Star Trek: 10 Ways The Romulan Supernova Impacted The Multiverse

The skies were always cloudy, though the cities equally brighter, for anyone who dared to roam in or around the Romulan Neutral Zone. Established at the end of the Earth-Romulan War, this inviolable band of space in the Beta Quadrant existed for over two centuries. In 2387, the collapse of a star saw the collapse of an Empire. There was no more need for demarcated neutrality, but no help there from the Federation either, leaving the Fenris alone on the range.

After the supernova, areas in and around the former Neutral Zone, such as the Qiris Sector, descended into outright criminality, with the Fenris Rangers just doing their best to maintain a semblance of law and order. Romulan refugees had spread out across the quadrants — some remained on the former relocation hub of the planet Vashti, which itself fell into poverty and became a "hotbed" for the racist 'Romulan Rebirth Movement,' whilst others moved to Earth.

Elsewhere in the Beta Quadrant, the 'Romulan Free State' formed, taking control of a Borg cube that had suffered a "submatrix collapse" after the attempted assimilation of a member of the Zhat Vash who had undergone the Admonition. Borg technology was quite the rage, too, even before the supernova, as Icheb sadly found out in 2386 during his year off helping the new pals of his former Voyager crewmate. On the upside, we did get Elnor, former-student of the Way of Absolute Candour under the swords of the Qowat Milat on Vashti. In 2401, he became the first full-blooded Romulan cadet at Starfleet Academy — quite the big step given that even half-Romulan applicants, like Simon Tarses, had had to hide their heritage in the (recent) past. Oh, and the Zhat Vash still wanted to kill all 'robots'.