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 Alien Races 


Planetside
Last Updated February 28, 2005

Dominion

Background

The Dominion is a powerful alliance of alien races hailing from the Gamma Quadrant. Founded two millennia ago by the Founders, an enigmatic race of shapeshifters, the Dominion is ruled with an iron fist by these creatures and their genetically engineered thrall races, of which include both the Jem'Hadar and the Vorta. The Founders have remained isolated and distant from the rest of the Dominion, most of their number remaining on their homeworld where they join into a collective existence known as the Great Link. The Founders use the military of the Dominion to force compliance and subservience from the worlds controlled (either willingly or unwillingly) by the Dominion.

When the Dominion learned of the existence of the Bajoran wormhole connecting the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants they immediately suspected the worst. The Founders had always been distrustful of the 'solids,' and this threat to their security could not go unchecked. The changelings proceeded to infiltrate the Alpha Quadrant powers, reaching to the highest levels of leadership in the government and military of many of the powers. There they gathered vital intelligence data on the tactical and political situation on the foreign end of the wormhole. It became obvious to the Dominion that none of the powers were a credible military threat to the Dominion; instead, the Alpha Quadrant was viewed as an easy avenue of expansion.

With cursory data collected, the Dominion began the eviction of Alpha Quadrant powers from the Gamma Quadrant. Without warning the Jem'Hadar fell upon them, destroying entire colonies and starships alike. The Bajoran colony at New Bajor was razed while the Federation U.S.S. Odyssey was destroyed in a sneak attack. The future invasion of the Alpha Quadrant was evident to all parties and both began preparing for war.

In 2373 something entirely unexpected happened. The Cardassian Union, still recovering from the collapse of its military regime, was overthrown again when Detapa Council military advisor Gul Dukat sold out the civilian government by allowing Cardassia Prime with the Dominion. The alliance with Cardassians allowed the Dominion a strategic foothold in the Alpha Quadrant.

While the Dominion built up their military resources in Cardassian space, Vorta diplomatic envoys secured non-aggression and alliance treaties with many Alpha Quadrant powers, notably the Romulan Star Empire, Tholian Assembly, Miradorn, and Bajorans. The Federation saw the alignment of the Bajorans with the Dominion as a dark omen and set forth establishing fixed defenses around the mouth of the Bajoran wormhole in the form of self-replicating mines. This move prevented the free movement of Dominion forces from the Gamma Quadrant to the Alpha Quadrant.

The Dominion response to the Federation's actions was quick and deadly. A Dominion strike against station Deep Space Nine in the Bajor system. Simultaneously, the Federation and Klingons attacked Dominoin shipyards at Torros III, setting back Dominion production and damaging their tenuously established infrastructure. Though they were unsuccessful in securing the wormhole they were able to inflict severe casualties upon the defenders and briefly held station Deep Space Nine.

The Dominion was winning their war against the Federation and Klingons until the Romulan Star Empire broke their non-aggression treaty and allied with the other Alpha Quadrant powers against the Dominion. The combined fleet operations the followed, including the battle in the Chin'Toka system, signal a turning point in the war at which point the Dominion began to take unacceptable losses that would lead to them ultimately losing the war.
The Dominion enjoyed a brief shifting of the tide of the war in their favor when the Breen Confederacy joined the Dominion in their fight against the other Alpha Quadrant races. The use of the Breen's new energy draining weaponry dealt heavy losses to the Allies until they finally adapted to its effects. Again the Dominion found themselves unable to orchestrate a suitable offensive to strike back at the Alpha Quadrant powers. Additionally, the Founders had contracted a disease that was slowly killing them (the disease was, in fact, a biological weapon developed by the Federation and unleashed upon the Founders).

The decision was made for all Dominion forces to fall back to Cardassia Prime. There they hoped to hold out long enough to prolong the conflict to the point where their attackers would either not accept the cost of the war in lives and equipment or until enough new construction vessels could be built to turn the tide in the fight. A desperate final assault by the Alpha Quadrant powers and the mutiny of the Cardassian military signaled the end of the Dominion War. The Founders surrendered and signed a peace treaty ending the conflict. The disease that affected the Founders was later cured when Odo, a shapeshifter found in the Bajor system many years ago, rejoined the Great Link.




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