would be dead, and the challenger would usually take the role of Chancellor for himself, or in rare cases bestow the role to another. If a Chancellor died of natural causes or not as a result of direct combat, an Arbiter of Succession would be named. The Arbiter would designate the strongest challengers, who would then fight each other to the death for the office. There is one known time when a Chancellor named his own successor - shortly after the Praxis explosion Chancellor Gorkon named his daughter Azetbur as Chancellor in the event of his death. History For at least 300 years prior to the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Klingon Empire had been ruled by the High Council. The various High Councils during this time had to deal with monumental events in the history of the Klingon race and the galaxy at large, such as first contact with the humans, years of armed conflict with the Federation, the explosion of Praxis, détente and peace with the Federation, a civil war over the succession crisis, a war of aggression against Cardassia, renewed conflict with the Federation, a restoration of their alliance with the Federation, and the galaxy-wide Dominion War. The Emperor Prior to the mid-21st century, an Emperor presided over the Klingon Empire. Whether the High Council existed or not is open to debate; as is what role, if any, the High Council played. The Klingon-language translation of Hamlet suggests that the Emperor is "First Among Equals" in Klingon politics - but this may not be the generally accepted view in the Star Trek universe. From about the mid 21st century to 2369, there was no Emperor. In 2369, Kahless the Unforgettable apparently reappeared on the planet Boreth; upon which the original Kahless said he would one day return. It was later revealed that the monks living there had created a clone of Kahless because they felt Klingon society was on the decline, and that only Kahless could bring them back to their former glory. Though the deception was soon revealed, Worf felt that the clone could still play a valuable role in Klingon society. Worf managed to convince Gowron to accept Kahless as Emperor. Rather than serve as an absolute monarch, as previous emperors had done, the Emperor would be a spiritual figurehead of national identity, similar to the Japanese Emperor, while the actual power