The Vulcans, or Vulcanians, were a warp-capable humanoid species from the planet Vulcan. They were widely renowned for their strict adherence to logic and reason as well as their remarkable stoicism.
History
The ancient history of Vulcan was full of violence and bloodshed but eventually through the Teachings of Surak the Vulcans were able to control their passions and ferocity in favor of creating a society built around logic and reasoning. They achieved warp-capable status over 600 years before Earth and as such had early contact or observation with many similar developing species.
Early contacts with numerous primitive and violent races provoked the Vulcan belief in remaining hidden from such races until they "matured" or developed themselves. This would later form the initial basis for the Prime Directive.
During their encounters in space, the Vulcans encountered the Andorian Empire and were distressed by the violent and emotional nature of the Andorian species, to the point that they sought to guide that race. However, the Vulcans' actions were seen as both overt and covert attempts to coerce and control the Andorian people, who reacted volently. This sparked a series of conflicts and skirmishes between the two races that ended with the signing of the Tau Ceti Accords and left a state of cold war between the two governments.
This was not the Vulcans' only attempt at guiding other species. They encountered the dilithium-rich world of Coridan III and sought to help the native inhabitants develop a stable world government. While such an act would seemingly be against the policy of non-interference of developing worlds, the Vulcans logically reasoned that Coridan's resources would benefit the Vulcan government, and that by stabilising the planet they could facilitate a mining agreement. This was crucial to the Vulcan state, due to the significant economic and material gains, as well as continued tensions from Andoria. Vulcan's close economic and political ties with the Coridan government spawned dissident rebellious factions, who in turn were supported by the Andorians, who also sought to acquire Coridan's resources. This cold war for Coridan continued for many years.
In addition to conflict with the Andorians, the Vulcans also had skirmishes with the Tellarites, with the two species reverse-engineering Vulcan technology into their starships.
The official First Contact between Vulcans and Humans came on April 5, 2063, when a Vulcan survey ship, the T'Plana-Hath, detected the warp flight of Zefram Cochrane's Phoenix. The Vulcans met with Cochrane at his launch site on the day following the flight. Subsequently, the Vulcans offered their technological guidance to Humans, but were criticized on Earth for holding back their development. A century after First Contact, the High Command had become worried about Humans, who, like Vulcans, had had devastating wars, but after which had rebuilt and started traveling to the stars much faster. There were those on the High Command who wondered what Humans would achieve in the century to come, and did not like the answer.
By the 21st and 22nd centuries, the Vulcans had also made contact with the Cardassians, Trill, Tholians, Klingons (as early as 2016), and scores of other races.
By the 24th century, Vulcan remained one of the principal Federation members, and was deeply involved at all levels of that society.
Biology
Vulcans tend to be tall with dark hair and all have elongated upper ears that are pointed at the top and slanted eyebrows. Some specimens have pronounced brows. Similar to Humans, Vulcans tend to have a wide range of skin tones, an example being Xialites, and other tropically descended Vulcans, possessing a darker skin complexion.
Vulcan blood was copper-based and was copper- or rust-colored when deoxygenated in the veins and green when oxygenated, in the arteries, or when when bleeding. Bruises and dermal abrasions took on a greenish color.
Vulcans possessed a highly efficient respiratory system to extract the oxygen they needed from Vulcan's thin atmosphere. They were most comfortable in high temperatures. A Vulcan of advanced age could become more sensitive to lower temperatures.
Vulcans were, on average, three times physically stronger than Humans, and had considerably faster reflexes.
Vulcans typically had a lifespan of two hundred years or more.
Approximately every seven years, adult Vulcans had to endure pon farr, the Vulcan mating period. It was marked by intense emotions and primal urges (known as plak tow, or "blood fever") that could kill the Vulcan if not satisfied. Physiological symptoms included elevated dopamine levels and fever. For such an orderly society of quiet sobriety, the madness which accompanied the outbreak of pon farr was an unavoidable evil.
Society & Culture
Founded by an ancient Vulcan named Surak, the essence of Vulcan society is in arriving at the truth through logical process. Most Vulcans believe that emotions are illogical, thus making them impure, and deterrent to truth. However, Vulcans are born with the same emotions that afflicted their violent ancestors, but the continual mind conditioning, the t'san s'at, gives them the impassivity sought after by all Vulcans. The t'an s'at is an intellectual deconstruction of emotional patterns, a lifelong process that strives for absolute detachment from all emotion. Though not all can arrive at the ultimate pure logical state, the exacting process of mental control gives Vulcans enough to conform to the ideals of Vulcan society.
Vulcans were generally non-violent, but logic dictated that combat was sometimes necessary. Vulcans could and did use weapons and practiced martial arts called tal-shaya and Suus Mahna.
Vulcans considered death to be the completion of a journey. Therefore, they did not fear it happening; however, the loss of one's katra was to be avoided if possible, since the katra lived on beyond the physical death. They also practiced euthanasia for the infirm and elderly, and saw nothing wrong with practicing ritual suicide when they reached a certain infirmity with age. As they knew death was an inevitability, they believed that fear of death was ultimately illogical.
Because of their societal emphasis, Vulcan education institutes such as the Vulcan Science Academy and Vulcan Medical Institute were two notable post-secondary institutions famous for the quality of their graduates.
