Stone of Gol

T'Paal wields the reassembled Stone of Gol

One of the three fragments, depicting the Vulcan God of War (left) and Death (right)

File:Stone of gol2.jpg

Psionic blast from the resonator

The Stone of Gol was an ancient weapon conceived on Vulcan during the turbulent times before the Time of Awakening. It functioned as a psionic resonator which amplified telepathic energy, specifically any violent thoughts and emotions many fold and then turned them back upon the person experiencing them. However, if the target was able to empty their mind of violent thoughts, the resonator had nothing to amplify and so was unable to operate. Since the teachings of Surak were aimed at precisely this kind of emotional control, the psionic resonator subsequently became useless against his followers during the Time of Awakening.

Following the civil war on Vulcan when the remaining violent factions either dissipated or left Vulcan, the resonator was largely forgotten. Over time it became known as "the Stone of Gol", known only as a myth and it was believed to have been destroyed by the Vulcan gods. In truth, the weapon became disassembled and its three pieces became scattered over large distances of space.

The Vulcan Isolationist Movement stole the first fragment in 2369 and hired the mercenary Arctus Baran to find the two remaining pieces. Captain Picard managed to infiltrate the crew of Baran's ship and located all three pieces. T'Paal, a member of the isolationist movement, had also infiltrated the crew as Romulan mercenary Tallera and attempted to steal the resonator. She successfully reassembled the Stone of Gol in the T'Karath Sanctuary and used it against the mercenaries but Picard was able to interpret the Vulcan pictograms on the resonator to work out how to withstand an attack.

The Vulcans took custody of the resonator and promised Picard that they would destroy all three fragments. (TNG: "Gambit, Part II")

Ronald D. Moore named the Stone after the plateau where Spock studied in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion)