@@MasouShizuka, yes, it does. And, now that I think of it, that seems like a strategy quite a few countries on our own world have employed at one point or another. Two big examples I can think of are the Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China. Both were/are very secretive states. They often lied/lie about what's going on inside their borders, or just don't talk about them at all. And both of them were/are very powerful nations, so the fact that nobody except them really knew/know what the hell they are, or what they're planning next, makes them very hard to attack. They're just too much of a mystery to do anything about.
to be fair, many times throughout its history, China called itself "The Middle/Center Kingdom" referring to their place as the center of all civilization, culture, technology, and anything else the ancient Chinese considered important, so hubris-based names for nations have IRL bases.
I prefer Star Trek Online's cannon where the Romulan goverment partly survived and is now a puppet of the Tal Shiar with a number of independent refugee colonies spread out across former Romulan space. which form a Romulan Republic fighting a civil war against the empire with federation and Klingon support.
Oh yeah, I love the way the Cryptic writers bent the lore so as to integrate the entire Hobus event neatly into their timeline which also made sense. ^^
It's a little more complicated than the old government being puppets of the Tal Shiar in STO. The Romulan Star Empire and the Tal Shiar both survived, as did dozens of other fragmented Romulan colonies or proto-states (much like the Romulan Free State, and eventually the Romulan Republic). The Star Empire and the Tal Shiar, despite nominally working together, are actually pretty much at war with one another. There are a few missions that imply or out right state that the two don't share intel with one another, nor do they help each other with manpower or ship building. There is a clear distinction made between Star Empire, led by Empress Sela, and the Tal Shiar, led by Colonel Hakeev. After Hakeev gets killed by the Reman Resistance and Sela is imprisoned by the Federation, you never really see or hear from the Tal Shiar or Star Empire again, kind of implying that the Romulan Republic has finally wiped them out. I will say, the Romulan Free Sate in Picard is closer to what you describe. They are nominally independent, but it is made pretty clear that the Tal Shiar remnants are calling the shots in their territory.
The writers at STO had alot of bullshit to wade through. The Hobus incident is one of single worst piece of sci-fi lore ever devised; written by a dude who hated Star Trek. So I continually congratulate Cryptic on how well they handled it, and made it coherent and plausible.
There's probably several competing states, including some kind of Klingon-backed faction, possibly a Cardassian-backed faction, and so on. The Romulan Free State might be trying to curry favour with the Federation.
The Cardassians lost virtually all influence at the end of the Dominion War and I hypthesize the only move left for them to make was to join the Federation. Klingons and Romulans are bitter enemies, so such a pact would be ostracized by other Romulans.
Why would the Romulans ever be backed up by the Federation? Since the Earth-Romulan war, Romulans have been against humanity. They just don't need humans.
@@travisfoster1071 Yes but they would and probably need to accept Federation assistance not only at the start of the disaster but afterwards to ensure the validity and safety of themselves from peoples, organisation and even other empires (eg Klingon's,others). who would love to kick the when they are down or would just use the opportunity
Thomas Bailey Romulans are not Vulcans. They have, on numerous occasions, chosen ideology over logic. The show begins with the Romulan cabal willing to sabotage a rescue mission for their own people, just to accomplish their agenda. An alliance with the Federation is a betrayal of everything that makes them who they are. Hell, the disgraced Romulan Senator killed by Elnor spells this whole thinking out.
If I had my own "here's an interesting thing Sci-Fi usually doesn't get right" TH-cam channel, the very first episode would be debunking this tendency to coin neologisms like that: people just don't do that. Even if we had a "star empire" a century or three from now, "geopolitical" would doubtless still be the word used to mean, well, "geopolitical--" though it is true a word never _entirely_ shakes off its lexical origin, most do expand well beyond its original semantic/pragmatic area. Random example: you would say that an automobile, a submarine, a space shuttle, and a steam locomotive were all "vehicles," even though none of them are little hand-pulled wagons, which is what _vehiculum_ used to mean:.
For the record, PIC's pilot episode establishes that it was the Romulan sun itself that went supernova, not the Hobus system as in the original EU. That would explain how it decapitated the Star Empire so quickly and thoroughly.
As I understood it, it sounded like the Hobus Star (that went supernova) was likely a star that the Romulan star system orbited. I'm sure there's a scientific name for that, but its kind of like how we orbit the sun and the moon orbits the Earth...except in the case of Romulus, the sun is Hobus, the Earth being the Romulan sun, and the moon is Romulus.
Personally I’d like it if the Romulan Republic from STO were made canon. I enjoyed that storyline the most and I think it opens the way for a lot of new ideas to explore. Yes the Federation needs rivals but I don’t like a whole species being just the bad guys with only a few exemptions. The idea of an underdog group of former baddies trying to build something new while trying to redeem themselves in the eyes of galaxy, having to defend their idealism from their own more traditionalist brethren, it sounds really interesting to me.
Just an observation, that in the same way that nations that call themselves "The Democratic Republic of *(Blank)"* , tend not to be very Democratic, something tells me the Romulan Free State, isn't very free
"The Democratic Republic of _____" is almost always a Communist State. For example: The "Democratic" People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), which isn't very "Democratic".
I find it more interesting of a story set up than all this 'Zhat Vash' and Reaper/Squids storyline, anyway, @freeze1 . Currently considering Nu Octantis also, as candidate for the Hobus star, that detonated.
@@JeanLucCaptain, because that makes no sense whatsoever. And I am aware, this is most likely a joke, I'm just saying the name not only makes no sense, it just sounds dumb all on its own.
I wouldn't be surprised that after the destruction of Romulus, the Romulans had themselves a civil war that probably still wages on. Without Romulus to unite them, the various factions and colonies would've found others to join and consolidate their power while others would try to take over what remains of the Empire.
if you go by Beta Canon in Star Trek Online in 2409 Sela is in charge of the remnants of the Romulan Star Empire holding tenuously to what little power they held she causes quite a bit of trouble for your character throughout your experience 😒
And the new legitimate Government for the Romulans is led by a man who worked with Spock himself (R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy) and has a vastly better relationship with the major powers than the RSE
Writer Michael Chabon said in a Q&A that this is exactly the case, the Romulan Free State is just one of dozens of Romulan remnants. We kind of get a glimpse of another independent warlord in Picard, when the antique Warbird shows up it is commanded by some warlord that apparently controls the space around the relocation site.
I see the Free State as a precursor to the Romulan Republic from STO. The Free State just has a hell of a lot more problems to iron out before it can reach that level.
I really wish none of this was canon, but I guess we have to make do. I’ll just keep imagining that Star Trek ended with janeway coming back and it’s been happily ever after since then
Honestly, a huge missed opportunity for the writers post Dominion War. An implacable, mysterious enemy with an unassailable home front and strange abilities. So powerful it requires the unification of several disparate local powers. The rough and tumble warrior race with a penchant for wicked bladed weapons and birdlike ships, inscrutable space elves that like their ships BIG, a short disagreeable species with natural talents that aren't always appreciated, and a human-led Starfleet holding it all together. Did I just describe the Earth-Romulan War or the Dominion War? Would have very much liked a newly united Alpha-Beta Quadrant rebuilding after the war and realizing they may have only bought time with the Dominion, there's always the Borg, and given reports from the last century a highly advanced menace from the Andromeda Galaxy is coming.
There are probably other Romulan factions fighting each other for supremacy like Romulan Republic or Romulan-Cardassian Alliance. The Free State just happens to have the Tal Shiar in their ranks. I hope we get to see more of the Romulan Free State and the other Romulan factions, as well as the Klingons, Cardassians, and the Dominion, when the time comes.
I very much hope that the Romulan Empire is re-established as a strong actor soon or late that could rival Star Fleet. The Galacy is boring without real oposition to the Federation, and it is sad enough that so many rivals had be taken out already (and make always new enemies does often work not that good). I think it is even more dumb to let nature (or whatever was behind the nova) do the dirty work for the homo-sapiens-club. Your thoughts seem to make a lot of sense. I could very well imagine that there are factions who fight each other for controll either openly or are at least locked in some kind of rivalry in which it is uncertain if they will merge over negotiations or via force (and to which conditions). Local commanders on the borders, surviving senators and members of the old nobility may fight, why former servants try to break free or form even coalitions - just to be crushed under the fire of local fleets. Something like the crisis of the late Roman Empire in the third century AC. A unification-war in which in the end the romulan old families, and new actors like warlords in part fight each other and in part choose to cooperate but in the end build a new senate and form a new central government for all Romulans - either lead directly by the senate, a new Praetor or even a Emperor or Empress (who maybe choose their future heir in ccoperation with the Senate) would be a interesting story. Star Fleet very likeley would be drawn into the conflict by being called to help by wannabe-breakaway-factions like species who were conquered by the Empire, or even manipulated by factions in the war to help them or at least harm their rivals. Falsa-flagg-attacks, false promisses... And honestly, if there is not the typical plot armor it is likely that they would fooled a lot by the Romulans. In the end I think some form of new Empire would be the only logical choice. The Empire was the proud history of those who walked under the raptor's wings for many centuries and no one who really want to unite the Romulans could put this heirloom away. Maybe it is the Raptor Empire or some other slight variation of the old name. Since there is no longer the old central world they may name themself other (on the other hand, the Eastern Roman Empire called himself Roman LONG after they lost controll over Rome). But a link to the old Empire seems very likely.
I do think there should be a rival. And maybe we will see something new from the gamma or delta quadrant or from outside the galaxy. Until then I think an interesting thing to do in the Star Trek universe would be to have a civil war or major political fight in the Federation. In the current way the universe is both in beta and alpha canon media, I could see a growing force in the Federation pushing for more militarization. So much has happened in the last fifty years of star trek lore including at least two major wars with the Cardassians, War with the Klingons, all the Dominion stuff, the Maque, the Borg encroachments and all the craziness in the Romulans. I see maybe an andorian led faction pushing for the formation of a formal navy separate from starfleet with the goal of pacify a violent galaxy for the betterment of all. Would love to see the political ppower plays involved in whether the Federation should attempt nation building or just let people do what they want outside its borders.
Hard disagree. Given these aren't documentaries the point of Trek wins over all other considerations. An d the point of Trek is that they are morality plays. And in Trek, a free, egalitarian society focused on peaceful exploration is the ideal. Frankly the idea a slave-holding, xenophobic police state and a corrupt, militaristic feudal monarchy can keep up with that society for centuries is about as damning a case as can be made. Honestly, TNG made a big mistake on focusing on minimizing Vulcans as its break from TOS and should have made the Klingon and Romulan Empires has beens or even joining the Federation like was vaguely mentioned by Wesley early on for the Klingons. Ferengi and Cardassians were never gonna take the place of entities that the audience had known for decades unless you had a big and powerful Klingon kowtowing to them because they got supplanted as the local big bads...which given it's space and a century later is entirely possible (see Dominion, Borg, etc). And in regards to threats, from old canon, there are still the Borg, Dominion, the Kelvans are coming soon, etc. Honestly, if you need a rival state I'd much prefer what should have been the logical counter to the Federation forming. Something like the Klingons, Romulans, Breen, Orions, Sheliak, etc joining up and forming some Confederation cause they realize they can't in the long run keep up with folks that can send cruise ships against their best warships and win.
I can't help but think of the Fall of the Iron Curtain. So much change came about from that, but within a generation, we found out some things were going back to the way things were.
Quick note: The change from "Irish Free State" to "Republic of Ireland" wasn't just a symbolic change. The actual form of government changed from a constitutional monarchy in personal union with Great Britain (where the Crown was represented by a Governor-General) to a semi-presidential republic.
IIRC Picard retconned the Hobus supernova so it was actually the Romulus star that exploded. In which case, Spock's plan in 09 makes no sense anymore. I really wish we had gotten some more insight into internal Romulan politics. Hell, they could've even used Elnor for this, since it would make sense for the Qowat Milat to keep tabs on Tal Shiar activities. Or Seven of Nine could've had a couple of lines about the Fenris Rangers trying to keep various Romulan factions in check.
I like to think the Romulan Free State is not a successionist state, and in fact, a highly organized form of governmental extremists from the Tal Shiar, Zhat Vash, and Romulan Military. The Free State and its actors, throughout the show, chose to pursue their mission of synth genocide at the expense of valuable personnel and assets, like the deserted Borg Cube and why they seemed totally unconcerned with consolidating their secular authority any further than it already was. This would answer many of the questions raised in your video, as their goals were never political, but ideological.
i think that there may very be a civil war brewing between the successor government and other factions that existed under the rule of the empire such as for example the Remans. This name change may be a ploy to alleviate civil unrest without putting forth any actual change.
Like that immersion you did there Marc by not acknowledging that the whole vorta strategist scene was a complete holo deck fabrication. It’s fortunate that the hypothesis was still correct nonetheless.
Makes sense for several factions to create their own state or, more precisely, have their respective leaders claiming the leadership of all Romulan people (akin to what happened in Rome after the death of Nero). Regarding the Free State specifically: it's hard to say whether the choice of name is just a ploy or a genuine attempt at differentiate themselves with the Star Empire, because after all the whole plot of Picard makes somewhat little sense
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I think one of the producers confirmed that there were other rival factions that were competing against the Free State to be the successor to the Star Empire, they are simply the strongest since they have the backing of the Tal Shiar.
In all likelihood, the writers for STP just did not think it through, which is why many are left scratching their heads and trying to excuse obvious holes with the premise that the Romulans are just naturally 'mysterious'.
Oppotunitues abound when any government central authority collapses, like a zombie apocalypse, a supernova, internal or external political collapse, war, death, destruction, when the shit hits the fan, etc. That is the perfect time to carve a piece of the former unified territory and become one of many warlords to fight for succession authority.
@@occam7382 you bet it is pal! The USA can go the same way. Tromp and his loyal supporters with loyal generals refuse to give up power and do a coup d'etat, Biden and his supporters decide to fight back, and you have a civil war that splits the government and military down the middle. Eventually the regional military commanders decide to succeed and do their own thing, and then you have lots of smaller warlords fighting each other to try to take control of what was whole, and is now fractured.
Possible multiple factions, but the freestate (effectively being run by the talshiar) are currently the largest faction, and have openly offered a hand of cooperation and information exchange with the federation thereby securing recognition from the current super power of the alpha and beta quadrent and thus preventing the federation from supporting another romulan faction. The pro's are that the talshiar are able to cross the neutral zone with little resistance and can covertly operate in federation space. The cons are that as the officially regognised successor they must now follow a number of preexisting treaties such as the treaty of Algeron.
I see the Romulan Free State as being a substitute for Starfleet having no clear purpose anymore. Otherwise, just a temporary plot device for series that wasn't supposed to survive for a second season.
I believe is a combination of all the statements that you have made. Multiple factions vying for power. Not to mention external factions propping up some. By not using the romulan star empire name; that will give time for a new government to consolidate its power. While not having to deal with obligations. And let's not forget some of the original conquered civilizations. Do now have an opportunity to set up their own governments. All you have to do is look at what happened after the fall of the Roman empire. Keep bringing the videos.
The name could also be an attempt to avoid provoking an attack by neighbors by appearing weaker than they actually are. A claim to still be an empire would likely draw rivals wanting to test this, to verify, in the aftermath of their setbacks, whether they still held the power necessary to keep their holdings. A free state that doesn't claim a name announcing imperial ambitions (even if it still holds these ambitions in secret) would not draw hostile attention as fast.
The other thing to think about is that an Empire, by definition, has a Emperor/Empress at its head. (Which is why the Klingon Empire has confused me for years. I've head canoned it into a carry over from the days when the Klingons had an Emperor, but I don't know how true that is.)
It's worth noting that Weyoun never made any predictions about the Romulan response to an invasion. That holo-recording was forged by Grathon Tolar at the behest of Sisko
In Star Trek Online the Romulan Star Empire is in torn in two between the fallen empire and the Romulan Republic with the Republic becoming the new government and the old empire more or less collapsing so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Romulan free state got absorbed by the Republic
I liked the Romulan Republic and the Romulan Star Empire from Star Trek Online. How the Star Empire where great antagonists in that, and while the Republic was "too nice" they where at least a believable group to rise from the broken empire. And they weren't written by morons.
I think I chose the name “free state” for a few reasons. The first is because yes there are likely other Romulan with factions. Another is probably a break away from the previous Romulan Empire. This is primarily because through the TNG and DS9, we got to see that the Romulan people were somewhat culturally oppressed by the government, also the Tal’Shiar were rather feared. So likely wanting to move away from that in their new world.
I think the RFS is just the largest of the factions/alliance of romulan worlds after the Empire collapsed. There might not be any bigger, vocal assemblies, but there's probably a few groups of systems that band together for mutual good (or power) but just aren't at the same size as the RFS. So all the other major polities just talk to the RFS, as it's the biggest, the most vocal, and the only one that seems to be recovering at a good rate and maintaining their territories.
They could just go back to Vulcan. Their purging of emotions have kinda stunted them as a people, maybe all it takes is for their sibling species to rejoin the whole for the Vulcans to not suck
Personal guess is that the Romulan Star Empire ended up pretty much fractured after the Federation attempt to help move the Romulans refugees failed; subsequently, the central faction, holding what remained of the original imperial government and forces ended up either defeated, or at the very least, replaced it as the dominant faction. In the process to do so, it needed an outside help to stay relevant and eventually overcome what called itself the Romulan Star Empire, hence, it called itself something else - in this case, Romulan Free State. And to get said help, it became outwardly friendlier to the Federation. When said faction became dominant, Tal Shiar, in an attempt to keep hold of as much power as they can, switched sides. Would that make sense?
The producers of Picard mentioned they envisioned several different Romulan governments have sprouted up in the wake of the Hobus incident and the RFS was the most prominent
I think that it´s one of many small states that rise a result of the fall of the star empire that claim to be the true succesor of the empire . Something similar of what happend when both Roman Empires felt that many of the new kingdoms claim to be the continue of the roman traditions and its spirit. Greetings from Costa Rica
It's not clear to me why they couldn't adapt what happened in Star Trek Online with the 'Star Empire' losing its capital and unity but maintaining autocratic control while hemorrhaging people, ships, and planets to a nascent 'Romulan Republic' that establishes alliances with the Federation and Klingons
One thing that actually played into my sinister mind is that stars can be weaponized and make it go supernova. Its costly to attack a home planet as it is heavily guarded but nearby stars are not so plans can easily be enacted. Its the most distructive way to destroy worlds. (Then insert evil laugh) 😁😁😎✌️
The Romulan Free State is not a successor to the Star Empire but a separate Nation, that was created by several former romulan worlds after the events of the Hobus super nova. Remans as well as the group called reunificationists among their leader D'Tan founded the Free State in order to make a new beginning for the Romulan people and to establish peaceful relations with the Federation and Klingons. So we have two separate Romulan Nations during this time that are competing with each other. The Free State is following the teachings of Spock and is more inclined with the philosophy of the UFP. The remnants of the Star Empire are trying to rebuild the former empire and to recreate its power backed up by the methods of the Tal Shiar.
The Hobus thing isn't canon and is explicitly contradicted by the new Picard series. The supernova being the Hobus system comes from a comic, Countdown. The only canon information before the Picard series was that there was a supernova and it was in Romulan space, close enough to the capital to destroy it. In Picard the supernova is explicitly identified as happening to the Romulan home system.
Well the Writer was explicit that the Romulan Free State is one faction among several after the destruction of Romulus. What is significant is that it is run by the Tal Shiar. Which is run by the Zhat Vash. It is known that the Romulan military has a antagonistic relationship with the Tal Shiar. During the hijacking of the USS Prometheus the lead operative was supposed to hand it over to the military but went for the Tal Shiar. The Tal Shiar was noticebly absent during the Shinzon incident. It was the military that sponsored Shinzon's coup. Hawks wanted a war but backed out when Shinzon planned genocide. We have to also note the Tal Shiar was decimated by the Battle of Omicron Nebula. By the Dominion War it had a Section 31 mole high in it's ranks. What happened to that we don't know. However the Tal Shiar had place a Half Vulcan operative in Starfleet security that was responsible for the destruction of Mars and 900 million Romulan deaths as the Federation can no longer help them.
I’m personally not sure about the new timelines. So far it’s gone pretty well, and I get they had to differentiate the reboots, but it seems to add another layer of complexity
The geopolitics of Stat Trek Picard could have been very interesting, but the writers clearly don't watch videos like these at The Templin Institute or Spacedock, and par the course with "Discovery" they make a nonsensical hash of it. This is in star contrast with a show like "The Expanse" were a lot of thought goes into the geopolitical backdrop, the world building of that space opera franchise.
Hypothesis and probable retcon about the Hobus Supernova and a problematic line of dialog: When the Spock from the future melds with Kirk from the Kelvin Timeline he states that a supernova "threatened to destroy the galaxy." Most everyone seems to take that statement literally, but what if Spock was simplifying the situation and only revealing what he had to? What if what actually happened was far more complicated in that the destabilization of the Romulan Star Empire through the destruction of Romulus and Remus would set off a chain of events that would "threaten to destroy the galaxy?" While Spock is no stranger to long winded and detailed explanations, he keeps the imparted information to a minimum so as not to do any more damage to the timeline that has already been done in accordance to what could be called a "Temporal Prime Directive" if you will. [Although I would argue that if makes infinitely more sense if the Kelvin Timeline was an already established alternate reality that simply shares pivotal events with the Prime Timeline, but that is another topic for another day.] And as we, the audience, were seeing this universe through Kirk's perspective we would not be privy to that information. Anyway, just a thought.
I would like to note that the Romulan Star Empire also had a lot of soft power problems. IE they were an authoritarian empire that schemed and oppressed anyone they could find. Sure the Empire could make their enemies fear them, but they couldn't their allies to *like* them. Hell, they couldn't even get their own people to love them, there's a reason the Tal Shiar had so much power in the first place. While the Free State would get the Empire's rights with a new name, they might also get it's baggage. It's the same reason West and East Germany refused to call themselves "Nazi Germany". Sure, they could probably wrangle a few pennies out of the name change, but there's enough of a stigma behind it that tying themselves to the old name wouldn't be worth the effort. Also, I'd like to note that the Romulan Free State also *very clearly* had factional problems of its own. A rogue intelligence division (that nobody had heard of up to this point) was able to collect a frankly massive fleet of warbirds, at will, for a mission that could charitably be called batshit insane, without going through *any* apparent oversight or red tape. Oh, and in the process of this batshit plan, in addition to summoning a massive fleet of warbirds that the Free State had no control over, this rogue intelligence division also lost a powerful one of a kind science station, killed/tried to kill most of its population living on it (including prominent citizens of a foreign power), almost genocided another group of unique life forms, and then almost started a war with the Federation over all three of these issues because of *course* the Federation gets involved when you activate a Borg cube, kill Federation citizens, and try to genocide a community of unique life forms. All of this, by the way, happened without *any* input from the Romulan Free State government. So it's very likely that in addition to keeping other powers like the Federation or the Klingons, or the Cardassians from just waltzing in and taking over their territory, they also have to balance internal forces, which have stronger control over their military, scientific, and intelligence arms than the nominal government does. For all we know, the Free State might be calling itself "Free" because those internal forces might perceive a rename as a hostile act, a sign the government is getting it's shit together, and is going to clamp down on them. Honestly, we don't know, but I'm hoping we'll find out more as the shows progress!
There are assuredly competing states. The collapse of the civilian government on Romulus would have been devastating, but it would likely have not affected the leadership of either the Imperial Navy or the Tal'Shiar. There is assuredly at least one military junta in existence, commanded by the likes of an Admiral Sela, but there are probably several. If you take the inspiration of the Romulan government and naming conventions of it's military to a further degree than the typical surface level shown on screen, Roman military leaders often commanded more loyalty from their soldiers than did the state. It's possible that every admiral with a sizeable fleet has seized a handful of systems and set themselves up as warlords, similar to what we saw in the Star Wars EU after the collapse of the Galactic Empire. The existence of the "Free Romulan State" on the edges of Federation space are likely evidence of the acknowledged danger of a military regime on the borders of a Federation super power. Clearly, the Free State does not command any meaningful navy, as they cannot even patrol their own space of pirates adequately, even pirates using two hundred year old technology.
As interesting as all this is, I'm sorry, but an advanced interstellar empire that's been around for many, many centuries at this point suddenly discovering that a star very close to their home planet is on the doorstep of supernova absolutely ejects my suspension of disbelief out the airlock.
There is one thing I would love to see, borrowed from Star Trek Online: Sela has declared herself Empress of what remains of the Empire, and is trying to re-consolidate all the worlds under her control again.....I wonder if they could get Denise Crosby back to play her for a few episodes in next season of "Picard"? ^_^
So we're just going to ignore the romulan republic, I mean this is not considered cannon but some of us who don't play Star trek online and those who do, I being one of those people who not play the online game do like the concept of romulan faction that makes alliances with the Klingon empire & the federation that in the end, stopped another war between the two faction's.
I would point out that another reason to have a different name is to avoid the connotations and assumptions that the Romulan Star Empire brings up. Even if they don't reflect it in actual policy, they might be trying to put up a front of being a more free society, if only for PR purposes. Taking the Romulan Star Empire would not reflect this at all.
One thing that actually played into my sinister mind is that stars can be weaponized and make it go supernova. Its the most distructive way to destroy worlds. (Then insert evil laugh) 😁😁😎
Personally, I think we should keep in mind how much the loss of Romulus would have affected the empire. While the Romulans weren't at outright war with any of the great powers, their suddenly tenuous position has probably forced them to take a more conciliatory approach with their neighbors. The last thing they need right now is a conflict with the Klingons, the Cardassians, or Starfleet. The name change was probably an attempt to distance themselves from the previous Star Empire and it's adversarial relationship with... well... everyone, while also appealing to the Federation since their the strongest potential ally they could reach out to who probably won't invade them anytime soon.
the Klingon's were right @$$holes off the batleth they immediately seized territory and drove out or enslaved any Romulan's caught in the area when the Federation got involved it led to a new Federation Klingon war if you go with Beta Canon aka Star Trek Online
Knowing the way CBS has screwed Star Trek, I think it's pure laziness. If this is was the STO timeline, there would be a Romulan Republic recognized by both the Federation and the Klingons. We all know that there was a movement running to make the Romulan Star Empire into a republic. The problem becomes where CBS and its writers don't care about any sort of canon or lazily think it's okay to just cobble things together to make it sound Star Trek.
Thing is, Picard take place 10 years before STO starts so they could easily have the Romulan Free State shatter and devolve into a resurgent empire and a reformist republic under D'Tan.
Actually, that could make a lot of sense - in the STO timeline, Seyla is still out there, taking over what remains of the Empire as its new ruler, with in-theory support from what remains of the Tal Shiar, and the Tal Shiar are very interested in Borg tech... The New Empire eventually attacks the Free State, splintering it, causing some to find new colony worlds like Virinat, or form resistance groups like Obisek's, and others to take to the stars forming the Romulan Flotilla, which is where D'Tan lays the foundations of the Republic.
"If knowledge is power then to be unknown is to be unconquerable"
Makes sense. Afterall if no one knows where or who you are, no one can do anything against you.
@@MasouShizuka, yes, it does. And, now that I think of it, that seems like a strategy quite a few countries on our own world have employed at one point or another. Two big examples I can think of are the Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China. Both were/are very secretive states. They often lied/lie about what's going on inside their borders, or just don't talk about them at all. And both of them were/are very powerful nations, so the fact that nobody except them really knew/know what the hell they are, or what they're planning next, makes them very hard to attack. They're just too much of a mystery to do anything about.
@DeSPoTNemanjaS, how exactly?
@DeSPoTNemanjaS, okay, true.
"Greater Romulan Union"? Well, now, that's a silly name. Who would call their nation that?
I see what you did there ;)
ayyy
@Tesla-Effect TERRA INVICTAS!
@@darthXreven is that that a gundam 00 and zeta gundam reference?
to be fair, many times throughout its history, China called itself "The Middle/Center Kingdom" referring to their place as the center of all civilization, culture, technology, and anything else the ancient Chinese considered important, so hubris-based names for nations have IRL bases.
I prefer Star Trek Online's cannon where the Romulan goverment partly survived and is now a puppet of the Tal Shiar with a number of independent refugee colonies spread out across former Romulan space. which form a Romulan Republic fighting a civil war against the empire with federation and Klingon support.
Oh yeah, I love the way the Cryptic writers bent the lore so as to integrate the entire Hobus event neatly into their timeline which also made sense. ^^
It's a little more complicated than the old government being puppets of the Tal Shiar in STO. The Romulan Star Empire and the Tal Shiar both survived, as did dozens of other fragmented Romulan colonies or proto-states (much like the Romulan Free State, and eventually the Romulan Republic). The Star Empire and the Tal Shiar, despite nominally working together, are actually pretty much at war with one another. There are a few missions that imply or out right state that the two don't share intel with one another, nor do they help each other with manpower or ship building. There is a clear distinction made between Star Empire, led by Empress Sela, and the Tal Shiar, led by Colonel Hakeev. After Hakeev gets killed by the Reman Resistance and Sela is imprisoned by the Federation, you never really see or hear from the Tal Shiar or Star Empire again, kind of implying that the Romulan Republic has finally wiped them out.
I will say, the Romulan Free Sate in Picard is closer to what you describe. They are nominally independent, but it is made pretty clear that the Tal Shiar remnants are calling the shots in their territory.
The writers at STO had alot of bullshit to wade through. The Hobus incident is one of single worst piece of sci-fi lore ever devised; written by a dude who hated Star Trek. So I continually congratulate Cryptic on how well they handled it, and made it coherent and plausible.
I highly agree
I did appreciate that nothing in Picard directly contradicted the lore in STO, especially considering the Romulan Republic is my chosen faction. ;)
There's probably several competing states, including some kind of Klingon-backed faction, possibly a Cardassian-backed faction, and so on. The Romulan Free State might be trying to curry favour with the Federation.
The Cardassians lost virtually all influence at the end of the Dominion War and I hypthesize the only move left for them to make was to join the Federation. Klingons and Romulans are bitter enemies, so such a pact would be ostracized by other Romulans.
@@juliuscaesar5397 Then again, the "Congo Free State", which was anything but
Why would the Romulans ever be backed up by the Federation? Since the Earth-Romulan war, Romulans have been against humanity. They just don't need humans.
@@travisfoster1071 Yes but they would and probably need to accept Federation assistance not only at the start of the disaster but afterwards to ensure the validity and safety of themselves from peoples, organisation and even other empires (eg Klingon's,others). who would love to kick the when they are down or would just use the opportunity
Thomas Bailey Romulans are not Vulcans. They have, on numerous occasions, chosen ideology over logic. The show begins with the Romulan cabal willing to sabotage a rescue mission for their own people, just to accomplish their agenda. An alliance with the Federation is a betrayal of everything that makes them who they are. Hell, the disgraced Romulan Senator killed by Elnor spells this whole thinking out.
Wouldn't it be astropolitical instead of geopolitical? Since it's between stars, not on Earth.
WhenImInSpacePolitical
@@shayneoneill1506 SPAAAAAATICAL.
If I had my own "here's an interesting thing Sci-Fi usually doesn't get right" TH-cam channel, the very first episode would be debunking this tendency to coin neologisms like that: people just don't do that. Even if we had a "star empire" a century or three from now, "geopolitical" would doubtless still be the word used to mean, well, "geopolitical--" though it is true a word never _entirely_ shakes off its lexical origin, most do expand well beyond its original semantic/pragmatic area. Random example: you would say that an automobile, a submarine, a space shuttle, and a steam locomotive were all "vehicles," even though none of them are little hand-pulled wagons, which is what _vehiculum_ used to mean:.
For the record, PIC's pilot episode establishes that it was the Romulan sun itself that went supernova, not the Hobus system as in the original EU. That would explain how it decapitated the Star Empire so quickly and thoroughly.
As I understood it, it sounded like the Hobus Star (that went supernova) was likely a star that the Romulan star system orbited. I'm sure there's a scientific name for that, but its kind of like how we orbit the sun and the moon orbits the Earth...except in the case of Romulus, the sun is Hobus, the Earth being the Romulan sun, and the moon is Romulus.
Personally I’d like it if the Romulan Republic from STO were made canon. I enjoyed that storyline the most and I think it opens the way for a lot of new ideas to explore. Yes the Federation needs rivals but I don’t like a whole species being just the bad guys with only a few exemptions. The idea of an underdog group of former baddies trying to build something new while trying to redeem themselves in the eyes of galaxy, having to defend their idealism from their own more traditionalist brethren, it sounds really interesting to me.
Just an observation, that in the same way that nations that call themselves "The Democratic Republic of *(Blank)"* , tend not to be very Democratic, something tells me the Romulan Free State, isn't very free
I suggest looking up the Congo Free State...
@@taln0reich literally a Belgian colony
"The Democratic Republic of _____" is almost always a Communist State.
For example: The "Democratic" People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), which isn't very "Democratic".
Like Soviet Russia after Imperial Russia, you would have Free Romulus after Imperial Romulus.
Reason for the supernova : ICONIANS
Or Section 31.
Dammit Sela! :P
Steven Knight, if you go with Star Trek Online aka Beta Canon you would be correct 😊
I find it more interesting of a story set up than all this 'Zhat Vash' and Reaper/Squids storyline, anyway, @freeze1 .
Currently considering Nu Octantis also, as candidate for the Hobus star, that detonated.
"They're trying to claim it when it'd advantageous and deny it when it's not"
Because of course they are - they're Romulans
@@JeanLucCaptain, because that makes no sense whatsoever. And I am aware, this is most likely a joke, I'm just saying the name not only makes no sense, it just sounds dumb all on its own.
"Ah, the romulans so predictably treacherous"
-Weyoun
I wouldn't be surprised that after the destruction of Romulus, the Romulans had themselves a civil war that probably still wages on. Without Romulus to unite them, the various factions and colonies would've found others to join and consolidate their power while others would try to take over what remains of the Empire.
I think it's likely that the Free State is competing with other Romulan factions. I'm rooting for whichever one that Sela's running :P
if you go by Beta Canon in Star Trek Online in 2409 Sela is in charge of the remnants of the Romulan Star Empire holding tenuously to what little power they held she causes quite a bit of trouble for your character throughout your experience 😒
And the new legitimate Government for the Romulans is led by a man who worked with Spock himself (R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy) and has a vastly better relationship with the major powers than the RSE
@@matthewbrune5490, that would be D'Tan of the Romulan Republic a Reunificationist taught by Spock himself 😊
S’ what I said and yup :P
Writer Michael Chabon said in a Q&A that this is exactly the case, the Romulan Free State is just one of dozens of Romulan remnants. We kind of get a glimpse of another independent warlord in Picard, when the antique Warbird shows up it is commanded by some warlord that apparently controls the space around the relocation site.
I think you've put more thought into this than the last 10 years of writers have
1:15 No, he didn’t. The meeting where Weyoun said that was a fabrication by Garak and Sisko to trick the Romulans into the war.
This is Dominion propaganda, the rare anomalies in the recording certainly came from the destruction of the ship carrying it.
Yes, but no one knows that except for Garak and Sisko.
And this was part of/one of Garak's plan's so I have no doubt that basically everything said could be taken to the bank.
I prefer the STO version of events, the Tal'Shiar clame the Romulan Star Empire name and the breakaway moderates are the Romulan Republic.
I see the Free State as a precursor to the Romulan Republic from STO. The Free State just has a hell of a lot more problems to iron out before it can reach that level.
I really wish none of this was canon, but I guess we have to make do. I’ll just keep imagining that Star Trek ended with janeway coming back and it’s been happily ever after since then
Oh get spaced.
Honestly, a huge missed opportunity for the writers post Dominion War. An implacable, mysterious enemy with an unassailable home front and strange abilities. So powerful it requires the unification of several disparate local powers. The rough and tumble warrior race with a penchant for wicked bladed weapons and birdlike ships, inscrutable space elves that like their ships BIG, a short disagreeable species with natural talents that aren't always appreciated, and a human-led Starfleet holding it all together. Did I just describe the Earth-Romulan War or the Dominion War? Would have very much liked a newly united Alpha-Beta Quadrant rebuilding after the war and realizing they may have only bought time with the Dominion, there's always the Borg, and given reports from the last century a highly advanced menace from the Andromeda Galaxy is coming.
You put more thought into the Romulan Free State than the writers of the show.
Oh grow up.
There are probably other Romulan factions fighting each other for supremacy like Romulan Republic or Romulan-Cardassian Alliance. The Free State just happens to have the Tal Shiar in their ranks.
I hope we get to see more of the Romulan Free State and the other Romulan factions, as well as the Klingons, Cardassians, and the Dominion, when the time comes.
I very much hope that the Romulan Empire is re-established as a strong actor soon or late that could rival Star Fleet. The Galacy is boring without real oposition to the Federation, and it is sad enough that so many rivals had be taken out already (and make always new enemies does often work not that good). I think it is even more dumb to let nature (or whatever was behind the nova) do the dirty work for the homo-sapiens-club.
Your thoughts seem to make a lot of sense. I could very well imagine that there are factions who fight each other for controll either openly or are at least locked in some kind of rivalry in which it is uncertain if they will merge over negotiations or via force (and to which conditions).
Local commanders on the borders, surviving senators and members of the old nobility may fight, why former servants try to break free or form even coalitions - just to be crushed under the fire of local fleets. Something like the crisis of the late Roman Empire in the third century AC.
A unification-war in which in the end the romulan old families, and new actors like warlords in part fight each other and in part choose to cooperate but in the end build a new senate and form a new central government for all Romulans - either lead directly by the senate, a new Praetor or even a Emperor or Empress (who maybe choose their future heir in ccoperation with the Senate) would be a interesting story. Star Fleet very likeley would be drawn into the conflict by being called to help by wannabe-breakaway-factions like species who were conquered by the Empire, or even manipulated by factions in the war to help them or at least harm their rivals. Falsa-flagg-attacks, false promisses... And honestly, if there is not the typical plot armor it is likely that they would fooled a lot by the Romulans.
In the end I think some form of new Empire would be the only logical choice. The Empire was the proud history of those who walked under the raptor's wings for many centuries and no one who really want to unite the Romulans could put this heirloom away. Maybe it is the Raptor Empire or some other slight variation of the old name. Since there is no longer the old central world they may name themself other (on the other hand, the Eastern Roman Empire called himself Roman LONG after they lost controll over Rome). But a link to the old Empire seems very likely.
I do think there should be a rival. And maybe we will see something new from the gamma or delta quadrant or from outside the galaxy. Until then I think an interesting thing to do in the Star Trek universe would be to have a civil war or major political fight in the Federation. In the current way the universe is both in beta and alpha canon media, I could see a growing force in the Federation pushing for more militarization. So much has happened in the last fifty years of star trek lore including at least two major wars with the Cardassians, War with the Klingons, all the Dominion stuff, the Maque, the Borg encroachments and all the craziness in the Romulans. I see maybe an andorian led faction pushing for the formation of a formal navy separate from starfleet with the goal of pacify a violent galaxy for the betterment of all. Would love to see the political ppower plays involved in whether the Federation should attempt nation building or just let people do what they want outside its borders.
Hard disagree. Given these aren't documentaries the point of Trek wins over all other considerations. An d the point of Trek is that they are morality plays. And in Trek, a free, egalitarian society focused on peaceful exploration is the ideal. Frankly the idea a slave-holding, xenophobic police state and a corrupt, militaristic feudal monarchy can keep up with that society for centuries is about as damning a case as can be made.
Honestly, TNG made a big mistake on focusing on minimizing Vulcans as its break from TOS and should have made the Klingon and Romulan Empires has beens or even joining the Federation like was vaguely mentioned by Wesley early on for the Klingons. Ferengi and Cardassians were never gonna take the place of entities that the audience had known for decades unless you had a big and powerful Klingon kowtowing to them because they got supplanted as the local big bads...which given it's space and a century later is entirely possible (see Dominion, Borg, etc).
And in regards to threats, from old canon, there are still the Borg, Dominion, the Kelvans are coming soon, etc. Honestly, if you need a rival state I'd much prefer what should have been the logical counter to the Federation forming. Something like the Klingons, Romulans, Breen, Orions, Sheliak, etc joining up and forming some Confederation cause they realize they can't in the long run keep up with folks that can send cruise ships against their best warships and win.
It Star Trek Online the Romulas do form a republic well one faction of them does the empire also partially is resurrected.
I can't help but think of the Fall of the Iron Curtain. So much change came about from that, but within a generation, we found out some things were going back to the way things were.
HAHAHA! I read the title as Romulan Free Real Estate. Nice video, I'm obsessed with the lores the institute churns out. Love it!
Can you do videos on the God Emperor of Dune from Fank Herbert's Dune series and the Hiigaren tribes from Homeworld please?
@Marcus-Aerilius Maximus
But what's wrong having the Templin Institute doing it?
Could we get a dossier on Yang Wen-li?
That would be wonderful
Yes
I'd prefer one on Admiral Bittenfeld. lol
Quick note: The change from "Irish Free State" to "Republic of Ireland" wasn't just a symbolic change. The actual form of government changed from a constitutional monarchy in personal union with Great Britain (where the Crown was represented by a Governor-General) to a semi-presidential republic.
IIRC Picard retconned the Hobus supernova so it was actually the Romulus star that exploded. In which case, Spock's plan in 09 makes no sense anymore.
I really wish we had gotten some more insight into internal Romulan politics. Hell, they could've even used Elnor for this, since it would make sense for the Qowat Milat to keep tabs on Tal Shiar activities. Or Seven of Nine could've had a couple of lines about the Fenris Rangers trying to keep various Romulan factions in check.
sounds like you put WAY more thought into this than the writers of the show......
the other options at the time of it's founding were Romulan Clown Circus or Romco so Free State was the obvious choice :P
So much mystery and unknowns. it's almost like the writers didn't think at all when coming up with it.
I like to think the Romulan Free State is not a successionist state, and in fact, a highly organized form of governmental extremists from the Tal Shiar, Zhat Vash, and Romulan Military. The Free State and its actors, throughout the show, chose to pursue their mission of synth genocide at the expense of valuable personnel and assets, like the deserted Borg Cube and why they seemed totally unconcerned with consolidating their secular authority any further than it already was. This would answer many of the questions raised in your video, as their goals were never political, but ideological.
i think that there may very be a civil war brewing between the successor government and other factions that existed under the rule of the empire such as for example the Remans. This name change may be a ploy to alleviate civil unrest without putting forth any actual change.
I think Star Trek: Picard should have ended with: "Stop simulation." followed by Picard revoking Wesely's Holodeck privileges for a year.
It's about time we got another narrator.
"Finance the evacuation of Romulus"
Wait...isn't money not a thing anymore?
Gold pressed latinum
Its only the Feds who think so, and if it is of cultural value the Federation has no right to abolish it.
Like that immersion you did there Marc by not acknowledging that the whole vorta strategist scene was a complete holo deck fabrication. It’s fortunate that the hypothesis was still correct nonetheless.
Worth another shot. How about the Scarren Empire or the Peacekeepers from Farscape?
I'd love this
I have a great suggestion: Republic of Gilead(Handmaid's Tale). It's a good show.
Interesting, even though it's non-canon.
Suggestions:
ANY faction from Endless legend or Endless space franchise.
Love it.
This is all Kelvin time line crap from the first Abrams movie.
Makes sense for several factions to create their own state or, more precisely, have their respective leaders claiming the leadership of all Romulan people (akin to what happened in Rome after the death of Nero). Regarding the Free State specifically: it's hard to say whether the choice of name is just a ploy or a genuine attempt at differentiate themselves with the Star Empire, because after all the whole plot of Picard makes somewhat little sense
The Romulan Free State want to pay it safe, but the Tal-Shiar...
Here are some video suggestions:
•New London and Winterhome-Frostpunk
•Mann Co,RED and BLU-Team Fortress 2
•Alterra Corp.-Subnautica
•The Federation,The Rebellion and the 6 races-FTL
•UEF,Cybran and Aeon-Supreme Commander
•The SCP Foundation
do you have plans to explore the Endless Legends unique planet and the many races and faction???
I think one of the producers confirmed that there were other rival factions that were competing against the Free State to be the successor to the Star Empire, they are simply the strongest since they have the backing of the Tal Shiar.
In all likelihood, the writers for STP just did not think it through, which is why many are left scratching their heads and trying to excuse obvious holes with the premise that the Romulans are just naturally 'mysterious'.
Oppotunitues abound when any government central authority collapses, like a zombie apocalypse, a supernova, internal or external political collapse, war, death, destruction, when the shit hits the fan, etc. That is the perfect time to carve a piece of the former unified territory and become one of many warlords to fight for succession authority.
So, basically the Romulan Star Empire turns into China going from the fall of the Qing to the Cold War?
@@occam7382 you bet it is pal! The USA can go the same way. Tromp and his loyal supporters with loyal generals refuse to give up power and do a coup d'etat, Biden and his supporters decide to fight back, and you have a civil war that splits the government and military down the middle. Eventually the regional military commanders decide to succeed and do their own thing, and then you have lots of smaller warlords fighting each other to try to take control of what was whole, and is now fractured.
Possible multiple factions, but the freestate (effectively being run by the talshiar) are currently the largest faction, and have openly offered a hand of cooperation and information exchange with the federation thereby securing recognition from the current super power of the alpha and beta quadrent and thus preventing the federation from supporting another romulan faction. The pro's are that the talshiar are able to cross the neutral zone with little resistance and can covertly operate in federation space. The cons are that as the officially regognised successor they must now follow a number of preexisting treaties such as the treaty of Algeron.
With the Romulans, you can't be sure of anything. And one more thing, it's canon. We're not talking about artillery.
There's probably a Romulan Peoples Front and a Peoples Front of Romulus.
I see the Romulan Free State as being a substitute for Starfleet having no clear purpose anymore. Otherwise, just a temporary plot device for series that wasn't supposed to survive for a second season.
I believe is a combination of all the statements that you have made. Multiple factions vying for power. Not to mention external factions propping up some. By not using the romulan star empire name; that will give time for a new government to consolidate its power. While not having to deal with obligations. And let's not forget some of the original conquered civilizations. Do now have an opportunity to set up their own governments. All you have to do is look at what happened after the fall of the Roman empire.
Keep bringing the videos.
Random thought but some Endless legends or space races would be nice as well. The Broken Lords for example.
The name could also be an attempt to avoid provoking an attack by neighbors by appearing weaker than they actually are. A claim to still be an empire would likely draw rivals wanting to test this, to verify, in the aftermath of their setbacks, whether they still held the power necessary to keep their holdings. A free state that doesn't claim a name announcing imperial ambitions (even if it still holds these ambitions in secret) would not draw hostile attention as fast.
The other thing to think about is that an Empire, by definition, has a Emperor/Empress at its head. (Which is why the Klingon Empire has confused me for years. I've head canoned it into a carry over from the days when the Klingons had an Emperor, but I don't know how true that is.)
Hell yeah the empire split in different powers
You seek logic in kurztman's trek ? a futile effort...
It's worth noting that Weyoun never made any predictions about the Romulan response to an invasion. That holo-recording was forged by Grathon Tolar at the behest of Sisko
In Star Trek Online the Romulan Star Empire is in torn in two between the fallen empire and the Romulan Republic with the Republic becoming the new government and the old empire more or less collapsing so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Romulan free state got absorbed by the Republic
I liked the Romulan Republic and the Romulan Star Empire from Star Trek Online.
How the Star Empire where great antagonists in that, and while the Republic was "too nice" they where at least a believable group to rise from the broken empire.
And they weren't written by morons.
Star Trek writers are pausing and rewinding this video for ideas
I think I chose the name “free state” for a few reasons.
The first is because yes there are likely other Romulan with factions.
Another is probably a break away from the previous Romulan Empire. This is primarily because through the TNG and DS9, we got to see that the Romulan people were somewhat culturally oppressed by the government, also the Tal’Shiar were rather feared. So likely wanting to move away from that in their new world.
Not all Freestates changed their names. Bavaria and Saxony for instance call themselves since 1918 Freestate (Freistaat)
I think the RFS is just the largest of the factions/alliance of romulan worlds after the Empire collapsed. There might not be any bigger, vocal assemblies, but there's probably a few groups of systems that band together for mutual good (or power) but just aren't at the same size as the RFS. So all the other major polities just talk to the RFS, as it's the biggest, the most vocal, and the only one that seems to be recovering at a good rate and maintaining their territories.
You think you can make a video about the
Regime from the Injustice universe?
They could just go back to Vulcan. Their purging of emotions have kinda stunted them as a people, maybe all it takes is for their sibling species to rejoin the whole for the Vulcans to not suck
Personal guess is that the Romulan Star Empire ended up pretty much fractured after the Federation attempt to help move the Romulans refugees failed; subsequently, the central faction, holding what remained of the original imperial government and forces ended up either defeated, or at the very least, replaced it as the dominant faction. In the process to do so, it needed an outside help to stay relevant and eventually overcome what called itself the Romulan Star Empire, hence, it called itself something else - in this case, Romulan Free State. And to get said help, it became outwardly friendlier to the Federation. When said faction became dominant, Tal Shiar, in an attempt to keep hold of as much power as they can, switched sides.
Would that make sense?
The producers of Picard mentioned they envisioned several different Romulan governments have sprouted up in the wake of the Hobus incident and the RFS was the most prominent
I think that it´s one of many small states that rise a result of the fall of the star empire that claim to be the true succesor of the empire . Something similar of what happend when both Roman Empires felt that many of the new kingdoms claim to be the continue of the roman traditions and its spirit. Greetings from Costa Rica
It's not clear to me why they couldn't adapt what happened in Star Trek Online with the 'Star Empire' losing its capital and unity but maintaining autocratic control while hemorrhaging people, ships, and planets to a nascent 'Romulan Republic' that establishes alliances with the Federation and Klingons
One thing that actually played into my sinister mind is that stars can be weaponized and make it go supernova. Its costly to attack a home planet as it is heavily guarded but nearby stars are not so plans can easily be enacted. Its the most distructive way to destroy worlds. (Then insert evil laugh) 😁😁😎✌️
Could have Skynet been able to win the war with the Resistance with conventional means in the Terminator franchise?
The Romulan Free State is not a successor to the Star Empire but a separate Nation, that was created by several former romulan worlds after the events of the Hobus super nova.
Remans as well as the group called reunificationists among their leader D'Tan founded the Free State in order to make a new beginning for the Romulan people and to establish peaceful relations with the Federation and Klingons.
So we have two separate Romulan Nations during this time that are competing with each other. The Free State is following the teachings of Spock and is more inclined with the philosophy of the UFP. The remnants of the Star Empire are trying to rebuild the former empire and to recreate its power backed up by the methods of the Tal Shiar.
The Hobus thing isn't canon and is explicitly contradicted by the new Picard series. The supernova being the Hobus system comes from a comic, Countdown. The only canon information before the Picard series was that there was a supernova and it was in Romulan space, close enough to the capital to destroy it. In Picard the supernova is explicitly identified as happening to the Romulan home system.
Viltrumite Empire (Invincible)
Guild of Calamitous Intent (Venture Bros)
Frieza Force (Dragon Ball)
Great Diamond Authority (Steven Universe)
Well the Writer was explicit that the Romulan Free State is one faction among several after the destruction of Romulus. What is significant is that it is run by the Tal Shiar. Which is run by the Zhat Vash. It is known that the Romulan military has a antagonistic relationship with the Tal Shiar. During the hijacking of the USS Prometheus the lead operative was supposed to hand it over to the military but went for the Tal Shiar. The Tal Shiar was noticebly absent during the Shinzon incident. It was the military that sponsored Shinzon's coup. Hawks wanted a war but backed out when Shinzon planned genocide. We have to also note the Tal Shiar was decimated by the Battle of Omicron Nebula. By the Dominion War it had a Section 31 mole high in it's ranks. What happened to that we don't know. However the Tal Shiar had place a Half Vulcan operative in Starfleet security that was responsible for the destruction of Mars and 900 million Romulan deaths as the Federation can no longer help them.
I look to Orange free state, an off shot of the Dutch (Romulan) empire with interaction with a larger power, the British (Federation).
I’m personally not sure about the new timelines. So far it’s gone pretty well, and I get they had to differentiate the reboots, but it seems to add another layer of complexity
The geopolitics of Stat Trek Picard could have been very interesting, but the writers clearly don't watch videos like these at The Templin Institute or Spacedock, and par the course with "Discovery" they make a nonsensical hash of it. This is in star contrast with a show like "The Expanse" were a lot of thought goes into the geopolitical backdrop, the world building of that space opera franchise.
Because Star Trek is'nt The expanse
I really hope the free state turns into the romulan republic or something like that
"Greater Romulan Union" is that a play on your Stellaris Invicta state name "Greater Terran Union"?
Most likely.
i never really liked star trek but i like the videos you make of star trek and you may one day even convince me to like it
Go watch it.
Just don't watch Discovery and Picard is all I have to say
Hypothesis and probable retcon about the Hobus Supernova and a problematic line of dialog: When the Spock from the future melds with Kirk from the Kelvin Timeline he states that a supernova "threatened to destroy the galaxy." Most everyone seems to take that statement literally, but what if Spock was simplifying the situation and only revealing what he had to? What if what actually happened was far more complicated in that the destabilization of the Romulan Star Empire through the destruction of Romulus and Remus would set off a chain of events that would "threaten to destroy the galaxy?"
While Spock is no stranger to long winded and detailed explanations, he keeps the imparted information to a minimum so as not to do any more damage to the timeline that has already been done in accordance to what could be called a "Temporal Prime Directive" if you will. [Although I would argue that if makes infinitely more sense if the Kelvin Timeline was an already established alternate reality that simply shares pivotal events with the Prime Timeline, but that is another topic for another day.] And as we, the audience, were seeing this universe through Kirk's perspective we would not be privy to that information.
Anyway, just a thought.
I would like to note that the Romulan Star Empire also had a lot of soft power problems. IE they were an authoritarian empire that schemed and oppressed anyone they could find. Sure the Empire could make their enemies fear them, but they couldn't their allies to *like* them. Hell, they couldn't even get their own people to love them, there's a reason the Tal Shiar had so much power in the first place.
While the Free State would get the Empire's rights with a new name, they might also get it's baggage. It's the same reason West and East Germany refused to call themselves "Nazi Germany". Sure, they could probably wrangle a few pennies out of the name change, but there's enough of a stigma behind it that tying themselves to the old name wouldn't be worth the effort.
Also, I'd like to note that the Romulan Free State also *very clearly* had factional problems of its own. A rogue intelligence division (that nobody had heard of up to this point) was able to collect a frankly massive fleet of warbirds, at will, for a mission that could charitably be called batshit insane, without going through *any* apparent oversight or red tape.
Oh, and in the process of this batshit plan, in addition to summoning a massive fleet of warbirds that the Free State had no control over, this rogue intelligence division also lost a powerful one of a kind science station, killed/tried to kill most of its population living on it (including prominent citizens of a foreign power), almost genocided another group of unique life forms, and then almost started a war with the Federation over all three of these issues because of *course* the Federation gets involved when you activate a Borg cube, kill Federation citizens, and try to genocide a community of unique life forms.
All of this, by the way, happened without *any* input from the Romulan Free State government.
So it's very likely that in addition to keeping other powers like the Federation or the Klingons, or the Cardassians from just waltzing in and taking over their territory, they also have to balance internal forces, which have stronger control over their military, scientific, and intelligence arms than the nominal government does. For all we know, the Free State might be calling itself "Free" because those internal forces might perceive a rename as a hostile act, a sign the government is getting it's shit together, and is going to clamp down on them.
Honestly, we don't know, but I'm hoping we'll find out more as the shows progress!
There are assuredly competing states. The collapse of the civilian government on Romulus would have been devastating, but it would likely have not affected the leadership of either the Imperial Navy or the Tal'Shiar. There is assuredly at least one military junta in existence, commanded by the likes of an Admiral Sela, but there are probably several. If you take the inspiration of the Romulan government and naming conventions of it's military to a further degree than the typical surface level shown on screen, Roman military leaders often commanded more loyalty from their soldiers than did the state. It's possible that every admiral with a sizeable fleet has seized a handful of systems and set themselves up as warlords, similar to what we saw in the Star Wars EU after the collapse of the Galactic Empire.
The existence of the "Free Romulan State" on the edges of Federation space are likely evidence of the acknowledged danger of a military regime on the borders of a Federation super power. Clearly, the Free State does not command any meaningful navy, as they cannot even patrol their own space of pirates adequately, even pirates using two hundred year old technology.
How big was the Romulan empire?
Looking at the star map... It takes more of millions of stars!! 😮
What kind of super nova could threaten to destroy a quarter of the Galaxy?
As interesting as all this is, I'm sorry, but an advanced interstellar empire that's been around for many, many centuries at this point suddenly discovering that a star very close to their home planet is on the doorstep of supernova absolutely ejects my suspension of disbelief out the airlock.
There is one thing I would love to see, borrowed from Star Trek Online: Sela has declared herself Empress of what remains of the Empire, and is trying to re-consolidate all the worlds under her control again.....I wonder if they could get Denise Crosby back to play her for a few episodes in next season of "Picard"? ^_^
So we're just going to ignore the romulan republic, I mean this is not considered cannon but some of us who don't play Star trek online and those who do, I being one of those people who not play the online game do like the concept of romulan faction that makes alliances with the Klingon empire & the federation that in the end, stopped another war between the two faction's.
I would point out that another reason to have a different name is to avoid the connotations and assumptions that the Romulan Star Empire brings up. Even if they don't reflect it in actual policy, they might be trying to put up a front of being a more free society, if only for PR purposes. Taking the Romulan Star Empire would not reflect this at all.
One thing that actually played into my sinister mind is that stars can be weaponized and make it go supernova. Its the most distructive way to destroy worlds. (Then insert evil laugh) 😁😁😎
Personally, I think we should keep in mind how much the loss of Romulus would have affected the empire. While the Romulans weren't at outright war with any of the great powers, their suddenly tenuous position has probably forced them to take a more conciliatory approach with their neighbors. The last thing they need right now is a conflict with the Klingons, the Cardassians, or Starfleet. The name change was probably an attempt to distance themselves from the previous Star Empire and it's adversarial relationship with... well... everyone, while also appealing to the Federation since their the strongest potential ally they could reach out to who probably won't invade them anytime soon.
the Klingon's were right @$$holes off the batleth they immediately seized territory and drove out or enslaved any Romulan's caught in the area when the Federation got involved it led to a new Federation Klingon war if you go with Beta Canon aka Star Trek Online
Poor Romulans fell victim to poor story telling and the great devour named "mystery box"....
Amen
Two words: Civil war
Knowing the way CBS has screwed Star Trek, I think it's pure laziness. If this is was the STO timeline, there would be a Romulan Republic recognized by both the Federation and the Klingons. We all know that there was a movement running to make the Romulan Star Empire into a republic. The problem becomes where CBS and its writers don't care about any sort of canon or lazily think it's okay to just cobble things together to make it sound Star Trek.
Thing is, Picard take place 10 years before STO starts so they could easily have the Romulan Free State shatter and devolve into a resurgent empire and a reformist republic under D'Tan.
Actually, that could make a lot of sense - in the STO timeline, Seyla is still out there, taking over what remains of the Empire as its new ruler, with in-theory support from what remains of the Tal Shiar, and the Tal Shiar are very interested in Borg tech...
The New Empire eventually attacks the Free State, splintering it, causing some to find new colony worlds like Virinat, or form resistance groups like Obisek's, and others to take to the stars forming the Romulan Flotilla, which is where D'Tan lays the foundations of the Republic.
What does incoming mean tho
7:00
Seems to be an opinion piece.
It's literally explained to you at the end of the video.