Editing Vulcan (section)

==History and Politics==

Culturally one of the most fascinating species in the [[Beta Quadrant]], the Vulcans were once an extremely violent and emotional people who waged almost constant warfare on one another. They believed in a variety of gods, such as war, peace and death. As their level of technology improved, the Vulcans eventually reached a point where their violent nature threatened species extinction. In an effort to avoid this fate, a Vulcan named [[Surak]] developed a new philosophy thereby igniting the [[Time of Awakening]]; Surak maintained that the root cause of all the problems on Vulcan lay in the uncontrolled outpouring of the people's emotions. His followers swore to live their lives by an ethical system devised by Surak and based purely on logical principles. All expression of emotions, negative or positive, was completely forbidden. Although this new philosophy spread rapidly across Vulcan, a minority rejected Surak's ideals. A destructive war began including the use of [[atomic bomb]]s and among the victims was Surak himself. Eventually, however, those who opposed logic left Vulcan and founded colonies elsewhere - most notably on the planet [[Romulus]], where they founded what eventually became the [[Romulan Star Empire]].

The Vulcans were one of the first of the current powers to develop [[Warp Drive]], though a century would pass between the first warp flight and the breaking of the Warp 2 barrier. The Vulcans conducted a series of survey missions to the [[Sol system]], as early as 1957. The official First Contact between Vulcans and [[Human]]s came on April 5, 2063 when a Vulcan survey ship detected the warp flight of [[Zefram Cochrane]]'s ''[[Phoenix]]''. The Vulcans met with Cochrane at his launch site on the day following the flight. The Vulcans eventually became Earth's "big brother" in a way, advising Earth officials on how to proceed into the galaxy. The [[Vulcan High Command]] considered humans volatile and similar to Vulcans before the Time of Awakening, and so attempted to slow down humanity's move into the galaxy until the time was right.

[[Quark]], while in 1947 said he intended to give warp technology to the Ferengi so that they would have it before the Vulcans, though numerous other sources suggest the Vulcans had warp drive centuries before that.  Most likely Quark was simply unaware of this.  The Vulcans might have had warp drive at least a hundred years prior to the [[9th Century]] when the [[P'Jem]] monastary was built on a planet presumably several light years from Vulcan, however this trip could theoretically have been made using only impulse drives, possibly in sleeper ships.

By the [[21st century|21st]] and [[22nd century|22nd centuries]], the Vulcans would have also had made contact with the [[Cardassian]]s, [[Trill]], [[Tholian]]s, [[Klingon]]s, and scores of other races.

In contrast to their tradition of peaceful exploration, the Vulcans have also had a long history of border skirmishes with the neighboring [[Andorian]]s. The humans helped negotiate a peace between the two over the disputed [[Class D]] [[planetoid]], known to the Vulcans as [[Paan Mokar]].

In the 22nd century, the [[Vulcan High Command]], once in charge only of space exploration and planetary defense, gained much more control over civilian affairs.  Under the High Command's leadership, Vulcan policy toward other planets became more aggressive and interventionist, using the ancient monastery at [[P'Jem]] to spy on [[Andorian]] activities.  Vulcan also became less tolerant of political and philosophical challenges towards the High Command's operations, notably engaging in purges of the [[Syrrannite]] group, who claimed that Vulcan society was no longer following the teachings of Surak.  These tensions came to a head in the crisis called the [[Vulcan Reformation]], which resulted in the overthrow of the High Command (and its leader, [[V'Las]]) and a restructuring of the Vulcan government under the leadership of [[Kuvak]] and [[T'Pau]].  (Although it was not known at the time, V'Las was secretly allied with the [[Romulan]]s.)  One of the first acts of the new government was to end the policy of holding back human expansion into the galaxy.)

As of the [[23rd century]], Vulcan had never been conquered in its collective memory. That memory goes so far back that Vulcans can't conceive of a conqueror.

Today, Vulcan remains one of the principal Federation members, and is deeply involved in all levels of that society. Their tradition of exploration has continued; in the late [[24th Century]], a Vulcan ship was the first to make formal contact with a [[Gamma Quadrant]] civilization, upon encountering the [[Wadi]]. They were at the forefront of exploration in the Gamma Quadrant, encountering the [[Rakhari]] and finding the remains of the [[Hur'q]] civilization.

After the seizure of the [[Federation]] Government, Vulcan was one of the first worlds to withdraw from the [[Federation Council]] and secede from the UFP.