How different would Starfleet have been if Romulans--instead of Vulcans--had been the ones that made first contact?

And what if that contact had been made with beavers?


Regardless of beavers or humans I suspect there would be no starfleet and earth would just be a subject of the Romulan Empire. Rather you might have a prolonged guerilla war ala Bajor.

What ifs are sometimes fun. Don't have to beat me with beavers.

The reason I ask, I was reading the Star Trek Novelization (don't hate me). THis line:

Nero sighed. "Centuries ago, before the Vulcan High Council decided to reveal themselves to the people of Earth in order to inform them that they were not alone in the universe, and to invite them into the Federation, we would occasionally observe your species from a distance." He paused. "You are a more noble race than our deplorable fallen cousins."


It made me wonder. What if the Romulans had made first contact and decided to be our mentors, similar to how the Vulcans did, but with Romulan philosophies.

I think we would have been very much like the Mirror Mirror folks...

And yes, I'm aware of the incorrect statements in that line. No Federation yet, etc etc. I just found the premise intriguing.

Yes, it would be like the mirrorverse. But that's all the Romulans are as an empire to begin with. Think about it. Treachery, military occupations, xenophobia, slaves, the state above all else except maybe yourself kind of thinking. The Romulan Star Empire is basically the same as the Terran Empire except with aliens instead of humans. All your suggesting is placing humans on the low end of that spectrum instead of the top.

Not knocking it though, it'd be an interesting piece to see played out. But only because we could always use more in-depth Romulan stories.

Regards,
-Grey

If Klingons had made first contact.

What if the Deltans had made first contact :-D

Oh, hey Raven I lightened up and posted in "rate my avatar" like you suggested when we first popped in here :-)

Yay! The madness has infected you.

One of us! One of us! One of us!

What if it were the Cardassians?