People

Humanoid warrior civilization, originally from the planet Qo'noS; a proud, tradition-bound people who value honor. The aggressive Klingon culture has made them an interstellar military power to be respected and feared. There is no equivalent of the devil in Klingon mythology, although a beast known as Fek'lhr is believed to guard the underworld of Gre'thor. According to myth, ancient Klingon warriors slew their gods a millennium ago. They apparently were more trouble than they were worth. Perhaps this is why the Klingons have no devil; they killed him. In Klingon society, the death of a warrior who has died honorably in battle is not mourned. In such cases, the survivors celebrate the freeing of the spirit. Klingons believe in an afterlife but there is no burial ceremony. They dispose of the body in the most efficient means possible, confident that the warrior's spirit has now joined Kahless the Unforgettable in Sto-Vo-Kor. Klingon tradition holds that "the son of a Klingon is a man the day he can first hold a blade." Another Klingon ritual is the R'uustai, or bonding ceremony, in which two individuals join families, becoming brothers and sisters. Klingons believe that they have the instinctive ability to look an opponent in the eye and see the intent to kill. Klingon tradition holds that a Klingon who dies by their own hand will not travel across the River of Blood to enter Sto-Vo-Kor. If a Klingon warrior strikes another with the back of his hand, it is interpreted as a challenge to the death. Klingon warriors speak proudly to each other; they do not whisper or keep their distance. Standing far away or whispering are considered insults in Klingon society.

The Klingon body incorporates multiple redundancies for nearly all vital bodily functions. This characteristic, known as brak'lul, gives Klingon warriors enormous resiliency in battle. Despite the considerable sophistication of Klingon technology, significant gaps exist in Klingon medical science, in part due to cultural biases that injured warriors should be left to die or to carry out the Hegh'bat. Klingons have redundant stomachs. Klingons have no tear ducts. Klingon blood is a lavender-colored fluid.

Klingons are a warrior race who hold personal and family honor above all else. They are larger than Terrans with a greater percentage of their body weight being muscle. Klingons are proficient in the use of ritual hand-to-hand weapons and unarmed combat, and will actually prefer to fight using these methods over beam weapons. They frequently train in off-hand weapons training in order to surprise opponents. All Klingons will train in at least the bat'telh and the d'k tahg, and many frequently train in some of the other ceremonial Klingon weapons. Some also train in Mok'bara - the Klingon martial art form.

The Klingon forehead is a major distinguishing feature of this race, consisting of a ridged, bony pattern. This pattern is different for every Klingon, and is as distinguishing as fingerprints. A common curse heard among them is: "Hab Sosil' Quch", which means, "Your mother has a smooth forehead." Also, a bony backbone resembling that of a dinosaur runs up and down their spine. Klingons have enhanced senses. Two of them, acute taste and smell, and acute vision, are genetic, but the third, combat reflexes, is learned from childhood, and is therefore second nature to Klingons. By nature, they are hunters, and still practice the ritual of the hunt. They are taught tracking and cooking from a very early age. They hunt using a spear called a Gin'tak. They prefer their food raw, so the Cooking skill actually represents the ability to properly clean their food and prepare it in a traditional manner.

Most Klingons feel it is dishonorable to lie, cheat, steal, or bluff, and dislike those who do. This helps explain their dislike of Ferengi. Klingons are now blood enemies of the Romulans, despite (or perhaps -on account of-) their former treaties with them.

Klingon warriors pride themselves on their combat abilities and feel the greatest honor that can be bestowed on warriors is to die in combat. These traits have been handed down from the Klingon spiritual leader, Kahless, over two millennia ago. Kahless used the idea of honor to unite the people of the Klingon Homeworld at a time of its greatest struggle.

Also handed down were several traditional weapons with which to engage in melee.

Lastly, almost all Klingons show a widespread hatred of the cute, cuddly Tribble. Currently, xenoculturalists are unable to account for the source of this hatred. Tribbles are banned from being transported to, or traded in, Klingon space. An old Klingon toast reflects their dislike of this animal. It goes: "QuvlIjDaq yIH tu'be'lu'jaj." Translated, this means, "May your coordinates be free of Tribbles." Tribbles also share the dislike of Klingons. Instead of the usual purr, Tribbles will shriek if even exposed to a Klingon.

Klingon homeworld

The capital planet of the Klingon Empire. A large, green, Class-M world, the homeworld was rarely referred to by its formal name, Qo'noS (pronounced kronos). The Enterprise-D visited the planet in 2366 when Worf challenged the High Council ruling that his father, Mogh, was a traitor. The ship visited the homeworld again in late 2367 when Jean-Luc Picard attended the installation of Gowron as High Council leader. Picard had served as Gowron's Arbiter of Succession. The Enterprise-D again returned to the Klingon Homeworld a few weeks later, when Picard requested the loan of a Klingon bird-of-prey for a covert mission into Romulan space to investigate the disappearance of Ambassador Spock.

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