The Kartanin are true warriors at heart, honorable until death. They live to fight, which also reflects in their language - the verbs "to fight" and "to be" are identical. There are dozens of different words for "war", each one having a slightly different meaning about what kind of war it is, while "peace" might better be translated as "not war". While they are not oppressive warmongers in the traditional sense - not anymore - they are not above starting a war to slake their thrill of battle. They choose their enemies carefully - inherently peaceful targets are of no interest to them, but other warlike civilisations are fair game to the Dominion. Victory or defeat is of the last consequence to them; the glory of battle is what truly matters, and a glorious death in combat against overwhelm