Alternatives to the Cardassians and the Breen

What other Alpha Quadrant powers would have made sense to have joined the Dominion instead of the Cardassians and the Breen? How would the use of different AQ powers have changed the course of the Dominion War?

I think the Romulans and Tholians are possible alternatives to the Cardassians and I think the Tzenkethi and Gorn are possible alternatives to the Breen.

WEYOUN: "The birth of the alliance between the Dominion and the Pakleds. Changes everything, doesn't it?"

PAKLED COMMANDER: "We are smart."

WEYOUN: "Of course you are..."

I think the obvious Choice would have been the Federation.

royalfan5 said:

I think the obvious Choice would have been the Federation.

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True, but that wasn't going to be allowed to happen by the powers that be.

A) I think there was a feeling among the writers that Romulans are 'TNG's thing'. But also, I can't imagine the Romulans bowing to anyone else's power unless they were first driven into the ground the way Cardassia was.

B) Who else really was there who was a major power in the AQ? One-appearance races like the Shelliac? The Nausicans?

The Nausicans would actually have been interesting, and it would have been something new for the writers to explore. I could have seen the Dominion trying to maneuver events to force the Klingons into an alliance. Their love of battle and 'win or die' attitude would certainly have served them well, though, they might have proven a bit hard to control.

Iliana Malek said:

The Nausicans would actually have been interesting, and it would have been something new for the writers to explore. I could have seen the Dominion trying to maneuver events to force the Klingons into an alliance. Their love of battle and 'win or die' attitude would certainly have served them well, though, they might have proven a bit hard to control.

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Yes, the Nausicaans would have been interesting. I wouldn't have said the Klingons before, but you do have a point. Had the Martok changeling been able to become chancellor, it's possible he may have formed an alliance with the Dominion, I suppose. Though, even then, I see it as a long shot. It would take a lot to get the Klingons to join with them and even then the relationship would be more rocky than the Dominion and Cardassians turned out to be.

I think the Ferengi would have been a great choice. Striking a deal with the Dominion and adding their financial expertise to help acquire Alpha Quadrant assetts. Besides, it has been a long time since we've seen a Marauder on screen.

Chameloids and Antosins.

The Cardassians made sense for a lot of reasons. They were a major power, yet the withdrawl from Bajor and their failure to deal with the Maquis were symptomatic of their declining position in the Alpha Quadrant; meanwhile, the destruction of the Obsidian Order and the transition to a civilian government left a huge power vacuum, which helped Dukat seize power. The Klingon invasion was, of course, what finally pushed them (and him) over the edge. As he said in "Return to Grace":

There was a time when the mere mention of my race inspired fear. But now we've become a beaten people afraid to fight back because we don't want to lose what little we have left...

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On a practical level, Cardassia's proximity to the wormhole and Cardassians' sense of order also meshed well with the Dominion. I just can't see any other major race taking their place without some major fleshing out and explanation.

As for the Breen... frankly, any Mysterious Alien Race could have taken their place. We'd seen them in the internment camp and there had been a smattering of references to them (including in the episode I quoted, IIRC), but there was nothing in established canon that made them particularly well-suited for the Dominion or described them as the fierce fighters with mysterious biotechnology and an energy weapon. That was something the DS9 writers made up.