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I'd like more focus on the other races of the Klingon Empire

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  • oldkhemaraaoldkhemaraa Member Posts: 1,039 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    perhapes its my bias, but I swear that in the fed forums the posts are about nerf this, nerf that, or give me my shines now, and that shiny isn't as uber as its supposed to be.

    *sigh*

    Lets keep one thing in focus about the Klingon Empire.. the Klingons will only ally with those they respect.. Its that whole warrior culture thing. Your average klingon culturally has more in common with the Norsemen/Vikings of the 8th to 12th century. Recall that for those several centuries they were THE most advanced sea fairing people on the planet...and if there had been more of them the dominant languge of trade would be Norwegian not English. And they still make the most sea worthy ships on the planet. I'm wandering again, back on topic..

    it's also a Medieval society (Klingon) in some respects. And the Lord/Vassel relation is not the cut and dried superior/inferior relationship I see some folks cultural bias presenting. Being a vassel state to the empire simply means thats your polity has a specific relationship and set of responsibilities to the empire, and the empire has EAQUALLY as strict a set of requirments governing the empire responsibility to the vassel state. The requirements are typically a Military obligation to serve the empire, followed by an obligation to folllow the empire lead politically ((this does not mean the vassle states agree, or are even expected to. If a Vassle thing a course of action is a Very Bad Idea, they are expected to say so. Please look at the relationships of Damio's and Vassle Samuri in Japan during the 15th century leading into the period of the Tokogawa shogonate))


    The Gorn are at present more of a Protectorate as they recover from Undine infiltration, but the KDF apparently has a great deal of respect for the Gorn. The eveidence says the KDF was un interested in conquest of the Gorn Star Kingdom, else why would the gorn be operating as part of the KDF with thier ships in so short a period after being invaded? Note as an example Japsn and Germany waited a number of years before they were permitted militaries again after the second world war. Both nations have only just start
    ed to operate outside of thier own territorial boundries during the last 20 years, and even then only in the most limited of ways.

    Klingons are not aliens remember, they're an alien race invented by humans, so they take a great deal from us, and have evolved a very great deal since the days of TOS.

    So to put paid to any arguments, it doesn't really matter how a species ended up in KDF service. As far as the KDF is concerned there required to conform to the standards set by Klingon service. Seems that its doable eh? Of course there will be issues... we call those story hooks! *grin*

    Perhapes the most important thing to remember about service in the Klingon Empire is Klingons will not willingly serve under any one they do not respect or consider honorable (by thier own personal standards)... I would expect this mind set has been rapidly addapted by the Allied and Vassel races of the Empire.

    Remember, as a junior officer you can kill a ships captain in the empire if they keep making bad decisions. Of course, you better be right...

    Klingon society does not surrender freedoms for the greater good. It's just not part of thier mindset. And they have real difficulies when ever they have run up against a requirement to do so when dealing with thier on and off alliances with the Federation (currently in an off state if you missed it).


    The are no exact parallels to the KDF in earth history. The culture borrows liberally from the Norse men, Japans samuri, the Mongols, the Greek city states, the condonttiari period of the Italian city states (Klingons get Macciavelli dude, like totally) and others. with hidiously complex weavings of obligation, priviledge, duty, honor, and social position. The primary difference between our present day american society is you must always show yourself worthy of your responsibilities. Even the chancellor has to prove himself every day or risk being toppled. The "Klingons" lead the empire because they have shown a ruthless pragmatisim and the ability to do it best. They do play politics. The other races in the KDF would be far less restive if the Klingons were not, and if they were unable to provide a fair and inclusive government for the Empire.

    The Klingon Defence Forces do have one firm and fast rule though...

    Non Warriors need not apply.


    Khemaraa sends
    "I aim to misbehave" - Malcolm Reynolds
  • momawmomaw Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    Gorn as protectorate of the KDF? Serving a noble master? Yes, the KDF has effectively annexed the entire Gorn Hegemony intact, and that's why there's Gorn ships serving in the fleet etc. But if you hang around Qo'nos you'll see the Gorn complaining about how much they hate the Klingons. I've never seen it detailed what concessions the the Hegemony was forced to make after the fall of the homeworld. There's a lot of suggested tension that is ripe for a story.
  • brataccasbrataccas Member Posts: 57 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    Just a little note to say:

    STOP TYPECASTING ORIONS!!

    That's better :)

    Just because there's many Orion ladies flaunting their um... assets around Qo'noS, that doesn't mean we all are - some of us ladies actually wear a uniform believe it or not - or KHG or SHOCK! skirts :P
  • magnumstarmagnumstar Member Posts: 269 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    The whole vassal state thing was just a way for them to lump everything together, it made it easier so that way they could have one culture, ship type, etc. I still question whether some of the races are actual vassals or not but think how that makes the player feel who is playing one of those races. It makes the player feel like their character is a 2nd class citizen in the Klingon Empire. For no other reason than that I believe Cryptic should make amendments to the storyline.
  • zipagatzipagat Member Posts: 1,204 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    magnumstar wrote: »
    I have never liked how the other races have just been lumped into the Klingon Empire with no cultural identity of their own. I think to have done this right each race should start out on their own planet with missions that bring them into working with the KDF.

    Also being a retired Navy guy the fact that all these other races being allowed to fly around in Klingon ships is very hard to swallow. The other races in the KDF should be in their own ships since they are an allied force and not a single entity such as StarFleet. I can understand giving your allies outdated ships but there's no way a government would hand over their top of the line vessels. The U.S. gives its allies equipment, weapons, ships, planes, etc. but if you notice its all outdated stuff.

    As someone posted above the other races were thrown in as bad guys to make a two dimensional blackhat faction, sort of what the Klingons were like in the TOS series.Cryptic has done nothing to develope these races and fill in the giant gaps on the things we don't know about them. And we don't have much to go on from the various TV sereis.

    Gorn - The only Gorn we ever saw was that one episode in TOS and I think another series had a hologram, that's it.

    Letheans - I never saw the episode where we got a glimpse of one but that's what we have is a glimpse and nothing else.

    Nausicaans - Picard got stabbed by one in an epsiode, we know theyre pirates and very little else, oh and they carry sharp knives.

    Orions - Had warp drive capabilities before most other races in the alpha quandrant. Their food tastes bad. They pirate, smuggle, and take slaves. Raided the vulcan homeword centuries ago before the Vulcan's had space capabilities Are a criminal organization that runs a black market. The women are actually in charge because they have these OP phermones but they pretend to be the slaves.This last part is just plain stupid and unnecessary. There's no need to pretend to be a slave if you look hot, all you need to do is present yourself to whatever male you wish to seduce especially if you have mind controlling phermones. I think what the folks on that ENT episode ran into were gals who were part of an Orion eugenics experiment because if all the Orion women had phermones like that then they would've already been ruling every quandrant in the galaxy. I've seen guys seduced/manipulated/controlled by real life hot women who were neither green nor had phermones.

    It's sad that Cryptic had the opportunity to develope these races beyond their two dimensional stigma and failed to do so. I believe if it would've been developed and done right then the KDF with it's diversity of starting points for the various races, diversity of race specific ships, costumes, and equipment then it would've quickly overshadowed the blue side because of the variety of choices offered to players.


    The Letheans are basically treated like garbage by the Klingons, a little about this is laid out in the current KDF tutorial . Basically the KDF wont do anything more against them because they fear their telepathic abilities and the havoc they could cause if they ticked them off. So some races are treated worse than others, at least the Naussicans are considered allies of the empire.

    But yeah as someone who has a main character that is a non KDF race (Lethean) I would love to see some content revolve around them.
  • lordgyorlordgyor Member Posts: 2,820 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    I never did all those Tortorial missions so I never noticed all the chafing going on with the Gorn and Leathans.

    It seems like the Orions are the most loyal members of the Empire aside from Klingons, but then again the Orions are the only ones to join voluntarily (Letheans haven't joined yet). Plus Orions like topping from the bottom, fainting subservance to get what they want. Its a very BDSM type culture, minus the respecting boundaries you find in BDSM.

    I do find it curious that the Klingons have a very causious relationship with the Letheans over the Lethean's telepathic abilities, yet they're actively wooing the Ferasans who have many telepaths in thier race.

    Maybe its more the attack, offensive quality to the Letheans telepathic powers, like Rapture, that Klingons distrust, while Ferasan telepaths seem to have more in common with Betaziods, with less empathy.
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