- For the primary universe counterpart, see Klingon.
| SPECIES | |
|---|---|
| Klingon | |
| |
| Planet of origin: | Qo'noS |
| Affiliation: | Klingon Empire, Maquis |
| Biology | |
| Classification: | humanoid |
| Environmental requirements: | class M planet conditions |
| Typical lifespan: | 150 years |
| Sexes: | male and female |
| Distinctive Features: Forehead, spine and foot ridges Racial Sub-divisions: Varied skin colouration and ridge formations | |
 Emblem of the Klingon Empire | |
In the alternate mirror universe, the Klingons were a humanoid species native to the planet Qo'noS in the Beta Quadrant. They forged and ruled the Klingon Empire, one of the most prominent interstellar states over many centuries.
History[]
Birth of the Klingon Empire[]
Klingons started out as barbaric tribesmen, perpetually raiding one another for food and territory. During the 9th century, a terrible tyrant named Molor arose and, aided by an army of unthinking minions, conquered the warring tribes and united the planet Qo'noS. Molor sought to change the Klingon people by making them adopt a concept he called honor, which would replace the lust for conquest as the highest goal of a Klingon warrior, forcing them to restrain their true urges.
However, a Klingon warrior named Kahless the Unstoppable fought and slew Molor, consigning his doctrine to the grave. Although Kahless may have hated Molor's theory of honor, he liked the worldwide empire and kept it in place. Throughout his reign, he put down near-perpetual revolts from regional warlords seeking to test his strength. One of them finally killed him in single combat, smashing his head in and throwing him off a cliff for good measure. Superstitious Klingons believed that Kahless' ghost sometimes materialized in the midst of battle, guiding the hands of the fiercest generals.
After his death, Kahless became known as "He Who Shall Return".
Kahless' slayer did not last long as world emperor. A few months later, warlords loyal to the man he had killed stormed his stronghold and slew him. They then fought each other over the succession. For centuries, Klingon history would swing like a pendulum between world government and utter anarchy. Warfare drove Klingon scientific advances, as warlords, hoping to become world emperor, funded researchers who promised them superior weapons and equipment. The Klingons developed prewarp space vessels in the early 20th century, spurred on by a world emperor named Kalok the Terrible. His sleeper ships put warriors in a drug-induced state of suspended animation. Kalok planned for them to find new worlds to conquer, so that his warlords would not get restless and want to fight him. The explorers would report back, and then entire armies would be sent out on sleeper ships to combat these new enemies. The Klingons pushed out to other planets, building their space empire. However, most of the worlds in close proximity to their own were just as resource-poor as Qo'noS was and none of the races they conquered had achieved industrial economies. Still, the effort did what Kalok wanted, giving his generals something better to do than challenge his supremacy.
Later history[]
By the early 23rd century, the Klingon Empire was engaged in a cold war with the Terran Empire. The conflict flared up from time to time with the Klingons winning a major victory in the 2220s. However, the Klingons respected the Terrans as worthy foes.
In 2268, in a effort to bring peace between Elasians and Troyians, Elaan, the Dohlman of Elas, was arranged to marry Hakil, the Caliph of Troyius. The Terran Empire assigned the ISS Enterprise to transport Elaan to Troyius in order to prevent the Klingon Empire from conquering their worlds and gaining access to their rich supplies of dilithium crystals. Kryton, the leader of the Dohlman's guards, hated the arrangement, as he loved Elaan and wished to marry her. Consequently, he conspired with the Klingons to sabotage the mission. However, the Klingons' plan failed as Captain Spock, via the Tantalus field, observed Kryton sabotaging the Enterprise. Kryton was then taken into custody and executed on Spock's orders while the captain used the Tantalus field to disintegrate the entire crew of Klingon battle cruiser which was poised to attack the ship. The ship itself was undamaged. A peace treaty was signed between Elas and Troyius shortly afterwards, scuppering the Klingons' plan.
By 2282, the Klingons had made first contact with the Ferengi.
In 2288, Gorkon became Regent after slaying his predecessor Sturka in honourable combat. The new Regent pursued a more aggressive policy towards the Terrans.
In 2289, the Klingon Empire conquered Korvat, an unarmed farming colony less than a lightyear from Klingon space which had previously been located in inviolable Terran territory. The political and military elite of the Klingon Empire met on Korvat to celebrate their victory. During a speech by Kang during which he stated that the Terrans were no longer the able workers which they had once been, the Terran Empire's ambassador Curzon Dax spat at Kang's feet in disgust and decried the manner in which the Klingons were celebrating the "least audacious victory in [their] history" and accused them of having a "miserable empire" before storming out, which earned him Kang's wrath.
By this time, Regent Gorkon's senior military adviser General Chang had successfully overseen the development of a prototype bird-of-prey which had the ability to fire its weapons while cloaked. Based on the military capacity of the Terran Empire at that time, he informed the Regent that it would take nine years to build a fleet of such vessels large enough to conquer the Empire. The construction of this fleet was carried out on Praxis, one of the moons of Qo'noS. To power the production, and the cloaking field that kept it hidden from Terran spy arrays the energy production on Praxis was tripled. In 2293, Praxis exploded, causing massive ecological damage to Qo'noS: toxic elements from Praxis' crust began to break down the atmosphere and contaminate water supplies, threatening the end to higher-order lifeforms within fifty years. Additionally seventy percent of the population were inflicted with deadly xenocerium poisoning. This led to the staging of the Khitomer Conference, a diplomatic conference held by the major Alpha Quadrant powers on the Klingon-held world Khitomer. At the conference, Azetbur offered the Terran Emperor the opportunity to forge an alliance between their empires and he accepted the offer, he signed the Khitomer Accords with Chancellor Azetbur, ending nearly a century of hostilities and eventually normalizing relations between the two governments.