Issue #76 Spring 2009

Some of the Many Facets of Krikor

FROM THE KAG DCO With the KAG 20th anniversary fast approaching, I find myself looking back at the time I have spent with KAG. I first became aware of KAG back in early 1992, when I went to my first convention in Montreal.  There I saw a bunch of folks dressed as Klingons.  I hung around their club table, and picked up some of their newsletters, but I was too shy to talk to them directly.  One of the newsletters had full instructions on how to make your own headpiece.  I resolved to make myself a 'Worf' costume.  By that October, I had the yellow Starfleet tunic done; I went to another convention and again was too shy to make contact with the Klingons.  Two weeks later at Halloween, I had the headpiece and baldric finished and wore my full Worf costume for the first time. When the next convention rolled into town in the spring of 1993, I finally got up the courage to join KAG.  In that first year, I made a "classic" Klingon, an "Imperial" Klingon, and a Romulan costume for variety.  In the next couple of years, I became more active and involved, so that by the time 1996 rolled around, I was a Lieutenant Commander. 1996 was the year that the leaders of Kag Kanada officially split with the rest of KAG, and I followed along like the rest of the troops.  At almost exactly the same time, the very large Montreal ship was split into two for ease of administration, and I was asked to command one of those ships.  Thus was the IKV Cold Thunder launched ("By the time you hear us coming, we have already struck!").  I commanded that ship for the next few years, picking up a promotion to Commander along the way. In 1999 I moved to Toronto.  The Klingon scene in Toronto at that time was in rather a shambles; in the first year I was there, there were a couple of meetings but no actual costumed events.  At one of those meetings I joined a ship, the IKV Howling, only to find a while later that the CO had quit the club to have a baby and left me in charge of the ship.  I renamed the ship the IKV Cloaked Talon (later Crimson Talon) and tried to re-establish some order. But in the fall of 2000, a number of highly placed officers in KAG Kanada had a falling out with the leaders of that club, and as a result had a revolutionary idea, quite literally: they decided to rejoin the original KAG, and take as many with them as they could.  I was one of those people.  Over the next few months, we wrangled out the details of this new entity within KAG, and in July of 2001, the Crimson Knight Fleet was officially launched.  I was made quadrant commander of the Scarlet Shield quadrant at that time. A year later, I became fleet commander for the Crimson Knight Fleet, a position I still hold.  But in addition to this Navy position, in that time I have become involved in other branches of the KAG family: Marines (as Field Marshall for my fleet), IXL (as Vice-Legate), and Quartermasters (as primary costume maker for the members in my area).  I have also gotten to know the Klingons from the rest of KAG, people like Keela, Qat'Iy, Chonbey, Salek, and many others.  KAG has become my new family. Nor have I forgotten those who inspired me along the way.  K'Hack, my first commander, who showed me that being Klingon is all about attitude.  K'Athee, who gave me my first chance at command.  Kasarr, who was the heart and soul of the Crimson Knight Fleet in its infancy.  And Kerla, who for the last eight or nine years has been my mentor, my guide, my navigator on the choppy waters of Klingon politics.  When reaching for the stars, it helps to stand on the shoulders of giants. Upon approaching a milestone, it is appropriate to look back at the path one has travelled.  But in the next issue of Mindscanner, it is time to look forward, to what the NEXT twenty years has in store for KAG.  Stay tuned! Krikor <[email protected]>