Klingons

Native Planet: Kronos (Q'onoS)

The well-statured warrior race has a genetic predisposition to hostility and a well-known streak of fatalism; they also do not like to be "probed" by empathic species. The culture's warrior ethic runs so deep that rivals in the civil war can meet and drink as equal fighters for periods of time before or after battles, thanks to the Capitol City's neutrality. During these get-togethers, a great deal of growling, wrestling, snarling and generally loud revelry takes place, Klingons seeming to derive tremendous satisfaction from drinking with their enemies on the night before a battle. A beard is a symbol of courage; a hammer is a symbol of power. A true warrior fights to the death and would rather be killed than taken hostage -- an act which brings dishonour on himself and his family for three generations. Their most important historic symbol of leadership, Kahless, said Klingons should fight not just to spill blood but to enrich the spirit. Their scientists are not highly regarded in the culture. Shattering the cranial exoskeleton at the tricipital lobe brings instant death.

In the traditional sense, the Klingon people hold honour above life -- although as with any culture, high-level politics and personal gain get in the way. In Klingon culture, lower-ranked officers consider it a duty to kill off a superior who is perceived as weak. Klingons notoriously neither surrender nor bluff, although Chief Engineer LaForge is skeptical of that based on Lieutenant Worf's seemingly impenetrable "poker face" during their poker games on board the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D.

Klingon language had no word for the concept of "peacemaker" until Ramatisian mediator Riva negotiated the early United Federation of Planets-Klingon treaties just decades ago. Warriors and their families are responsible for each other's actions; a challenge to clear a family's name ends in death if unsuccessful. They believe that death is an experience best shared and view it as a joyful time for one who falls in the line of duty and earns a place among the honoured dead, celebrating the release of a dead spirit rather than grieving over what they consider to be the empty shell of the body. One of the most honourable deaths is a kamikaze-like suicide that takes an enemy's life with it.

Viewed through their Spartan perspective, illness (especially terminal) is not honorable; one is not supposed to faint, at least as an adult, a bias that leads to a lack of both research and sympathy for such patients; usually cases of paralysis are left to die -- or to perform the ritual suicide Hegh'bat.

Most Klingons males regard Earth and humanoid females, like the Edo, too fragile for what their race considers love, although that would likely apply to a Klingon of either gender with a human mate. A roaring yell akin to the death wail is the Klingon female's mating call, followed by their hurling of heavy objects and clawing. The male responds by reading love poetry -- and ducking a lot; a form of dominance/submission. The actual act of love can be intermingled with pain and include the Klingons' highly developed sense of smell; once aroused, the combat as well as passion instinct appears hard to quell. Klingons usually mate for life, celebrated with a solemn Oath of Union, most often in private, rather than in a public ceremony like marriage. The Oath doesn't appear include much talking, and no dancing or crying as in human weddings. Male chauvinism is much more pronounced in mainstream Klingon society than among humans; women cannot sit on the High Council, so even the powerful Duras sisters, Lursa and B'Etor, must find a puppet nephew to rule through.

Romulans and Klingons having been "blood enemies" for 75 years (or since about 2292), after an extremely brief alliance. The Klingons' profound hatred of Romulans continues. Klingons apparently hold the Ferengi with almost as much disdain as they do Romulans, thinking them loud of talk, yet weak in action. Klingon officers do not let their children live with them as a general rule, although "the son of a Klingon is a man the day he can first hold a blade".

Klingons are remarkably skilled hunters, relying on their keen olfactory senses to pick up and stalk their prey. They eat their meat raw, seasoned more strongly than humans prefer, and find the human tradition of "burning their meat" to be somewhat repulsive. They also regard swimming with as much disdain as they do bathing.

Despite the disillusionment and disrespect of some Klingons, Klingon honor still counts among the peoples. The majority of Klingons sneer at financial matters and normally considered them beneath a warrior's time and attention. Challenges to personal honor are settled usually by personal combat.

Although they believe in an afterlife, Klingons perform no burial ritual and dispose of the corpse by the most efficient means possible -- although some archeological digs on Qo'noS revealed different customs at one time.