The Cardassians are a reptilian-like humanoid race. In appearance they are tall, long necked, and marked by several bony protrusions and ridges. Their skin type and hair colour varies from light purple to a greenish hue, and near black.

Starfleet Captain Edward Jellico described the Cardassians as being “like timber wolves, predators. They’re bold in large numbers, and cautious by themselves. They have a distinctive need to establish a dominant position in any social gathering.”

However not all Cardassians are one-dimensionally evil. Some walk the same line between duty, choice and belief that most Humans do.

 

FAMILY LIFE

Family is central to Cardassian life. Men and women are rude to one another when they are courting – insults are terms of endearment to Cardassians.

They tend to have large families. Their children keep pets, such as the usually white, ferret-like Wompat. Cardassians celebrate birthdays, respect marriage, and honour advanced age as a sign of power and dignity.

They like orderliness in all things,  and believe that there is no dilemma that cannot be solved by a disciplined mind.

The Cardassians are an extremely talkative, and are fond of literature, which seems to reflect their sense of duty – one of their greatest books is The Never Ending Sacrifice.

Those of the military caste marry in order to secure their career and position in the government.

Cardassians recognize polygamy as a viable family social structure.
The First wife is chosen for the following: political clout, wealth, intellect, educational training, social status.

The Second wife: the same reason apply, but the importance is less. Since the first marriage is mainly of convenience, the second wife is chosen for her physical attractiveness.

Although males dominate society, the females importance is greatly recognized in population growth. Offspring are important to Cardassian survival so it's not uncommon for a family to have more then seven children.

One of their greatest characteristics of Cardassians is their devotion to family; caring for parents as well as children. Families of up to four generations under one roof are not uncommon. Children may keep pets. Swearing the truth on the lives of one's children is tantamount to the highest honesty a Cardassian can attest to. Parents are manipulated by state media in the name of their children, and the presumed-guilty justice system aims to impress children against anti-state lawlessness and chaos, inviting some to the courtroom live and others to watch. To abandon a child, even one thought dead on Bajor, is enough to publicly and privately humiliate a politician and ruin his career. Despite that, true orphans have no status in society and are simply forgotten - especially the half-breed children the Cardassians had with Bajorans.

 

SKILLS

Another trait is an attention to detail: they taught record-keeping skills to many planets, including Bajor. Cardassians are known for their photographic memory. Their ability to decipher and translate language at a rapid rate is astonishing.

 

OCCUPYING POWER

Cardassians are normally very protective of their territories. They don’t permit anyone to travel in their space without the express permission of Central Command or the New Detapa Council. This rule in enforced by military patrol vessels, strategically placed at perimeter checkpoints throughout Cardassian space and territories within their system and the Demilitarized Zone.

In 2309, the Cardassian begin the occupation of Bajor, subjugating the people and mining its resources. The occupation lasts for 60 years.

They construct the space station, Terok Nor, initially as a resource processing station. Then they systematically strip the surface of Bajor of its resources. They do the same to Terok Nor when they abandon it, leaving the station a shambles.