Memorable quotes . " " I am a Vulcan , bred to peace . " " " " It has been said that evil frequently triumphs over good unless good is very , very careful . This is true : but it should be added that good frequently has help that looks evil on the surface of it , and that ' even God ' s enemies are some way his own . ' " " " " The Ruling Queen ' s rise is paradoxical to this day , even among Rihannsu . She was one of those people with that inexplicable quality that Terrans call ' charisma ' and Rihannsu ' nuhirrien , ' ' look - toward . ' People would listen to her , gladly give her things they could hardly spare , forgive her terrible deeds . Her power was astonishing , and unaccountable . She was not a great physical beauty , or a mighty warrior , or marvelously persuasive , or any of the other things people normally find attractive . She simply had that quality , like Earth ' s Hitler , like ( at the other end of the spectrum ) Surak , of being followed . Some have used the word ' sociopath ' to describe her , but the term loses some of its meaning in Rihannsu culture , where one is expected to reach out one ' s hand and take what one wants . . . as the Travelers did . " " " " I shall kill you if you do not ask leave . " " " " You may do so . That is the prerogative of force . But I give no honor to force . Power , yes . But you have no power , none that I recognize . I ask no leave of you . " " " " The beginning is contaminated , and force will not avail you , or it . " " " " Perhaps the citizenry were looking , as the governed sometimes will , for something , anything , to replace a government that bores them . For eighteen years the Rihannsu got one that was not at all boring . . . and that was about all that could be said for it . " " " " Certain it is , and sure , love burns , ale burns , fire burns , politics burns . But cold were life without them . " " " " People drink Rihannsu ale for the same reason they drink Saurian brandy – to prove they can . " " " " Make peace with them and close the door . Stop fighting . You will probably never beat them . But you can stop your ships being destroyed . " " " " The building is ringed with soldiers . They are not Rihannsu . And there is a starship on the roof . " " " " Soft spot ? My mother ? " " " " Poor thing . For a millennium and a half no other weapon less noble has been permitted under this roof for any cause , not even for blood feud . Now they bring in blasters wholesale to guard one poor weak Terran . Or simply to terrify him for their pleasure . " " " " You have sold honor for power . You have sold what a Rihannsu used to be for what a Klingon thinks a Rihannsu " ought " to . You have sold your names , you have sold everything that mattered about this world – the nobility , the striving to be something " right " – for the sake of being feared in nearby spaces . You have sold the open dealing of your noble ancestors for plots and intrigues that cannot stand the light of day , and sold your courage for expediency . Your foremothers would put their burned bones back together and come haunting you if they could . But they cannot . So I have . " " " " You sound like my ex - wife . " " " " I ' ll assume you meant that as a compliment . Don ' t correct me if I ' m wrong . " "