exploration

Table of Contents

Early ExplorationAlthough the war/hunt games of early Klingon society slowed the population growth of Klingon culture, it did not stop it completely. The Klingons began to realize this and began to send out groups to look for more sources of water. Often they would find a small lake within a few days travel of their main lake. The Klingon who could most reliably find the lakes became head, or overlord, of the group. Later, the leader became simply the strongest because he commanded the respect of other Klingons and could get them to do his water-finding for him. As the concept of leadership had developed so had the concept of economically supporting the leader. Klingons of this period had not yet developed money, but the paintings remaining on the pieces of brick that have been found suggest that tribute was paid in the form of young sons that were taken to live in a communal or military-type setting and trained to go for days without water so that they could search for new lakes.Early Klingon religious thought was rich with various gods, goddesses, demons, demi-gods, sprites, and all the other creatures that primitive humanoids usually create. However, only two of them bear mentioning here. Durgath was the chief of all gods, sort of a heavenly overlord. Durgath was known as “the giver and taker of life, also the Klingon god of war” (Pawns and Symbols, p. 73). In the same manner as the ancient Egyptian and Japanese culture on Earth, the leader of a tribe became to be respected as Durgath’s representative on earth. One popular Klingon saying is that “we are all prey for Durgath’s palate.” This is quite representative of the fatalistic attitude that Klingons take towards life. Klingon religion holds that they are simply pawns in a galactic game and that Durgath played them against each other and occasionally rewarded those who were most cunning or brave. Given this nature of the universe, it was considered the duty of all pawns to do as good for themselves as they could so as to attract the notice of Durgath and possibly his favor.Later in this period, Klingons developed another name for Durgath, however, this one is used very infrequently and usually only when a Klingon is dissatisfied with the outcome of a certain action. The name they developed, K’nash’akar, is quite telling in that it is directly translated to mean The One Who Does Not Care. It was also late in this period that Klingons developed their game Klin zha, modeled after the universe and their place in it as they saw it. Klin zha was another attempt at emulating Durgath and understanding and using what was his so that he would take notice of hisplucky players. Cymele was the female equivalent of Durgath and was as ruthless in her sphere of influence as he in his. Cymele changed some over the years, as far as can be told from the archaeological records, from a simple goddess of the fields and forests and protectress of women, to the absolute Goddess of the hearth, including the females that made the home, the love that bound the males to them, and the children that the home existed to create.

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