Syrranites

The Syrranites are a fictional creation of the Star Trek universe. They are a faction of Vulcans who believe in an interpretation of the fundamental teachings of their culture that differs from the Vulcan Aristocracy during the Star Trek: Enterprise series. An alternate spelling for this group is Syrrannites. They are first mentioned in the fourth season episode, "the Forge".

Background

Approximately 1,800 years before the events of the recent series Star Trek: Enterprise, during the 4th century A.D., a Vulcan man named Surak devised and spread the teachings of a new philosophy to the Vulcan people. This philosophy embodied qualities of logic and reasoning and a training in the suppression of emotion. During this time, Vulcans were still warlike and hostile toward each other, and they soon broke out in nuclear war. Surak later died as a result of radiation poisoning from this war that eventually devastated the planet.

The Vulcans believe in a living spirit of every Vulcan, called a katra, that can be transferred from person to person through a mind meld. The katra of Surak was placed in the mind of a man named Syrran, who began to think that the teachings of Surak had been corrupted and misused over the centuries. He began the faction of Vulcans called Syrranites, after his name.

These details are official canon and were all clearly explained in the 4th Season Story arch of Star Trek: Enterprise which consisted of three episodes: "The Forge", "The Awarkening", and "Kir Sharra".

Culture and Beliefs

The Syrranites are a group of pacifists who believe that all war and violence should cease. However, some members of the Vulcan High Command believe that the Syrranites are a radical group of terrorists that want all other Vulcans to succumb to their beliefs, which the current Vulcan administrators consider philosophically abhorrent. Syrranites were falsely blamed for the terrorist bombing of the Earth Embassy on Vulcan in the episode "The Forge".

The Vulcan Aristocracy seen in the series of Enterprise consists of members more prone to vanity and deception than Syrranites, or any Vulcans observed later in the Star Trek timeline. Though both factions of Vulcans are relatively emotionless compared to humans, Syrranites are more dedicated in their personal restraint. Some members of Vulcan high command also only seem ostensibly dedicated to logic, compared to later characters such as Spock. Vulcan society is also not entirely pacifist, shown plainly by their attacks on the Enterprise in the episode "Awakening" and the assault on the Syrranite hideout in the same episode.

The Syrranites have trained themselves to show absolutely no emotion, a feat the rest of Vulcan society has also mastered, but not to the same level. They also believe in a strict code of non-violence. As the attire and behavior of the Vulcans seen in the original series and films is more similar to the Syrranites, it seems that in the era after the Enterprise series takes place, Vulcan society eventually elevated the philosophy of the Syrranites rather than censured it. As the series was canceled the writers never had the opportunity to establish this.

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