Torvid was a male Klingon politician who served as governor of the planet Qadyaq after its population was ceded from beneath the House of Taklat. Opposed to accepting support that the United Federation of Planets offered the Klingon Empire after Praxis was destroyed, under his leadership, the people of Qadvag turned to embrace dishonourable methods as thieves who struck out at their neighbours until a minor bureaucrat named Mazka massacred the entire population for its crimes.

Biography[]

Term as governor[]

A bureaucrat that worked for the Klingon Empire as an official who represented their rule to citizens within the significant expanse of the Beta Quadrant that fell behind the Imperial border, Torvid was appointed to assume leadership over the mining planet Qadyag after the destruction of the moon Praxis. Before this catastrophe, the lands that Torvid now ruled as governor had been under the possession of the House of Taklat, but that Klingon clan was reduced to destitution after their uridium mines were taken with Praxis. Without these factories to sustain them, the Taklat were unable to sustain their interests on Qadvag and stripped the location of the equipment that once enabled these enterprises to thrive. Although the United Federation of Planets - a historic rival of the Klingons - had come forth with a peace agreement that legitimised their humanitarian aid delivered to Imperial worlds which the disaster condemned to starvation, Governor Torvid had little respect for the organisation and refused to accept its support. Instead, he chose to disgrace the principle which stood at the heart of his culture: his honor. After his appointment to become leader of this ransacked world, the new governor inherited the D12-class birds-of-prey which the former owners of Qadvag once controlled. At the instructions of their leader, the warriors under Torvid reconditioned these starships as troop transports which ferried Klingon soldiers who unleashed a campaign of devastation against fellow protectorates of the Klingon Empire.

Under the leadership of Governor Torvid, the denizens of his planet became raiders and thieves that plundered worlds across the neighbouring systems, looting from other citizens under the Klingon banner and consequently throwing aside their own honor. Using the stolen resources, Qadvag was able to rebolster its farms and deposits without the knowledge of the larger empire for seventeen turns before the IKS Klolode and the USS Enterprise-B rendezvoused to deliver relief that the Khitomer Accords allocated for the planet. When Lieutenant J'Laq contacted the population to request coordinates for the food deliveries, the offer was denied. Instead, Torvid agreed to a face-to-face meeting with Captains Kang and John Harriman on the surface alongside one of his guardsmen, Mazka. There, the governor was curt towards the Starfleet officer and used to simple term "human" when addressing him, denying the need for his people to seek assistance from the alien government, which Kang scoffed to. Speaking with the other Klingon in a far more respectful tone, he equated the opinion to unsound intelligence and beckoned the newcomers forward to show reasons behind his statement that his people never needed to "beg for scraps from the Federation". On the other side of the outcrop where the meeting had taken place, Torvid unveiled the farmland and industries with a flourish, but refused to surrender details about how such affluence could be possible and told Kang that his reason for inviting the officer was simply to validate claims which dictated that his civilisation was thriving. After turning to instruct the "earther" to leave and find a new world to subjugate, the governor departed as well through transporter technology — an extravagance only afforded to him — after ordering Mazka to follow him back to the capital with less taxational means. Alone with Kang, the guardsman proceeded to reveal the crimes of his people and their governor to the other Klingon, who assured Mazka that his deed had freed him of their shame. Nonetheless, Mazka left the encounter holding the knowledge that for a Klingon, a life without honor was no life at all. Armed with this belief and his d'k tahg, the minor official proceeded to massacre the entire population under the darkness of night. When the sun rose, it shone over the sight of Governor Torvid and the other residents, all dead from cuts delivered to their throats, while the killer committed the hegh'bat with a blade to the chest. (ST - Alien Spotlight comic: "Four Thousand Throats...")

Legacy[]

After the orbiting starships discovered the sudden absence of life on Qadvag and beamed down to investigate, the Starfleet team dispatched under Commander Demora Sulu informed their counterparts that all but Mazka had been found dead after their throats were slit. Kang proceeded to demand the immediate departure of the Federation, citing the massacre as a matter which was internal to the Klingon Empire, but although both sides proceeded to inform their respective governments all the same, but it had little impact. With its entire population slaughtered, the government that had laid its claim on Qadvag saw little reason to recolonise after its uridium deposits had been reduced to a meager level. As a result, the planet that Torvid had enriched became a dead one, forever tainted with the dishonourable practices of its residents. Decades later, K'Ratak mentioned the massacre and the events which had driven Mazka to carry out the slaughter in his revised edition of the qeS'a'. Though the author acknowledged that the fallen warrior made a swift strike that redeemed his people, their demises was not enough to save Qadvag for becoming obsolete. As a result, the triumph was a hollow one. Kang likewise praised Mazka to his wife Mara and believed that the guardsman had done what the situation demanded from him. Mara objected to this statement, however, arguing that Torvid and his people had taken the appropriate measures to survive, but one man had decided that this was a dishonour and killed them in cold blood. (ST reference: The Klingon Art of War: Ancient Principles of Ruthless Honor; ST - Alien Spotlight comic: "Four Thousand Throats...")