Honor and Dishonor
Honor is one of the most important parts of Klingon culture. The loss of honor or a disgraced House name affects a whole
family line and the entire House bears the same disgrace. A member of the dishonored family must challenge the High Council
in a kind of trial to restore the honor.
The annual Day of Honor ritual is a reflective Klingon ritual. This is when Klingons look back on the past year and examines
if they can measure up to Kahless. Blood pie is served on this day and a targ's heart is eaten to bring courage.
If the Klingon's honor isn't measuring up to Kahless, the Klingon can go through the Ritual of 20 painsticks or battle a bat'leth master.
Kahless the Unforgettable
According to legend, Kahless created The first bat'leth when dropping a strand of his
hair in a vulcano at Mount Kristak and later into the lake Lursor.
He then formed it into a bathleth which he used to kill Molor, a Klingon tyrant.
This made him the leader of the Klingon people and the first to join all klingons into one people, which gave him a lot of
honor.
Klingons tell stories about how Kahless once fought off an entire army by himself at Three Turn Bridge
and how he met his first wife while fighting 500 warriors at the Great Hall at Qam-Chee after the city
garrison had fled.
Death, StoVoKor and Grethor
Klingons don't bury their dead but they peer into a the dead Klingon's eyes to look death in the face. Then they howl into
the sky to warn the afterlife that a Klingon warrior is about to arrive. Friends of the dead will sit
with the body to protect it from predators and allow the soul to leave the body in peace. The Klingon body is discarded as
an empty shell after the soul has left the body.
Klingons who die in battle honorably will move on to StoVoKor, which is the Klingon heaven and guarded by
Kahless the unforgettable.
The dishonored dead travels to Grethor on The Barge of the Dead over The River of Blood. The Barge, piloted by Kortar, takes
the dishonored souls through the gates guarded by a Klingon demon. Kortar and his mate destroyed the gods who created them
and turned the heavens into ashes. For this he was punished by eternally ferry The Barge of the Dead, leading to Grethor.
