Klingon Empire

Government
The Klingon Empire is ruled by the High Council, which acts as the legislative and ruling body of the Klingon Empire. An aristocratic oligarchy, the High Council is composed of the leaders of the most powerful Great Houses of Klingon society, and is presided over by the Chancellor.

Klingon history over the past couple of centuries has been a story of push-and-pull between the fractious warrior-nobles of the great houses and the centralizing force of imperial government and its institutions, particularly the Imperial Fleet. Great house influence reached a nadir in the latter half of the 23rd century, as reforms in the Empire solidified a strong imperial bureaucracy and many warrior traditions of the past lapsed out of fashion. Influence became measured by how many imperial offices an individual held rather than the strength of their house, and in a show of complete dominion all shipyards capable of building military grade starships were brought under imperial control.

The first quarter of the 24th century has seen an inevitable rebound as the Great Houses reasserted themselves and their warrior traditions in the aftermath of the destruction of Praxis. A few great houses have even regained their own shipyards. Meanwhile the legacy of the strong imperial period, the imperial bureaucracy, keeps ticking along in the background doing all the work necessary to hold an interstellar empire together.

The Chancellor
The Chancellor of the Klingon High Council is the Klingon head of government and the de facto head of the Klingon Empire. They hold enormous executive power by dint of their control over institutions such as the Klingon Imperial Fleet and Imperial Intelligence. Appointments are for life, though a Chancellor who loses the confidence of the High Council may find themself with neither position nor life.