Vulcan's Forge


 * This article deals with the geographical feature. For other meanings, please see Vulcan's Forge (disambiguation).

Vulcan's Forge (or simply The Forge) was a vast desert canyon on the planet Vulcan. The environment of The Forge was harsh, subject to electrical sandstorms and possessed geomagnetic instabilities that interfered with 22nd century technology, including scanners, communicators and transporters. The interference extended several hundred meters above the ground and, while aircraft could fly over it, the interference prevented their scanners from identifying objects on the ground.

The Forge was a natural environment for sehlats. Natural landmarks in The Forge included the Plain of Blood and extensive cave networks.

According to historical record, The Forge was where Surak began his pilgrimage in the 4th century AD and his presumed entrance to The Forge was a location known as "The Gateway". In 2154, Jonathan Archer and T'Pol traveled to The Forge to track down members of the Syrrannite movement, thought to be responsible for the bombing of the Earth embassy on Vulcan. They discovered that the Syrrannites had taken refuge in the T'Karath Sanctuary, until its destruction by the Vulcan High Command. 

In 2237, a young Spock traveled through Vulcan's Forge during his kahs-wan, or Vulcan maturity test. 

In 2374, Worf proposed that he and Jadzia Dax undertake a hiking trip across Vulcan's Forge for their honeymoon. Dax rejected the idea as entailing too much suffering. 

Background
The name "Vulcan's Forge," based primarily on the Olympian god known to the ancient Greeks (Hellenes) as "Hephaestus" (it was the Romans who called him "Vulcan"), and who was called "The Blacksmith Of The Gods," originated in a Star Trek fanzine from. The novelization of "Yesteryear" (in Star Trek Log 1) refers to "Vulcan's Forge" as a Human-coined name for a region natively known as "the Sas-A-Shar Desert."

The scenes of Star Trek: Enterprise that are set in The Forge were filmed in. According to a text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda on the ENT Season 4 DVD, The Forge was formed by the nuclear war that devastated Vulcan during the Time of Awakening. To reflect this fact, at one point it was discussed to litter its floor with fragments of rough green glass, similar to those formed at the nuclear test site in New Mexico.

The Forge also relates to the space station found in the game Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force, which is made up of many different starship hulls.