#pre-reform vulcan

[purpleenma]

Pre-Surak Spock

Love me some sketching of anything pre-Surak Vulcan but especially with my baby boy Spock 💜

*The ones on top are from 2022 and the other two are from 2023 for The Ritual

[ddosq]

Really wanted to see mirror spock in long hair and more vulcan styled uniform, but also following the path of war and savagery

[agios-rio]

Here's the guide on AO3 (it comes with a complementary K/S fic ☆).

text version under the cut ⤵

Gods & Goddesses

Fai-tukh (Knowledge)

Tel-alep – “The Watcher”

The first wise god to ever walk on Vulcan’s sands was Tel-alep. He collected all available Vulcan knowledge & filled his library with carved stone tablets, vellum papers, incised bones & shells, colourful knotted cords. He gave as he took, & shared his collection with whoever wanted to learn. In times of conflict, Vulcans turned away from him, caring more for their immediate safety than abstract knowledge – & Tel-alep seemingly vanished. It is said he still watches all of Vulcan from the shadows & meticulously chronicles its history, as well as notes every advancement in the sciences.

Alep-tel – “The Bitter”

The second wise god of Vulcan was Alep-tel, who came to restore what was left of Tel-alep’s collection after the war that had led to it being abandoned by Tel-alep & the mortals. Piecing together what he could & collecting old knowledge to fill the gaps left by time, he spent a hundred seasons alone, caring for what he had inherited. When he was finished, the library opened its doors again to whomever wanted to learn, but the passing of time had placed it into obscurity – as the legends go, Alep-tel still spends most of his days in solitude, waiting for willing students, growing old & bitter.

Sochya (Peace)

Kir-alep – “The Placid”

Kir-alep ruled from his seat on Mount Seleya, overlooking all of Vulcan. He had the responsibility of ensuring peace throughout the sands & the oases alike, & he did so as well as possible. However, peace seldom comes & stays without sacrifice, & so with every change of the season, he chose & sacrificed some of the few who lived at the foot of the mountain for the peace of the many. Without taking joy in it, he upheld this practice to keep his people from destroying one another completely.

Alep-kir – “The Sullen”

Alep-kir was a mortal who climbed the stairs to Mount Seleya to demand answers for the deaths of his brothers & sisters who died in the sacrifices. Answer he did not receive, but instead he was offered godhood as a means to pacify him. In the hopes he might change the fate of the next few, he accepted. He stayed on the mountain to witness the deaths of the people below, but his mind was still ablaze with grief & anger over his long-gone siblings that he remained where & who he was, trembling but unmoved by the suffering beneath.

Ashaya (Love)

Valdena – “The Giver”

Love, joy, & beauty are what the goddess Valdena represents. She is usually portrayed as a Vulcan woman & is said to be the most caring of the gods – appearing as a mother, a sister, a wife, a daughter, depending on what role she fulfils for whoever encounters her. Even though she is associated with all kinds of love, not just the romantic one, many legends about her have the (re-)union of star-crossed lovers as a central theme.

Dena-vel – “The Guard”

Dena-vel is the goddess of love & possessiveness. She seeks to hide the beauty of the world she loved to keep it from strange eyes & hands. She is said to have helped build the walls that once encompassed the city of Gol, where the best artists, sculptures, poets, & musicians used to live. As a fierce protector who knows little boundaries when it comes to fulfilling her duty, many legends about her are written in blood. 

Tadek-adir’es (Absence)

Kal-ap-ton – “The Mourner”

The Mourner represents grief & is said to be the most dangerous of the gods. Bound to his belt, he carries a pouch full of tears. He who meets him risks his life: The Mourner can take the weight off the Vulcan’s shoulders & allow him to weep to alleviate his grief, but not all of those touched by him are able to free themselves again of their emotions. Many of them succumbed to their misery & wandered out into the desert never to be seen again.

Tyr-al-tep – “The Unforgiver”

Tyr-al-tep is the god of guilt & regret over the death of loved ones. He is the one whispering in the ears of grieving Vulcans, telling stories of what could have been had the tragedy of death not occurred – stories of love & joy, of futures rendered impossible by the present. He leaves nothing in his wake that lessens the pain, only a gruelling feeling of emptiness & absence, cursing those who encounter him to live out the rest of their lives with feelings of shame & sorrow.

Vaikaya (Devotion) or Sa-kai-lar (Brothers)

Ket-cheleb – “The Destroyer”

Anger & rage are what moved Ket-cheleb to kill his brother, & those emotions are what he brings to all those who cross his path. His broad & rough hands carry weapons of all kinds, & he is said to often appear where he is welcomed the least – whenever there is no predetermined course of action to a conflict, no specific decision yet towards peace or violence, he will appear & tip the scales towards the latter. Many tales about wars from ancient times describe Ket-cheleb arriving at the first light in the morning & the last light at night falling over battlefields full of dead.

Cheleb-vel – “The Embracer”

If Vulcans had saints, Cheleb-vel would be the one of the black sheeps. He stands for acceptance & blindness & indifference out of love, even in regards to the things in life that are the hardest to accept. Without judgement, Cheleb-vel stands by the sides of even outcast & hated Vulcans, often being the only one to acknowledge their existence. It is said that Cheleb-vel handed his brother the stone with which he struck him dead in the vast red desert, & never harboured resentment for him in his last moments.

About The Practice

One way is to read the lines themselves, which stand for the qualities associated with the gods, though there is no absolute consensus as to which ones those are. As the result, the task of interpreting is left to the palmist herself*, leading to various different schools of thoughts within the trade (the entirety of which too numerous to list in this short guide).

Additionally to that, intuition plays a much bigger role in Vulcan Palmistry than it does in equivalent Terran practices. Since Vulcans are touch-telepaths, they can gain much more information from the skin contact itself as opposed to the mere placement of the lines. It is unknown what exact kind of information is transferred between the one who is being read & the one who reads, but the leading theory is that it comes from the subconscious of the one being read. 

*According to Vulcan tradition, it is custom only for women to learn the practice of palmistry. This text uses the appropriate pronouns to reflect that.

[hellgirlfurrys]

His love for T’Pring...

[lead-acetate]

Spock would have been a pre-Reform poet.

no essay. but! I thought that would be interesting so I wrote a fic with the premise, having some worldbuilding fun with pre-Reform (or rather, non-Reform) Vulcan poetry, poetry scene, rituals and Stuff. Believe it or not, it's not all just elaborate foreplay.

Yes, Fuck the Government

Rating: Explicit

Vulcan, a dangerous civilization of enormous military power, has entered tentative negotiations with Starfleet. Vulcans, however, are passionate, violent and unpredictable and, though the current autocrats are still strong, there is unrest brewing in the capital. When the Starfleet delegation lands, Captain Pike urges their subordinates to do a little reconnaissance in their spare time. Lieutenant Kirk stumbles upon Vulcan poetry that has been known to start and end wars; and then, after some trial and error, upon a poet. * It is essentially a… cautiously M-rated poetry reading and then some gratuitous sex. Also Jim gets an autograph.

ao3 link again 🥰 enjoy!

[sunless-garden]

Pre-reform Spock having perfectly normal thoughts about the human he just met.

[spirk-trek]

Progressions Fanzine | Merle Decker for "A Learning Experience" by Lanora Moore, 1985

[lichqueenlibrarian]

Yeah no that’s fucking terrifying

[bumblingbabooshka]

Tuvok says that Vulcan children are very well behaved and have a lot of emotional control by the time they’re ~elementary school aged which makes sense but also makes me want to see what a Vulcan toddler or kindergartener acts like since they can’t be reasoned with as well (can’t really meditate) + are babies and also brimming with near irrepressible violence/emotions.

Vulcan toddler is just quietly accompanying their parent along on an errand. They stop and point to a toy of some sort and ask politely if they can have it. Their parent explains that they have enough toys at home. The toddler immediately throws the tantrum of the century. Just turns into an absolute wild animal in their rage. Other Vulcans are just like “aaa I remember when my children were that age” but any aliens around are like “oh my god is that thing OK??” I imagine even older Vulcan children would have issues with emotional control given that they’re also children! Though they’d of course know they needed to control themselves and behave...sometimes you just slip up. Vulcan children are playing together harmoniously. Then one breaks the established rules of the game. “I made contact with your arm. You are now the chaser.” “You did not make contact with my arm. I dodged your attempt.” “You dodged unsuccessfully. I made contact with your arm.” “I did not.” “You are cheating.” “I believe you are the one cheating.” And an adult has to rush over as one pounces on the other and they both begin screaming and clawing at each other’s eyes. The rest of the children are watching with interest or perhaps grabbing implements to assist their friend.  Little lapses in emotional control would probably be common until they reached like....highschool age. I can imagine an eleven year old Vulcan hearing they can’t sleepover a friend’s home and immediately shattering a vase before apologizing and cleaning it up.  It also seems like bullying would be very prevalent on Vulcan. Spock is canonically bullied frequently and it seems natural that Violent, Extreme Emotions in teenagers would lead to that kind of behavior which isn’t outwardly unacceptable (like crying, laughing, etc) but still satisfies an illogical desire towards cruelty and establishing dominance.  Vulcans schools probably have so many ‘Bullying Is Illogical’ seminars that do nothing and everyone makes fun of behind their teacher’s backs. Two Vulcan teenagers bullying each other, trying to see who has the more emotional reaction. If you cry or get mad you lose. Only babies cry and get mad...seems pretty illogical(cringe).  Vulcans seem to be very focused on respectability so I’m sure that as bloodthirsty teens there would be a lot of accusations and rules...if you hang out with X then Z,H and Y won’t talk to you. If you apologize too soon then they might accuse you of behaving too emotionally and gossip about you...if you don’t apologize at all they might accuse you of behaving too emotionally and gossip about you. It’s very stressful. Tuvok also said when he was a teenager in that one flashback that he was ready to fight over the girl he had a crush on (saying he’d “issue a challenge” or something) so I’m implementing that into my personal understanding of Vulcans...like adults do NOT want these kids to fight but amongst other teens they’re like:  “Seynar is my boyfriend.” “I disagree. He sat next to me during meditation three times this week.” “Only because I was absent.” “Then he is fickle and will be mine soon enough.” And then they challenge one another to a secret duel after school. Dueling to the death is very cool and grownup v_v (teens rarely die from such duels though bc either the other teen stops or someone told an adult). It makes sense to me that teenagers with violent urges would fight one another in a way that they consider acceptably adult. (mimicking the marriage ritual thing or even pon farr...romantic and cool.) Imagine being a teen Vulcan and your crush starts hinting that they have another person who might be interested in them....hmmm.....and you know you’re gonna have to duel for them or lose em. Such is life. Vulcan teens seem like they’d either date a lot (emotional whims) very non seriously (because they’re all betrothed) or date not at all because they’re gonna get married to their betrothed anyway. Loving someone other than your fated match is probably a pretty big trope in Vulcan romance stories...or maybe the opposite? Like someone bad tries to steal your heart but you remain resolute and return to your fated match as is logical. Anyway all this to say that I think Vulcan children and emotional control is something that’s fun to think about. Especially regarding how Vulcan children would act around adults vs other children. Vulcan child to adult: I will do my best to get along with my sibling. (2 seconds later once mother has left)  Vulcan child: You may play with the red toy. If you play with the blue toy I will harm you. Bodily. Meanwhile their older sibling is rolling their eyes like ugh....threatening violence is for babies....now to prepare for my logical and very adult duel for the love of my life whom I have known for three months. v_v

[himboadvocate]

Pre-reform, he would have been a Vulcan Prince.

Yes, it was completely self-indulgent to make 90% of his clothing translucent. I can live with that.

[helianthusaster]

I had Phil Colins stuck in my head last night and had to draw this

Yes it's Spirk

[purpleenma]

The Ritual Duel Braid

I'm slowly building up a post around this idea I have that hair and braiding were of great importance for pre-Reform Vulcan and all the headcanons surrounding it. Tonight I felt in the mood of sketching Spock rocking one of them.

Vulcan warriors would wear this braid for an ancient ritual duel where the contenders must try to cut their opponent's braid with their lirpa blade, risking their lives in the process. The length of a warrior's braid was deeply important, since the longer it was the more skilled and practiced the warrior was perceived as, being that no metal blade had touched their hair in battle. It was a rare ritual to perform even back them, for deep offenses to one's honour or their kin.

[vanilla-phantoms]

Been working on a little Spock character study fic where he mind melds with the katric arcs of some of his ancestors, and finally finished the first chapter!

There’s hopefully going to be two more chapters, one with Solkar and one with Sarek

[agios-rio]

*thinking of TOS T'Pau, T'Pring etc here bc I haven't actually seen the wider canon yet oops

[loug-sama]

[deepspacedukat]

On the Vulcan thing seeing that about Vulcans and pre-reform Vulcan made me think a lot of their warfare had to be sneaky and personal kills/hand to hand combat was a personal vendetta. Also I saw where it said for vulcans especially the men dancing with someone other than your spouse was scandalous (unless it was a group ceremonial thing) because of the telepathy they saw it as cheating. 😂 thought that was interesting (are so many I am not a robots I have to go through, luckily I’m an android)

Ooooh, I love the concept of the dancing with a non-spouse being considered cheating because touch-telepathy. I can totally see those pre-Reform Vulcans being incensed about such intimacy. I’m so tempted to write something about that. (As I am about everything. *side-eyes my 50+ normal drafts and 31 kinktober drafts* )

Bless you for going through all those “I am not a robot” -s just to ask/tell me things 🥺💙