Warriors of the Klingon Empire come to drink and sing songs of past glory
Ten Klingon Theses
For years I have talked and conversed with many of my friends on how I view Klingon personas and Klingon Fandom. I have compiled a list of statements on how I think Klingons and Klingon Organizations should run. I in no way presume that I have the power to make all of Klingon Fandom dance to my Imperial Tune; the intention of the Ten Klingon Theses is to elicit introspection in one’s Klingon persona and organization and evoke a healthy discussion on Klingon Fandom as a whole.
Kevin Howard playing:
Captain Kurgar
IKS Kotar
Krios Sector
http://www.kriosiansplayers.com
Ten Klingon Theses
1. No Klingon group, organization or club shall have at the top of their ranks the position of Emperor or Chancellor. Those positions shall be saved for characters of the Star Trek shows. Any organization that currently does should retrofit them in said organization and replace those titles with others of military or political importance of their choosing.
2. No one in Klindom shall claim “epetai” of any FASA made Family Line from the supplement Klingon Intelligence Briefing. Those Family lines are too universal in fandom and far too many have claimed leadership of said houses.
They are as follows:
Major Family Lines:
Drexa, Reshtarc, Simparri, Subaiesh, Urussig
Minor Family Lines:
Dok’marr, Hurric, Juriss, Limmri, Pallara, Solazarn
Anyone’s character that claims epetai status for one of those families should retrofit that character to the level of zantai and then speak for all family interest in the organization the character resides in. A NPC (Non Player Character) name shall be made for the epetai of the major and minor FASA lines, (which should be designed by the players whose character use to claim epetai).
3. Klingon types should be limited to what has been seen in the shows and accepted game supplements. Imperial (with cranial ridge) should be vastly predominant, followed by augments/fusions. Far fetched or implausible Klingon half-breeds or fusion should be avoided at all costs. Genetics of an implausible type Klingons should be decontaminated.
4. Klingon vessels shall not be of the super or ultimate weapon type. Vessels should adhere to the constructs of normal Klingon vessels yet allowing for plausible variations/modifications that are consistent within the Empire. Uber-vessels should be retrofitted to some sort of believability or destroyed, so a new vessel can take its place.
5. The John M. Ford/FASA way for Klingon names/surnames and the way Klingon names are presented in the shows shall hence force be amalgamated.
Example: Kohn epetai-Doe using the John M. Ford/Fasa way of Klingon names shall translate to the way the shows say Klingon names as this: House of Kohn with the Family Line Name as Doe. When Kohn dies and is replaced by his son Karl it would then be the House of Karl and the Family Line Name remains Doe.
6. All Klingon military vessels will use “IKS” in front of it; any using IKV will be updated.
7. A Klingon persona shall be the member of one Klingon organization only; if the player so chooses to be a member of another Klingon organization they should construct an original character for it. Associate membership in other organizations is remotely possible but highly discouraged.
8. No Klingon vessel shall serve in two or more Klingon Organizations at once.
9. Appearance of your Klingon Character should be of upmost importance to you as the player. Wardrobe, prosthetics and makeup should to the best of your ability or the better ability of others that you are in contact with or are in your Klingon organization. The aforementioned statement is tempered with the player’s monetary budget; however one should be aware wardrobe, prosthetics and makeup can be garnered overtime.
10. One’s Klingon persona is a character on the vast stage we call Star Trek Fandom. One should take the time to invent a suitable character to play within. After the character’s inception one should work on the interaction between other character’s and mundane; which might interact with your persona or just be an audience to the theatre. You chose to play a Klingon, so do it; yet always know it is a role you play and at times it is prudent to break character. If one can not handle or perform well enough to be Klingon; Federation types are easy to play and their costuming is easier to find.
Kevin Howard playing:
Captain Kurgar
IKS Kotar
Krios Sector
http://www.kriosiansplayers.com
Ten Klingon Theses
1. No Klingon group, organization or club shall have at the top of their ranks the position of Emperor or Chancellor. Those positions shall be saved for characters of the Star Trek shows. Any organization that currently does should retrofit them in said organization and replace those titles with others of military or political importance of their choosing.
2. No one in Klindom shall claim “epetai” of any FASA made Family Line from the supplement Klingon Intelligence Briefing. Those Family lines are too universal in fandom and far too many have claimed leadership of said houses.
They are as follows:
Major Family Lines:
Drexa, Reshtarc, Simparri, Subaiesh, Urussig
Minor Family Lines:
Dok’marr, Hurric, Juriss, Limmri, Pallara, Solazarn
Anyone’s character that claims epetai status for one of those families should retrofit that character to the level of zantai and then speak for all family interest in the organization the character resides in. A NPC (Non Player Character) name shall be made for the epetai of the major and minor FASA lines, (which should be designed by the players whose character use to claim epetai).
3. Klingon types should be limited to what has been seen in the shows and accepted game supplements. Imperial (with cranial ridge) should be vastly predominant, followed by augments/fusions. Far fetched or implausible Klingon half-breeds or fusion should be avoided at all costs. Genetics of an implausible type Klingons should be decontaminated.
4. Klingon vessels shall not be of the super or ultimate weapon type. Vessels should adhere to the constructs of normal Klingon vessels yet allowing for plausible variations/modifications that are consistent within the Empire. Uber-vessels should be retrofitted to some sort of believability or destroyed, so a new vessel can take its place.
5. The John M. Ford/FASA way for Klingon names/surnames and the way Klingon names are presented in the shows shall hence force be amalgamated.
Example: Kohn epetai-Doe using the John M. Ford/Fasa way of Klingon names shall translate to the way the shows say Klingon names as this: House of Kohn with the Family Line Name as Doe. When Kohn dies and is replaced by his son Karl it would then be the House of Karl and the Family Line Name remains Doe.
6. All Klingon military vessels will use “IKS” in front of it; any using IKV will be updated.
7. A Klingon persona shall be the member of one Klingon organization only; if the player so chooses to be a member of another Klingon organization they should construct an original character for it. Associate membership in other organizations is remotely possible but highly discouraged.
8. No Klingon vessel shall serve in two or more Klingon Organizations at once.
9. Appearance of your Klingon Character should be of upmost importance to you as the player. Wardrobe, prosthetics and makeup should to the best of your ability or the better ability of others that you are in contact with or are in your Klingon organization. The aforementioned statement is tempered with the player’s monetary budget; however one should be aware wardrobe, prosthetics and makeup can be garnered overtime.
10. One’s Klingon persona is a character on the vast stage we call Star Trek Fandom. One should take the time to invent a suitable character to play within. After the character’s inception one should work on the interaction between other character’s and mundane; which might interact with your persona or just be an audience to the theatre. You chose to play a Klingon, so do it; yet always know it is a role you play and at times it is prudent to break character. If one can not handle or perform well enough to be Klingon; Federation types are easy to play and their costuming is easier to find.
Comment
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Comment by qoSagh on August 25, 2010 at 9:46am
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Klingons sometimes can be more than enough, but they should never fall to being less than enough. Now that is not to say that one should not also be a part of other fandoms or sub groups in fandom, with different characters.
I think that one sign that is both good and bad towards this is the number of non-Klingon personas that are present in Klingon clubs and organizations. It is a good sign because it affirms the fact that Klingons are cool. So cool in fact that other types of characters will hang out with them over their own kind. However it is also a bad sign in that it serves to pollute Klingon purity. On no Klingon ship that we have ever seen on line and few that we have anywhere else, have there been alien officers or crew. Yet that pesky Roddenberry dream keeps us from making Klingon clubs actually be Klingon. We justify this by calling them visitors or ambassadors or even worse consorts.
How can we prevent a half Bajoran from our club when we have a Battlecruiser commanded by an Orion with a Vulcan XO? It occurs to me that we are playing roles here, hence the name Role Playing. Well sometimes we forget the last word in the initials RPG, yes it's Game. That word is what helps me not take things too seriously but at the same time makes me wonder why this game has such fluid rules. My favorite board game is Monopoly, which most people are familiar with. Suppose I decide to add a third deck of cards to my board, to be drawn only when the dice roll 12. Would anyone recognize my new thing as part of Monopoly? I know that Parker Brothers certainly would not.
I am currently playing in a SIM that includes many characters that represent these choices. It also includes a general lack of understanding about the fusion races and how they differ from half breeds. This is not to say that I would treat a real person poorly who makes such a choice, but I will never agree with or even fully understand that choice
PS This reply may just become the basis for my own blog.
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Comment by Kurgar on August 23, 2010 at 9:22am -
(OOC)
@ qoSagh
That one Paper from KLAW NY with the Face shot of the 3 FASA Klin races at the time and a summary of each, was done by me a few moons ago. lol.
I just don't get why so many need to mix non-Star Trek Non-Klingon elements with Klin. It is like saying being Klingon is not enough. I just think it is wrong.
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On the subject of FASA, first from the looks of it, Kurgar and his brethren on Krios have done good work in reconciling FASA with Paramount's ever changing canon. Although my own method of that same momentous task retains much more FASA flavoring, I can see where this may cause some confusion.
This is where education comes in. When a new person joins what do we do with them? Do we say welcome aboard and leave them hanging in the wind to sort out Klingons on their own? Do we take for granted that they already know everything there is to know about Klingons? In my my less than humble opinion, this is 100% responsible for all the weird derivations we have seen in Klingon fandom. Because people just do not know any better.
When I spoke about being part Klingon and part Terminator, that was a real life example. I knew someone who thought this was a perfectly acceptable character to design. This is entirely due to a failed support system for new members. When I joined the Karizan Empire years ago, despite their failings I was given a suggested reading/viewing list. Various senior members sat down with me and helped guide me through things. Ultimately I went in a different direction from the Karizans, but I probably would not have stayed in Klingon fandom had it not been for that introduction. I remember seeing an application for KLAW in NY, it had check boxes for the three Klingon races, with the FASA face shots next to each one. When applicants asked they were given information about the choices. Kurgars Theses are a written form of this support system, and a well done one at that. Although I do not agree with all ten of them.
As for the epetai Dok'Marr, Martek, that is exactly my point, there are two of you, but not because you signed a treaty, because FASA said there were two. Although I would think it a worse crime than claiming the third of two seats to claim to be the sole epetai, but both would still be offenses agains the common good of Klindom.
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Comment by Martek Dok'Marr on August 6, 2010 at 4:49pm -
Also qoSogh my friend if you should ever find a third person claiming to be an Epetai of tuq Dok'Marr point that person out to me, and I will make sure to work it out with that person on the filed of battle. :)
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Comment by Martek Dok'Marr on August 6, 2010 at 4:48pm
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Some of the FASA lines are so far out of new fans minds, they have no idea what we are talking about, if you were to only go by what we have seen on TV, there would be no honorific titles, the rank structure used by many clubs would not exist. And we would not have any of the FASA lines that are so entrenched in Klingon fandom, also there would be no marines for a lot of fan clubs, a lot of what we use came from John M. Ford, and FASA. Why did everyone decided to become a Klingon fan? I would say for the most part because it looked like fun, which is very much why I did, I wanted to have fun, and to do so I am going to use what I feel makes it fun for me.
Greg Stafford, the creator of the Glorantha world used in the RuneQuest RPG, has a saying that I feel that applies, "Your world may differ" when he would write something, he would usually write that at the end knowing that a lot of people Glorantha has changed over the years from the one that he had created. I think the same will apply for fans, specially since we have not seen anything new in a while for Star Trek and Klingons in general.
Now as for some of the FASA lines again I think that yeas there should be only 1 Epetai maybe more than one Proctor depending on locations, but I feel that is up to those lines to work out. The number of Dok'Marr members still doing fandom is pretty small, and I can track all of them on the internet, so I know that there are two Dok'Marr Epetai, myself and Di’Larh of KLAW, this was a tradition I intended to keep when I claimed the second Epetai seat of the Dok'Marr line.
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Comment by Warg on August 6, 2010 at 12:52am -
(OOC)
All in all, I found this a well thought out and enlightening read. I don't necessarily have the same feelings about certain points addressed, as the following will show, but I don't see anything that's entirely unreasonable.
1) is good advice for any role playing club.
2) I think that references to FASA Star Trek, even though many of us have fannish roots in it, run the risk of leaving potential, younger, recruits scratching their ridges.
3) I accept that our opinions on this are so obviously different; and forgive you.
4) is excellent advice. As well as promoting creativity, it leaves interaction between clubs doppelganger-free.
5) to 8) are, I feel, a matter of personal preference.
9) and 10) I completely agree with.
Dave/'Warg
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Actually that bit about the epetai Dok'mar was a nod to you Martek. Although I agree with Jurgar that those should probably be NPC's, I agree with FASA that there should be two. It was more to point out that one should not suddenly decide on having a third.
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Comment by Kurgar on August 5, 2010 at 10:44pm
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OOC:
Good to see comments, no matter if you agree or disagree...anyothers?
Kevin
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Comment by Martek Dok'Marr on August 5, 2010 at 10:37am
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I forgot to add also I disagree with number 8. I feel a ship if they wish should be in as many groups as they wish. If they are having fun, and have no issues being in multiple groups, all the better to them.
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Comment by Martek Dok'Marr on August 5, 2010 at 10:34am
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I resemble that remark, since I am one of the current Epetai of House Dok'Marr. Though the Dok'Marr line in fandom is not as strong as it was when I started doing Klingon in the Mortas te Kasse, so I disagree with that part.
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