What happens to orphans on the homeworld?

[Tedra_deArr]

I got a question for a discussion myself. what happens to orphans on the homeworld? Is there a orpahnage? Can it be that there are kids living on the street organised in cliques, living through steeling and a bit of work? (like chicago in the forties )Do they loose authomatically their honor? If yes, is there a way to get it back? All this is important for a backgroundstory of one of the klingon characters of our rpg

regards

[SoplaHtaHwI']

I believe this is outlined in the world-famous book "The Final Reflection".

An orphan becomes a ward of the state, is enroled into a military school and if one applies him/herself, will be able to rise up in the ranks and become a
valued member of society, although most likely without a house, one will be looked down at.

As honor needs to be earned (the word is best replaced by esteem or regard), a child will not have much of it and can gain it only by its actions. That goes for either high-born or orphan. A high-born child will be able to live of it's houses honor for a short while, but if it does not gain honor of his/her own, the whole idea of nal komerex, khesterex  (what does not grows, dies) comes into play.

A child may clique with other children on the street, but it will eventually be found by the authorities and sent to said school. Klingon society I think is well-designed for catching such loose cannons.

[Kesvirit]

I have come acros two different methods of dealing with orphans. One practiced on the Homeworld involves a series of Houses of Lineless Youth (TFR).  Some appear to be run or sponsored by the governement, others by independent Houses. The children there are trained to serve in the specialties dictated by the sponsor of the House. Once they reach the Age of Majority they would go on to serve in the specialty emphasized in the House or stike out on their own, I do not know which.  I suppose that as with all such things it would depent on the temprament, abilities, and drive of the individual.

The other was on Klairos (PAS), an economically and socially backward colony world near the Rim. Unwanted or burdensome children were theld-barred -- cast out by their families to fend for themselves as best they could. Dependent on age, I do not think they would survive for long.

There may be other precedents I do not know of.

As to their honor...?  Honor is earned through one's intent and actions. Children, by definition, have had neither the time nor opportunity to earn or lose it as adults have. A child who displays honorable behavior will most likely grow up to be an honorable adult.

But you can't eat honor. For a child who has to steal or prey upon others to eat, social graces and conventions are a luxury. Chance plays a larger role in one's fate than most are comfortable in admitting. Such a one would probably be viewed as dishonorable by "repectable" mainstream society.

In any case, the fate of a kin-reft or sponsorless child would depend on many things: the social, economic, geographical (rural? urban? climate? population density? etc.) and political circumstances, the character of the child, the circumstances under which it had become orphaned and the nature of its life before that point would all factor into your scenario. Sme of these are alread likely to be established by your RPG's setting.  The rest, the player would have to create for the character while remaining consistant with the story so far.

-=- Kesvirit

TFR -- The Final Reflection
PAS -- Pawns ans Symbols

[qoSagh]

First and foremost, I think that because honor plays such an important role in Klingon society, all Klingons (even children) are assumed to be honorable until proven otherwise. It would be insulting to assume one was dishonorable until proven honorable. I can see this leading to many pointless arguments/fights/battles. This would be conter productive to the empire, if everybody were constantly fighting among themselves. This would also tear apart the unity that Kahless forged.

As for orphanages, I think that the key here is the description of Kairos as "socially backwards". The homeworld has orphanges becasue an orphan left to the streets is a resource wasted. If that orphan has to comit dishonorable acts to survive, than the act of casting him out has facilitated his dishonor. This would be unpleasant at a minimum to most Klingons and dishonorable a thte maximum. There would be no honor, I would think, in stripping the honor of an innocent. There is the potential to not only loose the orphan but the one who cast them out. Wasting resources, especially living Klingon ones, would flagrantly violate nal komerex khesterex.

On Kairos, there may not be the recognition of orphans as resources yet. Orphans make perfectly good soldiers, even if they never work thier way up to the commissioned officer ranks. There was however, in PAS, an ongoing famine. I would think to a hungry colony workd, an orphan fed might be a meal wasted. Such colonists might apply the same reasoning I have in favor of orphanages to their practice of sending them out to the proverbial wolves.

I also would guess that the Imperial run orphanges tend to be more generic military schools designed to produce basic military troops. The house run orphanages probably lean toward specific career paths, possibly not even military. What would be interesting to see is how orphans are divided up, among the specialties. I would assume that the military schools get first pick, both because the are government run and because the military runs the government in a warrior society. But all sorts of factors wcould come into play with the house run orphanages. House standing, success rate, financial stability, location, specialty, ect.  

[KAllen]

I would feel that if a child is orphaned that another member of the House would take the child in.  

I would use Kurn as an example.  He was left behind with a family friend, Lorgh(sp?) and when the Khitimer attack killed Mogh and everybody(except Worf) Lorgh raised Kurn as his own.

Another example would be Tural, the bastard child of Duras. He was more than likely raised, in some regard, by Lursa & B'Tor.  Allbeit for their own personal gain, but they had some dealings with his raising, if even for a brief time.

Larger Houses would probably have some sort of plan for dealing with those children orphaned.  As many battles as Klingons like to fight, ya gotta have some kind of plan.  Maybe thier own kind of "adoption program" if you will.  If a member gets killed in battle, then his/her offspring would be "taken in" by other members of the House, raised as a member of the House(EX: an Aunt raising the children of her deceased sister's family.).  This way the children could be cared for, brought up, and still learn the customs and ways of being Klingon.

Dats my 2 strips of gold pressed Latinum!!!

 

[qoSagh]

Yes, I too would think that the family would step in and take care of the child. For some reason when I think of the concept of a Klingon Orphan I think of one who has no nearby family or no family at all, not just one who has lost both parents.

I think that if the family is for some reason unable to take on the task, the only members being too old or too young, the only members being assigned to a ship somewhere, very likely in the middle of a war, ect. that is when the orphanages step in. I think in the case of a still existing family the child would keep his name and attend a state run school (similar to a military school or sorts) untill they were old enough to return to the family, or there was a suitable family member to take care of them. In the case of a non-existant line, the child would be an orphan who would either have to gain adoption into a house, or build up enough prestige to form thier own house.  

[Klythe]

Actually, from what I understand the nuclear family is not the rule in the Klingon Empire.   As Kesv points out, The Final Reflection and Pawns and Symbols both show children raised by Houses (like tribal clans).   Canonically, we don't see children raised in Klingon culture, we see 3/4ths of a Klingon(Alexander) raised by a Federation Citizen who claims to be a Klingon(Worf), and we see children of disgraced warriors raised by Romulans.  (I think it was TNG:Birthright pt. 2.)

    So we must speculate.  My speculation is based on the following assumptions.  Usually one or both parents have thier own duties, so the Houses provide for the needs of the children.  And the Klingons do not have a strong central government outside of the military realm.  The first seems fairly obvious, given that Klingon females serve in the military, so there is likely much as much duty for females in all facets of Klingon life.  The second is a general impression, Gowron does not talk things such as taxes, education and health care.   In fact he is quite bored when Quark discusses finantial details in The House of Quark.   Does anyone wish to refute these assumptions?  

    For one thing the Klingons do not seem to have a government that is interested in insinuating itself in the daily lives of every Klingon.  Basic services like school, child care and so forth I believe are provided by the Klingon Houses rather than the government, parents, or idendependant organizations.  This allows the Houses to inculcate the House's values into the young Klinglings.  Even if the government wished to provide education, I don't think the Houses would abandon the power to educate the children of the House lightly.

   Depending on the duties of the parent, they may assume more or less of the duties of teaching and indoctrinating their children to prepare them for adulthood, and to carry on the family's and the Houses worldview.  If nothing else, a parent would supplement the child's education when their duty allows them to.

   So, if your child's biological parents are dead, there really isn't that big of a deal, unless their House is really, really small.  And even then, small houses often can curry favour with someone in a larger House, which will be honored with the transfer of a child in need, as the House of Mogh appears to have done with Lorgh's House, and as I would suspect of Vrenn, if his parents were the last Rustadh or not, they demonstrated thier honor to someone in House Gensa, and that someone sponsered Vreen for House Gensa's orphanage.   If Vreen was not adopted, or at least transfer of residenced, to Khemera, he Would have grown to be Krenn tai-Gensa, just as Kelly kept  the name Gensa into her adulthood.   So it is in the Houses advantage to take orphans in and raise them.  (Persumably if I'm right, there would be a compensation when a orphan is adopted out of a House that raised him)
 
I don't think there is, was or would be a government orphanage.  I don't think the other Houses would stand for the government (in effect) forming it's own House and raising youths with no loyalty except to the current administration.  Control of the youth is a critical step for a fledgling tyrrany.  The Houses would know this and would expend every energy to prevent it, especially adopting troubled orphans.  Of course, Klingons do not coddle thier youth as Terrans do, so a youth would have to be really, really troubled if the one continued to rebel in a "Don't spare the painstick" environment.

[weslipuqlod]

I too cannot see orphanages in the traditional Earth-sense within the Empire.  

It is one of the basic underlying assumptions of Klingon culture that sooner or later anyone might find themselves involved in a blood-feud.  The whole network of relationships into which a Klingon enters, relationships of blood, fostering, friendship, marriage, and allegiance, are designed to strengthen your hand when conflict appears.  Some go so far as to form a blood-tie by the ceremonial swearing of ruStay.

When a situation arises where a young Klingon is left without parents, the House continues his/her development and education.  Prominent and wealthy Houses school from within.  Others contract schooling with established centers for learning.  

Such centers are designed primarily to prepare the young Klingon for service to the Empire within what ever field they test an apptitude for.  Sometimes apptitude is overridden in the pursuit of glory, either for following in a family member's footsteps or achieving what they did not have.

These centers or schools vary in prominence and stature.  It is always a goal to have your child's honor be enhanced by their training and status and the contacts they make within the school.  However, in the pursuit of a good school for their children, the vain effort of preparing for the future can weaken a House as they overextend themselves, possibly actually leading to the downfall they were attempting to avoid.

In the rare instance that a House is decimated, when there is no one left to care for the child, there would be an ally House that would take the child in and care for them.  Expanding their size while contributing to the future success of not only their House, but the Empire as well.  

There are general governmental schools that prepare children to serve the Empire in average menial roles that could take the orphan in.  Such centers exist for those Houses that cannot afford the privilege of more prominent learning.  The only other option would be to leave the child vulnerable to rival or enemy Houses.

If such adversarial conditions existed then it would not matter what happened to the child.  

 

[Ambassador Lady K'Zin]

I think it important to remember that we are speaking of an entire Empire here, with hundreds or planet;, and that dealing with orphans might vary tremendously from region to region, or even planet to planet.

Perhaps there is a lean towards military-based orphanages on the Homeworld, particularly in times of active war campaigns. However, we must consider that on a smaller planet, particularly one in the midst of a plague or famine, that any unclaimed lineless youth might be trained/used as a form of specialty work force -- either providing basic medical/evacuation services, or assisting with farming or related services.

It would seem prudent of the local Governing Council or regional Governor to make good use of any "orphans" that have not been re-absorbed into a larger House or family line. We must realize that although there are many larger lines and houses, many of the smaller ones might not be able either financially or have the resources necessary to adopt, feed, educate and train a number of orphans, especially those that might result in times of active campaigns or conflict.

Perhaps that might account for alliances between Houses, as a larger one might "sponsor" orphans or even regular youths of a smaller House into their private education/training system, with the option to call upon them to serve the larger House in times of conflict or in defense of it's own resources.  A smaller House would probably be open to such an arrangement, because it would benefit from a better education and training, that would then serve well in that warrior's future advancement, which then leads to more status for the smaller House. As a result of such arrangement, a smaller House could then gain more status and over generations could work it's way up from a Minor House to a Major House.

In fact, it is this way of thinking that lead my line, the House of Kasara, to form two schools, the Kasara School of Military Arts (KasMa) and the Kasara School of Diplomacy (KasDi). (For more details visit: Official House Kasara website)

We have specialized in providing education and training in these fields over the decades and entrance into these schools are now widely sought after. In exchange for entrance for one of it's line members into either of these schools, a particular House would owe favours, either financial, political or other more specialized, depending on their own specialties. It could be reliable communiqués regarding particular political subjects, specific matters/circumstances, or general intelligence reports.

It is due to these favours that House Kasara has gained so many allies and political influence in the Empire over the decades, as well as extending it's influence with many other Major Houses.

I would tend to believe that unclaimed orphans and untrained youth would be treated as a valuable resource, as they can be "molded" and trained to help the House and eventually, the Empire to grow and become stronger.