On Fusions and Half Breeds, Augments and Hybrids.

First and foremost, I am a proud Klingon. I see no reason to dilute what is already the master race of the Galaxy, the Imperial Klingon. That being said, I understand fully that there are those among our shared fandom that for reasons entirely their own, feel differently. I will always disagree with them, but am writing this in the hopes that some semblance of order can be restored to the empire as a whole.

First of all let’s talk about half breeds. In Star Trek, the most famous of these characters is Mr. Spock. He was born of a Human mother and a Vulcan father. While he physically resembled his Vulcan heritage much more, internally he was quite unique. In the episode where his father needed a blood transfusion, his blood needed to be processed first as it was not completely Vulcan. I also remember a reference to the fact that Sarek & Amanda needed
help from scientists to conceive Spock. So from what we know based on TOS, such characters are rare indeed.

TNG changed this a bit, with the introduction of Deana Troi, a half Human half Betazoid and then later on with K’Ehleyr a half Human half Klingon character. All throughout TNG and DS9 K’Ehleyr remained the sole
Klingon half breed we had ever seen. It was not until Voyager that we got to see another, in the character of B’Elanna Torres. Over the years we have not been inundated with half breed characters on screen, probably because they are so rare. In fandom however half breeds are a dime a dozen and any given club can be counted
on to have a few.

Now Fusions are a different matter entirely, as for the entire length of TOS these were the only Klingons we ever got to see. Of course we didn’t know them as anything other than Klingon at that point. As a matter of fact, until the brief appearance in the opening of TMP, we never knew there were any other options for being Klingon. As there had been no on screen explanation of this change, it fell to the fans to come up with all sorts of theories. But the one that made the most sense came from FASA, the company that had been producing the Star Trek role playing game. To them Fusions were Klingons that had their DNA altered by the addition of Human DNA. FASA also
mentioned Romulan fusions, but these have still never been seen on screen. These are still to this day the only known fusion combinations among Klingons.

lost a bit of our history and in loosing that lead to much confusion among fans. Somehow as fusions were lost to the mists of time, fans started assuming a couple of things. First of all that, fusion means the same as hybrid, which I hope to demonstrate does not. Second that any and all cross breeding was not only possible but both common and desirable among Klingons. Nothing could be further from the truth, or at least the truth as revealed by canon and closely related sources.

Everything we know about Klingons shows that they do not like other races. They consider themselves superior to everyone they meet. Klingons are not friendly or happy or according to Mr. Worf “merry”. From the little bits we have seen about Klingon courtship and sexual practices, it is dangerous to Klingons and generally not advisable for non-Klingons. It would be highly unlikely that a large number of Klingons would seek out alien companionship.

So why all the half breeds in fandom? Well I have two theories. First I think many of these are due to super hero syndrome, where someone wants a character will all the pluses of several races and none of the minuses. So they want a strong Klingon combat champion, who can mind meld like a Vulcan. As distasteful as this is to any fan of full blooded Klingons and most respectable gamers, my second theory is far worse. I think many of these are based on some romantic or artistic notion that you can be all things to all people. A fan like Klingons and Orions so decides that they can be both at the same time, maybe it will be pretty. Neither of these groups are thinking
clearly but they feel authorized or even empowered because few in Klingon fandom, especially club leadership, have the qIvonmey to speak out against these degradations of all that is Klingon.

This creative spirit and utter lack of control has lead to several poorly constructed character concepts. While I do not agree with playing a Klingon as anything other than a Klingon, I recognize that there are those who will continue this vile practice. So if you are going to do this, try reading up on your concept. Find a FASA source book, read a Klingon themed novel, watch a few episodes with Klingons in them. If you still think it is a good idea to do this, so be it, but at least try and make it somewhat believable. Try and make it somewhat acceptable in the context of the few rules we have been given.

To borrow a phrase from the 1980’s I strongly urge Klingons to just say no! When someone asks you to try a little Bajoran, tell them you are a Klingon and you don’t believe that all the cool kids are doing it. Tell them instead that fusers are losers. I know that is not very open and accepting of me, but it is purely Klingon. Someone will probably go all IDIC on me and prattle on about the Roddenberry dream, but remember that Klingons were created
to be the bad guys. To stand in stark contrast and opposition to that vision of what the future could be. Klingons are not hippies; they are as a matter of fact the man. It is about time we started acting that way.