Former Cardassian Central Command Officers
Former Cardassian Central Command Officers
Post-Imperial Ethnic-Professional Identity | Tactical Minds in a Collapsed Empire
Overview
The Cardassian Central Command was the supreme military authority of the Cardassian Union, combining political oversight, military planning, and interstellar expansion under a single umbrella. Its officers were not merely soldiers — they were state-builders, enforcers of ideology, and often executioners of dissent.
After the Dominion War, Central Command was disbanded, discredited, and despised. Its surviving officers became relics of a shattered order — some fleeing justice, others rebuilding Cardassia from the ashes, and a few selling their minds to the highest bidder.
In Shadows of the Galaxy, these individuals represent a dangerous paradox: brilliant tacticians with the potential for redemption — or relapse.
Origins
A Central Command Officer was shaped by:
- Elite military education at the Academy of the High Command
- Political indoctrination emphasizing Cardassian superiority and unity through strength
- State loyalty above all — including family, morality, and sometimes species
Officers often served dual roles: leading fleets and governing planetary systems as military prefects. This made them both executive rulers and combat leaders — a trait rare outside Cardassia.
Collapse and Aftermath
- With the destruction of Lakarian City and the betrayal of the Dominion, Central Command fell in disgrace.
- Surviving officers were:
- Tried for war crimes (Bajor, Betazed, Maquis engagements)
- Targeted by resistance movements and even fellow Cardassians
- Recruited secretly by Romulan factions, Ferengi interests, or Section 31, for their military genius
- Turned reformists, aiding in rebuilding efforts (some genuinely, others tactically)
Cultural Traits
- Strategic Thinking as Identity: Central Command officers are their tactical brilliance. To remove their ability to lead is to remove their sense of self.
- Paranoid Clarity: Always assume betrayal is possible. Never reveal your final plan. Never trust optimism.
- Disdain for Civilian Oversight: Civilian rule is tolerated at best, despised at worst. Bureaucracy is weakness unless it enforces will.
- Mentorship Through Adversity: Harsh on subordinates, but deeply committed to their growth—through challenge, not comfort.
Social Standing
- Cardassia Prime: Reviled by many, but a few have reentered public life as advisors or through pardons under wartime amnesty laws.
- Federation: Deeply mistrusted, often monitored. Some granted asylum in exchange for intelligence or testimony.
- Romulan Free State: Used as proxies for post-war rebuilding — or assassinated quietly when their knowledge became inconvenient.
- Maquis Descendants: Will kill them on sight if uncovered.
Heimdahl Relevance
- Tactical Advisor or Ghost Strategist: Aboard a black-ops ship, their expertise may be too valuable to ignore — but too dangerous to trust.
- Swayze’s Judgment: Deeply conflicted — Swayze understands the cost of cold calculation but will monitor them relentlessly.
- Nyx: May be drawn to their clarity and command presence — or disturbed by their lack of emotional nuance.
Cultural Identity Tags (For Character Creation)
- Species: Cardassian
- Cultural Identity: Former Central Command
- Common Traits:
- Command Intuition: +1 to tactical simulations, threat assessment, or ship-level combat analysis
- Predictive Aggression: Can sense opponent patterns, but tends to preemptively escalate
- Burden of Control: Has difficulty accepting orders from perceived inferiors or civilians — must make Willpower checks to suppress instinct to intervene
Sample NPCs
- Gul Varet Rekor – Former prefect of a Maquis world. Publicly reformed, privately carrying an encrypted list of Federation captives he once authorized experimentation on. Knows a hidden Dominion stockpile… if he lives long enough to sell the location.
- Glinn Miras Tora – Woman of fire and precision. Now operating as a freelance tactician under a new name. Keeps a copy of the Art of War with notes in Obsidian cipher. May be on the Heimdahl already — under deep cover.
- Legate Eran Drel – One of the last surviving Central Command policy architects. Blind, aging, and living in exile on Freeport Theta. May hold the Dominion fleet encryption matrix in his failing memory.
Campaign Hooks
- The crew encounters a distress beacon broadcasting on Central Command emergency frequencies — ones supposedly deleted by treaty. Inside: a stasis pod with a former Gul offering a deal that could shift galactic power.
- A “civilian consultant” aboard Heimdahl is revealed to have been a war planner responsible for the Bajoran resistance's greatest losses. The moment of revelation tears the crew in half.
- Nyx develops a decision-tree matrix that mirrors Central Command doctrine — not because she was programmed with it, but because she’s learning it from someone on board.
Comments