Andorian Dagger
An Andorian Dagger is a weapon carried by every Andorian from their coming of age.
The dagger plays a very important role in the cultural life of the Andorian, since it was through the ritualized dueling through the use of the dagger that stability was brought to the Andorian people.
The Andorians are very passionate people and they are culturally organized in extended family groups called clans. When there were disputes between these clans, prior to the development of the ritualized dueling system, the warfare and carnage was incredibly destructive.
With the development of the dueling system, an Andorian can now resolve their differences in a regulated and accepted social and cultural medium without fear of escalating bloodshed and destruction.
The dagger, is therefore a symbol of one's ability to right wrongs as well as a means to guarantee continued cultural and social stability.
Each clan has a unique dagger design. And since every Andorian of adult age carries such a dagger, it is easy to tell from which clan an Andorian hails.
In some cases, it is even possible to detail the exact area of Andoria that an individual lives due to the limited geographical dispersion of some clans.
Andorian Daggers are very rarely bestowed upon non-Andorians. This is considered a great honor and it signifies that an outsider has shown some great courage, honor and duty to a specific Andorian Clan.
Even then in order to be granted such an award, the individual must undergo a number of trials and tribulations to prove their worth to the Andorian people. Should they be undertaken successfully, then the individual is adopted into one of the sixty-eight clans, usually a specific one, and they become not only Honorary members of the clan that they have joined, but Andorian Citizens. In this way it is possible to hold multiple citizenship.
Baylon Trinin, an officer assigned to the USS Hades is an individual who has been adopted into the Asnok Clan. As a result he wears his Andorian Dagger as part of his Starfleet Uniform, as do all Andorians serving in Starfleet.
