u.s.s. Lancelot NCC-74410

diplomatic/JAG dEPARTMENT

THE DOMINION

There are a number of political entities in the Gamma Quadrant, but the one which poses the greatest threat to the Federation is the Dominion. It is composed of a number of species, the most important of which are the warrior race of Jem'Hadar. The Jem'Hadar are dominated by beings which they call the Founders, who surreptitiously guide them and have them dependent on a substance which only the Founders can provide. Few, if any, Jem'Hadar have ever seen a Founder. 

The Founders have proven to be a race of shape-shifters that the Federation calls "Changelings". They have a fanatical hatred of all non-shape-shifting races, whom they call "Solids", and had encouraged their Jem'Hadar minions to attack through the wormhole from the Gamma Quadrant until the ultimate - war. 

More disturbing is the news, even though the war is over, that Changelings have infiltrated the governments and militaries of several Alpha and Beta Quadrant races, including the Federation. It is unclear just how far this infiltration has gone but it is still possible that the whole structure of allegiances could dissolve into paranoia and witch hunts. 

Also known as 'Changelings' or 'Shapeshifters', the Founders are a shape shifting species based in the Gamma Quadrant. Physically, in their natural state they resemble a very viscous liquid. A Founder can alter its shape, size and mass, color and texture at will to imitate any object - although mimicking an existing person or object exactly takes considerable skill and not all Founders are capable of doing this perfectly.

In addition to their shape shifting abilities, Founders are capable of merging with each other when in their liquid state. They call this process 'the Great Link', and it allows the Founders to achieve a considerable degree of information and memory sharing while increasing their ability to modify their own internal structure. On the Founders home world many millions of individuals spend virtually their entire time within the great link, which is comparable to an ocean in size.

In their history the Founders have often been persecuted by non-shapeshifters, whom they refer to as 'the solids'. In order to guarantee their safety they created the Dominion - a grouping of many solid species under the control of the Founders. The Founders have resorted to genetic engineering in order to modify several of these species to increase their utility to the Dominion - most notably the Vorta and Jem'Hadar. Although individual planets within the Dominion are treated reasonably well, disobedience to the Founders is dealt with extremely harshly - it has been known for entire planets to be infected with deadly diseases for rebelling against Dominion rule.

At present the Founders attempt to expand their influence into the alpha quadrant has been forcefully defeated. 

First encountered by the Federation in 2370, the Jem'Hadar are the military arm of the Dominion. They have been the subject of heavy genetic engineering in order to increase their effectiveness as soldiers; like many Dominion species, the Jem'Hadar are cloned rather than breeding naturally. They are mature within three days of leaving the birthing chamber, allowing for very rapid replacement of casualties. All Jem'Hadar have an inbuilt ability to 'shroud' themselves, a form of camouflage which effectively hides them from both sensors and the naked eye. In addition, they are almost completely unaffected by many forms of anti-personnel forcefield. Jem'Hadar do not need to sleep, eat, or drink - the only substance they require is Ketracel White, an isogenic enzyme deliberately omitted from their physiology by the Founders.

The vast majority of Jem'Hadar never actually see a Founder, and many have built their service to the shapeshifters into a religion. They literally regard the Founders as living Gods, to the extent that Jem'Hadar have been known to commit suicide if they fail to protect a shapeshifter from harm. The Vorta, as the representatives of the Founders, are also given immense loyalty by most Jem'Hadar - even when such loyalty is unwarranted. Absolute obedience is further guaranteed by the Vorta's control of the Ketracel White.

Most Jem'Hadar die young, in battle - few reach fifteen years of age and any who reach the age of twenty are considered to be honored elders. No Jem'Hadar has ever reached thirty years of age.
 
 

Originating from the gamma quadrant, the Vorta are a member species of the Dominion. The Founders use the Vorta to supervise the day-to-day running of the Dominion; in this capacity they are leaders and administrators of many Dominion worlds. They also serve as the handlers of the Jem'Hadar, whom they control via the former's addiction to the drug Ketracel White.

Although initial contacts revealed comparatively little about this species, the capture of a Vorta prisoner by Captain Sisko allowed Starfleet Medical to gather detailed information. Like many Gamma Quadrant species they have been genetically modified by the Founders to increase their usefulness to the Dominon. The Vorta are not able to breed by themselves - instead the Founders clone the Vorta as required, often creating several copies of an individual who has demonstrated particular value. The Vorta are known to suffer from weak eyes, although their hearing is excellent by Human standards. All Vorta are naturally immune to a very wide variety of poisons, useful in a species bred to serve partially as political leaders!

One interesting ability continues to puzzle Starfleet. The first known encounter between Vorta and a Federation citizen was when the woman known as Eris met Captain Sisko in 2370. Eris demonstrated a form of Telekinesis several times during the encounter, an ability that no other Vorta is known to posses. It is possible that the Eris possessed some form of artificial implant which permitted this, but it seems more likely that the Founders have engineered a sub-breed of Vorta with this faculty - and possibly with other PSI abilities also. If true this would considerably enhance the Vortas usefulness as intelligence agents. Further studies of the very few captured Vorta are underway in an attempt to resolve this mystery.
 

Should you have any questions or comments please e-mail the Chief Diplomatic/JAG Officer at the Diplomatic/JAG Department aboard the U.S.S. Lancelot.