Most of this area is not
complete but have a read anyway….
(Although
I would like it if you were playing in this one!!)
(Never
read the small print!!)
So you want to play a
Klingon Character? … Well I hope the information here should give you a good
idea on making a good bio and playing your character.
Physical Skin, eyes and hair
colour Age Klingon Houses Honour
Physical –
Klingon Characters nearly always need to be
tall and large. The smallest Klingon character
you can realistically make is going to be around 5’10” and weight at least 200
pounds.
The reasons for this is that Klingons are a
warrior race that have been pushing their own natural selection by allowing the
weakest and smallest to die. A big
powerful warrior is less likely to be killed in battle and therefore more
likely to live to breed. This selection
process has been in place for thousands of years so small Klingons are very
unlikely.
Skin colour varies greatly and there is no
real fixed colour, although most have a dark or tanned complexion.
The hair is a different matter; Klingon hair
is normally always black or dark brown.
However there is no reason why a blond haired Klingon cannot exist,
although they would have had to be brought up outside of the Empire. This is because most Klingon families would
feel dishonoured if they had a blond haired child.
Eyes are normally of a dark colour the same as the hair.
One major difference for
being a Klingon is the point at where adulthood starts. A Klingon can in many ways be considered an
adult when they are able to hold their first blade. Klingons are accepted as warriors aboard ships as young as 12,
although only as a mang (warriors without rank). To become an officer a warrior must first attend one of many
warrior academies. Warriors have to be
at least 12 years old before they are accepted, many are trained by family
members long before this. After 4 years
at an academy a warrior becomes an officer, they are then posted to a ship as a
junior officer.
A Klingon house doesn’t refer to any building
as its name implies but is basically a family group. Some houses are very powerful while others (most of them really)
are not.
So are you now thinking it’s a good idea to
come from a powerful house than a weak house?
Well a powerful house will give you a lot of
backing, when you walk in to a room other warriors may stand or bow to
you. Honour is most important to a powerful
house, if one member of a powerful family is dishonoured is can bring down
everything. This does mean you have a
lot to live up to, if you lead troops into any battle you must be the first
warrior in and the last to leave. One
further problem of being a member of a powerful house is that members of weak
houses have very little to lose by challenging you to combat. See here for honour.
A weak house in contrast has many disadvantages. In the worst case many warriors will not
even speak to you unless it is absolutely necessary, in the least they will
expect you to move out of their way.
Warriors without a house can be considered
social outcasts; however if they have a high enough honour it can be
overlooked. Warriors can also be
‘adopted’ in to a Klingon house and become an official member of the family.
See Klingon Rituals for more information on this subject.
Honour
This could be the most important thing to any Klingon. Without honour most Klingons find no reason to live. There are many ways to gain honour and just as many ways to lose honour.
Combat – This is probably the most favoured way for any Klingon to gain honour. The way to gain the most honour in combat is actually to die. This honour then passes to the warrior’s house.
‘Brave Acts’ – Acts performed by a warrior or
any member of a warrior’s house that save a member of a more powerful house can
generate honour. The amount of honour
gained this way depends on the actual act involved and how powerful the
powerful house is. Normally these ‘brave
acts’ are kept secret between the two houses, the more powerful one may lose
power if it became public knowledge that a member of its family had to be
helped by someone else.
Challenges – When a warrior of one family
challenges a warrior of another house to combat the winner and their house can
gain additional honour. The amount of
honour gained depends on how powerful the houses involved are. A good ploy used by weak houses is to have
one of their warriors challenge a warrior of a powerful house, the weak house
has nothing to lose but a warrior. If
the powerful house loses or even refuses to fight they can lose everything.
Work – If a Klingon performs his or her job,
whatever it may be, better than anyone could ever expect then honour can also
be gained. This means that every
Klingon from warriors to farmers can gain honour and be considered honourable.
A Klingon ship can be a very different place to a star ship of the Federation or any other the other major races for that matter. Some of the major points are outlined below.
Space Living Quarters
Male and Female Treatment Shipboard Food
Space – No not the stuff outside the ship
but the actual room inside the ship.
The amount of space allocated to each crewmember is very small aboard every
Klingon star ship. Most warriors on
board a vessel will find it very difficult to find any place on board where
they can be alone. Klingons are very
much group animals and living in large communal groups (think along the lines
of a pack of wolves) are how they prefer to live.
Living quarters – This
section ties in with the space section above.
Nearly all warriors serving aboard a Klingon ship will share their
living quarters. Junior enlisted ranks
can expect to live in large communal sleeping areas, with at least 50 warriors
to each area. More senior enlisted
ranks and junior officers get slightly better treatment; they have a cabin that
is shared with around 5 warriors. It is
preferred that all the warriors are the same rank, however it can be acceptable
to have at least one rank difference between warriors. As the rank increases further the amount of
warriors to a cabin drops.
Department heads normally share their
quarters with one other department head, normally the department heads with be
from similar areas – such as chief medial officer and chief science
officer. If the executive officer gets
their own room depends on the size of the ship more than anything. On large ships, such as the negH’var class,
the executive officer will have their own quarters. This is because on a large ship the executive officer position
involves a lot of ‘paperwork’, this does turn many young warriors away from the
position. On small vessels the
executive officer will share their quarters with another officer of the same
rank, they also have a much more versatile role aboard.
The Commanding officer of any Klingon
starship is the only exception to the sharing rules, on every ship in the
Klingon fleet the commanding officer – no matter their rank – is given their
own quarters.
Male or Female treatment – So far you
should know that quarters are shared with others, well to extend that the
sharing applies to both male and female warriors. No special treatment is given to either sex and female warriors
are expected to share quarters with male warriors and vice-versa.
Food – The most important thing to know about serving aboard a Klingon
ship is that there are NO FOOD REPLICATORS!!!!
There are none on any Klingon star bases, none on any Klingon ships, and
certainly none on any Klingon planets.
The reason for this is that Klingons don’t like food from replicators,
since they have highly evolved scent and taste organs they are able to tell the
difference between ‘real’ and replicated food and drink.
So because of this dislike real food has to
be carried aboard every ship. In most
cases this means live animals have to be carried in special pens. It also means that cooks are required aboard
ships to prepare the meals for everyone on board.
See the food section
below to see what is prepared and served aboard a Klingon ship. Also see the special
positions section.
There will be lots of Information about -
Serving Aboard a Klingon Ship
Klingon Food
Klingon
Rituals
Crew Stories
And
More