Changes

===People===

Vulcans do possess family names, although they are pronouncible by [[Human]]s only after many years of practice.

==History and Politics==

In an effort to avoid this fate, a Vulcan named Surak developed a new philosophy thereby igniting the Time of Awakening. Surak maintained that the root cause of all the problems on Vulcan lay in the uncontrolled outpouring of the people's emotions. His followers swore to live their lives by an ethical system devised by Surak and based purely on logical principles. All expression of emotions, negative or positive, was completely forbidden.

Although this new philosophy spread rapidly across Vulcan, a minority, many of whom were known as "those who march beneath the Raptor's wings", rejected Surak's ideals. A destructive war began including the use of atomic bombs and among the victims was Surak himself.

Eventually, however, those who opposed logic left Vulcan and founded colonies elsewhere - most notably on the planet Romulus, where they founded what eventually became the [[Romulan Star Empire]]. At some point in history, the [[Romulan]]s and the Vulcans engaged in a 100 year long war against one another. The war was instigated by the actions of a member of the [[Q|Q Continuum]].

Another group that rejected Surak's philosophy was known as the "V'tosh ka'tur" or "Vulcans without Logic". The V'tosh Ka'tur believed in controlling emotions by allowing themselves to actively experience them rather than surpressing them. Many of these also left Vulcan, and took up a nomadic existence.

The Vulcans were one of the first of the current powers to develop warp drive, though a century would pass between the first warp flight and the breaking of the Warp 2 barrier. The Vulcans conducted a series of survey missions to the Sol system, as early as 1957.

The official first contact between Vulcans and [[Human]]s came on April 5, 2063 when a Vulcan survey ship detected the warp flight of Zefram Cochrane's Phoenix. The Vulcans met with Cochrane at his launch site on the day following the flight.

The Vulcans eventually became Earth's "big brother" in a way, advising Earth officials on how to proceed into the galaxy. The Vulcan High Command considered [[Human]]s volatile and similar to Vulcans before the Time of Awakening, and so attempted to slow down humanity's move into the galaxy until the time was right.

By the 21st and 22nd centuries, the Vulcans would have also made contact with the [[Cardassian]]s, [[Trill]], [[Tholian]]s, [[Klingon]]s, and scores of other races.

In contrast to their tradition of peaceful exploration, the Vulcans have also had a long history of border skirmishes with the neighboring [[Andorian]]s. The [[Humans]] helped negotiate a peace between the two over the disputed Class D planetoid, known to the Vulcans as Paan Mokar.

In the 22nd century, the Vulcan High Command, once in charge only of space exploration and planetary defense, gained much more control over civilian affairs. Under the High Command's leadership, Vulcan policy toward other planets became more aggressive and interventionist, using the ancient monastery at P'Jem to spy on [[Andorian]] activities.

Vulcan also became less tolerant of political and philosophical challenges towards the High Command's operations, notably engaging in purges of the Syrrannite group, who claimed that Vulcan society was no longer following the teachings of Surak. These tensions came to a head in the crisis called the Vulcan Reformation, which resulted in the overthrow of the High Command (and its leader, V'Las) and a restructuring of the Vulcan government under the leadership of Kuvak and T'Pau. (Although it was not known at the time, V'Las was secretly allied with the [[Romulan]]s.)

One of the first acts of the new government was to end the policy of holding back [[human]] expansion into the galaxy.

As of the 23rd century, Vulcan had never been conquered in its collective memory. That memory goes so far back that Vulcans can't conceive of a conqueror.

:''Spock declines to have a drink with McCoy by saying that his people were "spared the dubious benefits of alcohol", McCoy scorns Spock's refusal by stating that he now knows why Vulcan was conquered. This directly contradicts the above. It has been argued that McCoy was probably just being facetious. However, since the [[Federation]] is based on Earth, even after the Vulcans held sway over [[human]]s a century before its foundation, one could figuratively attest that at least Vulcan's "influence" over Earth was conquered.''

Today, Vulcan remains one of the principal [[Federation]] members, and is deeply involved in all levels of that society. Their tradition of exploration has continued; in the 24th Century, a Vulcan ship was the first to make formal contact with a [[Gamma Quadrant]] civilization, upon encountering the [[Wadi]]. They were at the forefront of exploration in the [[Gamma Quadrant]], encountering the [[Rakhari]] and finding the remains of the [[Hur'q]] civilization.

Despite the enmity between the [[United Federation of Planets|Federation]] and the [[Romulan Star Empire]], some Vulcans have been attempting to forge a more cordial relationship with their cousins, ultimately hoping to reunify the two cultures. So far these efforts have met with little success.

In the 24th century, the Vulcan ministry of security was known as the V'Shar.