You’re confusing active suppression for inability. The Romulans aren’t idiots, nor short on genius, they’re deluded at their core, to the point that their intelligence alone explains the long-term survival of their civilization. The Picard series didn’t invent that about them, and the stable 8-star-star-system believed to have been created by super-tech in Romulan space is old lore as well.
You’re talking about a people who changed the color of their blood and adopted a Conlang at inception. They also managed to craft a civilization that accomodated/compensated for the extremity of their emotions. You really have a bizarre take on what is or isn’t possible for a species, simply because another one did it first. Calling some of the best Trek in decade Nu Trek/non-canon is revisionist non-sense.