By the late 24th Century, the Federation in Star Trek Universe seen on screen(both big and small) has more than a 150 member homeworlds and an unknown number of protectorate worlds, each with one or more unique alien race. Yet most of the enemy governments(Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, etc) appear to have one one or two species in their Empires, yet still manage to threaten th stability of the Federation. If each of these Empires controls enough planets and resources to pose a threat, why do they only have one or two represented species?
Is there some galactic quirk that Federation has such a diversity of intelligent life and it's enemies only find empty worlds? Of course not, though maybe they have had better fortune finding more alien species than others. The Star Trek universe is clearly far larger than we see on screen. Do the bad guys just kill off every last member of a species? Well, maybe sometimes, mostly before the Federation became as strong as it has.
At most we have only seen hints at what Klingons do to worlds they occupy. We see (in "Errand of Mercy") the illustrious Commander Kor personally leading the Organian occupation force, ultilmately undone by the deceptions of the Organians themselves who are really powerful energy beings disguised as guileless sheep.
We also see ( in the Enterprise episode "Judgment") Captain Archer coming to the aid of Refugees(or Rebels) fleeting their world which they allegedly took their food and promised to bring supplies, but never did. Finally we have canon evidence for what fans have speculated for decades, that Klingons do have occupied worlds which they draw resources extracted mostly by native workers. In "Marauders", we also see Klingons repeatedly raiding a colony, taking their trade goods as tribute, leaving the colony in constant fear.
Are all colony worlds treated this harshly? Almost certainly not, as the tribute taken from these kinds of worlds would not be enough to support the Empire. These worlds would be the ones outside the Klingons Sphere of Control, at the edges of their Sphere of Influence. These worlds extended the range of Klingon ships and forward bases of operation and provided a large buffer zone as well as keeping these worlds in a weakened state for when the Empire is ready to properly occupy them and install a Klingon Planetary Governor.
We've only seen a pawful of worlds in deep the Klingon Empire, Qo'noS, Rura Pente, Borath... And usually only government or religious installations, such as the High Council Chambers, a Courtroom, a monastery and a penal colony. We don't see the worlds that feed the Empire, build its ships or provide any of the infrastructure a galactic empire would need to keep itself from collapsing under it's own weight.
So who actually does feed the empire and who does all the things that don't appeal to a warrior's quest for glory or don't provide a chance to demonstrate honor? This is where the servitor races serve the Empire. They are the house and hotel staff, agricultural workers, maintenance workers and technicians of commodity technologies, teachers and tutors, and the pilots of non-military vehicles as well as privately owned military vehicles. They do the thankless dead end jobs, while any position of where leadership, aggression or decisiveness is required you will only find Klingons of the "warrior" races.
It is very important to understand that there is a difference between a member of a servitor race and a slave. In each the Klingon languages the two words are different. In
tlhIngan Hol the language that is shown on screen the words are
toywI' and
toywi''a', in the older Klingon language used in the novels where the idea of Klingon servitor races was first presented the words are
kuve and
straav. (I'll use these words It's very important to understand the differences if you are dealing with Klingons or their servitor races.
Kuvei are born kuvei, but
straavi make themselves. "The weak enslave themselves" is a well known Klingon proverb, that exhibits this difference.
There is anther old Klingon word from the novels that ties into this. "Atheln" is not easy to translate, but it's said to be how well you lives up to your destiny. A servant would have a harder time exceeding or falling short of the meager expectations of their "destiny". Where as the child of the Chancellor or a High Council member has a lot more destiny to live up to, with the rest of the warrior race Klingons falling somewhere between the two extremes. A slave is one who has fallen far enough beneath his destiny that the can't be trusted to redeem themselves without the loss of their freedom to remind them of who they should be.
Show how are
kuve treated and how much freedom do they have? It seems that service is voluntary, that
kuve can and do chose who to serve and probably how. Probably this must be a mutual agreement with the servant and the 'master'. Also it seems to be a life long commitment, at least for higher placed
kuve such as the personal servants of the most powerful Klingons, who if their master is killed, they are summarily killed as well. This probably represents the level of loyalty expected from these personal servants, who are in positions which they could betray or even kill their masters. This level of trust is so deep that these servants believed to be given the choice of continuing their service into the next life along side their 'master' in "the Black Fleet" or presumably Sto-vo-kor, depending on what version of the Klingon afterlife you subscribe to. Though they are not required to commit their next life during this one.
Servants do not appear to be beaten, abused or mistreated, at least to the extent that they live up to their side of the bargain. I don't know what happens to servants who refuse to serve, presumably they are made slaves and sent to much harsher environments such as the mines on Rura Pente.
How does a race become a servitor race? Most servitor races were primitives with no ability to resist, multi-generation enemies of the Klingons where the most aggressive genes were eliminated as generation after generation were killed, or species that were never all that aggressive to begin with. Aggressive enemies wind up eventually being allies(Lyrans), being wiped out completely(Khinsharri), or being forced to chose between allies on a very very short leash, servitor status or extinction. I think.... Let me know if you have a better idea, we'll talk.
