View source for Vulcan (Planet)

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{{Planet
|Name= Vulcan
|ImageOrbital= [[Image:Vulcan_orbit.jpg|300px]]
|ImageSurface= [[Image:Vulcan_surface.jpg|300px]]
|Caption= Mount Seleya on Vulcan
|Class= Class-M
|Type= Planet
|Status= 
|Satellites= M
|Native= *[[Vulcan]]
|Location= 40 Eridani System, [[Alpha Quadrant]]
|Affiliation= [[United Federation of Planets]]
}}


Vulcan is an arid, dry planet with thin air and high gravity, making it very inhospitable for humanoid life.  The twin Vulcan suns are so intense they caused the Vulcans to develop inner eyelids so as to protect their sight.  The lack of water and food caused much fighting in Vulcan's ancient past and subsequently led to the Time of Awakening.  The native flora is not plentiful, however one type of wildlife, the sehlat, has successfully been domesticated and is commonly kept as a pet.

== Economy ==
Vulcan's economy is highly dependent on the Vulcan people's ordered and logical minds which are in fact quite suitable for scientific research and development.  Many [[Federation]] historians are [[Vulcan]] as are quite a few [[Federation]] scientists.  Though many of the [[Vulcan]] people consider service in [[Starfleet]] less prestigious than attending the Vulcan Science Academy, many [[Vulcan]]s enter [[Starfleet]].  The Vulcan Science Academy is quite possibly the best scientific university in the [[Federation]].

== Geographical Data ==
Vulcan is a dry, arid planet with thin air and high gravity, making it very inhospitable for humanoid life.  The Vulcan sun is so intense it caused the [[Vulcan]]s to develop inner eyelids so as to protect their sight.  Vulcan has no oceans, but rather a system of rivers and scattered small seas.  The lack of water and food caused much fighting in Vulcan's ancient past and subsequently led to the Time of Awakening.  Similar to Earth, Vulcan's deserts are prone to large amounts of heat, sandstorms, and heat lightning.  Very often, the sandstorms and heat lightning can occur at the same time, also known as sandfire storms.

=== Cities ===
*Gol
*Kir
*Raal
*Shikahr - Capital
*T'Paal
*Vulcana Regar

===Points of Interest===
[[Image:Vulcan-fire-plains.png|thumb|left|Fire Plains of Vulcan]]'''Fire Plains'''<br>
The '''Fire Plains''' of Vulcan are in fact a field of pits wherein lava reacts with the hot Vulcan air.  The ancient [[Vulcan]]s built many statues in this area, making it even more memorable and a popular tourist destination.
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'''L-langon Mountains'''<br>
The '''L-langon Mountains''' are a mountain range in Vulcan's Forge on the other side of the desert from the city of Shikahr.  They are often the site of a coming of age ceremony for young [[Vulcan]] children.
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'''Mount Seleya'''<br>
'''Mount Seleya''' is a sacred mountain at the far end of Vulcan's Forge upon which an altar has been built.  The man who united the [[Vulcan]] people died there, but not before his katra was saved.
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[[Image:Vulcan_forge.jpg|thumb|right|Vulcan's Forge]]'''Vulcan's Forge'''<br>
Also known as simply 'The Forge', '''Vulcan's Forge''' is the place where many ancient [[Vulcan]] swordsmiths created their work.  The Forge itself is a canyon several hundred meters long that is prone to electricomagnetic instability which interferes with many modern technologies and is a natural environment for sehlats.
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Other Points of Interest:
*Lake Yuron
*Mount Tar'Hana
*Osana Caverns
*Voroth Sea

== History ==
The earliest records of Vulcan history tell of a violent planet where the people fought to mate, fought for food, fought for water, or other resources.  The clans fought each other, and the warlords fought each other.  A Vulcan from this time period could find any number of reasons to fight anyone.  It was also littered with different gods.  Earth had had its religions, around some 20 at one point, while Betazed generally had two or three.  Vulcan had somewhere in the vicinity of 192 different gods, each demanding favors from the people.  It was into this world that the leader Surak was born.

===Time of Awakening===
Surak, a Vulcan scholar, saw what the fighting was doing to his world and found a way to make the fighting end.  They would suppress all emotion in order to live in peace.  Many Vulcans tried and failed to find the strength of will within themselves to live by logic and suppress their unruly emotions, thus the kohlinahr was created to make it easier.  S'Task, a young Vulcan, became Surak's pupil to carry on his legacy after his mentor was gone.  Slowly over time Vulcan transformed itself into a world of peace and prosperity as the people were more inclined to help each other rather than kill.  However, many of the [[Vulcan]] people were highly resistant, not wanting to give up their emotions and lay down their arms for people that had to tried to kill them in the past.  Surak's teachings took time to take hold and were questioned many times over before the First Contact.

===First Contact===
First Contact was with an unknown race of pirates, possibly Orions, who took some of the Vulcans as slaves and robbed the planet of what precious few natural resources it had.  S'Task, Surak's pupil, was one of them and escaped his cell, succeeding in destroying the alien spacecraft after making it to an escape pod.  Surak, who felt betrayed by his pupils behavior, expressed his disappointment.  This reaction put the thought into S'Task's mind that perhaps not all emotions are bad, that they do have their uses.  This led to S'Task gaining a following of those 'who follow beneath the raptor's wings' and this group attacked Surak many times before finally killing him on Mount Seleya.  Grieved at what had happened to his old teach and what he had become, S'Task led a group of ships to [[Romulus]] and [[Remus]] who eventually became the [[Romulan]]s.

===The Golden Age===
Seeing the dangers of space, the [[Vulcan]]s decided that they must be ready to defend, not attack.  Their first spaceflight was in 300 AD, well before humans discovered the mechanics of anything beyond a catapault.  By 800 AD, they had a means of traveling to other star systems, but not warp.  They kept to themselves as they remembered the damage that had been done to their own world.  
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This led to a Golden Age on Vulcan, and their philosophy, art, literature, and science begam to evolve beyond that of anything before.  Many [[Vulcan]]s decided to become monks or priestesses and thus went to temples to spend the rest of their lives in servitude to unerring logic.  It was these [[Vulcan]]s who developed the kohlinahr in an effort to help those with logic who needed it.  These people also began to help young [[Vulcan]]s hone their telepathic abilities.
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Upon the unification of the world of Vulcan, the people began to study so many sciences that the Vulcan Science Academy was founded to create the best learning center for science on the planet.  It has remained one of the best in the [[Federation]] to this day.

===Contact with Other Races===
As soon as the 1700s, they were traveling to other planets and a crew of three had even landed on Earth sometime during the 1950s.  It was during this time that they made first contact with the first [[Andorian]] ship, however it did not go very well as the [[Andorian]]s were a very emotional race and detested the 'cold and unfeeling' Vulcans.  They also made contact with the [[Tellarite]]s, porcine humanoids who are extraordinary builders.  They contacted the first humans, Zefram Cochrane and his friend Lily, in Montana in 2063 when Zefram Cochrane broke the warp barrier, and made contact with [[Trill]] soon after.

===Cold War with the Andorians===
The Vulcan High Command did not trust the [[Andorian]]s and soon began to see them as duplicitous and deceitful.  The [[Andorian]]s terraformed a planet they named Weytahn and set up a colony, the Vulcan High Command demanded to be allowed to inspect it.  When the [[Andorian]]s refused, the Vulcan High Command removed the [[Andorian]]s by force.  Vulcans then set up a sensor base where they could monitor the Andorian homeworld remotely.  Assuming that they were forced out to be spied upon, the [[Andorian]]s sent Commander Shran to find what exactly was on P'Jem.  He was aided in finding the monitoring center by [[Captain]] Jonathon Archer of the USS Enterprise NX 01, opening up [[Andorian]]/Human relations.  

Coridan was another hot spot in the cold war between Vulcans and [[Andorian]]s.  The Coridan government had become very corrupt and the people were starting to rebel, aided by the [[Andorian]]s.  On the flip side of the coin, the Vulcans were aiding the government in an effort to procure more dilithium, a much needed substance for warp drive engines.

The Vulcan High Command began to exert more control over the civilian population, persecuting the Syrrannite sect who attempted to follow Surak's teachings the way they were meant to be followed and tried to encourage others to do the same.  At this time, Vulcan High Command also claimed to have intelligence reports that told of a new superweapond being developed by the Andorians that had been based on Xindi technology.  While the Vulcan High Command secretly amassed a fleet in the Regulan System, [[Commander]] Charles Tucker III and Ambassador Soval warned the [[Andorian]]s of the attack.  Losing the element of surprise, the Vulcans called off the attack before they lost any ships.

===Vulcan Reformation===
Following the attack on [[Andoria]], many [[Vulcan]]s realized that they had grown far away from the teachings of Surak.  It was found that some of the first [[Romulan]] infiltrators were trying to force a war between the two planets in order to weaking them.  Upon investigation by Subcommander T'Pol, [[Captain]] Jonathon Archer, and Koss, the katra of Surak and his writings detailing his vision were found in the possession of the Syrrannite movement.  Surak's katra was restored to Mount Seleya, however many [[Vulcan]]s were highly resistant to reforming their ways of thinking.  Slowly though the movement took place and Vulcan became the planet Surak wanted it to be.

===Coalition of Planets and the Federation===
[[Image:Coalitionofplanets.jpg|thumb|left|Founding of the Coalition of Planets]]In 2155, [[Tellar Prime]], Vulcan, Earth, and [[Andoria]] formed a loose alliance wherein they could call upon each other in times of distress.  This proved to be more and more helpful and as the planets depended more on each other, they formed one government comprised of members of each race and formed what is today the [[United Federation of Planets]] in 2161.  By the 23rd century, [[Vulcan]]s were a very active member of the [[Federation]] if not in Starfleet, then in politics and diplomatic capacities.  Particularly notable was Ambassador Sarek and his son, Spock, who helped write out the Khitomer Accords and was the first Vulcan in [[Starfleet]], respectively.  Vulcans were a key member of the [[Federation]] well into the 24th century and comprise a large part of [[Starfleet]]'s personnel.  Some ships have mostly Vulcan or only Vulcan crews and are named after notable Vulcans.  Spock in particular was a person of note as he attempted to reconcile the Vulcan and [[Romulan]] peoples.  He was largely unsuccessful due to the [[Romulan Star Empire|Romulan goverment]]'s desire for domination.  In a further attempt for reconciliation, Spock tried to repair the Hobus star with a substance called red matter but was unsuccessful as the attempt both damaged Romulus and Remus and took Spock's own life.

[[Category:Alpha Quadrant Planets]]