# What do Klingons do with Conquered People? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684 "2006-02-15T21:13:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/21 "2006-02-16T17:34:39Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > It is possible that the Star Trek universe is full of Class M planets that have no important intelligent life. In that case, the Romulan Empire might be sixteen (or sixty or six hundred) planets all with Romulans on the top of the food chain. I seem to remember it mentioned at some point that the Romulans have only one system under thier control. I could be wrong though. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/22 "2006-02-16T18:06:39Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > Not what I’ve read, but I certainly don’t give enough of a shit about it to get in a fight with you. Um, right. I’m not fighting with you. > [@Terrifel](#): > > Technically, I believe the Romulans and Remans were both descended from Vulcan colonists. However, only the planet Remus had rich deposits of dilithium. As a result of the Empire’s extensive and environmentally unsafe mining practices, Remus eventually became a toxic wasteland, while the descendants of the miners mutated over time into the ass-ugly Morlock/Nosferatu (Mosferocktu?) offshoot species of Picard’s day. Note however that they still retain the pointy ears of their Romulan heritage. And at least they’ve evolved beyond their ancestors’ racial predilection for unflattering bowl haircuts. I don’t think ~2,000 years is long enough for natural selection to have given rise to such pronounced differences between the Remans and Romulans (especially considering they’re a space-faring species and, thus, were not isolated from one another) but Trek’s strong suit has never been science and I kind of like this explanation. I’ve always preferred the idea of twin homeworlds and hated the hatchet job that \*Nemesis \* gave to my favorite species. > [@Malodorous](#): > > I seem to remember it mentioned at some point that the Romulans have only one system under thier control. I could be wrong though. > **[Romulan planets](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Romulan_planets)** > > The following is a list of mentioned planets and star systems in the Romulan Star Empire. All planets listed are or were inhabited at some point of time. Benzar (Federation planet liberated from the Dominion by Romulan forces in 2374) Carraya IV... They have at least four, maybe five depending on whether or not you consider Romii to be a star system or some funky spelling of Remus, and most likely, a good hundred or so more. They’re one of the three superpowers of our area of space but we, the viewers, just don’t know much about them because their makeup was prohibitively expensive in TOS (they were originally intended as the main villains of the series) and generally ignored in the later series for the stupendously boring Klingons. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/23 "2006-02-16T18:45:59Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > we, the viewers, just don’t know much about them because their makeup was prohibitively expensive in TOS (they were originally intended as the main villains of the series) and generally ignored in the later series for the stupendously boring Klingons. Wasn’t their makeup in the original series just pointy ears? I know the Klingons’ was chainmail and bronzer. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/24 "2006-02-16T18:51:23Z")
Yeah, they were originally identical to Vulcans but the ears and eyebrows were expensive to apply in large numbers (not to mention time-consuming) for a show that was on such a tight budget. It just wasn’t cost-effective. That’s also why a lot of Romulans wore those stupid helmets. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/25 "2006-02-16T18:53:14Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > They’re one of the three superpowers of our area of space but we, the viewers, just don’t know much about them because their makeup was prohibitively expensive in TOS . . . 😕 What?! Two Spock ears and you’re good to go! ---
**Author:** ![clnilsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecccb3/32.png) [@clnilsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clnilsen)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/26 "2006-02-16T19:43:40Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > The Klingons have an empire, so I presume they’ve gone around conquering star systems and things. What happens to the people they conquer? > > -FrL- They help them set up their own fledgeling democracies. :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/27 "2006-02-16T19:54:42Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > What?! Two Spock ears and you’re good to go! **1.** \*This episode saw the introduction of the Romulan Star Empire in Star Trek. It was writer Paul Schneider who is credited with creating the Romulans. It is said he wished to create an adversary worthy of Kirk, one with flavours of a space faring Roman Empire. Sadly, with the make-up for the Romulans too expensive, and the budget limited, the Klingons were cheaper to use. \* [RIGHT][http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Balance\_of\_Terror[/RIGHT]](http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Balance_of_Terror%5B/RIGHT%5D) **2.** \*[the] original “Star Trek” series cost a LOT of money in its day, and Desilu was not a studio flush with cash, especially when it came to such an untried and risky concept. When the original pilot episodes were made, Desilu did not even really HAVE a makeup department, latex appliances were difficult to make and apply, and quite expensive. Even something as simple looking as Leonard Nimoys ear appliances caused many problems… \* [RIGHT][http://www.nitcentral.com/askchief/ac980619.htm[/RIGHT]](http://www.nitcentral.com/askchief/ac980619.htm%5B/RIGHT%5D) _The World of Star Trek_ by David Gerrold goes into more detail and is a more authorative cite if you don’t trust the two previous. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/28 "2006-02-17T00:57:13Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I presume they’ve gone around conquering star systems and things. “Dear, would you pick up some milk on the way home?” “Pah TAH! I have told you not to call me on my communicator! I have star systems to conquor and things!” “What sort of ‘things’, Dear?” “Pah Qah! Things…HONORABLE things!” “That’s nice, dear. Don’t forget the milk.” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/29 "2006-02-17T19:11:33Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > …In any case, you’d mostly see only the dominant group if, as the Enterprise crew does, you are mostly dealing with elite units of the other fleet or with government officials. If the modern-day Enterprise visited a Chinese port-of-call, the crew on liberty would see a whole damn lot of Han Chinese, but would have to look hard to pick out Tibetans or Uighurs. And never mind any among the PLA Admiralty having meetings with the American officers… That’s what I always thought, too. There might be dozens or even hundreds of races yearning to get out from under the Klingons’ and Romulans’ jackbooted heels, but the senior officers of Federation starships aren’t likely to meet any of them. What I’ve long wondered was, by the time of TNG, how the Federation public would stomach so close an alliance with the Klingons if the K. Empire was anything like what it had been implied to be. It’s one thing just to not be at war with them; it’s something else to have them as peacetime allies (FDR and Churchill could overlook Stalin’s faults during WWII, but once the Nazis were conquered, the alliance kinda deteriorated). One TNG episode even showed a Klingon captain on his bridge, with both the Klingon and Federation insignias displayed behind him. It seemed like the UFP and the KE were about as tight as they could be, without the Klingons actually joining the Federation and being subsumed into it. Not that so magnificent a warrior race would ever submit to such a fate, of course… ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/30 "2006-02-18T18:45:23Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > I don’t think ~2,000 years is long enough for natural selection to have given rise to such pronounced differences between the Remans and Romulans (especially considering they’re a space-faring species and, thus, were not isolated from one another) but Trek’s strong suit has never been science and I kind of like this explanation. I’ve always preferred the idea of twin homeworlds and hated the hatchet job that \*Nemesis \* gave to my favorite species. While it may seem implausible that the Remans could have diverged so radically from their parent stock in so short a time, one should bear in mind that Trek-style evolution is being reinforced here by Trek-style environmental contamination. I don’t recall that the series ever established whether raw dilithium is itself radioactive, but perhaps the mining technology is to blame instead. Or perhaps cumulative exposure to dilithium’s DNA-like spiral crystalline structure results in heritable teratogenic effects (granted, I’m citing the cartoon series here, but damned if I can see why those episodes should be any less canonical than _Nemesis_.) When you factor in the often-oblique reasoning of alien species _("Hmm… should we try to clean up the planetwide environmental catastrophe that our mining has caused, or should we instead use our Trek-style genetic engineering technology to enable the miners to survive by turning them into vampires_?"), the Reman situation suddenly makes perfect sense. On the other hand, I’m certainly not going to work too hard arguing that the movie wasn’t a complete hallucination or nightmare sequence or something. Frankly, I think the screenwriters implicitly disavowed any claim to canonicity with the scene where Picard reveals his passion for Xtreme Offroadin’. \* “Whoooo!!! Starfleet RULES!!! WHOOOO!!!” \* (drives doughnuts all over pacifistic sentient tumbleweed civilization) ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/31 "2006-02-19T04:28:14Z")
Simple. Once they conquer an alien race, the release them so that they may be conquered again another day. Stupid conquer-and-release interstellar laws that they have in the 24th Century. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/32 "2006-02-19T04:36:50Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Stupid conquer-and-release interstellar laws that they have in the 24th Century. That actually makes sense. Like a hunting license. You can only bag your limit of humanoid civilizations per season. You must have a special “Warp Drive Capability” stamp. Sort of like the Federation Prime Directive. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/33 "2006-02-20T03:02:59Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > That actually makes sense. Like a hunting license. You can only bag your limit of humanoid civilizations per season. You must have a special “Warp Drive Capability” stamp. Sort of like the Federation Prime Directive. \*\*—TARG NEWS UPDATE— \*\* _Qo’noS_: The High Council has just issued a statement regarding the annual subjugation of the Zolin system into the glorious Klingon Empire. The Vor’Cha attack cruiser mistakenly fired upon by the Vice Chancellor sustained only minor hull damage. The crew’s disruptor burns have been stabilized, and so far all have failed to die honorably. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/34 "2006-02-20T03:38:27Z")
TNN update: Commander Krug of the Imperial Attack Cruiser Vor’Cha officially accepted resposibility for being fired upon by Vice Chancellor Chy’Ne. “It was dishonorable to place my cruiser in the same solar system as the Vice Chancellor, thereby making my craft a possible target.” read Commander Krug’s suicide note. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/35 "2006-02-20T04:29:35Z")
Well, according to Kirk in TWoK, “Klingons don’t take prisoners.” ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684/36 "2006-02-20T07:48:23Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Well, according to Kirk in TWoK, “Klingons don’t take prisoners.” Indeed. They only take pictures. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-klingons-do-with-conquered-people/344684.md?page=1)