| Vulcan Package Deal | |
|---|---|
| Abilities | |
| Cost | Ability |
| Vulcan Physiology | |
| 5 | 1) +5 STR |
| 6 | 2) +3 CON |
| 6 | 3) +3 BODY |
| 2 | 4) Eye Membranes: Sight Group Flash Defense (2 points) |
| Vulcan Mental Discipline | |
| 6 | 1) +3 EGO |
| 2 | 2) Mental Discipline: Mental Defence (5 points total) |
| Disadvantages | |
| Cost | Disadvantage |
| 0 | Normal Characteristic Maxima |
| 10 | Hunted: Terran Authorities 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Watching) Notes: The Terran authorities keeps Vulcans inside the Empire under loose observation because of their identification with the followers of the proscribed sect, the Church of the Blessed Roddenberry. |
| 0 | Hunted: Trekkies 8- (Less Pow, Limited Geographical Area, Watching - fanboys) Notes: Wherever Vulcans go within Terran space, they tend to attract the attention of adherents of the Church of the Blessed Roddenberry. They are (mostly) harmless, but irritating. |
| 5 | Soc. Lim.: Alien discrimination - not a Terran Empire human citizen (Frequently, Minor, Not Limiting In Some Cultures) Notes: The discrimination against non-humans within the Terran Empire is not blatant, but it is real. |
| Total Package Cost: 12 | |
In an infinite universe, all things which can exist, must exist. It should therefore have come as no surprise when the expanding Terran Union, in the late 23rd century, discovered the existence of a species which exactly duplicated the features of a race first described in that classic series of morality plays of the Blessed Prophet Roddenberry, on Earth, in the mid 20th century. Indeed, it was the discovery of this race — calling themselves "Vul-K'hanu" — which gave the final impetus to the push to have the oracular status of the Blessed Roddenberry, and the church which bears his name, officially recognised. The species were immediately rechristened "Vulcans" by the media, and it is by that name that they have been popularly known throughout Terran space ever since.
Note: The Church of the Blessed Roddenberry (its adherents are popularly known as Trekkies) is an officially proscribed organisation by the time of Marrissa III. Possession or performance of the plays of the Blessed Roddenberry is legally defined as a seditious act, and carries a penalty of up to five years imprisonment. For this reason, although Vulcans are not themselves automatically objects of suspicion, they tend to be kept under observation by the TSS and TIC because of the way they bring Trekkies out of the woodwork.
The Vulcans themselves find the Church rather puzzling and in slightly poor taste, but are far too polite to say so openly unless pressed.
The Imperial authorities are scupulous in calling the Vul-K'hanu by their proper name, but the popular usage remains "Vulcan" in spite of official disapproval.
The Vul-K'hanu home planet, Vul-K'han, lies northward of Imperial Space, towards the galactic core. The seas of Vul-K'han are small, and much of the planet's surface is covered in desert. The gravity is slightly higher than earth-normal, at 1.2G.
Although they appear unremarkable to human eyes, being distinguished visually from humans only by their pointed ears and up-slanting eyebrows, they are anatomically quite different, having several redundancies among their vital organs. They are also surprising strong compared with humans.
Its proximity to the galactic core makes the planet Vul-K'han subject to relatively high levels of radiation, and its inhabitants have evolved a number of features designed to cope with such an environment. They have a nictating membrane which protects the eyes from bright light, and from the harmful effects of some wavelengths of light. Their blood chemistry is copper, not iron based, and they are highly resistant to radiation poisoning. They are, naturally, immune to most diseases which afflict human beings as the disease-causing organisms are unable to live in their bloodstream.
Vulcan skin melanism occurs in generally similar forms as does human, though their copper-based blood gives them a greenish tinge where a human would be pink (such as inside the mouth and ears, and under the finger and toenails for example). The high radiation levels present on Vul-K'han results in a significantly higher proportion of dark-skinned to light-skinned Vulcans; the ratio is about 3:1.
Surprisingly, Vulcans appear to be interfertile with humans, though the differences in outlook make the likelihood of an inter-species mating highly unlikely.
The defining feature of Vul-K'hanu culture is its all-pervading obeisance to the dictates of logic and rationality. Although they are a spiritual people, with a rich body of social and personal ritual, their spirituality is manifested primarily in the constant striving for the perfection of the rational self. They have no gods, and believe in nothing which cannot be objectively and rationally proven, and have a profound distrust of the emotive or intuitive. To human taste, Vulcans tend to seem cold, pedantic and humourless, and to most other races the rigid self-control of the Vulcan comes across as an almost machine-like absence of emotion — except when they're feeling annoyance, which they seem to be less adept at concealing.
Vulcan scientific progress has been slow, but steady. Their habits of thought make them excellent experimenters and technicians, but their suppression of irrationality and intuition makes the sorts of conceptual leaps which result in paradigm-shifting advances highly unlikely. Nevertheless, they are superb analysts, and are easily able to take advantage of the more erratic work of others. At the time that they were encountered by the Terrans they were solidly settled at ATRI 9, and are now ATRI 11 in most areas.
Vulcans mate only once every seven years, at which time they experience an irresistable tide of hormone-induced emotional mood swings. It's as if they have to make up for the entire seven year's worth of rational control and emotional repression at once, and they can be somewhat dangerous to be around during this time. Pair-bonding is normally exclusive and for life, but is more often engaged in as a matter of inter-family policy than as an expression of mutual affection. Vulcans treat their closest family as they would any other aquaintance, with polite detachment.
Vulcans are vegetarians, and will kill only in self defence (or in defence of others), and then only as the absolute last resort. Vulcans do not lie, cheat or steal. If pressed to the point where some sort of deception is absolutely necessary, they will attempt first to redirect the questioner, then to misdirect, and only at the last instance to actually deceive.
The Vulcans have always remained steadfastly non-aligned, and since Vul-K'han has no particularly useful resources and is not in a strategically important location, it has remained largely undisturbed. The Vul-K'hanu maintained good relations with the Mandaarians, their nearest major neighbours, until the departure of that people from the Milky Way galaxy. Their relations with the Terran Empire are reasonably good, and with the Ackalians — polite. The Varanyi have an interest in them, though not by any means a benevolent one; fortunately the galactic core lies conveniently between Vul-K'han and the Varanyi sphere of influence.
Diplomacy is not actually something that Vulcans excell at, since they find the idea of deception distasteful, and telling an outright lie is positively disgusting to them — almost like the thought of eating excrement might be to a human. However, their scrupulous honesty does make them in demand as independent arbiters between others.