star trek Has spent nearly 60 years providing insight into the ins and outs of Starfleet and the Federation, detailing the history of its greatest triumphs and greatest crises. But the composition of one of its most enduring factions has also been shrouded in mystery and myth for almost that entire period… and no, it’s not the Romulans. This is the Klingon Empire.
Klingons have been one of star trekThis is the fleshiest of alien species – charting their evolution from sworn enemy to staunch but ungrateful ally – and in that time we have plenty of stories about the political machinations going on within their borders. but that’s it How Whether the Klingon Empire existed and operated for thousands of years has long been unclear. Much of what we know about Klingon society will be codified star trek post-history next generation Radically changed the Klingons into an honor-bound warrior race and removed them from their original roots. star trek-The idea was discussed in a memo written by Ronald D. Moore during the creation of tng The season three episode “Sins of the Father”, in which it is first depicted star trek Visited the Klingon homeworld.
But even though we’ve learned a lot about Klingon culture and history since then, how the Empire formed and how it functions and sustains itself has been detailed only in the broadest sense, and has sometimes been more wrapped up in the myths of Klingon spirituality than our historical understanding and explorations of the Federation’s founding. But, from myth to society, at least we have A Picture of how the Klingon Empire operates.
establish an empire
Much of the early era of Klingon history is contained in the mythology of its “modern” society up to the time of the 24th century. Although there are some discrepancies on when that will happen, we do know that the Klingon Empire as we knew it will begin to take shape in the 10th century.
During the reign of a tyrannical leader named Molor, the Klingon people begin to rise up in support of a warrior named Kahless, who stands in defiance of Molor’s rule. After defeating Molor’s army of 500 soldiers along with his future wife, Lucara, Kahless launched a campaign against Molor, culminating at the River Sarkal, where Kahless killed Molor with his sword, the First Batleth. Although a despicable figure – it is unclear how far before Molor’s rule, if the Great Houses that ultimately played a fundamental role in the organizational structure of Klingon society held any kind of political influence – Kahless declared himself the first Emperor of a new Klingon Empire, ushering in a new era of unity and expansion for the Klingon people.
Emperor’s reign
Kahless eventually passed into myth as Kahless the Unforgettable, but his rule helped shape the fundamental elements of Klingon society and structure that would endure for a millennium. It was Kahless who helped establish the Klingons’ ritual honor code and encouraged their martial skills, and under his rule the disparate Klingon peoples were united and the foundation of Klingon spirituality was established, with Kahless ending his reign with the departure of his people and planet to Sto-vo-kor, the Klingon afterlife.
What followed for the Klingons was nearly a thousand years of dynastic monarchy, in which royal lineages of emperors oversaw the development of Qenos as the center of an emerging interstellar empire, conquering other worlds and subjugating the species – and sometimes demeaning themselves in return. Four hundred years after the rise of Kahless, Qenos was invaded by a mysterious race from the Gamma Quadrant known only as the Hurka (Klingonian for “outsider”), plundering the Klingon homeworld of many valuable cultural artifacts, leaving much of early Klingon history lost in myth and legend.
Dark Times and High Councils
Although the emperor’s power lasted for a thousand years, it was not without periods of doubt. During the period of the empire’s first millennium, the lineage of emperors that had existed since the time of Kahless the Unforgettable was abolished by a coup. Led by General K’Trellan, Emperor Reklaw is assassinated in a coup and the entire Klingon royal family is put to the sword. What followed would become known in Klingon society as “The Dark Time”: a decade where Klingon society would be ruled by a council of democratically elected representatives.
Although the Klingon flirtation with democracy was brief, Dark Time established political reforms important in the maintenance of the Empire. The reign of the Emperor was reestablished in an effort to commit the Council to memory, to establish a new dynasty and to portray an unbroken line going back to the days of Kahless, giving the names and titles of previously executed royals. But despite this effort to maintain continuity, the emperor’s reign would not last forever: sometime in the 21st century, the last emperor of the Third Dynasty died without an heir. The power of the Klingon Empire was reduced to a Chancellorship… and a High Council not entirely dissimilar to the Dark Times.
Power of the Great Houses
The Klingon High Council operated not on theocracy, but on the Great Rite: the Chancellor oversaw a council representing 24 of the most powerful and influential families on Qo’noS, established as Great Houses, with each Great House nominally in charge of specific administrative systems and departments of government. The familial houses probably predated the existence of the High Council as a political structure, but it was only really after the decline of the royal line that they began to have a major role in the management of Klingon society.
Each Great House was patriarchal and feudal in nature, ruled by the eldest male of his primary family, with his wife usually designated as House Mistress, in charge of overseeing marriages and other family properties, while the leader of the House oversaw the military forces and was responsible for contributions to the High Council. In most cases, leadership of a Great House will pass to the eldest son of the ruling family, but in some circumstances, leadership may change hands the other way.
If the leader of a Great House is killed in honorable battle without a male heir, the mistress of a House can either petition the High Council for arrangements to rule the House herself (though women may only serve on the High Council in extremely rare circumstances) or invoke the Bre’ka’tal ritual, which allows a Klingon widow to marry the warrior who killed her husband. Over the centuries that the Chancellery and High Council ruled the Empire, some of the Great Houses fell from grace either through political intrigue or act of denunciation, which could lead to either an individual Klingon or even their entire house being deprived of privileges and respect for several generations, ostracized from society, and their property expropriated by rival houses.
Similarly, the office of Chancellor itself was an equally difficult position, despite its position as the primary seat of power in the Empire. Klingon chancellors can be deposed through combat challenges, or, if they pass peacefully (or by other means), a successor will be chosen through a martial ritual similar to succession, climaxing with a battle to the death.
But even though Klingon society eventually shifted power to its elite houses, the role of the Emperor did not go away forever. In 2369, clerics on the moon of Boreth, a major seat of power in the Klingon faith, managed to successfully clone Kahless and imprint his body with the teachings of the Klingon faith and society, and attempted to start a new dynasty. However, the clone’s origins were exposed through the efforts of Worf and Chancellor Gowron – but instead of being rejected, Kahless II was once again installed as Emperor, though now as a moral guide and religious figure for the Klingon Empire, rather than wielding direct power, as the High Council had done.
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