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So, obviously, none of this shit is remotely possible, what with Discovery and all that. But I'm going to keep it here because I think it was a cool little idea.
About
I'd have to be straight up, argue-about-the-Cardassian-war-for-2-threads crazy to say who I actually am. But suffice it to say that if you frequent /STG/, or the brief run of /STA/, You may know me as Nebbie-anon or Photo-editor-anon. I spend far too much time thinking about the minor details of science fiction franchises. Here follows an example of that.
The Life and Death of the Klingon Reformist movement.
Okay, so I recently had a long rambling discussion with my brother concerning the huge differences between the Klingon Empire we see in TOS and the one we see by the time of TNG and I think we’ve come up with an interesting scenario.
First and foremost, I’d like to point out that we’re pretty much using what was seen on the screen and nothing else. There might be some stuff from EU that slipped in there but honestly I couldn’t tell you. At any rate, I’m sure there are numerous novels that take broadly different approaches to this subject and that, depending on what your specific canon is, this probably doesn’t work at all. But this is my current headcanon, and seeing as this is the place for headcanon, I figured I’d share it here.
So Enterprise happened, for better or worse, and we were given a canonical explanation of the creation of non-ridgeheaded Klingons. Basically some Klingons screwed around with Human Augment DNA and ended up partially humanising a large portion of the Klingon populace. Another thing we see in Enterprise is that the Empire of that era much more closely resembles that of the TNG era of warrior cults and pure-blooded houses, instead of the TOS empire of cunning and manipulation. In essence the difference between Samurai/Viking Klingons and Soviet Union Klingons. This is a huge shift that, apparently happens post Enterprise and, then again, post Undiscovered Country. This is what I’m going to address. I’m going to run through a timeline of the Empire and how such a massive shift occurred. (In setting, of course. This has no bearing on the real world reasons for the change.)
So let’s begin in the 2150’s. Earth is taking its first steps into the deep end of space exploration and the Klingon empire is a fractious, warring clan state. The closest approximation I can think of is Feudal Japan of the Sengoku Jidai period. There is, ostensibly, a leader of the Empire, in the form of a high council/chancellor, but Individual houses manage their own affairs and operate their own militaries, using the same technology. When the Empire calls upon them to do something, they obey, but otherwise the houses are quite happy to murder one another in petty conflicts over territory, rescources and honour.
Enter the Human Augment Virus (HAV). In 2154, the Klingons accidentally infect a large colony with a lethal combination of the HAV and something called Levodian flu. With some help from Starfleet, the Klingons are able to stabilise the HAV, but at the cost of severe physical alteration. These Klingons now look almost human and behave differently to their pure-Klingon counterparts. The empire is initially ambivalent to the existence of these Klingon Augments and is content to leave them be. Some elect to stay on their colony world but a fair number elect to undergo reconstructive plastic surgery to hide their disfigurement. Without any significant government oversight, these Augments spread throughout the Empire to live normal lives.
30/40 or so years down the line, and the Empire is facing a catastrophic epidemic. Many of these first and second generation Augments have bred with pure Klingons on dozens of colony worlds. Rather than taking on mixed race characteristics (e.g. Be’Lanna) the HAV dominates the gene makup of these new Klingons and creates a new generation of “natural” Augments. This new class of Klingon is notably different to their unaffected kin. They are stronger but exhibit cunning and patience. Traits not common to the Klingons. There is outcry to eradicate these abominations, but with such a large portion of the population now either having the HAV or being closely related to someone who does, it is impossible to do so without killing the Empire in the process.
This disaster is the catalyst for something almost unheard of in Klingon history. The great houses band together and unify to create a more concrete governing body. These houses (Duras, Gowron, Mogh, etc), as yet un-afflicted with the HAV, institute a series of laws to regulate the travel and population of the augments. They outlaw reconstructive surgery for these augments, so that they cannot hide themselves and spread their HAV to unaffected populations. They also implement an “Empire within an Empire” strategy. Augments are limited to living in the areas of the Empire specifically adjoining Federation Space. They are to act as a buffer between the Empire and the Federation, while scientists search for a true cure.
This has a number of affects. For a brief moment in the time, the Klingon Empire is truly unified. The Augment population will be used to beat the Federation at their own game and the power of the Great Houses is preserved. As a result, the Federation deals predominantly with Augments, whose cunning and deception keep the Federation from ever threatening the Empire in a significant way. There is a muddying of the distinction between Human and Klingon heritage amongst these Augments (hence that whole Shakespeare was a Klingon thing).
There is also a pronounced caste system within the Empire now. You are either a pure-blooded Klingon or you are an Augment. There is some animosity between the 2 groups and a significant undercurrent of social unrest amongst the Augment population.There are enclaves of pure Klingons within Augment space. More often than not they are the poor or those exiled from the Empire for disgrace.
These enclaves continue to mate freely with the Augments, and over time they begin to turn the tide on HAV domination. New generations begin to appear and act more Klingon. They have reduced cranial ridges, but are more identifiably Klingon. These Half castes are still treated as augments by the High Council, but are much more palatable to the general populace of the Empire. Prior generations have been capped at the rank of captain within the Klingon Military, but these Augments begin to rise through the ranks, even as they are considered inferior by the greater Empire.
Their successes become a rallying cry for the Augment populace. Evidence that they can be a part of the Empire if they are allowed to be. A number of influential politicians arise within the Augment community. Unlike many of their Klingon counterparts, these politicians aren’t warrior lords but rather idealists whose words sway thousands of disaffected Augments and Klingons alike.
Two of these men meet over the course of their careers. A Warrior Poet and an Idealistic politician. The politician speaks of an Empire in the hands of wise men, rather than the nepotism and corruption of the Old Houses. He speaks of an empire of Duty, Honour and Strength. The Warrior is moved. He pledges to aid his new friend in his quest to make this vision a reality. The nuance and political acumen of Gorkon and the strategic prowess of General Chang make for a potent combination.
As is the way of the Houses, without a direct threat to unify them, they begin to fight amongst themselves once more. It is at that moment that Chang and Gorkon make their move. With the Augments and a significant portion of the Military behind them, Gorkon and Chang storm Quo’nos and install a new government.
Without hesitation, Chancellor Gorkon begins a sweeping series of reforms, returning full citizenship to the Augments and diminishing the authority of the old Empire. Chang is his enforcer, crushing those that can’t be bargained with and recruiting those that can be with the promise of a great war. A war to finally crush the Federation. In truth, Gorkon has no ambitions to fight Starfleet, but Chang is certain that, in time, this new, stronger empire will have no choice but to fight its greatest rival.
And then Praxis explodes. The Empire has over mined the moon for centuries. Now not only is the Empire’s main fuel source gone, but the Homeworld needs to be evacuated. Facing the collapse of his hard earned power, Gorkon sues for peace with the Federation. Chang, facing an end to his own dream, turns on Gorkon and attempts to instigate the war he so desperately wants.
When the smoke clears Gorkon’s daughter, Azetbur, has made peace with the Federation and the 2 great state builders lay dead. Without the same support as Gorkon or Chang, Azetbur soon finds herself overthrown and replaced by a High council composed of the Great houses, led by a Young man, name K’mpec.
It would be easy for K’mpec to roll back the clock on all of Gorkon’s reforms and return the Empire to what it had been. But K’mpec knows that the Empire isn’t strong enough to survive the civil war that would come from such an action. He restores the Houses to power, bans women from serving on the High Council and restores much of the old rules. However, he lets the Augments stay free and encourages them to reintegrate. The ban on cranial reconstruction is lifted and limited genetic manipulation is used to ensure that the children of the Augments will be as purely Klingon as possible.
K’mpec’s rule is one of appeasement. When the people want closer ties to the Federation after the battle of Nerandra 3, K’mpec makes it happen. When the houses complain of resource scarcity, he engages in the greatest era of expansion that the Empire has ever seen. When the Military become restless he finds them a war with the Cardassians (the Betreka Nebula Incident). The Empire flourishes under his rule. During his time as Chancellor, K’mpec undoes the wounds of 2 centuries and makes the Empire strong once more.
He is not, however, a good man. He uses force and corruption to achieve his goals. He allows the house of Duras to worm its way back into the core of the High Council. He lets innocent men take the blame of others when it is politically expedient. By the time of his death, the Empire is Strong, but in the same position it had been 2 centuries ago. Fractious, inclined to infighting and corrupted to the marrow.
And from there it is Gowron who helped maintain the Status quo. Who brings the Empire full circle and makes it so that the Empire is on deaths door by the time of the Dominion War.
And that’s that. My huge diatribe about the life and death of the Klingon reformist movement and how I think things came to be as they are. Feel free to pick it apart and tell me what an awful human being I am.(except obviously not, because you have no way to contribute on my bullshit webpage.)
First and foremost, I’d like to point out that we’re pretty much using what was seen on the screen and nothing else. There might be some stuff from EU that slipped in there but honestly I couldn’t tell you. At any rate, I’m sure there are numerous novels that take broadly different approaches to this subject and that, depending on what your specific canon is, this probably doesn’t work at all. But this is my current headcanon, and seeing as this is the place for headcanon, I figured I’d share it here.
So Enterprise happened, for better or worse, and we were given a canonical explanation of the creation of non-ridgeheaded Klingons. Basically some Klingons screwed around with Human Augment DNA and ended up partially humanising a large portion of the Klingon populace. Another thing we see in Enterprise is that the Empire of that era much more closely resembles that of the TNG era of warrior cults and pure-blooded houses, instead of the TOS empire of cunning and manipulation. In essence the difference between Samurai/Viking Klingons and Soviet Union Klingons. This is a huge shift that, apparently happens post Enterprise and, then again, post Undiscovered Country. This is what I’m going to address. I’m going to run through a timeline of the Empire and how such a massive shift occurred. (In setting, of course. This has no bearing on the real world reasons for the change.)
So let’s begin in the 2150’s. Earth is taking its first steps into the deep end of space exploration and the Klingon empire is a fractious, warring clan state. The closest approximation I can think of is Feudal Japan of the Sengoku Jidai period. There is, ostensibly, a leader of the Empire, in the form of a high council/chancellor, but Individual houses manage their own affairs and operate their own militaries, using the same technology. When the Empire calls upon them to do something, they obey, but otherwise the houses are quite happy to murder one another in petty conflicts over territory, rescources and honour.
Enter the Human Augment Virus (HAV). In 2154, the Klingons accidentally infect a large colony with a lethal combination of the HAV and something called Levodian flu. With some help from Starfleet, the Klingons are able to stabilise the HAV, but at the cost of severe physical alteration. These Klingons now look almost human and behave differently to their pure-Klingon counterparts. The empire is initially ambivalent to the existence of these Klingon Augments and is content to leave them be. Some elect to stay on their colony world but a fair number elect to undergo reconstructive plastic surgery to hide their disfigurement. Without any significant government oversight, these Augments spread throughout the Empire to live normal lives.
30/40 or so years down the line, and the Empire is facing a catastrophic epidemic. Many of these first and second generation Augments have bred with pure Klingons on dozens of colony worlds. Rather than taking on mixed race characteristics (e.g. Be’Lanna) the HAV dominates the gene makup of these new Klingons and creates a new generation of “natural” Augments. This new class of Klingon is notably different to their unaffected kin. They are stronger but exhibit cunning and patience. Traits not common to the Klingons. There is outcry to eradicate these abominations, but with such a large portion of the population now either having the HAV or being closely related to someone who does, it is impossible to do so without killing the Empire in the process.
This disaster is the catalyst for something almost unheard of in Klingon history. The great houses band together and unify to create a more concrete governing body. These houses (Duras, Gowron, Mogh, etc), as yet un-afflicted with the HAV, institute a series of laws to regulate the travel and population of the augments. They outlaw reconstructive surgery for these augments, so that they cannot hide themselves and spread their HAV to unaffected populations. They also implement an “Empire within an Empire” strategy. Augments are limited to living in the areas of the Empire specifically adjoining Federation Space. They are to act as a buffer between the Empire and the Federation, while scientists search for a true cure.
This has a number of affects. For a brief moment in the time, the Klingon Empire is truly unified. The Augment population will be used to beat the Federation at their own game and the power of the Great Houses is preserved. As a result, the Federation deals predominantly with Augments, whose cunning and deception keep the Federation from ever threatening the Empire in a significant way. There is a muddying of the distinction between Human and Klingon heritage amongst these Augments (hence that whole Shakespeare was a Klingon thing).
There is also a pronounced caste system within the Empire now. You are either a pure-blooded Klingon or you are an Augment. There is some animosity between the 2 groups and a significant undercurrent of social unrest amongst the Augment population.There are enclaves of pure Klingons within Augment space. More often than not they are the poor or those exiled from the Empire for disgrace.
These enclaves continue to mate freely with the Augments, and over time they begin to turn the tide on HAV domination. New generations begin to appear and act more Klingon. They have reduced cranial ridges, but are more identifiably Klingon. These Half castes are still treated as augments by the High Council, but are much more palatable to the general populace of the Empire. Prior generations have been capped at the rank of captain within the Klingon Military, but these Augments begin to rise through the ranks, even as they are considered inferior by the greater Empire.
Their successes become a rallying cry for the Augment populace. Evidence that they can be a part of the Empire if they are allowed to be. A number of influential politicians arise within the Augment community. Unlike many of their Klingon counterparts, these politicians aren’t warrior lords but rather idealists whose words sway thousands of disaffected Augments and Klingons alike.
Two of these men meet over the course of their careers. A Warrior Poet and an Idealistic politician. The politician speaks of an Empire in the hands of wise men, rather than the nepotism and corruption of the Old Houses. He speaks of an empire of Duty, Honour and Strength. The Warrior is moved. He pledges to aid his new friend in his quest to make this vision a reality. The nuance and political acumen of Gorkon and the strategic prowess of General Chang make for a potent combination.
As is the way of the Houses, without a direct threat to unify them, they begin to fight amongst themselves once more. It is at that moment that Chang and Gorkon make their move. With the Augments and a significant portion of the Military behind them, Gorkon and Chang storm Quo’nos and install a new government.
Without hesitation, Chancellor Gorkon begins a sweeping series of reforms, returning full citizenship to the Augments and diminishing the authority of the old Empire. Chang is his enforcer, crushing those that can’t be bargained with and recruiting those that can be with the promise of a great war. A war to finally crush the Federation. In truth, Gorkon has no ambitions to fight Starfleet, but Chang is certain that, in time, this new, stronger empire will have no choice but to fight its greatest rival.
And then Praxis explodes. The Empire has over mined the moon for centuries. Now not only is the Empire’s main fuel source gone, but the Homeworld needs to be evacuated. Facing the collapse of his hard earned power, Gorkon sues for peace with the Federation. Chang, facing an end to his own dream, turns on Gorkon and attempts to instigate the war he so desperately wants.
When the smoke clears Gorkon’s daughter, Azetbur, has made peace with the Federation and the 2 great state builders lay dead. Without the same support as Gorkon or Chang, Azetbur soon finds herself overthrown and replaced by a High council composed of the Great houses, led by a Young man, name K’mpec.
It would be easy for K’mpec to roll back the clock on all of Gorkon’s reforms and return the Empire to what it had been. But K’mpec knows that the Empire isn’t strong enough to survive the civil war that would come from such an action. He restores the Houses to power, bans women from serving on the High Council and restores much of the old rules. However, he lets the Augments stay free and encourages them to reintegrate. The ban on cranial reconstruction is lifted and limited genetic manipulation is used to ensure that the children of the Augments will be as purely Klingon as possible.
K’mpec’s rule is one of appeasement. When the people want closer ties to the Federation after the battle of Nerandra 3, K’mpec makes it happen. When the houses complain of resource scarcity, he engages in the greatest era of expansion that the Empire has ever seen. When the Military become restless he finds them a war with the Cardassians (the Betreka Nebula Incident). The Empire flourishes under his rule. During his time as Chancellor, K’mpec undoes the wounds of 2 centuries and makes the Empire strong once more.
He is not, however, a good man. He uses force and corruption to achieve his goals. He allows the house of Duras to worm its way back into the core of the High Council. He lets innocent men take the blame of others when it is politically expedient. By the time of his death, the Empire is Strong, but in the same position it had been 2 centuries ago. Fractious, inclined to infighting and corrupted to the marrow.
And from there it is Gowron who helped maintain the Status quo. Who brings the Empire full circle and makes it so that the Empire is on deaths door by the time of the Dominion War.
And that’s that. My huge diatribe about the life and death of the Klingon reformist movement and how I think things came to be as they are. Feel free to pick it apart and tell me what an awful human being I am.(except obviously not, because you have no way to contribute on my bullshit webpage.)