The senior rank of the Cardassian military, above gul, held by members of Central Command and later by the leaders of the Dominion-allied Cardassian government.
Legate is the highest military rank in the Cardassian Union, roughly equal to a Starfleet admiral. Legates sit in the Central Command and often hold political power as well.
The rank is first heard in the Deep Space Nine story The Maquis, in which Legate Parn comes to the station. Later holders include Tekeny Ghemor, the dissident who believes Kira to be his daughter in Second Skin, and Turrel, who negotiates the peace treaty with Bajor in Life Support.
Dukat is entitled to the rank when he leads Cardassia into the Dominion but says in By Inferno's Light that he prefers to be called gul, which he finds more hands-on. His successor Damar is styled legate, as is Broca, the puppet whom the Dominion installs in the last weeks of the war.