Rihannsu is a series of five Star Trek

Star Trek

Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

novels by author Diane Duane

Diane Duane

Diane Duane is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Her works include the Young Wizards young adult fantasy series and the Rihannsu Star Trek novels.-Biography :...

. Rihannsu is the name that Romulan

Romulan

The Romulans are a fictional alien race in the Star Trek universe. First appearing in the original Star Trek series in the 1966 episode "Balance of Terror", they have since made appearances in all the main later Star Trek series: The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager...

s use for their race in Duane's series of books and the name of their language. Rihannsu has however never been considered part of Star Trek canon

Canon (fiction)

In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...

.

Book series

The series consists of five books:
Another book, Spock's World (ISBN 0-671-66773-4), makes reference to some of the events in The Romulan Way from the Vulcan

Vulcan (Star Trek)

Vulcans, or sometimes Vulcanians, are an extraterrestrial humanoid species in the Star Trek universe who evolved on the planet Vulcan, and are noted for their attempt to live by reason and logic with no interference from emotion. They were the first extraterrestrial species in the Star Trek...

 side of things. Duane's Mirror Universe novel Dark Mirror also refers to the Rihannsu. The 2006 omnibus, Rihannsu: The Bloodwing Voyages (ISBN 1-416-52577-7), reprints the first four Rihannsu novels, with minor timeline and character rank tweaks for consistency with other novels.

These books, as with most of the other Trek novels, are not considered canon.

"Rihannsu" is also the name for the Romulan language invented by Duane.

The main Rihannsu character in the above series is Ael i-Mhiessan t'Rllaillieu. Her sense of honor and duty leads her, paradoxically, to violate her oaths to her government and crew, first helping Captain Kirk

James T. Kirk

James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. Kirk was first played by William Shatner as the principal lead character in the original Star Trek series. Shatner voiced Kirk in the animated Star Trek series and appeared in the first seven Star Trek movies...

 and the crew of the Enterprise

Starship Enterprise

The Enterprise or USS Enterprise is the name of several fictional starships, some of which are the focal point for various television series and films in the Star Trek franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. It is considered a name of legacy in the fleet...

to destroy a secret research facility, and then stealing the most precious artifact of her people, the Sword from the Empty Chair, using it as a symbol to lead a rebellion against the government, which she comes to feel has betrayed the ideals of the Empire.

Rihannsu language

Rihannsu is a fictional language

Fictional language

Fictional languages are by far the largest group of artistic languages. Fictional languages are intended to be the languages of a fictional world and are often designed with the intent of giving more depth and an appearance of plausibility to the fictional worlds with which they are associated, and...

 invented by author Diane Duane which is spoken by the Rihannsu (Romulans) in Duane's Star Trek novels. In her novel The Romulan Way (ISBN 0-7434-0370-3), as the inhabitants of the planet Vulcan

Vulcan (Star Trek)

Vulcans, or sometimes Vulcanians, are an extraterrestrial humanoid species in the Star Trek universe who evolved on the planet Vulcan, and are noted for their attempt to live by reason and logic with no interference from emotion. They were the first extraterrestrial species in the Star Trek...

 turn to the philosophy of Surak

Surak

Surak is a fictional character in the backstory of the Star Trek television series and franchises. He is portrayed as the most important philosopher in the history of the planet Vulcan...

 en masse, the followers of S'task decide that they can no longer remain on Vulcan. As part of their exodus, they intentionally invent a new culture and a new language, based on Old High Vulcan and "aged" in a different direction. This language, described as sounding somewhat like Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 and Welsh

Welsh language

Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

, came to be known as Rihannsu.

Fan reaction

Duane's creation of the Rihannsu was generally well-received by fans, with some going so far as to lobby Paramount

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

 to accept them as canonical. However, Gene Roddenberry

Gene Roddenberry

Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American television screenwriter, producer and futurist, best known for creating the American science fiction series Star Trek. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, California where his father worked as a police officer...

himself is said to have taken issue with the depiction, particularly Duane and Morwood's assertion in The Romulan Way that the Rihannsu "were never Romulans."

External links

(Using Curt Snyder's C language program based on Duane's original program)
From Memory Alpha , The Star Trek Wiki.