How to: make a Cardassian.

[Jaime]

Check my signature for more How To guides.

I don't know how you ended up in the Federation, or even stranger, the Klingon Defense Force. But you did, and now you're trying to brush up and make something of yourself. Or perhaps yourself, period!

So let's do this thing.

Head:

Category - Humanoid.

Head Type - Humanoid 1. (Or the rare, Humanoid 2 Asian Cardassian. O_O)

Skin Type - Access your color palette. Move your cursor to the bottom left corner (16 rows down). From here to the bottom center, there are 13 color squares. Personally, I would only use 7-11. Use these colors for the remainder of your Cardassian.

Re: Row 16, palettes 7-11 counting from the left.

Overall Pattern - Solid Color.

Base Complexion - Neck Scales.

Forehead Detail - Scaled Spoon. Full effect for starters so you can see your Cardassian coming together.

Nose Detail - Scaled Length. Full effect for starters.

Tattoo/Scars - Whatever you want.

Eyes - Humanoid. I would stick to white corneas and black-grey irises.

Ears - Long Scales.

Hairstyle - Try to stick to receding hairstyles. Darker colors, most often black. This isn't because all Cardassians age quickly, it's because of their ridges.

Shininess - I went with none, but it's preference.

Eyebrow - None.

Mouth Accessory - Possible, but uncommon based on the show.

Eye Attach - Whatever you want.

Head Attach Organic - None.

Body:

Pay special attention to your Cardassian's neck. You want to bulk it up a bit to simulate their stretchy neck. Try 4ish or so bars. (4/5).

For length, stick to 3 bars. (3/5)

Cardassians are normally pretty tall. Try for 6'2"+.

http://i46.tinypic.com/xlmtg8.jpg

Compare.

http://en.academic.ru/pictures/enwiki/68/Damar.jpg

Female Cardassians:

Follow the male Cardassian guide and I'll quickly go over the differences here.

First of all, their Scaled Spoon forehead detail is usually a blue hue as opposed to the grey shade males have. Still, I would keep it light and inconspicuous. A bright, baby blue hue detail won't really cut it.

A suggestion:

Originally Posted by Cryoguns

I think the spoons differ in color depending on decoration (like lipstick or eyeshadow in a way). I made mine green

Their hair color can range anywhere from the usual black to brown.

Hairstyles should still include a high hair line. I don't believe the female hairstyles are as accommodating, so just try to keep their hair out of their faces.

http://i49.tinypic.com/29a3hy.jpg

Compare.

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/me...NatimaLang.jpg

Traits:

Cardassian's are pretty militaristic. They can be soldiers, spies, or participate in politics.

Some trait suggestions.

Soldier
Stubborn
Resilient
Covert
Physical Strength
Cold Blooded (Their planet is pretty hot. Though I'm not sure if they are actually cold blooded, the heat resist would make sense.)
Creative
Aggressive
Mental Discipline
Efficient

Assorted Suggestions:

Originally Posted by Kinthok

Good summary.

You're gonna need a Cardassian name. Here are some examples:

Male:
Zax Narale
Almor Karn
Koman Waka
Drokkan Sarat

Female:
Faasha Risot
Gikera Lom
Jil Ala Ledrig
Inaji Tarek

Originally Posted by PodSix

My recipe goes a bit further in terms of the body.

SHORT TORSO
long legs.
Wide shoulders.. bulk up the shoulders as much as you can.
Arms should be a bit longish too.
Wide neck (I went for widest possible)
long neck.

The end result is a vaguely short, triangular torso.. with long limbs and neck. You probably also want to go with a slicked back hairstyle for females as well.

SKin colour should be either yellowish, barely greenishgrey, or greyish. You can go for a more brown colour, but their appearance is generally reptillian, so you may wish to take that into consideration.

Grim thin lips, and a somewhat smallish head compared to the rest of the body.

Example

Of course, a lot of that "Cardassian shape" was really optical effects created by the lines of the costume, and padding.. but that's what most people will recognize "as Cardassian looking".. since we're not as-yet able to access other faction costumes.

[Cpt.Lindquist]

great write up

[Cryoguns]

Thanks for the recommendations on color - I may try them out. I had originally went with a very pale blue for my female Cardie, but her skin looked slightly purplish.

[Jaime]

Moved here.

[Morgomir]

you should make a guide for making a Romulan, and I always thought it would be beneficial for STO to have a neck width slider, the neck bulk slider only really thickens it...Cardassian necks were usually wider and not really thicker from the side view.

[Ossirian]

Nice writeup, I chose to make a Cardassian-Bajoran hybrid for my first char giving her the nose ridges and Bajoran earing. I also added more pink to her skin tone cause of her mixed heritage but I never thought about the blue in the forehead ridge, good catch.

[Jaime]

Originally Posted by Morgomir

you should make a guide for making a Romulan, and I always thought it would be beneficial for STO to have a neck width slider, the neck bulk slider only really thickens it...Cardassian necks were usually wider and not really thicker from the side view.

That would be pretty easy to do. I'm not sure it could merit a full write up like this did. Essentially, you start with a Vulcan, tint their skin slightly green. (Literally, one color block over from white into the greenish section. Maybe two.) Make their eyebrows a little pointier, and bulk up their neck slightly.

Perhaps I can put together a compilation of easy to do races. I'm really not that familiar with most of the loved Star Trek races, but I was originally going to make a Fed Romulan alliance sympathizer until I heard about the possibility of yet another faction. Cardassian Union, Romulan Star Empire, I'm in trouble. :3

Originally Posted by Ossirian

Nice writeup, I chose to make a Cardassian-Bajoran hybrid for my first char giving her the nose ridges and Bajoran earing. I also added more pink to her skin tone cause of her mixed heritage but I never thought about the blue in the forehead ridge, good catch.

Hey, neat! +rep for creativity. Happy to help.

[MinosOne]

Nice guide.

[Kinthok]

Good summary.

You're gonna need a Cardassian name. Here are some examples:

Male:
Zax Narale
Almor Karn
Koman Waka
Drokkan Sarat

Female:
Faasha Risot
Gikera Lom
Jil Ala Ledrig
Inaji Tarek

[Jaime]

Originally Posted by Kinthok

Good summary.

You're gonna need a Cardassian name.

Quoted on my first post.