A Brief History of Kilrathi Assassination (August 3, 2024)

[Bandit LOAF]

DID YOU KNOW the Kilrathi word for assassination is... assassination?! Before encountering humanity the cats had a complex system of statuses and fealties with formal challenges that ordered their power structures. They did not murder their kind by surprise for political purposes.





The first high profile Kilrathi assassination attempt occurred in 2667 when Khasra nar Kiranka ordered his fighter squadron to ambush Prince Thrakhath. Thrakhath survived the attempt and did not report Khasra's treachery to the Emperor.





The next year, Baron Jukaga nar Ki'ra maneuvered a sabotaged reactor fuel rod aboard a cruiser set to transport the Emperor and the Crown Prince. The scheme was discovered and Jukaga was allowed to die in battle.





In the wake of the Battle of Earth, two additional attempts were made on the Emperor's life which prompted him to recall Prince Thrakhath and order the deployment of biological weapons in an attempt to conclude the war as quickly as possible.





This adoption of assassination was seen by post war Kilrathi as a root cause of their defeat; the Cult of Sivar adopted the dogma that Kilrah's destruction was atonement for their adoption of human ideas. This was further endorsed by Shintahr Melek of the Assembly of Clans.





The cultures of the Tri-System are a different story.





I'm getting a lot of questions about the 2668 suicide bombing of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Kilrathi do not consider other species equals; "Sivar is exalted when the Kilrathi trick their enemies." It is an example of Jak-tu, an attempt to topple a larger foe in a single blow.

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Original update published on August 3, 2024

 

[EmuMusicFan]

Excuse me... but... I do not think the portrait of Jukaga the correct one.

I remember the discussion that cover portrait wasn't originally intended for Action Stations. Even if it had to correspond to an AS character, I think it should be Crown Prince Gilkarg.

Fleet Action mentions that Jukaga's mane is golden red, not light golden yellow. And Jukaga in AS was still a teenager.

 

[EmuMusicFan]

Excuse me... but... I do not think the portrait of Jukaga the correct one.

I remember the discussion that cover portrait wasn't originally intended for Action Stations. Even if it had to correspond to an AS character, I think it should be Crown Prince Gilkarg.

Fleet Action mentions that Jukaga's mane is golden red, not light golden yellow. And Jukaga in AS was still a teenager.

Another topic:

They did not murder their kind by surprise for political purposes.

I have a different opinion on this point. I think the term "culturally did not acceptable" is more appropriate here than "did not".

Khasra was very skilled in threatening the protagonist to hand over Thrakhath. I don't think he learned it on the spur of the moment.

In addition, in Fleet Action, the emperor actually knew what Jukaga wanted to do in advance, and I don’t think he learned the relevant expressions from humans either.

A marginal example is that in Freedom Flight Kirha once mentioned that according to the ethics of Kilrathi warriors, Thrakhath's holding Firekkan hostage was unacceptable.

Imagine if the Kilrathi had no idea about this kind of behavior, how could they have such a rule in their moral standard.

To put it bluntly, Jak-tu is basically the same behavior.

Therefore, it is more likely that the Kilrathi warrior culture was using that kind of disapproval to regulate and restrain aggressive behavior within the empire.

Regarding Melek, he knows very well why the Empire was defeated. What he mentioned in WC4 can only be said to be an excuse for some people.

Don't you think the Ghorah and Ki'ra will have different explanations on this?

Baron Vakka (young Vakka) of Ki'ra has been writing books and doing academic research on friendly terms with humans.

Ghorah Khar joined the Confederation and won the war against the emperor. Note that Ghorah Khar's Kilrathi was not defeated, they are one of the winners, and this is very important in Kilrathi culture.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

That's right, the cover was originally painted for Wing Commander III and the artist's intention was for it to be Thrakhath… so if you have to retcon it for Action Stations, it would make sense that it's Gilkarg! (I think we had a thread about this recently!)