- What you do not yet understand.......-

is that Vulcans do not lack emotion. This is an all too common misconception. It is merely that our emotions are controlled, kept in check. This adherence to principles of logic offers a serenity that humans rarely experience in full. We have emotions. But we deal firmly with them and do not let them control us.

The home planet of the Vulcans, Vulcan or T´Khasi , a class-M-planet is, together with TKhut, a class-H-planet, located in the 40 Eridani Starsystem. The planet is hot and erid and has no moon.

In 2063, Vulcans made first contact with humankind. We could see this in "StarTrek - First Contact". At this time, a Vulcan survey ship passed through Earth´s solar system at the time that Zefram Cochrane made his first faster-than-light spaceflight test in the Phoenix. They detected the warp signature and realized that humans had discovered warp drive.

Vulcans were once passionate, violent people whose civilization was torn by terrible wars. The philosopher Surak, also called "the father of Vulcan civilization", led his people some two thousend years ago to reject their emotions in favour of a philosophy that embraced pure logic. Vulcan society is now based entirely on logic, and any trappings of emotion are considered to be socially unacceptable. Because of that Vulcans are known as good diplomats.

A group that did not accept Surak´s teachings and instead left Vulcan is the Romulan Star Empire. Their descendents and offshoots colonized many planets across the quadrant. By the 24th century, however, a small number of Vulcan citizens sought reconciliation with ther Romulan cousins, a movement supported by Ambassador Spock, as well as by members of a Romulan underground.

So, you can imagine, that in the distant past, Vulcans killed to win their mates. In the present, Vulcans revert to ancient mating rituals, apparently the price these people must pay for totally suppressing their natural emotions.

When Vulcan children are about seven, their parents select a future mate, and the two children are joined in a ceremony that links them telepathically. When the two children come of age, they are compelled to join together for the marriage rituals. The time of mating, Pon farr, is when the stoically logical Vulcans pay for their rigid control by experiencing a period of total emotional abandon. In Vulcan adults, Pon farr comes every seven years.

Because planet Vulcan has a higher gravity than Earth, and its atmoshere is thinner, Vulcans in an Earth-normal environment demonstrate greater physical strength and more acute hearing than humans. A Vulcan heart is where a human´s liver is. When injured, Vulcans concentrate their strength, blood, and antibodies onto the injured organs by a type of self-induced hypnosis.

Vulcans have telepathic capacity, as practised in the Vulcan mindmeld. Located in the mesiofrontal cortex of the Vulcan brain lies the psychosuppression system responsible for the cessation of emotions. On rare occations, this area of the brain can be disrupted following a mind-meld with a violent individual.

Vulcan Techniques and rituals

The Vulcan nerve pinch

A Vulcan technique in which finger pressure is applied to certain nerves at the base of the neck, instantly and nonviolently rendering that individual unconscious.

fal-tor-pan

Ancient Vulcan ritual, also called the re-fusion, intended to reunite an individual katra [katra: the Vulcan concept of the soul, the living spirit. Just prior to death, Vulcan custom is to mind-meld with a friend who is entrusted with the duty of returning the katra to the individual´s home.] to that person´s body.

tal-shaya

Ancient method of execution on Vulcan that was considered a merciful form of death. Pressure was applied to a specific portion of the victim´s neck until it snapped, causing instantaneous death.

Pon farr

Vulcan term for the time of mating. Although Vulcans live strictly by the dictates of logic, their veneer of civilization is ripped away from them during Pon farr, every seven years of their adult life. The individual experiencing Pon farr will stop eating and sleeping if not allowed to return home to take a mate. During the Pon farr, the brain is thrown into a neurochemical imbalance that can be fatal if the mating drive is not acted upon. The Vulcan telepathic matingbond draws mated couples irresistibly together during Pon farr.

Kolinahr

Vulcan ritual intended to purge all remaining emotions in pursuit of the ideal of pure logic.

Plak-tow

Vulcan term : can be translated as "blood fever". Refers to a state of mind in which a Vulcan undergoing Ponn farr.

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