House of Duras

The House of Duras is an old group within the Klingon Empire and one of the Great Houses that influences the decisions and actions of the Empire.

In the year 2153, one of the earliest members of this House was Duras, Son of Toral who had been disgraced in battle against Captain Jonathan Archer of the United Earth Starfleet. The Chancellor of the High Council of the Klingon Empire gave an ultimatum to Duras, capture Archer, who was a criminal in the eyes of the Klingon Empire or suffer dishonor and removel of his position. Duras attempted to do so but was destroyed by his enemy while in the Delphic Expanse. (ENT episode: Judgment, The Expanse)

The House of Duras possessed a blood feud against the House of Huraga, a feud that Mogh, Son of Worf participated in against the House of Duras. (DS9: The Way of the Warrior)

In 2346, Ja'rod of the House of Duras was stationed at Khitomer and had been in secret contact with the Romulan's. Using this position, he lowered the defensive screens of the base which resulted in the Khitomer Massacre with Ja'rod himself dying in the attack. The details of the attack would be hidden by the High Council of the Klingon Empire due to the influence of the House of Duras and that if publicly revealed, the information would split the Klingon Empire in half and create another dangerous civil war. Instead, the warrior Mogh, Son of Worf was blamed for the attack and, as such, his House was disgraced. His son, Worf, Son of Mogh would suffer from Discommendation for the 'crimes' of his father. (TNG episode: Sins of the Father)

With the death of Ja'rod, his son, Duras, Son of Ja'rod, became the leader of the Great House and attempted to gain the leadership of the High Council by becoming Chancellor. His competitor to the position was Gowron, Son of M'Rel The death of the Chancellor K'Mpec in 2367 resulted in a delay in the ritual. Before his death, K'Mpec appointed Jean-Luc Picard as Arbiter of Succession who would judge to be the new Chancellor. During these events, it was uncovered that Duras's father, Ja'rod, had conspired with the Romulan's in the Khitomer Massacre. Duras was then killed by the son of one of the warriors who were killed at Khitomer, Worf, Son of Mogh. (TNG episode: Reunion)

While Duras's death had diminished the power of the House, there were others who attempted to ensure that a member of the House of Duras would become the new Chancellor. This came in the form of the Sisters of Duras; Lursa and B'Etor who could not serve on the High Council due to Klingon law. However, they had found the son of Duras who was known as Toral, Son of Duras who was a young child. Using the child's position as the son of Duras, Lursa and B'Etor challenged Gowron's position. They would even attempt to influence the decision of the Arbiter of Succession, Jean-Luc Picard. Regardless of their attempts, Gowron was selected as the Chancellor of the Klingon Empire. Such an action split the High Council with half joining the House of Duras and resulted in a civil war.

The United Federation of Planet's attempted to, passively, aid the loyalist Klingon forces under the command of Gowron by preventing 'outside' forces from influencing Klingon politics which were suspected at aiding the rebel forces. This was determined to be true as the Romulan Star Empire had been providing support to the rebel forces in order to gain a leader of the Klingon Empire that would support the Romulan's.

The lack of Romulan support severely diminished the capability of the rebel forces under the House of Duras's control. This allowed the loyalist forces to crush the rebellion and even storming their base of operations. Lursa and B'Etor managed to escape onto their personal ship but left Toral behind. Toral would have been executed but was spared by Worf, Son of Mogh. (TNG episode: Redemption, Part I, Redemption, Part II)

Becoming effectively renegades, Lursa and B'Etor attempted to gain some power through illegal means such as selling weaponry to Bajoran terrorists like the Kohn-ma. As they had not committed any crimes against the Bajoran government, they were set free. (DS9 episode: Past Prologue)

An attempted assassination on Worf was suspected to have been done so by the Sisters of Duras, however, this was not the case. It was learnt that Lursa was pregnant who may have served as a new heir to the House of Duras. (TNGepisode: Firstborn)

The Sisters would attempt to hatch a new plan on securing their place within the Klingon Empire once more by forming an 'alliance' with the scientist Doctor Soran who had developed technology that could make star's go into a super nova. In order to perfect the technology, Soran required a new experimental susbtance known as Trilithium. This compound had been secretly developed by the Romulans who attacked Soran's observatory while looking for their stolen 'property'.

They would later take Soran to Narenda III as part of his attempt to join with the Nexus but used this opportunity to implant a surveilance device in Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge's VISOR as they had briefly captured him. Using the information they found, they were able to use their B'rel class Bird-of-Prey to deal serious damage to the USS Enterprise-E. But they themselves were destroyed in this attempt which ended their reign of the House of Duras. (TOS movie: Generations)

While the leaders of the House of Duras were killed, there was another who attempted to restore the Great House. This was Toral, who attempted to regain by finding the Sword of Kahless whose where abouts had been uncovered by the Dahar Master Kor, along with his colleagues namely Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax and Lieutenant Commander Worf. (DS9 episode: The Sword of Kahless)

Despite his failure in getting the Sword of Kahless, Toral was able to unite the House of Duras and attempt a coup of the Klingon government which was being led by the Chancellor Martok. He would pursue several personal vendetta's, one of which was against Commander Worf but these would fail. The key to the House of Duras's power at this time was secret Romulan support, however, when Toral was defeated and chased from the Empire, he would be killed by his 'allies'. (TNG game: Armada)

Regardless of Toral's death, it would appear that a new restored House of Duras has arisen in the years after the Reman Uprising who attempted to expand the influence of the Klingon Empire. (Star Trek game: Online)