Star Trek: Vulcan Page 9
More than two dozen shops and restaurants are interspersed with twice that many galleries, and the outdoor spaces here are liberally decorated with murals, statues, and other sculptures and carvings created by the commune’s guests. Though Vulcans make up the bulk of the population, it’s not unusual to find a few outworlders in residence. Don’t miss the live music festivals held each weekend in the village’s central courtyard.
T’Paal Observatory
Even with the advent of satellites, space-based telescopes, unmanned interstellar survey probes, and long-range sensors, there is nothing better than beholding distant stars with the naked eye. Land-based astronomy remains a popular activity on Vulcan, as it is on countless other worlds, and the Vulcan Science Academy operates several astronomy facilities around the planet, all of which are open to the public. The T’Paal Observatory is one such site, situated in the mountains above the city’s northern boundary, and hosting stargazing sessions each night beneath the brilliant Vulcan sky. Subspace-imaging telescopes and stellar cartographic holosimulations allow visitors to reacquaint themselves with the universe around them and their place in it.
Veklar Prison Museum
A relic of a bygone age, this prison presents a foreboding silhouette against the backdrop of mountains west of the city. While violent crime is almost unheard of on Vulcan, and the modern justice system emphasizes rehabilitation over incarceration and punishment, this was not always the case. Long abandoned as the planet embraced Reformation, prisons like Veklar now stand as reminders of Vulcan’s brutal past. Guided tours lead you through a maze of corridors and underground passageways, and there are also costumed performers reenacting a typical day in the life of both the inmates and the guards. Due to the graphic nature of these performances, visitor discretion is advised.
SHOPPING AND ENTERTAINMENT
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Unlike many other prime tourist destinations, T’Paal has no centralized shopping district or bazaar. Instead, boutiques, small galleries, and modest retail areas are found throughout the hills and valleys upon which the city is built. Walking west from the beaches, you’ll find open-air bazaars rather than the usual department stores or shopping precincts, many of them occupying caves and furrows within the rock. Likewise, amphitheaters and stages use the spectacular backdrop of the city’s stone formations or are constructed so that they blend seamlessly with the natural surroundings.
Alternative Factors
Renowned for its selection of rare and out-of-print books, this quaint little shop has to be seen to be believed. What at first appears to be a single-story structure near the city’s northern end actually extends several floors below ground, with every millimeter of available space stuffed to overflowing with vintage tomes. Vulcan literature is well represented, of course, but you’ll find everything from classics to mass-market pulp from dozens of planets hiding on the shelves. On display here is the original handwritten manuscript for The Runes of T’Vish, the seminal work by renowned Vulcan philosopher T’Vish that continues to set the standard to which young Vulcan adults aspire when honing their mental discipline and learning to control their emotions.
Mahr-kel-svitan
Every tourist town has them, and T’Paal is no exception. What began as a handful of smaller shops on the fringes of the city center has grown over time to become its own destination. A single street of offbeat, unconventional merchants cater to those looking to break away from the rest of the T’Paal art and craft scene. If you’re looking for that inexpensive, inelegant, and even tacky memento for yourself or a friend, chances are good you’ll find it here. This is the place where gaudy shirts and katric ark nesting eggs come to die.
Chamber Music Pavilion
At T’Paal’s Chamber Music Pavilion, small, intimate gatherings of musicians employ disparate types of instruments—often representing different cultures and musical styles—and play for audiences ranging from the single digits to more than a hundred. One local troupe’s nightly performance of “The Journey Songs,” which describe the arduous migration of the Eeiauoan people from their ancestral home to their new world, routinely packs the place, so get there early.
Gad’muf fi’kov
Loosely translated as “festival atop the rock,” this gala is held each year at the summit of nearby Mount Amanut south of the city. An exceptional array of acclaimed celebrity artists and musicians representing most of the planet’s leading performing arts communities is usually in attendance. Locals and outworlders participate, and the annual event draws spectators from dozens of worlds. Classes and workshops for every skill level invite young musicians to hone their craft while learning from masters. The festival is also one of the few places where you’ll see Klingon opera, Earth jazz, Lurian folk ballads, and Arcturian death metal performed in such close proximity, not to mention the impromptu collaborations that get kicked up on a whim.
DINING AND NIGHTLIFE
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Like many cities catering to outworlders and individualists of the sort found in an artisan community, some parts of T’Paal don’t even get going until after the sun goes down. Most of the restaurants, bars, and cafes are open at all hours, but it’s when darkness falls that the nightclubs come alive, catering to nocturnal fun seekers.
Rau-nol
In Federation Standard, rau-nol means “refuge” or “sanctuary.” The city’s largest nightclub is four stories of arcade gaming, billiards, dance floors, darts, dining, karaoke, poker, and bars. Two lounges on each floor offer plenty of casual seating for watching the dance action. Though originally intended to draw in tourists looking for something out of step with typical Vulcan nightlife, Rau-nol has grown its clientele to include younger locals who’ve taken up residence in the artisan communes. The cover charge includes credits for the arcade and other games, and the drinks and food are reasonably priced. Be sure to try the signature n’gaan spiced rum, handcrafted on the premises and exclusive to the club.
Surak’s Last Resort
Founded last century by an enterprising Tellarite with a penchant for flouting convention, this bar-and-grill restaurant is famous for its all-Vulcan staff that takes obnoxious logic and condescension to new extremes while “serving palatable food, temperature- controlled alcoholic beverages, and helpful insights into the lesser beings to which we cater.” That means you. If you have a sense of humor and can abide being schooled by your intellectual superiors while they feed you, then this is your place. Be sure to check out the gift shop on your way out.
Zefram Cocktails
Located in the city’s historic district, this popular hangout makes no bones about what it is: an Earther joint for Earthers. Owned and operated by a Terran who retired from Starfleet after decades as a starship engineer, this bar is popular with Starfleet and Federation diplomatic personnel. The drink menu is as long as the résumé of its proprietor, and if you can stump them with your exotic drink order, it’ll be a first.
LODGING
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T’Paal’s unconventional community and sensibilities are reflected in many of the area hotels. Major chains are represented well enough, but it’s the smaller, independently operated establishments that really highlight the city’s diverse charm.
Altitude Tree House Enclave
Leave it to the Ferengi to spare no expense while devising a themed hotel, and this is one of their more distinctive properties. Not to be deterred by the notable lack of trees in the region, Ferengi business executives had genetically engineered trees imported in order to build an entire forest. One square kilometer of actual forestland sits between the city and the desert plain to the east, with each massive tree towering dozens of meters into the air while boasting its own custom tree house. Several of the tree houses are accessible only by the resort’s network of rope bridges and zip lines. No two cottages are the same, and each affords its guests spectacular views of the city and the Voroth Sea to the west.
Interplanetary Plaza Hotel
Time has do
ne nothing to dull the allure of this historic hotel, constructed four centuries ago. With the continuing increase in tourism in T’Paal, the Plaza has embraced the need to cater to outworlders while still balancing a desire to uphold Vulcan culture and tradition. Located in the foothills east of the city center, the hotel places guests within easy walking distance of T’Paal’s numerous dining and entertainment options. Formerly the headquarters of the High Command, the hotel was the site of the landmark treaty that ended hostilities between Vulcan and Tellar Prime during the twenty-second century. The original treaty documents—all 107 densely worded pages—are available for viewing in the hotel’s visitor chamber. The chamber’s walls also feature a hand-painted mural depicting the planet’s history from the Time of the Beginning to its role in the founding of the Federation.
SO YOU WANT TO PURGE ALL OF YOUR EMOTIONS
SUFFERING FROM ANGER MANAGEMENT ISSUES? Have you ever snapped at a coworker, friend, or loved one, realizing even as the words left your mouth that you have crossed a line? Are you tired of making rash decisions in the heat of the moment, only to regret that hasty action? Want to learn to keep a leash on your feelings, so that logic and reason can be fully embraced? You can—by achieving kolinahr.
This isn’t some trendy, “immediate results guaranteed” program. Those visiting for only a short time won’t find any quick-and-easy methods to achieving this extremely desirable state of Vulcan mental well-being. Instead, you’ll have to be willing to sign on for a commitment that might take several years to yield the desired results.
Those choosing to accept the challenge kolinahr presents must travel to the Plains of Gol deep within the inhospitable deserts of Vulcan’s Forge. There, under the uncompromising guidance of skilled High Masters, students learn to cast off their emotions and focus their minds to achieve total logic. After successfully navigating this demanding trial, students spend additional time achieving emotional closure with family and close friends. Only upon purging these lingering yet still powerful emotional remnants is a student considered to have achieved kolinahr.
Do you have what it takes?
SPONSORED BY THE VULCAN KOLINAHR SOCIETY
VULCANA REGAR
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MAP OF VULCANA REGAR
GETTING AROUND
SIGHTS AND ACTIVITIES
B-jinglan Air and Space Museum and Aircraft Boneyard
EpiCenter
Monastery of Saval
Museum of Vulcan-Andorian Relations
Temples of Syrinx
Orbital Skydiving
T’Jerel Gallery
Vanik Tower
World’s Largest Working Kal-toh game
SHOPPING AND ENTERTAINMENT
Desert Racing
J’vralek Street Market
Port 47 Imports
DINING AND NIGHTLIFE
Launch Complex Bistro
Shaukaush
Vic’s Lounge
LODGING
Tvi’sochya
The Lazy Le-matya
DESPITE SHIKAHR’S SIZE, Vulcana Regar holds the honor of being the planet’s largest city as well as its undisputed metropolitan heart and soul. Beginning as a simple spaceport complex in an era when the launching and recovery of spacecraft was far more dangerous than it is today, the city expanded to become the center of Vulcan’s space-based commercial interests. The planet’s oldest and most successful companies and mercantile families call the city home and 90 percent of imported goods come through Vulcana Regar. Many outworlder businesses are located here as well, constituting a hub of commerce unlike anything seen beyond Ferenginar or Arcturus. Perhaps feeling kinship with their more commercially minded Vulcan counterparts, the Ferengi established their embassy here rather than in ShiKahr, and Ferengi merchants operate more than 10 percent of the city’s warehouses and cargo processing facilities.
Despite what at first would seem to be a rather industrial milieu, Vulcana Regar still manages to attract tourists and other visitors thanks to its unparalleled selection of retail shops, restaurants, and night spots. As the old saying goes, “Work hard, play hard,” and nowhere on the planet is that truer than Vulcana Regar.
GETTING AROUND
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Public transportation is abundant and convenient throughout the city, and most options are available at all hours. Expect to do a lot of walking in the city’s retail and entertainment quarters, but many of these areas feature canopies that block out the worst of the sun, and at night those same shelters become display screens for a variety of light shows and other video simulations. Marked paths guide you through walking tours of the city’s historic districts.
VULCANA REGAR: GATEWAY TO THE STARS
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(First published in the 2275 Edition)
Much has been written about Vulcan culture for the benefit of outworlders. We possess a long, often violent history, but it is from that chaos that we have emerged as a people of enlightenment. For many generations, we did not seek to find our place among our interstellar neighbors, but I am pleased to see that from out of our initial reticence has grown a vast cooperative, spanning hundreds of worlds, from which each of us can continue to learn while celebrating our differences as well as our similarities.
None of that would be possible if we were unable to escape the confines of our own world. It is here, in this place we now call Vulcana Regar, that we made our first tentative forays into space. There, we found new friends and allies, and now our lives are forever intertwined with those of other beings on distant worlds.
Vulcana Regar continues that proud tradition, acting as our path to the stars as well as a gateway through which those from other planets can come and learn more about us. It is here, through the trading not only of goods but also goodwill, that the bonds of friendship are forged and continually strengthened.
—First Minister T’Pau
SIGHTS AND ACTIVITIES
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Despite its seeming emphasis on commercial pursuits, Vulcana Regar still offers plenty for tourists and other visitors to enjoy. History and art aficionados will have no trouble filling their schedules, and there are the usual assortment of quirky attractions that make wandering off the beaten path worth the extra effort.
B-jinglan Air and Space Museum and Aircraft Boneyard
Hundreds of aircraft and space vessels accompany dozens of interactive exhibits at this one-of-a-kind repository located north of the original Vulcana Regar spaceport complex. While a history of Vulcan aviation and space travel is the centerpiece of the museum, you’ll also see dozens of representatives of commercial, military, and private craft interred in “the boneyard,” many of them dating back to the first generations of interstellar relations and trade between Vulcan and other planets. There also are a few genuine mysteries to be found here, in the form of a handful of spacecraft that have yet to be identified. The yard’s most prominent feature is the Ni’Var, a Suurok-class starship retired from service nearly two centuries ago. Following the last major battle of the Romulan War, the Ni’Var’s captain, Sopek, negotiated the treaty that ended the conflict. The vessel is suspended in the same drydock facility where it was constructed. Force field generators keep the Ni’Var’s fragile hull from succumbing to the planet’s gravity and allow visitors to tour the ship’s interior.
EpiCenter
Vulcana Regar’s picturesque central square features a number of fascinating older buildings, many of which formed part of the original settlement in ancient times. Clues to the city’s past remain, hinting at its genesis as a military outpost that protected the mountain pass to the east. The original fortifications, along with what is believed to have been an arsenal, underground bunkers, and a network of tunnels now serve as museums, art galleries, craft and antique shops, teahouses, and cafes. The memorial garden at EpiCenter’s far end pays tribute to the city’s founders as well as the numerous battles fought in this region to protect early settlers against invasion.
Monaste
ry of Saval
Believed to be one of the first religious shrines erected in the region, this monastery has stood unchanged for more than two thousand years. The Odyssey of Surak, one of the earliest examples of Vulcan historical fiction, was written here by Saval, a High Master and one of the Surak’s earliest supporters. Unlike those at other shrines and historical sites, the clerics living here have embraced and integrated modern technology into their ministry and work. Centuries of rare and irreplaceable books and other texts have been transferred to modern data storage, and all of it is accessible via visitor kiosks stationed throughout the temple. If you prefer physical copies of the original texts, replicas can be obtained in the shrine’s gift shop.