Romoni

Romoni are a nomadic, space-faring coalition, displaced during the Mage Wars, who initially began their travels aboard Runarin spacecraft. They are no longer a homogenous race, having gathered refugees and other similar groups until, although widespread throughout the Known Worlds, the Romoni are regarded as the only such race of space nomads.

history

The Romoni were probably an un-advanced, low-tech culture during the early Dynastic Period of the Mage Wars. The Runarin historical archives indicate that they may originally have been called the Lothala. The Runarin record of the Lothala says that they were loaned several dozen starcraft to relocate their civilization and escape Marconian rule. The Romoni took the ships and captured several others, and became a space-faring people.

Throughout the Mage Wars, they survived by raids upon the other technologically-advanced cultures of the era. The M'KHararen Empire gave them a number of ships over the years to curb the raids, and eventually drove them from M'KHararen space. By the beginning of the Golden Age, the Romoni had shifted to trading and mining.

During the Golden Age, the Romoni became the subject of romantic poetry and literature. Among those that actually had to deal with them, the Romoni were well-known as the scourge of the galaxy. They were shrewd traders; they cheated; they stole; and they lied. They ignored existing mining claims. Anything unmanned - from supply caches to research stations - was fair-game for them. When Romoni fleets descended on an inhabited solar system, they ignored all laws until forcibly displaced.

In the late Sixth Age, the Romoni gained control of a perfect copy of the Roger Young, the Foundation's largest Mercury Ship. In the battle that followed, the original and its copy were lost in a gas giant, along with the Cleopatra (a much smaller Mercury Ship).