The Vulcans are a humanoid race native to the planet Vulcan. Vulcans were once a passionate, violent people whose civilization was torn by terrible wars. The ancient philosopher Surak, revered as the father of Vulcan civilization, led his people some 2000 years ago to reject their emotions in favor of a philosophy that embraced pure logic. Vulcan society is now based entirely on logic and any trappings of emotion are considered to be in extremely poor taste.
To the Vulcan race, Logic is almost a religion, and like most other religions, it is filled with different sects and schools of thought, each with wildly differing opinions and views on nearly every subject. Vulcan religion was born out of Vulcan's fiery and violent past, and it has naturally been transformed down through the centuries. The ancient religions of the Vulcans, contained a wide pantheon of gods, each with a dual character. Usually these characters were wrathful and angry on one side and joyful and ecstatic on the other. This duality pervaded ancient Vulcan belief for thousands of years and is the major reason for their violent history. At the Time of the Awakening, the focus of Vulcan thought turned away from deities and toward reason. Vulcan philosophers were forced to seek a compromise between reason and faith. They stopped looking to the skies and mountains for their gods and began to look within. With the help of their elders, Vulcans began to understand their own emotions as manifestations of their gods. Each emotion was seen as a manifestation of a particular ancient god.  Vulcan religion taught that the gods were not simple analogies but living beings, a part of the Vulcan pysche. Each god was also a demon ( the duality character), a trickster spirit seeking to fool the Vulcans into showing dangerous irrational emotions. Meditayion became a kind of prayer, an exercise in taming the inner demons with the help of their rational counterparts. As time moved on, different schools developed, each with their own meditations and techniques for dealing with the demons of the Ka-ta-pa,  the Inner Chorus. Mt Seleya is the heart of Vulcan's Religion. However there are also other monasteries and contemplative centers that dot the surface of the planet.

Vulcans are responsible for great achievements in the Sciences - everthing from chemistry  and particle physics to archaeology and linguistics. The Vulcan Science Academy (VSA) is one of the finest scientific organisations in the UFP rivaling the Daystrom Institiute on earth for accuracy and innovation. It has well respected schools of Engineering, Medicine, Computer Sciences, the Pure Sciences, Theology, Philosophy and the Arts. Every Vulcan scientist dreams of being invited to conduct research at the VSA.The natural desire for knowledge, along with the use of Vulcan mental techniques and study methods, results in the logical desire to increase ones knowledge, not only for personal interest and the furtherance of society, but also for greater understanding of the cosmos.