10.0 The Borg & The Romulans

The Borg

Bearing a fleeting societal resemblance only to the Bynars of the Federation, the Borg have risen overnight to become perhaps the greatest single threat not only to the Federation, but to every galactic culture.

Possessing a hive computer mind, the Borg is a race of mechanically-enhanced cybernetic beings that act and think as one. Perhaps millions in number, they exist only to absorb the technologies of those unfortunate civilizations they come into contact with. Emotion and personal considerations mean nothing to the relentless Borg, who will pursue their goals of conquest until they achieve them—or are destroyed trying.

Individual Borg drones begin life as normal humanoid infants, but are quickly “adapted” to their assigned life-long duties by the implantation of bionic components. This addition of technological parts continues until adulthood, when the individual is finally ready to be placed into its assigned place in the whole. Theory suggests that the Borg may have developed a method for accelerating the humanoid growth process, perhaps taking each Borg drone unit from infancy to adulthood in mere months. Their vessels, of a design dictated purely by function with no consideration for aesthetics, are immense cube-shaped structures capable of incredible firepower and speeds greater than can be accounted for by any stretch of conventional Federation scientific imagination.

The Borg appear to be centered in an area of space beyond the far side of the Romulan Empire. An intervention into Starfleet procedures by the “Q” has made the Borg aware of the Federation's existence long before such an encounter would have occurred naturally, opening the constant threat that further Borg intrusions into Federation space may occur.

The Federation possesses a level of technology irresistibly attractive to the Borg—a technology they must absorb at any cost.

The Romulans

First encountered by Starfleet vessels in a battle that took place almost two centuries ago, the Romulans are an aggressive, cunning, territorial people who wish only to expand their share of space by whatever means is necessary. That first encounter was ended purely by primitive subspace radio treaty, and it was not until decades later, following another confrontational incident, that the physical nature of the Romulan race was made known to Federation science. Shortly thereafter, it was concluded that the Romulan homeworld circled a star listed in Federation catalogues as Romulus, the larger of the Romulus/Remus stellar pair.

The Romulan Empire has grown through interstellar conquest. Member worlds are ruled with an iron fist, their own governments supplanted by newly-installed Romulan ruling parties. While the Romulans are emotional beings, they are strangely devoid of all compassion for those whom they subjugate.

Facial appearance strongly suggested an ancestral link to the Vulcan race, and further historical and genetic research proved that the Vulcans and Romulans had indeed been one people at a point in Vulcan's turbulent past. The Romulan people are descended from a rebel Vulcan colony group which broke away from its homeworld ties before the Vulcan race turned away from violence and warfare toward its present racial philosophy of logic and peace. Current Starfleet intelligence indicates that a growing movement within the Romulan society may be planting the seed that will one day result in a Romulan return to the Vulcan heritage they share.

The Romulan people pride themselves on their intellect, however warlike, and this fact contributed greatly to the dissolution of their alliance with the Klingons, whom they considered too barbaric to be fully trusted. The Romulans are increasingly uncomfortable with the current Federation/Klingon alliance and wish to see it dissolved, fearing the combined military power of both entities. Several attempts have already been made by Romulan military intelligence to undermine the peaceful co-existence of the two superpowers, but all have proven unsuccessful.

Romulan starship technology now equals that of the Federation, despite a slow start. Sensor scans of the Romulan Neutral Zone have recently shown a dramatic increase in the number of Romulan starship patrols on their side of the Zone, suggesting that they may feel that a Federation invasion is a possibility. Their newest Warbird design is impressive in its size and power and has become the mainstay of their space forces. Larger than Starfleet's Galaxy Class and equipped with an improved cloaking system, the Warbird is the single greatest vessel threat to Federation security. While this massive ship employs full disruptors rather than ship-mounted phaser banks, these weapons are equally destructive due to a modification in their resonant frequency amplification process. The vessel is also, of course, equipped with multiple photon torpedo launch units—the photon torpedo was a Romulan innovation.