Koth

Koth is a late, middle-aged Klingon from the aristocratic house of BragK'toS, one of the most respected families currently on the High Council. Early in his life, Koth was diagnosed by Klingon physicians as having a form of mental and physical retardation called "Gal'Kun Mek" which means "The warrior is dead." This "disease" includes "disorientation during battle, a lethargic attitude toward the hunt, and a general incompetence when it comes to the honorable activities of Klingon culture." As an adolescent, Koth forsook the traditional path to political ascendancy, and instead entered into the religious training of the Klingon mystics on Boreth. Koth quickly became an astute religious scholar, but he still had a profound distaste for the obsession with battle that permeates into Klingon religion. Much to the dishonor of his house, Koth claimed his birthright inheritance in his mid-twenties and used that money to travel to other worlds, studying the religious and cultural histories of over two dozen civilizations. During the Dominion War, Koth spent his time on Earth. His small ship was destroyed during the Breen attack on Earth during the final year of the war, effectively stranding him there. Later, Koth would recount that this was God's way of telling him that Earth had something special to give him. Upon visiting the Sistine Chapel in Italy, Koth was struck by the beauty of the long since dead Catholic faith.

Probing deeper into many of the great Catholic thinkers, especially Blaise Pascal, led Koth to convert to Catholicism (albeit a mysticized form). Koth would make a pilgrimage to the Jordan River and baptize himself during his 2nd year on Earth. The doctrines of peace and sacrifice proclaimed by Christ and the universal claims of Catholicism resonated deeply with Koth, allowing him to finally move beyond the violence in his Klingon heritage. Koth began a daily ritual of meditation, reflection, and religious study that he maintains to this day. Koth was particularly struck by Christ's statement that "Blessed are the peacemakers," and soon he realized it was his duty to spread his internal peace to as many worlds as he could. The aftermath of the Dominion War left many worlds in a tenuous situation, and Koth wanted to do something about it. He entered the ambassadorial training program of the United Federation of Planets, and was found to be one of the most proficient students in interplanetary diplomacy to ever attended to school. Koth attributes this to divine mandate, although a thorough medical scan once showed that the retardation of many of the hormonal and neural centers associated with Klingon belligerence had allowed untapped areas for knowledge retention, analytical thinking, language use, and abstract thought to come to the forefront.

Koth would develop a remarkable gift for learning languages, and soon had mastered over thirty languages (he still maintains that Klingon is the most difficult). He has developed a strict policy that during negotiations with other races, the universal translator shall be off-line. Koth makes every effort to communicate in the other species' language naturally and to grasp as many aspects of their culture as possible. Koth has become THE premiere ambassador for the UFP, and had a crucial role in the signing of the Frontiers Accords with the Romulan Star Empire that is crucial to the success of the Frontiers project. Koth will assume the role of ambassador to the Far Reaches aboard the Enterprise, with jurisdiction over both the Enterprise and the Frontier.