Old Klingon Notes

[jayphailey]

For me, the great houses of the Klingon Empire are like the houses of Edo Period Japan. Klingon Warriors are like Samurai. That means there's non Samurai Klingons, but they don't crop up too much.

The houses fight among each other for dominance, power and wealth. They are linked by ties of culture, language and history. Although they often hate each other, they'll come together like a very angry Voltron to fight outsiders.

This allows for Good Guy Klingons and Bad Guy Klingons in the same empire. Which is bad for quality of life among Klingons, but great for story telling.

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Profile House Ogalak
Keela

Created by: Jay

Occurance: The Klingon Empire

Number of Members: Millions

Nature of Members: Klingons and their friends

Organization: Klingon, although much looser.

Game Role: Good Guy Klingons

World Role: New Klingon, Major supporter of Kahless II

Relative Influence: Large, House Ogalak holds multiple worlds, has large economies and has huge battle fleets.

Public or Secret?: Public

Publicly Stated Goal: To ensure the safety oof the Empire and all within it.

Relative Wealth: Huge. House Ogalak can afford whole Battle Fleets

Group advantages: As a New Klingon House, Ogalak will accept anyone who is loyal to the Empire and can do the job. Non-Klingons have a meritocratic frame work for advancement.

Because House Ogalak accepts Klinzai, Orion, Humans and other residents of the Empire as equals, they immediately developed a serious man power advantage over Real Klingon Houses. In the Civil War this advantage told heaavily.

Ogalak likes trade and higher standards of living for his people, and so encourages this. he sees protection as the job of Nobles and Warriors, but Civilians have to have lives worth protecting.

Special Abilities: Becausse House Ogalak accepts all ssorts of different people, they have a much more diverse pool of talent to draw from.

Group disadvantages: As New Klingons, forces Loyal to House Ogaalak are not welcomed in real Klingon areas. They have a target on their back from Real Klingon Houses and their deniable pawns.

Special disadvantages: Because House Ogalak is open to Non-Klingons, they have had to cope with spies and espionage. Ogalak is working on improving his own counter intellugence aparatus, but this is mixed success.


Top Secret: Ogalak will not turn down information or assistance from the Orion Syndicate, although he suppresses their activities as much as possible. The Orion Syndicate has used House Ogalak as a club aagainst rivals and is now seeking to ferret out the location of the Green hand to slip it to Ogalak.

Top Secret II: Ogalak is paranoid and has a serious spy aparatus happening. He wants to know before hand when the Real Klingons will strike and he's pretty sure they're going to.

Relations

The Federation: because Ogalak is so openly New Klingon, he cannot afford to be too friendly to the Federation lest he be seen as a puppet of the Federation. Ogalak honors the alliance by staying resolutel neutral to Federation and Starfleet ships. In time Ogalak hopes to help House Katchar in becoming a Klingon/Federation trade house. This way he could benefit from trade while satying publicly neutral.

The Empire: Ogalak is a favorite of the Empreror and is loyal to him.

Real Klingons: Ogalak is staaunchlly opposed to the Klingon Supremacist policies of the Real Klingons. he frequently finds himself at odds with Real Klingon Houses. He tries peace and diplomacy but once steel is drawn and beams fly, then it's Klingon time.

The Romulan Empire: Ogalak would like to open trade relations with the Romulans but they seeem closed to the idea. Besides fighting Pirates and Raiders, Ogalak forces often patrol the Romulan/Klingon Border.

Orions: Ogallak welcomes Orion merchants in his territory. He will give mercenaries and adventurers the benefit of the doubt. But if they harm his people, well, they're target practice.

House Katchar: Ogalak uses House Kathar frequently and acts as a sponsor of House Katchar to the Court of Kahless II. Through House Katchar, Ogalak is trying to build ties of commerce with the Orion Colonies and the Federation.

House Kellisi: Ogalak has a good relationship with House Kellisi. Ogalak acts as Kellissi' sposor to the court of Kahless II.

House Bordakar: Ogalak has a poor replationship with House Bordakar. Bordaakar is a Real Klingon aligned house. Ogalak would have no problem with a more friendly relationship, there, but Bordakar is aligned with House Kalatopa, a rival of Ogalak, so relations are cool.


Area of Operation:
The Klingon Core. to the east of the core.

Headquarters Location:
Planet Dalara - A pretty Earthlike world. Populated with a mixed population, there are several cities there, as well as a huge Starbase and shipyards. Ogalak's Asteroid mines are a good place to make decent money, if a touch risky.

Public Face: Klingons who see themselves as protectors of civilians.

Notable Members:
Ogalak, an older Klingon Man. he is an excellent general and organizer. He likes to frame contests as games, like Poker or chess.

Keela. Ogalak's daughter, one of many children. She is idealistic, mercurial and one of the best Female Batleth champions in the Empire. She has tendency to roam and to appoint herself the champion of the down trodden. She as assembled about herself a crew of idealistic and or crazy adventurers.


Ships:
Ogalak's ships are in good shape but range from old relics to brand new ships. Ogalak can't afford to retire any hull with life left in it. Ogalak's forces can be uneven. When they try to out Klingon the Klingons they come out second best, but a unit achieves a comfortable mix of different approaches, they are some of the best crews in th empire.

learning how to command multi-racial Klingon crews is a newish skill and Ogalak's forces are near the forefront of this curve.

Top Secret:
Ogalak has a few captured Pirate Ships and hidden bases he uses for espionage. They're not all that deniable, but Ogalak uses them carefully to give himsef advanced warning of enemy moves.

History of the Organization:
Ogalak Inherited his fathers holdings early on. Ogalak was serving in forward units learning the art of military leadership from an early age. His early training was in very old Klingon ways. In these ancient Klingon stories, Warriors and nobles were protectors of civilians. Theeir job was to fight enemies, and their success was measured by the peace of the worlds they protected.

In the Civil War of the 2360s, Ogaalaks father and older brothers were killed by Duras aligned forces using Romulan supplies.

He ascended to command of his fathers holdings ussed to living in a state of being short on everything but the enemy.

Ogalak never understood why, if they could be useful, Non-Klingons weren't allowed to serve thee Empire. So he quickly set about removing these barriers. The chief shortage Ogalak faced, as many do, was man power. Once Ogalak allowed non-Klingons to serve, attain rank and to be treated as well as any Klingon civilian, he would up with more man power and more talent than his rivals.

Although uncertain about Kahlesss II, the Clone of Kahless formed a core around which to rally the New Klingons. Ogalak quickly realized the value of this and sided with Gowron and Kahless II.

Ogalak Has prospered and has built his house into one of the biggest houses in the empire. He has a strong crew of commanders and Warriors who help him in this task. House Ogalak has numerous subsidiary organizations. Ogalak likes to format business processses this way. House Ogalak becomes a senior silent partner and the business owner has motivation to succeed and make money for himself, which benefits house Ogalak.

House Ogalak takes adantage of having numerous Orion and Klinzai businesses and businesss actors as partners.

Ogalak is one of the chief purchasers of information from information brokers in and around the empire. He uses deniable cutouts to hire adventurers and freelance spies to gain information.

Like Kalatopa, when Ogalak's forces capture a pirate ship, or a smuggler, if it is suitable, it is remodelled into a deniable intelligence gathering ship and manned by mercenaries. It is rumored that Ogalak has a sizable covert fleet and intelligence gathering force.

[jayphailey]

Profile House Kalatopa

Created by: Jay

Occurence: The Klingon Empire, neaar the core

Number of Members: Millions

Nature of Members: Real Klingon Warriors and nobles

Organization: Klingon. Picture a feudal House with Warriors who serve, will a layer of modernity under it and sometimes covering it.

Game Role: Bad Guy Klingons.

World Role: House Kalaatopa is a major Klingoon House annd provides a sizable chunk of economic and military power to the Empire.

Relative Influence: Huge. House Kalatopa has a Council seat. Functionally they can order smaller housses around and punish them if they don't comply.

Public or Secret?: Public, but they have a couple of secret projects to be described below.

Publicly Stated Goal: To Dominate the Emmpire and then, the galaxy.

Relative Wealth: Huge. House Kalatopa Owns several well inhabited and economically producctive planets. Has entire battle fleets

Group advantages: Lots of resources and lots of support

Group disadvantages: As well known "Real Klingons" they are viewed with suspicion and great caution if not hostility.

Top Secret: House Kalatopa backs The Green Hand. Kalatopa has set up a careful method of rerouting his own supplies and materiaal to the bases of this criminal Klingon group. If discovered this could prove ruinous to Kalatopa.

Relations:

The Klingon Empire: House Kalatopa does not approve of the current Empire and their direction with regards to relations with non-Klingons. House Kalatopa considers Kahless II a monster fit for the sharp end of a bat'leth and nothing more. This makes relations tense. House Kalatopa disapproves of the alliance with the Federation. They'll use it to their advantage, but they'd just as soon make war against the Federation.

Real Klingons: House Kalatopa is a major supporter of the Real Klingon cause and works with other Real Klingon Houses to achieve Real Klingon Ends. However, when it comes to political power, no Great House is that mucch an ally or an opponent of any other. They will be used, allied with, betrayed and refriended as the dictates of politics requires.

New Klingons: House Kalatopa considers the New Klingon frame of mind to be a betrayal of Klingon Supremacy. So relations are tense. However, the dictates of the hard core gamme of politics may force Real Klingon and New Klingon houses into alliance. House Kalatopa will do whatever they can to weaken New Klingons without causing outright warfare.

The Federation: House Kalatopa, like the rest of the Real Klingons considers the peace treaty and alliance with the UFP to be a travesty. The Federation is everything Real Klingons despise. Among hardcore Real Klingons, detroying the Federation and killing or enslaving the people in it is job one. House Kalatopa will tolerate Federation ships and people to the letter of the treaty, mainly to avoid fights with the stronger New Klingon factions. But they will let federation people know their negative views. No one has CAUGHT House Kalatopa attempting deniable raids or violence against Federation people, but people generally feel that House Kalatopa does this but has not yet been caught.

The Romulans: The Romulans are old enemies of the Klingons. House Kalatopa seems to enjoy knowing where they stand.

The Orions: House Kalatopa has a tendency to use Orions when convenient and then viiolently oppress them when convenient. Consequently most of the Orion Houses that do business in the Empire avoid Kalatopa when possible. House Kalatopa can always seem to find optimistic Orionr newbies to do business with. The Orion Syndicate is considered an enemy of the Empire and so does business from a black market perspective. Their operations are small and easily disposed of, when another wave of Oppression sweeeps through. They, too, can always seem to find young optmistic and energetic Orions and others who are left holding bags when waves of arrests and torture ccome through.

Klinzai: House Kalatopa considers the Klinzai to be a huge mistake. They say so at every opportunity. No Klinzai serve in their forces. Klinzai in the service of other houses in Kalatopa territory are subject to arrests on trumped up charges. Ethnically Klingon Commanders can liberate their Klinzai officers and people with bribes. House Kalatopia seems to relish the idea of bombing Klinzai worlds and taking them for it's own exploitaation. They advocate for a new Klinzai purge at every opportunity. The Klinzai build up forces and take care to stay Loyal to Kahless II to stay on his good side and avoid a new purge.

Area of Operation:
The Klingon Empire, from the core to 2/3rds of the way towards the Orion Colonies, off set a bit to the west.

Headquarters Location:
Panfaltorkahn - An old and well built up Klingon World. Aliens on this world are last class citizens or slaves. The population is high, and the world is industralized. They caan build and man entire fleets of Klingon ships and all arts available to the Klingons are available there. They have a masssive Starbase and shipyard, second only to Q'onoS.

Public Face: Klingons who exist to fight and to kill all enemies.

Notable Members:
Kalatopa: An old Wardog. He knows his business well. He manages his holdings with grim militiary efficiency.

Admiral Kofmarkin: A cold, calculating , effficient man. He is heartless, ruthless and efficient. he does his Job. He has three of the best Bat'leth fighters in the quaddrant on his payroll as body guards. He also has forces of elite shock troops. Kofmarkin will kill you just as soon as look at you. He is an excellent tactician and strategic thinker. When someone speaks to Kofmarkin of honor, Kofmarkin pretends to go along with it, but this is only as long as he is getting what he wants. When such a challenger has out lived his usefulness, Kofmarkin's people will shoot them and dispose of the body. Many a commander hass faced Kofmarkin and few are his equal. Even the Romulans hate to see hom coming.

Davroda: A Starship Commander. A huge man. He specializes in getting rid of problems. He is almost 7 feet tall and 350 pounds of muscle. He is quicker than he looks, and highly skilled with cutlery and energy weapons. He rose through the ranks to become a serious hitman for House Kalatopa. He's left a trail of odies behind him a mile wide. His mentor was wiped out in single combat by an Orion Gladiator. Davroda killed Orion Gladiators until he found the right one.

Starships of House Kalatopa

Fradaka - A Dagger Class cruiser. Roughly the equal of an Intrpid class cruiser. Commanded by Davroda.

Targor's Revenge - A Vor'cha Class Battle Cruiser. Admiral Kofmarkins personal flagship. Has the best weapons and systems he could buy, requisition, black mail for or loot off dead oponents. Named for a Klingon Captain who fell in battle against the Federation, this ship's distruptors are tuned to do extra damage to Federation ships.

Top Secret
Dilaaga - An insane battleship. As large and tough as a Romulan Scimitar, also mounts a thaloron beam cannon which can destroy all life on a world in one shot. This weaponry is banned by treaty and so many Klingons would consider it a dishorable and treacherous ship. It rests in a hidden base, and has been upgraded many times.

History of the Organization:
Kalatopa served his father as a warrior. He served in several campaaigns. He absorbed his fathers Klingon Supremacist views. Kalatopa had friends and companions killed by aliens. he seems not to have noticed that this was in battle. He has come to resent all aliens. He wants to see Alien worlds turned into graveyards and to make the stars run with alien blood. He resents the hell out of the New Klingons polluting the Empire with their corrupted ways.

Kalatopa is a fanatic, but he has hid this well. He has pursued his goals with careful planning anf rigorous discipline.

Kalatopa was frustrated by the recent Klingon civil war. The simple fact is that too many Klingon nobles counted on Klingon supremacy to carry them through, and were not careful enough.

Kalatopa watched as allies, ships and men he needed were stripped from the Real Klingon side by chronic mistakes on the Real Klingon side.

Although he is carefully planning, he has two elements which may be his undoing. One is that he backs the Green Hand ass a deniable force. If they are traced back to him, his will be ruined.

The Second thing is that he had built a battleship of massive proportions. He stocked it with Banned weapons. Once the balloon goes up on the next war, Kalatopa figures that success will outweigh dishonor. But if this is discovered before a new Civil War brews up, it coould also ruin him.

So there is no depth kalatopa won't stoop to, assuming it can be done *quietly* to keep his secrets and keep his plan hidden.

[jayphailey]

Did Kalatopa recently take a vacation on Calas Prime? Maybe.

[jayphailey]

Profile House Katchar (KHN-3) (New Klingon)

A Klingon house bent on Trade.

Created by: Jay P Hailey.

Occurrence: The Klingon Empire on the western frontier, facing the Federation, the Bendarri and the Briar Patch

Nature of Members:
Katchar and his family rule the house, Zonok is their business partner, and his family is also influential, although not in the same way.

Katchar's Warriors fight to protect the people and the business of house Katchar. For doing so, they are rewarded. This is a controversial thing. Many Klingons consider fighting for profit to be dishonorable, and that being a merchant is beneath a warrior.

Katchar's warriors are an interesting bunch, for reasons which will become plain below. However one thing is for sure, there's plenty of glorious battle to be had.

Katchar also has a mercenary force, which varies in skill level, but is loyal and they always work on improving,

On the civilian side House Katchar accepts anyone who is willing to abide by the rules. The multi-racial make up of Katchar's civilian holdings antagonizes his Real Klingon rivals, as does his interesting approach of how to be a house lord.

There are a number of Ferengi on Gabalpaki, the core world of House Katchar. They mostly live in a "Little Ferenginar" on that world.

These are Ferengi that Zonok recruited for various jobs and by various means. Some of the scary Ferengi are the ones who like to venture out of little Ferenginar and hob nob with the Klingons and other races of the Empire.

Organization:
The House itself is the typical neo-feudalism, on top of a military, on top of a civil government.

However. Katchar came to his position in an odd way. He won battles through excellent use of Logistics. He was very good at the sort of systems management and organizational acumen that allowed his forces to consistently "Get there the fastest with the mostest." In several hard battles, Katchar prevailed because at the right time he had reserves of ships, people and materiel available, when his opponent had already used all his.

Not long after the Zhondani war, Katchar met Zonok, a Ferengi merchant and the two struck a business deal. This lead to more business deals, and friendships.

Zonok was surprised to find a Klingon with business sense, and Katchar was gratified to find a Ferengi who's word was his bond.

In time Katchar came up for noble title. He specifically asked for a frontier posting. Since he was an avid proponent of Kahless II and the New Klingon faction, he was granted his wish.

Although House Katchar has all the usual Klingon governing and social mechanisms, its corporate side is much larger and influential than other houses.

Katchar began making His house the Logistics department for other New Klingon Houses. He began running cargo in a particularly Klingon fashion. Besides the usual destroyers and battlecruisers, House Katchar runs armed cargo vessels. These range in all sizes, but all are fast and well defended.

Since then Katchar has expanded his business and his holdings, even running cargo for the Federation, and various people normal Klingon Houses would turn their noses up at.

Since Katchar accepts anyone who can do the job, he has attracted a number of people from the Klingon Empire. His core world, Gabalpaki is well populated. Real Klingons consider it a cesspool.

Zonok and Katchar worked hard to borrow (and buy, and maybe buy under shady circumstances) from the Federation.

In House Katchar, the core economy is actually a Federation-like energy economy. The reason for this is simple. It's actually cheaper to run. A lot of people who are now productive citizens for Katchar started out as poverty stricken people, refugees or other down and out folks.

Zonok and Katchar pay everyone who contributes very lavishly in terms of support and life style.

Many technicians and enlisted level soldiers serve because by so doing, they buy a good standard of living for their families.

This is why their troop quality varies. Most newbies are in various stages of learning how. But they are all pretty loyal. Katchar and Zonok also offer generous medical and other benefits. This also took a lot of work to accomplish.

But the effect is, if you're broke and your Mom needs life saving surgery, you can sign on with Katchar and be taken care of.

This allows House Katchar to use Klingon money and gold pressed latinum for boot strapping more infrastructure.

Katchar and Zonok are using their new ideas of how to run a Klingon house to grow and expand much faster than a more normally run house.

It also puts a target on their back from Real Klingons who consider this Extreme New Klingon outlook an abomination.

Game Role:
Klingon friends who are out to make some money and do the strange new worlds thing.

World Role:
House Katchar was tasked with going to the frontier and securing it, while supporting front line houses. He did this but in such a way as to highlight the stark difference between the New Klingon and Real Klingon point of view.

Relative Influence:
Depends on context. For a house the size of House Katchar, in a political sense, Katchar is blow average. Katchar depends on the good will of other New Klingon Allies for political influence and protection.

In terms of economics, it's grossly oversized for a house it's size.

In terms of military power, about average - they have more ships and more people under arms, but they also get attacked more, so that's a wash.

In terms of foreign policy, House Katchar is starting to send it's fast armed adventure merchants far and wide. And Katchar is not shy about striking up his own relationships with Federation worlds, sword worlds and anyone else.

Publicly Stated Goal:
To amass a ship load of wealth and then defend it with honor!

Relative Wealth:
Much larger than a comparably sized Klingon house. But if they get too big too fast, they may draw the ire of a major Real Klingon House.

Group advantages:
Katchar's ship yards and other technical production are some of the best in the Empire.

Katchar has a lot of people loyal to him. He has made a place for them in the empire when no one else would.

Katchar's armed merchants look like a Ferengi Ship and a Klingon ship had a love child. This is not far from the truth. Many raiders and pirates have discovered too late that Katchar's ships are as well armed as any Klingon ship their size.

Special Abilities:
Katchar and Zonok have full access to the Klingon and Ferengi technical database and were not shy about using it. So Katchar's ships are fusions of Klingon and Ferengi Technology. This makes his ships half a step advanced from anyone else's in the Empire.

Group disadvantages:
As an aggressively New Klingon sort of operation, Katchar is causing grumblings and static. His new interpretation of how to be a House Lord antagonizes Real Klingons who feel he is putting profit ahead of being a true Warrior.

There are rumors (Mostly True) that Katchar will accept dishonored or exiled Klingons and give them new faces and put them in with his Warriors. The fact is that he over looks dishonor or exiles based on political reasons. Other offenses, like crime, cowardice or betrayal cause Katcher and his people to reject a potential "retread"

This is rumored but no hard proof has been gathered, yet. If proof is exposed in such a way as to not drag any Real Klingon houses into it, then Katchar will be in some trouble for this.

Special disadvantages:
Katchar and Zonok are the subjects of various treacheries, betrayals and assassination attempts. They have very good body guards and manage their risks appropriately.

But their security has to be very good every time. An assassin only has to get lucky once.

House Katchar ships have to be well armed, fast and advanced. They draw more than their fair share of attacks and piracy.

This is why most of Katchar's Warriors are not too worried about about fighting for profit. If you find glory in battle, ship out with Katchar and you will get your fill.

Relations
House Boresi (KHN-1) These two houses have a mixed relationship. House Katchar does operate in a large way as Logistical auxiliaries for House Boresi. If a serious war was to break out Boresi and Katchar would be expected to get along and operate together,

But Most of House Boresi's Klingon Warriors consider House Katchar to be disgraceful, corrupt and non-Klingon. They tend to want to pick fights and cause problems. House Boresi doesn't actually support deniable raiders hitting Katchar shipping. They need the Logistical support! But Boresi considers it his duty, in the long run, to kill Katchar, take his stuff and restore it to "true Klingon" ways.

House Kellisi (KHN-2) These two houses get along famously. There is talk of trying to marry some ofspring off to each other to soldify the relationship. Kellisi looks askance at Katchar's mercantilist side, but it seem to be working.

House Bordakar (KHN-4) This house hs a stand offish relationship with Katchar. They have their own support ships. Sometimes Bordakar will call in Katchar ships to help with a campaign. But it's clear that Katchar is last on Bordakar's list. The warriors of Bordakar also feel that Katchar is perverse, broken and doing the Klingon thing wrong, but are generally not the kind of guys to start bar fights or street brawls about it.

The Federation: Like Kellisi, Katchar is not shy about doing business in the Federation. He considers this a benefit of the alliance. Although a heavily armed Klingon ship roaming through Federation space is a touch concerning, When Katchar's people proved to be as good as their word, they became a favored transportation option.

In recent times, his services have become more valuable to local planets. Local governments and even Starfleet are not above hiring Katchar's armed merchants to resupply Darnar or to carry scientific expeditions into dangerous areas.

Like House Kellisi, House Katchar is also expanding operations into the southern frontier of the Bendarri Empire and working as mercenaries for the Bendarri Empire. Both houses feel that they will improve their positions with the Bendarri Empire as friends.


Area of Operation:
The western frontier of the Klingon Federation Border, His core planet Gabalpaki is well populated, well developed and economically powerful.

Headquarters Location:
Katchar Palace, Gabalpaki. Here Katchar manages his house and Zonok manages the various flavors of money they deal in

Public Face:
Klingons who want to trade, and explore the frontier.

Notable Members:
Katchar - a Klingon General who was elevated to the Noble ranks as a reward for outstanding performance.

Zonok, a Ferengi who is very brave and does not say what he does not mean.

History of the Organization:
Katchar started out life as a Warrior Lieutenant on a cruiser. He always contrived to have what his CO wanted, when the CO needed it to solve a poblem.

He rose in the ranks until he was offered a command. Surprising everyone, instead of a starship, he took over a logistics unit.

Then using his superior skill in logistics and planning, he put several ship commanders and flag officers in his debt.

During the Klingon Civil war, Katchar was a key part of supporting the New Klingon Faction and advancing their victory.

Following this he was awarded a title and a holding. When Katchar arrived with his ally, the Fereni Zonok and began an aggressive economic development program, the controversy surrounding him increased.

Now Katchar has ships moving all over. He mostly supports his Civlians with a lavish energy based economy, and, if he can build up his forces to withstand a concerted Real Klingon assault, he's golden.

[jayphailey]

Profile House Kellisia

Created by: Jay

Occurrence: RAI plot, 2408

Appearance Klingons and their friends.

Nature of Members:
Kellisia and her Family are the Rulers of this House.
She has a band of Warriors she's picked up along the way who form her loyal core.

These people have decided that they're entitled to bestow the Title "Warrior of Kellisia" on anyone they feel worthy, and they do that. In recent times, they have formalized the training and rites of passage required for someone to be considered for "Warrior of Kellisia" status.

In Kellisia's formulation, Warriors are protectors. They exist to serve the community by protecting it. This is a throwback to older writings and thoughts of how to be a Warrior. Real Klingons consider this a uselessly naive method. It's popular among New Klingons.

Kellisia also runs a "KDF" Unit in her holdings, a way for people to serve the house as military officers and enlisted people without making a lifetime commitment to the Way of the Warrior.

Civilians - Kellisia accepts anyone in her holdings who agrees to abide by the laws and work productively for the community. Kellisia doesn't accept the notion that anyone is a second class citizen.

Organization:
Kellisia struggles with her role as House lord over her holdings. She treats it more as a Chief executive function.

On Worlds in Kellisia Space, Cities have civil governments, usually a sort of elected council. They report what they need to a sort of liaison officer who either arranges what they need or brings word of the need to Kellisia so she can gather needed resources or people from other areas.

The Larger Cities and towns elect Constables and law enforcement. If they need heavy firepower, Kellisia will assign the forces necessary.

Kellisia has a sort of plan for expansion of the economic power and infrastructure of her holdings, but usually, she'll approach the civil leaders of communities in her holdings and tailor her desires to fit their capacities.

This demands a lot of meetings, social network building, and negotiation. Kellisia is good at this and has gotten a lot better with practice.

The Part most folks will see are the ships and crews of House Kellisia. These ships have mixed crews, composed of all the various people who live in the Empire.

Cities in Kellisia space tend to be open and thriving places, although because they're not as rigidly or directly controlled, unpleasant people can come and go in these areas, too

Game Role:
Good Guy Klingons

World Role:
Kellisia was assigned to take over this area and build it up to firm up Klingon claims and to support the houses facing the Zhodani Frontier. Her assignment was controversial and cause some static from the Real Klingon houses. But she's done her job and has increased the Klingon presence in the area.

Relative Influence:
Minor. House Kellisia is a minor house. Compared to other houses they are on the small side, and on the new side. They also suffer from their unorthodox nature, so Kellisia doesn't have the Political juice a more conventional House Lord might have.

Military ships from other areas are surprised when stopping at Kellisia run bases. Although the crews are varied and appear motely, They're pros. Ships are supplied and serviced quickly and prices are fair for almost everyone. The Exception is House Boresi. The two houses are bitter rivals and violence isn't unheard of between units belonging to the two houses.

Kellisia backed trade ships roam far and wide. Kellisia really takes advantage of the friendship between the Federation and the Klingon Empire and trade companies based in Kellisia space are not shy about crossing the border for fun and profit.

Publicly Stated Goal:
To Defend the civilians of the Empire!

Group advantages:
House Kellisia rewards competence over bloodlines, and so while looking odd, her crews are some of the best in the Empire.

Group disadvantages:
Because of the decentralized nature of Kellisia's governance, the civilian side can look like herding cats.


Special disadvantages:
There is more crime and corruption in Kellisia space than one might find elsewhere. When discovered, corrupt officials are dealt with in the Klingon fashion. They're hacked to pieces with a Bat'leth. Part of the price of being open is being open to uncool people, too

Military:
Kellisia's forces are more varied compared to other houses. They tend to keep older hulls in service longer with upgraded equipment. They also tend towards longer ranged ships. In response to recent increases in Pirate and Raider activity, House Kellisia has been building a new run of Fast Escorts with Disodium drives.

Area of Operation:
The Western Frontier of the Empire.

Headquarters Location:
Arlorkag Magtow, A formerly sleepy backwater planet with some Industry. Since Kellisia has come to make it her HQ it has a massive military base, a massive new Starbase and shipyards, and lots of new people coming. The types of new industrial companies and military support operations are bewildering, but they're always hiring and will pay people to show up and do the job.

Public Face:
Guardians of the Empire and their corner of it.

Notable Members:
Kellisia. Raised as a Warrior Caste Woman, Kellisa learned all the old stories and could recite the heroes of the sagas.

When she finished her primary training and advanced training, she became an officer on one of her father's ships. She rose quickly through the ranks mainly by being sensible and dependably present. In time she commanded one of her father's cruisers.

During the Civil War, her father's main force was caught in an ambush. Kellisia was running a vanguard task force and so was not caught in the main ambush. She kept her head, and conducted hit and run raids. She rallied scattered force and fought an improvised retreating battle that caused house Danchak to overextend himself and get cut off by a New Klingon House.

Relations:
The Klingon Empire In general: Kellisia ships are always ready to come to the rescue and fight enemies. They are popular among those who need rescue and those who are threatened. Real Klingons see this as glory hogging and grandstanding.

House Ogalak: Kellisia is an offshoot of Ogalak. He considers her a loyal ally.

House Katchar: Good, both sides get along well and cooperate frequently.

House Boresei: Bad. Things are tense. There is frequent shooting.

House Bordakar: Bad. Bordakar does not do anything but is laying groundwork for a campaign.

House Kahless: Good. Kellisia follows Ogalak who is a staunch ally of the Emperor.

House Kathis: Good. Allies

House Martok: Good. Allies

House NarQ: Bad. Opposite alignments

House Ph'art: Bad. Rivals

House Phawg: Good. Allies.

House Quar: Good, Allies, not much contact since they're not close.

House Tork'Cha: Good. Allies. Occasionally House Kellisia sends a ship to assist Tork'Cha and cross train with them.

House Kalak: Good. Allies. Not in practical contact

House Tarkon: Bad. Rivals. Fortunately, Kellisia is far away

The Black Hand: House Kellisia ship pursue and attack Black hand Pirates whenever they can.

The Green Hand: Not much contact, but Kellisia crew relish the change to explode Green Hand Pirates.

Orions
Orions in the Empire: Mixed. Kellisia is a good spot to do business. Kellisia is working with legit Orions to try and keep the Syndicate and pirates out. In the Federation, House Kellisia ships chase Orion Pirates aggressively.

Mullurans: Ships from house Kellisia roll by and let the government of Mulluria know they are being watched. At the same time, they will take on Mulluran exchange and apprentice crew. Kellisia is passively open to an alliance there. Kellisia ships don't mix G'Kra and Mulluran apprentices.


The Federation in General: Good. Allied. Kellisia is a true ally and her ships are welcomed when they appear.

New Canada STB 901: Good. Kellisia ships are welcomed as allies.

G'Kra: Good. Welcomed as Allies. There are always G'Kra willing to sign on as apprentices on Kellisia's ships. They often take advantage of this.

Xnida: Good. Welcomed as Allies. House Kellisia ships will take on Xnida exchange people.

Arkiripis: Mixed. House Kellisia ships are welcomed as long as they have latinum or anti-matter to spend. Crews are free to wander the markets. Arkiripis has strict laws against fighting in their system. Kellisia ships respect this, but often try to intercept known pirates on their way out of the system.

The Bendarri Empire. Good relationship. House Kellisia will send patrollers and cruisers to work for the Bednarri Empire as mercenaries. They are welcomed in this role.

Carsharodan: Good. Exchange people are accepted.

New Detroit: Good. This is about as far into the Federation as Kellisia ships will go. They are serviced and repaired at the ships yards there. New Detroit Will do upgrades on Kellisia ships if requested. Kellisia ships are handy if someone gets into trouble and the Federation wants to encourage that.

Darnara: Kellisia ships will stop by Darnara on their way to the Lefyt Colonies. They will accept trainee crewmen there.

The Lefyt. House Kellisia ships will do anti-Pirate patrols through The Desert and visit various Lefyt worlds. But this is rare. A ship this far out is too far away from the core territory. Kellisia sends ships to gather information and to be seen as anti-pirate and allied shipping.

The Damyip: Kellisia ship won't challenge the Damyip, but are sort of awkward. No one's sure about the proper approach.

History of the Organization:
After the Civil War. Kellisia's Father's house was in ruins. Kellisia and her crews were adopted by House Ogalak. When House Boresi was emplaced to appease the Real Klingons, Ogalak suggested Kellisia as a way to create reinforcements for Boresi and firm up the Empires western frontier. Kahless Agreed and created Kellisia as Lady Kellisia.

This antagonized the Real Klingons. It was rare for women to lead Klingon houses. They saw this as an affront.

[jayphailey]

Profile House Boresi

Created by: Jay P Hailey

Occurrence: STB-600 Game

Appearance: Klingon Warriors who fight for glory, wealth and honor, and are not afraid to fight a little dirty about it.

Nature of Members:
There is a hierarchy of members of this house.
Boresi and his immediate family are the rulers.
Boresi's more distant family are administrators and commanders.

Warriors - a Caste of Klingons who consider themselves born to fight. Not unlike Samurai in some ways. They are loyal to their lord and his house, and they fight in his name.

Civilian Klingons - Non-warrior caste types, these are the everyday people who do the actual work of making the economy of House Boresi Work, and creating the infrastructure of Boresi's War machine.

Non-Klingons - Client races of the Empire. Boresi and his people consider these folks to be belongings. They're not really people, but they're needed. Warriors have the power of low justice over them. These people have a low standard of living by modern standards, and not much in the way of civil liberties.

Organization:
Techno-Feudal. The Klingons have their classic means of organizing how business is done. This looks like Samurai Vikings on the surface, or if one interacts with the Warriors.

Away from the Warrior Halls and Military installations, it actually looks almost like a corporate operation. The Civilian Klingons keep business running and keep the machines going. They are much less oppressive than Warriors are towards non-Klingon residents.

Game Role:
Antagonistic Klingons. Usually, the Klingons Encountered by outsiders will be Warrior Caste Klingons, who view the world through the lens of battle.

World Role:
They are one of the Houses holding the frontier with the Zhodani. The High Council wanted a house that would keep things running aggressively but without undue controversy, corruption or insanity.

Boresi and his family have done this. Their fleet is ship shape and ready to go. Raiders test the Zhodani defenses and raid where they can, feeding information about the Disposition of Zhodani defenses back to Klingon High Command.

Boresi got sideways with the Federation Early on and when Federation Starships made a retribution raid against Boresi, High Command stood back and let it happen. Boresi is there to fight the Zhodani, not the Federation.

Boresi hates the idea of treating non-Klingons like people. He is solidly in the Real Klingon Camp. When House Kellisia (KHN-2) took up a New Klingon style, Boresi took this as an affront. Boresi raids Kellisia, and Kellisia raids Boresi. But both keep this to a minimum. If things get too hot, then a major house will be assigned to come settle the issue - Klingon style.

Both Boresi and Kellisia have had to redirect energy away from their internal rivalry and towards anti-Pirate activity. The Black Hand Clan and the Mystery Raiders are taking too heavy a toll currently

Relative Influence:
Minor. Boresi is allied with House Kalatopa, the Major New Klingon House. In theory, this means if Boresi has an issue he can appeal to Kalatopa to address it in the Council. In practice, Kalatopa is busy with defending and increasing his own power, and so Boresi competes with that priority.

In his own sectors, Boresi's word is law. He says frog and his people jump. Boresi is not used to his own people telling him "No".

Boresi's worlds manufacture the things Boresi's fleet needs to project Boresi's will and the things they need to stay effective in building Boresi's military power.

Ports and shipyards are open to Klingon Civilian traffic for standard rates. Non-Klingon ships and crews are ignored, rejected and hassled until they get the message. Boresi Space is for Klingons only.

Military ships from Real Klingon houses are welcomed, supplied and serviced at favorable rates, and the same applies in reverse.

Military ships from opposition houses are tolerated, supplied and serviced slowly at full mark-up. Non-Klingon crews are ignored, rejected, harassed and possibly arrested on trumped-up charges.

The exception is when there is an Imperial Ship in Port or nearby. Then everything is done quickly, by the book and competently. No one wants the KDF auditing them.

Publicly Stated Goal:
To Fight for Boresi and The Klingon Empire!

Relative Wealth:
Compared to a first-rate house, small, Boresi is building up his holdings, economy, and fleet as quickly as he can.

Compared to normal people Huge. Boresi runs whole planets and has a battle fleet at his beck and call.

Group advantages:
Violence. Klingon Warriors practice, train and engage in violence frequently. They're good at it.

Special Abilities:
Boresi has skill at the arts of Klingon Politics. He builds up political capital the way a general builds up ammunition and supplies.

Boresi has picked up a habit that would get him in trouble if it's publicly revealed. It's not really a secret. It's fairly common knowledge that House Boresi is doing this - He'll take in dishonored, discommodated and failed Klingon Warriors, add some body sculpt and some new entries in personnel files and a formerly ruined Klingon is now a Warrior with a fresh slate. Boresi's fleet is littered with people who are hardcore loyal to Boresi for this reason.

Two things Boresi won't touch. If a Warrior was a coward in battle, or if the Warrior allied with aliens, then they're rejected by House Boresi. False accusations of cowardice are ignored, that's just political blah blah. But if a Warrior really ran away, he's done.

Group disadvantages:
They're Klingons. Everyone knows what they're about.

Special disadvantages:
As Real Klingons, they're at a numerical disadvantage. Even adopting and recycling castoffs from other houses doesn't help that much.

House Boresi actually has a military unit that operates along more conventional military lines. This is how non-Warrior-Caste Klingons can serve in Boresi's fleet and with his army.

Non-Klingons need not apply.

This limits the number of people available to fight for Boresi and limits his ability to grow his economic base.

But this is the Klingon way, so that's how it will be done!

Military:
Boresi's fleet is middle strength for a second rate house. He is fielding more mid-sized battlecruisers - the Spiritual Descendants of K'Tingas and D7s in order to spread limited crews farther.

Boresi is not shy about using all the Technolgy he can to leverage his limited numbers of people, so his ships are top of the line machines and fight like it.

Currently, the main enemies are Zhodani units and pirates.

Area of Operation:
The Southwest corner of the Empire, along the Federation/Zhodani/Klingon triangle.

Headquarters Location:
New Klazdath - A World of stark natural beauty. It's speckled with Modern Klingon Cities among as yet untamed wilderness. The New Klazdath system has extensive asteroid mines and ships yards in orbit, as well as intense command and control infrstructure. The Continent where Boresi's HQ and actual estate are located are Klingon Only zones. But non-Klingon "peasants" are present in other new cities and work at all levels building and supporting his war machine.

Public Face:
REAL Klingons!! Here to Eat Ghakh, and kill aliens!

Notable Members:
Boresi - getting older, he is now an experienced house lord.

Kardeth - One of Boresi's nephews, and a favored Starship Commander. He commands one of Boresi's heavy battlecruisers and does a good job of it.

Zirella - A crack shot and one of the best bat'leth champions in the Empire. She is a distant cousin of Boresi and acts as his bodyguard. Has a dark secret (She is part Vulcan, a few generations back). Zirella has no interest in politics, command or administration. In public it seems like all she's interested in is killing assassins. Under an assumed name, she is one of the Empire's premier fiction writers, poets, and philosophers. Boresi knows all this and will cheerfully order Zirella to kill anyone who tries to use these facts against her.

History of the Organization:
Boresi was a Warrior assigned to Moralak, a cousin of Kalatopa . He rose in rank until he attained the rank of General, and he was good at it.

During the Zhodani war, Boresi won victories and oversaw successful campaigns.

Kahless II Elevated Boresi and assigned him to go hold his territory as part of a complex political deal to assuage the Real Klingon Faction

Boresi took a frontier zone and has been building it up into a Klingon Stronghold ever since.

He was told that his mission was to build up Klingon strength in the area, keep pressure on the Zhodani and to avoid conflict with the Federation.

Despite this, Boresi authorized his people to raid into Federation space, trying to damage Federation expansion into the are they call "The Bendarri Salient" Boresi resented the Federation for coming in and looking like they were going to encircle the Klingons.

After several raids devastated Federation shipping and worlds in the area, Starfleet complained to Kahless II. He said nothing publicly, but through back channels let Starfleet know he wouldn't interfere.

Starfleet gathered forces and launched a retribution raid against Boresi's territory. Boresi put up a fight, but he was outnumbered and outgunned. His calls to other houses for aid came back with slow replies.

Boresi's fleet was forced to withdraw after a tough campaign and painful losses. Kalatopa visited personally to tell Boresi that it was not the time for a war against the Federation. If 25% of New Klingon Houses joined the Federation, the Real Klingons would lose. If 33% of the New Klingon Houses joined the Federation side in such a war then there was a possibility of no Real Klingon House staying in the First Rank.

If Kahless II used such a war as an opportunity to rid himself of Real Klingon rivals, then they were screwed.

Boresi was told not to start up with the Federation and they meant it.

Kahless II let it be known he was less than happy with Klingon ships and crews being lost in this fashion.

Boresi took the defeat and refocused on building up the strength of his holdings and his fleet again.

But Boresi has not forgotten this. He hates the Federation now and will take any deniable opportunity to hurt them.

He has tried to make an under the table agreement with The Black Hand to support them if they promise to leave his territory alone and focus on raiding the Federation. Boresi learned that any one cell of the Black Hand can only speak for themselves, so a handful of second-string alien pirates took him up on his offer, but other Black Hand franchises kept raiding Boresi Space.

In the end, Boresi had to weigh his distaste for aliens against a half-assed cats paw against the Federation. He decided hating aliens was higher on his priority list. He captured most of his allied Black Hand pirates. He had his forces raid and massacre the free port they'd set up nearby his territory. His interrogators wrung everything his prisoners knew out of them and Boresi used this to curtail pirate operations in Boresi space for a long time.

Recently New Black Hand ships have turned up, more powerful, more capable and more numerous. And then add Mystery Raider activity, and Boresi is beefing up his defenses and arranging his forces to engage in an aggressive anti-piracy campaign.

North House 1 - Real Klingon. They are infamous for taking in any dregs, giving them new identities and putting them back into play. This is working out well for them. Lots of Dishonored warriors like a second chance and are very loyal to House North 1. They can be pretty violent and aggressive. They stay away from the Federation. After several raids, Starfleet attacked them aggressively. They seethe with resentment. Seeing a ship from House North-1 is a bad day for a Federation person. There's some knds of dishonor, they won't tolerate. Cowardice in battle or allying to closely with a non-Klingon is a bar against being recycled by this house.

[jayphailey]

Profile House Bordakar

Created by: Jay P Hailey

Occurrence: The Western Frontier near the Briar Patch

Number of Members:
Millions of Klingons and their subject races.

Nature of Members:
House Bordakar is a Real Klingon house, so the only rulers are Klingons. Warrior Caste Klingons are ascendant. Civilian Klingons come next. Then the Subject races.

Organization:
Techno Feudal: Bordakar and his family rule. They use an extremely organized table of organization. Everyone knows where they stand. Only the most capable and loyal Warriors rise to the higher ranks in House Bordakar.

Klingon Civilians run the Economic and support structures of House Bordakar.

Below the civilians are subject races. Although Real Klingons sound bloodthirsty in this regard, Bordakar has limited the amount of abuse and punishment inflicted on subject races. They are not truly people in Bordakar's eyes, but they have their value.

Game Role:
Bad Guy Klingons.

World Role:
Klingons who enforce the Empire and Traditional Imperial Values.

Relative Influence:
Politically less than average. Bordakar inherited his house after the previous generation spent themselves on foolish infighting and plots against Khaless II. The house was in disarray. Bordakar has brought his family's house of out chaos but has not yet been able to build more political capital to try and make contact with influencers or build up networks of contacts.

Economically: Large. Although on Paper it looked like House Bordakar had been hobbled and nearly ruined, Bordakar took what was left of his holdings and has rebuilt them into a powerhouse. Losing hidebound old timers and old school industrial infrastructure has done the House a big favor. Bordakar was able to begin almost from ground zero, and build up advanced industrial capacity.

Militarily: Less than average. No one is sure how many ships Bordakar has. Bordakar's forces have been allocated sparsely and with great care. His crews are disciplined and well trained. They have a plan and they accomplish that and then they leave. Bordakar's forces have the usual run of Klingon Ship types. Mostly new and up to date, but everything is kept up very well.

Relative Wealth:
Compared to other second rank houses, bigger than average. Bordakar is methodical and has studied what has worked and what has not. He had a excellent plan for rebuilding his houses economic infrastructure and it worked.

Group advantages:
The forces of House Bordakar fight with excellent discipline and coordination. Using the forces and tools they have, they use tactics and strategies to emphasize their strengths and exploit weaknesses in enemies.

Special Abilities:
Bordakar is a chess player. If you see his forces you can be assured he has a plan and it's a good one.

Group disadvantages:
Because Bordakar emphasizes planning and execution, his house does not have much of the impulsive and ad hoc action you'd see from other houses. So House Bordakar doesn't benefit from ad hoc raiding or unplanned raiding the way other houses do.

Special disadvantages:
Because Bordakar is such a planner and control freak, his house seems to move slowly and ponderously. He remains quiet when many other houses act.

Relations:
House Boresi: because they are both Real Klingon Houses, they would seem to be sympatico. House Bordakar ships and people often serve exchange tours with House Boresi to gain experience and knowledge of House Boresi. But Bordakar doesn't respect Boresi's ability to plan. So Bordakar is reserved about cooperating with Boresi. Boresi commercial shipping is welcome in Bordakar space.

House Kellisia: Bordakar doesn't think women have any place running a Klingon House. He also thinks Kellisia's "New Klingon" attitude is a recipe for disaster. Bordakar has also noted that Kellisia's forces tend to be scattered doing dozens of different things. Bordakar has a detailed and excellent plan for attacking and conquering House Kellisia but is biding his time. Attacking a New Klingon House might draw an Imperial counterattack, and so he is holding fire until the opportunity presents itself. Bordakar's commanders have authorization to hire Kellisia units as fire support if the opportunity presents itself. People closer to Bordakar know Bordakar's preference would be to use Kellisia units as cannon fodder, letting them eat damage and get destroyed before Bordakar units.

House Katchar: Bordakar thinks that Katchar's Klingon/Ferengi fusion attitude is made of pure wrong. He has been unpleasantly surprised by house fast the economy of house Katchar has grown and what that means for their ability to build up military forces. Like House Kellisia, Bordakar has a good, detailed plan to attack and wipe out House Katchar. Like Kellisia, Bordakar won't pull the trigger until he knows he won't draw retaliation from Kahless II and the other New Klingons. He'd prefer to have the support of the First Rank Real Klingon houses. As with Kellisia, Bordakar commanders have permission to hire Katchar units and use them as metaphorical Meat shields when the opportunity arises. Bordakar won't let Katchar commercial ships into his territory unless he has no other choice.

Boresi, Bordakar and several other Real Klingon houses have discussed house Kellisia and House Katchar, and are in agreement that they must go. It's only a matter of waiting for Kahless II and his New Klingon allies to be busy with something else and then it's go time.

Unknown to many, Bordakar is a major customer for espionage inside the Empire and out. His thirst for accurate information cannot be satisfied. His house has superior intelligence operatives and operations and hires the best freelancers from all over. When it comes to information, Bordakar will use ANYONE.

The Federation: Bordakar will occasionally send ships into Federation space. They use the Alliance as an excuse to gain information about the Federation. He is not a fan of the Federation and considers the Alliance an excuse to gather information and build up forces for another war against the Federation.

The Bendarri Empire: Pretty much the same as the Federation.

The Orions: Bordakar considers Orion people to be second class people like he considers all non-Klingons. He will deal with Orions to the degree it advances his own cause. Orion people residing in his domain are second class people. Bordakar limits the abuse inflicted on his second class residents because they are tools to advance his designs. This holds true for all Non-Klingon subject people in Bordakar's holdings.

The Zhodani: When Bordakar fights the Zhodani, he does so with a careful plan and goal in mind. Usually, the plan is to draw out and destroy Zhondani Military units. He loves to make Make Zhodani commanders try to choose between two awful options.

Area of Operation:
The Western Frontier of the Klingon Empire. In theory, Bordakar is intended to be back up and support for House House Boresi, Kellisia and Katchar, Supporting them in building out the Empire and confronting enemies in the region. Bordakar took Kaldar Orkon, a sleepy agricultural backwater world and turned it into a new stronghold. Now he has a fortress there, a massive starbase and ships yards. He has several new cities there, all built up according to carefull plans and functions.

Headquarters Location:
Fortress Danchak, on Kaldar Orkon. Named for Bordakar's father. It has a fortress at its core but now it has had a sprawling administrative center built around it.

Public Face:
Klingons. Real Klingons. The kind who are here to fight and win.

Notable Members:
Bordakar - the Leader. a Chess player, control freak and planner.

Danchak - Bordakar's father. In Bordakar's mind, a cautionary tale. he joined the Real Klingon side of the Klingon Civil War and lost. In doing so, he got several large planets taken away from his house and left the family with leftovers and ruins. Bordakar feels he fought impulsively, carelessly without sufficient planning and coordination. He will never say this publicly.

The Punchline:
Bordakar can do the math. He can see that House Katchar and House Kellisi will leave him behind.

So he has undertaken a very risky non-linear strategy. He made an Alliance with the Black Hand.

House Bordaakar has buffed the technology of the house and has funded industrial espionage through The Black hand to acquire more advanced technology.

House Bordakar built two hidden bases for the Black hand and purchases their booty. The real function of the Black Hand for Bordakar is to attack House Kellisia and House Katchar. The fact that the Pirates could turn on him too is something Bordakaar has discounted. Right now they have a cushy relationship.

This is why the Black Hand has turned into a serious local power recently.

Bordakar has only his most loyal people working to support the Black Hand. He cannot risk the story getting out. They use Q-ships and Mercenary ships to ferry supplies back and forth, and only under careful conditions of concealment.

[jayphailey]

Profile The Green Hand

Created by: Jay P Hailey

Occurence: 2370s. increases in violence in the 2380s.

Appearance: Imperial Klingons, usually scruffy, angry and exceptionally violent.

Number of Members: Unknown. Low estimates are tens of thousands.

Nature of Members: Klingons who are just as angry as hell that there ARE other raaces, that there are other races in the Empire and that SOME Klingons see fit not to kill them out of hand. These are Klingons on the furtherst of the Real Klingon political spectrum. Imagine Klingon ISIS.

Organization: Cellular. They actually borrow heavily from pirates, for similar reasons. In fact some cells cross the line between rebel or resistance fighter and organized crime or piraacy.

Game Role: Klingons who angrily volunteer to be blown up. Some Green hand bands do not take prisoners. Others sell captives into slavery.

World Role: Real Klingon criminals and terrorists. Klingons who take the Real Klingon head to the extreme. They assert that only proper thing for any Klingon to do is to start killing aliens and not stop until there are no more aliens. They consider Klingons who tolerate aliens to be only worth killing as well.

Relative Influence: Outsized for their numbers. The Green Hand Massacres are shocking and awful.

Public or Secret?: They are an open seccret. Due to advances in foresics science, a good number of Green Hand members are known and are on the run.

Publicly Stated Goal: To rid the Empire of all alien influences. And Aliens. And Klingons who tolerate aliens. Then to do the same to the Galaxy.

Relative Wealth: Large for their size. It's plain that the Green Hand is being funded by someone. Proably Real Kliingon houses. Any Real Klingon House found to be doing so will be subjecct to massive penalties up to and including having it's patriarch killed with a Bat'leth. But they still keep showing up with good ships and weapons.

Group advantages: Hiding andd stealth. Using Pirate tactics annd advanced techhnology the Green Hand is deeply difficult to pin down and bring to battle.

Special Abilities: The Green Hand has better ships and more support than most pirate bands.

Group disadvantages: Just about everyone in the galaxy is out to kill them. New Klingons especially relish the chance to kill them, but they're on lots of people's better dead list.

Special disadvantages: A lot of Green Hand Pirates are known to the Empire. The Huge majority of them are Klingons who lost battles to aliens or lost friends to aliens or who, for whatever reason just flipped out at the notion of Aliens.

Relations:
Real Klingons - The real Klingon Houses probably approve of Green Hand tactics annd goals but can not say so. If a Green hand ship gets into trouble it may flee towards the territory of a Real Klingon house.

The ship will be seized by the Real Klingon House and it's captain killed. But the crew will likely disappeaar.

New Klingons: If anything, the Green Hand is exactly the sort of thing the New Klingons enjoy fighting. So New Klingons pursue them avidly and fight them enthusiastically.

Other Klingon Client Races - All pretty much hate to hear that the Green hand are coming. A fight against the Green Hand is an All-In exxperience. Either you win, or you die, so the Green hand provokes desperate ressistance.

The Federation: The Federation is the other favorite enemy of the Green Hand pirates who cross the border and raid with reckless abandon. Starfleet does NOT like these guys and pulls out all the stops to run them down and prevent further aggresssion from them.

The Romulans: The Romulanns claim that, to them, there is no difference between the various Klingon factions. All attempts at piracy and surrepetitious action in the Empire are strongly opposed. Romulan dignitaaries and diplomats meeting with the Klingons have added more layers of defense.

The Cardassians: The Cardassians are not fans either. Attempts by the obsidian order to buff the Green Hands were only partial successful. The Green Hand took the offered money, weapons and supplies, murdered the agents of the Obsidian Order and went about their business. Since then contact has been sporadic but violent.

Orions: The Orions in the Empire are a client race of the Empire. Along the borders of the Orion Colonies and other places, there is a ruthless fight going on between the Green hand and the Orion Pirates. The Green hand often investigates a good place for a secret base annd finds orions already there. being the Green Hand, what do they do? They attack, to slaughter the pirates and seize the base for their own.

The Green of the Green hand is Orion blood. So there's not a lot of love lost.

There is some overlap however. Some Green Hand cells will sell off valuable loot to Orion Pirates. But these business dealings are tense and it's not unheard of for violence to break out.

The Black Hand: The Black Hand is an Orion Pirate Group, although they acccept annyone into their group. (The senior managemennt is a family of Orions and you won't be getting in there) Their symbol is a black right hand with two thumbs. This is used as an identifier in appropriate contexts. People who wear the black hand but haven't eearned it are taking their life in their hands.

This is an organized crime group and exists to steal and smuggle for money. They are not big on revenge or personal vendettas, although individual members might be so motivted.

The Black Hand resents the confusion between their group and the Green Hand. They are also not fans of how the Green hand group got it's name.

Black Hand affiliates will cassh in on the bounties for the Green Hand whenever the opportunity presents itself. The Black Hand also has it's own bounties on Green Hand members. Collecting those bounties is somewhat harder for people who arenn't already known to the Black Hand.

Area of Operation:
The Klingon Empire, and it's frontiers.

Headquarters Location: Lots of people wouldd love to know. In truth they have three major starbases in hidden loccations, overlapped with Real Klingon covert activities. These bases have become safe spaces for those Green Hand members who have been iddentified. They exist at the sufferance of Real Klingon House lords and if that ends, the Green Hand will be much reduced and much fewer in number. This is a "Kill Self Before Reading" level secret of the Real Klingons. They'll kill whoever they need to, and anyone nearby to make sure this secret does not ccome out.

Public Face: Radical and extreme Klingon nutcases. You are guilty of not being Klingon. The sentence death. Or brutal slavery followed by death. But mostly death.

Notable Members:

Kadaalach of Nesmoroth is considered patient zero of the Green hand.

History of the Organization:

In the 2370s attacks against non-Klingons inside the Empire went up and up. This culmminated in the Salavaa Argosy Massacre. An Orion run Starliner was found mangled by heavy weapons and all survivors massacred. Men, women and children. The attackers boarded and just slaughtered everyone. Forensic evidence shows the brutal murder came first and the looting came after.

One Orion man, attempting to defend his wife and children was gutted, lived for a while and then was beheaded. Kadaalach of Nesmoroth put his right hand in the Orion man's blood and put a hand print on the wall next to the man's body, and then wrote "Death to Aliens" in Klingon, in the man's blood.

This became sensational news all over the emire. Kadaalach waas quickly identified by finger prints and a huge bounty was put on his head.

This also became a sensation among the pirates, who took to repeating the gesture as a signature annd a call to like minded Klingons.

Later, Green hand pirates would do the same in the blood of any of their victims. to defeat giving away their identity, Green Hand pirates nnow ccut off a victim's hand and use that to make the hand print on the wwll, as well as to write the term "Death to Aliens"

Klingon Law Enforcement, The Klingon Defense Force, Klingon Bounty Hunters and random Klingon Adventurers of good alignment made finding and killing Green Hand Pirates thier hobby and passion.

So far the Green Hand specializes mainly in attacking poorly defended targets by surprise. When encountered, they seem to think their Klingon Purity will give them an edge in personal combat. They will not shy away from a fight with anyone, and they fight to kill.

But the strategic planners of thee Green Hand are much more underhanded aand sneaky. They are focused on dismembering non-Klingon infrastructure and commerce inside the Empire. They are focussed on provoking fear and terror among the non-Klingon clients of the Empire.

The thinking seeems to be to fight to bleed the non-Klingon Clients and then when they are bled, and weakened, then to strike to kill.

They hhave an enemies list as long as your arm, but co occupying the two top spaces are New Klingons who tolerate Aliens, and Aliens in the Empire who presume to think they are something other than slaves and victims.

These two are the groups that get hit first and worst.

The Green hand are considered betrayers and foes of the Empire. They have bounties on their heads, and anyone killing a Green Hand Pirate in single combat will earn a reward and recognition from the Klingon Empire. (Shooting them counts)

[jayphailey]

Profile The Black Hand

The Black Hand is an organized crime organization with a specialization in Piracy and moving goods taken through piracy.


Created by: Jay

Occurance: The Klingon Empire in a "Modern" Game. The RAI Plot, although Peripheral

Number of Members: Unknown. People would like to know. Even The Black Hand doesn't know for sure who's in and out.

Nature of Members:
The Black Hand is a Cellular Organization. It Descends from a group of Orions who moved into the Area about 50 years ago.

The Black Hand of their identifier is actually the hand of an Earth Koala. The way it works is small groups of Orions who are known to each other will create various imaginative organizations and symbols with which to relate to outsiders and underlings. No one knows where and how such a group will catch fire and begin making big money. And no one knows how long it will last before being unraveled and rolled up by Law Enforcement.

So, Orion Syndicate cells will create various offshoots and front organizations to insulate the core membership from this effect.

The Orions who started the Black Hand formed a sort of family and then imported outsiders, trusted lieutenants, and spun off cells to conduct business. The core family is not generally known, but these relationships kept sensitive information and knowledge inside a small group of loyal people.

Once Piracy began to pay off, the core group began to spin off franchises. The Black Hand was used as an identifier, a Brand name to mark trusted players. This allowed Black Hand-branded bases and fences to be run, but it also allowed the real core to distance themselves. They're only Black Hand in contexts useful for business.

As the brand name grew in popularity, the early adopters were able to charge subsequent cells for the branding rights—a sort of criminal Multi-Level marketing.

Operational groups may contain anyone. They need to prove their trustworthiness and profitability to the franchisee one level up.

Usually, people who man a Black Hand Pirate ship or related operation are people who possess the required technical skills but who, for whatever reason, are ineligible to be hired by mercenary or adventuring groups, let alone legit commercial space operations or space navies. These are usually people with disturbing criminal backgrounds or ongoing addictions.

When properly run, pirate bands develop high levels of group cohesion. For many pirates, their crew is their last option for belonging.

However, for every one high morale pirate group, there are 4 or 5 groups that are rolling disasters.

So self-policing and getting rid of problems is also common among pirates.

Organization:
The Black Hand is Cellular. A single ship or fencing operation begins to use the Black hand branding. Usually, this is leaad by someone who was a crewmember of a previous Black Hand cell. The Holdders of the black hand franchise are jealous of the name. A wannabe who just shows up with the symbol and a name is usually "Persuaded" otherwise.

Or a small-time franchisee may adopt a wannabe. If the wannabe can pay the fee and is trustworthy, they can rent subsidiary rights to the name.

Detailed knowledge of who is who among the Black Hand is avoided. You ccan't give up what you don't know. Klingon torturers are brutal but effective.

Klinzai interrogators are legendary in effectiveness and creativity.

If someone in a given cell is captured or compromised, then people in his cell are encouraged to flee and change their names. Some cells break up and reform elsewhere, and others just change names. One service customarily available at Pirate Bases is Biosculpt. Besides treating injuries, most clinics can give a customer a new face and body to go along with a new name for the right price.

Once an individual has served in a Black Hand cell, he can usually join a different cell. Reputatation matters. The Black Hand has developed a set of cultural tags to recognize each other: common watering holes, common non-Black Hand people known, common music played, common books to be read, and so on.

These function as a secret handshake for members of the black hand to identify each other with.

So from outside, the Black Hand is rolling a boil of cells, and ships are coming and going.

The point of the whole exercise is to make money. A cell makes money and pays the franchise, or word comes down from a higher level and they're liquidated. Usually, that means that ships and gear are seized, crew people are dispersed to other cells, and the hapless commander disappears.

Fees are paid up through the chain step by step until the original black-hand franchise holders make piles of money and pay a healthy commission to shadowy members of the Orion Syndicate.

If a lucky, skilled, determined, and numerous law enforcement agency could roll up the organization, by the time they got to the upper levels, they'd find abandoned homes and businesses and missing people or dead bodies. The whole point of the organizational design is to funnel money to the center but to be disposable and something to be abandoned if the heat gets turned up.

The Management of the Black Hand only cares about individuals within it to the degree that they are profitable. Unprofitable individuals may find themselves abandoned or disappear.

Wannabes or idiots who adopt the Black hand branding are either smacked down and incorporated into a working cell, they disappear, or they get framed for actual Black Hand crimes and are thrown to the police as bribes or for amusement.

Game Role: A Source of Pirates.

World Role: Armed Robbery for fun and profit. Different Cells may do smuggling, fencing, drug running, loan sharking, gambling or prostitution, assassination and or mercenary work or some mix of anything. But their main jam is Piracy.

Relative Influence: Moderate. The Black Hand is a spin-off of House Hamilcar, a similar, older Pirate network that operates in the Orion/Klingon Frontier area. Their influence is reduced by the amount of stealth and deniability built into their organization. The Black Hand is large and well-known for a secret Organized Crime Group.

Public or Secret?: Both. The brand "The Black Hand" has its public uses. But who is who within this group needs to be secret or it would cause to exist in short order.

Publicly Stated Goal: To get rich or die trying.

Relative Wealth: Variable. It's difficult to speak of the wealth of this group as a whole since ships, operations, and installations are held by cells. The Number of ships associated with the Black Hand is unknown. It is pretty clear that the organization is flowing wealth upwards, but how much is not clear and changes unpredictably over time.

Group advantages: Stealth and cellular nature. If you identify one cell of the Black Hand, you still have your work cut out to identify others.

Black Hand starships move around the Empire almost at will, and the current batch of hidden Pirate bases are in good shape and functioning well.

Special Abilities: The Upper Levels of the Black Hand have penetrated the Klingon Defense organization, and so Klingon technology and processes are available to the Black Hand. This means the Black Hand can sell participants the best cloaks available.

Group disadvantages: As a Pirate group, they have targets on their backs. real Klingoon, new Klingon, Starfleet, Mercenaries, Adventurers, Anyone can shoot at Pirates with no fear of official Sanction.

Special disadvantages: Although the secretive and cellular nature of the group has heldd so far, it's only matter of time until law Enforcement gets a good break and begins a serious roll up of the organization. It's the nature of such things that they are temporary.

Reactions:
The Klingon Empire: Being a Space Pirate in the Empire is an all-or-nothing business. Falling in Battle is expected. Captured pirates are interrogated. The Klingons did away with summary executions to appease the Federation. Survivors of capture and interrogation are sent to "Labor Battalions."

Earlier in Klingon History, this meant hard labor, mining, or stoop labor farming until death.

Currently, it means being sent to something that looks like a clinic, where patients recuperate and then are trained on detailed technological work. There, they live an institutional life of doing tedious tech work for the rest of their lives. These Clinics are manned by non-Klingon medical people and techs. They have quality-of-life enhancements that are cheap and easily implemented.

Old Klingons complain that this isn't terrible enough.

Modern Klingons, once they've wrung all data out of a prisoner, don't care how he feels. Doing the tedious tech work adds value to the empire. Non-Klingon caretakers and trainers are cheap, as are replicated food and electronic entertainment.

Prisoners are implaanted with "Actijot" technology, which gives jailers override control of the prisoner's nervous system. If there's a security breach, prisoners can be paralyzed until the issue is resolved.

The potential for torture is awful.

The Orions: This is heavily context-dependent. Orion Mercenaries are usually welcomed at Orion worlds, and not too many questions are asked. Most Orion Client worlds take care to stay on the right side of Imperial Law. So, an open Pirate who visits such a world and opens them to an Imperial crackdown will not be welcomed. Some worlds will arrest open pirates and hand them over to the Klingons. They feel this is necessary to maintain a good relationship with the Empire.

Pirates often have a Gazeteer of which world relates in which way to which sorts of Pirates.

One of the Skills of a Pirate is to appear to be someone else, someone with a legitimate reason to be there. So some pirates masquerade as commercial ships, mercenary ships, or even Klingon ships of various kinds. When they visit Orion Worlds, keeping their cover-up is necessary.

Previous crackdowns against Orion and Klinzai Client worlds have had enormous death tolls and titanic desstruction. So Pirates are usually careful and ginger about their contact with client worlds. If a Pirate acts like an idiot, he may find Klingon units or Franchise Enforcement Units seem to know where he is, all of a sudden. Idiots don't last long after that.

House Hamilcar: Hamilcar is an older Pirate Franchise. The upper levels of this organization are much more careful and paranoid than even the Black Hand Core group. They brook no nonsense, and people who fail to behave professionally and carefully are dealt with quickly and permanently.

Some ships and operations have relations with both Organizations. This is allowed. As a matter of ancient custom, a franchisee only pays one group, and other groups back off. This is to prevent inter-group fights. Ships, commanders, and operations with good reputations are welcomed among both organizations. Wannabes are rejected.

The Federation: The Federation has been struggling with more Black Hand pirates recently. Starfleet has excellent technical skills and competence and fights pirates aggressively. So far, however, their ability to get agents inside Black Hand cells has been limited.

Top Secret:
House Bordakar, the Real Klingon House, has adopted several Cells of The Blaack hand and is buffing them to use them as deniable forces in the area. House Bordakar thinks it has the central nodes, but it only has some of the upper nodes.

This has caused discussion among the core of the Black Hand. It's clear that Bordaakar will use Pirates for as long as they're convenient and then destroy them to prevent the secret from getting out.

But Bordakar has provided nice ships, resources, and money, which has notably boosted the profitability of the Black Hand.

So the consensus is to spin off "Bordakar's Black Hand", take the profits that can be made and cut it loose when Bordakar decides he's done with them.

Word is passing among trusted commanders away from Bordakar's orbit to avoid engaging or engage with caution.

Mediocre commanders and pirates are being funneled into the Bordakar orbit, as well as questionable people and good people who are too hot.

Bordakaar has a reputation as a chess player, a very smart one, but one who is careful, slow, and methodical. He surprised everyone when he approached The Black Hand. This is a gamble and a risk. But it shows that Bordakar is intent on cancelling the advantages that House Kellisi, House Katchar, and House Ogalak have. It is a risky move and radical in that it conceptualizes Orions and others not as enemies and victims but as tools to be used.

The Green Hand: The Black Hand is aggressively opposed to the Green Hand for two reasons. One, by killing non-Klingons, they reduce and impoverish the gray and black markets that happen among non-Klingons and the commerce to be found there. So, by metaphor, the Green Hand is damaging their habitat. Two, the similarities in names are confusing, so they dilute and corrupt the Black Hand Brand, which has been built up over time.

A third reason is self-preservation. Many members of the Black Hand are not ethnic Klingons or pure ethnic Klingons. So if the Green Hand expands or finds broader popular support, then things could get bad for non-Klingon residents of the Empire.

So, the Black Hand has standing bounties on the heads of Green Hand members. Known and particularly violent Green Handers have more significant bounties put on them. Some of the Green Hand Commanders have met with mysterious accidents. Some speculate that these are Black Hand assassins. This is a rumor that the Black Hand does nothing to squelch or suppress.


Area of Operation: The Klingon Empire along the western frontier, both inside and outside of Imperial Territory.

Headquarters Location: Not Applicable. The core of The Black Hand are ordinary business people in the Empire, whose actions and interactions seem completely mundane and uninteresting.

Each cell will have its own rough area of operation or base of operations, but this will be different for each cell, and for each operation the cell specializes in.

Public Face: Violent pirates with bigger guns than yours, But they will be reasonable if you hand over the goods. Like all pirates, they want to steal with as little opposition as they can get away with. So they have been building a reputation as pirates who outgun and out violence all opposition but are reasonable on the topic of surrender.

The underworld's reputation is one of "Cross and them, and bad things will happen to you." Again, this is marketing and perception management.

The Black Hand will put energy into ending people who cross it or give evidence against it. Often, if it's a low-level criminal and informant, the Black Hand will pay for a showy, public, and violent end to the person. This is a matter of Preserving and enhancing the brand.

Notable Members:
The Fingers of the Black Hand. Said to be the Highest-level Commanders of the Black Hand. These are actually "Legends," false identities created by the true runners of the Black Hand. Occasionally, a Trusted Lieutenant is tasked to go, take up an identity and perform an operation. These real-world sock puppets allow the true brains behind the Black Hand to create images, lay tracks, and present narratives in the service of the organization and to distract from their own involvement.

Lowallan the Green: A Former Gladiator, who, when his own transport was attacked, waited until an opportune moment to kill his owner and a good chunk of the Pirate crew . Then he pulled together the Pirates and Transport survivors and went into business for himself. Lowallan considers his relationship with the Black Hand to be purely business. He has a ship, a crew, and freedom. He Relishes this and straddles the line between Pirate and privateer. He is known to prefer Real Klingon Targets for piracy. If he takes a contract, his word is his bond.

Lowallan occasionally raids slavers in raids that have very little profit. Slaves taken in such raids often wind up free people among House Kellisi or House Katchar

Balastor the Dishonored: A Woman who was the wife of a mid-level Noble. She discovered he was corrupt and blew the whistle. She discovered after the fact that this was not expected or supported behavior. In a night of violence, she killed her husband and two of her sons and fled. The story is not well understood outside of immediate circles. Her Husband's family blamed her and got a bounty put on her head. She turned up two years later, commanding a small pirate ship. Now, she commands a large Pirate ship. She is resolutely New Klingon. She prides herself on her honorable behavior and loyalty to her crew and friends. This includes a Black hand Franchisee. She is often seen at Black Hand free ports and watering holes. She rejected Bordakar's offer. Only loyalty to the Black Hand has kept her from publicly challenging Bordakar and publicizing his foul plan to all.

Jimmy Chen: A Human from Earth. He claims to be writing a book on Space Pirates. he is often seen in black hand hangouts and freeports. He has shipped out with a number of crews. He is considered technically adept but goofy and over-talkative. His Black Hand connection is deep and higher than anyone knows, so the default reaction to gun him down on the spot or take him to space and toss him out the airlock are stymied. Some Pirates swear by Jimmy, and he always has a spot on their ships. Top Secret: Jimmy Chen is also known as "Subject 4", a talented hitman. He has an amazing ability to defeat electronic security and so far has not encountered anyone able to beat him with guns or swords. His preferred method of killing is a mysterious accident. But he has murdered people in person, in a showy fashion to fullfill a contract. Jimmy is a free borg who has taken steps to hide this; it's his edge. But he is also a high-functioning sociopath and a superior chess player, so by the time most targets realize they're in trouble, it's already too late. Jimmy has cybernetic chameleon skin and so often wanders around as an Orion, Klinzai, or Klingon worker, and achieves almost total invisibility this way.

History of the Organization:
The Black Hand started out as a spin-off from House Hamilcar. In those days, the western frontier of the Klingon Empire was underpopulated, and it looked like there would be little expansion. But, with an eye towards the future, The people who originated the organization pooled resources and hired scouts. The above-ground end of the operation mapped systems and made preparations to support future Klingon colonization in the area. Some scouts were also under the table guys. They looked for the good hiding places and good places for hidden bases and facilities.

So when Klingon Expansion into the area happened, our coalition of businessmen was ready to offer above-ground services and set up to facilitate light predation.

Since then, the project has grown and outgrown the founders' original scope. Their heirs now run it according to carefully noted guidelines. Talk has already moved to what form a replacement might take, if any, and how to separate from the Black Hand when it has outlived its usefulness.

[Innkeeper]

Add them to the Klingon Houses

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