Lursa was a female Klingon officer of the 24th century Klingon Empire and member of the House of Duras. She was the elder of the two Duras sisters, herself and B'Etor, sister of Duras and daughter of Ja'rod. Through Duras, she had a nephew, Toral. She was the mastermind behind her family's fight to head the Klingon Empire.

Together with Be'tor, she was responsible for the beginning of the Klingon Civil War in 2367. With the assistance of the Romulans, Lursa and her B'Etor plotted to install Toral, the illegitimate son of Duras, on the throne of the Klingon High Council. She attempted to persuade Jean-Luc Picard, who was the Arbiter of Succession, to rule in favor of Toral. When Picard supported Gowron, she and her sister took up arms against Gowron. Their attempt was defeated when the Federation blockaded delivery of supplies from the Romulans. When the Romulan involvement was exposed, Lursa's support evaporated. (TNG: "Redemption", "Redemption II")

The Duras sisters were also responsible for selling bilitrium to Bajoran Kohn-Ma terrorists in 2369. This plot was revealed through investigation by Elim Garak and Julian Bashir. They did this in order to obtain capital to rebuild their forces. (DS9: "Past Prologue") Another capital-raising scheme had them seizing a Pakled magnesite mine on Kalla III, overseen by the Dopterian Gorta, and selling its explosive ore to a Yridian, Yog. In 2370, they were also falsely accused of plotting to kill Worf and his son. During that same year, she was pregnant with her first child. (TNG: "Firstborn")

In 2371, the sisters worked with El-Aurian scientist Tolian Soran and raided a Romulan outpost to acquire trilithium in exchange for Soran's trilithium weapon. Lursa died above Veridian III when her Bird-of-Prey was destroyed by the USS Enterprise-D. (Star Trek Generations)