Romulans aren't the bad guys that everyone makes them out to be. They are honorable and very defensive of their culture. They can be very nice to their friends, but very mean to their enemies. They never start a fight, they always try to get the other side to fire the first shot. This tends to get other races to think that the Romulans are truely the good guys.
The word Tal Shiar probably comes from the Vulcan word tal-shaya which is a painless, merciful method of Vuclan execution. Pressure is applied to the victim's neck until it is broken, causing instantaneous death.
I have added a chat room so we can talk about the game.
