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Cardassia's intelligence agency, the Obsidian Order, is an elite organization five centuries into its operation. The prime objectives of the Order is to amass information about enemy powers and sabotage any activity not favorable to the Cardassian government.
Such activities demand agents of the Order to be skilled in espionage, sabotage,and assassination. Another trait requisite of all agents is a smooth tongue, useful in delivering bald-faced lies with conviction. Shadowy and covert as the Order is, their agents do not cooperate with other branches of the government, almost always choosing to work alone. However, the talents of the operatives within the Order are quite considerable, with a single agent able to infiltrate and collapse a government into anarchy in short notice. Cardassians believe that knowledge is power. Lack of it warrants mistakes and failures due to ignorance. The Obsidian Order strongly believes in this doctrine, and makes it their business to know everything and anything. It is therefor reasonable to conclude that all mistakes are avoidable, therefor no agent of the Order is permitted to make a mistake, which would invariably result in dreaded consequences. The Obsidian Order expects nothing more than complete loyalty to the cause of the Order, whose demands and existence will always take precedence to personal morality or beliefs. Though in law the Order reports to the Central Command, and later the civilian Depata Council, in practice, the Order usually works without the knowledge of the government. It is their supposed superiority, the conviction that the government of the Cardassian Union will lead the empire to collapse has prompted independent actions leading finally to the fiery death of the Order. When the Federation made contact with the Dominion's Jem'Hadar and Vortas, the Order was alarmed by the reports of the Gamma Quadrant empire. Believing correctly that the Dominion was a grave threat to Cardassia, the Order took things into their own hands. Along with the support of their Romulan counterparts, the Tal Shiar, the Obsidian Order planned a preemptive strike on the head of the Dominion, the Founders, confident the Dominion will weaken with their leaders eradicated. A combined fleet of some 50 Romulan and Cardassian vessels carried out the cooperative military strike in 2372. Their presence was detected by Deep Space Nine sensors when they decloaked and sailed past the Bajoran Wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant. When informed about the situation, the governments of both the Cardassian Union and Romulan Empire denied any knowledge of the joint venture. Yet, they refused to recall their vessels, choosing rather to sit back and await the results. The campaign proved to be disastrous, and ended with the obliteration of the fleet. 150 Jem'Hadar ships ambushed the unwary warbirds and overwhelmed the attackers within minutes. The best agents of both sides died in this battle, terminating the existence of the Tal Shiar and the Obsidian Order. The abrupt end of the Order had an unforseen consequence. Underground dissent of the military government that had been increasing in volume over the years seized the opportunity to overthrow the Central Command. A new civilian government of elected officials, the Depata Council, was instated, finally giving the Cardassian Union a democratic government. However, the Council had barely been in power when Cardassia joined the Dominion, once again plunging Cardassia into authoritarian rule. POWs from the disastrous campaign against the Dominion were released as a good-will gesture, among them many members of the now defunct Obsidian Order. Will the Order once again rise to power? The fight against Dominion rule may need the skills of these agents.
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[Cardassian] [Cardassian Union] [Romulan Star Empire] [Tal Shiar]
[Dominion]
[Klingon Empire]
[Federation]
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