This is the place to explore all things Cardassian. Just why people love Cardassians are as many and varied as there are fans. There's the fact that they are the newest of the Star Trek villains and very little is known about them. There's the "bad boy" element, everybody loves a good villain. And then there's the fact that they just look so darn good looking! What ever the reason, Cardassians are popular, and admit it, deep down inside you're a fan too!
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The Cardassian System: The Cardassian system is located in the Alpha Quadrant at the edge of Federation space, approximately 50 light years away. Cardassia's closest neighbor is Bajor only 5.25 light years away. And the two cultures have been linked since early Bajorans learned to navigate the distance in primitive solar sail ships. In 2328 a resource poor Cardassia finally annexed Bajor only to withdraw in 2369 after depleting the uridium ore on the planet.
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Home World: The home world to the Cardassian people is known simply as Cardassia Prime. It is a resource poor Class M planet that appears to be perpetually shrouded by clouds. As a result it is believed that the planet has a greenhouse effect which would account for the fact that the Cardassian people prefer dim light and high temperatures.
Cardassia Prime and all the related worlds governed by Cardassia is known as the Cardassian Union. Alone it was rated an Index 21 culture on the Weibrand logarithmic development scale. The Federation is Index 23. But with the alliance with the Dominion, the Cardassian Union is now rated at Index 23.
In its past, during the First Hebitian Civilization, Cardassians were very religious, similar to Bajorians and their ancient burial vaults were magnificent and filled with many jeweled artifacts. But with resources failing and the people starving the military plundered these treasures and took Cardassia in a whole new direction. Now if they needed anything they just used their superior military and took it by force. Cardassians are known for their resourcefulness and when things once again turned against them with the war with the Klingons the formed a alliance with the Dominion from the Gamma Quadrant and are once again a force to be reckoned with!
People: The Cardassian people are distinctive for their unique appearance. They are usually tall, powerfully built with a broad neck. They have a greyish complexion and an armored appearance with thick scales covering parts of their body and a series of facial ridges. Add to this the trademark teardrop shaped scale in the middle of their forehead. (This is sometimes known as a "spoon" as in the derogatory term "spoonhead") This feature has a blue pigment in females along with the middle scale on their neck ridges.
Their hair is usually dark and straight and lies flat. In military males it is cut blunt at the back of their head. Military females wear their hair in long braids. Civilian females wear it simply tied back or in an elaborate fashion.
Their eyes may be any colour but ice blue is common and is most striking and unnerving.
Cardassians are as unique in personality as they are in appearance. They are considered to be highly intelligent, devious, cold, ruthless and cruel. This mostly stems from the fact that they are xenophobic and consider all alien races to be inferior to themselves. But that's only how they appear to others. To those who have a chance to get to know them they can be warm, friendly and charismatic. Although it is still best not to trust them too far.
Family is most important to a Cardassian but even this seemingly positive trait can be taken to a disturbing extreme. In Cardassian society orphans have no rights and are usually outcasts. Illegitimate children, especially of a mixed race, are not tolerated are to be disposed of to protect the legal family and the purity of the race.
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Architecture: Although little is known about their art, Cardassian architecture is very stunning! It consists of sweeping arcs, circles and ellipses Ninety degree angles are almost never found and where straight lines are used they prefer diamond, rhomboid or trapezoid shapes. Some surfaces such as a uniform sleeve or pant leg or a door often have a pattern of intersecting diagonal lines. Most of their structural shapes mirror their own physiology, the curve of the eye ridge or the flare of the neck can all be seen whether in the capital city or a functional mining station.
Cardassians can't tolerate bright light and their colours are unusually dark for such dim conditions. They prefer blacks and greys but also dark shades of red, rust, green, tan and gold. Blues are noticeably lacking. Cardassian fashions also exhibit the same clean lines of their architecture. Cardassians clearly believe in form over function.
Military: It is impossible to separate Cardassians from their military. It has become their defining way of life. Males usually serve but not exclusively. Females excel in science and engineering are are often a welcome addition to a ship.
The military force is divided into several numbered Orders each with it's own commander, fleet of ships and troops. For example I am Gul Maket of the Seventh Order. The exact number of Orders is classified as is most information concerning the Cardassian military structure.
The backbone of a Cardassian Order is the Galor Class Warship. At about 3/4 the size of a Federation Galaxy Starship, the Galor is more than a match in weaponry. Also in the fleet are Keldan Class Warships, a heavy cruiser version of the Galor, fighters and freighters. A single Order is a formidable fighting force.
The commander of a ship is a Gul and is roughly equivalent to a Starfleet Captain. Below him is a Glinn and above him is a Legate, roughly equivalent to a Starfleet Admiral, and is usually not connected with an Order but with the government of Cardassia.
Military intelligence is handled by the Obsidian Order. This is a super secret organization and very little is known about its covert activities.
Government: It is impossible to separate Cardassian government from the t military as the military makes up the government. The curren leader of Cardassia is Legate Damar who has come up through the ranks like any other soldier.
Day to day life on Cardassia is governed by many Ministries, such as the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Justice.
Justice on Cardassia is unique and tricky for a tourist. You are guilty until proven innocent. Although there is a trial, the outcome is known in advance and the broadcast of the trial, of "justice in action", is merely for the publics benefit.
The government keeps an extensive genetic data bank on all its citizens by extracting the first molar.
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