- I believe O'Brien was just addressed as 'chief', so he could still be a SCPO, or have been promoted at some point to MCPO. Interestingly, David R. George III seems very particular about discerning character's ranks in his novels. Particularly those of lieutenant commander and commander rank, which is very considerate I recall that Counselor Philippa Matthias was mentioned in Ascendance and confirmed to be a lieutenant commander; and Wheeler Stinson and Jefferson Blackmer were also confirmed lieutenant commanders Spoiler (although Blackmer gets a promotion from security chief to first officer, but it's not made clear whether it was just a promotion of position, or if there was a promotion in rank, too - I guess we might find out in the next DS9 book, The Long Mirage?) .
In STO, the Klingons go from Captain to Brigadier Gen. --> Major G. --> Lieutenant G. to Dahar Master.
Huh? I never thought of Dahar Master as a military rank, more an honorific for a great warrior or a master of the combat arts.
It's an alien culture, after all. It's the only honorific befitting your KDF character when s/he has reached highest level. In turn, every Federation and Romulan Republic character can become a five-star Fleet Admiral. Link to rank progression: http://sto.gamepedia.com/Player_rank Part of me still hopes we get Commodore as title someday. "Rear Admiral, lower half" is as unwieldy in-game as in real life.
Exactly my point. A whole culture. So it doesn't follow that every single bit of information we have about them refers to a single uniform rank system. Even a "warrior race" like the Klingons would have more ways of classifying people than military rank. Indeed, "Once More Unto the Breach" makes it unambiguous that Dahar Master is not a general-grade rank. Kor is the Dahar Master, and he can't get command of a ship. He needs Worf to plead with General Martok on his behalf. If Dahar Master were the equivalent of a 4-star general, he could've just ordered someone to give him a ship. So clearly the status of Dahar Master cannot be part of the regular military hierarchy. After all, General Martok was pretty much the guy in charge of the whole Defense Force, second only to Chancellor Gowron. There were two occasions where Kor was referred to as "Dahar Master of the Klingons," as if it were some rare, singular status like Poet Laureate of the United States. He's variously referred to as "a Dahar Master" and "the Dahar Master," which implies that it's a post held by only one person at a time, with Kor as the current holder.
If O'Brien is referred to as just "Chief" than he's still a Senior Chief. Master Chiefs are always addressed as "Master Chief." It never gets abbreviated to just "Chief."
My impression of "Dahar Master" is that it's not a military rank, but more of a karate grandmaster or similar equivalent: a title that conveys respect for one's decades* of honorable service. Also, if I remember correctly, Kor, Kang, and Koloth were all Dahar Masters as of 2370.
Actually, I'm pretty sure that US naval Senior Chiefs aren't abbreviated to "Chief" either, but rather 'Senior', (tho apparently it is acceptable for USAF Chief Master Sergeants (roughly analogus to naval MCPOs) and CWOs of any service (who unlike US NCOs can be refered to as Mister). It could also be argued that 'Chief' is short for 'Chief of Operations' rather than his specific rank (tho personally I'd prefer COO or Coop as the abbreviation/nickname for that posting (similar to COB on subs).
We can chalk up the difference of meaning for Dahar Master to 1) a change of meaning by the early 25th century 2) a creative real-world decision to satisfy the fans 3) or, it didn't change meaning and your KDF character is simply a four-star gal/guy who's exclusively referred to by their karate title. After all, you fight side by side with Kahless II, defeated the Fek'Ihri, and slew their masters Fek'lhr and Molor in Gre'thor.
You forgot Colonel, the Klingons have that rank as well. The only one we've ever seen is Worf from ST VI (TNG Worf's grandfather). And there are also Klingon Admirals (Krell, from ENT's Affliction/Divergence).
If Dahar Masters were less common than four stars generals, which seems possible considering that he was reffered to as the Dahar Master, this makes way more sense than something coming from STO usually does. Yeah, but Markonian was only listing the STO ranks and not all the stoff STO forgot.
That's implied when Kang says they could all achieve a death a Klingon Dahar Master deserves, but I don't think it's unambiguous. Heck, maybe "Dahar Master" means "someone who fought Kirk and lived."
I haven't paid that much close attention to the onscreen dialogue of this matter, but I figured that "Dahar Master" was some form of high honor, akin to knighting in the UK.
And that's why O'Brien will never be promoted... CBS is too worried about being sued by Microsoft! Er, what? In STO, there's a mission that *literally* takes you to Klingon hell?
More like three missions. There are also some missions where the player fights along with the two other factions against the Voth (and sometimes species 8472) about control of a Dyson Sphere build by the Iconians... Now that I think about it this sounds like fanfiction!
Yup. You go to Boreth to medidate, and you wake up in Grethor to fight Mohlor, the leader of the Fek'lhri who have been plaguing Klingon space. It makes no logical sense whatsoever, but tell that to the producers. http://sto.gamepedia.com/Fek'Ihri_Return Seriously. It's like saying in Star Trek that Heaven as described in the Christian Bible is real. I can't figure out how that makes any sense at all. It is fan fiction - officialized (albeit not to the canon level) through a Star Trek licensee. Heck, the upcoming 2017 TV series probably qualifies as officialized fan fiction. Like how the STO producers used the bad fan theory that the Preservers from TOS - "The Paradise Syndrome" are the same species as the humanoid progenitors from TNG - "The Chase".