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The Klingon Empire was one of the original central antagonistic factions of the Star Trek franchise. It is a feudalistic empire dominantly comprised of the Klingon race, who have appeared various times as antagonists within the Star Trek franchise.

History[]

The Empire was founded around the Earth year 854 AD by Kahless the Unforgettable, who had united the various tribes on the Klingon homeworld Qo'noS in a way not seen until the 23rd century. Descendants of Kahless and other Klingons ruled the Empire as Emperor. Sometime prior to 2069 the reigning Emperor died and no one else was named to replace him. Power was shifted over to a High Council led by a Chancellor and comprised of representatives of the 24 most prominent Houses of the Klingons. The Chancellor of the High Council was left as the sole leader of the empire. Up until the early 24th century, both men and women could sit on the High Council and become Chancellor.

Klingon Houses were usually named after the current head of the House, however in practice the naming of the House was up to the head of the House. While some heads would change the name of the House to their own, others would leave it with the name of a prior head or an illustrious ancestor.

The office of Chancellor was generally not hereditary in nature, however there was one notable exception in that Azetbur was named Chancellor after her own father Gorkon was assassinated by members of the Khitomer Conspiracy. Klingons could challenge the Chancellor in combat for his or her office, and if the challenger won could either assume the office of Chancellor themselves or designate another to serve as Chancellor. In cases where the Chancellor died of natural causes or outside of combat, a Rite of Succession was put in place with a neutral arbiter deciding which two Klingons had the strongest claims for the office. Generally the two finalists would fight to the death for the office. At times the office would be awarded to the claimant who had been first to perform some sort of task for the Empire.

Though ostensibly ruled by a single central government, there were many competing factions within the empire, similar to Greek city-states on Earth, each attempting to challenge the other houses for dominance over the empire. The great houses of the Empire relied on a system of alliances between them to keep stronger houses from dominating them. In 2256 the Klingon warrior T'Kuvma rallied the 24 great houses of the Empire to join together and fight a war against the Federation. The Klingons were able to nearly defeat the Federation before T'Kuvma's disciple L'Rell was able to assert her own claim to leadership and call for an end to hostilities. After the war many Klingons began to embrace the idea of a united Empire and reducing the amount of infighting between the great houses.

When the Klingon moon Praxis exploded in 2293, the Empire swallowed its pride and went to the Federation for assistance. Despite the attempts of the Khitomer Conspiracy to derail the peace process, the opening sessions of the peace talks were successful, beginning an alliance between the two powers. This alliance was further solidified in 2344 when the crew of the USS Enterprise-C sacrificed themselves to save a Klingon outpost under attack by the Romulans. Even though the Enterprise was unable to prevent the outpost's destruction, the act cemented the alliance between the two formerly hostile powers.

In 2369 a clone of Kahless was created by the clerics at Boreth, hoping to use the clone to restore a stagnating culture to the ways of honor. When Kahless was found to be a clone, Worf, son of Mogh proposed that Kahless be named a constitutional monarch similar to a British monarch, with actual political power still held by the Chancellor and High Council. With both Kahless and Chancellor Gowron accepting this proposal, Kahless became the first Klingon Empire in over 300 years.

The Dominion was able to manipulate the Empire into becoming hostile towards the Federation in the early 2370s. Once the Martok Changeling was exposed and stopped from manipulating the Empire any further the two sides put their differences aside to face the Dominion in open war. The Romulans later joined the effort, marking the first time in galactic history that all three major powers stood united against a common enemy.

After the war it took a number of years for the Klingon Empire to recover, drained by near constant combat against the Federation and then the Dominion. It was expected that the Empire would not fully recover until 2385. The later history of the Empire has not been revealed, and its current status in the 32nd century is unknown.

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