K'mpec

K'mpec was the longest-serving Klingon Chancellor of the Klingon High Council when he died in 2367. Although K'mpec ruled with an iron hand and managed to keep peace within the Klingon Empire, his influence began to wane as he grew older. 
In the first half of the 24th century, he was a warrior, who served alongside Mogh. In the 2340s, he was interested in Kahlest, the nurse of Worf, but she rejected him, claiming he was "too fat".
In 2366, Klingon forces captured a Romulan patrol ship whose logs contained evidence indicating that a Klingon had betrayed the Khitomer outpost, facilitating their attack twenty years prior. The Council was able to determine from the logs that it was Ja'rod, father of influential politician Duras. K'mpec feared a civil war if this material would become known to the public. He therefore devised a plan to accuse Mogh, another Klingon who had died at Khitomer, instead. This was based on the assumption that Mogh's only son, Worf, a Starfleet officer, would not come to defend his father's honor as he was so far removed from life among other Klingons that he would never be aware of the accusations and would not be affected by them in any case. However, K'mpec did not know of a second son of Mogh, Kurn, who informed Worf about the allegations. When Worf returned to defend his honor, K'mpec tried to make Worf leave Qo'noS quickly to preserve his own life, although acknowledging that Worf's sense of honor showed him to be a true Klingon, but when Worf refused, he was willing to sacrifice Worf to prevent a civil war. In the end, K'mpec accepted Worf's plan, that Worf would not be killed, but rather accept discommendation. He told all people involved never to talk about the truth to preserve the Klingon Empire. ()
The next year, he discovered that he had been poisoned over the course of several months by the addition of Veridium Six in his bloodwine. He suspected one of the two main rivals for his succession, Duras and Gowron, to be responsible for this. As he thought that no one in the Klingon Empire could be trusted enough to conduct an independent investigation, he named Jean-Luc Picard as the Arbiter of Succession. Initially Picard refused, but K'mpec told him that a refusal would be an insult to all Klingons and that a man capable of secretly poisoning the chancellor, considered a dishonorable method of killing, would be capable of anything, including a war with the Federation. A few days later, K'mpec died, leaving Picard with the task to discover the truth about the identity of his murderer. ()
The was later named in his honor. ()
== Appendices ==
=== Appearances ===
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=== Background information ===
K'mpec was played by Charles Cooper, who previously portrayed the Klingon General Korrd in .
It was never revealed exactly who had poisoned K'mpec, but Ronald D. Moore stated "Our intention was that Duras had poisoned him." It is also of interest that Gowron, who replaced K'mpec, did indeed start a war with the Federation in 2372, only five years after K'mpec had feared just such an event, but for a different reason than what would have happened if Duras became Chancellor.
=== Apocrypha ===
A younger K'mpec, played by Blake Hammond, appeared as a cadet on General 's Elite Command Academy in the Star Trek: Klingon Academy, which was set before the events of . At the end of the game, K'mpec had rose to the rank of captain in the Klingon Defense Force, and helped the player character defend Qo'noS from a Romulan invasion.
=== External links ===
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