The Writings of Khaywolf, High Cleric of Gre'thor

What is Honor? We speak of it constantly; it is a part of the very fabric of our culture, but seldom do we really think about what it is. We simply take it for granted.

Honor is the approbation of our fellow Klin. Honor is a strait-jacket. Honor is a way of life. Honor is a denial of our basic nature.

No, perhaps not so much a denial as a restriction, a focus, a channeling. We Klingons are by nature a fierce, violent, predatory people. Left to follow our instincts, we may well have exterminated ourselves long ago. Like the Vulcan Surak, Kahless must have seen this, and devised a means to prevent our extinction: Honor. Unlike Surak, this ancient sage sought not to stifle our instincts altogether, but to make them conform to a set of principles which he felt would make us stronger as a species.

Honor tells us when it is acceptable to act as the beasts we are at heart, and when it is not. By threatening to take away our Honor, the approval of our peers, our society forces us to limit our violence. It has tamed us, as a guard targ is tamed: still fierce, but under control. Thus, Honor seeks to protect us from ourselves.

Still, one cannot help but wonder what we have lost in the process; is not a wild targ a more impressive creature than a tame one?

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