VEDIN BEREK
CARDASSIAN MALE
AGE 105 HEIGHT 186 CM WEIGHT 85 KG PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Berek is a tall Cardassian man with virtually no hair left. His pale skin is not wrinkled or worn, the years have been exceptionally kind to him. That is likely due to extensive genetic manipulation and cosmetic surgery. He appears no older than fifty years old, though he often feels and acts his true age. The most striking features Berek possesses are his eyes. The aging man's grey eyes take everything in and seem to let nothing escape. |
Vedin's smile is genuinely disconcerting, though you
would likely not be able to put a finger on why. He has a deep, almost raspy voice that seems to shake the very
ground you are standing on. He speaks slowly and precisely, with a clear
Cardassian accent.
PERSONALITY
Berek is a proud man, and a haughty one. He firmly believes that Cardassians ought to rule the galaxy and is ashamed of the state the Union has found itself in. Because he sees his people as superior, he also sees everyone else as inferior. This complex makes him difficult to work with and also makes his company somewhat unpleasant. Despite these opinions, he has no trouble accepting his own misfortunes, even if he doesn't like to acknowledge them. Berek has a keen analytical mind, and an eidetic memory. He is proud of all his work, and takes great pains to ensure it receives the accolades he believes it deserves. His interests lie primarily in the manipulation of the psyche and the subtle arts of control.
PERSONAL HISTORY
Vedin Berek was born Gerrek Berek, in Sellyk, Cardassia on 3 Lenyat, Opaiyut 2284. He was raised to believe in Cardassian superiority, and followed that belief with unwavering idealism. He attended a military academy, and learned about tactics. He excelled at psychological operations, and was promoted by the time he turned thirty. Although he loved the military, it did not promote the level of sophistication in psychological manipulation that Garrik wanted to utilize. Fortunately, his professional excellence earned him an assignment as the replacement for the military advisor on the Groumal Project.
DESIGNING THE GROUMAL: AN EXERCISE IN MANIPULATION
Although the Groumal was technically a joint project between Bajor and Cardassia, the project leaders were all Cardassian, and wanted to ensure that a Cardassian design prevailed. Most of Berek's first experiments revolved around the design of the personnel areas of the Groumal. His work was not necessarily revolutionary, but it's application was certainly unusual. Throughout the process of designing the personnel spaces, Berek manipulated the lead engineers into accepting his concepts and ideas, without truly understanding why. By the time the project was finished, the personnel areas were almost completely designed by Berek.
The design team, made up of a few dozen Cardassians and nearly a hundred Bajorans, started out as a contentious and disorganized group. When the team finally moved into a Groumal mock-up, Berek supported the segregation of Cardassians and Bajorans. The goal was to make the Bajorans believe they were inferior without any cues other than the design and architecture surrounding them. The goal went unmet for nearly eighteen months. At that point, Berek struck on an idea that worked. He subtly sloped the floors, making the ceilings in the Bajoran section seem shorter, and those in the Cardassian section taller. He also made the frames shorter in the Bajoran section. The changes were subtle enough that the perspective of the rooms did not change, but the feeling of them did.
By the end of the trial, the Bajoran team-members who had initially held their own against their Cardassian counterparts deferred to the Cardassians in almost every meeting that took place inside the mock-up. The experiment had been a success.
The next decade and more was spent consulting on the designed the Groumal, even after Berek had rejoined the military as a commander on one of Bajor's smaller continents.
GERREK'S GREAT EXPERIMENT
The Hirt Agricultural Commune was a testing ground for many of the methods that Gerrek would petition to use across Bajor. Unfortunately for him, too many of the Union's leaders were set in their ways and unwilling to try radical new ideas like his -- no matter that they seemed to work.
When Gerrek arrived, he was assigned to oversee a group of farming communities. These communities had been among some of the most resistant to the Occupation. Not violently, but stubbornly. When their new Cardassian overseer arrived he was greeted with scorn and hatred. That would change in the nineteen years he would govern there. He began working immediately to quell the rebellious attitudes that seemed to permeate the population of his small province. His predecessors had tried most of the methods preferred across Bajor, including imprisonment, executions, and exile to labor camps. Gerrek used a different strategy.
One of the most difficult things that many of his predecessors had faced was the autonomy of the farms. In order to maintain order throughout the province, they had needed hundreds of soldiers spread over massive distances. Gerrek's idea was to consolidate the people. That could easily have been accomplished by forcing them into barracks. That was not the strategy that Berek wanted to use. Instead, he developed a slow process to manipulate the Bajorans in his province.
He began by ceasing the seizure of Bajoran crops and goods within his jurisdiction. Any soldier who mistreated a Bajoran in any way was disciplined and transferred. Punishments were made more lenient and the justice system within the province was adjusted to appear less autocratic. Gerrek offered fair prices for the farmers' goods, and spent considerable amounts of his own savings to build several complexes of apartments. These small homes were well built, cozy, and purposefully designed to appeal strongly to the Bajoran aesthetic sense. He even included a fully stocked cafeteria and entertainment complex that occupants could use, free of charge and with virtually no restrictions.
It took nearly two years for the apartments to be built, but in that time, Gerrek had built up enough good will with some of the populace that several hundred people moved in when the facilities opened. Over the next two years, additional incentives were offered to occupants of the apartments, and minor penalties on those who did not. The farmers who lived in the Berek compound were given free transit to their fields, could sell their crops at higher prices, and could enjoy what disposable income they had freely. Those who did not live within the confines of the compound were subject to higher food prices, taxes, and suffered from higher crime-rates from supposed rogue youth and rebels.
Within five years of his arrival, nearly ninety percent of the population of his province lived within the Berek compound and Gerrek himself was seen as the least of the Cardassian evils. Of course, reaching that status had impoverished Gerrek and forced him to make adjustments more quickly than he wanted or anticipated.
He began by lowering the buying price of all crops, claiming that a global surplus had made the crops less marketable. Since he controlled most, if not all, of the news coming into the compound the lie was believed. Even where it wasn't believed, it was accepted. If you lived in the Berek compound, you had food and lodging provided for you, and your crops were a means to have better of both.
The process continued, until the entire population of the small continent lived in Cardassian-built complexes. They were provided both food and lodging for free, though their wages suffered for it.
Gerrek was overseer of the small continent for thirty years when the Occupation ended. To many Bajorans' horror, most of the systems and structures that Berek had established remained firmly entrenched in the population's daily habits and views.
THE DOMINION WAR
After leaving Bajor, Gerrek served as an advisor to the PsyOps division of the Union's military. For a full year he fought against every decision his government made, all of which were counter-intuitive. The Union was at war with the Klingon Empire, a completely unprofitable and useless conflict. The Obsidian Order collapsed, and Gul Dukat surrendered the Cardassian Union to the Dominion. It was at that point that Gerrek once again left the military.
When the Dominion War began, he worked hard to counteract the Dominion's growing influence over Cardassian affairs. Unlike almost all his previous efforts, this one was doomed to failure--for a couple of years at the least.
The bloody war raged on and Cardassian forces were used as cannon fodder, the Dominion occupied Cardassia Prime, and the Union's government collapsed. Several small resistance movements had been founded all across Cardassia Prime. Though Gerrek's was small compared to the zeal inspired by Gul Dumar, it was also more effective at maintaining the cultural values of the people involved.
When the war ended, and the uprising to overthrow the Dominion succeeded, Gerrek was dismayed to find that the new leaders of the Union decided to create a democratic republic in an effort to appeal to the Federation.
The small block of people Gerrek had worked with did not succumb to pressure, but were overwhelmed by the sheer number of people willing to submit to the Federation.
ON THE RUN
Shortly after the war's end, the Federation and the Bajoran people published a list of wanted war criminals. Gerrek's name was on that list. Although he doubted that he would be sentenced to death, life in prison was hardly a better option. With his extensive personal savings, he decided to go on the run.
This contingency was one for which Gerrek had planned extensively. When his cousin Vedin had gone missing during the Dominion War, Gerrek had replaced the DNA sample from his cousin with his own. After a minor cosmetic surgery, he looked years younger and almost exactly like his cousin.
He left Cardassia on a freighter, and reappeared on a Federation outpost as the returned Vedin Berek. He used his vast fortune to book a suite on a cruise ship, where he lived comfortably for nearly twelve years.
During those years he had necessarily been questioned in regards to his relationship with Gerrek Berek. He answered glibly, and there was really very little doubt that he was not actually Vedin. Fortunately, he had done his work well, and there was no proof that they could attach to him of his true identity.
Shortly before his twelfth anniversary of living aboard Star Princess, Berek's funds ran out. Despite keeping careful track of what money he had, Vedin had not expected to live this long. Of course, for the man who had once been Gerrek Berek, money could be had for a little effort.
Berek once met a military engineer named Gamin Reshk. Although the two only met by happenstance, they began speaking and formed something of a friendship, if one that was long distance. Over the years, they continued to communicate and keep up with the other. It was not an especially close friendship, but it was mutually beneficial. When Berek arrived at Deep Space 9, he was hired by Reshk to work on a few small refitting jobs for some of the Groumal freighters that occasionally sought port at the station. It was during this period that he was inducted into the SS Fawkes affair.
PERSONALITY
Berek is a proud man, and a haughty one. He firmly believes that Cardassians ought to rule the galaxy and is ashamed of the state the Union has found itself in. Because he sees his people as superior, he also sees everyone else as inferior. This complex makes him difficult to work with and also makes his company somewhat unpleasant. Despite these opinions, he has no trouble accepting his own misfortunes, even if he doesn't like to acknowledge them. Berek has a keen analytical mind, and an eidetic memory. He is proud of all his work, and takes great pains to ensure it receives the accolades he believes it deserves. His interests lie primarily in the manipulation of the psyche and the subtle arts of control.
PERSONAL HISTORY
Vedin Berek was born Gerrek Berek, in Sellyk, Cardassia on 3 Lenyat, Opaiyut 2284. He was raised to believe in Cardassian superiority, and followed that belief with unwavering idealism. He attended a military academy, and learned about tactics. He excelled at psychological operations, and was promoted by the time he turned thirty. Although he loved the military, it did not promote the level of sophistication in psychological manipulation that Garrik wanted to utilize. Fortunately, his professional excellence earned him an assignment as the replacement for the military advisor on the Groumal Project.
DESIGNING THE GROUMAL: AN EXERCISE IN MANIPULATION
Although the Groumal was technically a joint project between Bajor and Cardassia, the project leaders were all Cardassian, and wanted to ensure that a Cardassian design prevailed. Most of Berek's first experiments revolved around the design of the personnel areas of the Groumal. His work was not necessarily revolutionary, but it's application was certainly unusual. Throughout the process of designing the personnel spaces, Berek manipulated the lead engineers into accepting his concepts and ideas, without truly understanding why. By the time the project was finished, the personnel areas were almost completely designed by Berek.
The design team, made up of a few dozen Cardassians and nearly a hundred Bajorans, started out as a contentious and disorganized group. When the team finally moved into a Groumal mock-up, Berek supported the segregation of Cardassians and Bajorans. The goal was to make the Bajorans believe they were inferior without any cues other than the design and architecture surrounding them. The goal went unmet for nearly eighteen months. At that point, Berek struck on an idea that worked. He subtly sloped the floors, making the ceilings in the Bajoran section seem shorter, and those in the Cardassian section taller. He also made the frames shorter in the Bajoran section. The changes were subtle enough that the perspective of the rooms did not change, but the feeling of them did.
By the end of the trial, the Bajoran team-members who had initially held their own against their Cardassian counterparts deferred to the Cardassians in almost every meeting that took place inside the mock-up. The experiment had been a success.
The next decade and more was spent consulting on the designed the Groumal, even after Berek had rejoined the military as a commander on one of Bajor's smaller continents.
GERREK'S GREAT EXPERIMENT
The Hirt Agricultural Commune was a testing ground for many of the methods that Gerrek would petition to use across Bajor. Unfortunately for him, too many of the Union's leaders were set in their ways and unwilling to try radical new ideas like his -- no matter that they seemed to work.
When Gerrek arrived, he was assigned to oversee a group of farming communities. These communities had been among some of the most resistant to the Occupation. Not violently, but stubbornly. When their new Cardassian overseer arrived he was greeted with scorn and hatred. That would change in the nineteen years he would govern there. He began working immediately to quell the rebellious attitudes that seemed to permeate the population of his small province. His predecessors had tried most of the methods preferred across Bajor, including imprisonment, executions, and exile to labor camps. Gerrek used a different strategy.
One of the most difficult things that many of his predecessors had faced was the autonomy of the farms. In order to maintain order throughout the province, they had needed hundreds of soldiers spread over massive distances. Gerrek's idea was to consolidate the people. That could easily have been accomplished by forcing them into barracks. That was not the strategy that Berek wanted to use. Instead, he developed a slow process to manipulate the Bajorans in his province.
He began by ceasing the seizure of Bajoran crops and goods within his jurisdiction. Any soldier who mistreated a Bajoran in any way was disciplined and transferred. Punishments were made more lenient and the justice system within the province was adjusted to appear less autocratic. Gerrek offered fair prices for the farmers' goods, and spent considerable amounts of his own savings to build several complexes of apartments. These small homes were well built, cozy, and purposefully designed to appeal strongly to the Bajoran aesthetic sense. He even included a fully stocked cafeteria and entertainment complex that occupants could use, free of charge and with virtually no restrictions.
It took nearly two years for the apartments to be built, but in that time, Gerrek had built up enough good will with some of the populace that several hundred people moved in when the facilities opened. Over the next two years, additional incentives were offered to occupants of the apartments, and minor penalties on those who did not. The farmers who lived in the Berek compound were given free transit to their fields, could sell their crops at higher prices, and could enjoy what disposable income they had freely. Those who did not live within the confines of the compound were subject to higher food prices, taxes, and suffered from higher crime-rates from supposed rogue youth and rebels.
Within five years of his arrival, nearly ninety percent of the population of his province lived within the Berek compound and Gerrek himself was seen as the least of the Cardassian evils. Of course, reaching that status had impoverished Gerrek and forced him to make adjustments more quickly than he wanted or anticipated.
He began by lowering the buying price of all crops, claiming that a global surplus had made the crops less marketable. Since he controlled most, if not all, of the news coming into the compound the lie was believed. Even where it wasn't believed, it was accepted. If you lived in the Berek compound, you had food and lodging provided for you, and your crops were a means to have better of both.
The process continued, until the entire population of the small continent lived in Cardassian-built complexes. They were provided both food and lodging for free, though their wages suffered for it.
Gerrek was overseer of the small continent for thirty years when the Occupation ended. To many Bajorans' horror, most of the systems and structures that Berek had established remained firmly entrenched in the population's daily habits and views.
THE DOMINION WAR
After leaving Bajor, Gerrek served as an advisor to the PsyOps division of the Union's military. For a full year he fought against every decision his government made, all of which were counter-intuitive. The Union was at war with the Klingon Empire, a completely unprofitable and useless conflict. The Obsidian Order collapsed, and Gul Dukat surrendered the Cardassian Union to the Dominion. It was at that point that Gerrek once again left the military.
When the Dominion War began, he worked hard to counteract the Dominion's growing influence over Cardassian affairs. Unlike almost all his previous efforts, this one was doomed to failure--for a couple of years at the least.
The bloody war raged on and Cardassian forces were used as cannon fodder, the Dominion occupied Cardassia Prime, and the Union's government collapsed. Several small resistance movements had been founded all across Cardassia Prime. Though Gerrek's was small compared to the zeal inspired by Gul Dumar, it was also more effective at maintaining the cultural values of the people involved.
When the war ended, and the uprising to overthrow the Dominion succeeded, Gerrek was dismayed to find that the new leaders of the Union decided to create a democratic republic in an effort to appeal to the Federation.
The small block of people Gerrek had worked with did not succumb to pressure, but were overwhelmed by the sheer number of people willing to submit to the Federation.
ON THE RUN
Shortly after the war's end, the Federation and the Bajoran people published a list of wanted war criminals. Gerrek's name was on that list. Although he doubted that he would be sentenced to death, life in prison was hardly a better option. With his extensive personal savings, he decided to go on the run.
This contingency was one for which Gerrek had planned extensively. When his cousin Vedin had gone missing during the Dominion War, Gerrek had replaced the DNA sample from his cousin with his own. After a minor cosmetic surgery, he looked years younger and almost exactly like his cousin.
He left Cardassia on a freighter, and reappeared on a Federation outpost as the returned Vedin Berek. He used his vast fortune to book a suite on a cruise ship, where he lived comfortably for nearly twelve years.
During those years he had necessarily been questioned in regards to his relationship with Gerrek Berek. He answered glibly, and there was really very little doubt that he was not actually Vedin. Fortunately, he had done his work well, and there was no proof that they could attach to him of his true identity.
Shortly before his twelfth anniversary of living aboard Star Princess, Berek's funds ran out. Despite keeping careful track of what money he had, Vedin had not expected to live this long. Of course, for the man who had once been Gerrek Berek, money could be had for a little effort.
Berek once met a military engineer named Gamin Reshk. Although the two only met by happenstance, they began speaking and formed something of a friendship, if one that was long distance. Over the years, they continued to communicate and keep up with the other. It was not an especially close friendship, but it was mutually beneficial. When Berek arrived at Deep Space 9, he was hired by Reshk to work on a few small refitting jobs for some of the Groumal freighters that occasionally sought port at the station. It was during this period that he was inducted into the SS Fawkes affair.