Origin
Star Trek Canon Special Note
Not everything listed in the origin is Canon. That is because only television shows and movies are considered canon for Star Trek. This being a comic website there are many things here that are not canon. So unless it is contradicted in film it should be listed as part of the character biography.
Quark started his bar under poor conditions during the Cardassian occupation. He was always wheeling and dealing and always under the eye of the ships shape shifting security officer Odo. When the Cardassins left Quark planned on leaving too but before he could his nephew Nog got caught breaking and entering and was arrested. The new Federation Commander Benjamin Sisko assigned to the Deep Space Nine station needed businesses to stay and offered him a deal if he did. His nephews freedom. Quark who normally thinks of himself does have a heart and chooses to free his nephew and stay.
Creation
The character Quark was created for the television show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Character Development
Shortly after the Federation arrives they discover a stable wormhole connecting the Alpha Quadrant to the Gamma Quadrant. Quark quickly becomes a renowned businessman among the Ferengi because of his success with his bar aboard the space station near the wormhole. This does not last long.
Quark lives in a time of change especially for his people. For the next seven years Quark nearly looses everything even his Ferengi license to conduct business. In these times he finds that he has tremendous assets in his friends. He just cannot seem to adjust to his changing world. His nephew Nog joins the Federation. His brother Rom joins the Bajorian Militia and eventually becomes the leader of his people. His own mother becomes the very catalyst of these changes and despite his love for them he refuses to change and keeps running his bar as the last refuge of a Ferengi business man.