Editing Bajoran (section)

===Kai===

The '''Kai''' {{IPAc-en|k|ai}} is the spiritual leader of the Bajoran people.

This individual could be either male or female, could be married, and could have children. The Kai is chosen in an election held by the entire Bajoran people, though typically candidates come from the [[Vedek]] assembly of high-ranking clerics. He or she also seems to hold a fair amount of political influence on Bajor; the government is headed by a First Minister although Bajorans typically will listen to whatever the Kai says.

When [[Starfleet]] forces initially arrived at [[Deep Space Nine (space station)|Deep Space Nine]], the Kai was a woman named [[Opaka Sulan]]. She introduced [[Benjamin Sisko|Commander Sisko]] to an Orb or [[Tear of the Prophets]], and was the first to refer to him openly as "the Emissary". Opaka was officially declared missing during an escorted trip through the Bajoran wormhole, when she discovered two feuding Gamma Quadrant races and elected to remain with them in hopes of negotiating a peaceful resolution to their conflict. In time, two leading candidates emerged to succeed her. One was Vedek [[Winn Adami]]—a member of a small conservative order on Bajor who harbored anti-[[United Federation of Planets|Federation]] feelings.

The other was Vedek [[Bareil Antos]], who counseled then-Vedek Winn and convinced her to adopt a more conciliatory attitude toward the Federation and Commander Sisko. Bareil was considered the most likely candidate to succeed Kai Opaka, but political maneuvering by Kai Winn forced him to resign his candidacy.

Kai Winn later tried to consolidate her hold on power after the death of the Bajoran First Minister, reneging on an agreement the previous government had made with several destitute Bajoran farmers and risking civil war in the process. Major Kira of DS9 convinced her old friend and resistance cell leader [[Shakaar Edon]] to run for election in opposition to Kai Winn to block her from obtaining total control of the Bajoran government. Kai Winn withdrew when Kira threatened to expose Winn's duplicity, and Shakaar was elected to the post of First Minister.

Later, at the beginning of the [[Dominion War]], Captain Sisko convinced Kai Winn, as well as the Council of Ministers, to sign a non-aggression treaty with the Dominion; Sisko wanted to ensure Bajor was kept out of the fighting so everything they had accomplished in the past five years wouldn't be destroyed by the war.

With the end of the Dominion War in sight, Kai Winn was tempted to join with [[Dukat (Star Trek)|Dukat]]—who had been surgically altered to look like a Bajoran—in worshipping the [[Pah Wraith|Pagh Wraith]]s. When she discovered who the man really was, she was devastated by having fallen for the deception. When she sought Colonel Kira's advice, Kira advised Winn she could be redeemed if she stepped down from the post, but Winn refused.

Kai Winn turned away from the Prophets, and became a tool of the Pagh Wraiths. In the final moments of her life, she tried to throw the Book of the Kosst-Amojan into the pit of fire. She was then killed by Dukat. In the non-canon MMORPG ''Star Trek Online'', set thirty years after the events of ''Deep Space Nine'', it is implied that Kira Nerys eventually became Kai.