I think one thing I didn't like about the Dominion is how much it dominated the Gamma Quadrant. I got a bit of a TOS Wild West vibe to the untamed GQ in the earlier seasons, and a look at a part of the galaxy even weirder for being so far away, and I guess I wanted to see more of it before it was cut off by the overbearing Dominion.
And I did like the Dominion just fine. I liked the slow trickle of information on it and how sinister it seemed especially early on. And I liked the many species of it and how alien the Changelings were, the drop an ocean and the ocean a drop. ...I wonder if they could have gone farther with that. Like, if every time a Changeling linked it basically desolved and never came back quite the same way, if ever – Odo linking being a surprise death for the character, one that the version of him that came back would have to eschew or at least weigh carefully before doing it again.
Oh I love these. Holy crap, imagine if they'd been dropping out orbs on both sides of the Wormhole and another race had come up with other uses for them that was a bit more nasty. Use the Orb of Wisdom to develop great science or weapons, or use the Orb of Time to manipulate time until you get what you want. What does it mean when Gods reveal they have two chosen peoples?
And Revelation or Ragnarok ending, perfect. Bajor's religions has to have some diversity so even if it's part of just some minor sect, that would be great.
That's interesting, I hadn't thought about Orbs on both sides, but I like that. I'd prefer a more complex set of Prophets to the Prophet-Pagh Wraith silliness. Maybe Odo's people are part of that story, a casualty of whatever happened on the other side.
The Bajorans are an interesting people, ones who have been around for tens or hundreds of thousands of years yet they're still very similar to us. I've often wondered if there's more to that than we found out. If a war with the ancient Orions and/or others (the T'Kon?) when both peoples were at the heights of their civilizations (or if something else) set them back. ...could the Changelings be what the Bajorans would have been if things didn't go awry on this side of the wormhole? And what happened on the other side to disappear the Changelings and set them sending their young out so dangerously?
Or I dunno, something completely different. In my Revelation idea, I imagined Bajor hurtling toward destruction, doubters and believers doing different dramatic things, and the ultimately the entire planet making it to the other side of the wormhole. This to save them from Federation membership – did everyone who was going to join leave the planet before certain destruction while only the crazies remained? Or to bless the Federation with a newest member now on the other side of the galaxy?