The Obsidian Order was established over five-centuries ago. The role of the Order was to gain information about an enemy and to sabotage his operations. Over the centuries the Obsidian perfected the art of covert entry, especially designed to infiltrate enemy territory in during the unification of the Cardassian Empire.

Traditionally, the Obsidian Order's duty demands one, or all, of three actions: espionage, sabotage, assassination. Their strict code keep the agents of the Order cloaked in the shadows, apart from other branches of the Empire. Nevertheless, the Order's success produce great results, within a short period of time an agent can infiltrate and disassemble a governing body, creating anarchy.

The original teachings and principles of the Obsidian Order, which is currently practiced, were developed through an experimental knowledge of psychological patterning, mind-altering techniques, and the workings of information extraction and intelligence gathering. These methods produce superb results for the greater good of the Cardassian Empire.

The Obsidian Order decrees that information is power, the lack of it breeds mistakes of judgment, therefore, an Order agent is never absolved of his/her failures. Their obligation is to offer oneself "courageously to the Order," whose demands and welfare transcended all individual rights and values. And as part of the belief system of the Cardassian Empire, it was not restricted to Order agents alone, but applied to all Cardassian citizens.

From this broad spectrum of considerations, the Obsidian Order science of survival of the Empire and the Order under any circumstances eventually took its shape. Growing in power, the Obsidian Order has begun to saturate the government by creating a new central power, one that refused to tolerate any unanimity with an enemy. One does not make a pact with an enemy, he eradicates him.

The Obsidian Order believes the current political structures and social patterns of thinking and acting that were interminably dominant in the Empire, centuries of Cardassian history will soon solidify and institutionalize the Cardassian Empire. In addition, they strongly deem the Central Command, the prevailing authority over the government, is in gross error and will soon self- destruct the State.

At the pinnacle of their rule they have instituted campaigns that nearly paralyzed the economy with protracted campaigns. Given the pervasive attitude toward the Central Command, it is apparent that civil war is inevitable. Such beliefs might be written off as sheer and ignorant emotional bravado by the Central Command, but there were a number of instances in which the Obsidian Order matched such sentiments with their deeds. For example, possessing military equipment and forming an alliance with the Romulan Tal Shiar. Civil war is close and tangible.