"Do you hear the cry of the warrior, calling you to battle, calling you to glory...?" -Gowron

Fearsome, fearless warriors of extreme efficiency, loyalty, honour, and brutality. They care little for diplomatic, social or spiritual issues, they care only for blood, glory and conquest....

CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

The Klingon homeworld is Qo'Nos, 'south' of the Romulan Empire, and 'southeast' of the Federation (refer to Astrometrics for galactic maps).

The beginnings of the Klingon Empire can be traced back one and a half millennia to the legendary and heroic exploits of a single Klingon, known and revered over time as Kahless The Unforgettable. After a long and bloody uprising against the tyranny of Molor, Kahless (pictured) took his head, and has ever since been the focal point of Klingon legend and quasi-deification. For centuries, songs of war and operas of glory have been passed down from generation to generation telling the ancient stories, of majestic battles and the deeds of heroes, this alone is the very core of the Klingon spirit, and drives the very mechanism at its heart, delivering courage, faith and inspiration.

The Klingons have some long enduring customs, such as the death cry ritual, for, whereupon the death of a worthy warrior, fellow comrades will roar and howl to warn the dead that a fearsome and honourable soul is about to join Kahless The Unforgettable and enter Sto-Vo-Kor, being the after-life domain of fallen warriors.

Personal symbolic weaponry also helps define a warrior, such as the bat'leth, mek'leth and d'ktahg. All are knives and swords of various shapes and forms, though the Empire was forced to develop handheld particle beam pistols, being a basic necessity for efficiency in close combat, as most enemies would not be expected to be carrying bladed instruments, or even projectile weaponry. But a true kill is only acknowledged if the enemy is slain with a warrior's prowess, skill and courage, and not by the cowardly depression of a trigger. A disruptor maybe efficient, but the method holds no glory for a warrior.

The most famed and prestigious warriors receive the honour of induction into The Order of The Bat'leth. This elite group has a long tradition, and the Chancellor himself will oversee the inaugaration ceremony which normally takes place in the Hall of Warriors at Ty'Gokor. This structure houses the bones of Klingon heroes and legends, honouring them with statues and stone tablets detailing their illustrious deeds. 

The Klingon Empire has endured a deeply rich and complex evolution. By the 21st century, the Empire had grown significantly and was dominated totally by the military. The system of having an exulted emperor leading the government was scrapped, and the Klingon High Council was formed.

First contact with the Federation occurred in 2151, but it was some decades later that events took a bitter turn, leading to sporadic conflict in which many lives would be lost. After some obligatory and rather blasé negotiations took place, a buffer, or Neutral Zone between the two powers was implemented, but an entire century of hostilities and mistrust ensued. In the mid 23rd century, the Empire entered into brief allied relations with their quadrant neighbours the Romulans. During the various cultural and technological interchanges that took place, the Romulans were given cloaking technology and certain ship designs, such as the Battle Cruiser.

The long standing political and military disagreements with the Federation were confronted and forced out into the open by the sophisticated inhabitants of Organia in 2267. These first agreements were settled with the signing of the Organian Peace Treaty. This treaty stabilized the situation, guaranteeing and securing the first resolutions between the two powers.

In the late 23rd century, the Empire was thrown into total disarray by the explosion of the moon Praxis, the resulting environmental damage to Qo'Nos meant that resources were extremely thin, and many humiliating concessions had to made, which ultimately forced supplies and arms for the military to be heavily curtailed. As a war campaign could no longer be sustained, Gorkon, the Leader of The High Council at the time took the unprecedented step of initiating new declarations of peace with the Federation. After serious concerns on both sides led to the murder of Gorkon, new and historic agreements and treaties of peace were painstakingly drawn up at the Khitomer Peace Accords which followed soon after.

In around 2370, when the unstable Empire needed a figurehead to look up to the most, it was remarkably provided by the Clerics of Boreth, who cloned a new Kahless from blood samples from an ancient weapon artefact. Although the authenticity of the clone was rejected by Gowron, his real background was overlooked, for the Empire needed a symbol, so the new Kahless became the rightful heir to the throne, and was duly installed thereafter.

TECHNOLOGY

Like the Romulans, the Klingons possess the cloaking device. Utilizing photon distortion fields to bend light around the vessel to render it visually undetectable, and a cloak of particle scattering fields, the effect creates a impenetrable camouflage so a vessel cannot be picked up by traditional EM sensor sweeps. Though in Dominion engagements it was discovered they had developed a specialized anti-proton scan which could indeed penetrate the cloak, hence rendering this defensive tactic redundant.

Certain weakness in some scientific fields can be found throughout the Empire, most notably in medicine. For it is preferred that a real warrior be left to endure the pain, or to die honourably in battle, rather than be 'revived' by science, where he may have to endure a long and pointless recovery on his back, or even worse, be left crippled or in some way impaired. A true Klingon would much rather die than face this ignominy. 

RECENT DIPLOMATIC AND MILITARY MATTERS

Government is controlled by the High Council, which is located in the Great Hall of the First City on the Klingon homeworld. Political judgements are made by 24 members, ultimately overseen by the Chancellor. Power is controlled by the least discussion and bureaucracy possible, and decree is swift. Many internal power struggles have occurred over the council's history, in many ways diverting attention away from seemingly more imperative foreign affairs. Such weaknesses and dishonour is greatly despised by many a true warrior, but many of these political problems have come from Romulan interference, most notably by way of the corruption of the Duras family.

The Duras were first associated with the Romulans during a savage attack on a Klingon outpost at Khitomer in 2346, for the leader of the house at the time, Ja'Rod was alleged to have committed treason by supplying the Romulan forces with key access codes. More than 4000 Klingons lost their lives, and in time another, innocent Klingon Mogh was accused of the treachery in the eyes of the council, and the Empire, but Chancellor K'mpec knew the truth. K'mpec ruled the council for longer than anyone before or since, and utilizing great wisdom concealed the fact that Ja'Rod had betrayed his people for fear that such a revelation, implementing such a major and influential house could plunge the entire Empire into a terrible bloody civil war. The blame was duly placed elsewhere, both Mogh's sons were spared death, and Worf, the eldest accepted discommendation to protect the interests of the Empire.

K'mpec was killed soon after by Duras who sought to gain control of the council. Following the death, the unprecedented step of assigning the responsibility of Arbiter was placed upon a Human to determine and oversee the Right of Succession, a task no Klingon could be trusted to administer impartially. Jean-Luc Picard undertook this role, and Gowron was eventually chosen as the sole challenger for the post, while Toral, an eleventh hour candidate representing the House of Duras was rejected. Two sisters of the Duras, Lursa and B'Etor (pictured) attempted a full scale military coup against Gowron, and Gowron could not secure the majority of fleet loyalty, but a conflict that could have ended in disaster for the Empire was averted when it was discovered that the Duras had colluded with Romulans, who had quietly supplied them with weapons and other resources. The Romulans wished the Duras to take control of the High Council, for that would truly see an end to the Federation/Klingon alliance, a combined superpower the Romulans have long wished to disassemble. But the coup failed as the supply source was ultimately cut off by a blockade of more than 20 Starfleet vessels utilizing a tachyon detection grid to scan for cloaked Romulan ships attempting to cross the border, for the Federation had duly recognised the Romulan/Duras connection.

During the early 2370's Klingon/Federation relations fluctuated dramatically, as the Federation council refused to support Gowron's plans to take Cardassia. For it was believed by the Klingons that Dominion infiltrations had influenced civilian uprisings amongst the Cardassian people. If the Founders had gained control of the Detapa Council -the controlling body of the Cardassian Union, they would gain a significant stronghold in the Alpha Quadrant.

To expedite the eradication of this potential threat, Cardassia had to be secured. But the Federation did not see it that way, and when they vehemently criticized the following Klingon invasion, Gowron recalled all Klingons from Federation space, and ordered the expulsion of all Federation ambassadors and citizens from the Empire. The Khitomer Accords were duly cancelled.

Soon after, a high ranking member of the Klingon military, General Martok, was discovered to be a changeling, and Dominion spy. The infiltrator was instantly killed on discovery, and without his damaging influence disrupting Alpha Quadrant affairs, stability between the Federation and Klingon Empire was ensured once more. One possibility is that the Martok influence may indeed have had something to do with the earlier concerns that the Cardassian government had been taken over by the Dominion, with him campaigning for war. One primary tactic the Dominion used was to turn the Alpha Quadrant powers against each other, fuelling internal rumour, distrust and suspicion.

Widespread scuffles and skirmishes ensued with Federation forces for a short while thereafter, but after an incident at Ajilon Prime a cease fire was established, and the alliance reformed.

After Cardassia officially allied themselves with the Dominion the war involving all principal quadrant powers escalated, and continued to rage for some time. But, with the Romulans coming onboard as well, and a rebellion amongst the Cardassian military against their allies, the Dominion were thwarted and ultimately sent packing.

Romulan Star Empire   Federation   Cardassian Union   Ferengi Alliance

Dominion   Borg   Others...