Star Trek: Everything We NOW Know About The Burn

Though one would be forgiven for believing the Burn affected starships primarily, warp cores were not the sole location of Dilithium. Many worlds employed reactors on their surfaces as sources of energy. When the Burn rippled through the galaxy, these reactors faced a similar disaster. For at least one galactic power in particular, the effect had apocalyptic results.

Qo'Nos, then the homeworld of the Klingon Empire, was devastated in the aftermath of the shockwave. The reactors on the planet exploded, killing billions of Klingons, reducing the planet to an uninhabitable waste in seconds. This also occurred on many other worlds in the Empire.

In that moment, the Klingon Empire ceased to exist. The Klingons themselves became an endangered species, cutting off all diplomatic ties with the Federation, with many becoming nomadic and rejecting technology. 

Houses either faded into oblivion, limped on, or united to survive. House Kraag became a triad house, with Jay-Den Kraag having two fathers and one mother. They found shelter on Krios Prime, once the location of a rebel faction within the Empire. 

Though the cause of the Burn was discovered and nullified in 3189, it would take a further seven years for the Klingons to find a new homeworld, this time within Federation space. Faan Alpha matched Qo'Nos' climate almost perfectly, though of course, things couldn't be simple when the Klingons were involved. After a staged battle, the Klingons 'conquered' the world, raising the flag of the Empire in the air again.