The Klingons are a humanoid race, originally from the planet Qo'noS. A proud, tradition-bound people who value honor, the aggressive Klingon culture has made them a military power to be respected and feared.
The most striking characteristic of a Klingon's appearance is his forehead. Every Klingon forehead has its own unique pattern. The Klingon body incorporates multiple redundancies for nearly all vital bodily functions. This characteristic, known as brak'lul, gives Klingons enormous resiliency in battle. Despite the considerable sophistication of Klingon technology, significant gaps exist in Klingon medical science, in part due to cultural biases that injured warriors should be left to die or to carry out the Hegh'bat, a ritual suicide. Klingons have no tear ducts. Klingon blood is a lavender-colored fluid.
In Klingon society, the death of a warrior is not mourned, especially a warrior who has died honorably, as in battle or the line of duty. In such cases, the survivors celebrate the freeing of the spirit. Klingons believe in afterlife, but there is no burial ceremony. They dispose the body in the most efficient means possible. Klingon tradition holds that "the son of a Klingon is a man the day he can first hold a blade". Another Klingon ritual is the R'uustai, or bonding ceremony, in which two individuals join families, becoming brothers and sisters.
Klingon society is hierarchically organized. Status is a matter of descent. Higher classes consists of houses or families respectively. Some of the houses are wealthy and own vast lands guarded by armed forces that are loyal to this house. Others have less influence and often enter into an alliance with the more powerful houses to be able to survive. Each house is led by the eldest male descendant of the first head of the house. Although lower-class Klingons do not necessarily consider themselves members of a house, they have normally pledged allegiance to one house. They usually work as servants or belong to the house's armed forces. If a Klingon behaves dishonorably, his shame reflects on the whole house.
The Klingon Empire is governed by the Klingon High Council which consists of about two dozens of men from the most honorable houses, meeting in the Great Hall in their capital veng wa'DIch ("The First City"). The Leader of the Council is the Chancellor, who is, at the same time, head of government. At the moment, this office is held by Martok, the successor of Gowron. Since 2369, there is also an Emperor, an office that has not been filled for centuries: the clone of Kahless the Unforgettable (see below). He has practically no political power, but only serves as religious and ceremonial leader.
The Klingon military is called tlhIngan hubbeq or Klingon Defense Force. It consists of the fleet and the ground troops, both of which are commanded by the Klingon Supreme Command. In the fleet, there are nine different ranks: Admiral, General, Fleet Admiral, Brigadier General, Captain, Commander, Lieutenant, Ensign and Yeoman.
The Homeworld of the Klingons is called Qo'noS ("Kronos"), but is rarely referred to by its formal name. This M-class planet is the second in the Klingon Star System. It is about 1.5 times the size of Earth. On Qo'noS, there is only few water, except for some saline lakes, which is why the climate is hot and the vegetation meager. The biggest city on the planet is The First City (veng wa'DIch), the center of the Klingon Empire.
The Klingon "cuneiform" script is called pIqaD and looks like this:
2. History of the Klingon Empire
The Empire was founded about 1.500 years ago by Kahless the Unforgettable. Legend has it that he fought the tyrant Molor, whom he killed with the first bat'telh, the sword of honor. First contact between the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets took place in 2218, a disastrous event that led to nearly a century of hostilities between the two powers. In 2267 negotiations between the Federation and the Empire were on the verge of breaking down. The Klingons had issued an ultimatum to the Federation to withdraw from disputed areas, claimed by both the UFP and the Klingon Empire or face war. Hostilities were ended by the Organian Peace Treaty, which was imposed to the combatants by the Organians.
Around 2268, the Klingons entered into a brief alliance with the Romulan Star Empire, which allowed the two powers to share military technology and spacecraft designs. Consequently, the Klingons were in possession of cloaking devices for use on their starships.
In 2293, a catastrophic explosion on Praxis, one of Qo'noS' moons, caused serious environmental damage to the Klingon Homeworld. In the economic disarray that followed, Chancellor Gorkon found that his Empire could no longer afford its massive military forces. He therefore launched a peace initiative, offering to end 70 years of hostilities with the Federation. Just prior to a major peace conference, Gorkon was assassinated by Federation and Klingon interests who sought to maintain the status quo. Gorkon's successor, his daughter Azetbur, continued her fathers work, and successfully concluded the Khitomer Accords with the UFP one year later.
The High Council was a hotbed of political intrigue that nearly plunged the Empire into civil war in 2367, when Chancellor K'mpec died of poison. This murder, viewed as a killing without honor under Klingon tradition, triggered a bitter struggle to determine K'mpec's successor. K'mpec had taken the unorthodox precaution of appointing a non-Klingon, Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard, as his Arbiter of Succession. Under Picard's mediation, political newcomer Gowron emerged as the sole candidate for council leader. Forces loyal to the powerful House of Duras unsuccessfully attempted to block Gowron, plunging the Empire into a brief, but bitter civil war in early 2368.
Though their nation is called Empire, it had not been ruled by an emperor for more than three centuries. This situation changed in 2369, when the clerics of Boreth produced a clone of Kahless the Unforgettable. Although their initial claim that the clone was the actual Kahless was quickly disproved, this clone was regarded as the rightful heir to the throne, and, with the support of Chancellor Gowron, was installed as the ceremonial Emperor of the Klingon people.
In 2372, the Klingon Defense Force launched an invasion of the Cardassian Union, claiming that their government had been replaced by Changelings. Although this was disproved by Starfleet, the Klingons continued their attacks. The UFP, having signed a peace treaty with the Cardassians only some years ago, had no choice than to intervene against the Klingons. Upon that, the Klingon Empire closed all diplomatic relations with the Federation and terminated the Treaty of Khitomer. Although the Klingons stopped their invasion, they refused to return some Cardassian colonies. Later that year, the conflict with the Federation finally escalated, resulting in a brief border war in the Archanis Sector. The hostilities could not be settled until mid-2373, when the Cardassian Union surprisingly joined the Dominion and Klingon forces were quickly driven out of Cardassian space. Now facing the new threat posed by the Dominion, Chancellor Gowron decided to re-sign the Khitomer accords. Some months later, war broke out between the UFP-Klingon-alliance and the Dominion.
In 2375, just before the victory over the Dominion, Chancellor Gowron was killed by Worf, son of Mogh, member of the house of Martok, in a fight for honor following a series of politically motivated decisions by Gowron that cost the lives of numerous Klingon warriors. Although Worf had thereby earned the right to lead the high council, he stood aside to allow General Martok to ascend to the chancellorship.