Romulan Free State
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The Romulan Free State was formed following the fallout of the Romulan supernova which destroyed Romulus and Remus. With the loss of their homeworld, many Romulan people became disillusioned with the Praetor and the Star Empire by itself.
A power struggle throughout the Romulan Star Empire began with the Empire itself fracturing into multiple smaller factions and states. The ‘’’Romulan Free State’’’ was one of the biggest to come out of that fracture mainly driven by their support from the Tal Shiar, who by the time of the supernova had managed to rebuild their own fleet capacity to pre-Dominion War levels.
The ‘’’Romulan Free State’’’ settled on a system in close proximity to Romulus known to the Romulan people as T’Met. The Free State has ‘neutral’ relations with the Federation however they do have minor political relations via ‘the artifact’; a damaged Borg Cube which the Free State has taken control of. The terms of the agreement with the Federation, specifically focuses on the liberation of xB’s by Federation Medical and Science teams.
Government
Replicating the Romulan Star Empire structure of a republic senate, the Free State largely has the same working arrangements and government arrangements of the original empire, choosing to enhance and improve on the original governments failings whilst keeping the working of the government familiar. The Free State has set T’Met as its homeworld, which is overseen by a Praetor whom the Senate selects. Both Praetor and Senators serve until retirement or death.
The Senate has direct control of all navy vessels however these are Tal Shiar assets and the Senate control is more cerimonial than operational with the Tal Shiar having a large controlling influence on the Senate.
Within the Romulan Star Empire the Senate operated with a Continuing Committee. However, the Romulan Free State has elected to not implement this aspect into their government seeing it as an unnecessary and lengthy process to governing, with some within the Free State seeing the Continuing Committee as one of the reasons so many were lost during the evacuation of Romulus. Instead, the Free State has invited the heads of the major departments within the State to sit in Senate meetings with no voting rights. The only two departments to actually take up the offer of a seat is the Free Science Initiative and the Tal Shiar.
History
Pre 2387 Supernova
The Romulan Free State was born out of a fractured post supernova Romulan Star Empire.
The Supernova (CE 2385-Current)
Following the destruction of Romulus and Remus as a result of the supernova, the Empire split into multiple factions in various sizes and volumes of power. The Romulan Star Empire relocated to Rator III, led by the Preator and largely supported by the Romulan Star Navy, the Romulan Free State is supported by the vast majority of the Tal Shiar, managing to keep the Free State in line, and the Romulan Republic, a democratic state within the former Empire supported by a more modern, yet smaller military. The entirety of Romulan space is in dispute by the major factions and consistently hindered by smaller pirate, rogue or rebel factions, all vying for control of Romulan space.
There are varying degrees of hostility and good relations from the Free State towards the Federation. However, one endeavour that they share is the study of the derelict Borg cube, which happened to fall into Romulan Free State controlled territory, known as the Artifact.
Tal'Shiar
The Tal Shiar, coequally referenced as the Tal'Shiar and Tal Shi'ar, is closely intertwined with the Romulan government, though it is in certain ways a governing body unto itself. Its oldest and most powerful division is the Tal Shiar Court, which is the Empire's supreme judicial authority. The Court's members are recommended by the Praetor, and must be confirmed separately by the Continuing Committee, the Senate, and the Court itself. All matters of constitutional law and final legal appeals depend on the decisions of the Court.
The Tal Shiar Court operates independently from - and is often at odds with - the more infamous Tal Shiar divisions of Intelligence and Internal Security. Unlike the Court, these two agencies are nominally controlled by the Tal Shiar High Command, which is almost entirely independent of any other agency: it selects its own members without any outside input, with the sole exception of the Vice Chairman's position, which goes to a Romulan Senator. Even the High Command, however, exerts limited operational control over the two divisions; rather, it monitors the bureaucracy to ensure the efficiency of its function.
The Intelligence Division is the Empire's primary agency for espionage and counterintelligence and covert influence abroad, a task at which it is extremely effective. Internal Security controls the secret police, who have made the Tal Shiar infamous with the Romulan populace. Its task is to ensure the loyalty of the Romulan people, a charge that critics argue is often abused to stifle legitimate political expression or even cultural thoughts deemed to be inappropriate. (Such critics have a tendency to disappear without explanation.) Certainly the agency is ruthless in the prosecution of its task, and even feuds with the Tal Prai'ex and military intelligence divisions over this point.
Much as the Romulan Star Navy possesses its own intelligence division, the Tal Shiar also operates its own fleet of ships, the exact number of which is unknown to most however these are more modern and advanced than the ships now operated by the Star Navy.