The Seed of Wrath.

This proto-seed popped up into my head late one night, and I've been wondering what I could do with it:

Post Dominion War. A group of Cardassians (presumably civilians) takes refuge in a remote Bajoran monastery.

Of course, this just begs for a lot of questions. What are the Cardassians fleeing from? Why going precisely to a Bajoran place? What will the Bajoran monks say and do? What will the Bajoran government say? The Cardassian government? The public opinion on Bajor, Cardassia or in the Federation?
Those boards are usually teeming with good ideas, so I thought I'd post the seed here and see what the answers could be. Ideas?

Hmmm....lots of possibilities here..

Maybe the Cardies are former members of the military, on the run from the new government. Them hiding in a Bajoran monastery is nicely ironic.

Maybe they're apologists and are trying to quietly return one of the Bajoran Orbs back to Bajor.

Maybe the Cardies aren't really on the run. Maybe they're old hardliners living in the past and still feel that Bajor should be under the Cardassian heel again.

Or, maybe these Cardies blame the Bajorans for the downfall of Cardassia (maybe they think the Bajorans helped the Dominion), and they're looking to strike back.

Maybe they're Cardassians wrongly accused of collaborating with the Dominion, and are looking for asylum. They feel the Bajorans are their best hope.

Anyway, that's some ideas off the top of my head. Nice idea. Would make a really good adventure. :)

"Cardassians wrongly accused of collaborating with the Dominion?" That doesn't make sense - Cardassia was part of the Dominion, so collaborating is hardly the correct term. Cardassia was not in the same situation viv a vis the Dominion as was France with Germany in WWII - it was not a conquered territory with a puppet government, but rather a state where the government actively sought membership in the Dominion.

It is possible, however, that they are Cardassians who remained loyal to the Dominion after the Female Founder ordered reprisals and Cardassia went into revolt. It could be that the monastery in question houses one of the Orbs, or that the Cardassians themselves have an Orb which is traditionally associated with the monastery and hope to use the Orb to return Cardassia to its former glory.

Another is that the monastery could actually be a secret stronghold of the Pah-Wraiths who have summoned the Cardasians (with or without the involvement of an Orb).

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Originally posted by Owen E Oulton
"Cardassians wrongly accused of collaborating with the Dominion?" That doesn't make sense - Cardassia was part of the Dominion, so collaborating is hardly the correct term. Cardassia was not in the same situation viv a vis the Dominion as was France with Germany in WWII - it was not a conquered territory with a puppet government, but rather a state where the government actively sought membership in the Dominion.

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True, but after the fall, there would be a major shift of position. Where before, joining the Dominion was the greatest thing to happen to the Cardassians since sliced bread, now everyone who's left is running around saying "Well, I always thought it was a bad idea." Cardassian history would probably record that the Dominion wasn't asked to take up residence on Cardassia; they invaded, just like they invaded Betazed, and they were assisted by a group of collaborators in the government. If I was a mid-level bureaucrat before the war ended, this would probably be the right time to make a run for it, before the general populace strung me from the nearest lightpost for being a "collaborator."

Maybe the interim Cardassian government contacts the Federation because these "heinous war-criminals" have fled Cardassia Prime and are hiding in the Bajoran monestary. When the crew arrives, they find that the people they are hunting are actually bureaucrats whose only crime is that they served under the Dominion. Whenever things start to go south on Cardassia Prime, the government seeks out a few of these "collaborators" and puts on a show trial to distract people from asking why the government isn't doing anything to help them.

True, there could be any number of Cardassians who aren't in favor with the new government. Take for example the Gul who led Damar and his resistance fighters into an ambush (can't remember his name or the episode - I guess you know it). Even someone who was only on this Gul's staff and didn't do a thing against Damar could find himself in a lot of trouble.

Another possibility would be that some of the Cardies are actually half-Bajorans with relatives at the monastary. That could explain why they take refuge in bajoran territory.

Or the Cardies could be really nice guys who aren't on the run at all, but made this all up to enter the monastary and aprehend a Cardassian deep-cover agent (surgicaly altered) who was left on Bajor and is fanatical enough to go ahead with his original task of assasinating the Bajoran government, even if "his" Cardassia no longer exists.
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A monastary would be a good place for them to hide, because they might find it likely that, if they have to go to Bajor at all, a monastary might be safest place from Bajorans who don't like the Cardassians presence. Even angry Bajorans will think twice before staging anything violent in such a sanctuary, even if it's going against the Cardies.
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Now the public opinion on Bajor, Cardassia and in the Federation as well could depend a lot on what spin the Cardie government puts on the whole incident.
If these folks are only on the run from a minority on Cardassia the Bajoran opinion would most likely turn into something like "Send them home and let their government protect them. It's none of our business."
If the Federation could influence the Bajorans to help (or at least not hinder) these Cardassian refugees could depend a lot on how close Bajor and the Feds are in your game. If Bajor is on the verge of joining the Federation and/or depending on Federation help in any major way. OTOH with Bajor close to joining the Federation the Feds could be unwilling to antagonize the Bajorans too much over a handfull of refugees.


In the end I guess a lot of the adventure background would depend on the state of the Cardassian government in your game, Calcoran. How much details have you worked out for that?

Ooooh I like it! I like it all! Damn, I'll have to choose :eek: !

Lancer: Actually, at first the idea was just that: a seed. I thought it would be nice to turn tables a bit, and see how players would deal with oppressed Cardassians and not-really-friendly Bajorans. But all the ideas here have given me a lot to think about :).

Let's see ... for those who haven't followed my infrequent session reports and requests for ideas, my campaign's background is the following:
Post Dominion war. Cardassia is much like Germany after WWII. Part of it is rebuilding with the help of the Federation, and part of it is under Romulan protectorate, with a DMZ in the middle.

So of course, the Cardassians could come from the Romulan zone, and Bajor would have been the nearest system or something (do the Bajorans have any colony in the Alpha quadrant?).

But there could be some undercover agents among them somehow, who may have influenced the choice of a destination, because they wanted to get inside the monastery.
What kind of undercover agents?
Cardassians? Working for whom ... the Obsidian Order (bad), but then what is their goal? The 10th order (Cardassian military intelligence, good), who needs to remove some OO undercover agents before they cause too much damage?
Romulans? Would be nice, but what would they be doing here?

Returning an Orb discretely ... I like that too ... I just don't see how I can fit it in there ... or maybe that in exchange for their safety? The Monks had actually lost the Orb, but did not want it to be known, so they are pretty happy to have it back, but now they can't explain to the governement why they are protecting those Cardassians ... how does it sound?

Falsely accused collaborators ... yes, that could be the reason why they fled the Roluman zone in the first place: the Romulans accused them in order to get rid of protesters.

Call of the Pah-Wraith .... oooooh I like this one ... and I am at a complete loss as to how it should fit in there :/. Damn.


Of course, there has to be a problem, otherwise the players wouldn't be called there ... probably has to do with the Romulans: They want these traitors back (and must be pretty mad at them for the loss of the Orb). The Bajoran government does not want them on Bajoran territory. The Cardassian public opinion will be very sensitive as to how the Federation handles it ... and the Federation is in a really tough position, caught between one (former?) ally and one ... err ... "defeated foe that it doesn't want to harbour too much revenge feelings" (not sure there's a word to describe that).

How does this all sound?

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Originally posted by AngryTree
Cardassian history would probably record that the Dominion wasn't asked to take up residence on Cardassia; they invaded, just like they invaded Betazed, and they were assisted by a group of collaborators in the government.

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As they say. History is recorded by the Victors.

In which case the account will come from Starfleet, Klingons and Romulans.

The Cardassians lost far more than the war, and I doubt that they will be that bothered about what history says about them than rebiulding their decimated population.

Its more likely that Cardassian history would simply villify Dukat and the Dominion and idolise Damar and the resistance.... And just gloss over the bits that cause them discomfort. Or as it was put in 'Faulty Towers';
"Dont mentoin the War!"

As an aside (AND WITH A SPOILER FOR PERRRYYY), you should read the new DS9 Mission Gamma books, most especially the second one 'This Grey Spirit' (Have you stopped reading yet Perrryyy?);

Where the attitudes of the post war Bajor/Cardassia are begining to get eximined, there may be some ideas in there that would help in this plot idea.

OK Perrryyy you can start reading again... :D

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Lancer
Another possibility would be that some of the Cardies are actually half-Bajorans with relatives at the monastary.
QUOTE]

I love that. :D

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Originally posted by Dan Gurden
Its more likely that Cardassian history would simply villify Dukat and the Dominion and idolise Damar and the resistance.... And just gloss over the bits that cause them discomfort. Or as it was put in 'Faulty Towers';
"Dont mentoin the War!"

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:D This could make for an interesting episode, too.....

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Originally posted by Calcoran
Returning an Orb discretely ... I like that too ... I just don't see how I can fit it in there ... or maybe that in exchange for their safety? The Monks had actually lost the Orb, but did not want it to be known, so they are pretty happy to have it back, but now they can't explain to the governement why they are protecting those Cardassians ... how does it sound?
...
Call of the Pah-Wraith .... oooooh I like this one ... and I am at a complete loss as to how it should fit in there :/. Damn.

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Okay, so the Cardassians want to return an Orb, the Romulans wanted to study. Of course the Romulans don't want to give this away and have the Cardassian government of their protectorate put pressure on the Bajorans to return the fugitives instead of stepping in themselves.

Only trouble is the monks are a bit too happy to see the Orb returned, as their secret masters - the Pah-Wraiths - will be pleased to turn this thing to their own evil plans.
The Cardassians are actually detained by the monks now, who want to brainwash them, so they can send them back to Cardassian space to further the interests of the Pah-Wraiths.

Maybe one of the monks escaped the monastary before the Pah-Wraith followers took over and secretly contacts Starfleet for help, as he is no longer sure if he can trust his Bajoran contacs.

Oh, and did I mention the spy among the Cardassian refugees who went along to keep an eye on the Orb for his Romulan masters? :D

How does that sound?

Try this one:

We see some examples of body switching occasionally in Trek, so it has a good Trek feel to it.

These Cardassians are a mix of older Cardies, Cardies who have been exiled, military types guilty of warcrimes etc. You might want to pick one and have all of the Cardassians be of that type or have a mix. The only problem is that all claim to be Bajoran Nationals.

Before/During/Just right after the Dominion War these Cardassians got hold of one of the Orbs (I dunno, the Orb of Identity or something) and used it to switch bodies with Bajorans. These Cardassians-in-Bajoran bodies have now gone back to Bajor, and are an integral part of the government or military or legal system or perhaps all of the above. The Cardassians original bodies may not have been killed outright (what the woman who switched with Kirk attempted to do in the TOS episode Turnabout Intruder) because the first guy to kill his "old body" caused the process to reverse itself instantly, thus he actually ended up killing himself and putting the Bajoran back into his original body. The Bajorans-in-Carddie Bodies don't know this (neither should the players until later) or there would not be much of an adventure.

The Cardassians-in-Bajoran forms placed their old bodies "on ice"/in suspended animation to avoid triggering the instant reverse on the process and proceeded to go about their merry way. The problem of course is that the installation where they held the bodies in suspended animation was later bombed/vacated/whatever and an automatic reanimation cycle was activated and now the Bajorans-in-Cardassian-bodies are free. You wake up after having been forced into someone else's body, you happen to be in the body of a war ciminal. What would you do? They went to the church.

Add to the mix: You can say that one of the Cardassians-in-Bajoran body just had an accident and died. The reversal process was activated and the Carddie put back into his body. Since the body was in deep freeze, nothing was noticed. So one of these guys is actually who he is supposed to be but the other folks involved don't know about it yet (maybe they did not know one another very well before, and were simply ). That could be one of the clues to lead the players to reversing the process.

OK, Publius? You are either....

One of the most creative people

OR

"Dropped" way too much watching your TNG DVDs.

:D

Not bad, Publius. Very innovative. With a very "trekkish" feel to it. Problem is: I'm not sure it'll appeal to my players, as they are more DS9 style trekkers than TOS/TNG ones. So I guess I won't chose that option. Nice one though.

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Originally posted by Lancer
Okay, so the Cardassians want to return an Orb, the Romulans wanted to study. Of course the Romulans don't want to give this away and have the Cardassian government of their protectorate put pressure on the Bajorans to return the fugitives instead of stepping in themselves.

Only trouble is the monks are a bit too happy to see the Orb returned, as their secret masters - the Pah-Wraiths - will be pleased to turn this thing to their own evil plans.
The Cardassians are actually detained by the monks now, who want to brainwash them, so they can send them back to Cardassian space to further the interests of the Pah-Wraiths.

Maybe one of the monks escaped the monastary before the Pah-Wraith followers took over and secretly contacts Starfleet for help, as he is no longer sure if he can trust his Bajoran contacs.

Oh, and did I mention the spy among the Cardassian refugees who went along to keep an eye on the Orb for his Romulan masters? :D

How does that sound?

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How it sounds? It sounds great! It sounds much greater than I ever hoped for.

Oh, by the way, you forgot the Obsidian Order spy(spies?) disguised as Bajoran monks, and the 10th Order spy among the Cardassian refugees :D. The OO spy will probably be the one through which the Pah-Wraiths managed to come through ... and the 10th Order spy will be a nice way to help my players in case they do not manage to see through all those veils of deception (where the heck did I find those words).

And no, I'm not going to try to fit section 31 in there, there's only so much spies you can fit in one scenario ;) (subsidiary question: how many spies can dance on a needle's end?).

Comments or advice anyone?

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Originally posted by Calcoran
(subsidiary question: how many spies can dance on a needle's end?)

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Sorry, that information is on a need to know basis and right now you don't need to know. ;)