Bright blue makeup indicates amorous intentions

Men and women court each other with a show of outward irritability, a practice often misunderstood by offworlders, particularly humans. Women who are looking for a mate paint their forehead ridge with a bright blue tint instead of the usual, more sedate, aqua coloring and they offer their fertility as an incentive for marriage. The deceased are honored with elaborate rites that do not permit offworlders to view the body, as it would desecrate the dead.

Cardassian society has the most rigid and, to the Federation, incomprehensible, of all legal systems. All suspects are guilty before even appearing in court, their sentence already spelled out -- invariably an execution. No prisoner ever escapes the death penalty, and only very tempting incentives can change the sentence to a lifetime in a labor campt. The criminal is given a Conservator, equivalent to a public defender, only the Conservator is not supposed to win, but to prepare the criminal for a moving confession of guilt on the floor of the court. The Chief Archon, or judge, of the court plays to a televised audience, her duty not to judge the prisoner's innocence or guilt, but rather to give an emphatic display of the futility of crime in Cardassia and reinforce the public's trust in the justice system.

The civilian Detapa Council staged a sucessful coup against the Central Command in 2372, when the dissident movement reached its peak. The military no longer had full control of the government, and it worked as an agency of the Union, as does the Obsidian Order, Cardassia's secret intelligence agency. The Obsidian Order is slightly different, as it functions autonomously and does not report to the Detapa Council. However, the Council was not in place for a month before Klingon forces attacked Cardassia Prime and nearly killed the entire Council. After Cardassia's entrance into the Dominion, the Council became defunct, and all power once again rested on the Legate who must answer to the Vorta and their Founders.

Cardassians once were a peaceful, spiritual people. Their homeworld Cardassia was in ancient times a legendary civilization whose ruins are still considered as some of the most remarkable in the galaxy. However, poor resources caused a planetwide famine where millions died and treasured relics of the past were plundered by starving Cardassians and by the Cardassian military alike in an effort to buy food. The military, sickened by the weak state, took over the government and organized efforts to stabilize the situation. During the famine, the new leaders who rose to power after the takeover discovered that taking what they wanted was easier and more efficient than long-winded negotiations. Soon, the military state conquered worlds and replenished their resources forcibly.

Terok Nor mining station

In the course of continuing military conquests, Cardassian military forces soon descended upon nearby Bajor. Promising help and support to the peaceful Bajorans, the Cardassians instead annexed Bajor in 2336 and began the 30 years of the Cardassian Occupation. To strip mine resources even more efficiently, Cardassia built a mining station, Terok Nor, in Bajor's orbit for the purpose of ore mining and processing. They established a presence upon the planet and instigated an authoritarian government with Cardassian Prefects at its head. Many Bajorans were forced to resettle on other worlds and their religion was later banned. Those among the Bajorans who were not content to rely on the assistance of the Prophets to end the Occupation gathered to form resistance cells in the mountains of Bajor. They utilized guerrilla tactics, running through rough terrain, then shooting as the Cardassian soldiers caught up. The relentless violence against the invading rulers would slowly change the stance of the Central Command back on Cardassia Prime.

Cardassian relations with the Federation had been hostile ever since 2346, when the Cardassians invaded Setlik III, believing it to be a base the Federation planned to use in an invasion of Cardassian territory. A prolonged period of tension punctuated by hostilities resulted. War broke out when the Federation would not yield, lasting for 20 years. An uneasy truce was reached when an armistice was signed in 2366. Many Federation officers had grave misgivings about this treaty, suspicious of the true intents of the Cardassians. Were they simply buying time to regroup then attack the Federation? One year later, on Stardate 44429.6, Captains Jean-Luc Picard and Benjamin Maxwell discovered that the Cardassians were preparing to launch a major offensive against the Federation. Captain Maxwell violated the treaty when he entered Cardassian space with his vessel, the starship Phoenix. Though his action was illegal, it confirmed his suspicions: heavy Cardassian military activity was occuring illicitly. A new treaty was signed in 2367 between the Federation and the Cardassian Union, which agreed upon a neutral party overseeing incarcerations of either country's captives.

Cardassian presence on Bajor was driven out in 2369, after years of unceasing terrorist activity from the freedom fighters of Bajor finally came to a head. The Occupation ended with a hasty withdrawal, and along with all the equipment left on Bajor itself, Terok Nor was abandoned as well. Defenseless and left with a weakened world, the Bajoran Provisional Government requested the assistance of Starfleet to administer to the orbiting station. The Cardassians would rue their mistake in such a hasty retreat when a stable wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant was soon discovered nearby. Terok Nor, renamed starbase Deep Space Nine by Starfleet, became a strategic location for commercial and scientific expeditions to the Gamma Quadrant, and later became a key defensive front against the Dominion.

The Cardassians didn't let the Federation claim the wormhole entry without contest. In 2370, a year later, they were successful in driving out Starfleet presence on the station by helping the Bajoran extremist group "the Circle" stage a coup to overthrow the Bajoran Provisional Government. The leader of the Circle, Bajoran Minister Jaro Essa, unwittingly bought arms from the Cardassians. He had only wanted to drive out Federation presence and take over the Bajoran Provisional Government. However, this plan would have left Bajor, along with the wormhole, easy pickings for the Cardassians. They were eventually thwarted when Cardassian involvement was presented to the Vedek Council.

A few months later, the Cardassia Union and the Federation agreed to redraw their borders, relocating citizens who were on the wrong side of the line. The agreement also included a buffer zone between the two powers, called the Demilitarized Zone.

Dissent among the Union's hardliners ran rampant when the agreement was signed. Soon, they started unprovoked attacks and sabatoge operations on the colonies closest to the Cardassian side of the Demilitarized Zone, hoping to reclaim land lost in the deal. For the Federation colonists, already furious over what they saw as the betrayal of the government, it was the last straw. They retaliated by forming the Maquis, and began hard-hitting terrorist attacks on Cardassia itself.

With the rise of the military to power, Cardassia's secret intelligence agency, the Obsidian Order, also came to prominence. Though required by law to report to the Central Command, they soon gained enough power to operate independently. A Maquis renegade seized control of the Defiant on Stardate 48467.3 and alerted both the Federation and the Cardassia Central Command of the covert shipyard in the Orias System. From its inception 600 years ago, the Obsidian Order had been strictly prohibited from owning any ships of its own. This was part of the checks and balances imposed by the government to rein in the Order. The discovery of the shipyards indicated the Order was up to something, and its intentions soon were revealed.

Obsidian Order and Tal Shiar attacking Founder Homeworld

The purpose of the secret fleet was revealed when the Obsidian Order joined forces with its Romulan counterparts, the Tal Shiar, to launch a preemptive strike on the Founder homeworld. After the disastrous first encounter with the Jem'Hadar ships, the Alpha Quadrant was extremely worried by the rumors of a Founder infiltration. The Romulan had already failed in their attempts to collapse the wormhole, while the Cardassian government simply hasn't done anything, and so the two agencies were promted into cooperative action by fear of a Dominion invasion. The two partners gathered a fleet of 40 Romulan warbirds and Cardassian vessels before sailing through the wormhole confident of total victory. The fleet went right into an ambush of 140 Jem'Hadar ships, and total erradication of both agencies resulted. The elimination of the terrifying secret service agency buoyed the hopes of the Cardassian dissident movement.

In 2372, the Cardassian Central Command was overthrown by civilian dissidents, placing the Detapa Council in control. Paranoia ran high in the Alpha Quadrant following the exposure of several Changeling imposters at the highest political offices in the Quadrant. Fear of the Founders gripped the Klingon Empire, the High Council believing the coup to be a ploy by the Dominion to replace the Council with Founders. In response, Klingon warships led by General Martok attacked Cardassia Prime, nearly eliminating the Council, which were rescued by Gul Dukat, who, with assistance from Starfleet, transported them to the safety of Federation space. After proving the Council members were not shape-shifters, the Klingon attack was forced to cease.

Though unsuccessful in its mission, the Klingon invasion nearly fell Cardassia's industrial production base. For the first time in decades, Cardassia was weak and unable to provide for itself. Several of the outer colonies had been captured by the Klingons, and nearly every ship destroyed while defending the homeworld. With assistance from the Federation Council, who provided among other things twelve industrial replicators, (though some replicators were stolen in transit by the Maquis) Cardassia started rebuilding.

The Klingons soon turned to declare war on the Federation, beginning with attacks on Deep Space Nine. When it was revealed that General Martok was a Changeling, and that he was the one behind the paranoid violence exhibited by the Klingon Empire, the war ceased, but Klingons still occupied some of Cardassian space.

Ashamed of the weak state Cardassia had fallen to, and resenting the Klingons for not handing over the remaining Cardassian space, Gul Dukat began secret negoitations to form an alliance with the Dominion.

Shortly after Stardate 50560.1, Gul Dukat announced Cardassia's alliance with the Dominion, and his new position as head of state. In his speech to the shocked population of Cardassia, now subjects of the Dominion, his words were,

"You might ask, should we fear joining the Dominion? And I answer you: Not in the least. We should embrace the opportunity. The Dominion recognizes us for what we are, the true leaders of the Alpha Quadrant. And now that we are joined together, equal partners in all endeavours, the only people with anything to fear would be our enemies. My oldest son's birthday is in five days. To him, and to Cardassians everywhere, I make the following pledge: By the time his birthday dawns, there will not be a single Klingon alive inside Cardassian territory. Or a single Maquis colony left within our borders. Cardassia will be made whole, all that we have lost will be ours again. And anyone who stands in our way will be destroyed. This I vow with my life's blood, for my son, for all our sons." [Wav 1]  [Wav 2]

5 days after the speech, the Maquis were summarily slaughterd and the Klingons removed from Cardassian space by the Jem'Hadar fleet that came throught the wormhole. Dominion forces soon began building up inside Cardassian space, and the whole Quadrant could sense an impending invasion with the arrival of each additional Jem'Hadar convoy. On Stardate 50975.2, Sisko persuaded Starfleet to allow him to begin mining the wormhole entrance with self-replicating cloaked mines. The Vorta Weyoun was sent to dissuade Captain Sisko to disarm the mines and clear out the wormhole entrance, but both he and Sisko knew war was inevitable. Weyoun returned to Cardassia, where he, along with Dukat and a large fleet of Dominion/Cardassian vessels, began an attack on Deep Space Nine, hoping to overtake Ops before the activation of the minefield. The attempt would only be successful in driving out the Federation personnel, and the Dominion had to make do without Jem'Hadar reinforcements for the time being.

Amassing a fleet at Starbase 375

The Dominion won victory after victory for the next three months, and the subjugation of the entire Alpha Quadrant was within sight. The slow progress on deactivating the minefield however displeased both Founder and Vorta. It was Dukat's aide, Gul Damar, who finally figured out a way to disarm the mines. Starfleet assembled three fleets in a last-ditch effort to stop the Dominion from penetrating the minefield. 2,800 Jem'Hadar ships were waiting on the other side of the wormhole, and when the minefield is successfully deactivated, the Alpha Quadrant would be lost.

The minefield eventually was deactivated and the Jem'Hadar armada began pouring into the wormhole. The Defiant, with Captain Sisko onboard, managed to break through enemy lines, but was no match for the overwhelming numbers of Jem'Hadar vessels. On the verge of the ship's destruction, the Emissary sought the help of the Prophets by making them see how devastating the result would be if the Jem'Hadar were allowed passage into the Alpha Quadrant. The Prophets agreed help their Emissary, but warned cryptically that he would pay a penance for what happened that day. When the Emissary came to, all 2,800 ships vanished without a trace from sensors, and only the Defiant exited the Wormhole. Dukat could not believe what had happened. With a complete victory almost within reach, he would only suddenly lose everything. Worse still was the murder of his daughter Ziyal at the hands of Damar, who despised her for betraying their cause (she had freed Kira and Rom). The impact of all these events resulted in the mental breakdown of Dukat and prove to be the turning point of his life.

Damar, Weyoun, and the rest of the Dominion presence retreated from Deep Space Nine, leaving the station for the Federation to reclaim. Soon afterwards Damar was proclaimed the new leader of Cardassia, but he served at the pleasure of Weyoun and the Dominion, unable to assert his own will in matters of state.

The Romulans, who had distanced themselves from the war by signing a non-agression pact with the Dominion, would again be drawn into the war when they suspected the Cardassians assassinated Senator Vreenak. Vreenak, who had signed the pact, died aboard his warbird from what appeared to be Cardassian sabotage, and this act of treason could not be ignored by the Romulan Empire. They immediately retaliated by destroying 15 Cardassian outposts along the border, and would formally join the Klingon/Federation forces later on.

The destructive orbital weapons platforms

Among the first joint campaigns of the Klingon/Federation/Romulan forces was the taking of the Chin'Toka System. Targeted for its thin defenses, the fleet led by Sisko encountered resistance only in the orbital weapons platform deployed there. After destroying the main power source, the aystem came under Federation control. Dukat, who escaped from a Federation prison escort ship when it crashed in a remote planet, returned to Deep Space Nine to destroy the Orb of Prophesy and in the process unwittingly killed Jadzia Dax, who was praying in the Bajoran Temple at that time. The wormhole inverted and collapsed, sending the Bajorans into panic about the disappearance of their Celestial Temple. Three months later, Captain Sisko restored the wormhole by rediscovering the Orb of the Emissary on Bajor.

Not satisfied with the damage he'd done, Dukat later surgically altered his appearance to look like a Bajoran as part of his plot to ruin Sisko and free the Pagh Wraiths. At the same time the Breen general Thot Gor presented the Female Founder with Worf and Ezri, whom they captured in the Goralis System. After thanking them for the gift, Weyoun and the Founder officially welcomed the Breen into the Dominion alliance, much to the chagrin of Damar.

A few years ago, Cardassia had joined the Dominion to elevate their status and become true masters of the Alpha Quadrant, but when the Breen entered into the Dominion, the Cardassians suffered a major insult, and the subsequent massive sacrifice of Cardassian troops for Dominion causes showed the Dominion's lack of regard for Cardassia. Legate Damar, angered by the dismissal of Cardassia and realizing that though he was on Cardassia Prime, he and the rest of the Cardassians were now second-class citizens within the Dominion, wanted to pull Cardassia out of the alliance altogether. However, the Dominion already had complete control over the Cardassian military, and Damar resorted to plotting a resistance movement along the lines of the tactics used by the Bajorans against the vastly superior Cardassian military at the time of the Occupation. Damar freed Worf and Ezri, asking them to bring word to the Federation that they had an ally on Cardassia.

The Defiant in its death throes

The Breen attacked Starfleet headquarters shortly afterwards, causing severe damage to San Francisco and to the psyche of the Federation. An energy dissipater weapon the Breen utilized on their ship proved especially effective against power-hungry attack vessels the Federation, Klingon, and Romulans deployed. After San Francisco, the Breen turned their attention to the Chin'Toka System. Taken forcibly by the Federation, Klingon and Romulan last year, the Dominion were eager to reclaim it. The Federation and allied forces suffered devastating losses of ships and personnel, and the Chin'Toka System once again fell under Dominion control.

The Breen had usurped the Cardassians as partners of the Dominion. Instead relegated to cannon fodder and put aside for the new favorite, Damar felt the line had been crossed and organized a resistance to drive the Dominion from Cardassian space. He gave a speech calling on Cardassians everywhere to resist the Dominion and began his campaign with an attack on a Vorta cloning facility, an action confirmed by intelligence reports. Starfleet sent his rebellion runabouts, supplies, and the expertise of Colonel Kira, Odo, and Garak to help him in his efforts.

Damar's resistance movement was never large enough to launch an all-out campaign against the Dominion, so he used the guerrilla tactics employed by the Bajorans in the Occupation, running sabotage missions and other campaigns to derail the Dominion's war efforts. Damar's organized resistance was crushed by Weyoun after Gul Rovok betrayed Damar and compromised his movement. All eighteen cells were destroyed, and Weyoun declared a complete victory.

He instead ignited an even more powerful popular movement against the Dominion. Rallying the citizens of Cardassia, Damar asked for the help of all civilians, and took out power for the duration of the Federation/Klingon/Romulan attack on Dominion forces which had pulled back to establish a tight defensive perimeter around Cardassia Prime. With communication cut, Weyoun and the Female Founder could not contact their fleet, and the Founder was so incensed she ordered Lakarean City, 2 million in population, destroyed. She also ordered every house levelled in Cardassia if necessary until Damar and his rebels were found. The Jem'Hadar eventually knocked found them, and were about to kill the trio when the Cardassian soldiers that had come along with the Jem'Hadar killed the Dominion soldiers and pledged their loyalty to Damar.

Sisko, Martok, and Ross lead the attack, and they clearly were losing ground when the Cardassian ships suddenly turned to fire on the Dominion. Soon, the Dominion was losing ground fast, and it was only then that long-range communications returned to Weyoun and Founder. Knowledge that the entire Cardassian fleet had turned against the Dominion angered the Founder into declaring that all Cardassians untrustworthy. She immediately ordered the extermination of the entire population on Cardassia Prime and sent Jem'Hadar ships to level every inch of Cardassia Prime. The Breen general volunteered to fight in the front lines, leaving Weyoun and the Founder almost entirely alone on the planet surface.

Damar and the rest of his resistance group stormed the serpents lair, which they eventually penetrated. Damar died in the crossfire, but the survivors pressed on to find the Founder and Weyoun virtually alone. The Founder refused to call off the attack force and was content to let all of her forces die, taking as many of the enemy as they could with them. Only when Odo linked with her and healed her disease did she change her mind, agreeing to sign a peace treaty and stand trial as a war criminal.

The destruction of Cardassia Prime

The war was over! Every side paid dearly, but none more than Cardassia. With 800 million dead, and Cardassia Prime in ruins, so much of its rich history and culture was irretrievably lost and even more minds wasted. Garak echoed the sentiments of all Cardassians when he said in conclusion: "Cardassia will survive, but it will never be what it once was."

The bleak landscape of a deeply scarred Cardassia in the aftermath of the war will take a strong leader to reverse. How Cardassians fare in the future notwithstanding, the glorious resistance and the courage of Damar to stand and face overwhelming odds to free his people will be remembered for all times.

| Garak's Tailor Shop || Cardassian Union || Obsidian Order || Federation |

| Klingon Empire || Dominion || Romulan Star Empire || Tal Shiar |

Elim Garak	Dukat	Legate Damar	Enabran Tain
Tekeny Ghemor	Kotan Pa'dar	Marritza	Gul Ocett
Dr. Gilora Rejal	Prof. Natima Lang	Mila	Tora Ziyal

Gul Dukat's wav page.

Elim Garak's wav page.

Legate Kell: Dukat, if you are seeing this recording, it means you tried to abandon your post while the station's self-destruct sequence was engaged. [Dukat: This is outrageous.] That will not be permitted. You have lost control of Terok Nor, disgracing yourself and Cardassia. Your attempt to escape is no doubt a final act of cowardice. All fail-safes have been eliminated, your personal access codes have been rescinded. The destruction sequence can no longer be halted. All you can do now is to contemplate the depth of your disgrace, and try to die like a Cardassian. 671kb ZIP

You allowed yourself to be taken prisoner. I've taught you better than that. Living on that station has dulled your wits. ~Tain to Garak 155kb

Be my daughter one last time, Nerys. Hear what I know and use it as you see fit. ~Ghemor 166kb

Don't you see father? This is your chance to show the Bajoran people, to show Major Kira, who you really are: a compassionate forgiving man. A great man. ~Ziyal 225kb

I don't belong to Cardassia, you know I will never be accepted there. ~Ziyal 73kb

The Bajorans will never be our allies. ~Damar 87kb

Damar: I'd like to toss that smug little Vorta out the nearest airlock, and his Founder with him. Dukat: (laughs) Now, now, Damar, that's no way to talk about our valued allies. Not until after the war is over anyway. 314kb

Damar: It's about the minefield. Quark: What about it? Damar: It's coming down. Quark: Oh, I've heard that before. 93kb

The last mines have been neutralized. We're ready to detonate the minefields, sir. ~Damar 162kb

Damar: I'm not some agent of the Obsidian Order, I'm the leader of the Cardassian Empire. Weyoun: Don't let it go to your head, you serve only at the Dominion's pleasure. 132kb

Kamar Sutra: A Twisted Tribute to Garak No words can describe this site. Witty, intelligent, original -- a Garak fan's heaven.

Legate Damar: Cardassian Legend My Cardassian site. A tribute to a character whose courage has freed Cardassia from the chains of Dominion Occupation.

Lady Kardasi's Domain Cardassian lovers converge here for fanfic, artwork, and all things reptilian.

Terok Nor Landaar's Cardassian info site.

Garak's Star Trek Tailor Shop Plain and simple Garak is not so simple as he implies. Infiltrate the Obsidian Order's network while browsing through the fine clothing.

Steve's Star Trek Page Cardassian Dictionary The place to find established Cardassian words and useful phrases.