In Pursuit of an Accurate Canon Klingon Calendar By Mek'tor vestai-Ku'vaj Almost twenty-five years ago, Kordite, a shipmate from IKV Dark Justice and talented writer, developed an Imperial Date system for use in his Klingon-themed writings. The system was simple and straightforward: * * * * * One Klingon year (1 DIS) = 401.775 Terran days = 344 Klingon days + 1 leap day every three years. One Klingon day (sunrise to sunrise, 1 jaj) = 28 Terran hours = 20 Klingon hours One Klingon hour (1 rep) = 1.4 Terran hours = 84 Terran minutes Imperial Date = (Terran Date - 799)/1.1 : jaj = fractions x 344 * * * * * Sadly, the system, developed in 1993, was soon contradicted by canon information given on screen. In particular the episodes "Soldiers of the Empire" (DS9), "Rightful Heir" (TNG), and "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places" (DS9). "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places" is set in 2373, and in it Worf indicates that Kahless and Lukara's stand against Molor's soldiers took place "a thousand years ago". This is reinforced by Worf's combat log entry made on the Rotarian which he stated was the 53rd day in the year of Kahless 999; this episode took place somewhere between Stardates 50712.5 and 50814.2 in 2373. However, in "Rightful Heir" the monks of Boreth stated they had been waiting "15 centuries" for Kahless's return; in a cut scene from that episode, Data states that Kahless had died 1547 years ago - which places his death in 822CE (as of SD 46852.2). These seemingly disparate numbers can be rectified if we are to assume that Data was speaking in terms of Terran years (that Kahless died 1547 years befor 2369; 822CE). The monks of Boreth also used Terran years to refer to the length of thier wait. The 999th year of Kahless mentioned in the combat log is obviously in reference to Klingon years. This means that Klingon years are at least 1.5 times as long as Terran ones. However, we are still missing a piece of the puzzle: The 999th counts not from Kahless's death, but from his acsension to the throne following the defeat of Molor. We need to determine the difference between the two. The clone of Kahless in "Rightful Heir" was played by Kevin Conway, who was 51 years old at the time. Given that Klingons age rapidly in youth, reaching an apparent human age of 20 in only 10 Terran years, it is reasonable to assume that Kahless's clone could have been as young as 41. I think it is entirely reasonable that the clone was the same age as Kahless at the time of his death; he is readily identifiable, and it seems cloning him to that age be the most appropriate for his phophesued "return." So if we assume that Kahless was 41 Terra years of age in 822CE, that would place his birth in 781CE. We still need to know how old he was when he ascended to power... we know that he was young, but a specific age is not indicated. However, there is the Rite of Ascension, where a Klingon becomes a warrior. This Rite is undertaken at the age of 13 Terran years. Were we to assume that the age of Ascension is a reference to Kahlesses acscension to power, codified into the warrior tradition of all Klingons, we can establish the first year of Kahless's reign as taking place in 794CE. We now have enough data to devise a calendar. 2373CE is the 999th Year of Kahless. 974CE is the 1st Year of Kahless. 1399 Terran years = 998 Klingon years; thus: 1.4018 Terran years = 1 Klingon year. Were we to keep Kordite's ratio of 344.333 Klingon days per Klingon year, 15.39208% of the Klingon year 999 would have passed by the time Worf made his log entry "Soldiers of the Empire" (53 / 344.333 = .1539208). Converted to a Terran year, this would represent a passage of 78.80644 Terran days (.1539208 x 1.4018 = .2157662 x 365.24 = 78.80644). Elsewhere, I had devised a Stardate calendar based on the coincidence of Diwali in November 2366 with Stardate 44390.1. By that calendar (in which the Stardate New Year falls on 14 June), Worf's combat log entry would have been made between 1 March and 7 April 2373. Because there is another Stardate-less episode prior to "Soldiers of the Empire", I have arbitrarily set the episode to 2/3 through the elapsed period: on 26 March 2373. The Klingon New Year, 78.8 days earlier, would take place 6 January 2373. Thus,: * * * * * One Klingon year (1 DIS) = 511.9934 Terran days = 344 Klingon days + 1 leap day every three years. One Klingon day (sunrise to sunrise, 1 jaj) = 35.6859 Terran hours = 20 Klingon hours One Klingon hour (1 rep) = 1.7842 Terran hours = 107.0577 Terran minutes Imperial Date = (Terran Date - 972.6182) / 1.4018 : jaj = fractions x 344.3333 * * * * * Equation Test: Worf's Combat Log: 26 March 2373 = 2373.2327 (2373.2327 - 972.6182) / 1.4018 = 999.1543 : .1543 x344.3333 = 53 : Combat Date 999.053 Success.