This post is a brief analysis of the major players in Romulan politics following Shinzon’s attempt to overthrow the government. The Romulan transition of power forms one of the major plots threads of the campaign and provides much of the backdrop for the overall mood of the game.
I’ve cobbled this post together from several sources including Nemesis, LUG sourcebooks and a few hand-picked novels such as the first book in the Titan series. Consistent with LUG’s ‘Way of D’era’ supplement, my take on the Romulans is that politics pervades their society. No one is free from the influence of the Senate, the Tal Shiar and the Star Navy. But politics is clearly a dangerous game on Romulus, and the best players pursue power ruthlessly. Treachery and paranoia abound.
The PCs may discover the following information during our next session on an encrypted padd belonging to a dead Tal Shiar agent. But even if I decide against giving the entire briefing to the party, it’s good to have this information written down and clear in my own mind.
The following political briefing is considered classified to anyone who is not authorized to review content generated by the Tal Shiar internal analysis division. Unauthorized viewing of this material is a grave violation of Romulan Star Code.
Romulan politics remains in a state of flux following the Shinzon crisis. The following figures likely will decide the future of the Romulan Star Empire and her peoples.
Praetor Tal’aura
Tal’aura, a former member of the Romulan Senate, assumed the praetorship in early 2380 after conspiring with Shinzon in his coup to overthrow Romulus. Tal’aura seized the praetorship amid the power vacuum that followed Shinzon’s defeat and the massacre of nearly the entire Senate.
It’s common knowledge among the Romulan political class that Tal’aura was the one who set off the thalaron weapon that wiped out the Senate. Accordingly, Tal’aura inspires more fear than admiration from the citizenry. The Romulan Senate continues its deliberations with a provisional membership, but little progress has been made to set an election date for permanent members. Much of that hesitance derives from Tal’aura’s refusal to endorse elections and the reluctance of provisional senators to pursue initiatives without her express consent. After all, her previous use of thalaron weaponry – a volatile source of radiation outlawed in the Federation – indicates a willingness to cross any ethical or moral boundary to maintain her grip on power.
Tal’aura relies on the advice and expertise of Centurion Tomalak, the commander of the powerful Praetorian Guard forces. Tal’aura and Tomalak maintain a united front in public, but Tal Shiar operatives surmise that Tomalak may aspire to the praetorship himself.
Commander Donatra
Commander Donatra, a scion of the powerful Cassus family, commands the warbird IRW Valdore. She aided Shinzon in his coup but later fought against him when he revealed his plan to destroy Earth using a massive thalaron weapon.
Donatra achieved the rank of commander at a relatively young age after serving several tours of duty aboard warbirds patrolling the Federation Neutral Zone, during which time she gained expertise in cloaking technology and Federation starship tactics.
Her father, Rorrer Cassus, was also a warbird commander and former centurion in the Star Navy before he turned to politics and became a senator. Cassus disappeared in the early 2370s shortly after he began openly campaigning for a seat on the Romulan Continuing Committee. At the time, Donatra believed Hiren, Cassus’s chief rival for the open seat, was responsible for her father’s disappearance, though she could never prove it. When Hiren ascended to the praetorship in 2379, Donatra decided to exact her revenge by backing Shinzon’s coup.
Donatra’s warbird, the IRW Valdore, is the flagship of the Century Cassus, a fleet of around 100 ships under the command of officers with connections to the Cassus family. Hers is one of only a handful of prominent Romulan families to command the loyalty of such a formidable force. This gives her some leverage over Tal’aura, though the Tal Shiar believes Donatra is resistant to becoming embroiled in further political treachery.
Commander Suran
Suran is a commander in the Romulan Star Navy and a long-time political advisor to the Cassus family. He served as a diplomat for several decades and traveled to Earth and Vulcan where he gained expertise on Federation affairs. His insight into galactic affairs caught the attention of Centurion Rorrer Cassus, and Suran became his main intergalactic policy advisor when Cassus ran for the Senate.
Following Cassus’s disappearance, Suran helped guide Donatra’s career until she assumed command the IRW Valodre. Suran and Donatra supported Shinzon’s coup in an effort to oust Praetor Hiren, who may have orchestrated Cassus’s disappearance. Suran is privately pushing Donatra to push for open elections and to challenge Tal’aura for the praetorship. Donatra so far has resisted Suran’s urging.
Pardek
Pardek, a former senator, is the current director of the Tal Shiar. As a politician, Pardek forged a reputation for populism and reform, but his maverick legislative efforts often angered the elite Romulan establishment, leaving him marginalized and ineffective in the halls of power.
Pardek reinvigorated his career when he cooperated with Romulan security to expose members of the underground unification movement who sought to bring together the Romulan and Vulcan peoples. In doing so, Pardek betrayed Federation Ambassador Spock and crossed paths with Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the commanding officer of the USS Enterprise.
Pardek discovered he had an affinity for the more clandestine workings of Romulan government and parleyed his newfound political capital into the directorship of the Tal Shiar. In that position, he has boosted resources dedicated to recovering ancient Iconian technology, which Pardek believes will give the Romulan Star Empire an insurmountable edge in the Alpha Quadrant’s continual arms race.
Galamek
Among the first orders given by Shinzon during his brief yet eventful tenure as praetor was to free all Reman political prisoners being held on Romulus. One of those newly freed prisoners was Galamek, a Reman soldier who saw extensive action during the Dominion War and later agitated for Reman autonomy. The Tal Shiar believes Galamek returned to Remus and has begun consolidating power, but he has made no public statements or appearances since Shinzon’s rebellion ended.
The “Reman question” ranks among the most pressing concerns under consideration by the Provisional Senate, but the legislative body has reached no consensus. Travel between Romulus and Remus has stopped, and all work in the dilithium mines on Remus’s dark side has ceased. The sharp decline in dilithium refinement has slowed the already fragile Romulan economy.
The Reman question is further complicated by around 200 Romulan military personnel who have gone missing in the Reman dilithium mines. These soldiers formerly oversaw the dilithium mines but have not been heard from since the Shinzon crisis erupted. The Tal Shiar believes at least some of those Romulans are still alive on Remus, either taken captive by Remans or fighting for their lives.
Captain Riker, the Federation’s appointed observer monitoring the political transition, has made it a top priority to ascertain the status of the missing Romulans, but the Remans have not responded to his requests for information.
The Unification Underground
A small movement has taken root on Romulus that seeks to reunify the Romulan people with their Vulcan cousins. Federation Ambassador Spock secretly traveled to Romulus in 2368 to meet with then-Senator Pardek about nurturing the unification underground. Pardek betrayed Spock as part of a plot to conquer Vulcan, but the plan failed when Captain Picard and Data came to Spock’s aid. Picard asked Spock to return with him to Federation space, but Spock chose to remain on Romulus to continue his work toward reunification.
The movement has remained underground in the years since then, and Spock has not been heard from in over a decade. The leaders of the unification movement are said to meet in the vast caverns beneath the Romulan capital city, but the Tal Shiar has been unable to apprehend Spock and destroy the movement. Federation President Nanietta Bacco has publicly stated that Spock is no longer an active ambassador and that he no longer enjoys any official diplomatic title in the United Federation of Planets or Starfleet.
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