Founder

"You belong to the Dominion, don't you?"
"Belong to it? Major, the Changelings are the Dominion."
"You're the Founders."
– Kira, Female Changeling, and Odo, 2371 ("The Search, Part II")

The Founders were a group of Changelings from the Gamma Quadrant, who mainly existed in the form of the Great Link. They were responsible for both the creation of the Dominion and all strategic decisions undertaken throughout its history. Though generally considered mythical by some Gamma Quadrant races, they remained, as of the late 24th century, the embodiment of the Dominion itself, and the ultimate reason for its existence. (DS9: "The Jem'Hadar", "The Search, Part I", "The Search, Part II")

## History

### From Changelings to Founders

Eons ago, Changelings evolved from non-metamorphic lifeforms, who were limited to one form like other humanoids. (DS9: "Behind the Lines")

Later, the Changelings roamed space, possibly including the planet L-S VI, searching out other races so they could add to their knowledge of the galaxy. The Changelings came in peace, though "solids" feared their metamorphic abilities, met them with suspicion, and even "beat, hunted, and killed" them. Deeming "Changelings" to be nothing but make-believe by the 24th century, the Rakhari as well as the Yaderans told mythical tales of them, with the latter speaking of "evil shapeshifters." According to Dominion legend, on one planet, a group of Vorta – a species of small, timid, ape-like forest dwellers living in hollowed-out trees – hid a Changeling from an angry mob, and in return the Changeling promised that one day they would be transformed into powerful beings and placed at the head of a vast interstellar empire. (DS9: "Vortex", "The Alternate", "Shadowplay", "The Search, Part II", "Treachery, Faith and the Great River")
As an adverse reaction to being hunted and rejected by the solids, the Founders accepted the pejorative "Changeling" as their own out of defiance and retreated to a rogue planet in the Omarion Nebula, where they existed as the Great Link. Adopting a philosophy of "what you control can't hurt you," the Changelings realized they had to "guide" the solids, who, in turn, had to "be broken of their love for freedom." They determined that, in order to be safe, they had to set themselves the task of creating order from the chaos they saw around them, and as a result, they became the "Founders" of the Dominion circa 2,000 years ago. The Founders genetically engineered the Jem'Hadar as their front line soldiers and also kept their promise to the Vorta by empowering them to become the Dominion's civil servants and commanders. Amongst other methods, both species' loyalty was ensured by implanting into them a reverence of any Changeling as a living god. (DS9: "The Search, Part II", "To the Death", "Favor the Bold")

### Contact and War with the Alpha Quadrant

Despite their self-protectionism, the Founders still wished to explore the galaxy and sent out one hundred infant Changelings, including Odo and Laas, in order to gather information and explore before bringing the information back into the Great Link. They were genetically programmed to return to the Great Link around the late-27th century, to share what they had learned. Laas, who initially attempted to mimic a humanoid life on Varala around the 22nd century, ultimately got disillusioned and frustrated by solids. Odo, on the other hand, was found beyond the Bajoran wormhole in the Alpha Quadrant during the first half of the 24th century and was subsequently studied by Dr. Mora Pol at the Bajoran Institute for Science. In early 2371, roughly two years after the Bajoran wormhole was discovered by the Federation and henceforth frequented as a gateway between the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants, Odo, who was still following his instinctive longing for the Omarion Nebula, returned to the Great Link. However, having spent all his conscious life amongst solids, he decided he was not yet ready to rejoin his fellow Changelings. They communicated with him by forming a female humanoid. (DS9: "The Search, Part I", "The Search, Part II", "Chimera")
Later in 2371, the Founders were the target of a preemptive strike by the Tal Shiar and the Obsidian Order, which intended to completely eradicate the Founders, thereby removing the Dominion as a threat to the Alpha Quadrant. However, a Changeling had infiltrated the Tal Shiar and, based on evidence gathered by that Changeling, the Founders relocated to a new homeworld in advance of the Battle of the Omarion Nebula, in which all Romulan/Cardassian forces were annihilated. (DS9: "Improbable Cause", "The Die is Cast")

The Founders proceeded with infiltrating the powers beyond the wormhole in order to prepare for their eventual invasion, while Odo continued his life among the solids of the Federation, separate from the Great Link. In late 2371, he became the first Changeling to ever harm another, when he killed one of the infiltrators in order to save his crewmates aboard the USS Defiant. Odo's slaying of the Changeling provoked much debate and disagreement in the Great Link, also because the Founders felt a sense of responsibility for having sent him away as an infant in the first place. In late 2372, they had Weyoun, one of their most trusted Vorta servants, infect him with a disease to force him to return home and be judged – Odo's punishment was to be made into a solid. Although he regained his shapeshifting abilities a few months later in early 2373 by linking with a terminally ill infant Changeling, he was henceforth considered a traitor by the Jem'Hadar, as he had killed one of their gods. (DS9: "The Adversary", "To the Death", "Broken Link", "Paradise Lost", "Apocalypse Rising", "The Begotten")
In 2373, the Founders began their invasion of the Alpha Quadrant and the Dominion started a war against the Federation and the Klingon Empire. A few months after the war started, the Female Changeling came to the Alpha Quadrant to oversee the war effort and also to coerce Odo to return to the Great Link. Although they both linked, Odo was not able to understand the Founders' arrogance and ruthlessness, and eventually decided to side against his own people. In 2375, Odo encountered Laas, who had also been one of the 100 infants sent out by the Founders. Although they linked, Odo soon realized he did not share Laas' disregard for the solids and decided not to join him as he continued on a journey to find others who had also been amongst the 100 infants. (DS9: "Behind the Lines", "Favor the Bold", "Sacrifice of Angels", "Chimera")

Unbeknownst to the Founders, the war with the Dominion was anticipated by Section 31, a rogue Federation organization, which had secretly used Odo to infect the Great Link with a morphogenic virus back in 2372, during his trial for murdering another Changeling. Some Starfleet officers who didn't accept the Federation committing genocide managed, in an effort to save Odo's life, to obtain a cure against the virus. After Dominion forces in the Alpha Quadrant surrendered in late 2375, Odo cured the Female Changeling, who was subsequently taken into custody in the Alpha Quadrant. Odo then returned to the Gamma Quadrant and rejoined the Great Link, which was thus cured as well. (DS9: "Extreme Measures", "What You Leave Behind")