Dewan

The Dewans were a species that lived on the planet Dewa III hundreds of millennia ago. After their Iconian overlords disappeared, the Dewans built a great civilization on the planet, but went extinct approximately 150,000 years ago. By the 24th Century, Federation scientists had studied their language, identifying it to be similar to that of the Iconians, Iccobar, and Dinasians.

The Iconian Empire

 * 200,000 years ago, Dewa III was a colony world of the Iconian Empire. Although later records state that they ruled oppressively over the native Dewans, killing any who did not fall in line, the factuality of these claims is questionable and/or they pertain only to the time after the Iconian homeworld was destroyed.
 * When an alliance of envious races, who would later claim to have risen against their oppressors, attacked the Iconian worlds to gain access to the superior technology, Dewa was the first planet targeted. The planet was bombarded from orbit, killing thousands and destroyed the geothermal taps that provided power to everything on the planet. While the last twelve surviving Iconians sought shelter on Dewa III for some time after the obliteration of their homeworld, they later left via their gateways, abandoning the Dewans.

The Dewan Civilization

 * With the Iconians gone, the surviving Dewans formed their own civilization.
 * Thousands of years later, as the Dewans were preparing to launch a manned mission to the edge of their solar system, an abandoned Iconian Gateway was found in a subterranean cavern. Tempted by the possibility of instantaneous travel, the space program was abandoned and all resources were thrown toward making the Gateway operational again.
 * When the Gateway was ready, it was connected to geothermal power taps to provide the necessary energy. The Dewans failed to realize the bombardment millennia ago had made this dangerous.
 * When the Dewans activated the Gateway, it triggered massive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that wiped out most of the population and bathed the planet in a killing cloud of radiation.
 * The surviving Dewans retreated to caves to escape the radiation and the nuclear winter, but ultimately their resources ran out and they died off.

Legacy

 * In 2409, newly-formed Romulan Republic chose Dewa III as their new homeworld. Romulan scientists, assisted by their allies in the Federation and the Klingon Empire, began studying and restoring ancient Dewan technology found in the ruins beneath the planet's surface, including the remains of remarkable technology based on Iconian ingenuity.
 * In 2410, Romulan Republic launched a new class of pilot escorts based on Dewan designs.