Founders ' homeworld ( 2371 ) The first Founders ' homeworld was an M - class rogue planet located in the Omarion Nebula in the Gamma Quadrant . The Changeling s who later became the Founder s of the Dominion withdrew to this planet , thousands of years ago , to escape persecution by the solids . In 2371 , Odo experienced a mental compulsion that led him and Major Kira Nerys to the planet , after the was captured by the Jem ' Hadar . The crew of the " Defiant " was also brought to the planet and subjected to an experiment by the Vorta to gauge their level of resistance to a Dominion invasion . ( ) Thirty percent of the planet ' s crust was destroyed by weapons fire from warship s operated by the Cardassian Obsidian Order and the Romulan Tal Shiar later in 2371 , during the Battle of the Omarion Nebula . The Founders had previously evacuated the planet , and deliberately enabled the attack so as to ambush the two intelligence agencies and render them incapable of resisting the planned conquest of their respective empires . ( ) Appendices . Background information . During the first two seasons of , viewers were left to wonder where the Changeling character of Odo had come from . The actor who played him , Rene Auberjonois , wanted this question to remain unanswered and mysterious , though he was happy with how the answer was revealed . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 32 , Nos . 4 / 5 , p . 40 ) Upon devising the first Founders ' homeworld , Ira Steven Behr and his writing staff on wanted to create a planet which was extremely strange and mysterious . ( " " , p . 168 ) Much effort went into depicting the first Founders ' homeworld . " " The optical shots that were involved in our first view of the Founders ' planet were very complicated , " " admitted Producer Steve Oster . " " There was a lot of interfacing between what the director was planning and what the Art Department was doing . The planet needed to be fairly dark in order for us to see the glowing , gelatinous sea that makes up the Great Link . " " ( " " , p . 168 ) Illustrator Jim Martin , who did some concept art of the locale , stated , " " It was all supposed to be this mysterious surface of a planet at night , without any sort of building or structure at all ; just kind of a bizarre , alien landscape . I tried to throw everything I thought looked alien at them . " " ( " Jim Martin Sketchbook " , DS9 Season 4 DVD special features ) A miniature created by Model Maker Gregory Jein included part of the planet , portraying the area surrounding the Great Link . First , his team constructed a perspective landscape , which was ten feet long and twelve feet deep . " " Greg had to build the miniature three weeks before the actual set was built , " " laughed Special Effects Supervisor Glenn Neufeld . The physical configuration of the landscape model was influenced by a visit to the cave set – which was later to be utilized for representing the planet – and multiple sketches provided by the art department . The illustrations gave Jein an impression of " a lot of weird colors and rocks . " Next , he started carving urethane foam into artificial rocks and painting " funky florist flora with wild colors so it looked like an alien glade . " ( " " , pp . 168 - 169 ) There were subsequent problems with the set used for the first Founders ' homeworld , such as with its extremely bright colors . " " We went to the set one day , expecting to see it looking one way , and it didn ' t , " " remembered Glenn Neufeld . " " So we ran to the phone and told Greg , ' You know those purple and yellow trees ? Well , paint them orange or rip them out . We don ' t care which ! " " The DS9 producers were ultimately disappointed with the planet , Behr thinking " the dark planet with the weird things on it " turned out to be a " set [ that ] never worked " and actually " sucked ! " ( " " , pp . 169 & 168 ) According to " " ( pp . 71 & 75 ) , both of the Founders ' homeworlds were s . However , according to and the ( in entry " Omarion Nebula " ) , the first Founders ' homeworld was a M - class planet . This planet supported native flora , which thrivied on processes other than photosynthesis .