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The trouble really comes from how to explain confrontations with the Klingons in Discovery, which postdates Enterprise but predates TOS. I could try to write some complicated speculative treatise on Klingon biology and politics that shoehorns the square peg into the proverbial round hole, but honestly, i got nuthin'

Taking what we know, and mostly at face value;

* The Klingon Empire has been in isolation and disarray since the outbreak of the Augment Virus most likely caused by the outbreak.
* The Augment Virus would ultimately become endemic according to Phlox so in theory all Klingons should be TOS like but cosmetic surgery might become "a thing" in his opinion.
* The Federation has barely seen Klingons during that last century, and the events of the outbreak are likely highly classified given Section 31's involvement. The average Starfleet officer knows very little, and the average Federation citizen even less.
* As of the start of DIS, the "ruling elite" (the 24 Houses) of the Klingon Empire seems to be the DIS type. We see the forces of the various Houses rather than a general military.
* As of the end of DIS S1 L'Rell is in charge more or less of the Empire and is working to make it a unified entity rather than waring internally as it had been.
* We know that at least three TOS Klingons later are TNG Klingons, one of whom is the last heir to his house whose heads were eliminated in S1-2 of DIS.
* "Trials and Tribulations" clearly shows that most Starfleet personnel (including medical personnel who should surely know better) are blissfully ignorant of Klingons having different appearances in the past. [Speculatively this might be a S31 legacy thing].

We can probably attribute the apparent rise of the TOS Klingons to L'Rell's rebuilding of the Empire or reaction to it and their absence later to some kind of cure/therapy developed near the end of TOS.

We can probably explain the DIS style as the result of something that occurred fairly early on in the missing century - I'd speculate some form of gene therapy that ended up producing a slightly more primitive appearance of the species than the TNG version but was immune to the Augment Virus.

I appreciate the time it took to write this short history.

But the last few years of "modern Trek" finally made me understand what O'Brien meant in "The Wounded" when he told the Cardassian: "It's not you I hate, Cardassian. I hate what I became because of you".

I hate the type of Trek fan that I've become because of shows like Discovery and Picard. Picard especially because of how much I've always loved the character.

The genetic experimentation theory is my personal canon. That so many klingons wound up severely disfigured is probably why Worf exclaimed, "it is not something we discuss with outsiders."

If they follow Enterprise cannon, then the Klingons could easily have four "races" of Klingons--the Discovery version, the Kelvin Timeline version, the TNG-DS9-VOY Klingons, and the Augmented TDV version. References in DS9 and Enterprise suggest that politically speaking, Klingons affected by stages 1 & 2 of the Augment Virus were not considered good enough to serve at the heart of the Empire, so they were mostly assigned to the frontier, which is supposedly the reason we only ever see smooth-craniumed klingons before the Star Trek movie makeover. The trouble really comes from how to explain confrontations with the Klingons in Discovery, which postdates Enterprise but predates TOS. I could try to write some complicated speculative treatise on Klingon biology and politics that shoehorns the square peg into the proverbial round hole, but honestly, i got nuthin'

If we're just taking these shoes as being a REPRESENTATION of the "fictional truth" of the whole Star Trek Universe, then we can just enjoy the series for what they are--stories told with the available tools, upgraded over time to better approximate a "fictional reality" we all enjoy, and we can adjust to the fact that none of the representations of Klingons in Star Trek are able to accurately depict whatever such a species might actually look like in "fictional real life."

Supplemented the most recent developments and some images.

Thanks for this Trek down memory lane. EAS is my #1 Trek site and my homepage for 20+ years!

If I had to retcon the whole thing…I would have there been an atom war on the home world…Worf, then the TMP werewolf variety…with a Stargate Atlantis cross over showing Klingons contract the wraith virus. Disco Klingons being 32 Century types with those oddball ships THEN…with some maybe having Jem Hadar ancestry to help explain the look.

Each generation looks more hostile than the last. Devolved Worf an end result…or Orks.

I'm putting even money on an approach somewhere between C and D.

I suspect we'll have some modifications to Worf's makeup (but very restrained). The LOW and PRO Klingons are obviously close to the classic TNG look, but the animation styles of both could also excuse any differences that bcome apparent later.

I suspect the SNW Klingons will tend towards a look closer to TNG but retaining some (more) DIS characteristics than what we'll see in PIC3 (if at all).

Now the thing I am wondering is if SNW also introduces the more human look of augment virus afflicted Klingons that the "Star Trek Discovery : Aftermath" comics showed for Kor; The comic of course did it with no explanation, but the clear implication that Kor took over House Kor as "last man standing" which might go hand in hand with his "affliction".

Purely speculative thought. From the TNG episode Genesis, we can see that Klingon DNA has a lot of rigidness in its past;

What if the "untold story" of the 100 years since Archer's intervention is the turmoil caused by seeking a cure based on some genetic regression?

Dr Phlox suggested cosmetic surgery would be a boon but I don't think he truly understood Klingons, and in general that wouldn't be acceptable as the children would be born with the TOS look regardless. A genetic cure would be the more desirable outcome, even with "slight" compromises to avoid the augment virus re-establishing itself.

So an early cure gives more primitive Klingons, but still Klingony enough for those that can afford the cure, those connected to the top echelons of the 24 houses (formerly 25 with House T'Kuvma falling from grace..?). This would still leave a large population with the full effect of the Augment Virus, and interbreeding would inevitably occur and probably would only give one of two results in viable offspring. DIS or TOS, which would lead to an increasing DIS like species but with a significant TOS population.

In general, the Klingons have a "good enough" cure, and in line with their general attitude to medical research pretty much give up on doing better. All of this occurring with the Empire in disarray. Very few TNG Klingons would remain in the greater population, but there may be isolated colonies.

L'Rell's ascension to the Chancellorship and the rebuilding of the Klingon Defence Force rather than the House fleets may have led to the incorporation of the perhaps previously excluded TOS Klingons, and that's why we start seeing them as the dominant type around that period (willing cannonfodder..?). Because of how the Klingons operated in the war, there's very few people who'd seen DIS Klingons that had survived, just as there had been very few had seen Klingons in the previous hundred years too, so the TOS, and the only crew we know had actually seen TNG Klingons was that of the NX-01 back in the day.

Somewhen around about end of the run of TOS, perhaps one of these isolated colonies develops a proper cure and/or a revertive cure for the DIS and TOS types that can be generally applied in the population so the "proper" TNG type of Klingon can reassert themselves in the population.

Of course SNW could do something even more whacky...

Well-summarized. Though might option F simply be to quarantine DIS and SNW off as a variant universe, like the Kelvin timeline (and thus quarantine their Klingon look there)? In theory, of course, the Lower Decks crossover will make or break that, officially tying SNW (and thus Discovery) in with the TNG aesthetic/era**, or officially noting the visual and tech discrepancies.

**Though technically, Discovery has already established that the TNG era aesthetics are the great unifier, apparently shared between all alternate universes anyway. By the 24th century all varying aesthetics and continuities will apparently converge to the same look. :-)

Shouldn't the Klingons have conquered the Romulan Empire after the destruction of Romulus?
I like the TNG/DS9/VOY Kingon design the most and hope they find the way back to it.

For more info on the shuttle, see the WaveRider Technical Manual here.

Other WaveRider images: Exterior Cockpit Lounge Quarters Cargo Hold
Other U.S.S. Nova interiors: Briefing Room Corridor Turbolift Cargo Bay 1 Cargo Bay 2

This project has been long in the making. It was a collaboration with Ray9012, who's been a huge help with the design of the ship, and we've been working on it on-and-off for the past seven months. Fitting such a large interior space into a single model was quite the challenge. Plus, it was the first interior I attempted after starting to learn Blender, which presented it's own hurdles! But I learned a lot from it and I'm very happy with how it turned out.
My thanks also goes to Geoffryn for his input and financial contribution to the project.

EDIT (26/08/2021): I overlay the interior cutaway on an image of the exterior to put it into better perspective with the exterior of the shuttle.

Christened the "Super-Nova" by its engineers, the Elysion Class is an enlarged iteration of the Nova frame. No longer restricted by its scientific profile, the type places emphasis on its multimission capability. Increased range, marked improvements in amenities and a high capacity engine rated at Warp 9.98 are notable features. Currently, all LRIP Elysions are exclusively built at the Tyfersia Fleet Yards, making it a rare vessel in mainline fleets. Starfleet Command sees the Elysion as a specialist light cruiser and advises a further year of trials before the design goes into fleet-wide production.

Models by Rengers, JLS and Captain Fingers