Why is the Alpha Quadrant not under the Raptor's Wings

[Robovski]

Populations expand to fit the space in the ecosystem available to them. Humanity is running out of room, and so population growth is falling off. It is not unreasonable to expect the Romulans to expand to fill an interstellar niche unless there is something to prevent it. What we don't know is what prevented it.

[PerrySimm]

Romulans seem to have a preference to live in societies; pioneering and colony life might be fairly stressful and is only undertaken with deliberate planning.

One notable example, are the Debrune. It's possible that there was infighting between the various Raptor's offshots ...

I would expect that any reputedly warlike society would, before emerging as a unified state, still have some huge historical record of conflicts. Doubtless, entire history books could be written about dead Romulan states - probably not even planetary in scale - before the Empire emerged as a single force of will.

[Imperator-zor]

We don't know exactly when the Vulcans has warp drive. The Romulan migration may have used generation ships, relativalistic speeds, or suspended animation to settle Romulus and whatever other colony worlds they had. It's worth noting that the Bird of Prey in "Balance of Terror" was stated to just have impulse power, and that Federation starships' warp drives seem similar to Cochrane's dual-nacelle design than the Vulcan ring design.

Impulse engines have been used to achieve Warp Speeds. They are not as effective as Warp Cores, but it can work.

Zor

[Steve]

I personally go by Diane Duane's Rihannsu novels, and the second one - "The Romulan Way" - actually gave a detailed history of the founding of ch'Rihan and ch'Havran (Romulus and Remus) and how they developed up to the Earth-Romulan War.

Granted, it's not necessarily canon-compliant anymore since she wrote this before TNG came out. But it's far better than anything the Trek shows have done IMHO.

[Beastro]

Glancing at this it feels like it's all hindsight, not a real assessment of what happened over the course of such centuries. I know, I know, nothing else can be done to look deeper, but still.

To me it brings to mind criticism and praise of Western Civilization that relies too much on hindsight when looking over its successes compared to other cultures, that it's a damn weird thing such successes happened while other nations ran out of gas or fell into the doldrums, like Byzantium and Islam.

In much the same way with the West, I'd argue it's Mankind's pitfalls and set backs were the catalyst for the Federations success alongside the pressing needs of the other founding members that compelled a unification which bore greater fruit than would have come had they remained independent. One can see that in the issues the Vulcans and Andorians had between one another that would have kept them focused on their rivalry instead of what could have come if they weren't otherwise preoccupied with one another.

In that respect one can see that in the history of Great Britain and the struggles of Scotland compared to England before the Act of Union. Scotland was a downright economically poor and troubled country before then that blew it's last wad trying to colonize Panama. Union wasn't so much two nations coming together as it was one buying the other out, but it allowed the Scottish to put their talents forward and add to something greater than they otherwise would have had they been stuck in the situation they had been separate from England. The Vulcans might have grown to be major players, as England was, but through the Federation all became greater just as Scots did through the Union and one could argue that that is what happened with Mankind with the period between First Contact and the Federations founding being like the Personal Union Scotland had with England in the 17th Century through the Stuarts.

I personally go by Diane Duane's Rihannsu novels, and the second one - "The Romulan Way" - actually gave a detailed history of the founding of ch'Rihan and ch'Havran (Romulus and Remus) and how they developed up to the Earth-Romulan War.

Granted, it's not necessarily canon-compliant anymore since she wrote this before TNG came out. But it's far better than anything the Trek shows have done IMHO.

I'm not familiar with it outside of the rough ideas it did with them, but it needs to be incorporated into canon and on TV/film. IMO, Trek needs more Romulans.

Populations expand to fit the space in the ecosystem available to them. Humanity is running out of room, and so population growth is falling off. It is not unreasonable to expect the Romulans to expand to fill an interstellar niche unless there is something to prevent it. What we don't know is what prevented it.

I could see something of a darker, comparable reason in human history in that Mankind would prefer to terraform and settle on worlds uninhabited and so construct a daughter world much like the one they came from while the Romulans, like the Klingon, have a knack for conquest and control that leads them to have a hodgepodge empire that is uneven and in much of the background other conquered races are pulling the weight while both don't feel a need to do more given that they have those races to do that.

One could see that in the way European colonialism panned out and how the key Anglopsheric daughter nations are far different from other colonial states where the colonizers never became more than a minority (The only oddball case being India, but that was a result of how sophisticated Indian culture was before it fell under the sway of Britain as well as it's noted ability to adapt and adopt parts of Western civilization that worked well, albeit in a less free form than others did, like the Japanese). That came through the decimation of the previous inhabitants, deliberate or happenstance, that helped create more England-like nations than what happened in Latin America, Africa and Asia where syncretism and cultural friction happened.

[Madner Kami]

I'm not familiar with it outside of the rough ideas it did with them, but it needs to be incorporated into canon and on TV/film. IMO, Trek needs more Romulans.

Yes. Just like Star Trek Online, without Romulans that entire picture is missing vital parts. The Klingons got fleshed out a lot over the course of Star Trek's runs and the relatively "young" Cardassians got basically uplifted from a periphery threat in TNG to a major player for the canon within the timespan of single series (praised be DS9, bless it's coming and going and may it's passsage cleanse the world). Why the Romulans are left in the grey dark, will forever be beyond me. Granted, we know more about them than the Breen, but the Romulans are clearly playing a way more vital part in the intergalactic politics of Star Trek, yet still linger on the sideline of the canon for no reason.

[...] while the Romulans, like the Klingon, have a knack for conquest and control that leads them to have a hodgepodge empire that is uneven and in much of the background other conquered races are pulling the weight while both don't feel a need to do more given that they have those races to do that.

The Romulans ain't conquerors. They are schemers and politicians. They may have conquered and wared here and there, but this is clearly not their forte. They are much more introvert and their antagonism to the Federation isn't one of territory or military might, it's one of political hegemonism. Remember the conversation between Garak and Quark about how the Federation is an irresistable force that slowly grows onto you and assimilates you? That is what characterizes the conflict between Romulus and Earth and it's a much different threat to the Federation, then the Klingons, Cardassians and the Dominion pose.

[Beastro]

The Romulans ain't conquerors. They are schemers and politicians. They may have conquered and wared here and there, but this is clearly not their forte. They are much more introvert and their antagonism to the Federation isn't one of territory or military might, it's one of political hegemonism. Remember the conversation between Garak and Quark about how the Federation is an irresistable force that slowly grows onto you and assimilates you? That is what characterizes the conflict between Romulus and Earth and it's a much different threat to the Federation, then the Klingons, Cardassians and the Dominion pose.

I think we're talking more along the same lines, with the Klingons being... Klingons (which I feel still aren't fleshed out fully. IMO, all we've seen most since the movie remake of them is one aspect of Klingon culture that is current predominant that seems to be in revival since the Empire's creation. Their warrior obsession is en vogue in much the same way that of the Ghazi is within Islam) while the Romulans are more from the old European imperial archetype of a empire that's been built up from a mix of conquest, colonization and protectorates where every one of the three used where it works best, but with a mind of keeping things going the Romulans way with a minimum of involvement.

Writing all that out, another bit needs to be worked into the Romulans and that's the influence of the British Empire.

... I mean, how can you not draw from Perfidious Albion for your interstellar scheming empire!?

[Dînadan]

Writing all that out, another bit needs to be worked into the Romulans and that's the influence of the British Empire.

... I mean, how can you not draw from Perfidious Albion for your interstellar scheming empire!?

Ah so that’s why illegal Romulan Ale is all over the Federation - it’s the Romulan’s version of the Opium War with Romulans as the Brits and the Federation as China.

[Mercury01]

We don't know exactly when the Vulcans has warp drive. The Romulan migration may have used generation ships, relativalistic speeds, or suspended animation to settle Romulus and whatever other colony worlds they had.

It's also worth considering that they had just lost a nuclear war. They probably didn't have the best resources by the end. I imagine that if they did have FTL-capable ships, they were probably of the lowest quality, possibly abandoned in orbit of Romulus while the survivors eked out an existence using only what they could salvage after the war. Even if such vessels could land, the Romulans would no doubt have cannibalized them for parts to build shelters and tools. Any sort of powered devices would inevitably run out of power and fail. Survival would preclude any scientific innovation until the population was stable, and that could take centuries.