Star Trek: 10 Species Who Need To Get With The Times

The Romulan Star Empire has a long reputation of cruelty and intolerance. They left their Vulcan sibling to live free of Surak's teachings, but ended up becoming far more oppressive than the Vulcans ever were.

Shortly after colonising the Romulus system, they enslaved the local population of Remans, forcing them to mine dilithium, construct weapons, and serve in the Dominion War.

At times, even the Romulan people themselves suffered due to their actions. The secret Romulan organisation, The Zhat Vash, were behind the synth attack on Mars, which crippled the Federation rescue fleet meant to evacuate the Romulan people when their planet was destroyed by a supernova. Even the destruction of their home world wasn't enough to change their attitude towards other species. We saw a 'Romulans only' restaurant on the planet Vashti, and many blamed humanity for what happened.

Just like we mentioned with the Vulcans, reunification of the Vulcan and Romulan people in the 32nd century signalled that the Romulans may finally be opening up to other cultures.