Quoted By:
“I am an orphan, legate.” By this point, you are not ashamed of your origins. Though nothing is more important than family in the eyes of Cardassian society, you quickly grew accustomed to the fact that you have none. “I have no family history or heritage to speak of. I have no mother or father whose deeds I might be judged by. My merits are my own and my survival is a testament to my abilities.”
“Your abilities? You are a street rat, deghilzin. You were smart enough as a child to hide from those who were stronger than you, and strong enough as an adolescent to take from those who were weaker than you. These were your only accomplishments before the Academy took you in.” Though his words are unkind, he isn't wrong. Survival in the slums often boiled down to fighting over food or shelter, and concealing yourself from those who would fight you for these necessities.
“Yes, legate.” You do not visibly react to his disparagement. “I am eternally grateful for the generosity of the Cardassian Guard. The Union is my family now; Command is my father and the Order my mother.”
It is the year 482; it has been almost five hundred years since the Unification, when all of Cardassia was united under a single banner. Since then, control over the planet has been divided between a triumvirate – the legislature of the <span class="mu-s">Detapa Council</span>, the might of <span class="mu-s">Central Command</span> and the intelligence of the <span class="mu-s">Obsidian Order</span>. During the third and fourth centuries, the Detapa Council was the dominant faction and used its influence to bring about the age of the First Republic, a great experiment that gave political power to the masses.
This experiment was ultimately a failure. The First Republic squandered the wealth of the Cardassian people, only to raid the tombs of their Hebitian ancestors and sell their relics to alien civilisations. By the advent of the fifth century, it was clear that the First Republic had failed Cardassia. Its population was ravaged by famine and disease, and there was no more artefacts left to plunder. This is when power slipped from the grasp of the Detapa Council, and fell into the hands of Central Command and the Obsidian Order.
The First Republic was dismantled and replaced with the Cardassian Union. An age of expansion and exploitation began and for the past eighty years, the Union has been colonising world after world and churning out fleets of starships in an effort to acquire enough resources to undo the damage inflicted by the First Republic. These days, Central Command rules over Cardassia with an iron fist, accompanied by the watchful eye of the Obsidian Order. The Detapa Council is little more than a puppet, and its elected officials hold no power. They exist solely to ensure that the gears of the Cardassian machine shall keep on turning.
