Society
The Klingon Empire is adjacent to the Federation and Romulan Star Empire borders. A central government is located on the planet Qo'noS and only houses with rightful male lineage may rise to power and rule the Klingon worlds. Klingon society is based on family reputation and honor, and for a Klingon to join a family, it must be done according to the rite of R'uustal, after approval by the matriarch or patriarch of the family house.

Klingon tradition is an integral part of their lives. Breaking from it is an insult to society that is not forgotten easily: bringing shame to the offender's name for several generations. Bloodlines and relations are also taken very seriously by any true Klingon. Lines comprise of more than mere family members. It is more like a network of mutual obligations and defense agreements. Deeds done beyond living memory can indebt one family to another for generations, such is their emphasis on repaying debts. In this way, there comes a time when the line is too massive to maintain, and some line-founders must split off to form a new name.

Over time, their view of life has warped to become increasingly obsessed with dying honorably instead of living with honor. Too often, the only words spoken before battle is "It is a good day to die!" Dying gloriously in combat, preferably having slain a few enemies, is the pinnacle of achievements for Klingons, and to all proud warriors, the only way to go. Groveling for mercy and prolonging life is enough for condemnation and the shaming of the whole house. For some dishonored Klingons, the only way to restore their lost honor is through the ritual of "Mauk-to 'Vor", which involves the killing of an individual to repair his honor.

Their code of honor, however, does not forbid treachery. On birds of prey or in any system of hierarchal command, officers are continually targeted for death by lower ranked crew. Though incomprehensible to outsiders, this is their method of keeping officers strong and capable.

Empire History
Modern Klingon Empire was founded by Kahless the Unforgettable, the brilliant strategist who killed the tyrant Molor and unified his people some 1500 years before. His legendary story of valor and courage still stirs emotions of pride in his descendants, now citizens of the Klingon Empire. Kahless was a philosopher of sorts, and his work is still studied by Klingons centuries after his death. He had realized his race was was so consumed with victory that they had no scruples using treachery, as long as they ultimately won. He warned, "Watch your back. Friends may become enemies in less time than it takes to draw a dagger." But he did not heed his own advice, for he soon proved to be too popular, too dangerous to the ruling head, and was murdered by K'ashked, the Klingon Emperor, in 2125, leaving the Klingon high council in command of the Empire.

By 2215, Klingon technology allowed them to maintain a speed of warp 4 on their interstellar vessels. The Federation made first contact with the Klingons in 2218, but with disastrous results. For the next 70 years the Federation was entrenched in open hostility with the Klingon Empire. A cat and mouse game of conquest and resistance was played out mainly by Kirk's crew and Qo'noS's finest warriors.

In the incident on Organia, Stardate 3198.4, or 2267 in standard years, Kirk stopped the Klingons from claiming the planet, risking interstellar war to preserve the existence of what looked like a primitive humanoid civilization. However, the beings were in fact powerful noncoporeal lifeforms who don't need protection in the least. There, the Organians imposed a peace treaty on both Klingons and Federation, where they predicted eventual friendship for the two sides. This treaty put a dampener on hostilities for some while and provisions included space station docking for ships from either side.

Bilateral talks between the Klingons and the Federation continued through 2289. Even though the meetings did not result in any breakthroughs, the Klingon diplomatic team learned to respect the Federation representative Curzon Dax as a worthy man.

However, encounters with the Federation remained unpleasant at best, as shown by the run-in on Stardate 4523.3, when Klingons launched a covert operation to poison emergency quadrotriticale supplies crucial to the Sherman Plant. The K-7 plant that was storing the hybrid wheat sent a distress call answered by the Enterprise. With the help of numerous Tribbles and some time-travelers, the Klingon sabotage was revealed and terminated. Klingon hatred for the furry and enormously prolific creatures was immediate. Some time in the future, the Klingon Empire eliminated the Tribble homeworld, undoubtedly one of the most glorious victories for the Empire.

Soon after, the Empire signed an alliance with the Romulan Star Empire. In exchange for the cloaking device, Klingons gave their warship designs. This was more of a matter of convenience, and when both side got what they want, the alliance was dissolved in 2292. The terms on which the two sides parted is unclear, but they would become bitter foes for the next 75 years.

The turning point in relations between the Federation and the Empire came with a catastrophic explosion on the Klingon moon Praxis on Stardate 9521.6. Serious environmental repercussions from this incident wiped out key energy resources and sparked an economic crisis. Mired in chaos and destruction, Klingon Chancellor Gorkon, leader of the Klingon High Council, had little choice but to launch a peace initiative with the Federation when it became apparent the Empire could not maintain its military any longer.

A true end to hostility and even collaboration with the Federation in the future was placed on the agenda, and talks soon opened when Chancellor Gorkon agreed to travel to Earth. However, the Chancellor was murdered en route to Earth by factions within the Federation, Klingon Empire, and Romulan Star Empire worried about altering the status quo of relations. Federation officers Kirk and McCoy were set up with the blame and arrested by Klingons under interstellar law.

The peace conference was then moved to Camp Khitomer, a planet near the border of Romulan space. Gorkon was represented by his daughter Azetbur, who continued with the conference, leading to the landmark Khitomer Accords. In the future, the Khitomer Conference of 2293 would be seen as the single most important peace accord in Federation history. However, it was only after Spock forced the truth out of his traitorous protege Valeris, that the Enterprise and the Excelsior (under command of Captain Sulu) prevented another assassination attempt -- this time of the Federation President -- from succeeding. After exposing the villains within each party, the talks went on and a new era of peace resulted.

Peace wasn't in place overnight, but through the years a better understanding of the Federation and what they stood for changed the perspectives of many Klingons. The courageous efforts of the Enterprise-C, under the command Captain Rachel Garrett, in defending the Narendra III Klingon outpost in 2344 from Romulan forces solidified the pact further. To the Klingons, a Federation starship defending Klingons from destruction was proof that they were truly a worth ally.

In later years, the Klingons were on friendly terms with the Federation. In 2364, Lieutenant Worf, son of Morgh, made history by becoming the first Klingon Starfleet officer. His first post was on board the Galaxy-Class starship Enterprise-D and he left space dock when it was launched out of space dock.

Turmoil on Qo'noS prevailed again when furor erupted over the death by poisoning of Chancellor K'mpec, High Council leader. Such a death and the dishonor of the murder had been foreseen by K'mpec, who knew very well it could plunge the Empire into civil war. To counter such a disastrous possibility, K'mpec took the precaution of having appointed an Arbiter of Succession. However, he broke convention by choosing Federation Captain Jean-Luc Picard as mediator in choosing the next head of the Klingon Empire. It came down to two candidates, Duras, partly responsible for the discommendation of Worf, and Gowron, a rising political figure. A web of intrigue and betrayal resulted in the death of Duras, son of Ja'rod. Worf actually wielded the knife that killed Duras and was reprimanded for his conduct afterwards. He had avenged the death of Emissary K'Ehleyr, who confronted Duras with his darkest family secrets before she was killed. With no other challenger, Gowron emerged as Council leader, leaving the Duras line extremely unsatisfied.

The Duras family tried to reinstate their power in the Klingon Empire by pulling their connections and attempted to put Toral, the son of Duras, into Council Leader. Certain High Council members who were allies of the House of Duras opted to side with them, and a deep rift in the Empire was formed. In the following civil war, the Duras family secretly utilized Romulan forces to aid their cause, promising a split with the Federation when they succeed in deposing of Gowron. Gowron issues a formal statement for assistance from the Federation, but in the spirit of non-interference, Starfleet declined to involve themselves in the war.

Three weeks passed and Gowron's forces were heavily depleted by the Duras family. However, suspicion of illicit help to the Duras house began to circulate after the destruction of their supply base seemingly did nothing to stop their war efforts. Picard among many others suspected Romulan influence, and the immediately certain implication of this would mean the termination of Klingon-Federation alliance to make way for a Klingon-Romulan alliance. Starfleet at this point agreed to Picard's suggestion to step in and blockade the Romulan/Klingon borders.

Commander Sela, daughter of deceased Tasha Yar, demanded the withdrawal of Federation ships, but Picard advised Gowron to launch a full-scale attack on the Duras warriors so to draw out their relation with Romulans. The Duras sisters asked for a supply convoy from the Romulans, and in so doing revealed their connection to the most hated rivals of the Klingon empire. When this got out, support for the House of Duras fell and Gowron was firmly back in power. The war now quieted by the escape of Duras sisters, Lursa and B'Etor, the Romulans returned home. Toral was spared from death by Worf, whose father was cleared of wrong-doing and restored honor to the House of Mogh.

Space marauders without hope of returning to Qo'noS anytime soon, Lursa and B'Etor made other attempts to gain power. Their exploits brought them to the Deep Space Nine where they sold bilitrium explosives to a Bajoran Kohn-ma terrorist using it to blow up the wormhole. The last time the Duras sisters were reportedly seen was when they associated with Dr. Soran, ferrying him to the Nexus while he provided them with trilithium weapons capable of mass destruction. The Enterprise D interfered and destroyed the bird-of-prey, presumably killing the sisters in the process.

Kahless the Unforgettable returned on Stardate 46852.2, standard year 2369, as he declared he would. After some research it was revealed he was a clone of the original Kahless, brought back by clerics of Boreth. Gowron knew his people hungered for the spiritual leadership of Kahless, and conceived an idea that would give Kahless the position to use his influence while keeping the real political power to himself and the High Council. Kahless was proclaimed the new emperor of the Empire.

It was at this time that the Dominion threat took center stage in the Alpha Quadrant. Concern over reported Founder infiltration into the Alpha Quadrant political stage mounted, and certain Klingons were greatly disturbed by the overthrow of the Cardassian Central Command, something they interpreted as the work of the Founders. Voices shouting for war and glory pressured Gowron into action. He gave orders to invade Cardassia on the premise of rooting out the Founders Klingons believed had replaced the Cardassian Depata Council.

Captain Sisko and Commander Worf realized the Klingon's intentions and warned against such a rash and unprovoked attack, which would mean the dissolving of the long-standing Khitomer Accords. Gowron disregarded the cautionary warning and proceeded with plans. General Martok led an armada of birds-of-prey in the attack on Cardassia and nearly wiped out the infrastructure of Cardassia Prime. Despite Gowron's firm resolve to war with Cardassia, there were several Klingons within the Empire who did not support the invasion, not the least of whom was Emperor Kahless and Worf's brother Kurn, now a member of the High Council.

The Klingons did a great deal of damage after they got past Cardassian defense lines. The civilian council members were saved from certain death only by the unified efforts of Gul Dukat and Commander Sisko, who placed them in the relative safety of Deep Space Nine. When demands to release the council members were not met, the Klingon fleet bombarded Deep Space 9 with heavy fire, resolved to force them out or destroy the station. Sisko had the foresight to reinforce the defensive and offensive capabilities of the station a year ago, and the station withstood everything the Klingon fleet could throw at it.

The attack on Deep Space Nine ended when Sisko made Gowron see that this turn of events was manipulated by the Founders, who turned allies into foes to weaken them for the Dominion invasion.

By then, Klingons already had influence over several Cardassian worlds. Even as they engaged in peace talks with the Federation, they were engineering an eventual conflict by killing Bajoran and Cardassian nationals meeting for peace talks, and by setting up Worf to make and unprovoked attack on a Klingon transport. At the end of 2371, talks between the Federation and Klingon Empire ended with mutual dissatisfaction. The Klingons were insulted by the incessant demands to retreat from Cardassian territory, and soon after the Khitomer Accords were officially annulled by Gowron.

Upon returning to Deep Space 9 after he was tried in the Founder homeworld, Odo strongly believed Gowron was a Changeling. Gowron had already issued an ultimatum to withdraw from the Archanis Sector, an area of space which the Empire had given up its claim to centuries ago. Ten days later, a full scale war began, and the Federation could only just slow down the frenzied Klingon forces. With the Klingons encroaching on Federation space and the impressions of Odo, Sisko was given the assignment of exposing the Gowron Changeling. Sisko disguised himself as a Klingon (and he looked very convincing) along with his senior officers. With Gul Dukat's bird-of-prey as cover, they managed to infiltrate deep into the Tiger Core, where the Empire's military headquarters were. However, they were intercepted by General Martok, who threw them into a holding cell.

Martok then relayed his suspicion that Gowron wasn't Gowron, who had originally been reluctant to war with the Federation, but suddenly called out for every Klingon to die honorably. He agreed to release Sisko and his crew if they seek out and kill Gowron. Worf was just getting ready for the death ritual over Gowron when Odo discerned that it was Martok who was a Changeling, and with help from 53 Klingon disrupters, terminated the Martok Changeling.

The sudden change of events was the catalyst to a cease-fire between the Empire and the Federation. Gowron admitted he was pushed to war by the Martok Changeling, who would have been able to take control of the government and weaken the Empire even further if his plot to kill through Sisko had succeeded.

But the damage was done. Neither the Federation, Klingon Empire, Cardassia Union, nor the Romulans could summon a fleet to defend from the imminent Jem'Hadar invasion through the wormhole around Stardate Stardate 50560.1. Having taken everything in consideration, the Federation decided to use modified graviton emitters to seal the wormhole without damaging the Prophet inside. However, sabotage from another Changeling in disguise -- this time as Doctor Bashir -- prevented them from closing the wormhole, and the Jem'Hadar fleet poured through to the Alpha Quadrant.

However, this was nowhere as stunning as the announcement Gul Dukat made a week ago that the Cardassia Union had joined the Dominion. Dukat was made the new head of the Cardassia Union, and the Dominion soon removed all Klingon presence from their territory. Having tasted victory, Dukat also revealed his plans to retake Terok Nor.

The Klingon fleet, battered by Dominion ferocity, withdrew to the Bajoran system, where Commander Sisko persuaded the Empire to consider a resigning of the Khitomer Accords, arguing that the Dominion would be easier to fend off through a joint effort. So whereas suspicion of Dominion involvement initiated the string of events and severed Federation-Klingon ties, the confirmation of Dominion involvement in Cardassia would restore the peace accords and end the conflict.

The resigning of Accords marked the beginning of close strategic cooperation on the part of the Federation and the Empire. Klingon fleets joined Federation vessels in protecting the Bajoran system from imminent Dominion invasion. Only there was no Dominion fleet. The Founders tried to make the Bajoran sun go nova, but Major Kira and Lieutenant Jadzia Dax uncovered the plot, and the plan failed.

Later, when Worf and Garak were thrown into Internment Camp 371, the place where enemies of the Dominion are confined, they discovered the real General Martok and Doctor Bashir as well as Enabran Tain. After restoring the general to the Alpha Quadrant, he was made commander of the Klingon forces stationed around Deep Space 9 as part of the new Khitomer Accords.

In the following months, more Dominion convoys were sent through the wormhole to the Cardassians. It was soon apparent the Dominion was planning to take over the whole quadrant when ready. Around Stardate 50975.2, Starfleet started consulting with the Empire on carrying out a plan to destroy Dominion shipyards within Cardassian space while Sisko distracted them by mining the Wormhole. However, Deep Space Nine had to be abandoned in the process, leaving Bajor vulnerable to the Dominion.

The next three months inflicted terrible losses for the Federation. Whole fleets were destroyed and it was a very difficult battle for both sides. When news came that the Dominion had almost dismantled the mine field and was ready to send through massive reinforcements, Captain Sisko knew they could wait no longer. He convinced the Federation to launch a risky strike, sending three fleets from Starbase 375 to Terok Nor in a gamble that could reclaim the station if successful. It was a gritty battle that would bring honor to any of the involved Klingons.

Meanwhile, the armada of 2,800 Dominion ships queuing up to enter the wormhole was preparing to begin operations. The Defiant intercepted the reinforcements, but was obvious no match. Before the destruction of the Defiant, the alien entities within the wormhole spoke to their Emissary "the Sisko" again. Sisko made clear to them the devastating result if such an enormous armed force were to reach the Alpha Quadrant. Not wishing their Emissary to die, and aware of the outcome should the Jem'Hadar ships reach the Alpha Quadrant, the Prophets decided to act, and made all 2,800 ships vanish without a trace.

Gul Dukat, who was with Weyoun and the female Founder Leader, was already picturing his imminent success. When the reinforcements vanished, he could not comprehend what had happened. Everything was lost, and more Federation ships were coming in. The Dominion had no choice but fall back to Cardassian space.

The Romulans, who had signed a nonaggression pact with the Dominion prior to this, was pulled into the war when they were convinced the Cardassians murdered Romulan Senator Vreenak. Thus, the Klingons found themselves fighting alongside the Federation and Romulans against a common enemy.

Entrenched in war, the Klingon warriors are in the midst of one of the most glorious battles in Empire history. Its stories will be recorded in poetry and song, remembered by Klingons forever.