Distant Relations -- Story Notes
This work of fan fiction was inspired by a Marvel Comics ST:TOS story entitled “Cloak and Dagger” In that story, Captain Pike's Enterprise finds a lost colony of Vulcans who left Vulcan before Surak's reforms became the dominant force in Vulcan society. In my story, it is the Klingons who stumble upon this colony.
For my story I wanted to avoid the “crazed desert warrior” trope that is often found in both the profic and the fanfic. Yes, the ancient Vulcans were emotional, volatile, and even savage, but they were also technologically sophisticated. Based on the monastery on P'Jem, Vulcans had interstellar spaceflight since the 9th century BC; Surak did not initiate his reforms until the 4th century AD. Their level of sophistication allowed them to build weapons powerful enough to devastate their planet and almost destroy themselves.
In the Shuuvasu, I wanted a people that were pre-reformVulcan, but possessed the sophistication of their star-faring ancestors. I drew upon all the ST canon, the RPG books, and some of Earth's warrior cultures to create a believable people.
Story Background
I used the IDW comics Countdown and Nero as the background for this story. Even though the comics are not canon, they provide useful information on why Nero's mining ship became a super weapon, and why the Vulcan Science Council delayed in giving Spock Prime the red matter until after Romulus was destroyed.
Prologue
1) One of the sources for the Shuuvasu are the Rigellian Vulcanoids from the unpublished Lost Unicorn Games RPG book Sky Pirates of Orion. These Vulcans are powerful telepaths and retain many of the telepathic skills and abilities forgotten by most Vulcans, including the use of the psionically-powered Rods of Kel.
2) The Inner Chorus, the Ka-ta-pak, is the ancient Vulcan pantheon and represents emotions of the Vulcan psyche. Each emotion is a deity. (The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans).
a) Ket-Cheleb, the god of anger and drinker of blood
b) Kal-Ap-Ton - the Griever
c) Mah-teler - love for the osehlatlar
3) The bond between Shuuvasu and sehlat is based on the ancient bond between humans and dogs. Humans and dogs are co-evolutionary partners, meaning that the development of each species has been affected by the other. Dogs have an amazing ability to “read” human behavior. Since Vulcans are natural telepaths, their bonds with their sehlats would be even stronger than the bond between humans and dogs. A wonderful book on the human dog relationship is Merle's Door.
Chapter One
1) Lirpas were first seen in the TOS episode, “Amok Time”.
2) Klingon society resembles the feudal societies of Earth. A powerful lord rules over a group of warriors, peasants, and possibly non-Klingons. By destroying the ruling family and their retainers, the Shuuvasu can take control. (numerous ST episodes).
3) Targs are a common animal in Klingon society. They are both pets and food animals.
Chapter Two
1) Thought admirals are the creation of John Ford, author of the ST novel, The Final Reflection. These flag officers are masters of strategic planning. While the most commonly seen Klingon is the active warrior, more comtemplative Klingons must also exist in Klingon society.
2) Klingon distrust of telepaths has been mentioned in various sources (startrek.com, The Final Reflection, LUG Klingon Preview).
3) Spock's telepathic abilities were not confined to touch telepathy. In at least three cases, he was able to contact the minds of other persons without direct physical contact. Vulcans are also sensitive to the emotions of others.
Chapter Three
1) The story of the arrival of the Rai'aelvir in Federation Space is described in Adaptation.
2) As seen in the TNG episodes Unification 1 & 2, the background comics, and assorted profic novels, Spock Prime has a strong interest in convincing Rihansular to accept the teachings of Surak.
Chapter Five
1) I based the underlying similarity of carbon-based life in much of the galaxy on the TNG episode, "The Chase". That episode described how an ancient humanoid species seeded many planets with DNA in the hopes that life forms like their own would evolve.
Chapter Sixteen
1) I know the Vulcan/chocolate connection is fanon, but I think the idea is interesting. In addition, I'm a serious chocololic myself. :) Chocolate beer/ale does exist and can be purchased from specialty brewers.
2) Since the Shuuvasu never adopted logic as a lifestyle, they don't look down on humans or otheer emotional beings. They dislike Klingons because the Klingons attacked them first.
Chapter Twenty-Three
1) For pon farr, I went back to the original ideas of T. Sturgeon who introduced the idea into Star Trek. He thought that pon farr was the price Vulcans paid for their high level of control in other aspects of their lives.
I gave pon farr more of a biological basis. Shuuvasular and Rihansular never supressed their emotions, so their bouts of pon farr are very mild and more frequent. Males become a bit irritable and very interested in sex, but they will not die if they don't mate. They are just unhappy. Vuhlkansular, on the other hand, suppress pon farr until the pressure is too great and they lose control.