Before the founding of the Empire, Kahless was the head of a moderately, prosperous, respectable house.  When choosing the symbol of his house which will later become the symbol of the Empire, Kahless quite surprisingly chose a stylized representation of an ancient melee weapon that he rechristianed as the tIq ghob, or "Heart of Virtue".  Some scholars and the general citizenry of the Empire feel that the weapon was chosen because of its remarkable balance.  Others postulate that the weapon was chosen because it was upon this weapon that he based his house philosophy of the three main virtues the debate on this topic continues still. 

Kahless fought during the uprisings against the tyrant Molor.  During the darkest hours of the uprising, Kahless entered the Kri'stak volcano and dipped a lock of his hair into the fiery calderas.  Taken the molten mass, he forged a new weapon, a weapon with unparallel strength and grace.  He named his new weapon the Bat'leth, and with it he rallied the faltering forces arrayed against Molor and fought the tyrant all the way back to his strong hold.  It was there that Kahless slew Molor in a duel to the death, and upon the ashes of Molor's Kingdom was founded the Klingon Empire.  This battle between Kahless and Molor is celebrated annually with the Kot'baval Festival.

While the Empire was in its infancy, Morath, the brother of Kahless, broke a solemn vow, bringing shame to the house of Kahless and to the fledgling Empire as well.  Kahless confronted Morath with his shame and the struggle ensued.  For twelve days and twelve nights Kahless wrestled Morath until eventually Morath relented and honored his promise.  This was not the end of Kahless woes at the hands of his brother Morath. 

Much later, Morath killed their father over their fathers decision on who would inherit his sword.  Kahless tracked his brother to a lonely section of coastline and confronted him. Kahless seized the sword of his brother and hurled it into the sea, thus preventing either of them from possessing the sword.  Kahless spared Morath but the two never spoke again.

One of the most famous incidents in Kahless life was less involved with battle and more involved with romance.  Kahless pursued the Lady Lukara, yet at every turn he was rebuffed.  This continued for months.  One day, while again attempting to woo Lukara at her familys great hall in the village of Quam-Chi, the village was  attacked by a marauding army of five hundred warriors.  Kahless and Lukara fought the onslaught side-by-side and emerged as the only survivors of the battle.  This convinced Lukara that it was fate that bought Kahless to her and she agreed to be his wife.

Other tales of Kahless include the story of how he harvested his fathers field with his bat'leth, how he killed and skinned the Serpent of Xol, his commentary on the storm of Quin'lat and how he single handedly defeated an army at the Three Turns Bridge.

Just before his death, Kahless pointed to a star and promised that one day he would return, and the place of his return would be that star.  After our people made it into space, one of the first things done was to find that star.  The star turned out to be the Boreth System, and a monastery was set up on the only habitable planet orbiting the Boreth Star to await his return.  The Monastery is maintained and operated by devout mokns, eargerly awaiting the arrival of Kahless.