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The Vulcans are a peaceful, serene people, dedicated to pacifist values and a code of behavior ruled by logic, and control over their emotions. But there comes a point in a Vulcan's life when that veneer of rationalism is stripped away, and a primal force takes over.

Every seven years the adult Vulcan male must endure a time when his logic is ripped from him, when a lifetime of suppressed emotion erupts to the surface. It is the Pon Farr, the time of mating. Pon Farr is an ancient drive that impels the Vulcan to return home to take a mate, or die. It is seen as a deeply personal experience. Few outworlders know of its existence. Vulcans do not usually speak of it even among themselves. They shield it with ritual and custom shrouded in antiquity.

Pon Farr brings with it a neurochemical imbalance that leads to erratic behavior in the Vulcan - nervousness, sleeplessness, outbursts of anger and violence...he can even become unaware of his actions. It's as if huge amounts of adrenalin are pumped into his bloodstream at once, and if nothing is done about it, the physical and emotional pressures will simply kill him.

It culminates in a condition known as plak-tow, or blood fever, where the male is overwhelmed with emotion and unable to think about anything else but satisfying his biological imperative. This state must be followed to its natural resolution. And there are only three known ways to do that. Taking a mate, the ritual combat and intensive, private meditation. Meditation is only attempted as a final resort, under circumstances where the pursuit of the other options is impossible. Achieving psychologica resolution through meditation and thus correcting the chemical imbalance requires a degree of discipline that is extraordinary, even for a Vulcan. But such attempts are rarely successful and most often merely defer the inevitable. The preferable response to Pon Farr is to fufill the impulse, as nature demands. Those already partnered in a Vulcan union consummate the cycle every seven years.

For those yet not joined to another, their blood fever is channeled through some very strict and elaborate rituals. The Vulcan marriage is typically arranged in childhood by the parents. At the age of seven, the boy and girl are betrothed in a ceremony where they initate a telepathic mating bond, locking their minds together so that at the proper time they would instinctively be drawn to one another again. When it is not possible to unite with his promised one, either do to death or the sheer impossibility of returning home, the male is free to choose a different mate in a declaration called koon-ut so'lik. Either upon acceptence of the koon-ut so'lik or the more conventional reuniting of the betrothed, the male and female meet in a Vulcan ritual known as koon-ut kal-if-fee. It is a term that means both marriage and challenge. A reflection of a time in the distant past when Vulcans killed to win their mates. The koon-ut kal-if-fee traditionally takes place on land held by the family of the Vulcan male. The groom is accompanied by his closest friends. The bride, by the marriage party.

The ritual begins when the groom summons the bride and her attendents. The marriage party arrives on foot in the custom of the ancients, dressed in ritualistic finery in a procession bearing the one who will officiate over the ceremony. This officient can sometimes be a high-ranking Vulcan dignitary depending on the status of the families involved. Upon kal-if-farr, or commencement, the ceremony proceeds. Typically this involves the bride and groom renewing the vows they took as children, retreating to a private location to consummate their bond. But the brides does have the right to send the proceedings into a completely different direction. If the woman wishes to divorce her arranged husband, by law she can choose kal-if-fee, the challenge, forcing the male to fight for her as it was in primitive times. She then names her champion, agreeing to become the consort of the victor. If the one named declines the challenge another champion is selected. On rare occasions it is even permissable for the female to fight on her own behalf.

When the challenge is to begin, the groom receives a purple sash tied around his waist. Then the opponents are presented with their first weapon of combat, the lirpa. With a curved blade on one end and a heavy bludgeon on the other, the lirpa is a lethal instrument of Vulcan custom. It is a fight to the death. If both survive the lirpa, combat continues with the ahn-woon, a long leather strap weighted at the ends, which itself can be formidable weapon in the hands of a skilled combatant. Once an opponent is vanquished, the victor is free to claim his prize. But mating does not always follow the challenge, for once the challenge has purged the blood fever, clear heads can now prevail.

Pon Farr, the insanity, the madness. Some see it as the price Vulcans pay for their strict adherence to logic and discipline at the expence of their emotions. But it can also be seen as one of the unique characteristics of a culture that is as rich as any in the galaxy. It is one of the defining experiences of what it means to be Vulcan. A benchmark in the lives of this complex and fascinating people.

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Originally posted by CrevanReaver:
The Vulcans are my favorite Star Trek race.

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