Vulcan (Star Trek)

For other uses of this term, see Vulcan (disambiguation).

Vulcans are a humanoid species in the fictional Star Trek universe who reside on the planet Vulcan and are noted for their attempt to live by reason and logic, with no interference from emotion. They were one of the founding members of the United Federation of Planets.

Biology

Physical and mental attributes

The main external characteristics that distinguish Vulcans from humans are arched eyebrows and pointed ears. Vulcans, like humans, display different archetypal phenotypes which are comparable to several human phenotypes. Although most Vulcans have pale skin with a subtly greenish hue, and straight, glossy black or occasionally dark brown hair, some Vulcans have dark brown skin, tightly coiled black hair, and physiognomic features similar to those found in humans of African descent (an evolutionary trait also present on Vulcan). Others share physiognomic features similar to those found in humans of East Asian descent. However, most Vulcans have a vaguely Eurasian appearance.

Vulcan blood is copper-based and is green when oxygenated in the arteries and is copper or rust colored when deoxygenated in the veins. In general, Vulcans are three times physically stronger than humans, and live three times as long—Sarek lived just over two centuries and it has been suggested that Vulcans have a life expectancy of at least 250 Earth years. A Vulcan of less than a century in age is still considered young. The strength of Vulcans is often attributed to Vulcan's gravity being significantly greater than Earth's. It has also been attributed to their superior mental discipline. Vulcans prefer higher temperatures than humans do. In the The Original Series episode "The Deadly Years" when Spock was affected by rapid aging he noted how cold the ship seemed, and he responded by turning the temperature in his room up to well above 100 °F (38 °C). They are also able to breathe a much thinner atmosphere than humans, due to the atmospheric conditions on the planet Vulcan.

Vulcan females have a strong sense of smell, and Vulcans serving on Earth vessels initially required medication to lessen their sensitivity to the odor of humans. (It has not yet been established whether Vulcan males have the same sense of smell.)

Vulcans possess an inner eyelid, possibly analogous to a nictitating membrane, which protects their vision from bright lights, a physical adaptation that evolved due to the race's long-term exposure to desert conditions. Spock's inner eyelid was activated in the Original Series episode " Annihilate! (TOS episode)". Although the intense light Spock was exposed to caused temporary blindness, his inner eyelid prevented the blindness from being permanent. It is also mentioned in the Enterprise episode "The Forge"; during a journey across desert terrain, T'Pol says her inner eyelid protects her eyes in lieu of wearing sunglasses.

The internal layout of Vulcan organs differs somewhat from that of humans, with the Vulcan heart located roughly where the human liver is situated.

Although descended from the same ancestors as are Vulcans, the Romulans are an offshoot of the Vulcan species. They differ both in physiology and in behavioral customs. Over the centuries, Vulcans have developed a culture dedicated to the complete mastery of logic, learning to suppress their once-violent emotions in nearly every aspect of their existence. Romulans, on the other hand, have kept their violent natures.

A minority of Vulcans have a small V-shaped ridge above the bridge of their nose, similar to Romulans (among whom this attribute is common).

Pon farr

Periodically (every seven years for males and females, established in Star Trek and Star Trek: Enterprise), Vulcans experience an overpowering mating drive known as pon farr. Once triggered, Vulcans must have sexual contact with someone, preferably their mate, or else face insanity and death. If a mate is not available, there are two other options that will relieve the effects of the pon farr, the first being meditation, where the Vulcan must overcome the urge to mate through mental discipline. The other option is a ritual combat, usually fought over a potential mate, that can calm the rages of pon farr. However, both of these methods are only used as a last resort. When he experienced pon farr in the Delta Quadrant, Tuvok of Voyager made use of a holodeck simulation of his wife to relieve his condition. Pon farr can be also triggered by infection.

It was originally thought that Vulcans could only mate with Vulcans, but Vorik of Voyager pursued B'Elanna Torres during his pon farr, and T'Pol said she simply needed to mate with someone - anyone. The birth of Mr. Spock to a Vulcan father and a human mother, as well as the existence of an offspring of T'Pol and Trip Tucker in an alternate timeline, indicates that it is possible for Vulcans to conceive children with non-Vulcans, although this was initially thought to be impossible.

When Vulcans first experience pon farr has not been revealed; T'Pol, who was in her 60s when she experienced her premature pon farr, told Dr. Phlox that "it wasn't time"; it is not known if this means she had never experienced it previously, or that seven years had not passed since her last one. It has been suggested that bonding triggers the pon farr cycle.

When Spock experienced pon farr, it was made clear that only contact with his mate, T'Pring, would be sufficient for him to survive the condition. It's possible that some bondings are more powerful than others, allowing for no substitution. In Spock's case, however, his pon farr condition evaporated after he supposedly killed James Kirk and T'Pring announced her intention to wed another man (in the The Original Series episode "Amok Time"). There is little canon reference to Vulcans having siblings, with the exception of Spock, who has a half-brother, Sybok, (introduced in The Final Frontier), and Tuvok from Voyager, who has four children. Canon has never firmly established whether pon farr is a prerequisite for conceiving children. Until T'Pol underwent a virus-induced pon farr in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode, "Bounty", it was not known for certain that Vulcan females actually experienced it; T'Pring showed no apparent signs of the condition in "Amok Time".

Although it has been mentioned several times in the canon that pon farr occurs every seven years, it has never been established if this is truly a recurring event or only happens a limited number of times. There is, for example, no canonical reference to Spock ever experiencing pon farr again after the events of "Amok Time". However in the episode "This Side of Paradise", scientist Leila Kalomi hints at having had a special relationship with Spock some six years earlier, which may suggest an encounter between them during pon farr, leaving Leila with an unrequited love for Spock. Likewise, in the film The Search for Spock, the regenerated adolescent Spock went through at least two pon farrs at accelerated speed. Vulcan males and females are capable of engaging in sexual relations outside of pon farr. This can be surmised from Sarek's successful marriages to two known human women.

Mental abilities

Many Vulcans are contact telepaths and have been observed taking part in a number of telepathy-related actions and rituals.

Although there are many races gifted with telepathic power, Vulcans seem to be totally immune to the psychokinetic effects of the Energy Barrier at the edge of the galaxy, which does affect humans with ESP (canon) and also Betazoids (non-canon, Q Continuum series of novels).

Mind melds

A procedure known as a mind-meld involves physical contact with a subject (though instances of mind-melds without contact have been seen), making it possible to share thoughts, experience, memories, and knowledge with another individual. Vulcans can perform mind melds with members of most other species, most notably humans, with Captain Jonathan Archer being the first known human participant in such a ritual, in 2154. Even the Earth Humpback Whale can be successfully melded with. The Ferengi are one of the few races known to be impervious to the mind meld; mentally disciplined Cardassians may also be resistant to mind melds if properly trained. It is unknown if this potential ability is inherent to Cardassians, or if members of any race could be trained to resist a mind meld. Curiously, machines such as the Nomad probe can be melded with even if only through complete contact.

Though not canon, it has been witnessed that via touchless melding even a gaseous nebular entity can be affected ( The Animated Series - "One of Our Planets is Missing (TAS episode)").

Mind melds have been used to erase memories (as Spock performed on Captain Kirk in the TOS episode "Requiem for Methuselah"). Mind melds can also allow more than one mind to experience memories and sensations and sometimes even interact with the memories (as seen in the Voyager episode "Flashback").

The use of the mind meld was taboo for a period of time, perhaps because by the time of Surak, Vulcans were using their telepathic abilities to kill, or because of the apparent transmission of the incurable condition Pan'aar Syndrome between mind-melders. However, it was later learned that Pan'aar is a condition passed on by melders who are improperly trained, and although the Vulcan government of the mid-22nd Century claimed it was incurable, in fact the condition can be remedied by an experienced melder. Within a week of the Kir'shara incident in 2154, the stigma against mind-melders was evaporating and sufferers of Pan'aar were being cured in large numbers. By the mid 23rd century, the mind meld had become a fully accepted part of Vulcan society, and was even used once to rejoin Spock's katra with his healed physical body (see below).

As originally depicted (in TOS), mind-melds were considered dangerous and potentially lethal. Over the course of the original series, however, the element of risk was no longer mentioned, although it was revived on Enterprise with the revelation that Pan'aar Syndrome can be transmitted this way.

For a number of years it was held that not all Vulcans are genetically capable of initiating a mind-meld, such as T'Pol of Enterprise. However, the overthrow of the Vulcan High Command in 2154 revealed that this is not the case, and T'Pol conducted her first mind meld soon after.

It is also not known if all Vulcans possess contact telepathy. However, it has been stated (most recently in the Enterprise episode, "The Aenar") that Vulcans, on the whole, have some degree of telepathic ability.

Some Vulcans appear to have advanced mental abilities. Mr. Spock was once able to briefly control the mind of a prison guard, for example. He was also able to perform a limited mind meld with a Horta without actually making physical contact with the being (TOS episode "The Devil in the Dark"). It is made apparent that a touchless meld is limited in effectiveness compared to physical melds. Further evidence has shown that using both hands would allow the melder to dig deeper into the mind of the other, however doing so can be overwhelming if certain information being searched for is not present. Spock's greatest touchless mind meld was in 2271 when he melded with a representation of Lt. Ilia inside the V'GER entity ( The Motion Picture).

Mind melds are believed to be a shared experience in which something from each person involved is shared. Picard "shared" his composure with Sarek while Sarek more or less traded his emotional release at the hands of Bendaii Syndrome when they melded.

Bonding

When Vulcans mate, a form of psychic bond is created between the partners. The specifics of this have yet to be fully explained in canon.

In the fourth season of Enterprise, as T'Pol began to explore her newfound mental powers, she discovered that she was experiencing a psychic link with Charles Tucker, sometimes over a range of many light-years during Tucker's brief posting aboard Columbia. This link was so strong that it rendered Tucker the only male aboard Enterprise immune to the mind-control powers of a group of Orion slave girls who tried to take over the ship. (Episode: "Bound") T'Pol deduced that she and Tucker established the link when they mated (as seen in "Harbinger"), however it is not known if the actual act of sexual coupling formed this link or if other factors (such as T'Pol's Trellium D-affected mental state at the time) came into play.

Katra

Some Vulcans appear able to "cheat the grave" by implanting their katra -- essentially their living essence or spirit -- into an object or another person, via a form of mind-meld, just prior to death. The history and mechanics of the katra have never been discussed in great detail in canon. It was known at the time of Surak, and Surak successfully transferred his essence into a "katric ark" which remained hidden for 1,800 years until it was recovered by a Vulcan named Syrran in the 22nd century (Earth time). Syrran melded with the ark and received Surak's katra, which guided him into creating the Syrrannite movement which fought to restore Surak's teachings to Vulcan but was labelled a terrorist group by the Vulcan High Command.

Syrran was fatally wounded by a lightning strike while escorting Jonathan Archer and T'Pol of the Earth Starfleet vessel Enterprise across a desert region called The Forge in 2154 prior to a short-lived conflict between Vulcan and Andoria. Syrran conducted a forced mind-meld on Archer and implanted the katra of Surak into Archer's mind before he died.

For a brief time, Archer found himself communicating with the long-dead Surak, and Surak began controlling - or at least strongly influencing - Archer's actions. Surak's katra was so strong that it resisted efforts to be transferred into T'Pau, but once the Syrrannites overthrew the Vulcan High Command, the katra allowed itself to be transferred into a Vulcan elder. The ultimate fate of Surak's katra remains unknown.

Katras have been referenced several other times in Star Trek lore, and it is indicated that even by the 24th Century not all Vulcans believe in them. It appears that only Vulcans of strong mental abilities are able to transfer their katra.

Katras can, on rare occasions, be returned to the body, effectively bringing an individual back from the dead. Such was the case with Mr. Spock who (in The Wrath of Khan) implanted his katra into the mind of Dr. Leonard McCoy prior to sacrificing his life to save the U.S.S. Enterprise. (Such was the strength of Spock's mental abilities that he was in fact able to function normally for several minutes despite depositing his "soul" elsewhere). Following Spock's death, McCoy began exhibiting Vulcan-like behavior and was briefly institutionalized. It was later discovered that Spock's body came to rest on the Genesis Planet after his burial in space, and was regenerated. He was recovered and was taken with McCoy to Mount Seleya on Vulcan where a Vulcan high priestess performed a ritual which removed the katra from McCoy and implanted it into Spock's regenerated body.

Subsequently, Spock recovered, although it took some time to retrain his mind to the point where it was prior to his death. Eventually Spock's original memories apparently reasserted themselves and he resumed his duties in Starfleet.

According to the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy comic book (which isn't considered canon), if a katra stays in a foreign mind for too long, the personality of the host can start to merge with that of the katra, potentially causing insanity. When the two personalities become intertwined, the katra cannot be removed, as happened to T'Prell, who died and gave her katra to her Romulan friend Selke, who was then captured and used as a spy for the Tal Shiar before she could return T'Prell's katra to Vulcan. There is some canonical support to this notion, however, as both McCoy and Archer experienced negative reactions to carrying katras, and McCoy's sanity was at issue during his experience.

Fullara

When Vulcans experience extreme emotional trauma, a ritual known as the Fullara can be performed by elders. The mechanics of the Fullara have yet to be fully explored in canon. T'Pol of Enterprise underwent the procedure at the P'Jem sanctuary c.2136 following a mission for Vulcan Intelligence in which she was forced to shoot and kill a fleeing prisoner. The act of killing face-to-face caused T'Pol to experience a nervous breakdown and the only way for her to remedy this was to undergo the Fullara, which restored her emotional balance, but left her with no memory of the killing or her emotional state thereafter. Years later, the effects of the Fullara were undone when T'Pol was reminded of these events (in the episode "The Seventh"), resulting in a near-emotional collapse that was prevented in part by the presence of a trusted friend (Jonathan Archer). It has been noted that T'Pol's increased emotional state, noted in many later episodes of the series, began in earnest from this point. The ritual is considered to be obsolete, but it has not been made clear what, if anything, took its place. The fact that the benefits of a Fullara can be compromised as illustrated with T'Pol suggests a possible reason why the ritual is no longer practiced.

It has been speculated that Spock might be shown performing a form of Fullara on Captain Kirk at the end of the TOS episode "Requiem for Methuslah" when his friend is in a state of emotional devastation and Spock conducts some form of mind-meld (the results of which are not revealed).

Neuropressure

Vulcans practice a form of acupressure known as neuropressure, which involves massaging and manipulating muscles and nerve centres on the body in order to relieve stress. Neuropressure is considered an intimate act, as some of the postures involved are pseudo-sexual in nature and can elicit responses similar to sexual arousal and even climax (as demonstrated by T'Pol in the episode "The Xindi" when Trip Tucker inadvertently triggers such a response). Specialized training is required in order to properly administer neuropressure, otherwise injury to the recipient can result.

Culture

Emotion and maturity

Vulcans, as a matter of custom and policy, suppress all emotional influence by living lives of rigid emotional self-control through meditative techniques and training of mental discipline. It is incorrect to say that Vulcans have no emotions; although they themselves make this claim, Vulcans are in fact a very emotional people; they have however learned to suppress these emotions because of the damage they can cause if unchecked. In a Voyager episode Tuvok explains that Vulcans' natural emotions are "erratic"--if Vulcans don't strongly repress emotions they can get violently angry in an instant. The advanced ritual of Kolinahr is intended to purge all emotion. In The Motion Picture, Spock was unable to complete this ritual. Some Vulcans, such as T'Pol, Ambassador Sarek (in his later years), and Ambassador Soval, carry their emotions close to the surface and are prone to emotional outbursts, even without outside influences or illness; there is some evidence to support the hypothesis that Vulcans in close contact with humans for an extended period of time may become more emotional than Vulcans who do not (i.e. T'Pol and Soval), but established canon has yet to make a definitive case for this.

Some Vulcans have chosen not to follow the path of pure logic, and have instead chosen to embrace emotions. A group of renegade Vulcans who believed in this was encountered in the Enterprise episode "Fusion", while Spock's half-brother, Sybok (seen in the film The Final Frontier) was also fully emotional. An episode of Enterprise entitled "E²" featured an elderly T'Pol in an alternate timeline who had embraced emotion and allowed her half-human son, Lorian, to do likewise.

Many Vulcan children have pets, most notably domesticated sehlats, which are ferocious man-eaters in the wild. Both T'Pol and Spock had sehlats as children. Although one might consider keeping pets an emotional or even sentimental practice, it isn't viewed as such on Vulcan, and may instead be viewed as a practice to instill a sense of responsibility and maturity.

The speed at which a Vulcan matures "emotionally" (for lack of a better term) seems to vary. It has been established that, with a lifespan of more than two centuries, a Vulcan as old as 100 Earth years will still appear, and be considered, relatively young. Vulcans as young as their 30s and even 20s have been shown in mature roles in their society and acting older than their apparent ages (i.e. T'Pau, Mr. Spock). T'Pol, a Vulcan in her 60s, on the other hand, is still somewhat naïve and innocent compared to other Vulcans and acts very much like a rational human woman in her late 20s or early 30s.

Series trivia: In the pilot episode, The Cage, Spock shows much more emotion. The female Number One character, played by Majel Barrett, was supposed to be the emotionless character. Although the test audience indicated they liked the actress, they disliked the character because they could not relate to a female who was so "cold". As a result, the character of Nurse Christine Chapel was created for Barrett and the "coldness" was transferred to the Spock character.

Family and rituals

Traditionally, Vulcans place high importance on family, placing the will of their family above their own.

Vulcans practice arranged marriage, in which a male and a female are usually matched as children, only to officially marry at a later date. Following the marriage, it is customary for the couple to remain on Vulcan for at least one Vulcan year before conducting off-world travel (presumably in order to produce offspring), though it is possible for the female to defer this requirement until a later date, upon negotiation with the male's family. The state of pon farr is not required for marriage to occur.

A Vulcan female can challenge the proposed bonding by calling for koon-ut-kalifee (spellings vary), in which a challenger for marriage engages the bonded male in a fight to the death. Alternately, the bonded male has the option of rejecting his intended bride and choosing another. It is acceptable for a male to "release" his mate from marriage (effectively the same as a divorce). It isn't known yet whether females have the same option.

The canon has not firmly established a timeline for Vulcan marriages. Spock was in his 30s (at least) before he was called to Vulcan for his marriage ceremony ("Amok Time"), while T'Pol was in her late 60s by the time her own marriage occurred, which she had put off for several years in order to remain aboard Enterprise.

It is customary for Vulcan children to undertake the kahs-wan ritual (sometimes spelled kaswahn), in which they are left to fend for themselves in the desert. Not all children survive the ordeal. T'Pol of the Enterprise NX-01 underwent the ritual, while Tuvok of Voyager experienced a variation known as the tal'oth. The kahs-wan was first introduced in the The Animated Series episode "Yesteryear" in which Spock's experience as a child was detailed; however, as the animated series is not considered canon, it has yet to be "officially" stated that Spock experienced the ritual.

Contrary to the Vulcan image of expressing no emotion, family bonds can be strong and affectionate just as they are for humans. Tuvok expressed his love for his wife on a few occasions (without actually using the term), Sarek openly expressed affection for both his human wives, and a clear bond of love existed between T'Pol and her mother, T'Les. In addition, Vulcans also value close friendships, even with more emotional beings as attested to by the relationship of Spock and James T. Kirk, and others.

Names

The treatment of Vulcan names has been erratic throughout Trek's history. Originally, the original series established that male Vulcans had names beginning with "S" and ending with "k"; some non-canon sources have suggested that the rule was the names had to be five letters long and one syllable, though such a rule was never made canon. Female Vulcans, meanwhile, were said to have names beginning with "T" followed by an apostrophe then a p. The earliest reference to Vulcan names following a set pattern dates back to a May 3, 1966 memo from Original Series producer Robert Justman to Gene Roddenberry (later reprinted in the book The Making of Star Trek) in which Justman recommended that all Vulcan names begin with SP and end with K and have exactly five letters. But this did not seem to hold completely, as in "Amok Time," T'Pring's lover is named Stonn.

Beginning with the Star Trek movies of the 1980s and continuing to today, a greater variety of names have been given to Vulcans beginning with other letters of the alphabet, such as Tuvok, Koss, Mestral, Valeris, and Xon to name a few (Xon being a Vulcan character created by Gene Roddenberry for his aborted Phase II series in the 1970s, and the actress Kim Catrall who played Valeris chose the character's name). There have also been numerous examples of female Vulcans possessing S...k formatted names or variations thereof, such as Saavik and Sakonna. There has been at least one case of a male Vulcan with a T' name. It has been suggested that the S...k and T' form of naming might reflect class distinctions.

Vulcans have only ever been identified in the Trek canon by one name; however, the Original Series episode "This Side of Paradise" has a scene in which Leila Kalomi says to Spock, "You never told me if you had another name." Spock replies, "You couldn't pronounce it." This suggests that Vulcans do have second names, though to date none have been revealed in canon.

Cuisine

Vulcans are vegetarians, though they are known to consume seafood. They are repeatedly stated to be herbivorous in the (non-canon) Animated Series episode The Slaver Weapon, by the carnivorous Kzinti. They do not like to touch their food with their hands, preferring to use utensils whenever possible (though there are numerous cases where Vulcans have broken this rule). It is a Vulcan custom for guests in the home to prepare meals for their hosts. Vulcans generally do not drink alcoholic beverages, though they will "indulge" on special occasions. According to some Trek-related literature such as the novelization of The Voyage Home, Vulcans are immune to the effects of alcohol, but can become inebriated by ingesting chocolate. However printed works are not considered canon, therefore this quirk has yet to be confirmed by a TV episode or movie.

Vulcans in Starfleet

The first Vulcan to serve in Starfleet was former Subcommander T'Pol, who received the rank of Commander and served aboard Enterprise NX-01 during the mid-22nd Century, following her resignation from the Vulcan High Command. After spending a decade aboard Enterprise, she apparently continued to serve in Starfleet following the decommissioning of the NX-01 in 2161, coinciding with the founding of the United Federation of Planets and the introduction of Warp 7-capable starships (episode: "These Are the Voyages...").

In an alternate timeline (seen in the episode "Twilight"), she was promoted to Captain and commanded Enterprise for several years, although it has yet to be established whether a similar promotion occurs in the real timeline.

The best-known Vulcan to serve in Starfleet was Mr. Spock, who served aboard the Enterprise NCC-1701 and NCC-1701-A under Captains Christopher Pike and James T. Kirk. Spock eventually rose to the rank of Captain, briefly commanding the NCC-1701 when it was used as a training vessel.

There is a misconception that Spock was the first Vulcan to serve in Starfleet. This is contradicted by T'Pol's appointment, and in fact, an examination of all The Original Series episodes and films will fail to uncover any such reference. Spock was not even the first to attend Starfleet Academy, since during the time of The Original Series, an entire Federation starship of Vulcans, the Intrepid, was destroyed.

The films introduced several more Vulcans, including Commander Sonak ( The Motion Picture), Lieutenant Saavik ( The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, The Voyage Home) and Lieutenant Valeris ( The Undiscovered Country).

Vulcan Starfleet characters appear many times in later television series:

Admiral Savar, assigned to Starfleet Command's headquarters in San Francisco
Lieutenant Selar, physician aboard the Enterprise-D
Captain Solok, commander of the USS T'Kumbra, a ship with an all-Vulcan crew
Lieutenant Tuvok, Chief Tactical Officer aboard the Voyager
Ensign Vorik, engineer aboard the Voyager
Admiral T'Lara, a Starfleet judge who once presided over a court proceeding aboard Deep Space Nine
Ensign Taurik, a young officer aboard the Enterprise-D
the unnamed Vulcan captain of the U.S.S. Saratoga at the time of the battle of Wolf 359 in the Deep Space Nine episode "Emissary"

Martial Arts

Although generally adhering to a philosophy of non-violence, Vulcans have developed martial arts and techniques of hand-to-hand combat. Vulcan martial arts are highly ritualistic, and based on philosophy, similar to Terran counterparts such as Karate. The most extreme example is the "koon-ut-kalifee" or fight to the death, described earlier.

Many Vulcans are skilled in a self-defense technique known as the "Vulcan nerve pinch" or "neck pinch", which targets a precise location on the neck, rendering the victim unconscious (sometimes instantly, sometimes after a short delay depending on the subject). Although the mechanics of the pinch have never been explained in on-screen canon, it has been speculated that it can be done by applying pressure over baroreceptors of the carotid sinus at the base of the humanoid neck though other fanon speculations exist involving Vulcan mental abilities. While practiced mainly by Vulcans, it is not exclusive to their race; for example, Data and Jean-Luc Picard have also mastered the technique, the latter probably acquiring it during his mind-meld with Sarek. Likewise, Jonathan Archer learned the technique as a result of receiving the katra of Surak though it is unknown whether his knowledge of it continued following the removal of the katra. Additionally, Dr. McCoy attempted to use the "neck pinch" while carrying Spock's katra in The Search for Spock, but was less successful, perhaps due to an unsteadiness in his hands later brought up when he was on trial alongside Capt. James T. Kirk in The Undiscovered Country. The neck pinch was actually conceived by Leonard Nimoy who felt Spock's nature wouldn't allow for violence and thus introduced the famous non-lethal maneuver.

The "Vulcan Death Grip" was a bluff used in original series episode "The Enterprise Incident". Spock pretended to administer it to Captain Kirk, convincing Romulan onlookers (apparently unfamiliar with Vulcan techniques) that Kirk had been killed. In fact, Spock had only used a particularly powerful nerve pinch, putting Kirk into a deep unconsciousness that resembled death. Kirk awoke a short time later with head and neck pain but no lasting injury.

There is, however, a form of killing strike called Tal-Shaya, revealed in the original series episode "Journey to Babel", which involves snapping the victim's neck quickly and painlessly.

Ethics

By the 23rd century, Vulcans had adopted strong ethics that included a taboo on telling falsehoods. There are numerous examples of this taboo being broken by the likes of Mr. Spock (who characterized it as "an exaggeration" in Star Trek II) and by Lt. Valeris who willingly deceived her superiors in Star Trek VI. Tuvok fabricates the harsh conditions of Telsian prisons to a prisoner in Voyager's brig at the command of Captain Janeway in the episode Live Fast and Prosper.

In the 22nd Century, Vulcans, seemingly, also lived by the ethic of telling the truth, but were very willing to lie when necessary. Early in the fourth season of Enterprise, Captain Archer says "Vulcans can lie with the best of them", with the Vulcan High Command's cover-up regarding a secret listening post at P'Jem often cited as a prime example. T'Pol, although initially hesitant to tell falsehoods, eventually began to embrace the idea that telling lies was sometimes necessary, although she also began to lie to her captain regarding her Trellium-D addiction. Following the "kir'shara" incident, T'Pol began to adopt more of Surak's teachings, presumably including the prohibition on lying, although it has yet to be seen whether this is the case.

Monarchy

Vulcan apparently has (or at one point, had) some form of monarchy. This is indicated by the film The Final Frontier in which it is stated in dialogue that Spock's half-brother, Sybok, is the offspring of Sarek and T'Rea, a Vulcan princess. No other canonical reference to a Vulcan monarchy has yet arisen.

Views by non-Vulcans

In Borg species classification, Vulcans are referred to as Species 3259.
Tom Paris of the Voyager once said that Vulcans are "all a bunch of hypochondriacs".
Species 8472 (Boothby): "Targ manure! United Federation of Planets, tolerance for all species, the Prime Directive. Targ manure, every word of it!" "Vulcan logic. Add that to the list."
Vulcans are the subject of a popular 24th century Ferengi holosuite program called Vulcan Love Slave. The possibility that the program might have been inspired by an encounter between a Ferengi and T'Pol in the 22nd century (in the Enterprise episode "Acquisition") is, at the moment, speculation. In that incident (which occurred prior to the official first contact between Earth and the Ferengi), a group of Ferengi hijacked the NX-01 and T'Pol pretended to be a seductive slave of Captain Archer's in order to trick a Ferengi pirate into dropping his guard long enough to be rendered unconscious by a nerve pinch.
Vulcans are also the subject of a popular children's story, "The Laughing Vulcan".
In the 22nd century, Humans resented Vulcans for being reluctant to share their superior technology. The Human terrorist group Terra Prime particularly resented Vulcans' lack of intervention in World War III and the Xindi crisis.
'Vulky' was 24th century slang for anything only a Vulcan would find interesting. The term has only been used to date by a holographic human teenager who associated with (holographic) Klingons, making it uncertain whether the term is of human or Klingon origin or an artifact of a holoprogram.

Location

Until a fourth-season episode of Enterprise, Vulcan had no positively-established location, although it was known to be not too far from Earth. Kirk and crew travel from Vulcan to Earth in approximately one day in The Voyage Home. Vulcan's placement in the Altair system is ruled out in the episode "Amok Time", since it would have been no trouble to drop Spock off on Vulcan before a few minutes' trip to Altair.

The episode "Operation: Annihilate" suggested a fairly bright star, such as Sirius or Fomalhaut, and at least one Trek-fan article suggested Fomalhaut since the name Vulcans would be preferable over Fomalhautians.

When Trip Tucker remarks on making a 16-light-year trip to Vulcan, its distance is firmly established. The star 40 Eridani happens to be 16 light years from Sol. This star system is also mentioned in the James Blish novelization of "Tomorrow is Yesterday", but not used in the teleplay of that story.

Although 40 Eridani has no A-type stars like Sirius, there may be other factors that cause Vulcan's sun to appear very bright. 40 Eri A is a K1 star; 418 AU away, with an average separation of 35 AU, are 40 Eri B, a white dwarf of spectral class DA4, and 40 Eri C, a red dwarf of class M4.5. The nature of B and C precludes any possibility of habitable planets.

History

Antiquity

In the episode Return to Tomorrow Spock theorized that the Vulcan race might be the descendents of a colony from Sargon's planet. Based on that theory, some fans would place settlement of Vulcan at approximately 500,000 BCE. At some point, the settlers would have lost their technology and reverted to barbarism.

It is speculated on the official website startrek.com that a species that was known on Earth as the gods of ancient Rome or the gods of ancient Greece traveled to ancient Vulcan, thus influencing both those that would later become Romulans as well as those who remained on Vulcan. Vulcans subsequently practiced a form of paganism; this can be seen in gods of War gods, Peace gods, and Death gods depicted on the Stone of Gol, as well as the celebration of Rumarie. (The DVD commentary for "Amok Time" says that TOS writer D.C. Fontana named the Vulcan god of death "Shariel"; a bust of whom is seen in Spock's quarters.)

In about 850 BCE, Vulcans established a monastery on the planet P'Jem.

In about the 4th century CE, Vulcans emerged from their violent tendencies and civil wars under a philosopher named Surak. Surak advocated the suppressing of emotion in favor of logic. This period was known as the Great Awakening and much of present-day Vulcan philosophy emerged from this period. According to the Star Trek: New Frontier book series (which is not considered canon), the Great Awakening caused many wars and conflicts to occur amongst various Vulcan tribes; those who supported Surak's cause would become separated from friends and even close family members who did not. For cases in which parents were separated by this, a ritual was created called the ku'nit ka'fa'ar, a battle to determine which parent would maintain their child.

Despite the acceptance of Surak's teachings, generations of imperfect copies of his writings, combined with changes in the Vulcan language over time resulted in a diluted form of the culture he instituted.

Romulan migration

Surak's views and lifestyle were not universally accepted by Vulcan, and a portion of society left Vulcan for the stars. This migration of Vulcan separatists would eventually become known as the Romulans. Knowledge of the common ancestry of Romulans and Vulcans would obscure into myth over the millennia, and while some Vulcans had direct dealings with the Romulans in the 22nd century, the common ancestry would not become widely known until the mid-23rd century.

A great deal of literature from the Star Trek Expanded Universe (in particular the novel The Romulan Way by Diane Duane and Peter Morwood) has stated that the leader of the Vulcan-Romulan migration was a close follower of Surak's named S'Task. S'Task would see the founding of the Romulan Empire but was killed by political factions shortly thereafter. In Duane's personal series of Star Trek novels, an alternative, self-name for the Romulans is given, that being Rihannsu, which was also picked up by some other Star Trek novelists prior to The Next Generation rendering that continuity invalid in canon.

Pre-Federation interstellar activity

Vulcans did not recover from the effects of barbarism and turn much of their attention to space travel for 1,500 years. What would later become known as the Vulcan High Command was formed to orchestrate space exploration, but it ended up seizing control of Vulcan government. The Vulcans fought a hundred-year war with the Romulans at some point, and it was possibly at this time that the High Command assumed sovereignty over Vulcan affairs. (The date for the war is unrevealed, but it was over by 2044.)

In 1930, Spock of Vulcan was one of three Starfleet officers from the 23rd Century who travelled back in time to New York City, in the original series episode "The City on the Edge of Forever". To date, this is the earliest confirmed contact between humans and Vulcans, although in the Vulcan timeline it occurred long after First Contact. Spock would also briefly travel to Earth in 1968 on a mission, in " Earth"; accidentally in 1969, in "Tomorrow is Yesterday"; and again in 1986, in The Voyage Home. (Technically speaking, these three events occurred after the founding of the Federation, but are included here as they constitute pre-First Contact encounters with contemporary humans.)

Vulcan first contact with the Andorian race was promising, but relations soured in time. The threat of mutual annihilation existed as early as the 1950s.

In 1957, the launch of Sputnik I, Earth's first artificial satellite, was observed by a Vulcan vessel that subsequently crashed on the planet, marooning several crewmembers for a number of months in Carbon Creek, Pennsylvania; this constituted the first true contact between humans and Vulcans, but it was never recorded as such as the humans were unaware of the alien nature of their guests. One Vulcan, Mestral, chose to stay on Earth: his fate has yet to be revealed...at least, this is the story told by T'Pol, although it isn't known if she was being serious or not.

In 2044 the Romulans and Vulcans suspended hostilities in their hundred-year war. It is unclear whether the two groups knew they were fighting their kinsmen.

In 2053 the Vulcans made first contact with the Arkonians.

On April 5, 2063 Vulcans and Humans made official first contact following the successful test of Earth's first warp-powered starship, as depicted in First Contact.

In 2097 the Vulcans annexed the Andorian planetoid Weytahn and renamed it Pan Mokar.

In 2105 the Vulcans and Andorians agreed to a compromise over the planet Weytahn/Pan Mokar. Still, tensions continued due to the threat of mutual annihilation.

In 2151, Subcommander T'Pol joined the crew of the Earth Starfleet vessel Enterprise NX-01, within a couple of weeks setting a Vulcan endurance record for serving aboard a human vessel. In 2154, T'Pol became a commissioned officer with Starfleet.

Return to Surak's teachings

In May of 2154, the Vulcan High Command considered a proposal for Vulcans and humans to conduct joint space exploration missions. V'Las, head of the High Command and undercover agent for the Romulans, bombed the United Earth Embassy on Vulcan and attempted an invasion of Andoria. He was foiled by the crew of the Enterprise NX-01. During these events, the Kir'Shara, a device containing the original writings of Surak, was discovered by Jonathan Archer. This led to the prompt dissolution of the High Command and a reevaluation of traditional values. It also resulted in Vulcan agreeing to stop "looking over Earth's shoulder" in space exploration matters.

On August 12, 2161, Vulcan became one of the founding members of the United Federation of Planets.

There is a fanon site devoted to hypothesizing the logic of Surak. It is here: http://www.surak.org.

Separate Vulcan societies

The Vulcans have a long history of space travel and colonization, and in fact it's possible that the Vulcans are the result of an earlier colonization by the inhabitants of Sargon's world. As a result, there exist several societies and races that are either definitely former Vulcan colonies, or speculated to be related to the Vulcans. The latter category is often referred to as 'Vulcanoid Species'.

The inhabitants of Mintaka III (seen in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation) have been described as a 'proto-Vulcan race'; they have various physical similarities to Vulcans, just as several other races have various physical similarities to humans. At the time of the episode, "Who Watches the Watchers," Mintakan society was leaning toward an emphasis on logic, much like that of the Vulcans.
In the Star Trek: Early Voyages comic book series (which is not considered canon by Paramount, along with all other comic books), a colony of Vulcans exists which was settled before the teachings of Surak and has since lost contact with the Vulcan homeworld. These Vulcans had built gigantic weapons into the crust of their planet, weapons of amazing destructive power which had been conceived of on Vulcan, but never came to fruition there due to Surak's teachings.
As mentioned earlier in this article, the Romulans are an offshoot of the Vulcan race. They left Vulcan and started their own society rather than adhere to Surak's teachings.
In addition, the Remans, largely a slave race of the Romulan Empire, may be a vulcanoid species. It is possible that they are a variety of Romulan, adapted to the harsh conditions on Remus; however, they may also be native inhabitants of Remus who were enslaved following the arrival of the Romulans. One theory states that the Vulcans interbred with Remans to create the Romulans. It is worth noting that Remans have pointed ears, longer than those of the Vulcans or Romulans.

Language

The Vulcan language has developed so much over time that writings from the era of Surak required translation to be understood upon discovery in 2154.

The Vulcans appear to have three written languages; two of which can be used separately or in combination with each other:

The most common script on Vulcan resembles a vertically-written chromatic scale, having a central staff line on which vertical spirals and horizontal dashes are written, along with dots in various combinations. While no official translations for these symbols exist, it is assumed that the dots and dashes represent consonants and the spirals are the vowels. The script is written in vertical columns from top to bottom, left to right (like Mongolian).
The second script written in the same direction consists of swirly curved symbols (like Japanese hiragana). It is assumed that these symbols are also phonetic, perhaps syllabic or consonantal. These first two scripts can be used separately or in combination with each other. When this is the case, the swirl symbols accompany the staff writing symbols as annotation written to the right of the staff (perhaps serving the same function as Japanese furigana).
A third script consists of rectangular blocks cut into geometric shapes. They have only ever been seen on the hulls of some Vulcan ships and bear no relation to the first two scripts.

In the The Next Generation episode "Reunification II", Spock meets a Romulan youth who shows him children's toys -- marble-sized objects in various shapes -- marked with symbols identified as "the syllabic nucleus of the Vulcan language." Spock is intrigued that some Romulans want their children to learn to read Vulcan; the boy says "to prepare for the day when we will live again with our Vulcan cousins."

Vulcans are fluent in English, usually speaking it with an American-like accent, though occasionally British and Slavic accents have been heard. There is some debate among fans, however, as to whether the accent heard isn't a creation of the universal translator used at the time. The character of T'Pau, for example, speaks with only a faint accent as a young woman (as seen in the Enterprise episode "Awakening"), yet by the time she is an elder (as seen in the The Original Series episode "Amok Time"), she speaks with a thick accent, being played by a Hungarian actress. It has been pointed out that humans have been known to change accents over the course of a lifetime, so the same may hold true for Vulcans; although the difference in accents may just have been the result of a different model of Universal Translator.

Trivia

Leonard Nimoy felt that the Vulcans represented the Jewish people (to which he belongs). As a bit of stage "business" in the episode Amok Time, he invented the famous "live long and prosper" Vulcan salute (palm forward, fingers pointing up, separate the middle finger and the ring finger) based on the hand symbol used by kohanim during the Priestly Blessing. The Gesture actually emulates the initial Shin of the Shema. Many Jewish priests agree that Leonard Nimoy should never have seen the hand gesture for two ecclesiastical reasons: first he wasn't going to become a priest, and second he was supposed to be concentrating on the prayer. Nimoy himself admitted that, as a boy, he peeked to see what the priests were doing.
Notable Vulcans include Saavik, Skon, Solkar, Sarek, Soval, Spock, Surak, Sybok, T'Pau, T'Pol, Tuvok, Valeris, and Vorik.
Green Lantern - In an issue of DC Comics' Green Lantern series, an obviously Vulcan character appeared as a member of the Green Lantern Corps. He had pointed ears, spoke 'logically', and he had a brief conversation with Hal Jordan (Main character of the series) which ended with a "live long and prosper" and the famous hand gesture.
Over the years, writers and fans have created their own ideas about Vulcan culture, which have not always been supported by canonical sources (the TV series and movies). One of the more unusual is a suggestion which originated in the novelization of The Voyage Home that Vulcans are immune to the effects of alcohol, but instead can become inebriated by ingesting chocolate. Until a TV series or movie confirms this, however, this quirk is considered fanon only (It should not be considered though, since Romulans are an offshoot of the Vulcan race and Romulans drink Romulan Ale, which has been shown many times to be alcoholic.) The DVD release of season 2 of Enterprise reveals (in an outtakes feature) that a scene showing T'Pol slightly intoxicated after drinking several glasses of wine was planned for the episode "Carbon Creek"; this scene was ultimately refilmed with the characters, or at least T'Pol, sober, thereby avoiding a potential conflict with fanon.
One element of Vulcan physiology for which no canonical explanation has yet been offered is the change of appearance some Vulcans were seen to undertake, particularly with relation to their arched eyebrows. In "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before", Spock is seen with sharply arched eyebrows, yet for the remainder of The Original Series, the arch was far more subtle and in later film appearances was virtually nonexistent. Similarly, both Saavik and T'Pol were seen to have human-like eyebrows in their early appearances, yet in later adventures were seen with more traditionally arched eyebrows. It has also been noted that the appearance of Spock's ears also changed slightly at times during TOS.
The Vulcan nerve pinch was created for the episode The Enemy Within, after Leonard Nimoy suggested that a Vulcan would probably not just knock someone out by hitting them on the head with the butt of a phaser, and would instead use a more reserved, refined, and less overtly violent method to subdue someone.

Bibliography

Print

The Magazine v3#10 (February 2003 - "Romulan Propulsion Historical Overview" by Rick Sternbach & Tim Earls)

Digital

Fictional extraterrestrial species | Star Trek races | Vulcans

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