We have seen two day time shots of Qonos. Both show a city high in the mountains surrounded by ice and reached by a bridge over a chasm.
In later Star Trek, we see just a city with little or no surrounding geological features. The city experiences thunderstorms and rainstorms constantly.
Could this change in the first city, aka Qonos, be attributed to the destruction of Praxis in 2293?
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
Simpler explanation: the capital moved.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
The ENT capital reminds me of the old Boreth monastery. Also in the chilly mountains.
Maybe at this point the smoothies control parts of the lowlands (smooth Klingons - smooth land; ridged Klingons - mountains!?)
Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
It could also be that the planet has multiple locations acceptable for receiving alien visitors. The city of ENT might not be the actual capital city. However, the explicit reference to the High Council in "Unexpected" seems to establish that the chambers we saw really were the High Council ones, just like TNG nails down the very different Great Hall there as the High Council chambers.
So perhaps the capital did move. Or then it simply expanded to the lowlands. Perhaps there are mountains to three directions and a river valley to a fourth, and the TNG Great Hall simply looks the best when viewed from the direction of the mountains towards the river.
Or then we're seeing a somewhat factionalized Klingon society here, and there are actually several capitals there - but the one on the mountains does not belong to the faction that will emerge victorious in later wars.
Since Klingons rarely settle for half-measures, the said wars could of course also have leveled those mountains...
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by Bernd (Member # 6) on :
The city in ENT seems to be another one, since the one in TNG was completely flat (well, unless the view in TNG was from the mountain to the plains). I assume the capital moved after the Praxis disaster.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
I was wondering about this question during "Broken Bow"... but we are talking about a difference of about three hundred years, right? Cities can change a heck of a lot in three hundred years.
It's mostly the apparent weather in these areas that makes me think it's two different places though. The TNG capital city, as has been mentioned, doesn't seem to be in a winter wonderland like the ENT capital does.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Well, it should be noted first off that Picard calls the Klingon Capital the "First Imperial City" in 'Sins of the Father', I believe.
Do we ever specificly learn that the Chancellor is *in* the capitol? From what we learn, the Klingon Empire is facing a civil-war, and already has lots of infighting between Houses to deal with. It would make sense to move the seat of government as a precaution ... assuming, of course, that the Great Hall hasn't been destroyed!
Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
I think the location of the seat of power could change drastically in 200 years. 200 years ago Washington & New York hadnt even been built. And the mayors of Hiroshima & Nagasaki had a different office than they do now.
as to the inference that the climate of Kronos was changed by the Praxis explosion.. jeeze guys, you know what. Where I live it rains a lot for a while, then it snows for a few months, then its rains some more and then its sunny and unbearably hot for a few months. Sometimes it gets unbearably hot for a few days between rainstorms. Sometimes it doesnt snow when its 'supposed to' All in the same place. And i checked.. its not the result of a catastrophe like the moon exploding .. theyre called seasons. Im sure Kronos had seasons where it snows someplaces and rains others. And there are even other places north and south of me that have different weather. Ive been told there are even deserts, right on this same planet as ice caps!
The only planets that lack seasons or varied climates are Tattooine, Endor and Hoth. Dont start thinking that Kronos has to be a Star Wars planet.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
quote:200 years ago Washington & New York hadnt even been built
Ummmmmmm ... New York has been around for centuries. Used to be known as "New Amsterdam." Sure, it doesn't look like it does today, but it was there. And if D.C. hadn't been built 200 years ago, construction was about to begin ... the British burned it down during the War of 1812.
Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
[clarify]two important seats of planetary government, the United Nations and The American Capitol, hadnt been built. Unfair for me to generalize the buildings as sole inhabitants of the cities[/clarify]
Posted by bear (Member # 124) on :
Uh people...wasn't there something said earlier about the Klingons being on the brink of a civil war? In terms of Klingons, I would bet the scene of the high mountain fortress has more to do with being a strong hold than a capital.
[ October 18, 2001: Message edited by: bear ]
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Even old New York / was once New Amsterdam / Why they changed it I can't say / People just liked it better that way."
Sorry. Had to say it. :-)
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
TSN...you read my mind
Captain Mike: Nobody likes a smart ass weather forecaster...
Posted by David Templar (Member # 580) on :
Hey, I was actually thinking about the Praxis explosion in relations to the Klingon capital, too!
I think it's possible that when Praxis exploded, the capital was facing the moon. Given the intensity of the explosion, I think the resulting planet quake would have shaken the mountain top capital into the valley. Remember the inverse square law. If that subspace shockwave could toss the Excelsior around, which was a couple light years away, imagine what it could have done at practically point-blank range.
I think the only thing that saved the Klingons that day was the nature of their Empire. Where as a normal empire's home system would be the most developed and important, the Klingons at least had equally developed smaller systems owned by the various Houses to fall back on.
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
...assuming subspace shock waves adhere to Newtonian physics.
Posted by OnToMars (Member # 621) on :
The inverse square thing is not a product of Newtonian physics. It's one of those things that curiously pops up all over the place in science. It would only be logical for it to appear in subspace physics. And subspace physics would be an extension of Newtonian physics and Einsteinen (sp?) physics, just as Einsteinen is an extension of Newtonian. The math may be different and things may at first seem to follow radically different rules, but out there somewhere is the Elegant Principle that holds true across everything governing the operation of the universe.
