Sha'Kurian Ducal Territories

The Sha'Kurian Ducal Territories is the name of the government of the Sha'Kurian species. Its position is located near both the Klingon and Romulan empires however very little is known about them. What is known is that they are an ancient, feudal, xenophobic, warrior species that is very protective of their territory and can be incredibly united when facing outside threats.

The Sha'Kurian Ducal Territories consists of as many as twelve Duchies that each consist of a Duke that sits on the Sha'Kurian House of Lords. Each Duke follows a strict code of law known as the Sha'Kurian Rules of Law that details what actions they must take while they maintain their self governance. This includes uniting with the other Duchies, even if they are engaged in battle with them, should outside threats emerge that threaten the united Ducal Territories. Another facet of the Rules includes the continued survival of the remaining Royal Families and ensures that noen of them are destroyed in the many internal conflicts the Duchies enter, which occur at an unusually seasonal period. This has also forced the Sha'Kurians a mandatory capture of prisoners in these battles to ensure that these strict rules are not broken and is perhaps the only thing that keeps the Sha'Kurians from returning civil wars that destroyed their large interstellar empire.

History
The true origins of the Sha'Kurians is not known except from what Klingon Intelligence has managed to gather. What is known is that they are an old race, one that does not have its origins within the Beta Quadrant but are in fact native to the Delta Quadrant.

Intelligence believed that the Sha'Kurians once possessed a large and mighty empire within that region of space after their development of warp technology, which may have not come naturally and which may have actually been acquired from another species. Regardless, their race expanded for hundreds of years but eventually fell apart due to internal dissession which may have sparked civil wars that ultimately destroyed this empire.

The empire which lasted for hundreds of years was eventually torn apart when the Imperial Family was assassinated by a group that history files call as the 'Nameless Ones'. This period was known as the 'The Collapse' in Sha'Kurian lore, when the internal conflicts resulted in many conflicts with the feudal houses being absorbed by the victors or destroyed which eventually meant that the empire shrank to a fraction of its original size. To survive, a faction of the Sha'Kurian people, led by the last few feudal families, left on an exodus to a new region of space to continue their species which is their current territory however the internal conflicts that plagued their race continued.

As the fighting continued for many years, the feudal families were reduced to twelve which became the rulers of the Sha'Kurian Ducal Territories, each led by the Dukes. As this government was formed, the Sha'Kurians declared the maintenance of the status quo to protect whatever power that was left. This ruling council, known as the House of Lords, serves in a manner similar to the Klingon High Council however it possessed no central leader. All the decisions were decided by a simple majority vote.

Minor skirmishes continued over the years however none of the feudal houses were to be destroyed as decided by the House of Lords which ensured that a collapse as they suffered in the past did not happen. Had things continued, its likely the Sha'Kurians would have remained in this state for the rest of their lives but this was not the case. In the year 2245, elements of the Klingon Defense Force first discovered the Sha'Kurians when the Klingons fought two fleets engaged in battle as two of the Duchies were fighting in one of their regular skirmishes. When the Klingons entered the fray and took several resource rich worlds in the name of the Empire, the Rules of War came into effect which resulted in both Duchies disengaging from the internal conflict and uniting against the Klingons which caught the Defense Force off-guard. Thus, it became common knowledge that when facing the threat of invasion, the Sha'Kurians would be united and drove the Klingons from their territory.

Later, in the year 2258, the Klingons had acquired cloaking technology and attempted to gather intelligence on the Ducal Territories. A cloaked force was sent to probe the region but it never returned as it was eventually learnt that the Sha'Kurians possessed effective means to combat cloaking technology, a fact that the Romulans had also discovered years earlier but had neglected to mention to the Klingons.

At some point, the Sha'Kurians went on an incursion outside their territory to attack a Romulan outpost on the border. During this raid, the Ducal Territories managed to incorporate Gorn Graviton Density Distortion Sphere Generator technology into their ships.

The fate of this government is not known however it is known that they were quite active in the years before the final peace treaty between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.

Military
At heart, the Sha'Kurians are a warrior species but to hone these skills, the Duchies employ the curious practice of fielding mercenary fleets and hiring them to other groups. This has a two sided effect; the first being, it allows a source of income for the Royal Family patron of the mercenary fleet and secondly, it allows young warriors to gain valuable experience in the field of battle. This is how the Sha'Kurians are most encountered outside the battlefield arena. This combined with the Rules of War of mandatory taking prisoners allows the Sha'Kurians to build an effective pool of experienced, fearsome warriors.

Sha'Kurian fleets consist of primarily fighter designs and are perhaps one of the few races that embrace the concept of fighter as well as bomber designs in the use of starship combat. Larger carriers are used in the deployment of these which literally allows the Sha'Kurians to swarm targets even if they are larger more dangerous ones. However, this strength also can serve as their weakness as the destruction of the command ship can leave the fighter flights uncoordinated and easily defeated.

Technology
The Ducal Territories possess many of the standard technologies that other governments possess such as transporters, shields, both warp drive and impulse drives however they lack the more advanced weaponry such as photon torpedoes. Their shield technology is rudimentary at best while their starships are made of a weak hull design which enemy ships have been known to exploit as Sha'Kurian ships do not possess the staying power of enemy vessels. They supplement this disadvantage with the development of certain key technologies which has ensured their survival. One such advantage being a better usage of speed in combat tactics making Sha'Kurian ships far faster then their enemy equivalents.

In the field of weapons, Sha'Kurians are known to make use of phasers, which are both weaker as well as short ranged compared to equivalents, and heavy usage of missile technology known as Impulse Velocity Projectiles.

They are quite proficient in the use of sensor technology which is so refined that it is capable of piercing Cloaking devices which is the key advantage of both the Klingon Empire and Romulan Star Empire and has resulted in numerous loses for both those governments in their attempts at conquering Sha'Kurian space. This combined with their extensive use of fighter tactics allows them to spread a web to detect cloaked ships.

A recent acquisition of the Sha'Kurians is gravitational density distortion sphere technology that they have adapted for their own use even though it is originally a Gorn technological design. The development of these weapons has greatly enhanced the survival capability of Sha'Kurian ships.

Source

 * Klingon Academy