To the Council of Planetary Archaeology,
Nova Roma, Rator III:

For years, we have been taught that Romulans are descended from a warlike faction of Vulcans who refused to accept Surak's teachings of logic. The Federation Ambassador Spock corrupted young minds of loyal Romulan citizens like D'Tan, creating the Reunification movement that led these youths to betray the Empire and create their own so-called Romulan Republic, full of traitors and terrorists. I tell you today, that the history of the Romulan people, taught by Spock to D'Tan and his followers is a myth! A fiction invented by Spock in a vain attempt to solidify his place in history as the aging Vulcan ambassador was ending his career with no legacy of his own, forever standing in the shadows of history behind the ego of James Kirk.

But I shall not spread propaganda, as Spock has done. I shall disseminate facts and--dare I say--logic to prove my case:

• * We know of the Preserver race that seeded humanoid DNA throughout the galaxy, including Humans, Klingons, and Cardassians, among others.
• * The human biologist A.E. Hodgkin postulated the idea that similar organisms, given similar conditions, will evolve in parallel to one another, without any contact whatsoever.
• * The indigenous people of Mintaka III are biologically similar to both Vulcans and Romulans, but evolved independently of both--lending further credence to Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development.
• * In Vulcan lore, the Time of the Awakening, when Surak was alive teaching his philosophy of logic to save the Vulcan people from nuclear annihilation occurred 2,000 years ago (circa Earth's 4th century)
• * According to Vulcan lore, the Sundering happened during the Time of the Awakening, when a dissident faction of Vulcans refused to accept Surak's teachings and left Vulcan, taking with them the mythical Sword of the Raptor Star, supposedly crafted by Vulcan master weaponsmith S'harien
• * The Vulcan colonists who "marched beneath the Raptor's Wings", fought a great battle on Dimorus II--the victors of which became the founders of the Romulan Star Empire. The Sword was lost during that battle.
• * D'Tan's Republic, in the process of surveying Dewa III, which they now call Mol'Rihan, supposedly found the mythical sword. Quantum dating confirms the age of the sword to correspond to the time of the Sundering--and D'Tan's "experts" subjectively claim that the swords masterwork craftsmanship could only be attributed to S'harien (because there are no other master swordsmiths in the entire history of the galaxy who could have equaled his quality).
• * 1,500 years AFTER the Sundering, when these proto-Romulans supposedly left Vulcan, the Vulcans finally develop warp-capable space-flight. (Source: ENT: The Forge)
• * 300 years after Vulcans first develop warp technology, they make first contact with humans, only 16 light-years away. (Source: ENT: The Forge)
• * 1,800 years BEFORE Vulcans met Humans, they colonized Romulus--THREE SECTORS AWAY?!?
• * Not to mention that the Sword of the Raptor Star was lost on Dimorus II, but found on Dewa III, four sectors away...

So, Spock's myth expects us to believe that Vulcans left Vulcan--travelled 3 sectors, fought a battle, colonized a world 4 sectors away from the battle (in the wrong direction) then left that colony to travel BACK the way they came to finally settle on Romulus--and all this happened within the same Century, and all without Warp travel?

However, if that alone were not enough to discredit the Sundering hyothesis, I submit that the Federation's own preeminent archaeologist, the late Dr. Richard Galen's discovery of the first recovered recording from a Preserver archive, wherein it was revealed that the Preservers seeded their genetic code into the DNA of several planets, including the home worlds of Humans, Klingons, Cardassians, and... Romulans--not Vulcans! Romulus was an original seed world of the Preservers and not a lost Vulcan colony. (Source: TNG: The Chase)

Romulans are not Vulcan's unwanted cousin. We are our own! We do not march Beneath the Raptor's Wings--WE ARE THE RAPTOR!

The Romulan Republic is founded on a lie, perpetuated by a Federation emissary, taught to a child, and accepted by a generation of Romulans who are grasping for something familiar after the loss of our homeworld. All of this elaborate plot, just to break the will of the Romulan people and to hack away at the Empire's power so that the Federation can ASSIMILATE more of the galaxy... all the while looking like some unwitting hero who just happens to show up to help fix things after the disaster they created.

I am NOT a Vulcan; I am ROMULAN!

Respectfully Submitted,
--Licinius Macer,
Romulan Colonial Organizational Committee