Chancellor Sturka, Son of Kevek (2190-2270)
Sturka, son of Kevek; Premier of the Klingon Empire and "Thought Admiral of the People" is one of the most pivotal figures of mid 23rd century history. Despite being in power for a mere seven years, Sturka's influence - both in the decade before his ascent and in the minds for generations afterwards - transformed the Klingon Empire forever. His policy's of rapid industrialisation, political ruthlessness and cultural conformity would centralise the traditional feudal order of the Empire into a military-industrial complex on a scale the galaxy had never seen before.
His legacy was complicated, however; his aspirations towards the unification of the entire Empire around one military goal would lead to the suppression of "subversive" aspects of Klingon society, the desecration of much of Klingon tradition and the supplication of traditional religion to the needs of the state. The military bureaucracy he empowered would also maintain and iron grip over the empire for the next two decades, refusing to reform or share power until they were brought down by the Khitomer Conspiracy. According to the official histories, Sturka was born Su'terqa in Amirakan, Mempa. State sources say that his father, Kevek, was a mid-level Imperial Bureaucrat, but other references point to him actually being a blacksmith who moonlighted as a "Kol'Qua",a bandit who raided the farms and stores of Mempa's aristocratic landowners for goods to sell on the blackmarket. He joined the Imperial Armed forces at a young age in order to escape rural life, serving briefly as an infantryman before joining the Imperial Navy and rising through the ranks to a staff position in the early 2340s. In this position, Sturka would observe the great levels of corruption and venality that stymied Chancellor Durak and doom the Axanar and Donatu campaigns; his distaste for the great houses would turn to disgust after their betrayal of Durak and essential destruction of central authority in the aftermath of Donatu V; their greed, in his view, allowed the UFP to finish it's "great campaign of cultural conquest" in the Klingon fringe regions. He would remain in the Imperial navy, husbanding the "Home Fleet" through the anarchic 2250s, cultivating a following from similarly minded officers of all backgrounds. They were a very different set to many Klingons; scornful of religion, decadenance and ritual, they believed firmly in a "modern" idea of Klingon society; austere, plain and ruthless, valuing victory at any cost. Honour, to Sturka, was found in power - and power alone. It is perhaps for this reason that he would back L'Rell during her coup d'etat in late 2257. It is true, however, that the two did share an ideological platform. Despite her belief in traditional Klingon practices and her emphasis on "remaining Klingon", they both held the state above the house system as the primary director of Klingon society. Together, they would harness the power of mass media, central economic control and an ever-expanding military machine to turn the disparate, decentralised worlds of the early 23rd century into a modern, organised Empire. Sturka would hold several titles across this period - Chief Officer, First Advisor, Chief of the Imperial General Staff - but all would see him extending his influence into further corners of the Klingon state, directing economic planning or appointing allies and favourites to key positions in the Army, Navy, Bureaucracy and burgeoning security services. In the aftermath of the Raktajino Revolution, however, his ambitions would begin to diverge from that of L'Rell; her refusal in his eyes to accept the culpabability of aristocratic greed in the rebellion compromised her "revolutionary ambitions". From then on, he would work to ensure that the military's acquired power remained secure, using crises like the Strategic Resource Embargo and the collapse of Darsek to bind the Imperial armed forces into the economic levers of the Empire, giving them control over resource distribution, production quotas and even tax collection. Sturka would play a key role in the Acamar crisis; first in manuevering Imperial Intelligence and the MIS onto the planet itself, and then in managing the interference of the great houses in the whole affair. Once again, their greed would, in his view, jeopardise the new order, as their desire to turn the Acamarians into a personal client would expose the planet to a Starfleet Blockade, before leading to a confrontation over the deployment of Long Range Interspatial Missiles (LRIMs) to the system. L'Rell's decision to back down from a confrontation in this moment incensed many in the armed forces and aristocracy. Even if Sturka agreed with L'Rell's realpolitik over Acamar, he knew that her time as "mother" of the Empire was coming to an end, and deftly assisted the overthrow of L'Rell over the winter of 2262. He, however, remained on the sidelines, happy to let the High Council paralyse itself over the lack of a clear successor. In the meantime, the military and security services continued to husband strength, gathering key information and sources within the halls of power. Sturka would seize control of the Klingon Empire after the Kobax Crisis, using the failure of houses D'Ghor and Rivac to seize the Federation member world as a cataylst for a mass purge of the Aristocracy. The leaders of D'Ghor, Nor'maq and Gogra would be executed from crimes against the state; hundreds of other patriarchs, matriarchs and senior house members would be imprisoned or driven into exile based on evidence of their corruption and treason against the Empire. By the end of 2263, almost all the critical positions in the Empire would be held by senior military appointees; even the representatives of the Great Houses on the high council were now members of the Imperial Army and Navy, with alleigances to the Empire over any familial ties. The centralisation of power in the Chancellory - started by L'Rell - reached it's apex under Sturka, as the organs of government worked together to support the continued expansion of Klingon industiral and military power. The standard of living across the empire would increase - as would conscription numbers, conquests and slavery. Mass media that placed the "Empire" above family, kinship and Kahless would dominate - as would the increasing enroachment of the secret police in their constant search for enemies of the state. By 2265 Sturka had secured an unassaibable position at home, with his enemies either imprisoned, exiled or "disappeared". He now firmly set his sights on securing an eternal future for his regime; by destroying the Federation in a total, "final" conflict. The engines of Klingon society would be turned onto this target, as the Empire assembled the largest fleet yet seen in the galaxy, all while ratcheting up the pressure on the increasingly beleagured UFP. Even now, the cracks were beginning to show; with resource extraction beginning to slow down and increasing discontent from the younger cadre of officers, the need for a "good, clean war" was more paramount than ever. Unfortunately for Sturka, the interference of the Organians robbed the Empire of what was likely to have been the most brutal war in recent galactic history. With peace imposed by extra-galactic beings, the military machine of the Empire lacked purpose. Sturka's own riposte came through subterfuge and deceit, as Imperial Intelligence and the MIS engaged in a cloak-and-dagger battle with Starfleet within the new Neutral Zone. This, however, was not enough to satisfy the Klingon demand for combat - or the economic anxiety that the Organian peace had created. The Villam pact - the fateful alliance with the Romulans - saw Sturka open a massive export market for Klingon war goods and materiel, which the Romulans gladly accepted as part of a major re-armament program. The alliance, however, was seen as a sign of weakness by the military, who feared that the Organians had cowed "the Boss" into submission. Even continued confrontations with the UFP in the Tarus Reach and Hyades cluster did nothing to relieve the growing tensions. Attempts to undermine the Federation within the Organian Neutral Zone had been largely unsuccessful; wonder-weapons like the Stasis Field Generator and the Mark. XI Kash-Ro failed to change the balance of power. The Chancellor's decision to not follow up the victory at the Second Battle of Caleb IV with a full invasion of the Triangle was met with derision amongst the Admirals and Imperial General Staff, who finally concluded that Sturka was too weak to continue his "great mission" on behalf of the Klingon people. Rumours that the Chancellor was considering restoring the Imperial Monarchy to bolster support from the people was even more concerning, espeically to the remaining members of the aristocracy with power. By early 2270, many in the council were beginning to consider a way to remove or sideline Sturka, though their discussions were limited by the increasing enroachment of the MIS into the households of the upper classes. Thankfully, Sturka - or, to be correct, an early spring strain of Efrosian Dysentry - did the job for them. The Chancellor would excuse himself from a formal dinner on the 8th May, only to disseapear for the rest of the night. He was found the next morning in his chambers, having died from severe blood loss after suffering from extreme diarrhoea before undergoing complete gastrointestinal excrection. The council - who were painfully aware of how death from disease would be seen by the people as dishonourable - or, more worryingly, as a cover-up for a poisioning - would hurriedly move the corpse to the high council chamber for a show-trial (after haphazardly returning as much of the intestintal tract into the body as possible). The trial would be remembered behind closed doors as a farce, as various Admirals and High Council members berrated the increasingly fragant corpose for it's various treasonous decisions and "crimes against the state". Finally, Sturka was "challenged to a duel" by a junior member of the Duras family. Unfortuantely for the young man, by the time his blade entered the bode, internal decomposition had begun. Aided by the poor return of organs to the body, significant gases had built up within the corpse; so much so that when the "duellist" stabbed Sturka, the rapid escape of the gases would cover him - and a significant part of that side of the room- in body matter. The rest of the High Council and audience would flee the room and it's offensive smell, leaving attendants to clear up the remains. (The chamber would remain unused due to the smell until the 2340s). Despite his ignimious end, Sturka's iron grip would be felt over the empire for the rest of the century. The Klingon Government was now at the apex of it's power, able to weird total control over it's territory through a totally planned economy, powerful military and brutal security apparatus that reached into every corner of the Empire. |
InformationFull Name: Su'terqa (Sturka), son of Kevek, of House Ilaq
Born: 2190 (Amirakan, Mempa) Died: 8th Feburary 2270 (First City, Qo'noS) Affiliation: The Klingon Empire Chancellor of the Klingon Empire (March 20th 2263-May 9th 2270)
First Advisor of State to the Chancellor (2258-2262) Chief Officer, Imperial Navy [Minister of War] (2257-2260) Admiral, Imperial Home Fleet (2250-2257) Captain, IKS Sorna's Burning (2244-50) |
Excerpts From "The Edge of Midnight"
Before the war Sturka, son of Kevek, was just a middling Officer in the Imperial Navy; one of the few whose ships had not abandoned the Imperial banner for House fleets since the fall of Durak. He was known as a quiet, but effective leader whose apparent disdain for traditional honour codes and power structures was made up by his ruthless efficiency in achieving his goals; and his total disregard for any authority he did not personally respect. While we know exactly what Zym thought at the time, what Sturka – future chancellor and feared leader of the Klingon Empire – thought is shrouded in the layers upon layers of propaganda that surrounded him for his entire life. From what we know, Sturka had always been disgusted by Klingon traditionalism, even more than Zym was. He viewed much of the ancient ways and beliefs of the empire as being at best “useless” or at worst “crippling”. He was once quoted as saying “I’d flush the whole High Council out an airlock if they’d all simply have the guts to be in the same place at the same time.” His disgust for their traditionalism led him in more radical directions. Despite his loathing for the Federation, he greatly admired their commitment to progress (of a kind) and efficiency.
By the start of the war, he had already garnered the sinister, coldly efficient nickname of “the Boss” for his brutal, unemotional treatment of business and pleasure. To the Boss, honour was to be found in the total, complete victory over your enemies. Nothing else mattered to him. Kor, son of Rynar who had served under him in the early 2250s, had been shocked at how little respect his new commander had for his family status, referring to the future Dahar master as nothing more than “Specialist” or “Lieutenant” despite his official titles.[22] Despite this, and much brutal treatment at the hands of his commander, Sturka’s effectiveness impressed Kor, whose loyalty to Sturka would be unshaken right until the end. Many others were equally impressed though, as time would show, he would control more through fear than respect.
During T’Kuvma’s War, Sturka commanded the Klingon Home Fleet – the largest formation in the Imperial Navy, and the only one that matched any of the House fleets at the time. They would see minor action against Starfleet during the war, but most of their battles were against other Houses, picking fights over scraps left behind. They won almost all these engagements. It is unclear where L’Rell first encountered Sturka – his official account says that it was he, aboard his ship the IKS Glory of Boreth, that liberated the chancellor from her exile amongst the shipwrecks on the Binary Stars. What is certain, however, is that Sturka was there in the late days of 2257 when L’Rell was putting together her ‘new’ Klingon Empire. With him, he brought much, if not all, the small professional Officer Corps of the Imperial Navy – a vital asset for protecting and securing the Chancellor’s authority at a time when she was re-inventing what it meant to be Klingon.
By the start of the war, he had already garnered the sinister, coldly efficient nickname of “the Boss” for his brutal, unemotional treatment of business and pleasure. To the Boss, honour was to be found in the total, complete victory over your enemies. Nothing else mattered to him. Kor, son of Rynar who had served under him in the early 2250s, had been shocked at how little respect his new commander had for his family status, referring to the future Dahar master as nothing more than “Specialist” or “Lieutenant” despite his official titles.[22] Despite this, and much brutal treatment at the hands of his commander, Sturka’s effectiveness impressed Kor, whose loyalty to Sturka would be unshaken right until the end. Many others were equally impressed though, as time would show, he would control more through fear than respect.
During T’Kuvma’s War, Sturka commanded the Klingon Home Fleet – the largest formation in the Imperial Navy, and the only one that matched any of the House fleets at the time. They would see minor action against Starfleet during the war, but most of their battles were against other Houses, picking fights over scraps left behind. They won almost all these engagements. It is unclear where L’Rell first encountered Sturka – his official account says that it was he, aboard his ship the IKS Glory of Boreth, that liberated the chancellor from her exile amongst the shipwrecks on the Binary Stars. What is certain, however, is that Sturka was there in the late days of 2257 when L’Rell was putting together her ‘new’ Klingon Empire. With him, he brought much, if not all, the small professional Officer Corps of the Imperial Navy – a vital asset for protecting and securing the Chancellor’s authority at a time when she was re-inventing what it meant to be Klingon.
However, the Imperial Navy was already cementing its control over the political sphere by 2262. Sturka’s position as L’Rell’s enforcer and the expansion of the military bureaucracy had already sidelined traditional power structures in the high council; the collapse of the state treasury in Summer 2261 and the military’s role in re-establishing economic confidence had given them a massive stake in financial decision-making. The ICR may have extended their reach into the Disputed Area and given their extortion of Klingon and neutral traders a legal veneer, but it was nothing new in that regard. In many cases, the restrained activity of the Navy to support the Region’s rules – limited to opportunistic customs impounding and the legal authorisation to bully mining prospectors and the odd smuggler – seems to suggest a general disinterest in their new zone of authority, even amongst the most stalwart career officers.[28]
Thus, the ICR being a tool of Sturka’s marital bureaucracy seems suspect. The connection seems to have been formed the Anti-Klingon propaganda of the 2260s and 70s, which coupled the flexing of Imperial Power by the Navy directly with the bureaucratic authority of the ICR, even when the two were very distinct in objectives. What the ICR did was legitimise the new order L’Rell had tried to establish in interstellar space after 2257. It was more symbolic and propagandistic than anything else – a visible, understandable, and enforceable political counterweight to the Federation Treaty Zone’s reach into distant quarters of the galaxy. As the Treaty Zone gave Starships authority to act far from the UFP, the ICR would give D7s the authority to apprehend Suliban refugees in distant systems or force Starfleet vessels out of neutral ships.
The more one looks at it, however – especially with the benefit of non-governmental Klingon sources – it is increasingly apparent that L’Rell supported and encouraged the ICR because it was a cost-free way of shoring up her own position. The “mother” of the Klingon Empire – as powerful an image as she projected – was, by early 2262, struggling to maintain the total control she had maintained in the years immediately after the war. The Great Houses – cowed by internal purge, threats from below and the looming strength of the Federation – had recovered enough to begin asking for more seats at the table, threatening the tenuous balance of power between Chancellor, military bureaucracy, and aristocracy.
The collapse of the darsek had only further infuriated the houses: mauled by the Raktajino Revolution, hindered by Federation Embargo and daylight robbed by the military, the “good of the empire” was increasingly a hypothetical concept to them. The ICR offered the perfect opportunity to legitimise the more casual acts of political expansion the Great Houses indulged in, while maintaining semi-overt political control over them.[29] Their desire to keep raiding Federation and neutral targets – exacerbated by the economic collapse of late summer 2261 – was now “Imperial policy” within certain bounds, controlled and managed by the limitations of the control region.
Thus, the ICR being a tool of Sturka’s marital bureaucracy seems suspect. The connection seems to have been formed the Anti-Klingon propaganda of the 2260s and 70s, which coupled the flexing of Imperial Power by the Navy directly with the bureaucratic authority of the ICR, even when the two were very distinct in objectives. What the ICR did was legitimise the new order L’Rell had tried to establish in interstellar space after 2257. It was more symbolic and propagandistic than anything else – a visible, understandable, and enforceable political counterweight to the Federation Treaty Zone’s reach into distant quarters of the galaxy. As the Treaty Zone gave Starships authority to act far from the UFP, the ICR would give D7s the authority to apprehend Suliban refugees in distant systems or force Starfleet vessels out of neutral ships.
The more one looks at it, however – especially with the benefit of non-governmental Klingon sources – it is increasingly apparent that L’Rell supported and encouraged the ICR because it was a cost-free way of shoring up her own position. The “mother” of the Klingon Empire – as powerful an image as she projected – was, by early 2262, struggling to maintain the total control she had maintained in the years immediately after the war. The Great Houses – cowed by internal purge, threats from below and the looming strength of the Federation – had recovered enough to begin asking for more seats at the table, threatening the tenuous balance of power between Chancellor, military bureaucracy, and aristocracy.
The collapse of the darsek had only further infuriated the houses: mauled by the Raktajino Revolution, hindered by Federation Embargo and daylight robbed by the military, the “good of the empire” was increasingly a hypothetical concept to them. The ICR offered the perfect opportunity to legitimise the more casual acts of political expansion the Great Houses indulged in, while maintaining semi-overt political control over them.[29] Their desire to keep raiding Federation and neutral targets – exacerbated by the economic collapse of late summer 2261 – was now “Imperial policy” within certain bounds, controlled and managed by the limitations of the control region.