Patience, Vigilance. They will make a mistake

[c57d]

I have for (quite) a while been toying with a Klingon campaign setting extrapolated solely from TOS Klingons as depicted in the three main episodes (Errand of Mercy, Trouble with Tribbles & Day of the Dove).
As a sentient species they seem to be (fanatically) pragmatic, stoic, driven by duty, dedicated, patient & tactical.
Senior officers seem to permitted a little individuality, however (presumably as long as they remain successful?)
It seems that everyone of any power or responsibility is regularly monitored (probably the greater the individual's power the more intense the monitoring?). And that this monitoring is just accepted as a necessary aspect of their culture.
As such, I don't see any artistic expressions or sympathetic interest in the past. Traditions that achieve results are kept while those who don't are discarded. They all know that, in his final battle, the first emperor, Kahless, tied his hand to the command chair to signify his determination to fight to the end. But they don't know when that happened, where it happened, or who he was fighting.
They are resource poor and so always expanding ever further outwards to discover new sites of resources. They have taken control of other sentient homeworlds, but sponsor and support native leaders (not necessarily the same leaders in place before they took over!) to run it for the Klingon's benefit. After all "free" workers produce better quality goods than slaves. Of course, the native leader needs to make sure he hits the quotas or he will find a few D7 cruisers (each carrying a Marine strike force) in orbit and ready to "encourage" a change of regime.
I am toying with a few ideas for these sentient species, but it is early days yet. But one will definitely be a lower tech, warlike, jannisarry species who respect Klingons and consider it to be the greatest honour to be "asked" to fight in the marines.
Scientists and (in the D7, at least) labs are a respected part of society. Geology (to find exploitable mineral resources) , life sciences and biochemistry (to see if native plant and animals may provide a food source, or existing food species can be relocated here), and, of course space sciences (you don't want the star going supernova or a meteorite landing on your new colony, any time soon, now do you?) are probably the main disciplines.
My next steps are to write character creation rules (I am using an adjusted version of FASA) and to customise the FASA 15mm scale D7 plans to better suit my take on them.
I have a rare break from RL this weekend, so I will have more to share after it. As always all comments and brainstorming thoughts are greatly appreciated.

[starcruiser]

You basically hit on all of the proper points that I have been thinking about for years. I've always thought the classic Klingons were some of the best villains (though, I often think they weren't really deliberately bad) in Trek. Remember that Kirk and Spock agreed that the Klingons were "ruthless but, very efficient".

I would agree that it's very likely they would leave worlds run by chosen locals rather than running each world in their empire directly. I would also suspect that those locals would also be monitored in the same way as Kor was in Errand of Mercy. It's also quite clear that they MUST consider the sciences as important though, there may be some aspects that they just don't care about (Paleontology, Archaeology etc...) for the very reasons you noted - don't care so much about the past.

I've felt that the D7 battlecruiser may help illustrate their resource issues in that it does NOT appear to be a complete match for a Federation Starship but rather, is optimized for mass production. Somewhat less sophisticated and more offensive oriented.

I would suspect that there would still be some artistic expression but, it would be on an individual basis, not state supported/sanctioned as it's not pragmatic.

[c57d]

Starcruiser - great minds think alike and all that!
Always encouraging that someone else has reached a similar extrapolation.
I, too, don't see TOS Klingons as inrinsinctly "evil", and even the Organians seemed to see Klingons and Humans as more alike than different.
I love your observation about the D7, which (for me) reflects the whole "Soviets in space" vibe the writers were looking for. As I understand it, 1960's Russian warships were a little bit "clunky" and unsophisticated compared to their US opposites. And I also love your thought around D7 mass production, getting as many ships as possible "out there" hunting down resources. And if Klingons only fulfill leadership and skilled technical roles, and subsumed alien races make up the all the troops and workers roles, then that resolves any restrictions around personnel .
The D7 certainly (going by the FASA 15mm deck plans) does seem to cram in some 350 ships crew & 220 marines, with a quarter of a deck for security/brig and two thirds of another deck for marine mustering and transporter areas.
But science labs are shoehorned into a "dusty attic" in the upper rear third of the boom! So present and needed, but not really prioritised.
I agree what you say about art - personal but not recognised in society. Probably Starship Trooper-like, state created and controlled, jingoistic propaganda is more the order of the day.

[starcruiser]

Considering Kor's statements in EoM when there seems to be more resistance than he expects "Fools! Do I have to kill them all?!" He clearly isn't as bloodthirsty as many would expect. In the same episode, he seems reluctant to put Kirk to death saying "...do what, has to be done" in respect to that. Doesn't sound like a cold-blooded killer but rather, someone with job to do - like it or not.

These are a people trying to push their way through obstacles so that they can survive. They are proud and yes, a bit brutal at times but, not actually evil as such.

[c57d]

That EoM quote is a perfect example of how I see TOS Klingons.
Driven to succeed, pragmatic and unrelenting - yes.
But evil and sadistic - no.
I have used the example, in another Klingon thread on here, of sentient army ants. Working together as a focused, tight-nite team, go ever outward, in search of resources to bring back to the nest and build and grow. If any threat or resistance is encountered then overwhelm it until it is defeated.
No malice, no evil - just a drive to survive and expand at any cost.
I think this will make a great ST RPG setting, which just needs to be developed a whole lot more!

[starcruiser]

This kinda goes back to another idea going through my mind. Some years ago, someone on TrekBBS had mentioned the idea of the Preservers having spread life around the galaxy (as opposed to TNG's weird ancient humanoids seeding worlds).

My extrapolation of this idea was that the Preservers' ancestors (who were more like "Meddlers") about 100,000 years ago were at war with another major power from deeper in the galaxy. This long war (think several thousand years, off and on) was straining on their resources - both material and people. Many worlds in the region between them were devastated and useless. Resources consumed rapidly. During one of the lulls, they sent ships off in various directions to find new resources and worlds... They found a primitive world teaming with life and with stone-age but, very adaptable, people - Earth.

They literally kidnap thousands and transplant them to other worlds and attempt to use them for various purposes, including genetic experimentation on some to aid adaptation to extreme conditions and some experiments to make better warriors as cannon-fodder in their war. Then, the enemy doesn't come back for another round...silence. After some time, they carefully explore into the region occupied by the enemy and find...death. They all died off due to something. Turns out, the only reason why their enemy was attacking was that they needed to move further out from the core of the galaxy due to increasing radiation from the core. They didn't understand the concept of asking permission to take systems so, they simply attacked. The Preservers' ancestors were devastated by their misunderstanding the motives - and having not tried hard enough to communicate. They turn inward and isolate themselves in mourning the death of another sapient life-form.

The world they seeding with our ancestors - in some cases thrive - in others struggle or die. Those that survive and thrive became the homeworlds of many new humanoid cultures. The Orions, Klingons, Vulcans, Eminiarians, Iotians, Izarians, etc...

Once the Preservers finally come out of their shells, they have changed culturally and somewhat physically. They are now hell-bent on making sure that life thrives, and they have a special interest in that little world they found millennia ago. They, in fact, may be the people behind Gary Seven's mission on Earth in the 1960's.

[starcruiser]

For the Klingons specifically:

Their ancestors are all Cro-Magnon humans taken from northern Africa and have been dropped on a slightly larger world with a mean gravity of about 1.1g. This world orbits a K-type main-sequence star in the general area well spinward of Earth, on the anti-spinward edge of Preserver territory. This world is closer to it's dimmer star and as such, warmer and also more humid than Earth.

This world has plenty of native flora and fauna, the only problem being that any animal larger than a rabbit is either a carnivore or a herbivore with opportunistic carnivorous tendencies. Basically, this is a very dangerous world to just be dropped onto without notice.

The early Klingons have to adapt very quickly, or die quickly. Those best at surviving these rough conditions pass on their genes to the next generation and so forth, until the combination of survival instincts and the slightly different mix of light, air and nutrients slowly change them into the hardy, intelligent and yes, sometimes brutal people we know (and love) from classic Star Trek.

[c57d]

I love your concepts and setting.
How much fun would the PC ship's crew have in unexpectedly encountering one of the battle zones of this ancient war and get to stumble across and explore the wrecks of miles long, millenia old ships and bombed out, devastated lifeless planets?
And amongst the carnage find hints of the Meddler's/Preserver's transplantations and biochemical manipulations, and maybe even a lab with dried out and mummified corpses still recognisable as the PC's species?
As regards Klingons, we once again think alike!
I have only recently started to consider them as transplanted Humans changed solely by millenia of environmental factors. This thought arose from the scene in Trouble with Tribbles when McCoy scans Arne Darvin
MCCOY: (scanning him) Heartbeat is all wrong. His body temperature is. Jim, this man is a Klingon.
Not organs in different places or missing or duplicated etc. Just a difference in heartbeat and body temperature. Seems to me that environmental differences could easily account for these minor changes?
To this I would now add the "survival of the fittest" imperative in the aggressive, carnivorous planet you describe.
And, it would also explain why the Organians seem to see Klingons and Humans as pretty much the same!
Anyway, more thoughts later!

[starcruiser]

Exactly! I've always had issues with the "Brak-lul" (however you spell that) redundant organs and all of that rot.

Think of Kras in Friday's Child - "What do the Earthers offer you? Liquids for the sick. Powders for the weak? We Klingons believe as you do. The weak should die, only the strong should survive!" But then, when confronted by Kirk holding a sword to his throat...self preservation kicks in. Maab makes the comment that he saw fear in the Klingon's eyes.

This fits with the behavior of Kor's Lieutenant in EoM when he's caught in a choke hold and spills the beans to Kirk and Spock. Self preservation is a very strong instinct. This may have something to do with why they are always monitored, not so much due to lack of loyalty but rather, the chance that they might sell out to save their own skins...

[c57d]

I hadn't considered saving their own skins as a Klingon trait and reason for the constant monitoring, but I guess it could easily be incorporated - they are only human after all!
I see the monitoring as the tool by which the highest ptb (a 20-30 man high council with a figurehead emperor) ensure compliance to agreed processes and methodology. Power has been earned by previous succeses, whether department head, ship captain or colony governor. Now they need to continue to suceed, while also continuing to comply, but with the least possible drain on limited resources.
The greater the power, the greater the frequency and intensity of surveillance.
The Security chief leads a team of internal surveillers shipboard, who are also attached to landing parties to record events with AV recorders. And he also acts to directly advise the Captain and "guide" him down the "correct" path (a bit like the Soviet Zampolit).

[starcruiser]

All ist clar, her commissar?

[c57d]

I see the Security Chief to be a more "in your face" version of McCoy, in that he steers and advises the Captain, and is also responsible for ensuring that the crew toe the line.
Skills - leadership, surveillance, Klingon psychology, interrogation, Klingon culture, tactics, psychology and language for at least one of the janissary species in the crew - maybe more.
Could be an NPC, but I think that it should be a PC to avoid a "GM's Mary Sue" situation. And this would also help to even out the Captain PC's otherwise superior position.

[starcruiser]

Yes - laying a political load on the Captain's back, in addition to just getting the job done.

And just thinking on this - also fits in well with Roddenberry's original intent of the Klingons sort of being a Soviet stand in...