The Naked Stars
The Naked Stars
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Although
the actual
origin of the
Klingon Tre-foil-
-the symbol of the Klingon
Empire--is lost in the shadowy
mists of time, there are many legends
concerning when, where and why this
universally recognizable
symbol was born.
Following a lengthy excavation of a here-to-fore
unworked site of an ancient fortified village along the coast of the
Northern Islands, the renowned Klingon scientist Aminn vesti-Kabdulh,
coupled with legends collected from the area which date to Klingon
pre-history, has come up with a new theory of the origin of th Tre-foil,
presented to you here for the first time.
In the days when Klingon warriors boarded their mighty ships and set
sail upon the inhospitable seas of the Homeworld to battle their
enemies, visual recognition from a distance was of vital importance to
captains of the ships who followed a clan chieftain during raids or in
battle. Flying clan flags or pennants from the single masthead of their
ships was not always sufficient, especially during fog, storms, or rough
seas. One Northern Island chieftain, K'ammat, decided that his ships
should have a symbol that would be visable for many leagues across the
vast seas; a sign that would strike terror into the hearts of his
enemies and be instantly recognizable by his clan members and his
allies.
Since the largest visable object on a Klingon warship was a
huge, triangular sail that captured the fierce ocean wind, it was
decided tat a suitable symbol be painted onto the sails of his fleet.
Legend has it that it was the warrior wife of K'ammat who came up with
the idea of a three-pronged tre-foil, the pointed prongs fitting neatly
into the three corners of the ship's sail. Originally, all three prongs
were straight, the longist pointing toward the sky, from where the
mighty wind came, while the other two, shorter prongs pointed to the
sea, from whence came life. The three prongs were painted bright red,
to represent the blood if their enemies and the center circle was deep
black, to represent the Black Fleet, where K'ammat would send his
enemies when their ships were sent to the bottom of the sea.
K'ammat immediately has this symbol embalzoned on the sails of nearly
one hundred war ships, which ranged not only up and down the coasts of
the entire Northern Island chain, bu eventually toward the shore of the
Great Island itself. The sight of several score of these ships with the
huge black and red tre-foils bearing down in them sent many of their
enemies in panic-stricken retreat.
Sea battles at this stage of developing warfare were typically messy
affairs, with frequently a great loss of life and limb on both sides of
the battle, as well as (and sometimes more importanly) a great loss of
ships. Initially, during any given sea battle, there was an exchange of
spear and javalin, as well as a flurry of arrows into the enemy ship,
with occasionally captapulted rocks and flaming ordinance thrown in for
good measure. These latter weapons would tend to severely damage and frequently sink the
opponents ship, which would mean fewer trophies for the victorious
captain and his crew to bring home. Eventually, warring ships would
grapple onto each other, resulting in furious hand-to-hand combat, a
form of battle the Klingon warriors favored then, as well as now.
K'ammat was constantly seeking battle advantages that would protect his
own warriors and still maintain the ememy ships for trophies. He noted
that when the sails if his ships bellied
with wind, the lower prongs of the painted tre-foil appeared to curve
back, which gave him an idea for a new, formidable weapon. The result
was a smaller version of the tre-foil (about the size of a standard
battle shield), made of metal and mounted on a stout, eight-foot long
staff. The shorter, lower prongs were now curved, one toward the staff
and the other away from it and all three blades were razor sharp.
This simple new weapon proved immediately successful and was found to be
quite devastating in battle.
Following the advent of this new weapon, when K'ammat's ships came up
close to an enemy ship, his warriors could, from behind a barrier of
raised sheilds, reach across the intervening water and with the curved
blades of the extended tre-foil catch and pull away enemy shields and
even snag an unwary enemy and pull him over the side of the ship. The
curved blades could also cut through a sails rigging, or the sail
itself, eventually leaving the vessel unmanageable and thereby virtually
helpless. If need be, the curved bladed could also be used as a
grapple, to snare the other ship for boarding and of course the longer,
straight blade was ideal for stabbing the enemy across the narrow gulf
which separated the two ships.
In a very short time, K'ammat became the war lord of the entire Northern
Island chain and his reputation for victory meant that the mere sight of
the black and red tre-foil cresting the distant horizon frequently
caused his enemies to seek retreat or surrender, rather than battle.
When the tide of battle turned from the sea to land, the tre-foil weapon
also made the transition, becoming somewhat smaller and attached to a
shorter staff, which could be carried easily by foot soldiers. A line
of warriors armed with this weapon could even withstand a mounted
charge, by kneeling down and bracing the butt end of the staff against
the ground. The advancing mounts would be impaled on the long blade of
the tre-foil and the line of warriors behind the kneeling group would
reach through the ranks of those in front of them and pull the helpless
riders from their wounded mounts with the curved blades of the weapon.
The riders would then either be trampled to death beneath the hooves of
their own beasts, or die by the blade as the victorious army marched
ever forward.
Fallen enemy warriors would frequently be dispatched by having the
tre-foil thrust into their chest and the weapon would be left there
impaling the body to the ground. One story tells that after one long
and bloody battle, K'ammats's victorious forces left the plain littered
with thousands of bodies, each of them impaled with an inverted
tre-foil.
Somewhere around the time that K'ammat and his mighty army were busy
trying to conquer the Great Island, one of his sons became disenchanted
with his father's goals and with a number of followers left to form
his own clan. Apparently this rebel remembered the sight of that
battlefield with the thousands of inverted tre-foils and he took this
form of the now well known tre-foil as his clan symbol. He felt it was
only fitting, as the inverted tre-foil was the last thing his
enemies would see as the weapon drank of their life blood. This son,
Torak, became a fierce and powerful rival of K'ammat's clan for many
years both the original and the invted tre-foil were symbols of power on
the Homworld. Eventually, of course, the tre-foil symbol designed by
the wife of K'ammat became the universally known symbol of the Klingon
Empire.
Since the time of K'ammat and Torak, the inverted tre-foil has always
been associated with rebels and with those who disagreeed with the
policies of the Empire. A more recent advocate of the inverted tre-foil
was none other than the great warrior leader, Kahless, who used it as
his own symbol, as can be seen in the ST/TNG episode, "Rightful Heir".
In this episode, as the awakened Kahless sits upon hs ancient throne, it
can be noted that on each arm of the throne, the tre-foil symbol is
inverted.
Following the death of Kahless and the end of his family line, the
inverted tre-foil was rarely seen, except when used by a rebel clan or
followers of the teachings of Kahless. It can still be seen in a few
places today, used as a symbol by rebel groups and those who feel the
Empire should return to the warrior ways of old.
Qapla'
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