Mandalorian Army.	Mandalorian Army.		Mandalorian Army.
Mandalorian Army. The Ancient Emblem Of The Mandalorians Homeworld/Capital: Mandalore Star Chart Of Mandalorian Space. General Information: Founder: Mandalore The First. Leader(s) The Mand'alor Notable Members: List of Mandalorians Locations: Mandalore; Concordia; Basilisk; Concord Dawn; Dxun; Gargon; Kalevala; Kerest; Kuar; Ordo; Shogun Historical Information: Formed From: Taung Founding Pre-Republic. Factions: New Mandalorians; True Mandalorians; Mandalorain Protectors; Mandalorian Mercenries; Death Watch Other Information: Eras Old Republic Era; Rise Of The Empire Era; Rebellion Era; New Republic Era; New Geh 'Dai Order Era; Legacy Era; UGC Era. Alliances: Varied over time; Currently UGC. Subordinate Faction: MandalMotors. Taung Species Biological Classification: Designation: Sentient. Classification: Humanoid simian subgroup. Physical Characteristics: Average Height: 6 feet 6 inch. Average Mass: 209.5 lbs. Skin Color: Gray. Eye Color: Yellow. Average Lifespan: 85 years. Sociocultural Characteristics: Homeworld: Coruscant. Language: Archaic Mando'a. Mandalore The Indomitable Leading His Forces Atop Basilisk War Droids. "Warmaster, we think too often in terms of dualism: Geh 'Dai or Sith, light or dark, right or wrong. But there are three sides to this blade, not two, opposed and similar at the same time. The third edge is the Mandalorian. All three sides care nothing for caste or species, only adherence to a code that unites. The Mandalorians remain the most formidable enemy of the Geh 'Dai: but the Sith are not always their allies. The Mandalorians even worshiped war itself, then simply turned their backs on their god. You might begin to understand them one day." -Vergere, explaining Rakatan politics to an outsider. The Mandalorians, known in Mando'a as the Mando'ade, or "Children of Mandalore," are a nomadic group of clan-based people consisting of members from multiple species and multiple genders, all bound by a common culture. In their early years, the Mandalorian culture revolved around battle, with war being a source of honor and pride in their community. The leader of the Mandalorians was known as the Mand'alor, translating to "Sole Ruler" and was rendered as "Mandalore" in Basic. Throughout their history, the Mandalorians were frequently allied with the Sith, perhaps most notably the Sith Lord Exar Kun, and held a certain distrust and general dislike for the Geh 'Dai Order. However, they would not hesitate to cooperate with the Geh 'Dai if a partnership between the two groups was mutually beneficial. In later years, the Mandalorians moved away from their obsessively war-like and conqueror ways and instead, most became bounty hunters and mercenaries, selling their skills to various individuals and factions in the galaxy. However, the Mandalorian Protectors aided with the Alliance to Restore the Republic ever since about 3 ABY and even continued to serve the Alliance of Free Planets and finally the New Republic. When Boba Fett took the title of Mandalore years later, they were approached by the powerful unknown empire of the Yuuzhan Vong to aid them as wealthy mercenaries, and while the offer was accepted (mainly because the other option would have been slavery of the Mandalorian homeworld), Boba managed to feed information to the New Republic, and while the Mandalorians continued to fight for the Vong in the early Yuuzhan Vong War, they soon betrayed them and fought with the many other factions defending the galaxy. After the war ended, the Second Galactic Civil War began, and Jaina Solo, daughter of Han and Leia, came to Fett asking to be trained, given the Mandalorians' famous reputation as legendary warriors against the Geh 'Dai. The Mandalorians ironically fought alongside the New Geh 'Dai Order, their former enemies in the crusades many years before and the Alliance-in-exile in this conflict. With training from Fett, and from others, Jaina killed her brother Darth Caedus, ending the war. Ultimately, in the span of over four thousand years, Mandalorians slowly changed from the feared Mandalorian Crusaders of the Sith Empires, to the elite soldiers of the Geh 'Dai Coalition and later the reorganized Galactic Alliance, fighting for a cause rather than mainly for credits and the destruction of worlds. Mandalorians wore very distinctive battle armor, including helmets with T-shaped visors that covered the entirety of their faces, and would provide inspiration for the helmets of the Republic's clone troopers. These helmets would eventually become strongly associated with the Mandalorian people. History Taung Species "The ash of the Taung beats strong within the Mandalorians' heart!" - Excerpt from the traditional Dha Werda Verda chant. The Taungs were an ancient species of humanoid simians. Indigenous to the Core World of Coruscant, the two-meter-tall, gray-skinned Taungs were warriors from youth, and viewed battle as a source of honor both for the individual and their gods. Famous for their struggles against the Human Battalions of Zhell (prehistoric Coruscant's other major power) the Taungs waged war against their enemies for hundreds of years. When a powerful volcano erupted and devastated the Zhell, spewing ash into the sky with such density it blocked out the light of Coruscant's sun, the Taungs labeled themselves the "Warriors Of The Shadow", or Dha Werda Verda in their language. Despite their loss, the Zhell eventually managed to drive the Taungs from Coruscant, and the defeated Taungs fled to the planet Roon, located in the Outer Rim. There they remained for millennia, until legendary Mandalore the First led the Taungs to conquer a new world which they named Mandalore in honor of their leader, and the Taungs subsequently recast themselves as the Mandalorians or Mando'ade- "Sons and Daughters of Mandalore." As the newly entitled Mandalorians, the Taungs set out to conquer the worlds around their new home, their nomadic nature and worship of war driving them crusading outward as they increased their territory. Under the rule of Mandalore the Indomitable, another Taung warlord following in the leadership tradition established by Mandalore the First, the Taungs began to take in beings of other species into their culture, transforming what it meant to be Mandalorian forever after. This willing acceptance of other beings peaked during the Mandalorian Wars, when Mandalore the Ultimate led the Mandalorians on a campaign against the military forces of the Galactic Republic. Though initially victorious, the intervention of the Geh 'Dai Knight Revan and his loyal Geh 'Dai followers turned the tide of the war against the Mandalorians, culminating with the devastation of the planet Malachor V. The Taung race had suffered heavy losses during the war, and by its end, were generally believed to have drifted into extinction, survived by the legacy of the Mandalorian culture they had passed on, that remembered the Taungs as the Progenitors. The Taung would become extinct in the aftermath of a long war with the Geh 'Dai, but their Legacy, the Mandalorians, lives on. The Mandalorians began as the Near-Human Taung species from the planet Coruscant. Intense fighting with the thirteen Human nations of Coruscant known as the Battalions of Zhell began millenia before the Republic, and when a powerful volcano nearly wiped out the humans and darkened the skies over Coruscant, the Taung came to call themselves the Dha Werda Verda, the "Warriors Of The Shadow." Despite the volcano's devastating effect, the Taung were eventually driven off Coruscant and took refuge on the world of Roon. Led by the warlord known as Mandalore the First, they would conquer another planet in the Outer Rim in 7,000 BBY, which they named Mandalore after their leader. The Taung took on the name Mandalorians and were seen by many as the most skilled fighters in the galaxy, thriving in battle. These Mandalorian Crusaders were known for their use of cutting-edge weaponry and held to a strict code of honor, and wore armor known simply as "Crusader Armor" that differed from one soldier to the next. For thousands of years, Mandalore's new inhabitants would not stray far from the Mandalore sector, instead venturing on a series of further conquests to capture the worlds of Ordo, Gargon, and Shogun. When the Mandalorians came to the nearby Mandallia, though, the Mandallian Giant natives not only repelled the invaders' assault, but many came to join the Mandalorian culture, having impressed the Mandalorians with their strength and prowess. But nearly three thousand years after Mandalore's conquest, at a point prior to 4,000 BBY, the Mandalorians began to expand their ongoing crusade outward and engaged the Nevoota species in a conflict that would lead to the extermination of the Nevoota and the deification of war in the Mandalorian culture, personified as the destroyer god, Kad Ha'rangir. Shorty before 4,000 BBY, the Mandalorians were led by a new Mand'alor, Mandalore the Indomitable, and in their continuing campaign of expansion, the Mand'alor led a raid on the planet Iskadrell. There, the Mandalorians freed the slaves of the Iskalloni, taking many of them into their culture, including a young Antos Wyrick. Another victim of the Mandalorian crusade was the planet Basilisk. As the Mandalorians invaded, the Galactic Republic sent a relief force, under the command of Geh 'Dai Master Sidrona Diath, to the aid of the Basiliskans. Even with Republic support, the Basiliskans found their lines being overrun by the more numerous Mandalorians, and upon realizing that the they were going to lose the battle, the Basiliskans decided to poison their own planet so that the conquerors would not be able to use the world. Basilisk fell, but because the planet's surface was virtually destroyed, the Mandalorians decided to abandon the world and move on, though not before pillaging a sizable number of Basilisk war droids for future use. The Mandalorians also captured a large number of the reptilian Basiliskans, and through centuries of warfare they degenerated into little more than war mounts and beasts of burden, becoming known as "Lagartoz War Dragons." The Great Sith War "My warriors need another crusade. The Empress Teta system is in chaos, overstretched by their many conquests. The witch Aleema and her Geh 'Dai devotee Ulic Qel-Droma will fall under the fist of Mandalore!" - Mandalore the Indomitable. Seeking further challenges, the Mandalorian Crusaders moved toward the Deep Core. Setting their sights on the Empress Teta system, the Mandalorians conquered the rocky world of Kuar, and utilized the ruined underground cities as a staging ground for their attack on Empress Teta. When the Mandalorians destroyed a carbonite smelting station, it caught the attention of the fallen Geh 'Dai Knight-turned-Sith Lord Ulic Qel-Droma, who'd usurped control of the Krath forces in command of Empress Teta. Challenged to a duel by the Mand'alor, Qel-Droma traveled to Kuar where he faced off against Mandalore the Indomitable on the plains of Harkul. Despite the use of his Basilisk war droid, the Mand'alor was defeated, and in the duel's aftermath, swore fealty to Qel-Droma and his own Sith Master, Exar Kun. Thus was forged the first Mandalorian-Sith alliance, but while Mand'alor had accepted his defeat at the hands of Qel-Droma, several of his supporters had not, including the Zeltron Antos Wyrick; Mand'alor's defeat at the former Geh 'Dai's hands would drive Wyrick to try and unlock the mysteries of the Geh 'Dai's power and the secrets of the Force. Now allied with the Sith and Krath forces, the Mandalorian Crusaders joined in an attack on the Republic shipyards in orbit around Foerost. Mandalore the Indomitable led his warriors through the corridors of Foerost's command station, destroying all opposition before him. With the combined coordination of the space forces and the Mandalorians, Qel-Droma was able to quickly and decisively capture the Foerost shipyards, as well as the three hundred Republic starships that had been docked there. With their newly-acquired flotilla and the Republic fleet chasing false leads to the jump station at Kemplex IX, Qel-Droma and the Mandalorians invaded Coruscant. Basilisk war droids rained down on the planet from space, and the Mandalorian Crusaders poured into Galactic City. Qel-Droma was betrayed by the Krath witch Aleema Keto, who ordered a retreat of their forces and abandoning Qel-Droma to the Geh 'Dai; claiming the Sith Lord had died, Keto was able to sway Mandalore the Indomitable to pledge his loyalty to her. Upon finding out the truth of Keto's betrayal, the Mand'alor feigned loyalty and sent his Crusaders with her latest attack force while he personally boarded his shuttle and journeyed to Yavin 4 to seek the aid of Exar Kun. Arriving at the jungle moon, Mandalore explained to Kun what Aleema had done, and asked the Dark Lord of the Sith to lend him aid in rescuing Ulic from execution. Though Kun had warned Ulic that attacking Coruscant would end badly, he agreed to help Mandalore in rescuing his apprentice. Storming the Senate Building with Kun, Mand'alor rescued Qel-Droma and warned him of Keto's treachery. After Keto had been dealt with by Qel-Droma, Mandalore the Indomitable had been tasked with capturing the Iziz Royal Palace on Onderon for the Sith. Ordering his fleet carriers to hold position in orbit over the planet, the Mandalorian Crusaders swarmed down atop their war droid mounts toward the city of Iziz. A vicious aerial battle ensued as the Crusaders and their Basilisks clashed against the Onderonian Beast Riders and their flying Drexls. During the fight, the Beast Riders managed to get a call out to the Republic, explaining that the Mandalorians were attacking and requesting immediate assistance. It wasn't long before a Republic fleet, led by Fleet Captain Orley Vanicus, arrived to combat the Crusader attack. Realizing that the fight was over when he witnessed the destruction of his orbiting fleet carriers, Mand'alor wagered that there was still a chance to lead his Crusaders to safety; ordering his warriors to retreat from Onderon and make their way to the moon of Dxun, the atmosphere of which was currently touching Onderon's. Mand'alor planned to lose their pursuers in the moon's dense jungle. During their retreat, Mand'alor's personal Basilisk war droid was hit by enemy fire and he crashed on the surface of Dxun, separated from the other Crusaders. Pulling himself from his war droid's wreckage, the Mand'alor soon found himself surrounded by a number of dangerous beasts native to Dxun's jungles. Though he fought the creatures, Mandalore the Indomitable was eventually overcome slain by the beasts. While combing the jungles for their downed leader, a Mandalorian Crusader came upon the Mand'alor's mask and, in accordance with Mandalorian tradition, claimed the mask as his own to become the new Mand'alor. The Mandalorian Wars Main article: Mandalorian Wars "The Sith came to us with an offer, to fight a worthy enemy in a battle that would be remembered forever." - Canderous ORDO During the next twenty years, peace prevailed and the galaxy began to slowly recover from the damage inflicted during the war, entering an era of rebuilding and renewal known as the Restoration period. On the Mandalorian side, the new Mand'alor, going by the title of "Mandalore the Ultimate," undertook the task of rebuilding the Mandalorian clans that had been greatly diminished in the war. With many of the original Mandalorian species, the Taung, now dead, Mandalore the Ultimate aggressively expanded his recruiting efforts, welcoming members of all alien descent into the Mandalorian culture. To this end, the Mandalorians established bases such as Unity, constructed under the planetary crust of Caillte. While primarily built to serve as a forward supply post, under Feruun Lern it also became a recruitment center where numerous individuals were invited to learn the Mandalorian ways and become new Mandalorian warriors. As a result, the Mandalorian ranks swelled with an influx of warriors from countless worlds. In an effort to help cohesion and uphold order among the motley ranks, a new generation of more uniform armor was implemented at the suggestion of the Mand'alor's closest advisor, Cassus Fett, thus forming a powerful new generation of warriors known as the Neo-Crusaders. However, as many Mandalorians rebuilt, ten years after the end of the Great Sith War, dozens of Mandalorians were unjustly arrested and executed after a psychotic bounty hunter named Jigger Wraith preyed upon innocents using rare Mandalorian weaponry. At the same time, Antos Wyrick continued his research into the Geh 'Dai and the Force, constructing the New Generation Academy on Osadia where he attempted to form a sect of Force-using Mandalorians called the Mandalorian Knights. In a deal with the Crucible slave-trading organization, the ruthless Zeltron traded his own daughter for more test subjects. But the Crucible would return while Wyrick was away, raiding the school and capturing its students. His experiments ruined, Wyrick rejoined the Mandalorians under the pseudonym of "Doctor Demagol." In the decades since their defeat in the Great Sith War, many Mandalorians had become convinced that their once-prophesied "Great Last Battle" was soon to be at hand. Emboldened by an element of the "True Sith" in hiding, Mandalore the Ultimate launched a campaign into the Outer Rim, on the edge of Republic space. Conquering several independent planets outside of the Republic's interests, the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders were able to amass a clan territory larger than that ruled by the Hutts in the short span of a decade. During this period of aggressive expansion, the Neo-Crusaders conquered the planet Cathar in an operation headed by Cassus Fett. Though already defeated, Fett herded what remained of the Cathar species after the battle, out into the sea and, although he was opposed by the outcry of a single Mandalorian female, gave the order to kill them all, and the Mandalorian traitor with them, as retribution for the Cathar's actions against the Mandalorians in the past. In the end, the Mandalorians had wiped out over ninety percent of the species. As the Republic refused to get involved in the Mandalorians' conquests, wary of being dragged into another war so soon after the last, the Mandalorians plundered resources from conquered worlds and stockpiled them in order to fuel the growing campaign. With each victory in this ongoing series of proxy wars and border skirmishes, the Mandalorian clans grew more powerful, conscripting conquered species into their ranks as they probed the Republic's military strength and resolve. Just as it appeared as though the Neo-Crusaders' appetite for conquest had been satisfied, with the Mandalorians having failed to conquer a populated system in over a year by 3,964 BBY, the Mandalorians struck out in force against the Republic. Striking swiftly from their outpost on Dxun, Onderon quickly fell to the Mandalorians, and it wasn't long before the likes of Vanquo and Taris soon joined it. The victory on Suurja gained several Geh 'Dai prisoners that were taken to a research station on Flashpoint to be experimented on by Demagol. The Geh 'Dai would be freed, although Demagol managed to escape in the guise of the renegade Mandalorian known as Rohlan Dyre, leaving Dyre behind for capture in his stead. On the planet Serroco, the Republic military made the mistake of placing its defensive fortifications within the cities of the native Stereb, believing that the Mandalorians would not attack their bases housed amidst a civilian population. Unfortunately, the Mandalorians soon dissuades them of this notion; disgusted by what he deemed a "defense without honor", Mandalore the Ultimate ordered a full-scale bombardment with nuclear weapons, destroying twenty-seven population centers. Neither Duro or Eres III would fare much better in the face of the continuing Mandalorian onslaught. Lord Arkoh Adasca of Arkania and the head of Adascorp, offered to sell a devastating bioweapon to the Mandalorians in the form of the enormous exogorths, under the agreement that the Mandalorians would spare Arkania from their crusade and adopt Adascorp as their main weapon supplier. Before the Mand'alor could arrange the deal, the exogorths were drawn out to Wild Space by Gorman Vandrayk, where neither the Mandalorians nor the Republic would be able to use them. Setting their sights on Alderaan as the target of their next conquest, the Mandalorians amassed their forces on the recently conquered planet of Jebble. At the same time, Demagol's former assistant, Pulsipher, had come into possession of the ancient Sith amulet known as the Muur Talisman. With it, Pulsipher unknowingly unleashed the Rakghoul plague across their base, transforming Neo-Crusaders into the beastly Rakghouls. In order to prevent the spread of the plague to other worlds, Cassus Fett ordered the base on Jebble to be destroyed, ordering a nuclear bombardment not unlike that which occurred on Serroco. The Mandalorians seemed on the verge of victory, with the Republic outmatched and overwhelmed by the sheer ferocity of the Mandalorian tactics. Finally, when the Geh 'Dai Revanchists unveiled the true events of the Cathar genocide in a tragic vision, hundreds of Geh 'Dai followed the Knights Revan and Malak into the war against the Mandalorians, no longer able to stand back and watch without action. Revan proved to be an extremely capable commander in the field, masterminding a string of military victories, and rose swiftly through the ranks of the Republic Military; with his new-found authority to spearhead the Republic war effort, Revan spurred the all-but-defeated Republic Navy to push the Mandalorians back. In relatively short order, the Mandalorians were forced off of Taris, driven from Dxun- Even Cassus Fett's victory at Jaga's Cluster could do little to halt the Republic's growing momentum. The year 3,960 BBY would usher in the ultimate battle of the Mandalorian Wars, as Revan forced a confrontation with the Mandalorians in orbit over Malachor V. Drawing upon the dark side energies of Malachor, Revan faced off against Mandalore the Ultimate in single combat, slaying the Mand'alor. The experimental superweapon known as the Mass Shadow Generator was activated by one of Revan's Geh 'Dai Generals, destroying the Mandalorian fleet, but at the cost of a significant amount of the Republic fleet as well. With their fleet in ruins and their leader dead, the Mandalorians transmitted their unconditional surrender. The Dark Wars "Times have changed now. The Mandalore clans have been scattered across the Outer Rim, the Republic is in decline and the Sith Empire raises to take it's place. The clans as they were aren't a threat, but the galaxy still fears us. Ha! People think we war out of spite, or bloodlust. They don't understand, and fear that." - Canderous Ordo. Following their defeat at the end of the Mandalorian Wars, Revan stripped the Mandalorians of their armor and destroyed their stockpiles of weaponry, along with the war droids they'd ridden into battle upon. He also took the mask of Mand'alor, the relic that had been passed from one Mand'alor to the next and without it, a new leader could not be declared. With no Mand'alor, the Mandalorian clans fragmented and scattered throughout the Outer Rim. Beaten and embittered, many of the scattered Mandalorians took up professions as bounty hunters and mercenaries in order to make a living. Known informally as Mandalorian Mercs, these Mandalorians sold their skills to the highest bidder with morality a distant second-thought to credits. Some, like Gorse Bendak, became gladiators on worlds such as Taris, and Geonosis. Worse still, others became pirates and bandits, troubling settlers on worlds such as Dantooine. But far too soon after the last, the galaxy found itself entangled in another war, one featuring Revan's return to the galactic scene as a newly-turned Sith Lord, with his apprentice, Darth Malak, at his side. The rechristened "Darth Revan" turned the galaxy on itself in his attempt to claim the power of the Rakatan artifact known as the Star Forge. Revan would be captured by the Geh 'Dai, however, and his memories of his days as a Sith erased. It was during the travels of this redeemed Revan, that he met the Mandalorian warrior by the name of Canderous Ordo. Ordo was a former Mandalorian Crusader who had survived the Great Sith War, joined the Neo-Crusader ranks as a battle tactician, and went on to become a mercenary following the end of the Mandalorian Wars. Tired of his mercenary life on Taris, Ordo traveled with Revan on his mission to stop Darth Malak and his Sith Empire, seeking greater battle worthy of his skill. During their travels, Ordo came upon Sherruk and his group, Mandalorian warriors who had descended into a lowly bandit, harassing settlers on Dantooine; Sherruk and his companions would fall to Revan's blade, though not without putting up a substantial fight. They would also come upon Mandalorian poachers on Kashyyyk, preying on Wookiees in the region known as the Shadowlands, and a small Mandalorian contingent on Lehon. Revan would go on to succeed in stopping Darth Malak, destroying the Star Forge and ending the war in the process. But afterward, Revan would disappear from the galaxy, seeking out the "True Sith" that he believed lurked in the Unknown Regions. Before he did, though, Revan, his memories of who he was and had been returned, Canderous Ordo Became Mandalore The Preserver, Uniting The Mandalorian Clans. gave the mask of Mand'alor that he had claimed upon defeating Mandalore The Ultimate, to Ordo, with instructions to reunite the scattered Mandalorian clans. Revan also informed Ordo that it had been the Sith behind Mandalore the Ultimate's decision to go to war with the Republic. With the Mand'alor's mask now back in Mandalorian hands, Canderous Ordo became the new Mand'alor, taking the name "Mandalore the Preserver." During his quest to reunite the clans, Ordo came upon what may have been one of the last remaining Taung in the galaxy. This Taung, already dying when Ordo found him, claimed that Mandalore the Ultimate had usurped the title of Mand'alor with Sith assistance, and that he was the true heir of Mandalore the Indomitable. Before succumbing to death, this Taung warrior consigned his armor and clan to Ordo, asking that he carry on their traditions; Ordo wore the armor as his own and incorporated the mask of Mand'alor into the Taung's helmet. As Mand'alor, Ordo summoned the Mandalorians to the old Neo-Crusader outpost on Dxun, intent on rebuilding their forces there under the banner of Clan Ordo. However, not all would heed the Mand'alor's call: Esok, the leader of a Mandalorian clan living on Dantooine at the time, tried to overthrow Ordo with the intention of becoming Mand'alor himself, though he would fail to defeat Ordo and die at the Mand'alor's hand. Following the battle, the remainder of Esok's clan agreed to follow Ordo, joining the likes of such warriors as Kelborn, Bralor, and Xarga on Onderon's jungle moon. Ordo and his Mandalorians would host former Geh 'Dai General of Revan's, known at this point as the Geh 'Dai Exile, when her ship was forced to land on Dxun after being attacked over Onderon. Ordo agreed to provide the Exile with transport to Onderon, and later allied with her in her battle against the Sith Triumvirate, in order to combat the threat they posed to his efforts to reunite the Mandalorians. The Mandalorians would enter the Onderon Civil War during the Second Battle of Onderon, siding with Queen Talia's forces and defeating the rogue general, Vaklu and his troops. They also took control of Freedon Nadd's tomb from the Sith presence sent by Darth Nihilus to back Vaklu's coup. The Mandalorians and Mand'alor Ordo would come to the Republic's aid again during the Battle of Telos IV, engaging the Sith fleet alongside Admiral Carth Onasi. The Mandalorians boarded Darth Nihilus' flagship, the Ravager, and Ordo fought the Sith Lord at the Geh 'Dai Exile's side. Once Nihilus was dead, the Mandalorians detonated proton charges they'd planted, destroying the ship. A New Mand'alor, Mandalore the Lesser, Rises From The Gladiator Pits Of Geonosis to Power In the Mandalorian Army. The Great Galactic War "Mandalore's call was simple: To confront the galaxy's greatest challenge and fight the legendary Knights of the Geh 'Dai Order." - Gnost-Dural. Despite Canderous Ordo's attempts to unite the scattered clans during his time as Mand'alor, the Mandalorians would remain fragmented for nearly three centuries. That would change in the year 3,661 BBY, after the Sith Empire made an unforeseen return to the galaxy. In their war against the Republic, the Sith turned to the Mandalorians for aid, attempting to recruit the galaxy's most infamous mercenaries and bounty hunters to their cause. However, when most refused these offers, the Sith Empire decided upon a different course of action: On Geonosis, a successful young Mandalorian gladiator was chosen by Imperial Intelligence agents as a potential pawn. Working the crowds with whispers of "Mandalore" that grew into thunderous cheers, and drugging his opponents into submission, the Empire ensured that their chosen warrior would win every bout until the title of Mand'alor was thrust upon him. When the new Mand'alor called, many of the Mandalorians living in diaspora rallied to him as their culture's tenets dictated, following him in his fight against the knights of the Geh 'Dai Order. But even as the Mandalorians gathered to serve their new leader, their leader still served the Sith Empire and it was under their orders that he led a Mandalorian blockade of the Hydian Way. The Hydian Way was a major supply lane for the Republic, and with the blockade the Republic lost its ability to provide military support to its forces in the Outer Rim and to bring in raw goods to the Core Worlds. The Geh 'Dai answered the Mandalorians' challenge, striking back at the blockade, but the Mandalorian cruisers overwhelmingly crushed the Geh 'Dai forces and would continue to choke the Republic until a large undertaking of smugglers led by Hylo Visz managed to finally break the blockade and deliver goods to Coruscant. With the blockade broken, the new Mand'alor, later known pejoratively as "Mandalore The Lesser," sought to restore his support among the clans by calling for a galaxy-spanning competition for glory known as the Great Hunt. The champion of the Hunt, a Mandalorian warrior by the name of Artus, challenge the Mand'alor to a duel where he shot and killed the Imperial puppet. Taking his place as Mand'alor, Artus adopted the title of "Mandalore the Vindicated." In the process of consolidating his new power, Mand'alor quelled an uprising by a group of Mandalorians led by Jicoln Cadera, who believed that the Mandalorians should follow in the footsteps of Mandalore The Preserver, supporting the Republic rather than the Sith Empire. Under Mandalore The Vindicated, the Mandalorians would continue to be the well-paid, but cautious allies of the Sith. Mandalorians Attack The Forces Of The Sith During The New Sith Wars. The New Sith Wars During the New Sith Wars, the Mandalorians would break from what many perceived to be a long-standing alliance, and waged war against the Sith. During the first quarter of the New Sith Wars, one group of Mandalorians was approached by Geh 'Dai Master Murrtaggh. Murrtaggh offered a large amount of credits in order to enlist the Mandalorians' help in assaulting the camp of the mysterious Dark Lord of the Sith known as the Dark Underlord. The Mandalorians attacked the Sith camp on Malrev IV with a force of Lagartoz War Dragons, and numerous soldiers equipped with Mandalorian battle harnesses. The Mandalorians would draw the forces of the Dark Underlord's general, allowing Master Murrtaggh to infiltrate the Underlord's fortress where he slew the Sith Lord in combat, but fell to the dark side in the process. At another point during or prior to the New Sith Wars, the Mandalorian training master, Jaing—a former Neo-Crusader Shock Trooper from the Mandalorian Wars' found a young Geh' Dai by the name of Durge. Jaing took Durge into his care, becoming a mentor to the Gen'Dai and teaching him the ways of the Mandalorians. Sometime later, after Jaing had abandoned the Mandalorians due to what he felt was a lack of honor, Jaing and Durge came into contact with a cyberneticist who offered to implant the two with advanced cybernetics, restoring Jaing's youthful strength and speed, while simply increasing Durge's own incredible physical capabilities. The operation was a success for each, turning the two warriors into powerful cyborgs, and in return for this upgrade, the doctor who had performed the surgery asked only one thing in return: protection from the Mandalorians loyal to Mand'alor Ung Kusp, Mandalorians in the employ of a Sith faction seeking to re-obtain the Sith artifact the doctor had stolen from them. These Mandalorians attacked the doctor's laboratory moments later, during which the doctor's assistant was killed, and Jaing mortally wounded by a thermal detonator. Before the Mandalorian leading the assault could finish Jaing, Durge brutally massacred the Mandalorians responsible for nearly killing his mentor, even going after the Mandalorians once they retreated. As Jaing lay dying, the doctor revealed to him that together they had set the stage for a war between the Mandalorians and the Sith. The New Mandalorians. Tor Vizsla, The Founder Of The Death Watch. Cultural Shift In approximately 730 BBY, following a significant growth in Mandalorian militancy that alarmed the Republic and its Geh 'Dai protectors, a brief and targeted conflict broke out between the Republic and the Mandalorians that brought devastation to the Mandalore sector. Portions of the planet Mandalore were rendered barren white-sand deserts. While many of the warrior clans scattered, out of the ashes rose the New Mandalorian faction. Doing away with many of the old warrior codes the Mandalorians had historically followed, the New Mandalorians put forward the idea that the best opportunity for Mandalorian survival and prosperity would come through being peaceful, neutral, and tolerant. Clinging strongly to this belief in pacifism, nonviolence became a central tenet in their society. The New Mandalorians constructed grand cube cities in the desert wastes, using their talents as inventors and builders. Upon instituting these changes, any of the Mandalorians in their society who refused the reform and insisted upon carrying on their warrior ways, were banished to Mandalore's moon, Concordia. Traditional Mandalorian armor became a rare sight in the New Mandalorian capital city of Sundari, and on the neighboring world of Kalevala, known to be a stronghold for the New Mandalorians. Although a large number of Mandalorians joined in the New Mandalorian movement, other clans chose to continue on the path they'd walked for centuries. Approximately 200 BBY, the Mandalorians were responsible for the genocide of the Ithullan race. Almost a hundred years later, the reigning Mand'alor of the time was murdered by the Gen'Dai bounty hunter, Durge, in his ongoing quest of vengeance against the Mandalorians for the death of his mentor, Jaing. In retaliation, the Mandalorians captured and tortured Durge to the edge of insanity; the bounty hunter managed to escape his Mandalorian captors, but it would take him the better part of a century to regenerate from his wounds. At some point in this era, Ranah Teh Naast became Mand'alor, known by the sobriquet of "Mandalore the Destroyer". She led a siege of Luon, giving the Consul of Luon a final chance to surrender before attacking. It was also likely around this time that a group of Mandalorians killed the family of a Wookiee by the name of Ryyk. In the year 60 BBY, a charismatic Mandalorian warrior by the name of Jaster Mereel ascended to the position of Mand'alor. In this role, he began to institute a cultural reform that many had been calling for since the Ithullan genocide nearly a century and a half earlier, eventually laying out a new guideline for Mandalorian behavior known as the Supercommando Codex. He asserted that the Mandalorians who still wished to fight would simply act as highly-paid soldiers, and should conduct themselves as honorable mercenaries. However, not all would agree with the Codex or Mereel's reforms. He was opposed by the followers of the barbaric Tor Vizsla, who desired a return to brutal savagery and the instigation of another galactic war of conquest. Skilled but undisciplined, these soldiers rallied to Vizsla and formed a splinter group that came to call itself the Death Watch, while those supercommandos who remained loyal to Mereel recast themselves as the "True Mandalorians." While Death Watch's goals were quite opposite to those of the New Mandalorians', they could not support Mereel's faction either, for despite his reforms, any act of Mandalorian violence was fundamentally against what the New Mandalorians stood for. While they remained neutral and removed from the conflict, the True Mandalorians and the Death Watch became embroiled in a bitter civil war. The Mandalorian Civil War The Mandalorian Civil War, as it came to be known, swallowed up Mandalore's full-time army and several prominent clans, but the two factions were relatively small in comparison to the overall Mandalorian population. Mandalorians living away from Mandalore were scarcely affected, even those in the Mandalore sector. However, the ideological differences between Tor Vizsla and Jaster Mereel were central to the war and the path the Mandalorians would take for the foreseeable future. In the year 58 BBY, the Mandalorian Civil War spilled onto the agricultural world of Concord Dawn. During the fighting, Jaster Mereel and his soldiers were forced to retreat and seek refuge from the Death Watch on the farm of a local Journeyman Protector by the name of Fett. When the Death Watch found out Fett had been hiding their enemies, Vizsla brutally interrogated the man in front of his young son, Jango. Before Vizsla could kill the farmer, who refused to give up Mereel and his men, Fett's wife opened fire on the Death Watch with a blaster rifle. In the resulting chaos, both Fett and his wife were killed, although Mereel managed to rescue young Jango from the Death Watch. As the True Mandalorians fled into the fields, Vizsla ordered that they be burned to the ground in attempt to kill Mereel as he ran; Jango showed the Mandalorians to a large irrigation pipe that allowed them to escape the blaze, while Vizsla and his men ransacked Fett's home and kidnapped Jango's sister, Arla. Believing their enemies dead, the Death Watch moved into a nearby town for a celebratory raid before moving on to their next target. Unfortunately for them, the True Mandalorians had regrouped in the town and sprang an ambush on the unsuspecting Death Watch. Striking from protected alleyways and second-story windows, the True Mandalorians struck down nearly every Death Watch soldier there. However, Vizsla would manage to survive an attack on his armored speeder and escape Concord Dawn. His parents dead, Jango Fett was taken in by Jaster Mereel, joining the Mandalorians as Mereel's adopted son. Six years later, in 52 BBY, the True Mandalorians believed the threat of the Death Watch to be over and returned their focus to acting as a mercenary army. Contracted by the Korda Defense Force, the True Mandalorians journeyed to Korda 6 to extract a team of rookie security personnel pinned down under fire by a group of local hostiles, supposedly poorly armed and with no formal army. Unfortunately, the intelligence reports were grossly inaccurate: when the Mandalorians landed, they came under heavy fire from the Kordan natives and in the resulting battle, took heavy casualties. Jaster Mereel ordered a retreat, but his second-in-command, Montross, refused and insisted they press on. When he was injured in a grenade strike, it was up to Mereel to provide rescue, killing no less than three enemy Kordan in the process. At the same time, Jango had used Montross' ill-guided attack as a diversion in order to move on the location of their original objective, the Kordan security team. But when he and his squad reached the site, they instead found a Death Watch ambush awaiting them. As Jango's troops fought back the Death Watch, Mereel and Montross came under attack from Vizsla himself. Mereel was wounded in a grenade blast that Montross used his jetpack to avoid, but when the injured Mand'alor called to him for an air lift, Montross turned his back on Mereel and left him to die on the battlefield, stating that he no longer wished to take orders from Mereel. Betrayed and abandoned, Mereel was helpless to defend himself and perished as Vizsla rained down laser cannon fire from his four-wheeled tank, killing his hated rival. At the Mandalorians' landing zone, Montross now urged the Mandalorians to heed Mereel's final orders and pull out, claiming that Mereel was dead and that Jango had perished trying to save him. However, Fett returned to the landing zone carrying with him Mereel's body, exposing Montross as a liar and a traitor. When Montross insisted that Mereel would have wanted him to take command, the other Mandalorians denounced Montross at blaster point and declared that they would only follow Fett, Jaster Mereel's chosen heir. Montross was grudgingly allowed to leave, slipping off into exile, while Jango became the new Mand'alor and leader of the True Mandalorians. Under Fett's leadership, the True Mandalorians scored a significant victory against the Death Watch in the years leading up to 44 BBY, that left the Death Watch severely crippled. But rather than concede defeat, Vizsla turned to the Governor of Galidraan for refuge and his assistance in rebuilding the Death Watch. As per Vizsla's plan, the governor contracted the True Mandalorians to put down a local insurrection. The True Mandalorians traveled to Galidraan where they dealt with the rebels, and upon completion of their task, Fett went to the governor's estate to collect their payment; by that time, however, the governor had already contacted the Geh 'Dai Council with a request for aid, claiming that the Mandalorians were murdering "political activists" along with innocent women and children. In response to the governor's concerns over the lack of evidence, Vizsla assured him that his own men would supply the necessary body count. Fett had become aware of the governor's involvement with the Death Watch and while there, demanded to know the whereabouts of Vizsla. At that moment, Vizsla revealed himself there in the castle and attacked Fett with a cadre of Death Watch soldiers, forcing him to flee. Fett rushed to make it back to base camp, trying unsuccessfully to comm his second-in-command, Myles, and warn him of the inbound Geh 'Dai ships he'd spotted, but he arrived at the same time as a Geh 'Dai strike team lead by Geh 'Dai Master Dooku. Demanding that the Mandalorians stand down on charges of suspected murder, the innocent Mandalorians indignantly opened fire on the Geh 'Dai. In the ensuing shootout, eleven Geh 'Dai were killed, six of which were felled by Fett himself, following the death of Myles, along with every other True Mandalorian there, save for Fett himself. In the battle's aftermath, the Geh 'Dai delivered the subdued Fett into the custody of Galidraan's governor, who in turn sold Fett into slavery. Though it seemed the Death Watch had won the war—successfully manipulating the Geh 'Dai into destroying their enemy for them—after several years spent aboard a spice transport in bound servitude, Fett managed to escape, recover his armor from the Governor of Galidraan, and track Vizsla's ship to Corellia where he killed Vizsla after a lengthy fight, avenging the True Mandalorians and dealing the final blow of the war. The remaining Death Watch members scattered, vanishing from the galaxy at large under the Mandalorian principle of ba'slan shev'la, or "strategic disappearance." Fett, scarred by the loss of his True Mandalorian compatriots and his years as a slave, grew distant from the rest of his people and his role as Mand'alor, turning instead toward the solitary life of a bounty hunter. As such, Mandalore's post-war reconstruction fell largely upon the New Mandalorian government, now under the leadership of Kalevala native, Duchess Satine Kryze. The Clone Wars The Grand Army Of The Republic "I think it's significant that the casualty rate among commando squads trained by Mandalorians is lower than those trained by other races. Somehow, Mandalorians imbue their charges with a sense of purpose, self-confidence, and almost obsessive sense of clan, of family, that gives them a genuine survival advantage. Let us be thankful they're on our side this time." - Geh 'Dai Master Arligan Zey, Director of the Grand Army's Special Operations Brigade. In 32 BBY, Jango Fett was recruited by Darth Tyranus (the former Geh 'Dai Master Dooku), now a Count of his homeworld of Serenno and a Sith Lord to be the genetic template for an army of clones being grown on Kamino for the Republic. In addition to donating his genetic material, Fett would stay on with the Kaminoans as a military consultant for the Grand Army of the Republic, passing on many aspects of the Mandalorian culture to his clones; he assisted in the design of the armor worn by the clone troopers, evident in the similarities between their armor and Fett's own, including the distinctive T-visor of their helmets. Fett also helped to create the flash training regiment used to instruct all of the young clones, including in it the traditional Mandalorian song Vode An as a useful tool to help instill within them a sense of purpose, modifying it slightly in order to give it meaning for soldiers serving the Republic. While Fett trained the Alpha-class ARC troopers personally, he recruited a team of one hundred other training sergeants collectively known as the Cuy'val Dar- seventy-five of whom were other Mandalorians- to train the Grand Army's clone commandos. These Mandalorian sergeants, including the likes of Walon Vau, Kal Skirata, and Rav Bralor, were responsible for a massive influx of Mandalorian culture into the clone ranks. Several clones took Mandalorian names for themselves, while others appropriated Mandalorian slang and curses. Others took to Mandalorian songs and chants, like the Dha Werda Verda, as morale boosters. Kal Skirata made a point of teaching his clones about their Mandalorian heritage, and even adopted the six Null ARC troopers and several commandos as his sons per Mandalorian custom. Some clones, however, did not take to their Mandalorian heritage and even came to resent it after Mandalore aligned itself with the Confederacy of Independent Systems and began fighting against the Republic and its clone army. In addition to those clones produced professionally for the Grand Army, Jango Fett had also commissioned a single clone for himself, possessing none of the genetic modification found in the standard clone troopers, who would act as his son and heir. Fett's son, Boba, would go on to have a major impact on Mandalorian history. Mandalorian influence within the Grand Army began to wane with the production of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's second clone army. Created on Coruscant and it's moon, Centax-2, these troopers were bred using Spaarti cloning cylinders, reaching maturity within a year and received a shortened flash-training regime which resulted in the loss of their Mandalorian heritage and less proficiency in key areas such as marksmanship. Under the Galactic Empire, the clones' Mandalorian heritage was gradually phased out as future clones were grown from a variety of other genetic templates. However, following the Clone Wars' end, many clones deserted and fled to Mandalore, where Kal Skirata had set up a haven for clones who wished to leave Republic/Imperial service for a new life. Mandalorian Peace Under Fire "For generations my ancestors fought proudly as warriors against the Geh 'Dai. Now, that woman tarnishes the very name Mandalorian." - Pre Vizsla, speaking about Duchess Satine Kryze. By 22 BBY, the Republic had come to accept the peaceful New Mandalorian government as the dominant Mandalorian faction, and Mandalore had been welcomed as a Republic member world, represented in the Senate by Senator Tal Merrik. Under the New Mandalorian government, many areas of Mandalore including the New Mandalorian capital of Sundari, had flourished, yet some more neglected provinces still remained destitute and starving for funds. When the Clone Wars had broken out between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the leader of the New Mandalorians, Duchess Satine Kryze, declared Mandalore neutral. Over a decade after the loss of their leader and their subsequent fragmentation at the end of the Mandalorian Civil War, it was into this environment that the Death Watch made a return to the galactic scene. Unlike the other clans who merely stood apart from the New Mandalorians, the Death Watch despised the peace-loving government the New Mandalorians had established, viewing it as weak, and Kryze as a disgrace to all Mandalorians for her pacifist views. They allied with Count Dooku, now leading the Confederacy of Independent Systems, to gain the means necessary to remove them from power. The Death Watch sent an operative to conduct an attack on a Republic cruiser, while spreading rumors that the New Mandalorians were secretly raising an army to fight for the Separatists. When these rumors reached Republic ears, the Geh 'Dai Council dispatched Geh 'Dai Master Obi-Wan Kenobi to Mandalore to investigate the validity of these claims. Landing in Sundari, Kenobi met with Duchess Kryze and the New Mandalorians' Prime Minister, Almec, to discuss Mandalore's stance in the war. Kenobi and Kryze were old friends, having met years earlier when Kenobi and his master had been sent to Mandalore in the months after the end of the Mandalorian Civil War, to protect the Duchess from lingering Death Watch insurgents and bounty hunters. During the course of his investigation, Kenobi bore witness to the Death Watch's bombing of the memorial shrine at the heart of Sundari. When he attempted to apprehend the culprit, the man chose to commit suicide by leaping from a balcony Kenobi had trapped him on. As he lay dying, Kryze stooped to comfort him and listened to his final words; spoken in the Concordian dialect, Kenobi turned his investigation toward Mandalore's moon, Concordia. While welcomed by Concordia's governor, Pre Vizsla, Kenobi arranged for Kryze to distract Vizsla while he investigated the moon's abandoned mines. There, he found that the mines were not abandoned at all, but actually quite active, churning out helmets, jetpacks, and sets of Mandalorian armor for the Death Watch. Kenobi was attacked by a pair of Death Watch soldiers, and knocked unconscious. Though Kryze managed to rescue Kenobi, they inadvertently stumbled upon the Death Watch's hideout where the benevolent Governor Vizsla revealed himself to be leading the Death Watch. A battle ensued between Kenobi and Vizsla, ending with Kenobi and Kryze's retreat when Vizsla's troops stepped in to attack the Geh 'Dai Master. With the Death Watch's plot revealed, the Republic Senate began to draft a defense initiative that would send a contingent of the Republic's Grand Army to occupy Mandalore as a peacekeeping force. The New Mandalorian government was highly opposed to the idea, wishing to maintain its neutral status instead of becoming a military target in the war, and Kryze journeyed to Coruscant aboard her private starship with Senator Merrik and a retinue of other sympathetic senators, along with an escort comprised of Kenobi, his former Padawan Anakin Skywalker, and a detail of clone troopers, to plead the case before the Senate that the Death Watch was a rogue element, and did not speak for the whole of Mandalore's population. On Concordia, Death Watch soldiers new and old rallied to Pre Vizsla and, in conjunction with Confederacy forces donated by Count Dooku, formed an army poised to "defend" Mandalore against the Republic's occupation, believing that the Republic's unwanted presence would sway the population in support of the Death Watch. On Coruscant, things seemed grim for Kryze as falsified testimony from New Mandalorian Deputy Prime Minister Jerec turned the Senate against her, and a Death Watch assassin made repeated attempts on her life. But when Jerec's genuine testimony, proclaiming the truth of the situation on Mandalore, was uncovered and brought before the Senate, the occupation initiative was overturned and Mandalore allowed to remain an independent and neutral world. When the news reached Pre Vizsla he prepared to launch an attack in spite of these events, intent on overthrowing the New Mandalorian government, but Dooku was able to convince him to instead wait and bide his time, knowing that to strike then would be to endure another devastating Death Watch defeat. New Mandalorian Corruption In spite of their victory in the Senate, neutrality would come at a price for the New Mandalorians. Having separated themselves from the Republic, much of the Republic's hierarchy viewed Mandalore now on the outside of Republic concerns; Republic trade routes to Mandalore were largely shut down, forcing the New Mandalorian people to turn to a black market network of trade established by none other than their own Prime Minister Almec in order to obtain the supplies they so desperately needed. But with the illegal nature of their imports came the threat of corruption, corruption and greed that seeped into the government and swept among its police force and officials. Moogan smugglers were allowed to import tea laced with the dangerous chemical slabin into the New Mandalorians' capital city, Sundari, so long as the customs officer in charge was sufficiently bribed. When Duchess Satine Kryze invited Senator Padma Amidala to Mandalore for her assistance in dealing with the issue, the two politicians discovered the poisoned tea being distributed to Sundari schools, putting hundreds of New Mandalorian children in the hospital. Together, Kryze and Amidala, with the aid of the New Mandalorian police force, were able to put an end to the smuggling ring and distributed the antidote to the poisoned children. Prime Minister Almec was confronted by Kryze at the conclusion of her investigation, though she did not yet know of his involvement and he was prompted to form a committee to look into the corruption lurking amidst the New Mandalorian government. After Amidala's departure, she requested the Geh 'Dai Council send a Geh 'Dai agent to aid in investigating the New Mandalorian government's corruption. In response, the Council dispatched Padawan Ahsoka Tano to Mandalore. Arriving in Sundari, Tano lectured at the New Mandalorian Royal Academy of Government on the perils of corruption, instructing aspiring cadets in the ways of lawful and public-serving conduct. Inspired by the young Geh 'Dai, cadets Amis, Lagos, Soniee, and Korkie, Duchess Kryze's own nephew, investigated a food shortage at a government warehouse in Sundari's warehouse district. Infiltrating the facility, the four New Mandalorian youths discovered a secret meeting between a group of New Mandalorian officers, several Gotal smugglers, and an unknown being draped in a concealing cloak. They informed Duchess Kryze of the meeting they had witnessed, only to be met with a warning of caution. Instead, the cadets turned to Prime Minister Almec with their find, unaware that he was in fact the cloaked man from the warehouse. Threatened with exposure, Almec used the New Mandalorian Secret Service to have the cadets arrested, in addition to their Geh 'Dai ally, Padawan Tano, and even the Duchess herself upon learning that she had been informed of his involvement, as well. He attempted to have the Duchess sign a confession of conspiracy, but upon being denied, Almec used a shock collar as a means of persuading her. When Kryze would not yield, he turned his attention to her nephew, Korkie; Tano and the cadets fought back, managing to overpower Almec and his guards until he could be fitted with a shock collar himself, forcing the Prime Minister to surrender. Almec and his conspirators were placed under arrest and subsequently imprisoned, leaving the black market trade network in ruins. Resurrection "So, who's to know whether Jango had more than one son or not, or even how old he is? Come on now, Spar, it's time to be doing your bit for Manda'yaim. You don't have to lift a finger. Just act like Fett's heir while we sort ourselves out, so everyone knows we're still in business." - Fenn Shysa The Mandalorian Protectors In the years leading up to the Republic's clone army first being deployed at the Battle of Geonosis, an elite ARC trooper known as Alpha-Ø2 began to experience headaches, backaches, and, most extraordinarily, memories of Jango Fett's life- Or so he claimed. Whether he possessed the memories of Fett or not, the ARC trooper known by the nickname "Spar", developed a friendship with Doctor Mij Gilamar after repeated visits to his Tipoca City offices. Gilamar, one of the Mandalorian Cuy'val Dar training sergeants and a medic who also tended to the clones, learned of Spar's interest in deserting the Grand Army and getting off Kamino. To that end, he called in a favor owed to him by Fett, and Spar was smuggled off-world in the cargo hold of Fett's ship, Slave I. While at first taking odd jobs as he traveled the galaxy, specializing in capturing live bounties, when Jango Fett was killed at Geonosis, Spar journeyed to Mandalore. There he met a local constable and clan chieftain by the name of Fenn Shysa. Shysa, who saw Jango Fett as a symbol of Mandalorian strength due to his infamous history as a bounty hunter and Geh 'Dai killer, convinced Spar to act as Fett's heir, a claim given credence by Spar's status as a clone and one Shysa spread across Mandalore. Winning out over the New Mandalorian faction, Spar became the new Mand'alor in 20 BBY, taking the sobriquet "Mandalore the Resurrector." Spar overturned the New Mandalorians' position of neutrality for Mandalore, instead allying with the Confederacy of Independent Systems in order to oppose a Republic he viewed as oppressive, and the Geh 'Dai Order whom he blamed for their part in destroying the True Mandalorians at Galidraan and their willingness to lead the Grand Army. The New Mandalorians would never manage to reclaim their lost dominance, and under Spar, dwindled in power while the other clans and Jaster Mereel's Supercommando Codex returned to prominence on Mandalore. As Mand'alor, Spar turned to the teachings of the Supercommando Codex and forged a new army of supercommandos in the image of the fallen True Mandalorians, which he dubbed the "Mandalorian Protectors." Numbering two-hundred and twelve-strong in total, the Protector army was comprised of recruits from the local police forces- Including among them Shysa and Shya's lifelong friend, Tobbi Dala- Even a dozen former members of the Death Watch. Spar and his Protectors captured the facilities of the MandalMotors company in the Mandalorian capital city Keldabe for the Separatists, and put the Pursuer-class enforcement ship into use among his forces. In memory of the Mandallian Giants that had been used by the Mandalorians on the front lines of the New Sith Wars, as well as Fenn Shysa's encounter with the droid C-3PX, Spar also commissioned the Separatist droid foundries to produce a run of one thousand BL-series Battle Legionnaire droids to supplement his army. Spar and the Mandalorian Protectors clashed with the Republic on several worlds. On New Holstice, the Protectors faced off against the Grand Army's 327th Star Corps and although they were driven to retreat, they brought the 327th down to 60 percent strength. They fought on the planet Null, where they defeated the Republic soundly, and on the snow-covered world of Zaadja. When a prominent Separatist commander was killed, the Mandalorians and their Battle Legionnaire droids retaliated at New Bornalex and with an attack on Kamino that devastated a portion of the cloning facilities. Their deadly blitzkrieg came to an end when the Protectors were selected for a special mission. Darth Sidious, the secret leader behind the Confederacy, ordered the Protectors on a mission to the planet Norval II. The group's objective was to capture Senator Padmae Amidala of Naboo, but after arriving they were ambushed by Republic forces as part of a great deception engineered by Republic Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (the public alter-ego of Darth Sidious). The Mandalorians were almost entirely wiped out, including nearly all their Battle Legionnaire droids. Of their entire force, only three Mandalorians escaped the slaughter: Shysa, Dala, and Spar. Shysa and the others returned home to Mandalore where a shell-shocked and psychologically scarred Spar stepped down from his position as Mand'alor, though Shysa would make repeated attempts to persuade Spar to reclaim the title. Shysa believed that without a proper Mand'alor, the Mandalorians would look weak in the eyes of the galaxy, and he didn't want to create another gap that the Death Watch might attempt to fill. However, his attempts to sway Spar would be unsuccessful. Fenn Shysa becomes Mand'alor in the face of the Empire's occupation The Dark Times "The Empire gutted us. You've got a short memory. Or maybe you were still in diapers when Shysa had to kick some pride back into us." - Baltan Carid As the Republic made it's transformation into the Galactic Empire and the Great Geh 'Dai Purge began, the newly-crowned Emperor Palpatine turned his sights on Mandalore. Appearing to forgive the Mandalorians for their actions during the Clone Wars, the Empire had begun offering mercenary work to the people and even offered a large sum of credits in order to lease land for the creation of an Imperial base with garrison on the planet. Although there were those who believed any deal with the Empire to be a bad idea- such as Kal Skirata, who had gained a certain understanding of Palpatine's manipulative capabilities during his time in service to the Republic's Grand Army, and cited Palpatine's carefully planned destruction of the Geh 'Dai as proof that "Palpatine never did anything temporary in his life"- the Mandalorian clan leaders met and decided in favor of leasing the land to the Empire. However, as Imperial forces began to arrive, the post of Mand'alor that had been vacant since Spar stepped down, was reluctantly assumed by Fenn Shysa. Shysa had been a favorite among the Mandalorian people for becoming the next Mand'alor, but it was his negative feelings toward the Empire that influenced his decision: Shysa had been against allowing the Imperial garrison, but felt that should the clans turn the Empire's offer down, they would lose much-needed credits and the Empire might well have come to Mandalore anyway, under much less friendly circumstances. In the months prior to the Empire's arrival on Mandalore, an enterprising Mandalorian believed the planet had an untapped potential for adventure tourism. With that in mind, he constructed an oversized replica of a mythosaur skeleton on the outskirts of Keldabe, intending to build an amusement park in and around the structure. The park, which came to be known as the "City of Bone", never opened, but the Imperial commander in charge of the Mandalore operation- a human male from Kemla- was convinced by the creator of the park's brother, Hayar, and his friend Jarkyc, that the failed amusement park was actually an ancient Mandalorian temple of great spiritual importance to the people. Wishing to make a show of dominance toward the Mandalorian population, the Imperial commander actually bought the worthless structure and decided to locate the garrison within the Mandalorian "temple." While the Mandalorians who'd profited from the exchange found the situation quite hilarious, the Empire now had it's base and began to move in the garrison. They were helped in this effort by the former Cuy'val Dar members Dred Priest and Isabet Reau. Priest and Reau had been hardliners for years, believing in Mandalorian supremacy and the need for the Mandalorians to regain their lost martial strength through conquest, but now they had found a place for their radical views among the ranks of the Death Watch, now in the employ of the Empire and on the return yet again. As Reau and Priest helped the Imperials secure their base outside Keldabe, the Empire offered MandalMotors eight hundred million credits for exclusive mining rights in the Tokursh region, an area rich in beskar ore. In addition, the Empire was interested in acquiring prison ships with beskar enhancements, refurbishing older model prison ships, and obtaining special beskar equipment, including beskar manacles and cages, for the ongoing Geh 'Dai Purge. Priest was killed not long after his Death Watch ties became known; he was stabbed to death and his body dumped in the Kelita River by fellow ex-Cuy'val Dar Mij Gilamar, who believed that the Death Watch could not be allowed to return to Mandalore. It was around this time that the Empire showed itself as a true threat during a dispute with the planet Gibad. Gibad, a world that had been aligned with the Separatists prior to the Clone Wars' end, had refused to accept the new Empire. In response, Emperor Palpatine authorized the use of the FG36 nanovirus. Created by Gibadan native, Doctor Ovolot Qail Uthan, during her time working with the Separatists, the FG36 virus had been designed to kill the Republic's clone troopers by targeting the Fett genome and the inherent rapid-maturation gene they possessed. Captured during the Clone Wars by a Republic commando squad, Palpatine had kept the virus as insurance should he ever need to remove the Grand Army. But he found that in its unfinished state, the virus could be released onto a world, killing every sentient being, and leaving its infrastructure intact- Gibad's ultimate fate. In order to ensure that Mandalore wouldn't share that same end, the Mandalorians of Clan Skirata- already holding Doctor Uthan for her assistance in reversing the rapid-aging of the clones who'd deserted to Mandalore and become a part of the clan- developed an immunogen for the virus, communicable by airborne transmission, and which with the Mand'alor's permission, they spread throughout Keldabe and eventually across Mandalore. As the Empire slowly consolidated its holdings on Mandalore, Shysa began to covertly assemble a resistance force to "respond in kind" should the Imperial presence turn hostile. Shysa's fears were realized as the Empire's foothold on Mandalore became an iron grip; the Imperials began to stripmine the planet's beskar deposits, and enslaved large portions of the Mandalorian population to do the work. Shysa's resistance- a reborn sect of Mandalorian Protectors including the first-generation Protector, Tobbi Dala- fought against the Imperial occupation for close to twenty years, drawing the ire of the Empire. The Shimholt known as the Suprema, had replaced the Imperial commander from Kemla, and under his leadership, the Empire's grip on Mandalore only tightened. Around 3 ABY, Tobbi Dala undertook a mission to infiltrate the City of Bone, where many of his enslaved kinsmen were being held, with the intent to rescue them. However, the mission proved to be a disaster, and Dala was captured by the Imperials. Although his comrade was now out of action, Shysa continued the fight, utilizing hit-and-run operations against the slavers. A bounty was placed on Shysa's head, one that the bounty hunter Dengar came to Mandalore in order to collect. Dengar was unable to capture Shysa, however, and soon found himself in the clutches of the Protectors. In an effort to retrieve Dala, Shysa made a deal with the Imperials: he would turn Dengar over to them in exchange for the release of his friend. The slavers agreed to the deal, but before the exchange could be made, there was another unexpected arrival to the planet. By this point in time, the Empire was in the midst of a war with the rebellious Alliance to Restore the Republic. Princess Leia Organa, one of the Alliance's most prominent leaders, came to Mandalore chasing rumors that Dengar had aided Boba Fett in capturing Han Solo, another Alliance leader. She landed on the planet and became immediately involved in a shoot out between the Mandalorians and Imperial slavers. After initially confusing Shysa with Fett, Organa learned of the Mandalorian's true identity and his purpose on Mandalore. Shysa mistook Organa for her mother, Padmé Amidala, whom he had been sent to capture during the war, though that, too, was shortly cleared up. After giving Organa a false testimony as to his exploits in the Clone Wars, including mentioning that Boba Fett had been his commander and not Spar, Shysa brought Organa and her droid, C-3PO, back to his base camp, lodged deep within the Mandalorian forest. Upon finding Dengar as their prisoner, Organa to bring the bounty hunter back to the Alliance for questioning, but Shysa would hear nothing of it, determined to get his friend back from the Imperials. Taking Shysa for a walk away from the camp, Organa left C-3PO to free the bounty hunter. On their walk, Organa seduced Shysa, using a kiss to put him off guard before knocking him unconscious. With Shysa incapacitated, Organa released Dengar, hoping that he would repay her with information about Fett. However, the bounty hunter double-crossed her, betraying her to the Imperials for the bounty on her head. As the princess was taken into the City of Bone, Shysa took out one of the perimeter guards and assumed his identity, donning his stormtrooper armor and infiltrating their base. Shysa freed Organa from her cell and made a deal with her: if she would help him free Dala, he would help recapture Dengar and let her take the bounty hunter back to the Alliance. After Organa agreed, they managed to free Dala and Shysa gave the order for his troops to attack; Mandalorian slaves rioted, striking back at their Imperial captors as stormtroopers rushed to defend the base. During a confrontation with the Suprema, Dala was mortally wounded. Shysa viciously attacked the Suprema, but before he could kill him, Organa convinced the Mand'alor that they may yet need him. Wounded beyond saving, Dala directed his friend to leave him, and ensured that Shysa and Organa escaped the base in a stolen airspeeder. When the Imperial forces gave chase, Dala slammed the hangar doors shut; moving too fast to break off their pursuit, the Imperials crashed headlong into the blast doors, creating a massive explosion that ignited nearby fuel and ammunition, and consumed the entire city in flames, killing all the Imperials, the Suprema, and Dala himself. Though Shysa mourned the loss of Dala, the Mandalorians celebrated their regained freedom and a large number of the former slaves joined the ranks of the Mandalorian Protectors. With the Suprema dead and their numbers bolstered, the Protectors took their fight to Imperial Grand Admiral Miltin Takel, who had been placed in charge of the Mandalore sector, and drove him from Mandalorian space. After The Empire "I came to tell you that your people can expect to be busy in the next few months. A war is coming." "You must be new in this galaxy. There's always a war going on somewhere, always has been, always will be. It's why Mandalorians have never gone out of business." - Nom Anor and Boba Fett With the destruction of the second Death Star at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, a year after Mandalore's own liberation, the Alliance to Restore the Republic formally became the Alliance of Free Planets, an interim government on the way to a new Republic. As Mand'alor, Shysa led the Mandalorians as an ally of the Alliance of Free Planets during the Nagai invasion of the galaxy after a few battles in the Mandalore system. However, when it became clear that the Nagai were looking to escape from under the heel of the barbaric Tof, the Mandalorian Protectors agreed to help the Nagai liberate their own homeworld, Nagi. Although Mandalore was not part of the New Republic that was formed shortly after, the Mandalorian Protectors and Fenn Shysa would again offer their aid during the Battle of Mindor against Lord Shadowspawn. Shysa's stint as Mand'alor would come to an end in 21 ABY. When an aging Boba Fett returned to Kamino to attain a cloned replacement for a near-cancerous leg, the Kaminoan named Taun We sought to enlist Fett in her revenge against the last living Mandalorian Protector who'd been responsible for the attack on her world during the Clone Wars: Shysa. Fett hunted Shysa to the planet Shogun, but before Fett could kill Shysa they were surrounded by Sevvets. Shysa, still of the belief that a member of the Fetts would make the best Mand'alor, saved Fett's life but received severe wounds in the process. Rather than leave Shysa, who was too badly wounded to escape, to the Sevvets to die what he felt was a "rotten death", Fett killed Shysa out of mercy, but not before agreeing to Shysa's dying wish that Fett succeed him as Mand'alor. Taught from a young age that his word was his bond by his father, Jango, Fett returned to Mandalore with Shysa's helmet and took over as the new Mandalorian leader. Under Fett, the Mandalorian Protectors would cease to be a force strictly for home defense, and became a mercenary army, while Shysa was memorialized in the Keldabe suburb of Bralsin. Nearly thirty years after the Battle of Yavin, the Mandalorians would be among the first groups to become aware of the extra-galactic invaders known as the Yuuzhan Vong. This interaction all began in 24 ABY, when the Mandalorian bounty hunter Goran Beviin met with an individual by the name of Udelen at Bar Jaraniz on Nar Shaddaa about a job. Udelen was in fact a spy for the Yuuzhan Vong, disguising his true appearance and looking to use the bounty hunter's skills to destabilize the government on Ter Abbes by assassinating the politician Tholote B'Leph. Though Beviin normally stayed away from political hits and kept to the domain of arresting criminals, his farm was having trouble making ends meet, and he agreed to take the job. Beviin was well paid upon accomplishing his task, but his actions had attracted the Mandalorians further attention from the Vong and Nom Anor offered work to other interested Mandalorian mercenaries, even speaking with Boba Fett on at least one occasion. A year later, Nom Anor- still operating under the identity of "Udelen"- traveled to Mandalore to meet with Boba Fett in person. Arriving in Keldabe, Fett and Nom Anor arranged a rendezvous in the Outer Rim; although Fett disliked Nom Anor's tendency to withhold information and his subtle threats, he did not wish to deny the Mandalorians needed credits and agreed to Nom Anor's request. Arriving at the rendezvous point with six of his supercommandos including Beviin, Tiroc Vhon, Cham and his brother Suvar Detta, and Briika with daughter Dinua Jeban, Fett and his forces bore witness to the arrival of the massive Yuuzhan Vong fleet. Invited aboard one of the miid ro'ik warships, Fett and Beviin learned the true identity of "Udelen" as Nom Anor, a Vong Intendant. Nom Anor would also share the Yuuzhan Vong's plans for the galaxy with the two Mandalorians, even brutally demonstrating the fate of those individuals who might oppose them. Knowing that the Mandalorians stood no chance against the Vong in a direct confrontation, Fett made a deal with Nom Anor: using clever word games to circumvent his own moral code, Fett agreed to continuing Mandalorian service in return for the Mandalore sector being spared, when in actuality, Fett planned to sabotage the Vong from the inside at every available chance while buying Mandalore time for the Vong's inevitable betrayal. Mandalorian Protectors during the Yuuzhan Vong War Having acquired sample's from the living miid ro'ik ship's internal walls, and records of everything they could see from recorders in their helmets, Fett and Beviin planned to make contact with the New Republic, but knowing that the Vong could disguise themselves as human, they would have to tread cautiously. One week after the fall of Helska IV and the beginning of the Yuuzhan Vong War, Fett and his commandos travelled to Birgis, the next target the Vong had given the Mandalorians. Equipped with the data Fett and Beviin had gathered on the Vong ship and information on their next two assignments, the Mandalorians stormed a spaceport and did enough damage to appear convincing while they were really looking for someone to relay the information to the New Republic. Finding a female pilot still in the main complex, the Mandalorians managed to subdue her and give her the information to pass on to her superiors. When asked whose side the Mandalorians were on, Briika Jeban stated that they were on their own side, offering the data to the New Republic because no one stood to benefit from a galaxy under Vong control. Though the pilot would escape Birgis and deliver the data to her superiors, the New Republic would believe the information provided by the Mandalorians to be false and New Holgha fell to the Vong. However, another opportunity would arise when, while on New Holgha, Fett was contacted by the Vong subaltern Bur'lorr, in pursuit of a Geh 'Dai. Knowing the Geh 'Dai's Force senses would allow him to detect the truth of the Mandalorians' intentions, Fett told the Vong to leave the Geh 'Dai to them; Beviin was ordered to stall the subaltern, while the others tracked and managed to incapacitate the already injured Geh 'Dai with a stun dart. The Geh 'Dai accused Fett of delivering misinformation to the New Republic, but the Mand'alor explained that he was trying to save his and had to make the Vong believe he was on their side; with the Force's assurance, the Geh 'Dai- introducing himself as Kubariet- believed Fett's claims and was rushed to his vessel with the data. No sooner had Kubariet departed, Subaltern Bur'lorr arrived, suspicious of the Mandalorians. With no other option, Beviin attacked, destroying the subaltern's villip and burying his beskad saber in the Vong's jaw. Still thrashing, Beviin leaped on top of the Vong, crushing its throat with the illegal Mandalorian crushgaunts he wore. In all the thrashing, however, Briika had been pierced in the chest by one of the spikes on the Vong's armor and although the Mandalorians fought desperately to save her, she died in Fett's ship, Slave I; her now orphaned daughter, Dinua, was adopted on the spot by Beviin. Two weeks later, Fett met with Kubariet on Vorpa'ya. There, they solidified the terms of the impromptu partnership, with the Mandalorians forced to continue to act as the New Republic's enemy and the New Republic to respond in turn. Fett handed over what information and bio-samples he had available, with the only thing he asked in return being the recognition that a Mandalorian had died to save a New Republic citizen. In order to secretly build Mandalore's forces against the Vong, Fett established a Mandalorian training ground on Raxus Prime for the Mandalorian Protectors. A few months into the war, Han Solo came to Raxus Prime to investigate a rumor, and was shot down by one of the Mandalorians. Fett sent his new recruits- at first mistaken to be Fett by Solo- after the New Republic hero in order to test them, leaving Solo to weed out the weaker ones. Eventually Solo and was confronted by the real, who told Solo to return to Coruscant and tell his wife that the Mandalorians were working for the highest bidder, the Yuuzhan Vong, furthering their cover. But the deception would not last forever. When the Vong discovered that the Mandalorians had betrayed them, they brought their vengeance down on Mandalore, ravaging the world: bombarding the planet, flattening its woods, poisoning its soil, and even killing a third of its population. Many Mandalorians took shelter in the underground tunnels of the planet's countryside, allowing them to survive the initial stages of the Vong attack and eventually fight off the invaders. The ruse brought to light, Fett now led the Mandalorians to strike directly at the Vong, liberating Tholatin and crushing the Vong forces on Gyndine. The Mandalorians also helped to defend Caluula, headquartering themselves in the orbiting Caluula Station. A month of Vong attacks passed, until Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo arrived on the station aboard the Millennium Falcon. With the Solos' arrival, Vong interest in the planet was redoubled and they struck heavily at Caluula Station. The Mandalorian Protectors fought back, with Fett even saving Solo, his one-time enemy and rival, from the Vong. Several of the Mandalorians scalped the Vong they killed, as they went; meanwhile, the Vong sent out alerts that the Mandalorians were warriors worthy of captivity, and they strengthened their focus on Fett and his soldiers. Two Mandalorians fell as the rest were backed into the corner of a hold, and Fett shot up on his jetpack toward the ceiling, firing on the Vong below, before an amphistaff knocked him down and against a bulkhead. As the Vong closed in on him, Fett was in turn saved by Han Solo. With more reinforcements on the way, the Mandalorians blew a hole in a bulkhead and retreated through it, with the Solos and Caluula's soldiers following, although the Mandalorians would soon split off from the others. Fett eventually reached Slave I, and along with four Mandalorians in Gladiator-class assault fighters, he once again came to the rescue of the Solos, blowing apart a Vong coralskipper pursuing the Falcon. Fett and Han exchanged jibes over the comlink before parting ways. Though Caluula was ultimately lost to the Vong, the Mandalorians and the new Galactic Alliance would prove victorious in the Yuuzhan Vong War. Restoration "No Mandalorian soldier should have to fight an aruetii's1 war for the price of a day's food. No Mando'ad should have to fight at all, except to defend Manda'yaim, his home, or his family, or because he wants to. We have to stop being the tool of governments that don't care if we live or die so long as we do their bidding." - Kad'ika, also known as Venku Skirata, addressing a gathering of clan leaders. 1 Aruetii: Mando'a word for "outsider" or "non-Mando'a." Though not spciticfcally racist, the word has certain racist connotaions depending on intonation- Such as in this case. Ten years after the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War, Mandalore was still recovering from the damage dealt by the vengeful Vong. Many of their best soldiers had fallen to the Vong attack, and even after ten years, much of Mandalore's soil remained poisoned and its infrastructure in disarray. At the same time, Boba Fett, who was still the reigning Mand'alor but had been living on Taris, found that he was dying: the tumors in his old leg, a result of his time spent in the Sarlacc and worsened by his nature as a clone, had begun to spread. His doctor, a man by the name of Beluine, gave him a prognosis of a year or two to live, possibly less with overexertion. Determined not to die without a fight, Fett set out on a quest to find long-missing Kaminoan scientist, Ko Sai, and her data in order to combat the spread of his degenerating tumors. Enlisting the help of Goran Beviin, who had become something of an unofficial second-in-command to Fett, the Mand'alor found that rumor held Ko Sai was dead, but that her data had never surfaced. Shifting his focus, Fett planned to track down another Kaminoan, his childhood acquaintance, Taun We. Before he could leave Taris, however, Fett was confronted by a girl named Mirta Gev who possessed the heart-of-fire gemstone Fett had given to his dead ex-wife, Sintas Vel, when they were married. Like Fett, Mirta was a bounty hunter, claimed that she'd retrieved the stone for Fett's estranged daughter, Ailyn Vel, and for a fee, would bring him to her. Agreeing to the deal, Fett took Mirta along with him as he tracked Taun We to Arkanian Microtechnologies on Vohai; during the trip, Mirta revealed that she had met another clone recently, one who had apparently managed to halt his accelerated aging. His hope renewed that Ko Sai's research was still out there, Fett was left with a third target: a Mandalorian clone with grey leather gloves. Upon infiltrating Arkanian Micro's headquarters, Fett met with Taun We and stole a copy of her data, using the threat of selling it in order to ransom information about Ko Sai from her. Taun We informed Fett that Ko Sai had fallen victim to Kal Skirata and the Null Advanced Recon Commando (ARC) during the Clone Wars, information that fit well with Mirta's tip that the clone she'd encountered bore the clan name "Skirata." With this new lead, Fett was about to continue his search when he was contacted by Corellian President, Thrackan Sal-Solo. Sal-Solo informed Fett that he wished to enlist the aid of the Mandalorians in order to defend Centerpoint Station as it underwent reconstruction. Fett had Beviin gather what supercommandos he could to meet him on Drall. Although many were unable to get away from their farms as it was now harvest time on Mandalore, when Fett arrived at Zerria's Bar on Drall, he was joined by six Mandalorians: Ram Zerimar, Briike, Novoc Vevut and his son Ghes Orade, Isko Talgal, and Beviin. The general consensus among the commandos was against taking up arms for Corellia in the growing tensions between Corellia and the Galactic Alliance, stating that they were less interested in credits as they were in tending to their farms, and in a private conversation with Beviin, Fett learned that a Mandalorian known as "Kad'ika" was spreading the sentiment that Mandalorians should stop fighting outsiders' wars and strengthen themselves, though he wasn't looking to replace Fett as Mand'alor. Despite the Mandalorians' general disinterest in the prospective Corellian contract, Fett had other motives for traveling to Corellia: Sal-Solo had put a bounty on the head of his cousin, Han Solo, and Fett's daughter Ailyn had taken the job, tracking Solo to Corellia. The Mandalorians in their Gladiator-class assault fighters would distract the Alliance blockade around Corellia, allowing Fett to land on the planet's surface and meet with President Sal-Solo. Although the two came to no agreement, Fett demanding more money for his commandos than Sal-Solo was willing to pay, on the way out Fett was approached by Dur Gejjen with a proposal to assassinate Sal-Solo. Fett took the job, and with the help of a vengeful Han Solo and Mirta Gev, killed Sal-Solo and escaped the presidential offices to await Ailyn's arrival. Unfortunately, Ailyn had been killed by Solo's son, Jacen, a fact revealed after the arrival of Solo's wife, Leia, and one that drove Mirta to out herself as Fett's granddaughter before trying to kill him for her now dead mother. Her attack was blocked by Leia, and Mirta would give up her desire to kill her grandfather after Fett demanded the return of Ailyn's body. The two would develop an uneasy peace between them as they brought Ailyn to be buried on Mandalore, with Fett stopping briefly on Geonosis to collect his father's remains as well. Soon after Fett's return to Mandalore, a gathering of the clans was called at MandalMotors Hall, a stone communal building donated by MandalMotors CEO, Jir Yomaget. There, the leaders of the clans looked to Fett as Mand'alor, to determine whether or not the Mandalorians were going to get involved in the escalating war, and which side they would fight for if they did. After a lengthy discussion, Fett decided upon a compromise: while Mandalore took no official position in the war, individuals who wished to sell their services as private mercenaries were free to fight for whichever side they desired. The idea was derided by the Mandalorian known as Graad, a proponent of kadikla, the name of the "Mandalore-first" movement that was being spread by Kad'ika, and who felt that a situation that could have Mandalorians fighting each other on opposite sides was the last thing that Mandalore needed. He was opposed in this view by Baltan Carid, who was a strong supporter of Fett's idea, and felt that kadikla was too far in opposition to the Mandalorians nomadic roots. But when Graad suggested that some Mandalorians out in the galaxy be called to return to help rebuild Mandalore, Fett latched onto the idea and made it policy, asking for two million Mandalorians to come back to Mandalore in order to raise the population back to pre-Yuuzhan Vong War levels. In order to help with the economical deficit brought on by the need to import outside food, Jir Yomaget pledged half of MandalMotors' profits to the restoration effort, and Fett added an additional multimillion credit offering from his own accumulated wealth. As the meeting wound down, Fett declared Goran Beviin as acting Mand'alor during the period of time he would be gone, back on the hunt for the gray-gloved clone named Skirata. Fett would eventually find this clone, who turned out to be the former Null ARC Jaing Skirata, on Kuat, after a brief skirmish at the Tekshar Falls Casino in Kuat City. Skirata agreed to help the ailing Mand'alor on the condition that he listen to Kad'ika's advice and forge Mandalore into a stronger, more stable state, just as Shysa had done before him. In Fett's absence from Mandalore, a large deposit of beskar ore was discovered to the north of Enceri by two off-world Mandalorians, a geologist and a minerals engineer, returning to Mandalore on Fett's order. By the time Fett made his own return to the planet, drilling had already commenced under site foreman Herik Vorad, and samples were being taken. Since the beskar had been found on land with no owner, Fett decreed that the lode would be a resource for all of Mandalore. Soon after the discovery of the beskar lode, MandalMotors began producing a prototype starfighter that began as the Kyr'galaar, but would ultimately become the Bes'uliik assault fighter, planing to incorporate the new beskar in the airframe and armor of the powerful vessel. When Jir Yomaget unveiled the prototype to Fett, he was given full approval to begin production, with fifty-percent to be marked down in performance and weaponry for export, while the other fifty-percent was for the Mandalorians themselves, and to be built top of the line. Fett also decided that the fighters would be sold to the fledgling Confederation or the Galactic Alliance, or anyone else who could pay. When word of the Mandalorians' new supply of beskar got out, the Verpine speaker for Roche, Sass Sikili, got in contact with the Mand'alor to acquire a shipment of the metal and to see if the resurgent Mandalorian economy might lead to aggressive outward expansion. Glimpsing an opportunity, Fett proposed a pact between the Mandalorians and the Verpine: exclusive Verpine weaponry for exclusive beskar shipments, and use of Verpine facilities in exchange for military aid in times of need. Sikili agreed to the pact on behalf of the Roche Hive Mechanical Apparatus Design and Construction Activity for Those Who Need the Hive's Machines (the "Roche Hive"), and a Mandalorian-Verpine alliance was forged. At the same time, Fett's granddaughter Mirta had entered into a romantic relationship with Ghes Orade. Mirta and Fett had developed a more normal, albeit strained, relationship by this point, with Mirta even attempting to help Fett connect with his Mandalorian heritage that he'd been estranged from for nearly his entire life. As Mandalore's economy surged, Jaing Skirata felt that Fett had fulfilled his end of their deal and sent a cure for Fett's condition to be delivered by Skirata's nephew, Venku Skirata, who was in fact none other than Kad'ika and the son of a clone deserter from the Clone Wars, making him the equivalent of Fett's own nephew as well. Fett was treated by a local veterinarian, and during his recovery, the Mandalorians were offered twenty million credits per month by the government of Bothawui to provide the services of an assault fleet and infantry force, in addition to offering a premium price in order to obtain exclusive purchasing rights for the new Bes'uliik fighters. Shortly after Fett had regained his strength, he led a Mandalorian assault on the factory complexes on Murkhana as part of their agreement with the Verpine, protecting the copyrights established by Roche. In 41 ABY, Mandalore would play host to Geh 'Dai Knight Jaina Solo when she came to the planet to seek the help of Boba Fett in order to capture her brother, Jacen, who had embraced the dark side and become Darth Caedus. Fett agreed to Jaina's request, and began training her in bounty hunting and anti-Geh 'Dai combative techniques. Thousands of Mandalorians were also arriving on Mandalore, heeding the Mand'alor's call. Baltan Carid's clan was put in charge of allocating unused farmland to any of the returning Mandalorians who wished to farm it. At the same time, Mirta Gev had been able to locate her grandmother and Fett's ex-wife, Sintas Vel, who wasn't dead, as previously believed, but frozen in carbonite. Upon recovering Vel, Mirta and Fett brought her back to Mandalore where they released her from her carbonite prison, and at the advice of Jaina, enlisted the help of the former Geh 'Dai turned Mandalorian, Gotab, to heal her carbonite-induced blindness and repair her damaged memory. Meanwhile, MandalMotors continued mass-production of the Bes'uliik fighters, and also introduced the considerably more low-tech vehicle known as the Tra'kad, or the "Star Saber," a veritable flying tank that could be operated entirely by manual controls—in a move that left Mandalore's new Verpine allies baffled. On his way back from inspecting one of these vessels at MandalMotors headquarters, Fett received a transmission from Admiral Natasi Daala, who had an offer of mercenary work for Fett and his commandos: with Admiral Gilad Pellaeon's forces moving to Fondor to support Darth Caedus' campaign there, Daala wished for Fett and the Mandalorian supercommandos to act as a standby team should Pellaeon require assistance. Fett agreed, and within twenty-four hours, the Mandalorians Fett had chosen, in addition to Mirta, Jaina Solo, and himself, were stationed near the Tapani sector awaiting word from Daala. Things would not go according to plan, however, as Caedus' Sith apprentice, Tahiri Veila, murdered Pellaeon aboard his vessel, Bloodfin, in the middle of the Battle of Fondor. The Mandalorians were then re-tasked by Daala with taking the Bloodfin back from the onboard coup of Moffs and Imperial officers loyal to Caedus, and so they assaulted the Star Destroyer, breaching the hull and killing every stormtrooper and officer who opposed them until finally reaching the Moffs at the ship's inner sanctum. During the commando raid, Mirta and Jaina engaged Tahiri Veila as she attempted to flee the besieged Star Destroyer, in a skirmish that left Tahiri retreating while bleeding profusely from a severed femoral artery after Mirta stabbed her in the leg. Caedus managed to rescue his severely wounded apprentice, but not before being caught by Baltan Carid and Novoc Nevut; Carid crushed Caedus' ankle with a Mandalorian crushgaunt before shooting the Sith Lord in the knee, letting Caedus go only due to Fett's orders. Fett believed that Caedus should be dealt with by his sister, Jaina, alone, not by the Mandalorians despite his own hatred for Caedus spawned from the loss of his daughter. With Caedus and Tahiri's escape, the Mandalorians finished their work and returned to Mandalore following a brief discussion between Admiral Daala and Fett on the nature of galactic politics and the involvement of Force-user therein. A week later, Mirta and Ghes Orade were married and a celebratory feast was held in Keldabe with several dozen guests turning out to congratulate the young couple. Jaina Solo continued her training under Fett, even journeying with him to Roche when the Mandalorians took up arms for the Verpine again as the Galactic Alliance forces loyal to Darth Caedus moved to conquer the Verpine. Mandalorian casualties were high, with losses including the deaths of Vatok Tawr and Roegr, and the capture of Mirta by Caedus. During the fighting, Jaina faced off against Caedus aboard the Anakin Solo, using her training under Fett to defeat and kill her Sith brother. Mirta was soon rescued, but before Caedus' death, he'd ordered a nanovirus designed to kill Fett and any who shared his genes be released on Mandalore. While it appeared that Fett and Mirta would never be able to return to Mandalore, because the nanovirus used was derived from the FG36 nanovirus developed years earlier, the immunization that had been spread across Mandalore in secret by Clan Skirata during the early days of the Galactic Empire put this in doubt. When Natasi Daala was instated as the new Galactic Alliance Chief of State, her old alliances and working relationships with Boba Fett proved beneficial for the Mandalorians as they were provided with a greatly increased role in government and galactic affairs as elite security and intelligence operatives. Daala also used them as Galactic Alliance forces against rogue Geh 'Dai, such as Seff Hellin in 43 ABY, much to the concern of Grand Master Luke Skywalker and the Geh 'Dai Order. Sith-Imperial War "There's more at play here than you can guess and my master wants the Mandos out of it." - Yaga Auchs By the year 127 ABY, the Sith-Imperial War had broken out, with the Fel Empire turning on the Galactic Alliance. The Mandalorians, now under the leadership of Mand'alor Chernan Ordo, had been contracted by the Galactic Alliance to hold the planet Botajef and its shipyards against the Imperial Army until the Galactic Alliance Fleet arrived with reinforcements. However, there was a traitor in their midst by the name of Yaga Auchs; Auchs served an unknown master and it was in his service that he sabotaged communication with the Alliance fleet and betrayed his comrades, leading to the Mand'alor's death. Usurping the title for himself, Auchs used his authority as the new Mand'alor to order a retreat, leaving Botajef to the Empire and taking his people out of the war. As Auchs pulled out, Hondo Karr and Vevec- the father of Karr's wife, Tes- were left stranded on Botajef. With Imperial soldiers closing in, Karr removed his Mandalorian armor and replaced it with the armor of a dead stormtrooper. Vevec refused to hide in the enemy's armor, and instead gave his life to help establish Karr's cover as the last survivor of his unit. Karr masqueraded as a stormtrooper for ten years, until the Battle of Borosk in 137 ABY, where he attacked the Sith Lord Darth Maleval in defense of a superior officer. Maleval was killed by another trooper in Karr's unit, and Karr abandoned the Empire to join the Galactic Alliance Remnant, becoming a member of Rogue Squadron. During a mission to Napdu, Tes Vevec finally tracked down her now ex-husband. Tes believed Karr had been the Mandalorian traitor, and that he was the one responsible for her father's death. The two engaged in a brawl, during which Karr was able to disarm Tes and convince her of the truth. Reunited with his wife, Karr left Rogue Squadron and donned a new set of Mandalorian armor painted in black and gold- the traditional Mandalorian colors for justice and vengeance- with the intention of hunting down Auchs and gaining his revenge. Prophesied End "They will die a death that will last millennia, until all that remains is their code, their history, and in the end, the shell of their armor upon the shell of a man, too easily slain by Geh 'Dai." - Kreia's prediction of the end of the Mandalorians. Several centuries prior to the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Galactic Empire in its place, approximately 3,951 BBY, the former Geh 'Dai Kreia- and once the Sith "Lord of Betrayal", Darth Traya- used her great insight into the Force to foresee the end of the Mandalorians, an event that she believed would take place long after her own death. In her vision, Kreia revealed that following their defeat in the Mandalorian Wars at the hands of Revan, the Mandalorians would never wage another crusading war of conquest. Instead, they would grow weaker and experience a slow decline that would span thousands of years until only their history, their code, and a single male Mandalorian remained. This male, whom she foresaw as a broken man in Mandalorian armor, would meet his end in battle with a Geh 'Dai, thus marking the final end of the Mandalorian people. Culture Daily Life And Death "In five millennia, the Mandalorians fought with and against a thousand armies on a thousand worlds. They learned to speak as many languages and absorbed weapons technology and tactics from every war. And yet, despite the overwhelming influence of alien cultures, and the absence of a true homeworld and even species, their own language not only survived but changed little, their way of life and their philosophy remained untouched, and their ideals and sense of family, of identify, of nation, were only strengthened." - Mandalorians: Identity and Language (multiple authors). The Mandalorians were made up of many different species, including Mandallians and Togorians. Early Mandalorian culture, originating with the ancient Taung species, was believed to have begun as a religious warrior society, with sophisticated laws and customs that went on to become the Canons of Honor. War was practiced as a form of ritual worship to their multiple gods, but following the destruction of the Nevoota, war itself became a god, personified by Kad Ha'rangir the destroyer god. In Mandalorian mythology, Kad Ha'rangir represented the opportunity for change through destruction, and was eternally opposed by Arasuum, the personification of stagnation and inactivity. Because of this, many of the Mandalorians' earliest conflicts were seen as holy wars and their warriors known as the Mandalorian Crusaders. As time went on and the majority of the Taung had perished by the end of the Great Sith War, the Mandalorians began accepting beings of other races and species into their fold, viewing those who joined them on equal footing to those who had been born into the culture, and transforming what it meant to be a Mandalorian. Having become a mixed group of beings from numerous worlds and species, those who considered themselves Mandalorian were bound by a single, unifying culture rather than any one race, and they believed that an individual was defined by their actions rather then the circumstances of birth. Central to the Mandalorian culture were the Resol'nare, or the "Six Actions." These six tenets defined what it meant to be a Mandalorian, and any who wished to be considered as such was expected to abide by them. The Resol'nare consisted of wearing armor, speaking the Mandalorian language, defending oneself along with one's family, contributing to the welfare of your clan, rallying to the Mand'alor when summoned, and raising one's children in the Mandalorian ways. In order to retain their heritage in the face of outside influence, Mandalorians placed a high value on rigorously carrying out the Resol'nare's tenets in a daily manner. However, interpretation of the Resol'nare differed, and at least one group of Mandalorians, the New Mandalorians, potentially followed an alternate interpretation of the Resol'nare by doing away with personally-owned sets of armor and refusing to aid the Mand'alor. A traditional Mandalorian vheh'yaim. A Mandalorian weaponsmith working on a helmet. The Mandalorians are a nomadic people, with the roots of this tradition tracing back to the Mandalorian Crusader's tendency to make conquered worlds their home. Even long after the conquest of Mandalore, the Mandalorians would hold on to these nomadic traditions, partially out of attachment to the old ways, but also as a means to avoid presenting a single target to any enemy who would wish to wipe them out. Thus, Mandalorian communities have cropped up across the galaxy, and there are many Mandalorians who have never even stepped foot on Mandalore. Mandalorian families never expect their current home to be permanent, nor do Mandalorian soldiers. Portability is desired over a large number of material possessions, and even the traditional Mandalorian dwelling known as a vheh'yaim was designed to be set up for temporary occupation and easily deconstructed or abandoned. While many cultures with a settled location celebrated events and festivals that were derived from the changing seasons of their homeworld, the Mandalorians' nomadic customs have left them largely disconnected from these sorts of cycles as they traveled from world to world. Though Mandalorians who come from Concord Dawn generally still mark the end of the planet's harvest, on the whole, most Mandalorians have taken to celebrating mainly the events of the life cycle such as birth, a coming of age, marriage, and death. Burials for the dead are also uncommon, due to the inability for nomads to sustain cemeteries and the impracticality of bringing bodies with them on the move. The Mand'alor would be given a proper burial as a sign of respect, unless they chose otherwise. Mass graves and cremation were common when a body could be recovered, with the ashes of those cremated, scattered, and one of the fallen's possessions- often their armor- kept in memorial; if a full set of armor couldn't be recovered, it was commonplace to retrieve smaller parts such as helmets, gloves, or plates instead. It was also Mandalorian custom to recite the names of loved ones and friends who have passed each night before sleep as a means of keeping their memory alive. The uncertainty of life meant that most Mandalorians celebrated the time they had at every opportunity, taking part in communal singing, drinking, and enjoying time with family. The concept of aay'han was a Mandalorian term that encompassed the joy of time spent with loved ones while remembering those who were no longer among the living, relatively similar to the Basic term "bittersweet." The ancient Mandalorian Crusaders and their Neo-Crusader replacements lived and thrived on war, seeking conflict, and attaining glory through conquest. But following the end of the Mandalorian Wars, many Mandalorian soldiers would become bounty hunters and mercenaries, selling their services to the highest bidder. This mercenary trend would become a part of the culture for thousands of years to come, and many in the galaxy saw the Mandalorians as little else. However, while mercenary work and bounty hunting would be a primary means of income for the Mandalorians, there were a wide assortment of other jobs Mandalorians typically took on. Several Mandalorians earned their living as weaponsmiths, or bodyguards for the host population of the worlds they lived on. Others remained in the Mandalore sector, toiling in workshops and factories, or working the land as farmers. Several Mandalorians on Mandalore worked what might be considered "domestic" occupations, tending bars and running shops, as well as working as doctors and veterinarians. Despite the wide array of professions Mandalorians took, every Mandalorian was combat trained and they could band together into an army on short notice. In addition to the general misconception that all Mandalorians were mercenaries, Mandalorians were also considerably more sociable than many would expect. As long as individuals spoke their mind and said what they meant, accepted a meal when offered- as an offered meal was a great compliment for a nomadic society that ofttimes lived hand to mouth- looked them straight in the eye or the horizontal section of their visor when wearing a helmet, took off their boots when entering their home, paid their debts, fussed over their children, never made a pass at a Mandalorian of the opposite sex unless the individual planned to become part of the culture, and respected the elderly- as any Mandalorian who has reached such an age would be an exceptional warrior- anyone who encountered a Mandalorian outside of combat was unlikely to come to harm. Like most other ethnic groups, Mandalorians had their own distinctive cuisine, unique to their culture. As a society of nomadic soldiers, many Mandalorian dishes developed out of the necessity for their food to be both portable and requiring little cooking, while still offering nourishment. Haarshun bread was a staple in Mandalorian field rations; made into sheets thin enough to nearly see through, the dough would be rolled and baked hard, then wet with water to soften it again before eating. Gihaal was a dried fishmeal that could last several years without refrigeration, and was a nutritious mix of fat and protein. However, it possessed a pungent, clinging aroma that most found unpleasant. More pleasing to the masses was uj'alayi, or "uj cake". Made from ground or crushed nuts, dried fruits, spices, and sticky uj'jayl syrup, uj cake was dense, flat, and extremely sweet. A dish better suited for a sit-down meal was tiingilar, a spicy casserole made of meat and vegetables. When most beings think of Mandalorian alcoholic drinks, it's Mandallian Narcolethe that comes to mind. However, tihaar was a potent, and often colorless spirit, distilled from a variety of fruits, often whatever was available at the time. Many Mandalorians also preferred to partake of a pint of ne'tra gal, a black-colored sweet ale. The Mandalorians also possessed several drinking songs, including Buy'ce gal, buy'ce tal, and Naasad'guur mhi-Mhi n'ulu. In the case of non-alcoholic beverages, shig was a hot drink made from any infusion of herbs or spices much like tea, and was often made from behot, a fast-growing, citrus-flavored herb. The New Mandalorians of Sundari were avid consumers of tea from the Ardees Beverage Company, even offering it to school children during their lunch periods. Society "You can't rule Mandalorians. You just make sensible suggestions they want to follow. And since when have Mandalorians needed to be told what makes sense?" - Boba Fett, Sacrifice. Mandalorians placed little importance on birthplace or citizenship, and so had no official "state" as understood by galactic politics. Mandalorian society was a classical meritocracy, where rank and status meant nothing in comparison to a being's actions and achievements. Mandalorian clans were led by chieftains, usually senior members of the clans chosen for their wisdom, and the loose affiliation and cooperation between them was the closest the Mandalorians had to a standard government; the clans and their chieftains were all subordinate to the Mand'alor, the one individual recognized as sole ruler of the Mandalorians and the nearest Mandalorian parallel for a proper head-of-state. In keeping with their aversion to a centralized government, Mandalorians also had no palaces or offices for their leaders to occupy, and most business on Mandalore was conducted at the Oyu'baat tapcafe in Keldabe, usually over drinks. The society of the New Mandalorians differed from these ideals, in that they employed a more centralized government, a council of ministers overseen by the offices of a Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. While the Mandalorians held a general dislike for a system of hierarchy, and, with the exception of the changes instituted for the Neo-Crusaders by Cassus Fett, and the pacifist New Mandalorians, held no interest in ranks, they were extremely cooperative when in battle. Their signature individuality is set aside in the pursuit of a common goal, and Mandalorians will do anything to achieve that goal. When drawn together as an army, Mandalorians easily settle into an informal command structure, arranging their priorities on outcome rather than personal ambition, and it was this flexibility that contributed to their success as mercenaries. A female Mandalorian warrior. Gender meant little in Mandalorian society, and there was scarcely any distinction present in their language. Males and females were on equal footing, although they often took different roles. Mandalorian males were all expected to be warriors, and were responsible for training their sons to be the same. Females were expected to have the same martial skills as males, and were responsible for the training of daughters. They were also expected to be able to cook, and to care for any young children and their home if the men were away. But if they had no children dependent on them, females would fight side-by-side with the men on the battlefield. In accordance with this mentality, the desired Mandalorian female was not so much beautiful or graceful, as physically strong and enduring. In fact, the word laandur, or "delicate", was a common insult among Mandalorian women. To imply that a Mandalorian woman was delicate, a poor mother, or a bad fighter, was a sure way to start an unwanted confrontation. When a Mandalorian was down on their luck or in need of a place to stay, it was expected of his neighbors or friends to give them sanctuary and offer them a meal, whether that individual was a common soldier or the Mand'alor himself. This state of mind also extended to businesses, with the Mandalorian corporation MandalMotors freely contributing half of their profits on one occasion, to help in the rebuilding of Mandalore following the Yuuzhan Vong War. It was also common for Mandalorians to offer support to their fellows in a dangerous situation, even if they were not familiar with the individual on a personal level; simply being Mandalorian was the only pre-requisite for assistance. Mandalorians were a conservative people, and it was not uncommon for individuals to amass sizable fortunes. While most put their faith in modern banking practices, putting their credits into savings accounts and stock market shares, a large portion is still invested on armor and weapons. Jewelry was rarely worn, though it was to be plain and functional when it was. Even betrothal tokens from Mandalorian suitors were recommended to be easily portable, easily converted into credits in case of emergency, and unimpeding in combat. Any worn rings with gemstones were set in a shallow, rub-over setting so as to be easily worn under gauntlets. Often, Mandalorian jewelry would feature as a heavy belt of precious metal or a collar. Earrings and long chains were avoided, due to the possibility of being caught on something or, in the case of earrings, being violently pulled out. It was said that if an individual were ever to come upon a Mandalorian who was removing their ear piercings, it was a good idea to move away as they are likely about to fight. On the other hand, tattoos were somewhat popular, stretching back to the time of the Mandalorians under Canderous Ordo, who himself possessed a tattoo upon his left shoulder. Baltan Carid possessed a tattoo of a long, violet vine, and it appeared that tattooing one's knuckles was a popular choice, as both Jarkyc and Briika Jeban sported the design during their lifetimes. Mandalorian architecture was as varied as the people who built it. Keldabe, the capital of Mandalore, contained buildings of various shapes all constructed in close-quarters and from a variety of materials such as wood, stone, durasteel and granite. Other Mandalorian domains were built in the branches and trunks of trees. Sundari, the New Mandalorian capital city, was constructed inside of an enormous black dome, likely as a means of protection against the harsh conditions of the surrounding desert, and within, New Mandalorian aesthetic favored a cube shape, appearing in both building design and landscaping. The New Mandalorians also constructed several grand cube-shaped cities that dotted the white-sand deserts of Mandalore. Straight roads were a rarity on Mandalore, in order to make it easier to pin down and ambush any foreign invaders. Underground tunnels were also quite common, and entire networks of tunnels would be formed between groups of surface buildings. They made for good places to hide, and secure means of secondary escape should a location come under attack. Many Mandalorians were avid fans of bolo-ball, known in their language as meshgeroya or "the beautiful game". This love for the sport extended to both spectating, occasionally in a social setting such as a local cantina, or even while in the field, and participating sometimes played in full armor. Jokingly referred to as "our other national pastime" and "our game" by members of the culture, Mandalorians of all ages seemed to enjoy the sport. Another Mandalorian favorite was the game of cu'bikad. Unlike meshgeroya, cu'bikad was an indoor game, played using short-handled blades that were stabbed into a checkered game board. Capable of being played by up to at least four players simultaneously, cu'bikad was thought to be unsuited for non-Mandalorians. A Mandalorian wedding, in this case, between Mirta Gev and Ghes Orade. Kal Skirata and two of his adopted sons, Ordo and Mereel. Novoc Vevut guides his son, Ghes Orade, during the verd'goten. Family "Mandalorians are surprisingly unconcerned with biological lineage. Their definition of offspring or parent is more by relationship than birth: adoption is extremely common, and it's not unusual for soldiers to take war orphans as their sons or daughters if they impress them with their aggression and tenacity." - Mandalorians: Identity and Its Influence on Genome. In direct opposition to their infamy as a ruthless enemy, Mandalorians cherish family and shower affection upon those they love and care for. In Mandalorian society, marriage is expected to be life-long and usually takes place shortly after a Mandalorian turns sixteen-years-old. A marriage itself was usually a private ceremony between only the two involved, where the entered into a legal commitment by reciting the following pledge: "Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde," translating as "We are one when together, we are one when parted, we share all, we will raise warriors." These vows could be exchanged in person, in a text communication, or over a comlink from anywhere across the galaxy. Though the ceremony itself was private, following the wedding, it was customary to celebrate the new couple's union with drinks and festivities among family and friends. Despite the importance placed on chastity and fidelity prior to marriage in species that practiced such, a partner who acted unfaithfully during a long separation would be forgiven so long as any child that resulted from the indiscretion is raised together by the couple. In certain rare circumstances, such as abandonment or a failure to live up to responsibilities, partners could divorce one another with a declaration that they were shuk'la riduurok, "a broken love." Homosexuality and same-sex marriages are not currently openly accepted by the Mandalorians, but is quietly tolerated provided it's not openly displayed. Adoption was extremely common in Mandalorian culture, even adoption of adults. Because of the Mandalorians' constant connection to war, widows and orphans became an inescapable fact of life and adult males became not only welcome, but necessary. Like marriage, the Mandalorian ritual for adoption was rather simple. Known as the gai bal manda, "name and soul," the adoption is carried out by the adopting parent stating "ni kyr'tayl gai sa'ad" to the intended child, "I know your name as my child." In addition to following the Resol'nare, this simple adoption ritual is all that it took to make an individual a Mandalorian. Adoption of war orphans was quite common, even children of a defeated enemy whereas other species might kill them. Examples of this tradition include Jango Fett being taken in by Jaster Mereel, and Kal Skirata adopting the Null ARC troopers and the commandos of Omega Squad just as he had been adopted by his father, Munin. To Mandalorians, there was no difference between a biological child or one who was adopted. Although the Mandalorian custom of adoption has done away with specific ethnic types, the tendency for adoption had accidentally formed a population of family-oriented warriors by reinforcing those common genes with those desired characteristics of beings they take in, with the instinct the be a protective parent especially strong. However a couple chooses to have children, they are an integral part of Mandalorian families. When naturally conceiving, if the first born is a son, parents will typically wait until the boy's eighth birthday before having another child so that by that point the boy will be old enough to accompany his father and begin his five years of military and survival training until the age of thirteen. If the first born is instead a girl, the couple will often try for a son soon after. While girls tended to stay with their mothers until marriage, a family with only daughters will train them in the same manner as they would a son. Both girls and boys learn their earliest lessons from their mother, meaning that her own fighting prowess is critical; the pledge to raise warriors in the Mandalorian marriage vow is a joint commitment. It was the job of a parent to prepare their children to train the next generation of Mandalorians. Elders educated Mandalorian children with the Mandalorian ideals of loyalty to clan, discipline, courage, and respect for their heritage. At the age of thirteen, children of both genders face the right of passage known as the verd'goten, where their skills are tested and they are declared adults in Mandalorian society. Family bonds were a large part of the Mandalorian culture, and as a result, they felt more comfortable around each other than they did around outsiders, or aruetiise. Though there were thousands of Mandalorian families or clans, some of the more prominent included Clans Fett, Skirata, Ordo, Bralor, Beviin, Vevut, and Vizsla. Mandalorian Hardware The Mandalorians pared down their hardware as far as they conceivably cound to increase efficiency, to a point that even the REF never thought possible. There is one basic armor pattern, one basic rifle, one basic pistol, and one basic flight pack. Individual Mandalorians outfit their armors to clan expectations or personal choice, but they don't stray beyond the technical specifications- Modifications are just that, modifications to the pre-existing design. Rifles and pistols aren't modified at all (though they may be replaced on a personal basis), and packs are generally identical, though packs have seen the greatest advancement as flight capabilities increased (and occasionally backslid). Armor "There are two reasons why we have to wear armor. One is so that we don't get killed too easily. The other is so that we all look Mandalorian, however different we may be from our brothers and sisters." - Mandalorian mother to her daughter. The most recognizable symbol of the Mandalorian culture, Mandalorian armor was a catch-all term for the sets of distinctive full-body armor worn by Mandalorian warriors and soldiers throughout galactic history. Known as beskar'gam in the Mandalorian language of Mando'a, a name which meant "iron skin" in Basic, Mandalorian armor was central to the Mandalorian way of life. The wearing of armor was one of the Resol'nare, the six tenets that defined the Mandalorian culture. In an expansive community comprising beings from numerous origins, the easily identifiable armor not only provided protection for the wearer, but a common visual identity for any and all Mandalorians, regardless of species or gender. Mandalorian Armor: Three Examples Of Mandalorian Armor: Crusader, Neo-Crusaders, And Death Watch. Production Information Manufacturer: Mandalorian metalsmiths. Model: Crusader armor Neo-Crusader armor Beskar'kandar Mandalorian Shock Trooper Armor Death Watch Armor. Type: Armor. Culture: Mandalorian. Cost: ~30,000+ credits, Physical And Technical Specifications: Structure: Beskar; Durasteel; Duraplast; Alum; Stygian-triprismatic polymer. Weight: 22 lbs. Inscriptions: Personalized runes and glyphs. Other Markings: Custom paint schemes; Personal sigils. Usage And History: Purpose: Protection; Identification as a Mandalorian Affiliation: Mandalorians. Fairly Typical Mandalorian Double Holster; All Mandalorian Carry Double Pistols. Female Mandalorian Armor (turnaround). The specific design of Mandalorian armor evolved over time, gaining more sophisticated features over the years, including the incorporation of advanced helmet heads-up displays, and armor-mounted weapon systems such as flamethrowers and wrist rocket launchers. However, one of the armor's most lasting features was the T-shaped visor that adorned the helmet's face across its various incarnations. Numerous materials were employed in the creation of Mandalorian armor through the millennia, from alum and durasteel, to stygian-triprismatic polymer and the nearly indestructible beskar iron. Mandalorian armor forged from beskar was highly prized for its incredible resilience, and while sets of armor were often passed down from one generation to the next, beskar armor was considered the most valuable. The appearance of a Mandalorian's armor was largely up to the individual, as the highly independent Mandalorian people customized their armor with different colored paint schemes, clan and unit sigils, personalized glyphs, or other marking patterns in accordance to their own tastes. History "A warrior is more than his armor." - Mandalorian proverb. Mandalorian Armor Pattern. The design of Mandalorian armor changed a great deal in the seven millennia after the Taung first settled the planet Mandalore. The first, widely recognizable version was the Crusader Armor, which was the signature armor worn by the Mandalorian Crusaders led by Mandalore the Indomitable during the Great Sith War. It had a jagged, organic form that varied from soldier to soldier. The design of Crusader Armor was centered on defending its wearer during melee combat, which the Mandalorians considered the most honorable form of battle. During Mandalore the Ultimate's reign as Mandalore, the Neo-Crusader armor was designed by Cassus Fett for use in the Mandalorian Wars to foster a sense of unity among the many disparate species being recruited into the Neo-Crusader movement. By the invasion of Taris, the Neo-Crusaders' beliefs had spread far and wide among the Mandalorian clans and the armor all but replaced the earlier, more individualized suits. Neo-Crusader armor came in four colors, each corresponding to a rank; Silver for veterans on the front line, gold for Field Marshals, crimson for Rally Masters and blue for all others. Later in the war, new armors were developed for use by special units such as the Neo-Crusader Shock Troopers. During the time of the Cold War, a proxy conflict between the Sith Empire and Galactic Republic, both Mandalorian armors and weaponry were seen in the hands of Outer Rim pirates. Eventually, someone was assigned to discover the source of the materials. Millennia later, the Mandalorian Supercommando armor was developed to replace the older designs which were now referred to as Mandalorian Shock Trooper Armor. It was no longer full-body armor, but partial armor that left limbs almost completely undefended, and focused its strength on the vital areas such as the torso, head, and groin. The new armor was a collection of blast-resistant plates, made from Mandalorian iron or duraplast, which were attached to a waterproof, armorweave flight suit. A liner shirt with a micro energy field projector and two layers of ceramic plates greatly improved protection around the chest, back, and stomach. This careful layering of segmented armor plates ensured mobility, which could be further increased by wearing a jetpack. The Mandalorians began to see the value of extra weapons mounted on the suit, and so simple dart shooters, grappling wires, wrist-mounted rocket launchers and flamethrowers were added to the overall assault capabilities of a Mandalorian Supercommando. The classic Mandalorian design could also be seen in the armor of clone troopers, and evolved from the basic clone trooper and Katarn-class commando armor specs to those of the armor of Imperial stormtroopers and the Emperor's Royal Guard. The ARC troopers and a few commanders wore kamas, long, skirt-like belt spats, from their waists, which were parts of older Mandalorian armor designs and often contained pockets for hidden weapons. Some Mandalorians such as Goran Beviin, Fi Skirata and Isabet Reau were known to wear kamas. During the Galactic Civil War, the Death Watch colluded with Black Sun to manufacture Crusader MK III armor in their bunker on Endor. This was a Mandalorian armor variant made from alum and they produced two different versions of it, one to sell to the Empire and one to sell to the Rebel Alliance. By the Second Imperial Civil War, Mandalorian armor, such as that worn by Hondo Karr and Tes Vevec, had taken on a more segmented appearance, providing the wearer with maximum coverage and mobility. Design "We Mando boys like to show we've been in action. Anyway, this is top-grade beskar - Full density, two percent ciridium, no fancy lamination or carbon-alloy." "Does all that mean it's heavy?" "Yeah. Very heavy. Heavy is best." "Explains why you're so short then." - Kal Skirata and Nyreen Vollen. Throughout Mandalorian history, three major features remained constant in Mandalorian armor design: The wearer was protected from the majority of blaster fire. Armor made of Mandalorian iron, which could also deflect blaster bolts, was lightsaber-resistant. The helmets almost always possessed a T-shaped visor and a sophisticated heads-up display (HUD). Mandalorian warriors decorated their armor to reflect personal accomplishments, clan affiliation, or simply personal preference. They often repainted their armor to reflect rank, clan, and possibly the current terrain. They also painted their armor in the traditional colors that represented specific causes the individual might currently be undertaking. The colors, however, did not always have a meaning; sometimes they were just colors that the particular Mandalorian liked. Some Mandalorians wore pieces of armor to honor relatives, both dead and alive. As of the Clone Wars, these colors were known to have significance: Gray: Mourning a lost love Red: Honoring a parent Black: Justice Gold: Vengeance Green: Duty Blue: Reliability Orange: A lust for life White: A new start Mandalorian armor was traditionally made out of almost indestructible Mandalorian iron (beskar), but this was rare and expensive, so many Mandalorians, such as Jango and Boba Fett, opted for less durable materials instead, such as durasteel or duraplast. The Galactic Empire mined much of the beskar off of the surface of Mandalore, so for a time it was nearly impossible to get any. However, the Yuuzhan Vong blasted craters deep into Mandalore that were later found to have opened up several new beskar mines. The name for the armor in Mandalorian, beskar'gam, meant "iron skin" or "iron carapace" (for Mando members without fleshy skin), because Mandalorian iron was a crucial part of the armor design for millennia, until just before the Clone Wars. The secret of producing armor from Mandalorian iron was kept within the Mandalorian clans for years. Some Mandalorians would also wear cloaks outside their armor. The helmet served as the control center for most of the suit's abilities. A rangefinder attached to the armored helmet was a common upgrade and could track up to thirty targets, while a battle computer inside the helmet allowed the wearer to control the suit's weapons, sensors, and jet pack through verbal commands. The dark macrobinocular viewplate offered a variety of vision modes, including infrared. A pineal eye sensor on the helmet combined with an internal overlay display to provide tracking information within a 360-degree radius. Motion sensors, an encrypted internal comlink, and a broad-band antenna completed the helmet's devices, all of which could be linked to the wearer's weapons or their personal starship. The helmet could also act as an environmental filter system, with a two hour reserve tank providing breathable air to the Mandalorian warrior. There were a few special suits of mention from the Galactic Civil War. Some of the most famous were worn by the bounty hunters Boba Fett and Jodo Kast, although unlike traditional Mandalorian armor, theirs were made from durasteel. Montross continued to wear his armor while working as a bounty hunter, despite being exiled by the Mandalorians. During the Clone Wars, Jango Fett's death showed a weak point in the armor's design that was fixed around 20 BBY with the addition of a gorget, or collar piece, to protect the neck from rapid beheadings. Mandalorian Flight Pack Production Information Manufacturer: Mandalorian metalsmiths. Model: Many over the millennia. Type: Flight pack. Culture: Mandalorian. Cost: ~50,000+ credits, General Mandalorian Flight Pack Pattern. Physical And Technical Specifications: Production Information Manufacturer: Mandalorian metalsmiths. Model: Many over the millennia. Type: Flight. Structure: Typically rockets, though anti-gravity pods have come into use. Weight: 30 lbs. Inscriptions: And Markings: Strictly technical and manufacturing information. Usage And History: Purpose: Flight. A rocket equipped flight pack. Affiliation: Mandalorians. Flight Packs Of the Mandalorian hardware the flight packs have shown the greatest evolution. Mandalorian metalsmiths have innovated consistently as the technology advanced, but typically uses a pair of rockets for forward momentum, giving the wearer the ability to power hop, and as smaller anti-gravity pods became possible used this innovation to achieve flight, with the rockets providing momentum. Styles and patterns have shown the greatest change, mostly as powerplants changed; When more powerful plants were available they were, due to wars and apathy the powerplants have sometimes declined and thus less powerful powerplants come into use for a time. Mandalorian flight pack are nothing like REF flight packs, and in fac the technology is mutually incompatible. This is actually very fortunate for the UGC, since Mandalorian flight packs are far less capble than REF combat armor flight packs. Not every Mandalorian uses a pack, and it's not required outside of the Protectors and Death Watch. Many prefer not to as they are very heavy and give limited advantages outside of combat. Top Speed: 120 mph (200 kph). Maximum Range: About 12 hours (exact distance varies by atmospheric desities). Operational Celieng: About 2,000 feet (half a kilometer). EE-3 Carbine Rifle. Production Information: Model: EE-3 Carbine Rifle. Type: Blaster Carbine. Damage: 1D6 times 10 per shot (single fire only). Capacity: 100 shots. Range: 100 yards. WESTAR-34 Blaster Pistol: Production Information: Model: WESTAR-34 Type: Blaster pistol. Damage: 1D6 per shot. Range: 200 feet Capacity: 20 shots. The Mandalorian "Beskar'gam Ori'ramikad Bes'bavar" (literally "Iron Skin Supercommando Cavalry") Battle Robot, nicknamed the BobaTech. Weapons EE-3 Carbine Rifle The EE-3 Carbine Rifle was a blaster that was modeled after the E-11 blaster rifle later used by Imperial stormtroopers. The rifle consisted of a small handle attached to a long circular barrel. An alternate version of this model features a modified scope mounting and hand grips that run along the length of the barrel. The bounty hunter Boba Fett almost exclusively used the EE-3 as his primary weapon. Fett modified his by adding a stock and an electronic scope for distance shooting, making it a dangerous weapon. Prince Xizor also used an EE-3 to try to kill Luke Skywalker as the Geh 'Dai and his friends escaped the Falleen's palace on Coruscant. WESTAR-34 Pistol The WESTAR-34 fired powerful bolts that were very effective at close range. The blaster was designed specifically for sustained close-range use, utilizing its dallorian construction to absorb more heat than a standard blaster. The pistol's expensive custom-made finish made it impervious to furnace fire. They were also small and compact enough to fit into a jetpack. Favoring agility and precision over high capacity, Jango Fett had a pair of WESTAR-34 blaster pistols custom-made. Designed for brief but intense surprise attacks at close range, the pistols had weight-minimizing modifications and were made of an expensive Dallorian alloy which could withstand sustained-fire heating that would melt most ordinary blasters. During his duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Kamino, Jango lost one of his WESTARs to the raging sea. He continued to use his remaining blaster against Geh 'Dai Knights on Geonosis, killing Coleman Trebor. Jango managed to finish off the Reek in the Execution Arena with one shot from his pistol. Jango then lost his second blaster to Mace Windu's lightsaber seconds before Mace decapitated him. Quinlan Vos also carried one of these when he was undercover as Korto Vos. After Jango Fett's death, Boba acquired two custom WESTAR-34s that Jango Fett had specially made to fit Boba. Other notable users of the WESTAR-34 were Fenn Shysa and Kal Skirata. Melee Weapons The Mandalorians use an extensive variety of melee weapons, but the most unique is the Darksaber, an ancient design of black-bladed lightsabers created by Tarre Vizsla, with a blade that was shorter than most lightsabers and shaped like a traditional sword. Its overall profile was distinctly Mandalorian with an angular pommel, hand guard, and slit-shaped blade emitter, all of which was made out of beskar. The sound emitted by its blade was also higher pitched than other lightsabers when ignited or swung, sounding more like a screech than a hum. The Darksaber was also capable of parrying a blow from a lightsaber, with the blades being drawn to each other in an almost magnetic pull. The original was passed down generation to generation and held onto until the design was fully understood and could be replicated, and now is extensively within the Mandalorian Army. Other Weapons Mandalorians operating outside of the Mandalorian Army are known to use other weapons, such as wrist rockets, rockets mounted to their flight packs, personal deflectors, mini-guns, various stun weapons (more common amongst bounty hunters and various law enforcers), etc. Edged weapons are universal to the Mandalorians, with very little uniformity. All Mandalorians are expected to carry a long bladed knife with finger guards very similar to the REF's MT-261 in basic function. Many carry various swords and other edged and melee weapons. One of the few foreign weapons imported by the Mandalorians is the folding trench knives of Terra and Terran-originated colonies. Because the Mandalorians are one of the few supreme hard-line Mandatory Carry states, it is a felony for a non-Mandalorian to be in public without a weapon of some sort. This rule can not be enforced outside of Mandalorian Space, but it's "very rarely" ignored by Mandalorians, and the donning of at least light armor is absolute; No Mandalorian has ever been seen outside of Mandalorian space or their own home or camp without armor. Robots And Power Armor The Mandalorians do not use power armor. The technology has been available in the Rakatan Galaxy for hundreds of megaannum, but the Mandalorians hadn't seen a use for it by the time of the UGC's arrival, and still don't. The Mandalorians consider it a cost/benefit issue, one powered armor costs as much as 2 and a half standard armors, and Rakatan technology hasn't improved the warrior's capabilities enough to make it worth the extra cost (despite the fact that the REF has demonstrated their Rifleman Power Armor is infinitely superior, and even the third-rate Ultimax is as powerful as 6 Mandalorins, at only slightly more than twice the cost). Robots, on the other hand, have seen some Mandalorian use. The AT-PT in particular was used extensively by the Mandalorian Army, but the REF was shocked to discover they had developed a battloid version of the VF-1 Veritech, the Mandalorian Battle Robot ("Beskar'gam Ori'ramikad Bes'bavar" literally "Iron Skin Supercommando Cavalry"). Nicknamed the BobaTech, the Mandalorians themselves don't quite know how it came to existence; A Mandalorian of the FETT Clan claimed she'd seen it "in a dream," and set about to figure out how her dream had functioned. After 20 years of development, she had the basic frame ready, with many of the subordinate components (mainly the armor plate and weapons systems) imperfect. This development was particularly shocking to the REF, since the program would have started a full generation before the UGC revealed its existence, and a further five years before the REF revealed the transformable nature of the Veritechs- And to date, no VF-1 has been seen in the Rakatan Galaxy, nor were any in front line service anywhere in the REF at this point. Further, the GIB was extensively active throughout the Rakatan Galaxy and her satellite galaxies, and as such "should have" detected the robot's existence. That they didn't showed exceptional secrecy by the Mandalorians- so much so that even Mandalorians didn't know of its existence, only the 200-ish Mandalorians working on the program and the Mand'alors (of which there were three, Jerrik DUNE, Fennil DUNE, and Boba MERRICK). Only a couple hundred of these machines have been built versus the several thousand AT-PT's the Mandalorians have just in forward deployment (plus tens of thousands in various states of construction, maintenance or rebuilding, or decommissioning and scrapping), but the simple existence has the REF alarmed- That the design was aruetii was also "unsettling" to the Mandalorians themselves. Ships The Mandalorians use a few types of ships, mostly the Academy-Class Freighter as they are light enough to make landfall anywhere but can carry sufficient cargo to justify the expense of building. For militry purposes, the ACADEMY-Class Frigates are now mostly used, though these are realistically just Academy Freighters with upgraded weapons and armor (at the cost of cargo capacity). GR-75 Medium Transports are used for heavy freight purposes, but landing a GR-75 is more difficult than an Academy Freighter. When actual naval power becomes critical, a small fleet of ACCLAMATOR-Class Command Ships can be called upon. Language "The Mandalorian language has more terms of insult than any of the more widely spoken galactic tongues. But whereas most species choose insults that are based on parentage or appearance, the majority of Mandalorian pejoratives are concerned with cowardice, stupidity, laziness, dull conversation, or a lack of hygiene. It reveals the preoccupations of a nomadic warrior culture where bloodline matters less than personal qualities, faces are largely masked, and a clean, efficient camp is crucial to survival." "In five millennia, the Mandalorians fought with and against a thousand armies on a thousand worlds. They learned to speak as many languages and absorbed weapons technology and tactics from every war. And yet, despite the overwhelming influence of alien cultures, and the absence of a true homeworld and even species, their own language not only survived but changed little, their way of life and their philosophy remained untouched, and their ideals and sense of family, of identity, of nation, were only strengthened." - Mandalorians: Identity and Language, published by the Galactic Institute of Anthropology. Mando'a, sometimes referred to simply as Mandalorian, is the primary language spoken by the Mandalorian culture. Elements of Mando'a were taken from the language of the ancient Taungs of Coruscant, from which the culture stemmed, evolving over time to become something unique. Individuals fluent in Mando'a could easily communicate with those speaking Concordian. As was the case with many defined cultures, the Mandalorians had a language distinct from Basic, known as Mando'a. The origins of the language were unclear, possibly drawing roots from the ancient Taung dialects, though it possessed aspects not found in other galactic languages. Mando'a was not all that complex and was easy to learn, a great benefit to a group that often took in adults from other races. Although this was their main language, the Mandalorians were often acquainted with several others, including Huttese and Basic, and more that had been picked up while fighting on countless planets. In spite of this influence from other languages, Mandalorians preferred to draw new words for outside concepts from Mando'a's inherently flexibly vocabulary; the Mandalorian term for "Sith" was dar'gettii, translating as "no longer a Geh 'Dai." The Mandalorians also had no word for "hero," believing that being ready to die for your loved ones and your beliefs was required for a Mandalorian and not worth a separate word, though the word for coward, or hut'uun, was derived from the Mandalorian distaste for Hutts. The term aruetiise is used to refer to non Mandalorian and is perceived as a term of distaste. Mandalorians also referred to their family with the first two or three letters of their name preceded by the "ika," This was similar for children referring to their fathers, with the two or three first letters of the fathers name preceded by "Buir." Overview "We don't have a word for hero. Being prepared to die for your family and friends, or what you hold dear, is a basic requirement for a Mando, so it's not worth a separate word. It's only cowards we had to find a special name for." - Baltan Carid. The origins of Mando'a were believed to have lain with the language of the Taungs, an ancient race of Humanoid simians that originated on Coruscant in the time before the Galactic Republic's formation. The Taungs were driven from Coruscant by the Human Battalions of Zhell after a lengthy war, and under the leadership of Mandalore the First, conquered a new planet they named Mandalore in their leader's honor, becoming the first Mandalorians, or Mando'ade, "Children of Mandalore" in Mando'a. Despite this direct lineage, and the fact that the Taungs spoke an archaic dialect that evolved into the later Mando'a, contemporary Mando'a contained unique elements unlike any found in other galactic languages. Mando'a had no grammatical cases, only two forms for a verb to take, a tense prefix system, and simplistic rules for forming adjectives from nouns and verb stems. Spelling and punctuation forms were optional, decided upon by the preference of the individual speaker, "jagyc" and "jagla," for instance, were both correct ways of saying "masculine." To understand and be able to speak Mando'a was one of the Resol'nare, the six central tenets that an individual had to observe in their daily life should they wish to be a Mandalorian. This respect for the language, along with Mando'a's natural flexibility, meant that words drawn from other languages were a rarity, and Mando'a changed very little throughout the centuries in spite of the many languages the Mandalorians learned to speak, and the vast influence from alien cultures. If a new word for a thing or concept was needed, Mandalorians would typically draw upon the existing Mando'a vocabulary to form an appropriate term. Mando'a was an agglutinative language, meaning that many words were formed by combining two or more others, without changing their form, to create a new word with a new meaning. An example of this was the term dar'gettii, which is a combination of the Mando'a words dar, meaning "no longer," and gettii, the Mandalorian word for Geh 'Dai. Literally translated, dar'gettii meant "no longer a Geh 'Dai", but was mostly used contextually to mean "Sith." However, hut'tuun, the Mandalorian word for "coward," found its roots in the common Mandalorian dislike for Hutts, specifically their tendency to hire others to handle their martial needs in their stead. Concordian, the language spoken on both the planet Concord Dawn and Mandalore's moon, Concordia, was a dialect of Mando'a. As such, though they differed in certain aspects, the two languages were mutually intelligible, meaning that they were similar enough that an individual speaking one could easily converse with someone speaking the other. The dialect spoken by the Human child Sasha ot Sulem in 3956 BBY, following the girl's kidnapping and her time living among the Mandalorians on Dantooine, was believed by the Geh 'Dai Knight Revan to be a jumbled off-shoot of Mando'a. Grammar "How do I tell Darman in Mandalorian that I love him?" "Try... ni kar'tayli gar darasuum. It's the same word as 'to know,' 'to hold in the heart,' kar'taylir. But you add darasuum, forever, and it becomes something rather different." - Etain Tur-Mukan and Bardan Jusik. Mando'a was a primarily spoken language, rather than a written one, and was thus an expressive language that was often thought of as easy to learn, a trait highly desirable in a culture that regularly adopted adults from numerous races and species. The language's grammar was relatively uncomplicated, but there were elements that necessitated adjustments for a speaker of Basic, including Mando'a's expression of tense, and its gender-neutrality. Because Mandalorians believed in living their history, along with the idea that a tomorrow was not always a certainty, past and future tense were colloquially done away with. Instead, the prefixes ru for "past", and ven for "future", were used in place of the more widely-used tense forms. There was also no passive verb form in Mando'a; a verb was either active or simply absent from the statement. Furthermore, infinitive verbs ended in -ir, -ar, -ur, -or, or -er. To produce the stem, removing the "r" at the end was all that was required. Ni vorer was incorrect, but Ni vore meaning "I accept" and using the inflected form was correct. Oftentimes, an apostrophe known in Mando'a as a beten, or "sigh" was used to separate the terminal vowel, indicating the slight glottal pause of some Mandalorian accents. Other uses for the beten were as an indication of a breath, for pronunciation, or a sign of a dropped letter or letters in a contraction. For instance, the sentence "I carry a saber" could be translated in Mando'a as the formal ni juri kad, or the pronunciation-marked ni jur'i kad, since the emphasis was placed on the second syllable in the word juri, and even the more commonly contracted ni jur'kad. Dropping a terminal vowel when conjugating was quite common, especially in Mandalorian poetry and song. Occasionally, certain verbs would be left out all together, and instead implied via word order. While this tendency to forgo certain words could be confusing to Basic speakers, and make the language appear abrupt, the militaristic Mandalorians had largely assumed the concise speech common in military orders. Whereas the literal translation for "It's good" would be bic cuyi jate, a Mandalorian was much more likely to just say jate, or "good," instead. Due to Mando'a's nature as a gender-neutral language, gender was implied by context. Buir meant both "mother" and "father", just as "son" and "daughter" were both represented by the word ad. When it was necessary to specify gender, the adjectives of jagyc or dalyc male and female, respectively would be added. This grammatical system was a rarity for a language spoken by beings who reproduced sexually. To form a question, the interrogative prefix tion was placed at the beginning of a sentence. While Gar verborad'ni meant "You are hiring me," the addition of the tion prefix placed before gar would turn the previous statement into the question, "Are you hiring me?" Another example of a meaningful prefix was ke, which was drawn from the Mando'a word for "order," or ke'gyce, and was placed at the start of a sentence to indicate a command. In order to create the negative form in Mando'a, the prefix n', nu, nu', or ne was added before either the sentence or the individual word. Ne'briikase meant "unhappy", while Nu'ni juri kad meant "I don't carry a saber." When forming a plural, -e was added to the end of words ending in consonants, while -se was added to the end of words ending in a vowel. As with most languages, there were exceptions to the rule, such as in the case of gett becoming gett'se. Originally, the indication of a plural was done with an -a suffix rather than an -e, a practice that went away over time. Adjectives and adverbs were formed by adding the suffixes -la or -yc to the end of pre-existing nouns. Di'kut, meaning "idiot" in Mando'a, could easily become di'kutla, meaning "idiotic." Comparatives and superlatives were formed in much the same way. When creating a comparative, the suffix -shy'a was added to the end of the standard adjective. For a superlative, the -ne suffix was added. An example would be the word dral, meaning "bright", becoming dralshy'a, or "brighter", and the word jate, meaning "good", becoming jatne, or "best". No distinction between adverbs and adjectives was made in Mando'a, and although a non-Mando'a speaker might make out a Mandalorian to be uneducated should he say in Basic, "The boys done good", it was much more likely that they were simply unfamiliar with Basic's past tense and adverbial forms. Mando'a also made less use of articles such as "the" and "an" than Basic, generally adding them only for emphasis. Phonology and orthography Mando'a had a similar pronunciation to Basic, with a few notable exceptions. The letters "f," "x," or "z" were not used for Mando'a's own words, although the Mandalorian alphabet included the letters for greater ease in transliterating foreign words. In the absence of the letter "f," Mando'a substituted the similar-sounding "vh" combination, and the Mandalorian "s" could be pronounced in the same way as a common "z." Occasionally, the pronunciation of "d" was swapped with the more modern "t." Certain Mandalorian communities still preferred to pronounce the letter "j" as in "fjord", instead of the more commonly heard hard "j" as in "joy". When speaking, the first "h" present in a word was typically aspirated aside from its archaic form used in traditional songs and poems and always pronounced when found in the middle of a word. Mando'a possessed no silent letters, though the opposite was often true of Mandalorian songs: terminal consonants could become extra syllables in order to better maintain rhythm and meter. For example, tor could easily become to-rah, and tang could just as easily become tan-gah. Vocabulary
a'den - rage aranar - defend atiniir - to endure, to stick with, to tough it out baatir - to care, to worry about betenor - to sigh brokar - to beat cuyir - to be, to exist dinuir - to give duraanir - scorn, hold in contempt duumir - to allow gaa'tayl - Help	ganar - to have, possess hettir - burn hibirar - learn hukaatir - to cover jehaatir - lie, untruth jorhaa'ir - speak, talk jorso'ran - shall bear (archaic imperative form) jurir - bear arms, to carry something jurkadir - attack, threaten, mess with; kar'taylir - to know, hold in the heart k'uur - Hush!	liser - to be able to, can motir - stand narir - to act, do, or put naritir - insert, place, or put nau'ur - light up, illuminate nau'ur kad - to forge; Literally: light up a saber nynir - to hit, to strike oya - Literally: Let's hunt! Colloquially adapted as a positive and triumphant cheer with potential meanings including "Stay alive!", "Go you!", and simply "Cheers!" parjir - to win, to be victorious	shabiir - screw up shereshoy - a lust for life shukur - to break susulur - to hear, to listen takisir - to insult Tal'galar - to spill blood, to bleed trattok'o - to fall, to fail, or collapse udesiir - to relax, to rest, to be peaceful usen'ye - rudest way to tell someone to go away; utilizes the same root as osik verborir - to buy, to hire, to contract vorer - to accept
Adjectives And Adverbs
adenn - merciless aruetyc - foreign, or even traitorous, but generally "not Mandalorian" atin - stubborn or persistent briikase - happy bantov - nevertheless dar - no longer darasuum - eternal or eternally, forever di'kutla - foolish, idiotic dral - bright	dralshy'a - stronger, brighter ge'tal- red hettyc - burning hut'uunla - cowardly iviin'yc - fast, quickly jate - good jatne - best kandosii - indomitable, ruthless; used colloquially as noble or classy as well; awesome mesh'la - beautiful	mirdala - clever naast - destroyer ne'tra - black nuhunla or nuh'la - funny ori - big, extreme, very pakod - easy racin - pale shabla - screwed up shuk'la - crushed or broken	solus - one, alone, individual, vulnerable sol'yc - first talyc - bloody or bloodstained; can also be used to refer to meat cooked rare teroch - pitiless tome - together troch - certainly (archaic) ures - without, lacking
Nouns
aaray - pain aay'han - bittersweet moment of mourning and joy; "remembering and celebration" abesh - east abiik- air adade - personnel adate - people, persons adiik - child aged 3 to 13 ad'ika - kid, lad, boy, sweetie, darling, son, daughter, child ad - sons, daughters, child ade - children agol - living tissue, meat, muscle; flesh of an animal or human; "flesh and blood" akaan - war akaan'ade - army akaata - battalion akalenedat - hard contact alii'gai - flag, colors aliik - sigil, or symbol on armor aliit - family, clan, tribe alor - leader, chief, "officer", constable, boss alor'ad - captain aloriya - capital; literally: "Head City" alor'uus - corporal al'verde - commander anade - everyone or everybody aran - guard araniik - cordon ara'nov - defense arasuum - stagnation arpat - seed aru'e - enemy aruetii - outsider or traitor; colloquially a "non-Mandalorian" ash'ad - someone else baar - body baarpir - sweat baar'ur - medic ba'buir - grandparent ba'jur - education, training balac - opportunity bas neral - coarse grain used for animal fodder and brewing, generally thought unfit to eat	ba'vodu - aunt or uncle behot - a citrus-flavored herb, antiseptic, and mild stimulant beroya - bounty hunter bes'bavar - cavalry besbe - a slang term for kit besbe'trayce - weapons bes'bev - Mandalorian flute capable of being used in combat be'senaar - missile beskad - slightly curved saber of Mandalorian iron beskar - Mandalorian iron beskar'ad - droid; Literally: "child of iron" beskar'gam - armor; Literally: "iron skin" bes'laar - music be'sol - priority besom - ill-mannered lout, unhygienic person, someone with no manners Bes'uliik - Basilisk war droid; Literally: "iron beast" beten - sigh bev - needle, spike beviin - lance bevik - stick bic - it bines - stack birgaan - backpack birikad - baby carrying harness buir - parent burc'ya - friend buy'ce - helmet; Colloquially: pint, bucket ca - night cabur - protector or guardian chakaar - thief, petty criminal, scumbag; Literally: "grave robber"; general term of abuse Coruscanta - Coruscant Cuy'val Dar - "those who no longer exist" cyar'ika - darling, beloved, sweetheart cyar'tomade - fans or supporters dar'buir - no longer a parent dar'gettii - Literally: no longer a Geh 'Dai; colloquial for Sith or Dark Geh 'Dai dar'manda - a state of being "not Mandalorian"; not an outsider, but one who has lost his heritage, and so his identity and soul dar'yaim - a hell, a place you want to forget dha - dark	di'kut - fool, idiot, useless individual; context-dependent: can mean jerk, moron, etc. droten - people entye - debt gal - ale or alcohol galaar - hawk gayi'kaab - radio gett - nut gihaal - fish-meal gra'tua - revenge, vengeance hut'uun - coward haran - hell; Literally: destruction, cosmic annihilation ibi'tuur - today jai'galaar - shriek-hawk Gettii - Geh 'Dai Gettii'kad - Lightsaber; Literally: "Sword of (the) Geh 'Dai" Gettiise - plural form of "Geh 'Dai", can also be used for "Republic" kad - saber kal - knife kama - belt-spat Kaminii - Kaminoan kando - importance, weight ka'ra - stars kar'ta - heart or soul ke'gyce - command, order kom'rk - gauntlet kot - strength kote - glory, might kov'nyn - head-butt, Keldabe kiss kyr'am - death Kyr'tsad - Death Watch; literally: "Death Society" Mand'alor - "sole ruler", leader of the Mandalorians Manda'yaim - the planet Mandalore Mando'ad - Mandalorian; Literally: "Son/Daughter of Mandalore" mar'eyce - discovery mirshe - brain mirshmure'cya - slang for headbutt, Keldabe kiss; literally: "brain-kiss" mir'shupur - brain injury ne'ta - black ne'tra gal - black ale	Niktose - Nikto norac - back orar - thunder or'dinii - moron or fool ori'ramikad - Supercommando ori'vod - big brother/sister, special friend osik - dung (Impolite) parjai - victory prudii - shadow rang - ash riduur - partner, spouse, husband/wife runi - soul; only used poetically ruus'alor - sergeant shabuir - extreme insult - "jerk", but much stronger shebs - backside, rear, butt shereshoy - a lust for life shig - a hot, tea-like beverage shuk'orok - crushgaunt tal - blood tihaar - an alcoholic drink; a strong, clear spirit made from fruit tor - justice tra - starfield, space tracinya - flame tracyn - fire troan - face tsad - alliance, group, organization tuur - day uj'alayi - a very dense, very sweet cake made from crushed nuts, dried fruit and spices, and then soaked in a sticky scented syrup called uj'jayl. Simplified as uj cake. uj'ayl - a sticky scented syrup vencuyot - future ver'alor - lieutenant verd - soldier or warrior vheh - earth, dust, soil vheh'yaim - temporary hut made of wattle and daub, a "basha" vhett - farmer vod - brother, sister, comrade Vongese - Yuuzhan Vong werda - shadows (archaic)
Phrases
Aliit ori'shya tal'din - "Family is more than blood." Ba'slan shev'la. - "Strategic disappearance." Cin vhetin - a fresh start or clean slate; literally: "white field" Copaani gaan? - "Need a hand?" Copaani mirshmure'cye, vod? - "Are you looking for a smack in the face, mate?" Cui ogir'olar - "it's irrelevant" Gar serim - "Yes, you're right." or "That's it." Gar taldin ni jaonyc; gar sa buir, ori'wadaas'la. - "Nobody cares who your father was, only the father you'll be." Gedet'ye - "Please" Haar'chak - "Damn it!" Haat, Ijaa, Haa'it - "Truth, Honor, Vision"—said when sealing a pact Haatyc or'arue jate'shya ori'sol aru'ike nuhaatyc - "Better one big enemy that you can see than many small ones you can't." Haili cetare! - Literally: "Fill your boots"; used colloquially to mean "eat your fill" Haryc b'aalyc - "tired and emotional", euphemism for "drunk" Hukaat'kama - "Watch my back"	Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur. - "Today is a good day for someone else to die." Jatnese be te jatnese - "The best of the best" K'atini! - "Suck it up!" Kandosii! - "Nice one!" or "Well done!" Kaysh guur' skraan - "He loves his food." - said of someone who has a healthy appetite Kaysh mirsh solus - "He's an idiot"; literally: "His brain cell is lonely." Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya. - "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger." Ke nu'jurkadir sha Mando'ade! - "Don't mess with Mandalorians!" Ke'pare! - "Wait!" K'oyacyi! - "Cheers!" Can also mean "Hang in there" or "Come back safely."; literally a command: "Stay alive!" K'uur - "Hush!" Mando'ad draar digu - "A Mandalorian never forgets." Mandokarla - "You've got the right stuff." Mar'e - "At last!"; an expression of relief Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde - "We are one when together, we are one when parted, we will share all, we will raise warriors." Mandalorian marriage vows	Mir'osik - "Dung for brains" Mirsh'kyramud - a boring person; literally: "brain killer" Mishuk gotal'u meshuroke, pako kyore. - "Pressure makes gems, ease makes decay." Munit tome'tayl, skotah iisa - "Long memory, short fuse." Nar dralshy'a - "Put your back into it!" or "Try harder!" Ne shab'rud'ni... - "Don't mess with me..."; extremely strong warning likely to be followed by violence Ner vod - "my brother/sister"; colloquially also "my friend" Ni dinu ner gaan naakyc, jorcu ni nu copaani kyr'amur ner vod - Honor my offer of truce, for I would not willingly shed my brother's blood. Ni kar'tayl gai sa'ad - "I know your name as my child"; Mandalorian adoption vow Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum - "I love you."; literally: "I will know you forever." Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum - "I'm still alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal" - Daily remembrance of those passed on, followed by the names of those being remembered Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la - "Not gone, merely marching far away"—; Mandalorian phrase for the departed Ori'buyce, kih'kovid. - "All helmet, no head"; Mandalorian insult for someone with an overdeveloped sense of authority. Ori'haat - "It's the truth, I swear- no bull." Ori'jate - "Very good"	Resol'nare - The six tenets of Mandalorian culture Ret'lini - "Just in case" Ret'urcye mhi - Goodbye; literally: "Maybe we'll meet again" Sooran, shab! - Contemptuous and triumphant comment - like "suck on that, chum!" Su cuy'gar! - "Hello!"; literally: "So you're still alive." Su cuy'gar! Ni slanar Hoth o'r Star Tours me'sen. - "Hello! I am going to Hoth in the great Star Tours ship." Su'cuy! - Hi! Tion'ad hukaat'kama? - "Who's watching your back?" Udesii - "Calm down" or "take it easy" Usenye - "Go away!" (Obscene) Verd ori'shya beskar'gam. - "A warrior is more than his armor" Vor entye - "Thank you"; literally: "I accept a debt" Vor'e - "Thanks"
Other Words
a, a', or al - but an - all ashi - other ast - itself bah - to bal - and be - of cuun - our elek - yes	'lek - yeah gar - you, your haar - the; used rarely ibic - this juaan - beside, next to kaysh - him/her, his/hers, he/she lo - into meg - which, what, that, who meh - if	mhi - we nayc - no ner - my ni - I par - for ra - or ru - past-tense prefix sa - as, like te - the	teh - from ti - with tion'ad - who? vaii - where val - they, theirs ven - future-tense prefix
Numbers
solus - one t'ad - two ehn - three	cuir - four rayshe'a - five resol - six	e'tad - seven sh'ehn - eight she'cu - nine	ta'raysh - ten olan - hundred ta'raysholan - thousand
Colors
sal - color ge'tal - red kebiin- blue	shi'yayc - yellow vorpan- green ve'vut - gold	saviin - violet daryc - brown ne'tra - black	cin - white genet - gray
Songs
Dha Werda Verda: A Mandalorian war chant and epic poem, Dha Werda Verda translates as "Warriors of the Shadow," and recounts the volcanic eruptions on Coruscant (then Nortron) that led to the Taungs defeat of the forces of the Zhell. Kote Darasuum: "Glory Eternal" is an ancient Mandalorian war chant sung in Mando'a. During the Forgotten Wars, the chant was modified and adopted by the Dark Armies as an official marching song and the name as a motto. Ka'rta Tor: "One Heart Of Justice" is an ancient Mandalorian war chant sung in Mando'a with the accompaniment of drums and horns. Much is lost in translation with Ka'rta Tor, for it is a song to honor the enemy even as it declares and intent to kill them all. Gra'tua Cuun: "Our Vengence" is an ancient Mandalorian war chant to unite Mandalorians as they are about to enter into battle. It declares their intention to kill all of their enemies, and use their broken men and equipment to light the night sky.		Vode An: "Brothers All" is a Mandalorian war chant sung in Mando'a, referring to the Mandalorians as the 'wrath of Coruscant.' The chant is sung with the accompaniment of drums and horns. Buy'ce gal, buy'ce tal: is a cynical Mandalorian drinking song expressing the common Mandalorian acceptance that life is fleeting and victories irrelevant. Tradition Buy'ce gal, buy'ce tal contains strong language, and is given an approximate translation rather than a direct one. Naasad'guur mhi-Mhi n'ulu: A semi-traditional Mandalorian drinking song adopted when various planetry governments would hire Mandalorians, but ban then from consorting with the locals. This song has not been performed publicly in 80 years- The length of the UGC's time in the Rakatan Galaxy, because the UGC put a stop to discrimination against Mandalorians in their service. It is performed extensively in private, however, tacitly encouraged by the UGC to maintain Mandalorian culture.
Written Form The Mandalorian alphabet consisted of twenty-six characters. The New Mandalorians used written Mandalorian quite frequently in their everyday lives. The True Mandalorians traditionally used it to provide information on personal datapads and ship-board display screens.
Religion Overview The ancient Taung waged war for their gods before deifying war itself. But as time went on, the Mandalorians became disillusioned with the fanatic worship of war and developed a much less zealous system of beliefs. These more pragmatic warriors looked for a philosophical meaning to be gleaned from myths such as the Akaanati'kar'oya, or "War of Life and Death," and the stories of the stars representing fallen Mandalorian leaders, rather than interpreting them literally. Most Mandalorians now believed in the manda, a collective state of being Mandalorian best described as an oversoul. To be a part of the manda after death, a Mandalorian must understand their culture and act in a way that embodies the ideals of the Mandalorian kar'ta, a term that usually means "heart," but also stands for "soul." A person ignorant of their heritage or one who denies it, was considered dar'manda, or soulless, and has no place in the Mandalorian afterlife. "I hear the Mandalorians have been wanderers, too, and that they were conquerors like us, and their god was war itself. And now now they are not, and their worship of war itself has vanished because one of their leaders wanted things to be more civilized." - Nom Anor The Mandalorian religion was the accumulated spiritual and mythological beliefs of the Mandalorian warrior culture. Like the Mandalorians themselves, their religion saw numerous changes throughout the course of history, with several concepts evolving or falling out of popular practice over time. The ancient Mandalorians and the culture's Taung founders were intensely devout in their beliefs, forming a deeply religious society. Creation myths such as the Akaanati'kar'oya, the "War of Life and Death" were viewed literally, and ritual combat was waged in worship of Kad Ha'rangir the destroyer god, who the Mandalorians believed represented change and was opposed by Arasuum, the stagnant sloth-god. This obsession with battle reached its pinnacle when the Mandalorians came to deify war itself, and believed that to wage war was to be divine. However, this zealotry did not last. Over time, the Mandalorians grew disillusioned with their former fanaticism and war-worshiping ways. Mandalorian beliefs became more secular and pragmatic: their ancient myths of warring gods, and stories portraying the fallen rulers of Mandalore as the nighttime stars, were viewed as philosophical parables. Modern Mandalorians sought to derive allegorical insight from these tales rather than fact, as their ancestors did. The belief in a literal afterlife waned in favor of a belief in the manda, a collective oversoul described as the very essence of being Mandalorian. A Mandalorian ignorant of their heritage and culture was considered to be dar'manda, soulless, and would have no place in the manda after death; to be dar'manda was considered a terrible fate by Mandalorians, and a great importance was placed upon knowing and living their culture as defined by the Resol'nare, the culture's six tenets. Beliefs Foundations Of The Faith "Soon, rumors reached the Republic of worlds ruled by ferocious warriors. They served the god Kad Ha'rangir, whose tests and trials forced change and growth upon the clans he chose to be his people." - Historian Vilnau Teupt. The ancient founders of the Mandalorian culture, the Taung, formed a religious warrior society governed by elaborate laws that evolved into the Canons of Honor. They believed in the creation story of the Akaanati'kar'oya, the "War of Life and Death," and attributed the stars shining in the night sky, the Ka'ra, to the fallen rulers of the planet Mandalore. These early Mandalorians believed in a pantheon of deities including Hod Ha'ran, a trickster god viewed as an agent of the fickle nature of fortune. The one they truly worshiped, however, was the destroyer god Kad Ha'rangir, who represented the opportunity for change and growth that destruction provided, in opposition to the sloth-god Arasuum, who stood against Kad Ha'rangir as an avatar of stagnation. The Mandalorians engaged in ritual combat in Kad Ha'rangir's name to win favor with their god, defying the temptations of idle consumption offered by Arasuum. This struggle between idleness and change was further reflected in the ancient Mandalorian belief in the afterlife. Existing as a plane of spiritual energy in constant conflict between stagnation and growth, every Mandalorian who perished was believed to join the army of the afterlife, defending their families that dwelled in the eternal, peaceful homestead. Ancient Mandalorians believed that this home beyond death was the only place they could truly reach a non-transitory existence. Era Of The Crusaders "Mandalorians believe confrontation is required for growth, on the personal as well as the cultural level. War is the Mandalorian way of life, and combined with their thirst for conquest, it makes them undeniably dangerous." - Geh 'Dai Master Gnost-Dural. Mandalore the Indomitable received a vision of religious change on Shogun. One of the first notable changes to the Mandalorian religion came circa 4000 BBY. Legend claimed that the reigning leader of the Mandalorians, Mandalore the Indomitable, journeyed to the planet Shogun, and there he received a vision that inspired a revelation. Returning to the clans, Mandalore the Indomitable led his people to cease their worship of old gods like Kad Ha'rangir, Arasuum, and Hod Ha'ran, instead elevating the very act of war itself to the heart of their religion. War was revered, and to wage war was thought to be divine. It was from that point that the Mandalorians became infamous as Crusaders, a reflection of their view that the making of war was a holy crusade. Mandalore the Indomitable was not the last of the Mandalorians' many leaders thought to have received a vision while on Shogun. Following his ascent to the role after the Indomitable's death, Mandalore the Ultimate traveled to Shogun, where he claimed to have been shown a new vision. Mandalore the Ultimate's revelation led him to allow members of other species to become members of the Mandalorian culture alongside the founding Taung. Assuming they proved themselves worthy in combat and swore to uphold the tenets of the Resol'nare, it was the Ultimate's decree that they be treated as equals among the Mandalorian clans. Under Mandalore the Ultimate, the Crusaders recast themselves as Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders, adopting a new sigil for their movement that symbolized their leader's ability to interpret the will of the old war gods. It was also under his rule that the Mandalorians were certain of the approach of the mythic Ani'la Akaan, the so-called "Great Last Battle." The warrior culture later believed they found the Ani'la Akaan at Malachor V, where the Neo-Crusaders clashed with the Geh 'Dai-led forces of the Galactic Republic, only to be defeated as Mandalore the Ultimate fell to the Geh 'Dai Knight Revan. A New Spiritual Age "Unless the kid has his culture and what makes him Mandalorian, he...he has no soul. That's why I had to teach them all, all my boys, what it was to be Mando. [...] We're nomadic. We have no country. All we have to hold us together is what we are, what we do, and without that we're... Dar'manda. I don't know how to explain it, we have no soul, no afterlife, no identity. We're eternally dead." - Kal Skirata As time passed, the Mandalorians became disillusioned with the religious fanaticism of their ancestors and their war-worshiping ways. Their belief system moved further away from the supernatural, and a greater importance was placed on secular pragmatism. Where creation myths such as the Akaanati'kar'oya had once been regarded literally, later generations viewed these stories instead as allegory, seeking to glean philosophical insight from them rather than truth. The ancient gods, while remembered, went largely unworshipped in contemporary times. Common wisdom suggested divine masters were to be tolerated only if they were able to pull their own weight for the culture. The concept of a literal afterlife also waned over the centuries in favor of a belief in the manda. The manda was described as an oversoul, a collective consciousness, and the very essence of being Mandalorian. To join with the manda after death, a Mandalorian was required to be knowledgeable of their culture, and practice its tenets in their daily lives. For a Mandalorian to be ignorant of their heritage was to be dar'manda, without a soul, and to be without a place both in their culture and the collective afterlife. The concept of being dar'manda was greatly feared in Mandalorian society, and was considered a terrible fate.
Factions The Mandalorians are generally divided into five main ideological factions, the New Mandalorians, True Mandalorians, Mandalorain Protectors, Mandalorian Mercenries, and Death Watch. These factions were deeply divided against each other, and forcing them into reconciliation was a primry objective of the UGC's plan to annex the Rakatan Galaxy (a plan upon which the Mnadalorians were pivotal). New Mandalorians General Information: Leaders: "Anti-Mandalore"; Duchess Satine Kryze; Ruling Council. Headquarters: Sundari, Mandalore. Locations: Mandalore's desert regions; Kalevala. Historical Information: Formed From: Post-Mandalorian Excision caretaker government. Date Founded: c. 738 BBY, following the Mandalorian Excision. Date Dissolved: 20 BBY, following a Death Watch takeover. Date Refounded: 21 million ABY (apx), following UGC Annexation. Other Information: Affiliation: Mandalorians; Galactic Republic; Council Of Neutral Systems; UGC. New Mandalorians: "I shall reassert our position of neutrality." "The talk of an idealist." "No, those are the words of a pacifist, and a people who have chosen nonviolent action." - Duchess Satine Kryze and Galactic Senate Vice Chair Mas Amedda, arguing the political stance of the New Mandalorians. "Foolish idealists that are only alive now because they kept running from everything." - REF Spacy Captain Jasine FRHAD (T'sentreadi). The New Mandalorians were members of a reformist Mandalorian political movement on Mandalore. The group was formed after a Galactic Republic attack on the Mandalore sector which rendered portions of the planet into inhospitable white-sand deserts. Differing from other groups on Mandalore in that they placed great importance on virtues of pacifism, neutrality, and nonviolence, rather than military strength, the New Mandalorians used their engineers' technical skill and their talent for construction to forge a new society in the barren wastes. There, segregated from the warrior clans of the rest of Mandalore's people, the New Mandalorians lived in grand bio-cube cities, taking the domed city of Sundari to be their capital. The New Mandalorians disregarded the ancient Mandalorian warrior codes, and forwent traditional Mandalorian armor, as they turned their backs on their warrior clan peers and diverged from the Resol'nare, the central tenets of Mandalorian culture. A number of Mandalorian hardliners in support of the traditional warrior culture subsequently deemed the New Mandalorians as the Faithless due to the perceived illegitimacy of their peaceful counterculture. During the Clone Wars, the New Mandalorians were led by Duchess Satine Kryze of Kalevala, and their government combated the rival Mandalorian movement known as the Death Watch, in an effort to keep Mandalore neutral, and out of the galactic war. Neutrality came at a cost, however, leading to severe food shortages, and a rise in New Mandalorian corruption as the Republic severed trade routes to Mandalore, leaving the desert-dwelling New Mandalorians scrambling to feed their people, cut off as they were from Mandalore's verdant farming communities. Late in the war, the New Mandalorian regime fell to the machinations of a Death Watch coup that saw Duchess Kryze deposed, and the radicals' rise to power behind the puppet Prime Minister Almec. These revanchists heralded the demise of the New Mandalorians and their ideals, and their political dominance on Mandalore came to an end following the ascendance of Spar to the position of Mand'alor, traditional leader of the Mandalorian people. Description Society and government "Your peaceful ways have paid off. Mandalore has prospered since the last time I was here." "Not everyone on Mandalore believes that our commitment to peace is a sign of progress." - Obi-Wan Kenobi and Satine Kryze. The New Mandalorians were a reformist Mandalorian faction. Unlike the Mandalorians' traditional history as warriors, the New Mandalorians fashioned themselves as pacifists, espousing the virtues of peace, tolerance, and neutrality. They came to view these ideals as necessities to surviving in a hostile galaxy, and did away with the ancient warrior codes their forebearers had followed in the hope of being accepted by the galactic community. Instead of training in combat, the New Mandalorians cultivated their talents as inventors and pursued their passion for advanced technology. Non-violence was an expectation for all within their sect, but while violent bloodshed toward sentients was abhorrent to the New Mandalorians, non-lethal self-defense was acceptable in certain situations. The New Mandalorians looked down upon their warrior clan brethren for continuing their age-old ways as soldiers and mercenaries, believing that their traditions were discredited and that they were ultimately dead-enders. Following their foundation, the New Mandalorians established a society of their own, isolated from the traditional Mandalorian warrior clans on their cultural homeworld of Mandalore. They took to the portions of Mandalore that had been rendered into barren deserts of white sand by the Galactic Republic's devastating Mandalorian Excision, constructing massive bio-cube cities using their innovative technological skills. Hermetically sealed against the elements, these bio-cube cities allowed the New Mandalorians to live within Mandalore's inhospitable deserts, and the grand black-domed city of Sundari was taken as the New Mandalorians' capital. Many of the New Mandalorians' vehicles were purchased from the MandalMotors company, a driving force in Mandalore's economy that was headquartered in the planet's traditional capital city of Keldabe. MandalMotors-made Aka'jor-class shuttles, Buirk'alor-class airspeeders, and Balutar-class swoops could all be found employed throughout New Mandalorian society. Despite coming from a company owned and operated by the Mandalorian warrior clans, in keeping with their pacifist ideals, these New Mandalorian vessels were all unarmed. In the year 22 BBY, it was declared illegal for offworlders to carry weapons in New Mandalorian territories. Unlike the warrior clans, who were governed by a loose organization of the many chieftains of the clans subordinate to the reigning Mand'alor, the traditional leader of the Mandalorian people and culture, the New Mandalorian government was more centralized, comprised of a Ruling Council made up of a number of ministers, such as the Minister of Finance and the Minister of the Interior. The council was presided over by a Prime Minister and a Deputy Minister, and operated out of the Sundari Royal Palace. The New Mandalorians did not recognize the authority of the clan-chosen Mand'alor, instead appointing a Mand'alor of their own in opposition to the leader of the warrior clans. To the traditional warriors who resented the New Mandalorians, these leaders were known as "Anti-Mandalores." Establishing a peaceful and stable state they deemed "New Mandalore," the New Mandalorians were the first Mandalorian group to gain the acceptance of the Republic, culminating in Mandalore being granted representation in the Galactic Senate. The New Mandalorian government made all attempts to ensure the sect remained neutral and removed from any conflict that sought to involve them, though the Ruling Council's many ministers were prone to squabbling amongst themselves over decisions regarding the New Mandalorian people, and over time, corruption of the government's officials became a growing concern. People and culture "Our people were warriors. Strong. Feared! Now they're ruled by the New Mandalorians who think that being a pacifist is a good thing. They've given away our honor and tradition for peace. Duchess Satine and her corrupt leadership are crushing our souls, destroying our identity!" - Pre Vizsla, The New Mandalorian populous was overwhelmingly composed of Humans, with fair-complected skin, and primarily blonde hair, though individuals with brown and red hair were known to exist within the New Mandalorian faction. This racial homogeneity stood in stark contrast to the traditional warrior clans, in which Humans of a variety of skin colors and aliens from a multitude of species all stood together as Mandalorians, regardless of outward appearances. Further separating them from the warrior clans, the New Mandalorian civilian population forwent traditional Mandalorian armor as part of their proscription of violence, a significant deviation from the Resol'nare, the six central tenets of the Mandalorian culture that traditionally defined what it meant to be Mandalorian. Instead, the average New Mandalorian citizen primarily dressed in more casual attire, such as pants, shirts, tunics, and dresses. Even without armor, a number of New Mandalorians continued to wear traditional Mandalorian kamas. New Mandalorian garments were often white in color, though shades of blue, a color that had long represented the concept of reliability in the Mandalorian culture, were also common in New Mandalorian fashion. Officers of the New Mandalorian police force were among the few who continued to wear armor in the course of their duties, utilizing uniform suits of grey-plated armor that shared a number of design elements in common with the style of armor worn by traditional Mandalorian soldiers of the time. The Mandalorian Royal Guard also wore suits of armor, specifically designed to evoke Mandalore's history of gallantry and discipline, while at the same time setting itself apart from the armor associated with Mandalore's warrior clans. After breaking from the Mandalorian warrior clans, the New Mandalorians retained the knowledge of how to work Mandalorian beskar iron, a nearly indestructible metal ore found only on Mandalore and its moon, Concordia. The Mandalorians historically developed techniques for manipulating the iron which they guarded closely from outsiders, and passed down from one generation to the next; the New Mandalorians used beskar in the construction of their capital, Sundari, and in the city's towering buildings. New Mandalorian culture was very clinical, and tightly regimented, with elements of their warrior heritage redirected toward other pursuits or kept firmly throttled by the domineering government. While they dwelt in the white-sand desert regions of Mandalore, the New Mandalorians still held an appreciation for natural greenery, though they insisted upon meticulously trimming and sculpting the vegetation into stark geometric shapes, everything from plaza-occupying trees to rooftop garden shrubs. New Mandalorian aesthetics often favored a cube shape, and such forms could be seen in numerous aspects of their daily lives, from the design of their bio-cube cities, to the trim of Sundari's trees, and even the cut of New Mandalorian foods. Such cube-cut food was served at the Sundari Royal Palace, and as part of the standardized meals served to New Mandalorian children at their schools, along with fresh drinking water. The New Mandalorians preferred centralized education for their children, as opposed to the warrior clans' individualistic education from their elders. The most promising New Mandalorian students were enrolled in the prestigious Royal Academy of Government, where they were taught and trained in the expectation that they would go on to be future leaders in the New Mandalorian government. History Formation "Mandalore's violent past is behind us." - Almec, Prime Minister of the New Mandalorians. In the year 1051 BBY, the Mandalorian soldier Aga Awaud became the new Mand'alor, taking the title of "Mandalore the Uniter" as he moved to consolidate the Mandalorians scattered throughout the galaxy in an effort to strengthen Mandalorian space following the ravages of the New Sith Wars. Under his reign, the Mandalore sector emerged a regional industrial power, offering protection to surrounding star systems and sectors that lacked Mandalore's stability. To the Galactic Republic, however, piecing itself back together after the war with the Sith, the Mandalorians were seen as a threat: taxing trade on the nearby Hydian Way hyperlane, binding their neighbors with defense and economic pacts, and refusing to comply with the Republic's restrictions on sector defense forces. Though a number of clan leaders warned against Mandalore's growing militancy, and argued that Mandalore should join the Republic as a powerful and influential sector, these would-be peacemakers were dismissed. Alarmed by the threat of the Mandalorians, the Republic and its Geh 'Dai protectors lead a task force into Mandalorian space in 738 BBY, in a brief but overwhelming pre-emptive strike that came to be known as the Mandalorian Excision. Key Mandalorian worlds such as Ordo, Fenel, Concord Dawn, and even Mandalore itself were bombarded by Republic forces to such a degree that portions of those worlds were transformed into barren desert. Mandalorian space was disarmed and occupied for decades, and a caretaker government was placed in power, comprised of those clan leaders who had sought peace. Over time, a new faction emerged from the caretaker government, calling themselves the "New Mandalorians": though they resented the Republic for its actions, the New Mandalorians saw no future in opposing the galactic government and chose instead to turn away from their warrior heritage, relinquishing their ancient warrior codes and traditional armor in exchange for a pacifistic creed espousing peace, neutrality, and tolerance. They chose to found a new society on Mandalore, isolated from the planet's warrior clans in the white-sand deserts left by the Mandalorian Excision, calling upon their talents as inventors and builders to forge grand bio-cube cities in the inhospitable wastes. The New Mandalorians took the domed city of Sundari as their capital, in opposition to the traditional Mandalorian capital city of Keldabe, and their dedication to peace and their love of advanced technology allowed for them to claim ascendancy over the scattered warrior clans on Mandalore for centuries. For the first time in the planet's history Mandalore was welcomed by the Republic, and offered representation in the Galactic Senate. The New Mandalorians held most positions of power recognized by the Republic, and looked down upon the Mandalorian clans that still continued their warrior ways. These practitioners of the traditional ways came to be known as the Aka'liit, the Mandalorian Faithful, and, in turn, deemed the New Mandalorians the Faithless, with many viewing their alternate society as illegitimate. As time passed, the New Mandalorians eventually established a presence on Mandalore's neighboring world, Kalevala. Civil Wars "The mercenary Jaster Mereel, who became Mandalore in 60 BBY, sought to reinstitute the warrior codes. His True Mandalorians were opposed by mercenaries who argued that the way to restore the clans' honor was to topple the hated New Mandalorians and repay the Republic's savagery in kind. This group became known as the Death Watch." - Vilnau Teupt. Though many Mandalorian warriors were ambivalent toward the pacifist New Mandalorians, over the centuries, radical elements worked in secret to bring down their regime. In the year 60 BBY, a charismatic Mandalorian soldier by the name of Jaster Mereel ascended to the position of Mand'alor. In this role, he began to institute a cultural reform among the clans that were unaffiliated with the New Mandalorians, a reform that many had been calling for since the Ithullan genocide nearly a century and a half earlier. Eventually laying out a new guideline for Mandalorian behavior known as the Supercommando Codex, he asserted that the Mandalorians who still wished to fight would simply act as highly-paid soldiers, and should conduct themselves as honorable mercenaries. Mereel was opposed by the barbaric Tor Vizsla and his faction calling itself the Death Watch, a group that desired a return to brutal savagery, the instigation of another galactic war of conquest, and the downfall of the New Mandalorians, whom they despised for their pacifist ideals and turning their back on the Mandalorians' traditional culture. While Death Watch's goals were quite opposite to the New Mandalorians, the New Mandalorians could not support Mereel's faction of supercommandos, now calling themselves the "True Mandalorians", for despite his reforms, any act of Mandalorian violence was fundamentally against what the New Mandalorians stood for. The Death Watch and their True Mandalorian foes became embroiled in a bitter conflict dubbed the Mandalorian Civil War; the New Mandalorian government, meanwhile, rejected both groups and continued to act independently from them. The war spanned more than a decade, during which Jaster Mereel fell and Jango Fett took his place as the new Mand'alor, up until the disastrous Battle of Galidraan in 44 BBY that saw the eradication of the True Mandalorians from which Fett emerged as the only survivor. Though he hunted and killed Tor Vizsla on Corellia, fragmenting and scattering the Death Watch, Fett grew distant from his role as Mand'alor and the rest of his people, scarred as he was by the loss of his comrades, and he eventually took up the solitary life of a bounty hunter. With the True Mandalorians out of their way, Death Watch finally moved against the New Mandalorians. During what became known as the Great Clan Wars, the fragmented Death Watch incited war against the New Mandalorian pacifists across Mandalore. The choice between standing with the New Mandalorians and supporting the Death Watch turned several clans against one another, and Mandalore suffered through a violent, second civil war that left fresh scars across the planet's surface and many dead. The tide of the war shifted with the entrance of Duchess Satine Kryze into the conflict: Kryze, the daughter of her clan's preeminent chieftain turned staunch New Mandalorian pacifist, wielded her words and charisma in lieu of weapons, winning over several of the warring clan leaders to her peaceful cause. Death Watch and their goals were ultimately thwarted, as a number of defeated but unrepentant Mandalorian warlords accepted exile to Mandalore's moon Concordia, where the New Mandalorian government assumed and expected that they would die out. Their strength renewed, the New Mandalorians appointed Satine Kryze as their new Mand'alor, though she ruled the New Mandalorian faction initially in opposition to Jango Fett, who possessed the title among the warrior clans until his death years later in the Battle of Geonosis. As the new leader of the New Mandalorians, Kryze set about rebuilding the damage incurred to Mandalore during the war. The Clone Wars Return of the Death Watch "Mandalore is making great strides to find the leaders of this terrorist movement. They are not powerful enough to destabilize our government. We will resolve this without conflict." - Satine Kryze. Duchess Satine Kryze continued to lead the New Mandalorians as the galaxy-spanning Clone Wars broke out between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems in 22 BBY. By that point in time, New Mandalorian territory had prospered greatly in the years following the end of the Great Clan Wars. Under Kryze's leadership, Mandalore was declared a neutral world at the Clone War's onset, with Kryze even elected to lead the Council of Neutral Systems, a collective of other worlds and star systems that wished to remain uninvolved in the conflict. But while the New Mandalorians had been making a steady recovery in the wake of the last bloody civil war, so too had Death Watch. As ever, the resurgent Death Watch despised the peace-loving government the New Mandalorians had established, viewing the administration as weak and Kryze as a disgrace to all Mandalorians for their pacifist views. They allied with Count Dooku, leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, to gain the means necessary to remove Kryze and the New Mandalorians from power. An attack on a Republic cruiser by a Death Watch commando, along with circulating rumors that the New Mandalorians weren't as peaceful as they wanted the galaxy to believe, drew the attention of the Geh 'Dai Council, who dispatched Geh 'Dai Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, an old friend and one-time lover of Satine Kryze, to Mandalore in order to investigate the current state of Mandalorian affairs. Kenobi arrived at the New Mandalorian capital of Sundari, where he was ferried from the city's docks to the Royal Palace in order to meet with Duchess Kryze. There, he was greeted by the New Mandalorians' Prime Minister Almec, who assured Kenobi that the New Mandalorians were committed to peaceful coexistence with the Republic, disavowing any connection to Mandalore's warriors. Kryze arrived shortly thereafter, and invited the Geh 'Dai Master to accompany her on a walk through Sundari to display how far things had progressed since the Great Clan Wars' end, all the while assuring Kenobi that the New Mandalorians remained firmly dedicated to peace. Despite this, Kenobi discovered the threat posed by the Death Watch when the Memorial Shrine was violently bombed as Kenobi and Kryze had been walking nearby in Peace Park. Spotting the bomber among the panicked and injured crowd of New Mandalorians at the scene, Kenobi attempted to detain the terrorist, but the bomber instead chose to commit suicide rather than allow himself to be taken into custody by Kenobi. As the bomber spoke in the Concordian language during his final moments of life, Kenobi decided to follow the potential clue back to Concordia, Mandalore's moon, with Kryze as his escort. Once on Concordia, Kenobi's investigation took him to an old beskar mine believed by the New Mandalorian government to be abandoned. There, he was captured and incapacitated by the Death Watch, who were secretly using the derelict mines to manufacture weapons and armor, only to later be rescued by Kryze. As Kryze and Kenobi made their escape from the mines, they were confronted by a contingent of Death Watch soldiers under the leadership of their most recent commander, Pre Vizsla, governor of Concordia and clan kinsmen of Death Watch's founder, Tor Vizsla. The younger Vizsla had previously been a public supporter of Kryze and the New Mandalorian regime, but had worked in secret for years to rebuild the Death Watch in the wake of the Great Clan Wars, establishing a hidden base in the Concordian mines from which Death Watch could move against the pacifists Vizsla viewed as a disgrace to the Mandalorian name. Pre Vizsla challenged Master Kenobi to single combat, engaging him with an ancient lightsaber of his own, the black-bladed Darksaber that had been passed down through his clan. Despite his own skill with the blade, Vizsla was unable to best the Geh 'Dai Master in combat on his own, ordering his Death Watch subordinates to finish Kenobi with jetpack-launched missiles. The chaos of the resulting explosion allowed Kenobi and Kryze the opportunity to flee Concordia and return to Sundari. Evidence of the significant threat Death Watch posed led to the Galactic Senate drafting a defense initiative that would send a garrison of the Republic's Grand Army to occupy Mandalore as a peacekeeping force. The New Mandalorian government was highly opposed to the idea, confident that they would be able to handle Death Watch on their own, and desiring Mandalore to maintain its neutral status instead of becoming a military target in the war due to a Republic presence. Intent on pleading her government's case against the proposed occupation before the Galactic Senate, Duchess Kryze traveled to Coruscant aboard her personal starship, the grand Coronet starliner, with the New Mandalorian senator Tal Merrik and a retinue of political sympathizers. During the voyage to Coruscant, Senator Merrik proved himself a traitor to the New Mandalorian cause and a Death Watch ally when he attempted to have Kryze killed aboard the Coronet, unleashing a band of assassin probes from the vessel's cargo hold. The assassin droids were foiled by Master Kenobi's continuing protection of Kryze, along with a small detachment of clone troopers under the command of Captain Rex, Commander Cody, and Kenobi's former Padawan, Anakin Skywalker. His initial plan ruined, Merrik took Kryze hostage at blasterpoint, and called in battle droid reinforcements from Death Watch's Confederacy allies to deal with the clones and Geh 'Dai. Though he attempted to flee the Coronet with the captive duchess, Merrik initiated a contingency plan wherein he could detonate the ship's engines with a hand-held detonator, killing everyone aboard including himself, if his escape could not be secured. Amid a standoff between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Merrik, it was Kenobi's former Padawan Skywalker who brought an end to the threat Merrick posed by killing the New Mandalorian senator and securing the detonator. Once safely on Coruscant, Duchess Kryze went before an assembly of the Republic senate, hoping to convince the gathered senators that an intrusion by the Republic into Mandalorian affairs would only make the situation worse, and a Republic occupation would incite the population of Mandalore to violent rebellion. However, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine presented recorded testimony from the New Mandalorians' Deputy Minister Jerec, in which the statesman indicated that it was their government's pride that brought Kryze before the Galactic Senate and that if they were to have any success in stopping the Death Watch, the New Mandalorians would need Republic assistance. Unknown to nearly all involved, the evidence had been doctored from Jerec's original statement; Kryze's existing relationship with the Deputy Minister made her question the validity of his apparent testimony, but when she demanded to speak with him, Chancellor Palpatine informed the Duchess that Jerec had been killed in a Death Watch bombing on Kalevala the day prior. On that solemn note, the senatorial session was adjourned and the vote on the resolution was scheduled for the following day. Duchess Kryze left the Senate Building, only to come under attack from a Death Watch assassin sent to Coruscant with orders to terminate her life by Pre Vizsla. Her airspeeder was destroyed and her pilot killed, but Kryze managed to escape the ordeal physically unharmed. As an unexpected result of the attack, the Senate decided that the Death Watch threat required more immediate action, and elected to move up the vote, passing a resolution that would see Republic troops departing for Mandalore the following morning. At the same time, Prime Minister Almec had dispatched a New Mandalorian scout to Concordia, who was able to ascertain that the Death Watch was indeed assembling an army in preparation for the Republic's arrival. A shrewd politician, Almec was able to correctly deduce the Death Watch's plan from the scout's report: instigating a conflict with the Republic, the Death Watch would gain the populace's support by appearing to be liberators against an oppressive off-world occupation the likes of which Mandalore had not endured since the end of the Mandalorian Excision. Even with this knowledge, however, there was little he could do on his own, and instead he put his faith in Kryze's ability to convince the Senate to see reason. On Coruscant, Kryze met with Davu Golec from the Republic Ministry of Intelligence. A supporter of Kryze and the New Mandalorian government, Golec had discovered that Jerec's presented testimony had been falsified, and turned over the original recording to Kryze before being gunned down by the Death Watch assassin still targeting the Duchess. A misunderstanding at the scene of the crime on the part of the Coruscant Security Force led to the belief that Kryze had been responsible for Golec's death, and she was forced to flee when CSF attempted to take her into custody. Kryze contacted Obi-Wan Kenobi for assistance while on the run, and together they passed along the true recording to Senator Padmae Amidala of Naboo so that she could present the findings to the senate. In light of the newfound evidence, the Senate ordered an emergency session, during which the earlier approval of the resolution was overturned and the Republic intervention force was decommissioned. Kryze was also cleared of all wrong-doing when it was discovered that Death Watch was responsible for Davu Golec's death. Although the Death Watch's plan had been foiled, Pre Vizsla contemplated attacking the New Mandalorians with his assembled army regardless, but was persuaded against such action by Count Dooku; Dooku reasoned that without the backing of the Mandalorian people, any attempt to claim power by force would be met with failure, just as they had for the previous incarnations of Death Watch during the last wars. Due to Kryze's victory in the Galactic Senate, Mandalore was allowed to uphold its neutral status and remain out of the Clone Wars. Defeated, Death Watch was later driven from the Mandalore system, becoming a nomadic band of Mandalorian outlaws wandering the galaxy. Corruption And Conspiracy "I'm afraid our neutrality has caused our people to suffer. The war between the Separatists and the Republic rages across our galaxy. This caused trade routes to be closed to Mandalore, and has forced us to turn to a black market filled with corruption." - Almec, speaking before the New Mandalorian Ruling Council. Despite the successes of Duchess Satine Kryze in allowing Mandalore to remain out of the galactic war, peace came at a price for the New Mandalorians. With their declaration that Mandalore would remain a neutral entity, much of the Republic's hierarchy viewed the New Mandalorians now on the outside of Republic concerns; Republic trade routes to Mandalore were largely shut down and re-prioritized elsewhere. Having isolated themselves from Mandalore's farming communities in the verdant parts of Mandalore left unscathed by the Mandalorian Excision, the New Mandalorians began to suffer from food shortages without Republic aid, leaving many of the faction's citizens starving. In an effort to remedy the situation, Prime Minister Almec took it upon himself to establish a black market trade network in secret, going against the wishes of Duchess Kryze in order to get the supplies the New Mandalorian people so desperately needed. Sick from tea imports, New Mandalorian children flocked to Sundari hospitals seeking medical treatment The illegal intake of supplies to Sundari came at a dangerous cost: Moogan smugglers arrived in Sundari, bribing their way passed customs officials in order to unload shipments of Ardees Beverage tea. Looking to increase their total profits from the shipment, the Moogans diluted the tea with slabin from a warehouse at Sundari's docks, but instead of a harmless mixture, the slabin dosage was incorrectly calculated, contaminating the tea. The tea was distributed to a number of New Mandalorian schools, resulting in hundreds of children becoming violently ill, many of whom were taken to a recently opened hospital in Sundari. The hospital was set to be toured that day by Duchess Kryze and her offworld guest, Senator Padmé Amidala, visiting Sundari to discuss the reinstitution of Republic aid to the New Mandalorian people, and upon discovering the outbreak of poisoned youths, Kryze and Amidala set out to discover the source of the illness plaguing the New Mandalorians sect's schoolchildren. Upon visiting one school that had been affected, the two politicians discovered the Ardees bottled tea to be the source of the poison, and traced the shipment back to the Sundari warehouse out of which the Moogan smugglers were operating. Following a brief shootout between the smugglers and several members of the Mandalorian Royal Guard, the operation was dismantled and an antidote was provided to the hospitalized children, though many New Mandalorian children had already succumbed to the contaminated drinks and died as a result. Prime Minister Almec was confronted by Kryze at the conclusion of her investigation, though she did not yet know of his involvement, and in an effort to ease her concerns, he assured the Duchess that he intended to form a committee to look into the corruption lurking amongst the New Mandalorians' officials, but this did little to quell Kryze's misgivings. Instead, the Duchess requested a member of the Geh 'Dai Order come to Mandalore in order to help stop the black market trade network, and lecture against the perils of corruption at the Royal Academy of Government. Agreeing to the request, the Geh 'Dai Council dispatched Geh 'Dai Padawan Ahsoka Tano to Mandalore. Arriving in Sundari, Tano lectured for days at Sundari's Royal Academy, speaking on the subject of corruption among government leadership, and the duty of the common citizen to ensure lawful behavior among society's rulers. Taking the Geh 'Dai's words to heart, a group of New Mandalorian cadets aware of the city's food shortages, Amis, Lagos, Soniee, and Duchess Kryze's own nephew, Korkie, decided to investigate Sundari's warehouse district for any signs of misconduct. Infiltrating the facility, the four New Mandalorian youths discovered a government warehouse being used to store black market goods, and a secret meeting between a group of New Mandalorian officers, several Gotal smugglers, and an unknown being draped in a concealing cloak. They informed Duchess Kryze of the meeting they had witnessed, only to be met with a warning of caution. Instead, the cadets turn to Prime Minister Almec with their find, unaware that he was in fact the cloaked man from the warehouse. Fearing the repercussions of his discovery, Almec moved against the cadets and had them arrested by the New Mandalorian Secret Service, along with their Geh 'Dai ally Padawan Tano, and even the Duchess herself. He attempted to have the Duchess sign a confession of conspiracy, incriminating herself as the one responsible for the black market network, going so far as to use a shock collar as a means of persuading her. Kryze would not yield, and soon after, Tano and the cadets fought back, managing to overpower Almec and his guards until he could be fitted with a shock collar himself, forcing the Prime Minister to surrender. Almec and his conspirators were placed under arrest and subsequently imprisoned, having been found guilty on charges of corruption by Sundari's courts. Almec was replaced as Prime Minister of the New Mandalorians by Armatan, the former New Mandalorian Minister of the Interior, while the black market trade network was left in ruins. The Death Watch Coup "Listen, Duchess. Do you hear the people? They cry out for change. Your weak-minded rule of Mandalore is at an end. The resurrection of our warrior past is about to begin!" - Pre Vizsla, speaking to Satine Kryze. Two years since Death Watch had last attempted to remove the New Mandalorians from power, Sundari and other New Mandalorian holdings across Mandalore came under attack by a contingent of offworld crime lords known as the Shadow Collective. Comprised of elements of Black Sun, the spice-dealing Pyke Syndicate of Coruscant, and the Hutt Cartels, these gangsters were secretly in collusion with the Death Watch after Pre Vizsla forged an alliance with their leader, the rogue Sith Lord Darth Maul, to topple the New Mandalorians' pacifist regime. As part of a plan to exemplify the ineffectiveness of the New Mandalorian administration, the Collective's thugs rampaged throughout Sundari, overwhelming a police force that proved incapable of defending against the aggressors. The capital city's docks fell quickly into Collective control, while Pyke gangsters assaulted the Mandalore Banking Center, and Black Sun foot soldiers opened fire on Peace Park with reckless abandon, killing civilian and police officers alike. Panicked, dense crowds of New Mandalorians gathered at the Sundari Royal Palace to demand action from their leaders, only to be advised to remain calm and cautioned to keep to their peaceful principles by Duchess Satine Kryze. It was then that Death Watch made their presence known, as Pre Vizsla publicly pledged to do what Kryze could not: defend the New Mandalorians against the crime syndicates and keep Sundari safe. At the docks of Sundari, Death Watch troops subdued the Black Sun and Pyke forces holding the dock workers captive, freeing the grateful New Mandalorians and taking the criminals into custody. In Peace Park, Pre Vizsla's loyal lieutenant Bo-Katan and her handpicked unit known as the Nite Owls rescued a number of New Mandalorian children from Black Sun footsoldiers, binding the gangsters with fibercord, while Vizsla himself apprehended a team of Pyke thugs led by Darth Maul's Sith apprentice, Savage Opress, as they attempted to flee the pilfered Mandalore Banking Center. The Collective had played the role of villains to be vanquished by the Death Watch well, and as the Mandalorian warriors triumphed over the offworld gangsters, the New Mandalorian populous applauded their efforts and lauded the Death Watch as saviors. With the fervent support of the New Mandalorian people, Pre Vizsla marched on the Royal Palace with a cadre of Death Watch soldiers, deposing and imprisoning Duchess Kryze and her supporters, going so far as to kill those officials who refused to side with him. Vizsla declared himself the new Prime Minister, replacing Armatan, while claiming the title of Mand'alor of the New Mandalorians. His ambitions met, Vizsla turned on his Sith allies and had both Darth Maul and his apprentice, Savage Opress, jailed. However, the two Sith broke free of their confines shortly after, and came across the captive former Prime Minister Almec within the Sundari prison complex; deciding the deposed politician would make a suitable, more malleable replacement for Vizsla, Maul and Opress broke free of the prison with Almec in tow, storming the Royal Palace. There, Maul challenged Vizsla to a duel for leadership, and despite a furious show of skill and force from Vizsla, Maul emerged triumphant, beheading Vizsla and claiming the right to succeed him as leader of Death Watch. While Vizsla's lieutenant Bo-Katan and a squad of other Death Watch soldiers refused to kneel to a non-Mandalorian, fleeing the palace amidst a hail of blasterfire, many of Vizsla's former troops bowed to the victorious Sith Lord and accepted Maul as their new Secret Mandalore. By Maul's new authority, Almec was reinstituted as Prime Minister of the New Mandalorians, serving as a public face and puppet ruler behind which Maul could reign in secret, his presence unknown to the people of Mandalore beyond the ranks of Death Watch. With his position returned, Almec spoke before a gathering of the New Mandalorian people, detailing a story in which Duchess Kryze had been responsible for Vizsla's murder and that it had been Vizsla's last wish for Almec to return to office as Prime Minister in order to attend to the plights of the populous in his absence. Stating that it was in accordance with Vizsla's last wishes, Almec also assuring the New Mandalorians that Vizsla's goals of remilitarization would live on. Further conflict broke out when Bo-Katan and the Death Watch troops that had turned their backs on Darth Maul attempted to free Duchess Kryze from her confines and flee the city. Though they were successful in reaching Sundari's outer docks, Maul's loyal Mandalorian super commandos overtook and recaptured Kryze before she could do anything more than send a request for aid to Obi-Wan Kenobi at the Geh 'Dai Temple on Coruscant. Knowing the Republic would be unable to send official aid to deal with the Death Watch threat due to Mandalore's neutrality, Kenobi journeyed to the Outer Rim world alone and in disguise, sneaking into Sundari in order to free his former lover. This rescue attempt was as doomed to failure as the first, as Kenobi's starship was destroyed and he was apprehended along with Kryze by a vengeful Darth Maul. Taken back to the palace, Maul killed Kryze before Kenobi's eyes in recompense for the grievous injuries the Geh 'Dai Master had inflicted upon him more than a decade prior. Rather than kill Kenobi outright, Maul instead chose to have him thrown into prison to live with the grief of Kryze's death, but before Kenobi could ever reach his intended jail cell, he was rescued by Bo-Katan and her faction of Death Watch. Bo-Katan rushed the Geh 'Dai Master out of Sundari and off of Mandalore amid a heated battle between her Death Watch soldiers and their former comrades that were now loyal to Darth Maul. Concurrent to Kenobi's escape was the arrival of Darth Sidious, who had sensed the whereabouts of his one-time apprentice Darth Maul, and traveled to Mandalore in order to confront him over a breach of the Sith Order's Rule of Two. In Sundari's Royal Palace, the Dark Lord of the Sith faced off against Maul and Savage Opress, in a lightsaber duel that saw the death of the Opress and the subjugation of Maul at Sidious's hands, though Maul was spared in order to serve the Dark Lord's own future purposes. Decline "However, from this point on, Mandalore will be strong, and we will be known as the warriors we were always meant to be!" - Almec, reinstated Prime Minister of the New Mandalorians, addressing his people. Backed by the criminal forces of the Shadow Collective, the Death Watch's coup proved to be too much for the New Mandalorians. Their government fell in the face of Death Watch's rise, while the Mandalorian revanchists eventually put an end to the New Mandalorians as a faction. Mandalore's position in the Clone Wars changed with the arrival of Spar on Mandalore. The former Republic ARC trooper, previously known as Alpha-02, deserted the Grand Army and fled from Kamino before the start of the Clone Wars. Traveling the galaxy as a mercenary, he came to Mandalore following the death of Jango Fett on Geonosis, and there he met a local constable and clan chieftain by the name of Fenn Shysa. Shysa, who saw Jango Fett as a symbol of strength for Mandalore, persuaded the clone to act as Fett's heir and take up the vacant role of Mand'alor. Spar did, becoming "Mandalore the Resurrector," and forging a new army of supercommandos in the image of the fallen True Mandalorians which he dubbed the Mandalorian Protectors. Spar won out over the broken New Mandalorians, and overturned the New Mandalorians' position of neutrality, instead allying Mandalore with the Confederacy of Independent Systems in order to oppose a Republic he viewed as oppressive and the Geh 'Dai Order, whom he blamed for their part in destroying the True Mandalorians and their willingness to lead the Grand Army's clone soldiers. The New Mandalorians would never manage to reclaim their lost dominance, and under Spar, the warrior clans and Jaster Mereel's Supercommando Codex returned to the forefront of Mandalorian culture on Mandalore. Notable New Mandalorians Satine Kryze "The Duchess Satine values peace more than her own life." - Almec. The daughter of the chieftain of Clan Kryze, Satine Kryze hailed from the planet Kalevala. During the Great Clan Wars, as the Death Watch attempted to overthrow the New Mandalorian regime in a bloody civil war, Kryze's father sent her away to Coruscant in order to gain an education in diplomacy and statecraft, and be free of the violence that would eventually claim the clan leader's life. When Kryze returned to the Mandalore system, she did so under the protection of Geh 'Dai Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi; for months, Kryze was under constant threat from the Death Watch and its allies, but as time went on, Kryze was able to use the skills she had learned and her own charisma to rally war-weary chieftains to the New Mandalorian cause and bring about peace. Following the end of the Great Clan Wars, Kryze was appointed Mand'alor by the New Mandalorian people, and as Mand'alor, she set about rebuilding the damage incurred to Mandalore during the Great Clan Wars, leading New Mandalorian society and its capital city Sundari to prosperity. Upon the outbreak of the Clone Wars, Kryze strove to ensure Mandalore would remain neutral in the conflict, though the peace she had made came under siege by the re-emergence of the Death Watch. Though Kryze was able to overcome their initial schemes and attempts on her life to solidify Mandalore's neutrality, as the Clone Wars went on, her rule was marred with severe food shortages, a rise in New Mandalorian corruption, and mass poisonings throughout New Mandalorian territory as a result of toxin-laced tea imported by Moogan smugglers. In 20 BBY, Death Watch allied with the Shadow Collective to bring down the New Mandalorians: public opinion swayed against Kryze as offworld gangsters mercilessly gunned down civilians and caused panic, only for the Death Watch to arrive and act as saviors of the people, defeating and arresting their secret allies in a show of apparent heroism. With the support of her people gone, Kryze was deposed and imprisoned, replaced as Mand'alor by Death Watch leader Pre Vizsla. Weeks later, when her old friend Obi-Wan Kenobi came to Mandalore in order to rescue Kryze from prison, she was murdered in front of the Geh 'Dai Master by the Sith Lord Darth Maul, who had been in collusion with Vizsla during his coup and sought to pain Kenobi with his one-time lover's death. Despite her achievements, Kryze's legitimacy as Mand'alor was not recognized by the Mandalorian warrior clans in the years that followed, and the New Mandalorian faction was eventually destroyed. Almec "What you did for the people as Prime Minister betrayed their trust." "And you betrayed mine. Destitution leaves little room for faith. My actions allowed the people hope in your leadership. The supplies I bought on the black market kept you in power." "Another error of judgement." - Satine Kryze and Almec. A Mandalore native, Almec grew up a member of the New Mandalorian faction. He despised the traditional Mandalorian warrior ways, and took great pride in the success the New Mandalorian government had in renouncing the violent reputation Mandalore had held in the past. He came to resent the opinion of offworlders who associated Mandalore only with the planet's warrior clans rather than the progressive New Mandalorian society, and was a strong believer in the sect's pacifist beliefs. Almec was named Prime Minister of the New Mandalorian people by the start of the Clone Wars, but despite his high-ranking office and talents as a diplomat, Almec was a humble man, who preferred simple clothes and considered himself a servant of the people. However, it was his dedication to the New Mandalorian people that would be his downfall: The black market trade network that Almec took it upon himself to establish during lean times in New Mandalorian society led to Moogan smugglers importing tainted tea that poisoned and killed New Mandalorian children. When his complicity in these deaths were discovered, Almec was imprisoned on charges of corruption. Two years later, Almec rode out a Death Watch coup against the New Mandalorians in the safety of his cell in a Sundari prison. But when he was approached by the rogue Sith Lord Darth Maul with the promise of power, Almec was freed of captivity and returned to his former position as Prime Minister. With Death Watch and Maul in power now, Almec renounced his former pacifism in the belief that war would again be the future of Mandalore, and agreed to loyally serve Darth Maul as a puppet ruler of the New Mandalorians. Reconstruction 200 years after the fall of the Forgotten Empire, the Death Watch's grip had slipped on all Mandalorians, and the New Mandalorians were no exception; A rising current of pacifism and more importantly anti-interventionism had enveloped the Mandalorians in general, and the power of the Death Watch was essentially extinguished. The New Mandalorians finally selected a leader from within their own ranks free of the outside influences, a former Protector from the Fett Clan, who vowed to take the New Mandlorians back- By force if necessry, and it became eventually necessry. Daro FETT fought Gaster VIZSLA for control of Death Watch AND New Mandalorians, since it was Gaster's puppet REHUNE who led New Mandalorians at this point; With Gaster dead, Daro could have claimed leadership of both but chose to turn Death Watch free, on the condition they never again attempted to subvert New Mandalorians again. REHUNE was forced to retire, and reappeared later in full Death Watch livery. True Mandalorians General Information: Founder: Jaster MEREEL. Leaders: Mand'alor; Jaster MEREEL; Jango FETT. Headquarters: Mandalore. Locations: All Mandalorian space. Historical Information: Formed From: Mandalorian supercommandos loyal to Jaster MEREEL from Mandalore's full-time army and several prominent clans. Date Founded: 60 BBY. Date Dissolved: 44 BBY. Date Refounded: 20 ABY. Other Information: Affiliation: Mandalorians exclusively. Jango Fett battled Tor Vizsla in a final, fierce confrontation on Corellia. True Mandalorians: "The armor's right here, governor... And I'm going to use it to remove your lungs, unless you tell me where to find Vizsla and the Death Watch." - Jango Fett, preparing to hunt down the Death Watch. For two years, Jango Fett lived as a slave aboard a spice transport, until the day that transport came under attack by a group of pirates. During the chaos of the attack, Fett freed himself and killed his captors, before fighting his way off of the transport. Traveling back to Galidraan, Fett infiltrated the governor's palace and recovered the armor that had been taken from him, before demanding the location of the Death Watch from the governor on the threat of death. From there, Fett tracked Tor Vizsla's ship, the Death Rattle, to the planet Corellia. Assaulting the vessel with a starfighter of his own, Fett destroyed the Death Rattle's engines in an unmanned ramming maneuver, while he personally blew his way into the ship through the Rattle's forward viewport using a pair of wrist-launched rockets and only his armor for protection against the blast and the vacuum of space. Once aboard the crippled Death Rattle, Fett pursued a fleeing Vizsla to the vessel's escape pods, where the two engaged in a brief bout of unarmed combat that saw Vizsla temporarily victorious. Yet as the Death Watch leader moved to board an escape pod, Fett leaped after him, and their battle was taken from orbit down to the surface of Corellia. Emerging from the pod, Fett and Vizsla fought each other fiercely, their efforts attracted the attention of a pack of nearby dire-cats, before Vizsla finally stabbed Fett in the torso with a poisoned blade from his gauntlet. Though the toxin was nonlethal, it sickened Fett and rendered him unable to defend himself against Vizsla, who used the opportunity to beat and berate his foe, all the while oblivious to the dire-cats that had moved in closer and caught Fett's notice. Before Vizsla could deal the killing blow, Fett slashed the Death Watch leader across his stomach, cutting between the gap in his armor's plates and drawing a substantial amount of blood. The scent of the blood caused the dire-cats to finally attack, mauling and killing Vizsla, while leaving Fett unharmed due to the smell of the poison in his bloodstream. With the death of Tor Vizsla, Fett had succeeded in avenging his fallen True Mandalorian comrades, and finally completed the work of his surrogate father, Jaster Mereel. Legacy "I believed my Masters. I didn't think for myself. They didn't question, either; They took the governor at his word. They just believed. And we killed people. We killed them on the say-so of a criminal." - Count Dooku, reflecting on his role in the destruction of the True Mandalorians. The loss of his comrades and his time as a slave made Jango Fett a bitter man, and he grew distant from the rest of the Mandalorian people and his role as Mand'alor. With the True Mandalorians gone, Fett turned to the solitary life of a bounty hunter. The destruction of the True Mandalorians at Galidraan haunted Geh 'Dai Master Dooku for years after. While at the time he had been appalled by the carnage that had occurred, years later he would privately consider it a turning point in his life, the event that caused him to begin questioning the decisions of the Geh 'Dai Council, for Dooku and his Geh 'Dai task force had killed the True Mandalorians on the basis of a lie told to the Council by the corrupt Galidraanian governor. The events of Galidraan contributed in part to Dooku's decision to leave the Geh 'Dai Order, and he eventually fell under the sway of the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, becoming his Sith apprentice, Darth Tyranus. Having seen the ferocity of Mandalorian soldiers firsthand, Tyranus captured the only living True Mandalorian beside Jango Fett, a soldier by the name of Silas, who had been absent from the battle on Galidraan and thus survived the massacre there. With the information on Fett he obtained from Silas before killing the man, Tyranus recruited Fett to serve as the progenitor of a clone army meant to one day destroy the Geh 'Dai. Fett claimed the first clone for himself, a child whom he named Boba and raised as a son, passing on the True Mandalorian teachings of Jaster Mereel until his death at the Battle of Geonosis. Without the True Mandalorians to oppose them, the Death Watch was able to succeed in their goals of conquering the pacifistic New Mandalorians during the Clone Wars The scattered Death Watch carried on with their plans to bring about the downfall of the pacifist New Mandalorians in secret, free of the True Mandalorians' interference. Over time, Death Watch rebuilt their forces in hiding, finally emerging at the start of the Clone Wars to again strike at the New Mandalorians, and in 20 BBY, the rogue Mandalorian sect was finally successful in bringing down the New Mandalorian faction. When Spar, an ARC trooper deserter from the clone army Jango Fett had spawned for the Republic, succeeded his progenitor as Mand'alor, and proceeded to raise an army of Mandalorian supercommandos, his new Mandalorian Protectors were formed in the image of the True Mandalorians. Like the True Mandalorians who came before, the Protectors placed an importance on high moral standards, and followed the teachings of Jaster Mereel's Supercommando Codex. It was also the destruction of the True Mandalorians at the hands of the Geh 'Dai on Galidraan, in addition to the oppressive nature of the Republic, that prompted Spar to align the Mandalorians with the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars. Despite the relatively short time span of their existence, the True Mandalorians made a significant impact upon the historical records of the galaxy. The New Republic Historical Council detailed the rise and fall of the True Mandalorians over the course of the Mandalorian Civil War in their historical chronicle entitled The New Essential Chronology. The Geh 'Dai historian Tionne Solusar briefly mentioned the True Mandalorians in her compendium known as The Essential Guide to the Force, and the historical scholar Vilnau Teupt discussed the True Mandalorians during his keynote address at the our-hundred-twelfth Proceedings of Galactic Anthropology and History at the Brentaal Academy, entitled "Industry, Honor, Savagery: Shaping the Mandalorian Soul." Jaster MEREEL, Founder "Now, Death Watch. Tried to oust Jaster Mereel because he liked law and order, and that crimped their game." - Nyreen Vollen. "Montross! Airlift! Now!" "Sorry, Jaster. I'm through taking your orders. But I'll take good care of the troops." - Montross betrays Jaster Mereel and leaves him to die on Korda Six. A native of Concord Dawn and a member of the world's law-keeping Journeyman Protectors, Jaster Mereel was an extraordinary soldier and a respected man of strong morals, morals that drove Mereel to kill a corrupt superior officer in an act that saw him banished from his home. Mereel later joined the Mandalorians, and sensing a general dissatisfaction with the decline in ethics among the more dishonorable members of the warrior culture, he fought to become the new Mand'alor and bring a new ideal to the clans, beating out the barbaric Tor Vizsla in the process. With the Supercommando Codex, Mereel declared that any Mandalorian who wished to fight would do so as honorable, highly-paid soldiers. Opposed by the pacifistic New Mandalorian government, and Vizsla's own radical followers calling themselves the Death Watch, civil war broke out between the violent Death Watch and Mereel's own loyal soldiers, who proclaimed themselves the "True Mandalorians." Mereel led his True Mandalorian soldiers against the Death Watch into battle on his home planet, where his troops were saved by the young Jango Fett, and managed to severely wound Vizsla in a skirmish that saw the Death Watch defeated. His family murdered by Death Watch, Mereel became a surrogate father to Fett, and inducted the boy into the Mandalorian culture. In the belief that the Death Watch was no more following their defeat on Concord Dawn, Mereel took to leading the True Mandalorians as a mercenary army. In 58 BBY, Mereel and the True Mandalorians were contracted to extract an inexperienced security team from hostile fire on Korda Six. With Kordan intelligence suggesting minimal resistance, Mereel viewed the mission as "easy credits" and brought his army in, only to find that an ambush had been laid by the Death Watch. When Mereel's second-in-command, Montross, refused to obey the Mand'alor's order to retreat and found himself surrounded by enemy forces, Mereel was forced to rescue his disobedient subordinate, only to come under fire by Tor Vizsla himself. Montross abandoned the Mandalorian leader, using his jetpack to escape Vizsla's assault while Mereel was left to perish. Jango Fett attempted to rescue his adoptive father, but could not reach the Mand'alor in time; mortally wounded, Mereel died in the arms of his surrogate son, and Fett returned the fallen Mand'alor's body to the True Mandalorians' extraction point. There Montross argued his claim the Mand'alor title, but when the truth of his betrayal was exposed, the True Mandalorians rallied to Fett as their new leader. Montross slipped into exile, as Fett succeeded Mereel as both Mand'alor and the leader of the True Mandalorians in accordance with what his troops believed Mereel would have wanted. Jango Fett "You were at Galidraan... Tell me, how did one mere man kill so many of your kind?" "With his bare hands." - Darth Sidious and Darth Tyranus. "I'll follow Jango. And no one else." - Silas, following the death of Jaster Mereel. The son of a Journeyman Protector, Jango Fett grew up on his family's farm on Concord Dawn. His quiet farming lifestyle was uprooted when he was still only a child, however, when the civil war between the True Mandalorians and Death Watch spilled onto his home planet. Fett's family was destroyed by Tor Vizsla and his Death Watch soldiers, and he only escaped their fate due to the intervention of Jaster Mereel, Mand'alor and leader of the True Mandalorians. Fett was taken in by Mereel, who raised the boy as his surrogate son and training him to be a Mandalorian. When the True Mandalorians were contracted to rescue a security team under fire on Korda Six, Fett was given his first command role; at the age of fourteen, now an adult in Mandalorian society, Fett led an infantry unit of True Mandalorian troops on Korda Six, where they discovered the entire mission had been launched on a ruse perpetrated by the Death Watch. Overwhelmed by the native Kordans, and succumbing to a Death Watch ambush, the True Mandalorian forces suffered heavy casualties, including the death of Jaster Mereel. With the backing of the other True Mandalorians, Fett succeeded his surrogate father as leader of the True Mandalorians and Mand'alor. Under Fett's leadership, the True Mandalorians struck back at the Death Watch, hunting Tor Vizsla to the Outer Rim world of Galidraan. Fett and his soldiers put down a local rebellion against the governor of Galidraan in exchange for information on Vizsla's whereabouts, but when Fett went to collect on the governor's part of the agreement, he was ambushed in the governor's palace by Vizsla and a cadre of Death Watch troops. At the same time, a Geh 'Dai task force touched down on Galidraan, seeking to arrest the True Mandalorians due to lies they had been fed by the governor as Vizsla's proxy. The True Mandalorians resisted and a battle between their forces and those of the Geh 'Dai broke out; half of the Geh 'Dai strike team was slain, six of whom were felled by Fett's own hand, but by the battle's end, the True Mandalorians on Galidraan had been destroyed, with Fett as the only survivor. Subdued by the Geh 'Dai and delivered into the custody of Galidraan's governor, Fett was subsequently sold into slavery, until escaping two years later to finish the True Mandalorians' work and eliminate the Death Watch. Tracking Death Watch to Corellia, he crippled their ship and clashed with Vizsla in a prolonged fight that moved from orbit to the surface of Corellia. There, he critically wounded the Death Watch leader, and Vizsla was devoured by a pack of nearby dire-cats that were drawn by the smell of blood. With the True Mandalorians gone, Fett grew distant from the rest of the Mandalorian people and his role as Mand'alor, assuming a solitary life as a lone bounty hunter until his death. Legacy The True Mandalorians would give rise to the Mandalorian Protectors, but also be resurrected as the main religious faction of the Mandalorians about 150 years after the death of Jaster MEREEL and Jango FETT. It is therefore somewhat odd that opposition to reuniting the Mandalorians as one family would primarily come from the True Mandalorians opposition to the inclusion of Death Watch in the resurrected family- So much so that it nearly derailed the entire process, and therefore the UGC's annexation of the Rakatan galaxy. The True Mandalorians finally acquiesced to the Galactique's demands when an overwhelming demonstration of the force the UCG had to bear was demonstrated- By surrounding every sqare in of navigatable space of Mandalore. Mandalorian Protectors General Information: Founder: Spar. Leaders: Mandalore; Mandalore the Resurrector; Fenn Shysa; Boba Fett. Headquarters: Mandalore. Historical Information: Formed From: Originally 200 Mandalorian police, 12 former Death Watch members, and 1000 BL-series Battle Legionnaire droids; Later, numerous Mandalorian soldiers of varied professions. Date Fragmented: 19 BBY. Date Restored: Various. Other Information: Affiliation: Mandalorians (Primary); Confederacy of Independent Systems; Alliance to Restore the Republic; Alliance of Free Planets; New Republic; Yuuzhan Vong (false); UGC (loose). Mandalorian Protectors: "This here uniform...well...it marks me fer a Mandalorian Protector. An' I think it's only fittin'... that I wear it... while protectin'!" - Tobbi Dala. The Mandalorian Protectors, or the Mando Cabure when translated in the Mandalorian language of Mando'a, were an organization of Mandalorian supercommandos founded during the galaxy-spanning Clone Wars by the ARC trooper turned "Mandalore the Resurrector," Spar. Created in the image of the True Mandalorians of years past, the Mandalorian Protectors were formed from two hundred members of the Mandalorian police, with an additional dozen troops comprised of former members of the Death Watch splinter group, and a thousand BL-series Battle Legionnaire droids. Entering the Clone Wars on the side of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Mandalorian Protectors fought against the Galactic Republic as a hard-hitting shock force, gaining a reputation among Confederacy commanders as an in-demand unit capable of defeating foes in a single day that their legions of battle droids could not conquer in a month. However, due to the machinations of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, who secretly manipulated both sides of the war for his own gain, the Mandalorian Protectors were led into a trap on the planet Norval II, where their army of Battle Legionnaire droids were destroyed by Republic clone troopers, and all but three soldiers, Fenn Shysa, Tobbi Dala, and the broken Mand'alor Spar, were killed. At the end of the Clone Wars, as the Republic transitioned into the Galactic Empire and turned its sights on the Mandalorian homeworld of Mandalore, Fenn Shysa took up the leadership of the Mandalorians and the title of Mandalore. With the new Empire moving to establish a foothold on the planet, Shysa and Tobbi Dala began to train a new incarnation of the Mandalorian Protectors as a covert force to combat the Imperial presence should it prove hostile; his worst fears were realized as the Empire began to enslave the Mandalorians and strip-mined their world for valuable beskar iron. The Mandalorian Protectors fought against the Imperial occupiers in a guerrilla war for years, before finally killing the leader of their operations in an attack on the Empire's base within the City of Bone. Their numbers dramatically increased with an influx of freed Mandalorian slaves, the Protectors moved against Imperial Grand Admiral Miltin Takel and forced him from Mandalorian space, truly freeing themselves from the Empire at last. The Mandalorian Protectors under Shysa went on to join forces with the Alliance of Free Planets, first against the extra-galactic Nagai species, then in conjunction with the Nagai against their more dangerous mutual foe, the Tof. Shysa also rallied the Protectors in aid of Geh 'Dai Knight Luke Skywalker, to combat the forces of Lord Shadowspawn. In 21 ABY, Fenn Shysa died on the planet Shogun, and leadership of both the Mandalorians and the Mandalorian Protectors fell to the bounty hunter and culturally estranged Mandalorian Boba Fett. The tradition of leading the Protectors in the defense of Mandalore and its people came to an end under Fett's leadership, instead becoming a mercenary fighting force. When the Yuuzhan Vong invaded from beyond the known galaxy, Fett pretended to ally the Mandalorians with the would-be conquerors in a deal to spare Mandalorian space from their aggression, while secretly ordering the Mandalorian Protectors to gather intelligence on the Vong to deliver to the New Republic. When the Yuuzhan Vong learned of the Mandalorians' deceit, they launched a devastating attack on Mandalore that killed one third of the world's meager population before the Protectors were able to repel the Vong. From that point, Fett led the Mandalorian Protectors in open warfare against the Yuuzhan Vong and in defense of the galaxy. Description Organization and philosophy "During the Clone Wars, the Protectors believe they are fighting for the good guys, and their actions epitomize history's view that this war has heroes on both sides." - Unattributed. Created by Spar, "Mandalore the Resurrector", during the Clone Wars, the Mandalorian Protectors were a group of Mandalorian supercommandos that originally numbered two-hundred and twelve soldiers strong, their ranks comprised of two hundred members of the Mandalorian police and a dozen former members of the radical Death Watch splinter group. Despite their allowance of former Death Watch troops, the Mandalorian Protectors were assembled in the image of the True Mandalorians, the army of supercommandos loyal to Jaster Mereel and Jango Fett who opposed the Death Watch during the Mandalorian Civil War decades prior to the Clone Wars. Following in the footsteps of the True Mandalorians, the Mandalorian Protectors placed an importance on high moral standards, exemplified in the Supercommando Codex authored by Jaster Mereel. The Codex outlined honorable behavior through a modernization of the ancient Canons of Honor and elaboration on the six Resol'nare, which the Protectors heeded. Although Mandalorians of the era traditionally held little regard for official rank and preferred an informal command structure with the ultimate authority belonging to the Mand'alor, a title which meant "sole ruler" in the Mando'a language and represented the traditional leader of the Mandalorian clans, the Mandalorian Protectors instituted a more rigid structure comprised of numerous military ranks during the Clone Wars. The lowest rank in the Protector army was verd'ika, the equivalent of private in Basic, held by soldiers typically assigned infantry duties. Above verd'ika were the ranks of alor'uus and ruus'alor, which translated as corporal and sergeant, respectively. Ranks above these were considered officer ranks, and included ver'alor, alor'ad, and al'verde, lieutenant, captain, and commander. Despite the institution of more solid ranks, all incarnations of the Protectors remained under the leadership of the reigning Mand'alor. The second incarnation of the Mandalorian Protectors, created by Fenn Shysa after the Clone Wars and upon his ascension as Mand'alor, was brought together after the Galactic Empire moved to establish a garrison on the planet Mandalore. Beginning as a fledgling, covert resistance, by the time of the Galactic Civil War, the new Mandalorian Protectors had become a guerrilla fighting force against a growing Imperial slaving operation that targeted Mandalore's citizens. Their numerical strength was nebulous, as their ranks were depleted by Imperial counterattacks, only to be bolstered with every Mandalorian slave the group rescued. After freeing the Mandalorian homeworld from its Imperial occupiers, the Mandalorian Protector ranks were swelled by an influx of volunteers from the countless slaves they had set free. With the Empire gone, the Mandalorian Protectors became literal protectors, establishing a patrolled border around Mandalorian space where they acted as a home guard. Occasionally, members of the Protectors during this era would take up mercenary work, but only with the express permission of Mand'alor Shysa, and only if the job in question posed no threat to innocents. That all changed with the death of Fenn Shysa and the ascension of Boba Fett as his replacement as both Mand'alor and leader of the Mandalorian Protectors. The traditions fostered under Shysa were largely discontinued, and Fett led the Protectors primarily as a mercenary force. Tactics and equipment "See, if we can't say no, and if we can't raise the kind of conventional army that can show unwelcome visitors the door, then our only option is to be ready to do the kind of sneaky fightin' that your good selves are so fine at." - Fenn Shysa, referring to the guerrilla tactics of the second incarnation of the Mandalorian Protectors. During the Clone Wars, the Mandalorian Protectors wore personally owned sets of Mandalorian armor into battle, decorated with sigils on the breastplates or helmets denoting their affiliation to the Protectors. Green, a color traditionally associated with the concept of duty in the Mandalorian culture and a popular choice of armor color among Mandalorians, was commonly utilized by members of the Mandalorian Protectors to adorn their armor plates. On their backs, the Mandalorian Protectors wore jetpacks, allowing them to take to the air, and several wielded EE-3 carbine rifles. Their meager two hundred troops were bolstered by a legion of one thousand BL-series Battle Legionnaire droids, designed by Fenn Shysa and supplied by Baktoid Combat Automata after the Protectors allied with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. These already formidable droids were equipped with Mandalorian battle harnesses, providing a range of additional weaponry that included numerous laser emplacements, a powerful claw arm, and a large trip hammer. Under Spar, the Mandalorian Protectors operated as a powerful shock trooper force for the Confederacy. Utilizing weapons technology superior to that of the Separatists' B1-Series battle droids and Spar's own intimate knowledge of the Grand Army of the Republic from his days as an Advanced Recon Commando, Spar led the Protectors in hard-hitting blitzkrieg assaults. One successful strategy he implemented was to command the Protectors' Battle Legionnaire combat droids to attack the enemy's front line, while the Protectors used their jetpacks to drop into the middle of the enemy position, behind their lines, and strike. Assignments that took the Confederacy's droids months to accomplish could be finished by the Protectors often within a single day. When the Protectors were reformed under Fenn Shysa in the advent of the Imperial occupation of Mandalore, their resources were severely limited. The group lacked the deadly Battle Legionnaire droids it had so enjoyed during the Clone Wars, and over time, even Mandalorian armor became scarce as sets of armor were confiscated by the Imperials that took over Mandalore. Shysa's Protectors were forced to act as an insurgent fighting force, using their familiarity with the forests of Mandalore to launch hit-and-run attacks on Imperials. Instead of actually winning battles, their focus turned to harassing the Empire's slaving operations and rescuing slaves whenever they could. Mandalorian Protectors Defended Mandalorian Space With Pursuer-Class ships. After the Empire's presence on Mandalore and surrounding Mandalorian space was forcefully removed, the Mandalorian Protectors recovered their stolen armor and weapons, and their numbers were greatly expanded by the newly freed slaves who wished to join them. The Protectors returned to their risky but hard-hitting tactics they had employed during the Clone Wars. The Mandalorian Protectors acquired a fleet of Pursuer-class enforcement ships from the MandalMotors company, and established a defensive patrol with the vessels to defend Mandalorian space. When presented with a hostile capital ship encroaching upon their region of space, the Mandalorian Protectors would forcibly board the ship, capture its bridge, and deliver it to Mandalore's spaceport in Keldabe, Mandalore's capital city. At the time of the Nagai-Tof War, the Protectors owned a squadron of twelve Cabur-class starfighters. In the early stages of the galaxy's war against the Yuuzhan Vong, the Mandalorian Protectors under Boba Fett acted as spies and double agents, agreeing to work for the extra-galactic invaders while secretly gathering intelligence and samples of their bio-technology in order to discover their weaknesses. By engaging one of the Yuuzhan Vong warriors, the Protectors learned that crushgaunts were effective in breaking the aliens' Vonduun armor. Protector forces made use of older Pursuer-class enforcement ships during the war with the Yuuzhan Vong, in addition to Meteor-class Q-Carriers, Gladiator-class fighters, ancient dungeon ships, and a small fleet of Firespray-class attack crafts. Protector forces in the Second Galactic Civil War had access to a number of Bes'uliik-class starfighters, and by 44 ABY, the Mandalorian Protectors also possessed numerous Canderous-class assault tanks, QuickStryke assault sleds, Vyrhawk fighter-bombers, and multiple Tra'kad starships. History Formation "So, who's to know whether Jango had more than one son or not, or even how old he is? Come on now, Spar, it's time to be doing your bit for Manda'yaim." - Fenn Shysa. The roots of the Mandalorian Protectors could be traced back to the Advanced Recon Commando Alpha-02, better known by the nickname of Spar. A clone of the Mandalorian soldier Jango Fett, Spar was born on the planet Kamino, a water-covered world in the region of the galaxy known as Wild Space, where he was one of millions of clone troopers bred to serve the Galactic Republic. However, Spar was unique among his clone brethren in that he had somehow inherited the memories of his progenitor, Jango Fett. Knowing he would be reconditioned were the Kaminoans in charge of the army's production to find out about Fett's memories, Spar resolved to escape the ocean planet. Having befriended the Mandalorian doctor, Mij Gilamar, one of the one hundred members of the Cuy'val Dar brought to Kamino by Fett to train the army's clone commandos, Spar was smuggled off Kamino in the cargo hold of Jango Fett's ship, Slave I, as payment for a favor Fett owed to Gilamar. Tobbi Dala, one of Spar's first Protector recruits. After the death of Jango Fett in the opening battle of the Clone Wars at Geonosis, Spar journeyed to the planet Mandalore with the intent to rebuild an army of Mandalorian supercommandos the likes of which hadn't been seen since the True Mandalorians were struck down decades earlier on Galidraan. In need of soldiers for his new Mandalorian Protector army, Spar recruited two hundred Mandalorian police, and another dozen recruits came from former members of the Death Watch faction. Among the first to rally to Spar's call were Tobbi Dala and his lifelong friend Fenn Shysa, a local constable and Mandalorian clan chieftain. Shysa convinced Spar to act as Jango Fett's heir, believing that Fett's reputation as a Geh 'Dai killer could be used as a symbol of strength for the Mandalorians, and spread the rumor that led many to believe Spar was Fett's son. Spar won out over the pacifistic New Mandalorian faction that had been ascendant on Mandalore for centuries but had recently been broken by the machinations of a reborn sect of the Death Watch. As a symbol that the traditional warrior ways would regain their prominence over the New Mandalorians' pacifism, in addition to being an inspiration to his troops, Spar claimed the title of Mand'alor, taking the sobriquet of "Mandalore the Resurrector." The Clone Wars "Mandos. You ever fought those guys? I have. They keep popping up in Sep forces. They kill us." - Clone sergeant Barlex. With his authority as Mand'alor, Spar officially allied the Mandalorians and the planet Mandalore with the Separatists of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and the Mandalorian Protectors seized the facilities of the MandalMotors company in Keldabe, Mandalore's capital city, for exclusive use by the Confederacy. The Mandalorian Protectors' numbers were bolstered by a battalion of BL-series Battle Legionnaire droids, designed in part by the Protector Fenn Shysa, and constructed in a limited, thousand-unit run by Baktoid Combat Automata in Separatist-owned droid foundries. Under Spar's leadership, the Mandalorian Protectors became renowned as a Separatist shock force. While the Confederacy's droid army relied on the relatively weak tactic of simply overwhelming Republic's military forces with sheer numerical advantage, the Mandalorian Protectors made use of superior weaponry and elite training to outmatch their foes. Other units of Protector supercommandos were deployed to perform more covert operations on behalf of the Confederacy. Over time, the Mandalorian Protectors garnered a reputation for effectiveness, and were in high-demand among the Separatist leadership. When faced with Republic holdouts that their onslaught of droids could not defeat, sometimes even after a several month-long engagement, Confederacy commanders would requisition the aid of the Mandalorian Protectors, who were often capable of eliminating the problem within a single day. The Mandalorian Protectors struck hard against the Republic at the Battle of Null and again during the battle on Zaadja, securing victory for the Separatists, though the fighting on Zaadja wrought a number of Protector casualties. At New Holstice, the Mandalorian Protectors engaged the Grand Army of the Republic's 327th Star Corps under Clone Commander Bly. Though they were eventually forced to enact a full retreat, the Protectors had reduced the 327th to an effective fighting force of only sixty percent. After the death of a prominent Confederacy leader, the Mandalorian Protectors executed a blitzkrieg assault on New Bornalex, where they faced off against the Galactic Marines. Amidst the battle, Commander Bacara and the Marines earned themselves a fierce reputation for literally tearing the Protector's super battle droids reinforcements apart using their suits of powered spacetrooper armor, but the Protectors were ultimately able to claim victory over the Republic at the cost of a significant number of their own Battle Legionnaire droids. In another blitzkrieg attack in response to the Separatist leader's death, the Mandalorian Protectors struck at the clone troopers' homeworld of Kamino. There, they besieged the cloning facilities, devastating them in a move that earned the Protectors the ire of Kaminoan scientists like Taun We for decades after. The Mandalorian Protectors' role in the Clone Wars finally came to an end when they were contacted by Darth Sidious, the secretive Sith Lord that had orchestrated and manipulated both sides of the Clone Wars for his personal gain. Darth Sidious contracted the Protectors to capture Republic senator Padmae Amidala on Norval II, but in his alter ego of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine of the Galactic Republic, Sidious simultaneously arranged a trap to await the Mandalorian forces. When the Protectors arrived at Norval II, Republic troops ambushed them, and in the resulting battle, the Protectors' Battle Legionnaire droids were all but wiped out and only three of the Protectors escaped alive: Spar, Fenn Shysa, and Tobbi Dala. The three returned home to Mandalore, where a shell-shocked Spar stepped down as Mand'alor, despite Shysa's repeated attempts to get him to reclaim the title. Rebirth and insurgency "You still want me and the Cuy'val Dar to train your resistance, is that it?" "Resistance sounds a bit too romantic and hasty for my tastes. I'm thinking of it more as... an intention to respond in kind if the Empire doesn't turn out to be the reliable and reasonable tenant any self-respecting Mand'alor would want." - Kal Skirata and Fenn Shysa. Following the end of the Clone Wars and the Republic's transformation into the Galactic Empire, the new Empire set its sights on occupying Mandalore, just as the Republic had attempted during the Clone Wars. Though the clan chieftains agreed to the Empire's request to purchase land on Mandalore in order to establish a base in the sector, Fenn Shysa was wary of the Imperial interest in the Mandalorian world; as the Empire arrived, Shysa accepted the title of Mand'alor in accordance with public opinion, succeeding Spar, who eventually left Mandalore to wander the galaxy. The Empire ultimately purchased the defunct, mythosaur-shaped amusement park outside of Keldabe known as the City of Bone, and while Imperial forces worked to install their new garrison within the park's skeletal shell, Shysa likewise began to lay the foundation for a new organization of Mandalorian Protectors in case they one day needed to resist the Empire. Together with Tobbi Dala, Shysa began training a contingent of new recruits, including volunteers from the Mandalorian police, even seeking the aid of Mandalorians formerly with the Cuy'val Dar, Jango Fett's hand-picked band of soldiers contracted to train the Republic's clone commandos, and attempting to recruit the clone deserters of Clan Skirata in order to seamlessly infiltrate the ranks of the Empire's clone stormtroopers. Shysa's fears regarding the Empire were vindicated when the Imperial presence became an tyrannical occupation, focused on enslaving the Mandalorian populace and strip-mining Mandalore of beskar iron ore, a highly valuable and highly resilient metal capable of withstanding blows from even a lightsaber. The new generation of Mandalorian Protectors became outlaws, fighting a covert war against the Imperial slavers and their leader, a Shimholt known as the Suprema, who had begun to confiscate the armor of Mandalore's warriors. Without the Battle Legionnaire droids they had fought beside in the Clone Wars, and Mandalorian armor growing in rarity among the troops, the Mandalorian Protectors were forced to become an insurgent force making due with their training and what little equipment they had. Shysa personally undertook victimless mercenary work to help finance the Protectors' operations, including the race to acquire the Tessent. The Protectors focused their efforts on harassing Imperial slaving operations, attacking slaver convoys, and freeing Mandalorian slaves. Reduced to hit-and-run missions, the Mandalorian Protectors' guerrilla tactics were based on their members' familiarity with the Mandalore's forests, allowing them to vanish into the planet's plentiful veshok trees before the Imperials could muster a counter attack. The damage these raids caused did not go unnoticed by the Empire: a bounty was put out for Shysa, and it was during one such attack that Tobbi Dala was captured by the Imperials. When the bounty hunter Dengar came to Mandalore for the price on Shysa's head, he was captured by the Mandalorian Protectors and held hostage in the hopes of initiating a prisoner exchange with the Imperials, swapping Dengar for Dala. The Mandalorian Protectors' plans were derailed by the arrival of Princess Leia Organa on Mandalore, seeking Dengar for information on the whereabouts of her close friend and love, Han Solo. Organa became involved with the Protectors after stumbling into one of their strikes against a convoy of slavers, and upon learning that Dengar was being held in their custody, set out to free him and take the bounty hunter off world. Her plan backfired, however, when Dengar signaled the Imperials once he was free, and Organa was captured, taken to the Imperial base within the City of Bone. With Dengar gone and Dala still imprisoned, now joined by Organa, Shysa decided to personally mount a rescue attempt. He ordered the Mandalorian Protectors to get into position at the edge of the forest near the City of Bone, and dressed himself in stormtrooper armor stolen from a scout to get himself inside. Once he had made it into the base, Shysa located Organa, knocked her trooper escort unconscious, and freed her. Together with the Princess' protocol droid, C-3PO, Shysa and Organa made their way to Tobbi Dala's cell, where they disabled another stormtrooper and freed Dala. From a window, Shysa fired a flare, signalling the waiting Mandalorian Protectors to attack; the Protectors charged from the forest, assaulting the exterior of the City of Bone. In the resulting chaos, Shysa and the others recaptured Dengar, and stole an airspeeder to make their escape, destroying the master control unit that powered the energy cuffs binding the imprisoned slaves in the process. Set loose, the slaves revolted, while Shysa and his allies stormed the Suprema's office in order to open the blast doors trapping everyone inside the base. There, the Suprema shot and wounded Tobbi Dala before being violently subdued by Shysa; the mortally wounded Dala demanded that Shysa leave him behind to open the doors so that his old friend could escape with Organa, Dengar, and the former slaves. Though the slaves and the Mand'alor's speeder made it out, Dala closed the blast doors behind them, knowing full well that the Imperial squadron pursuing them would not be able to stop or break off from their course in time, and the resulting explosion from both fuel and ammunition would consume the base from within. Dala sacrificed himself to destroy the Imperial base and the Suprema. Most of the freed slaves volunteered to join the Mandalorian Protectors, bolstering their numbers by the hundreds, as the Protectors rearmed with liberated weapons and reclaimed armor. Shysa rallied his soldiers to strike at Grand Admiral Miltin Takel, Imperial overseer of the Mandalore sector, eventually ousting the Grand Admiral and his forces from Mandalorian space. Fenn Shysa, Mand'alor And Leader Of The Mandalorian Protectors. Protectors of Mandalore "You've got a short memory. Or maybe you were still in diapers when Shysa had to kick some pride back into us." - Baltan Carid. Under Shysa's leadership, the Protectors flourished, and the reinvigorated unit of supercommandos returned to the devastating high-risk tactics that made them famous during the Clone Wars. Following the Battle of Endor and the death of Emperor Palpatine aboard the second Death Star, the Mandalorian Protectors effectively locked down the Mandalore sector, which they patrolled with a fleet of Pursuer-class enforcement ships from MandalMotors. Acting as a home guard, when hostile ships ventured into Mandalorian space, the Protectors attacked and boarded the vessel, taking command of its bridge and delivering it to Mandalore's spaceport in the capital city, Keldabe. When not defending the Mandalore sector, the members of the Mandalorian Protectors occasionally accepted for-hire mercenary work from outside independent parties, but only if the job in question did not cause harm to innocents, and only with the approval of Mand'alor Fenn Shysa. In 4 ABY, Mandalore came under attack by the Nagai, a chalk-white species from the satellite galaxy Firefist. Shysa led the Mandalorian Protectors in defense of the planet, but their forces were not enough to keep the Nagai at bay, leading Shysa to the forest moon of Endor where he and the Protectors accepted a commission with the Alliance of Free Planets, committing their troops and a squadron of twelve Cabur-class starfighters to the Alliance forces during the Second Battle of Endor, and continuing to aid in the war effort against the Nagai. When it came to light that the Nagai had arrived in the galaxy while fleeing from the aggressive Tof race, who had pursued them from their home galaxy and began to strike at the new worlds they found, the Nagai joined forces with the Alliance of Free Planets to oppose them. Though the Tof presence was eventually defeated, the Nagai abandoned Mandalore and other worlds they had won, and returned to their home galaxy of Firefist to take back their homeworld of Nagi from the Tof; Shysa led the Mandalorian Protectors to follow them, and aided the Nagai in retaking their home planet before returning back to Mandalore. After the Alliance of Free Planets had transitioned truly into the New Republic, around six hundred Mandalorian mercenaries were contracted by the Galactic Empire to defend an Inner Rim world from the New Republic. The mercenaries captured several trineutronium power plants, threatening to detonate them if New Republic vessels attempted to land on the surface, in a devastating blast that would kill more than three and half billion sentients living on the planet. Amid negotiations at an asteroid base within the system, between the mercenary commander and diplomatic negotiator Leia Organa, Fenn Shysa was asked to intervene as Mand'alor. Though Shysa appealed to the mercenaries' sense of honor and duty to their Mand'alor as laid out in the Resol'nare, it was only when Shysa's associate Lando Calrissian stated that the New Republic would acquiesce to their terms and refrain from landing ships, informing the mercenaries that since the Imperial presence had already fled the star system they were unlikely to be paid, that the Mandalorians agreed to cease hostilities. Calrissian subsequently hired the mercenaries to aid the Geh 'Dai Knight and New Republic General Luke Skywalker in his fight against the darksider Lord Shadowspawn. The six hundred mercenaries were eventually won over by Shysa, joining the ranks of the Mandalorian Protectors before touching down on the planet Mindor. There, they became a critical part of Lord Shadowspawn's defeat, assaulting and capturing the dark Force-user's defensive fortifications among Mindor's volcanos with the help of stormtrooper defectors, before helping to evacuate innocent civilians from the area and subsequently protecting them when the troopers attempted to slaughter the civilians on the command of Shadowspawn. Nearly forty years after the Clone Wars, the Mandalorian Protectors' actions during the war returned to haunt Shysa as the Kaminoan scientist Taun We hired bounty hunter Boba Fett to kill Shysa, the last living Protector responsible for attacking Kamino in service to the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Fett hunted Shysa and eventually confronted him on the planet Shogun in 21 ABY, where the two came under attack by the Sevvets. Shysa was mortally wounded while saving Fett's life, and begged Fett to promise to replace him as Mand'alor upon his death. Unable to save him, Fett gave Shysa his word, before mercifully killing Shysa rather than leave him to the Sevvets. Fett departed Shogun with Shysa's helmet, with which he erected a memorial to the fallen Mandalorian leader on Mandalore, in the Keldabe suburb of Bralsin. True to his word, Fett succeeded Shysa as Mand'alor. Yuuzhan Vong War "So we're going to spoil their grand plan." "What do you have in mind? It'll take time to mobilize a whole army on Mandalore." "And we'll take massive casualties if we make a move before we know exactly what we're dealing with here. This is technology we've never seen before." "Sit and wait? You must be-" "They fooled us. Now we fool them. We play nice and look like we're on their side while we gather intel until we have enough to hit them hard. We pretend to be in it for the money." - Boba Fett and Goran Beviin. The Mandalorians were among the first beings in the galaxy to have contact with the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong. Approached by their advanced scout Nom Anor, under the alias of "Udelen," the Mandalorians were contracted to engage in mercenary work throughout the galaxy that was unknowingly in accordance with the Yuuzhan Vong's agenda for galactic domination. In 25 ABY, Mand'alor Boba Fett and a small assembly of other Mandalorians bore early witness to the Yuuzhan Vong fleet as it entered the galaxy. Aboard one of their miid ro'ik warships, Fett learned of Anor's deception and the Yuuzhan Vong's plans to conquer, enslave, and terraform the worlds of the galaxy to suit their societal and religious demands. Faced with the reality that the Yuuzhan Vong would see the known galaxy transformed into something unrecognizable, Fett offered the invaders a deal: in exchange for the Mandalore sector's immunity from harm, the Mandalorians would continue to work for the Yuuzhan Vong. His offer was accepted by Anor, but in truth, Fett had already begun to plot against them, collecting penetrating radar schematics and bio-samples from the organic vessel where he met with Anor to be analyzed later. The Mandalorian Protectors During The Yuuzhan Vong War. The Mandalorians were seen by most as under the employ of the Yuuzhan Vong, when in reality, they acted as double-agent spies, and saboteurs. At Birgis, the Mandalorian Protectors Cham Detta and his brother Suvar, Tiroc Vhon, Briika Jeban and her daughter Dinua, and Goran Beviin, were tasked with destroying a spaceport. However, together with Fett, they attempted to pass along intelligence they had collected to a female New Republic pilot amidst the fighting, and got her off world aboard Cham Detta's Gladiator-class starfighter under the cover of a false pursuit. Though the New Republic authorities later received the intelligence the Protectors had passed on, they believed it to be fraudulent and ignored the information due to its supposed enemy source, and as such, New Holgha was left vulnerable to the Yuuzhan Vong's attack three months later. However, during the battle on New Holgha, the Protectors saw an opportunity to win the New Republic's trust when they were informed of a Geh 'Dai being hunted by a Yuuzhan Vong subaltern named Bur'lorr. Rescuing the Geh 'Dai, a New Republic Intelligence agent by the name of Kubariet, the squad of Mandalorians attempted to delay and mislead the Yuuzhan Vong warrior, but the encounter quickly erupted into a fight. The Mandalorians wrestled Bur'lorr to the ground, where Goran Beviin was finally able to squash his throat with a pair of crushgaunts; however, the sharp spikes of Bur'lorr's armor had slipped between Briika Jeban's armor plates as she fought him to the ground, and inflicted a deep stab wound to her chest. Despite every attempt to save her life, Jeban died of blood loss, and her orphaned daughter was adopted by Beviin. Their rescue of the Geh 'Dai Kubariet earned the Mandalorians his trust, and through him, the Mandalorians were able to pass on useful information to the New Republic while keeping up appearances as loyal soldiers for the Yuuzhan Vong. Fett trained and inducted new recruits to the Mandalorian Protectors on Raxus Prime, a waste-covered world in the Outer Rim, where only the strongest were allowed to join the Protectors' ranks. Over time, the Yuuzhan Vong began to notice that the Mandalorians weren't being as effective as they should have been, and eventually discovered Fett's duplicity. As recompense for the Mandalorians' double-cross, the Yuuzhan Vong launched an attack on Mandalore in 29 ABY, and Fett led a legion of the Protectors' supercommandos in defense of the planet. Unlike the other planets the invaders had sought to terraform, the Vong intended to destroy the Mandalorian homeworld: the Yuuzhan Vong blew large craters into Mandalore's surface using singularity ordnance, destroyed wide tracts of forested landscape and poisoned once fertile farmland. Close to one and a half million Mandalorians were killed during the attack, but through the use of underground tunnels, Mandalore's rough terrain, and sheer martial ability, the Mandalorians defeated and ultimately repelled the Yuuzhan Vong. Though Mandalore's population had been reduced by nearly a third, the Mandalorians, both living and dead, were remembered as the only people to defeat the Yuuzhan Vong on their own. A Fleet Of Mandalorian Protector Arrive To Retake Gyndine. Having turned openly hostile against Mandalore, Fett led the Mandalorian Protectors against the Yuuzhan Vong in defense of the galaxy. Deploying in Pursuer-class enforcement ships and aboard Meteor-class Q-carriers from an ancient dungeon ship, the Mandalorian Protectors liberated the planet of Gyndine from the Yuuzhan Vong that occupied it, and later drove the extra-galactic aliens from Tholatin. At Caluula Station, Fett and a number of Mandalorian Protectors including Baltan Carid, a Calibop, and Bothan Mandalorian, engaged an attacking force of Yuuzhan Vong warriors, allowing the majority of the station's inhabitants to flee toward the planet below or into hyperspace. The Protectors fought so fiercely as to strike the fear of Mandalore into the Yuuzhan Vong. The war finally came to an end later that year, when the Yuuzhan Vong were defeated at the galactic capital of Coruscant and peacefully exiled to the living planet, Zonama Sekot. Further actions "I thought I had made myself quite clear, but apparently Geh 'Dai need things explained in the simplest terms. I am here for a single, specific purpose. And that purpose is to take Sothais Saar and Turi Altamik into custody. This is not Sothais Saar, nor is it Turi Altamik. I am not here to negotiate, discuss, or even capture and interrogate. No one leaves the Temple until this matter is resolved. Anyone attempting to do so will be dealt with in this same manner. You now have twenty-four hours to turn over the Geh 'Dai. At the end of that time, your Temple will be leveled, your people slain, and Altamik and Saar recovered. The girl stays here, as a reminder. Any attempt to recover her body and we will open fire on the Temple." - Mandalorian Protector Belok Rhal, after killing Kani Asari on the steps of the Geh 'Dai Temple. In the wake of the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Mandalorian people were left to repair the damage done to their world by the extra-galactic invaders, without any aid from the Galactic Alliance, a multi-governmental political conglomerate established during the war formed from the New Republic, Imperial Remnant, and a number of other independent states, despite their role in defending several worlds threatened by the Yuuzhan Vong. The importance placed on rebuilding led Boba Fett to declare Mandalore a neutral world during the Second Galactic Civil War, between the Galactic Alliance and a new Confederation, though the Mand'alor did not attempt to ban an individual's right to mercenary work for either side. By 41 ABY, the Yuuzhan Vong War-era Mandalorian Protector Cham Detta had become a bartender at the Oyu'baat cantina in Keldabe, and his one-time comrade Goran Beviin, had come to spend the majority of his time working on his family's farm. Because of Mandalore's established neutrality, when Mand'alor Fett was contracted by Imperial Admiral Natasi Daala to provide aid to her old colleague, Gilad Pellaeon, Fett took a cadre of fifty Mandalorian commandos with him to Fondor, instead of the Protectors. In 44 ABY, after a number of Geh 'Dai had fallen victim to a mysterious Force psychosis and gone mad, the then Galactic Alliance Chief of State, Natasi Daala, hired a contingent of one thousand Mandalorian Protectors under the command of the ruthless soldier Belok Rhal, to lay siege to the Geh 'Dai Temple on Coruscant in order to force the Geh 'Dai to surrender their afflicted Knights, Sothais Saar and Turi Altamik. Rhal's detachment of the Protectors jammed communications and established a heavily armed perimeter around the Temple, utilizing multiple Tra'kad starships, several Canderous-class assault tanks, and numerous other ground vehicles, in addition to QuickStryke assault sleds, and a number of Vyyrhawk fighter-bombers. Rhal publicly demanded the Geh 'Dai release Saar and Altamik into Galactic Alliance custody within thirty-six hours, under threat of hostile action should they refuse. When interim Grand Master Kenth Hamner's apprentice, Kani Asari, was sent out to negotiate with Rhal, the man went against every ideal the Mandalorian Protectors had traditionally stood for and shot the unarmed Asari dead on the Temple steps, decreeing that any other Geh 'Dai beside Altamik and Saar that came out of the Temple would meet the same fate, and any attempt to recover Asari's body would result in the destruction of the Temple. The siege eventually came to an end after Luke Skywalker, the Geh 'Dai Grand Master in exile, put an end to the source of the mysterious psychosis, and both Altamik and Saar were publicly shown to be cured of the disease. Spar Founder Of The Mandalorian Protectors. Notable Mandalorian Protectors Spar "You know that Shysa even got a clone deserter to pose as Jango Fett's heir, just to give the aruetiise the idea that we were solid again? Nobody really knew who or what was under the armor. Worked... For a while." - Goran Beviin. An Alpha-class Advanced Recon Commando originally known by the designation Alpha-02, Spar deserted the clone trooper homeworld of Kamino before the start of the Clone Wars. Unique among his clone brethren due to the genetic memories of Jango Fett he possessed, Spar traveled to Mandalore following the death of Fett at the start of the Clone Wars, where, with the support of clan chieftain Fenn Shysa, he claimed the title of Mand'alor and set out to create a new army of Mandalorian supercommandos. As the newly christened Mandalore the Resurrector, Spar recruited two hundred and twelve Mandalorian soldiers to his army known as the Mandalorian Protectors, and won out over the pacifist New Mandalorian faction, leading the Mandalorians into an alliance with the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars. Under Spar, the Mandalorian Protectors became a devastating force for the Confederacy, often doing in days what their army of droids could not accomplish in months. However, the Protectors eventually fell victim to the machinations of Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith manipulating both sides of the war for his own gain. As the secret leader of the Confederacy, Sidious ordered the Mandalorian Protectors to capture Senator Padmae Amidala at Norval II, while ordering Republic troops to ambush the Protectors there, as the Republic's Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. The Mandalorian Protectors were decimated in the resulting battle, with only Spar and two others, Fenn Shysa and Tobbi Dala, emerging from the conflict with their lives. The shell-shocked Spar abandoned his place as Mand'alor, and refused Shysa's attempts to get him to reclaim the title once they had returned to Mandalore. Spar eventually left to wander the galaxy, finally coming to the Extrictarium Nebula, where, suffering from clone madness, he was shot and killed by the vengeful daughter of Boba Fett, who mistook the clone for her father. Fenn Shysa, second leader of the Mandalorian Protectors. Fenn Shysa "Shysa led us to kick out the Empire. Didn't you, Fen'ika? A great Mand'alor. But he always wanted Fett as the front man, and Fett wasn't having it. Shysa got his way in the end, though." - Goran Beviin. Fenn Shysa was a Mandalore native, born on a small province off the coast of Mandalore's largest continent. Over time, he grew to become a well-respected clan chieftain and, together with his childhood friend Tobbi Dala, a local constable. Aware of his homeworld's history of being marginalized by the Galactic Republic, and the destitute state that loomed over a number of Mandalorians living on the planet, when Spar called for recruits to his force of Mandalorian Protectors, Shysa more than willingly joined, spurring Spar to become the new Mand'alor and spreading the rumor that the clone deserter was truly Jango Fett's heir. Shysa designed the Protectors' Battle Legionnaire droids in part, and fought alongside them throughout the Clone Wars at New Bornalex, Null, and Kamino, up until the disastrous battle at Norval II, where Shysa was one of only three Mandalorian Protectors to make it out of the fight alive, along with his good friend Tobbi Dala and Spar. Spar abandoned his post as Mand'alor, and though Shysa would attempt to get him to reconsider, it was Shysa himself who succeeded Spar as Mand'alor following the rise of the Galactic Empire. As the Empire established a presence on Mandalore, it was Shysa who began to reform the destroyed Mandalorian Protectors, forming them into a guerrilla fighting force to covertly resist the Empire. Under Shysa's leadership, the Protectors harassed convoys of Imperial slavers and freed Mandalorian slaves, until they finally broke the Empire's hold over Mandalore during the battle at the Imperial base in the City of Bone. Shysa then led the Mandalorian Protectors to oust Imperial Grand Admiral Miltin Takel from Mandalorian space, and rebuilt the Protectors into an organization capable of defending the entire Mandalore sector. His ties with the Alliance of Free Planets led Shysa to rally the Protectors to the government's aid during the Nagai-Tof War, and he aided the subsequent New Republic at the Battle of Mindor, against the darksider Shadowspawn. However, Shysa's actions against Kamino during the Clone Wars had far-reaching repercussions, and decades later, the Kaminoan scientist Taun We hired the renowned bounty hunter Boba Fett to kill Shysa. Fett confronted Shysa on the planet Shogun, where the two came under attack by the Sevvets. Shysa was mortally wounded while saving Fett's life, and asked that Fett succeed him as Mand'alor. Fett gave his word, before killing Shysa in an act of mercy, rather than leave him to suffer with the Sevvets. Tobbi Dala Gave His Life In Service To The Protectors. Tobbi Dala "That's when me an' Tobbi went underground to form an outlaw band, an' we been fightin' to give Mandalore back to the Mandalorians ever since!" - Fenn Shysa. Growing up alongside Fenn Shysa, Tobbi Dala stood together with his childhood friend whether it involved becoming constables or drinking mugs of Mandallian Narcolethe after a long day, and when Shysa readily joined the Mandalorian Protectors, Dala was quick to join, as well. Dala fought for the Mandalorian Protectors throughout the Clone Wars, until the battle at Norval II, when he was one of only three Protectors to survive a Republic ambush, along with Shysa and Spar. Dala returned to Mandalore after the battle, eventually joining up with Shysa's reborn force of Mandalorian Protectors, covertly battling against the newly risen Galactic Empire and the Imperial occupation of Mandalore. During one of the Protectors' raids on an Imperial slaving convoy, Dala was captured and imprisoned in the Empire's Mandalore base within the City of Bone. Around the same time, the bounty hunter Dengar had attempted to collect an Imperial bounty on Fenn Shysa, only to fail and be captured by Mandalorian Protectors. The Protectors negotiated a prisoner exchange with the Empire, offering Dengar for Dala; this plan was ruined, however, by the arrival of Princess Leia Organa, who sought Dengar for her own purposes. She freed the bounty hunter but was betrayed and taken by the Imperials herself. Shysa mounted a rescue of both Dala and the princess under the cover of a Protector assault on the City of Bone. Shysa succeeded in freeing both Dala and Organa, but Dala was mortally wounded in a confrontation with the Imperial overseer, the Suprema. Dala demanded Shysa leave him behind and rescue the Mandalorian slaves that had been captured by the Empire, sacrificing himself once they were away to blow up the City of Bone and break the Imperial hold on Mandalore. Boba Fett "For a man who says he doesn't care about anyone else, you always come good for the Mando'ade when you're needed." "I'm Mandalore. It's just my job." - Goran Beviin and Boba Fett. The cloned son of Mand'alor Jango Fett, Boba Fett had only just begun his Mandalorian training when his father was killed at the Battle of Geonosis. Though he set out to follow in his father's footsteps as a bounty hunter, rising to earn a place of both esteem and notoriety as one of the greatest bounty hunters of his era, Fett remained estranged from his Mandalorian heritage for the majority of his life. It was only when Kaminoan scientist Taun We, whom Fett had grown up with on Kamino, offered a bounty on the life of Fenn Shysa for the damage he and the Mandalorian Protectors had wrought on Kamino during the Clone Wars, that Fett was brought back into contact with the Mandalorian culture. Fett hunted Shysa to the planet Shogun, where they were both attacked by the Sevvets and Shysa was mortally wounded while saving Fett's life. As he was dying, Shysa asked that Fett become the next Mand'alor after he was gone, believing in the symbolic strength of the Fett name. Fett gave Shysa his word, before mercifully killing him so as to spare him from suffering under the Sevvets. True to his word, Fett became the new Mand'alor, leading the Mandalorians during the Yuuzhan Vong War and bringing the Mandalorian Protectors to bear against the extra-galactic invaders in defense of the galaxy. Together with the Protectors, Fett fought off the Yuuzhan Vong's attack against Mandalore, and engaged them at worlds such as Gyndine, Tholatin, and Caluula. After the war came to an end and the Yuuzhan Vong settled peacefully on the living planet Zonama Sekot, Fett made a priority of helping Mandalore rebuild. With a third of the planet's population killed in the battle with the Yuuzhan Vong, Fett called for two million Mandalorians throughout the galaxy to journey to Mandalore in order to reinvigorate the planet's infrastructure. He declared the world neutral during the conflict between the Galactic Alliance and the Confederation, and donated a portion of his accumulated personal wealth to the restoration of Mandalore. An Unofficial Mandalorian Mercenry Emblem. Mandalorian Mercenries: "So what's wrong with being a mercenary? Is your war worth fighting? If it is, then why does it matter who fights it for you? Aren't we imbued with the righteousness of your cause when we take up arms for you? Would you rather your own men and women died to make the point? And if your war is so noble, so necessary, why aren't you fighting it for yourself? Think of all that before you spit on us, aruetii." - Jaster Mereel. A Trio Of Mandalorian Mercenries. "Your ancestors once asked what's wrong with mercenaries, Mand'alor. The fact is everything is wrong with mercenries, but they are a FACT of the universe; Either we hire you, or someone else will, and that will make our objectives that much harder. And your people are no ordinary mercs, you train from birth for war, worship it even. My own people, the T'sentraedi, know this well. There's only the caveat, we have to hire then entirety of the Mandalorian. Anything less is a waste of our money. - Captain Ameal FRISTET, UGC Spacy. With the devastating end to the Mandalorian Wars, the Mandalorians were left without a leader and their Neo-Crusader army fragmented. While some Mandalorians returned home to the Mandalore sector, a number of embittered others turned to ruthless mercenary work. Informally known as the "Mandalorian Mercs," these Mandalorian soldiers sold their services to individuals and factions alike, working for whoever could offer the most money. This mercenary tradition would last for thousands of years, over which there would be several attempts to reunite the clans into a single army by the likes of Mandalore the Preserver or Mandalore the Lesser. As time went on, the ethics of these mercenaries steadily declined until the time when Jaster Mereel ascended to the position of Mand'alor. A man of strong morals, Mereel reformed the Mandalorian clans and instituted the Supercommando Codex, a set of rules that would turn the Mandalorians away from savage raiders and into highly paid soldiers who conducted themselves as honorable mercenaries. Though this would eventually lead to the formation of the Death Watch and the outbreak of the Mandalorian Civil War, Mereel reforms would have a lasting impact on the Mandalorians, defining the way Mandalorian mercenaries would act for decades to come. Most Mandalorian mercenaries acted independently, although during his reign as Mand'alor, Jaster Mereel would lead his True Mandalorians as a mercenary army when not battling the Death Watch. Also, the Mandalorian Protectors acted as a mercenary army after Boba Fett assumed leadership of the Mandalorians. Fett, a bounty hunter himself, overturned former Mand'alor Fenn Shysa's idea that the Protectors be a force for the defense of Mandalore. Strictly speaking, any Mandalorian who operates outside the Mandalorian Army is a mercenary, and as such many are bounty hunters, soldiers for hire, enforcers, collectors, field instructors for other armies, security guards, etc. However, the term "mercenry" is typically reserved for those engaged in the various crafts of either war or "clandestine" employment (criminals). Bounty hunters aren't necessarily considered "mercenaries" if their bounty is legitimately issued (ie by a government), nor are they referred to as mercenries if their occupation is legitimate (security guards, instructors for legitimate armies, certain collectors, etc.). Many Mandalorian Protectors and Journeyman Protectors in particular work for employers outside of the Mandolrian Army (for example, Nevarro's Marshal for many years was the former Mandalorian Cara DUNE), and while these are technically mercenaries, the Mandalorians do not refer to them as such. The arrival of the UGC changed this somewhat; Knowing the Mandalorians could be a very legitimate force to be reckoned with, the UGC simply hired all the Mandalorians who agreed to "come in from the cold," mostly putting them is second-line duties guarding supply depots, aerospace bases, etc. The UCG tried to keep them off the front lines as much as possible, both for the aesthetic (the Mandalorians have enemies of their own and the Council was not interested in using this as a rallying point for anti-Galactique sentiments) and the practical (supplying Mandalorians in the field created new logistic lines the REF didn't need). There are still many Mandalorians outside of the UGC's reach, and some actively fighting the Galactiques, but 99% of the Mandalorians are either with the UGC or neutral towards them. The UGC is still trying to get the independent actors back into "the family," with limited success. Kyr'tsad (Death Watch) Death Watch's founder, Tor Vizsla. General Information: Founder: Tor Vizsla. Leaders: Overlord; Tor Vizsla; Pre Vizsla; Darth Maul; Lorka Gedyc; Unidentified Death Watch Overlord. Headquarters: Death Watch hideout, Concordia; Death Watch bunker, Endor. Locations: Carlac; Concord Dawn; Concordia; Corellia; Endor; Galidraan; Korda Six; Zanbar; Mandalore. Historical Information: Formed From: Mandalorians. Date Founded: 60 BBY. Date Fragmented: 42 BBY. Date Reorganized: 20 BBY as Mandalorian super commando. Date Dissolved: 2 ABY. Date Restored: After 32 BBY. Other Information: Affiliation: Confederacy of Independent Systems (briefly); Shadow Collective; Galactic Empire. Death Watch: "We are the Death Watch, descendants of the true warrior faith all Mandalorians once knew. Now my people are living in exile because we will not abandon our heritage. Our people were warriors. Strong. Feared! Now they're ruled by the New Mandalorians who think that being a pacifist is a good thing. They've given away our honor and tradition for peace. Duchess Satine and her corrupt leadership are crushing our souls, destroying our identity. That is our struggle." - Pre Vizsla introducing the Death Watch to Darth Maul on Zanbar. The Death Watch- or Kyr'tsad in Mando'a- was a Mandalorian splinter group founded by Tor Vizsla, who opposed Jaster Mereel's Supercommando Codex. Their primary goal was to return the Mandalorians to their ancient roots as galactic crusaders, and advocated the savage raider mentality of past Mandalorians. The Death Watch fought Mereel's True Mandalorians for primacy during the Mandalorian Civil War, manipulating a team of Geh 'Dai led by Master Dooku into wiping them out at the Battle of Galidraan. When the only surviving True Mandalorian, Jango Fett, escaped from custody, he hunted and killed Tor Vizsla. The Death Watch scattered and seemingly disbanded until the beginning of the Clone Wars when they reemerged under the leadership of Pre Vizsla, targeting Duchess Satine Kryze of the New Mandalorians. Striking from their hidden base on Mandalore's moon, Concordia, they orchestrated several terrorist attacks on New Mandalorian cities and Kalevala while garnering support from the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Eventually, when they allied themselves with Darth Maul and the Shadow Collective, they successfully took control of Mandalore from Duchess Kryze. Maul then killed Pre Vizsla, and the Death Watch splintered into two factions- those who gave their loyalty to Maul and those who refused to follow an outsider, led by Bo-Katan Kryze. When Spar founded the Mandalorian Protectors as Mandalore the Resurrector, the Death Watch went into hiding again, under the leadership of Lorka Gedyc, but resurfaced again during the Galactic Civil War, operating out of a base on Endor. History Early history "They dressed themselves up as patriots wanting a return to the good old days of the Mando empire, but it was just a cover for organized crime." - Kal Skirata. In the wake of the Ithullan genocide in 200 BBY, many Mandalorian warriors expressed a desire to shed the dishonorable ways of the past. A century and a half later, the charismatic warrior Jaster Mereel became the new Mand'alor, and instituted a new standard of Mandalorian behavior known as the Supercommando Codex. He asserted that the Mandalorians were simply highly-paid soldiers, and should conduct themselves as honorable mercenaries. However, not all agreed with the Codex and Mereel's radical changes. A barbaric soldier by the name of Tor Vizsla attracted warriors fond of the old ways into his own movement, giving birth to the Death Watch. The Death Watch were skilled warriors, but ill-disciplined to the extreme and plagued with constant in-fighting under the egotistical leadership of Vizsla. In accordance with Vizsla's beliefs, the Death Watch stood for a return to the ways of the ancient Mandalorians, raiders and savages, and aimed to eventually wage a second war of conquest across the galaxy. In turn, Mereel's faction recast themselves as the True Mandalorians and a civil war broke out between the two groups. Mandalorian Civil War "It's the Death Watch!" "Who?" "Before your time, Silas. Ex-Mandalorians who split with Jaster years ago. We thought they were finished. Guess we were wrong." - Jango Fett and Silas during an ambush by the Death Watch at the Battle of Korda Six. On the agricultural world of Concord Dawn, the Death Watch engaged the True Mandalorians in a fierce firefight that ended in the True Mandalorians' retreat. As Jaster Mereel and his men fled into the farming fields, Vizsla ordered his own forces to hunt them down. When they came upon a young Jango Fett working on his family's harvester, they took him captive and forced the boy to lead them to his home where Jango's father was harboring Mereel's troops. Vizsla savagely beat the man in front of Jango while he demanded the location of the hidden Mandalorians, going so far as threatening to shoot him in the head right in front of his son. However, Jango's mother intervened, killing one of the Death Watch soldiers with Vizla with a blaster rifle. Jango was rescued from Vizsla by the intervention of Mereel and his soldiers, but his parents were murdered and his sister taken by the Death Watch. As they escaped into the fields, Vizsla ordered that they be burned with the hopes of killing Mereel and the True Mandalorians. The Death Watch moved into a nearby town following their perceived victory over the True Mandalorians, intent on a celebratory raid before moving on to Moonus Mandel. Unfortunately for them, the True Mandalorians were lying in wait, striking the Death Watch when their guard was down. Nearly all of the Death Watch soldiers fell to blasterfire or perished in the bombing of their tank, and although Jango Fett avenged the death of his family by killing the Death Watch soldier responsible for their murders, Vizsla managed to escape. Years later, the Death Watch would lure their True Mandalorian foes into a trap on the planet Korda Six. When Jaster Mereel and his troops came to the aid of a Korda Defense Force security squad pinned down on the planet by local enemy forces, the Death Watch revealed themselves- much to the surprise of the True Mandalorians. Jango Fett, now a fully-fledged Mandalorian warrior, fought back dozens of Death Watch soldiers alongside the True Mandalorians under his command, while Jaster Mereel and his second-in-command Montross came under fire from Vizsla himself. Baring the scars from their previous encounter on his face, Vizsla rained down attacks from his four-wheeled tank on Montross and the injured Mereel. When Montross betrayed the wounded Mand'alor and left him alone on the battlefield, Vizsla was granted his revenge as he gunned down Mereel with his tank's laser cannons. The True Mandalorians were forced to flee the planet and the Death Watch was victorious. Approximately 44 BBY, the Death Watch became involved with the governor of the Outer Rim world Galidraan. The governor provided refuge for the Death Watch at his castle and was involved in funding Tor Vizsla's attempts to rebuild the Death Watch, presumably after a costly loss. He also hired the True Mandalorians to deal with an insurrection on his world as part of a plot by the Death Watch to draw in their enemy. While the True Mandalorians- now under the leadership of Jango Fett, replacing Jaster Mereel as Mand'alor- dealt with the rebels, the Governor of Galidraan contacted the Geh 'Dai Council, claiming that the that Mandalorians were murdering "political activists", along with women and children. In order to lend credence to these claims and gain the Geh 'Dai Council's assistance, Vizsla and his own troops provided the body count of innocents. Upon completing their contracted assignment, Jango Fett went to personally speak with Galidraan's governor, both to collect the Mandalorians' payment and to find out where Vizsla was being harbored. Vizsla and a few of his troops revealed themselves and opened fire on Fett, forcing him to escape out of a nearby window via jetpack at the same time the Geh 'Dai ships were arriving to deal with the supposed Mandalorian threat. Vizsla and the Death Watch had only to stand aside while the Geh 'Dai strike team under Geh 'Dai Master Dooku all but wiped out the True Mandalorians, save for Fett himself who was captured and delivered into the custody of the governor of Galidraan who subsequently sold Fett into slavery. Two years later, Fett would escape and return to Galidraan, recovering his lost Mandalorian armor and demanding the location of the Death Watch from the governor at blasterpoint. He would find the Death Watch forces aboard Vizsla's personal starship, the Death Rattle, over Corellia. Fett used a starfighter to cripple the ship's engines while assaulting the bridge, using his jetpack to fly through the viewport. He clashed with Vizsla in a lengthy fight that spanned the halls of the dying ship and even into an escape pod, continuing on after crashing to the surface of Corellia. At the climax of their fight, both injured and Fett poisoned by Vizsla, a pack of dire-cats attacked and killed Vizsla, while sparing the poisoned Fett. With Vizsla finally defeated, the remaining members of the group scattered throughout the galaxy, but although they were seemingly destroyed, the beliefs of the Death Watch remained amongst some Mandalorians. Clone Wars "Not everyone on Mandalore believes our commitment to peace is a sign of progress. There is a group that calls itself Death Watch. I imagine these are the renegades you are looking for. They idolize violence and the warrior ways of the past." - Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore to Geh 'Dai Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. During the formation of the Grand Army of the Republic on Kamino, Jango Fett- clone template and primary military adviser for the Grand Army- hand-picked a group of one-hundred individuals, seventy-five of which were Mandalorian, to train elite clone commandos for the army, a group that would become known as the Cuy'val Dar- "Those Who No-Longer Exist". Two of the Mandalorian trainers, Isabet Reau and Dred Priest, attempted to ingrain the beliefs of the Death Watch into their clones by secretly forming battle circles in the bowels of Tipoca City. Jango Fett discovered the existence of the battle circles and quickly put them to an end, viciously beating Priest. Though weakened, the Death Watch managed to operate under the Mandalorian principle of ba'slan shev'la, or "strategic disappearance". Maintaining a fairly secret existence following Tor Vizsla's death, the remains of the Death Watch showed themselves nearly twelve years later, shortly after the First Battle of Geonosis. With the True Mandalorians gone and Jango Fett dead following the events on Geonosis, the Death Watch set its sights on the Mandalorian faction known as the New Mandalorians, a reformist political faction emphasizing pacifism that was interested in moving the Mandalorians even further from its conquering warrior roots than the True Mandalorians, with their goal being a peaceful and neutral Mandalorian state. At the time, the Death Watch was operating from a base on Concordia, a moon of Mandalore, where they were secretly led by Concordia's governor, Pre Vizsla. In order to get support for their attempt at taking over the Mandalorian government, the Death Watch allied themselves with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. As part of this alliance, Death Watch commandos performed sabotage missions for the Separatists against Republic targets. One such mission involved a commando attempting to sabotage a Republic cruiser; the Death Watch commando was captured, but rather than surrender and submit to questioning, he committed suicide. His actions in addition to falsified rumors led to the Republic's belief that Duchess Satine Kryze, leader of the New Mandalorians and head of the Council of Neutral Systems, was training a Mandalorian army for the Separatists. Pre Vizsla, a Death Watch leader during the Clone Wars. In order to investigate this matter further, the Geh 'Dai Council dispatched Geh 'Dai Master Obi-Wan Kenobi to Mandalore to meet with Satine. At first, the Duchess and her advisers discounted any Mandalorian involvement until Kenobi showed holographic recordings of the Death Watch saboteur. She later revealed the existence of rumors of the Death Watch's return. This was later proven when a Mandalorian bombed the memorial shrine in the New Mandalorian capital of Sundari before committing suicide when Kenobi attempted to apprehend him. Left at the bomb site was a holographic representation of the Death Watch symbol, further highlighting the group's return. During these events Pre Vizsla communicated with Count Dooku who revealed his strategy for the Republic to establish peacekeeping forces on Mandalore. Dooku hoped this would cause unrest and lead the Mandalorian populace to the Death Watch's ideals. Kenobi later discovered the Death Watch base of operations on Concordia and Pre Vizsla revealed himself to the Geh 'Dai and the duchess as the leader of the faction. The Death Watch Mandalorians managed to escape and abandoned their base, allowing them to remain at large. When Satine journeyed to Coruscant to dismiss any thought of Republic occupation, Death Watch made a second attempt on her life. Mandalore's senator, Tal Merrik, was secretly in league with the Death Watch and used his senatorial stamp to smuggle several assassin probes aboard the duchess' ship. When Kenobi gathered the senatorial passengers together and confronted them with a probe killer, its docility betrayed Merrik and he made his move to take Kryze hostage. With the duchess in tow, he made his way to the bridge where he murdered the crew and contacted Vizsla for extraction. A trio of Droch-class boarding ships attached themselves to the vessel and unloaded several B2 super battle droids to cover Merrik's escape. When Kenobi attempted to arrest the senator, Merrik revealed that he had also taken the precaution of rigging the ship's engines to explode and made his way to the waiting boarding ships. Before he could make his escape, however, he was stabbed in the back by Anakin Skywalker. Once Satine safely arrived at the galactic capital, the Death Watch reoccupied their base on Concordia as a staging area for their impending invasion of Mandalore. A New Mandalorian scout reported to Prime Minister Almec of this development. Almec was confident that Death Watch could not take Mandalore without the citizens of Mandalore's support. During a holographic conference with Count Dooku, Pre Vizsla made his move to secure Mandalore's support. A Death Watch assassin was sent to Coruscant to assassinate Satine, as well as an informant who gave her a recording from Deputy Minister Jerec pleading no military assistance. The assassin, however, failed to stop Satine from delivering the evidence to the Galactic Senate thanks to Kenobi's intervention. The Senate revoked its vote to dispatch Republic forces, which compelled Death Watch to cease its planned attack. Death Watch then broke ties with Count Dooku and the Separatists and vowed to kill the Count. The Death Watch established a camp on the neutral planet of Carlac, kidnapping young females of the native Ming Po. At the same time, Lux Bonteri chose to ally with Death Watch, believing them to be an honorable group, to kill Dooku, whom killed his mother, providing them with a holotrace to the Separatist leader's location. But at the same time, Ming Po chieftain, Pieter, demanded that Death Watch return their captives and leave the planet. At first, Vizsla seemed to comply to his demands, but then ordered his troops to burn down the Ming Po settlement, causing Bonteri to realize his error. However, one of Bonteri's companions was revealed to be a Geh 'Dai Ahsoka Tano, who briefly fought off Death Watch before being captured. As Vizsla brought her back to their camp to execute her for her Order's crimes against Mandalore, R2-D2 rallied the Death Watch droids to rebel against their masters, creating a distraction for himself, Tano and Bonteri to escape. Sometime after Tano's and Bonteri's escape, the Republic followed a Munificent-class star frigate to Carlac. They shot it down and went to the surface to finish off the surviving droids. They encountered Death Watch resistance, including three camps. The Republic set up a outpost from where they could counter the Death Watch, and so the Skirmish on Carlac began. A Geh 'Dai Knight joined the battle, destroying the three camps, killing Sergeant Kellov and infiltrating a village that the Death Watch held captive, threatening to destroy it if the Republic did not recall it's forces from the world. The Geh 'Dai Knight infiltrated the village, however they were detected and the Death Watch started to burn it. The Republic dispatched a LAAT/i to douse the fires, although it raged on. The Geh 'Dai Knight defeated Kherr Dawar, Kro Lann, Mord Jayran and Vizsla himself, although he escaped. After the events on Carlac, Death Watch established a camp on the swamp moon Zanbar in order to rebuild when they discovered the escape pod of Maul and his brother Savage, who had laid claim to the titles of Dark Lords of the Sith and were wounded by Obi-Wan Kenobi. An alliance would be forged from this action as the lives of Maul and Savage were spared by Death Watch and with them began to build an army of crime lords and gangsters known as the Shadow Collective to help with a coup to overthrow the New Mandalorians. As the plan progressed, the Shadow Collective's gang and crime lord members attacked various targets in Sundari as they fought against the New Mandalorian police forces and overwhelming them with numbers. Once the people were rioting for the government's response and actions during the crisis, Pre Vizsla, Bo-Katan, and several other members of Death Watch appeared. Satine Kryze, the current Duchess of Mandalore, accused them of having some involvement with the attacks, but she was ignored as the people rallied for battle against the Shadow Collective. Death Watch moved quickly and effectively against the crime lords and captured them and Savage, before heading to the royal palace and arresting Maul, along with Satine. Vizsla declared himself the new leader of Mandalore, and promised that he would return the Mandalorians to their warrior heritage. Maul and Savage soon escaped, and Maul challenged Pre Vizsla to a duel for the title of Mandalore and control of Death Watch. As the two fought, Pre was at first able to hold his own against the Sith Lord but eventually began to tire. After pushing him to the ground, Maul used Vizsla's own Darksaber to behead him and take control of both the planet and Death Watch. However, a single squad known as the Nite Owls, led by Pre Vizsla's most trusted lieutenant, Bo-Katan, refused to acknowledge Maul as Mandalore, calling those who did traitors. Maul ordered them executed, but they were able to escape, killing several of Maul's loyalists in the ensuing firefight. Effectively, Death Watch was split in two- those who swore fealty to Maul, known as Mandalorian super commandos, painted their armor red, while those who followed Bo-Katan retained their blue color scheme. The Nite Owls, aided by Satine's loyalists, included her nephew Korkie, attempted to spring the Duchess from prison and got her outside Sundari where she could send a message to Geh 'Dai Master Obi-Wan Kenobi before she was recaptured. As the Geh 'Dai Order and the Galactic Senate refused to intervene in what they perceived to be an internal Mandalorian affair, Kenobi was forced to come alone. After a failed rescue attempt, in which Maul executed Satine, the Nite Owls helped Kenobi escape and fought against the Maul loyalists to allow Kenobi to depart Mandalore and warn the Republic about the truth of its downfall. However, Maul was subsequently defeated and nearly killed by his former Sith Master, Darth Sidious. When the ARC trooper deserter known as Spar fled Kamino and journeyed to Mandalore, where he eventually took up the role of "Mandalore the Resurrector", he invited many former Death Watch members to join his army of Mandalorian Protectors. Although Spar formed the Protectors in the image of the True Mandalorians, the Death Watch's desire for Mandalore's return to its warrior roots would come to fruition when the Protectors overturned Mandalore's status as a neutral system and aligned with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Galactic Civil War and decline "We conquered whole star systems. We had an empire. When cities heard our armies were coming, populations fled before a shot was fired. Now we cling to a pathetic sector of dirtball planets, we scramble for the crumbs that the cowardly aruetiise throw when they want us to fight for them, and they use us as a breeding stock for their clone armies. The aruetiise will always treat us like an animal species to be used for their convenience until we stand up for ourselves again." - Lorka Gedyc. By the time of the Galactic Empire's foundation in 19 BBY, Lorka Gedyc had become the leader of the Death Watch as it continued to exist in hiding. Among this latest generation of Death Watch were former Cuy'val Dar members Isabet Reau and Dred Priest. During a run in with fellow former Cuy'val Dar Mij Gilamar in the Mandalorian capital Keldabe, Priest revealed that the Death Watch was indeed still in existence- even openly wearing the group's sigil on his shoulder plate, albeit in a dark blue coloration- and that Lorka Gedyc had "big plans" for the future. He also believed that the Death Watch had changed under Gedyc and was different than the way it had been under Vizsla. The Death Watch had also allied with the Empire, with Priest even assisting the Imperials move in to the garrison being established outside Keldabe. When he'd learned all he felt he could, Gilamar surprise-attacked Priest, stabbing and killing him, and threw his body in the Kelita River, firmly believing that the Death Watch's return to prominence couldn't be allowed for the good of the Mandalorians. Around 1 ABY, several Death Watch members had established a base in a bunker on the forest moon of Endor, operating under the leadership of a Death Watch Overlord, before he was killed by spacers. In space battles, Death Watch pilots flied Kihraxz assault fighters, Ixiyen-class fast attack crafts and Rihkxyrk assault fighters. In the early days of the Rebellion, a man wearing armor similar to that of a Death Watch soldier was seen protecting Tungo Li during the hearing of Janek Sunber. Legacy The Death Watch was far from loved in the eyes of many Mandalorians. To most, they were considered little more than savages, hooligans, and undisciplined thugs rather than soldiers. Following the outbreak of the Mandalorian Civil War, Jango Fett considered the Death Watch to be "ex-Mandalorians" due to their radical beliefs and refusal to follow the Mand'alor. The New Mandalorian government labeled them as terrorists and vandals for their destructive actions in opposing the government's peaceful ways. Walon Vau, a member of the Cuy'val Dar, was known to say the Death Watch was the only group he truly considered his enemy. Kal Skirata, another Cuy'val Dar member, felt that the Death Watch- at least its incarnation The revised Death Watch symbol during the Clone Wars. under Tor Vizsla- was more interested in theft and other crime rather than their supposed goals of reinstating a Mandalorian empire. In combination with the armor worn by the Thyrsian Sun Guard, Death Watch armor served as a partial inspiration for that of the Imperial Royal Guard, taking advantage of the group's ferocious reputation. As a child growing up on Plavin 6, Nashiak Llalik was fascinated with the armor worn by the Death Watch. He read a lot about them and entertained his younger sister, Saren, with stories about their armor. As an adult, Saren regretted being separated from her brother, partly because she would have enjoyed hearing those stories again. By 40 ABY, Mand'alor Boba Fett stated in a conversation with Jaing Skirata that the destruction of the Death Watch was his father's lasting legacy for the Mandalorians. Symbol The sign of the Death Watch was the symbol of Clan Vizsla, which was designed after a stylized jai'galaar in mid-dive, colored red. By the Clone Wars and after, however, the symbol's color had been changed to blue. Mandalorian Worlds . Mandalore Astrographical Information: Region: Outer Rim Territories. Sector: Mandalore sector. System: Mandalore System. Suns: 1: Mandalore. Orbital Position: 5. Moons: Concordia; Unnamed second moon. Grid Square: O-7. Trade Routes: Mandalorian Road. Rotation Period: 19 standard hours. Orbital Period: 366 standard days. Physical Information: Class: Terrestrial. Diameter: 5,716.7 miles. Atmosphere: Type I. Primry Terrain: Deserts; Forests; Grass plains; Jungles Ocean and seas. Points Of Interest: Kelita River; MandalMotors Tower; City of Bone; Kyrimorut. Flora: Amber fern; Galek tree; Varos; Veshok tree; Vormur blooms. Fauna: Fanned rawl; Mythosaur; Strill; Shatual; Shriek-hawk; Vhe'viin. Societal Information: Immigrated Species: Human; Taung; Other. Primry Languages: [i>Mando'a[/i>; Galactic Basic Standard. Government: Mandalorian warrior clans: Clan leaders under the authority of the [i>Mand'alor[/i>; New Mandalorians: Prime Minister-led Ruling Council. Population: Approximately 4 million: 81% Human, 19% other. Demonym: Mandalorian. Major Cities: Keldabe (capital); Sundari (New Mandalorian capital); Enceri; Norg Bral; Bralsin; Shuror. Major Imports: Raw Materials. Major Exports: Starships; Mercenries; [i>Beskar[/i> iron; Technology. Affiliation: Mandalorians (primary) Galactic Republic; Confederacy of Independent Systems; Galactic Empire; Alliance of Free Planets; New Republic; Galactic Alliance. Mandalore "Mandalore. Right turn off the Hydian Way. Can't miss it." - Boba Fett. Mandalore was the fifth planet in the Mandalore system of the Outer Rim Territories, not far from the Hydian Way trade route. The homeworld of the multi-species cultural group known as the Mandalorians, the planet was known as Manda'yaim in the Mandalorian language, and was named after the legendary conqueror of the vibrant world, Mandalore the First. Mandalore the First's Taung warriors slew the indigenous mythosaurs and tamed the savage landscape, solidifying Mandalore's place as a powerbase and the center of Mandalorian space for millennia to come. Mandalore was covered in a rich natural landscape, largely unspoiled due to its sparse sentient population. The world was blanketed in lush veshok tree forests, dense jungle, sprawling hills and grassland well suited to farming, inhospitable deserts of white sand, and numerous rivers, lakes, and seas. It was also the only known world in the galaxy, with the exception of its moon Concordia, to possess the unique, nearly indestructible iron ore known as beskar, an element capable of withstanding blows from even a lightsaber. An independent world ruled by the Mand'alor, the leader of all the Mandalorian clans, following the tradition established by Mandalore the First, the planet Mandalore found itself the ally and enemy of numerous galactic governments and groups throughout the years. Though largely abandoned by the early Mandalorian Crusaders, who continuously sought fresh conquests, Mandalore became the fallback point for many defeated Mandalorian Neo-Crusader warriors after the end of the Mandalorian Wars. With the rise of the pacifist New Mandalorian faction and their efforts to reform Mandalore's warrior ways, distancing themselves from the violent past after the disastrous events that lead to their formation, Mandalore was accepted by the Galactic Republic and was known as New Mandalore throughout the isolationist society that the New Mandalorians created. Originally neutral during the Clone Wars, after the New Mandalorian capital fell to the machinations of the Death Watch, the pacifist faction's influence dwindled. Later, when Mandalore the Resurrector came to power, the planet broke from the Republic and joined the Confederacy of Independent Systems against the oppressive Coruscant regime, only to come under the heel of the Galactic Empire following the end of the Clone Wars. With the fall of the Empire, Mandalore began a steady period of recovery up until the Yuuzhan Vong's invasion of the galaxy, and the devastation the extragalactic invaders wrought upon Mandalore. The resilient world did not yield to the Vong's attempt at destruction, however, and by the Second Galactic Civil War, Mandalore was in the midst of a prosperous resurgence brought on by the discovery of fresh lodes of beskar iron that had been exposed during the Yuuzhan Vong attack. Mandalore suffered an attack by elements of the Imperial Remnant loyal to the Sith Lord Darth Caedus near the war's end, yet persevered, continuing to grow and developing ties with the Verpine and the Galactic Alliance. Under the leadership of Mand'alor Yaga Auchs, the Mandalorians withdrew from the Sith–Imperial War and remained on Mandalore throughout the Second Imperial Civil War, focused on bettering their world. Description "I've never seen Mandalore. What's it like?" "I'd like to say it's paradise, but it's as rough as a bantha's backside, and half as pretty." - Etain Tur-Mukan and Kal Skirata . Mandalore was located in the region of the galaxy known as the Outer Rim Territories, near the Hydian Way trade route, where it occupied the fifth orbit of the Mandalore sector's cognominal Mandalore system, between the orbits of Kalevala and Mandallia. It sat at the end of the hyperspace lane known as the Mandalorian Road, an ancient route that connected Mandalore with the planet Corsin in the Inner Rim. A terrestrial world spanning nine thousand, two hundred kilometers in diameter, Mandalore possessed standard gravity and two moons, including the one time mining base and agricultural center, Concordia. Unique to Mandalore and the Concordia moon was beskar iron ore, a nearly indestructible metal capable of withstanding blows from even a lightsaber, and used by Mandalorian metalsmiths to forge armor, weapons, and starships. A year on Mandalore comprised three hundred and sixty-six days, and each day was made up of nineteen hours. Mandalore possessed a breathable atmosphere, and a climate that varied by region. Before the rise of the Mandalorians, Mandalore was dominated by the gigantic mythosaurs. The enormous beasts were said to rival cities with their size, but when the Taung warriors arrived on Mandalore, they set to slaughtering the creatures as part of their conquest of the new world, leaving only their massive skeletons behind to bleach in the light of Mandalore's sun. Native veshok trees covered much of Mandalore's northern hemisphere, such as the Olankur region of its northern continent, forming a dense forest that stretched nearly as far as the polar ice caps. Winters in the north of Mandalore often saw significant snowfall, and bitter cold temperatures. The herbivorous animals called shatuals could be found living within the veshok forests, as could the intelligent, six-legged strills that preyed upon them for food. Tall, long-lived galek trees with their silver-colored leaves were also a common sight on Mandalore, as were the golden amber ferns that grew in and around galek groves. Wild mushrooms were known to grow on and around Mandalore's trees, and a number of a serpentine rawl could be found in the Mandalorian wild, transplanted from their natural habitat on Naboo. Forty-five degrees north of Mandalore's equator, atop a flat granite hill nestled along a bend in the kilometers-long Kelita River, sat the city of Keldabe. Since at least 3960 BBY, Keldabe had served as the capital of Mandalore, and the center of government for much of Mandalorian space. However, following the foundation of the New Mandalorian faction, the reformist sect declared the domed city of Sundari, located in one of Mandalore's expansive and inhospitable white-sand desert regions, to be their capital. Positioned out on the flat desert plain, Sundari was constructed over a large, active beskar mine, surrounded by sand and the giant cube-cities built by the innovative builders of the New Mandalorian people who rejected the ways of Mandalore's warrior clans. Keldabe, however, found itself surrounded by woodland and the waters of the Kelita, along with gentle green hills that spread outward to fertile grassland the more agriculturally-minded Mandalorians took advantage of for farming. Keldabe boasted two of Mandalore's most renown landmarks, the hundred-meter-tall tower of the MandalMotors company headquarters, and the Oyu'baat hotel and tapcafe, one of the oldest establishments on the planet. With no formal palaces or offices among the warrior clans, the Oyu'baat was also an informal meeting place for the Mand'alor and clan chieftains, making it the unofficial center of Mandalore's clan-based government until 40 ABY, when this role was shared by the newly established community building, MandalMotors Hall. Other cities and settlements littered Mandalore's surface, including the Keldabe suburb of Bralsin near the Kelita valley, and the small town of Shuror. Most of Mandalore's settlements were built within a heavy fortification that contributed to the ease with which they could be defended from potential invaders. An example of such a settlement was the hill-fort town of Norg Bral, home to several members of Clan Bralor. The water supply to these settlements was provided by lengths of pipelines and deeply-dug wells, often making use of both to ensure the certainty of available water. Further south and away from Keldabe, Mandalore's tropic regions boasted warmer weather and was where varos fruit could be found growing. Roads on Mandalore were rarely straight, designed so as to grant Mandalorians the advantage in ambushing and pinning down hostiles as they traveled. Traditional dwellings known as vheh'yaime, made from wood, woven vines, and matted mud, were a common choice for the homes of Mandalore's warrior clans and numerous vheh'yaime of varying sizes could be found across Mandalore. Due to the varied nature of the different species and backgrounds that comprised the greater Mandalorian people, the architecture of Mandalore differed greatly depending on the region and that area's particular inhabitants, from towers of transparisteel and granite, to durasteel, and even tree-bound abodes. History Early history "After being driven from ancient Coruscant, the Taungs relocated to Roon and then wandered the Outer Rim, leaving hints of their passage in various species' chronicles and histories. But they attracted little notice until they conquered Mandalore around 7000 BBY." - Vilnau Teupt . Mandalore was once a wild and savage world, uninhabited by sentients, where the dominate life forms were the gigantic mythosaurs. That all changed with the arrival of the Taung. Forced from the planet Coruscant in the Core Worlds long before the foundation of the Galactic Republic by the Human Battalions of Zhell, the Taung fled to Roon, before arriving at the Outer Rim world they came to call Mandalore circa 7000 BBY. In honor of their leader, Mandalore the First, the Taungs named the world Manda'yaim, or "home of the Mand'alor," which was later transliterated as Mandalore in Galactic Basic Standard. Similarly, the Taungs recast themselves as the Mandalorians, or Mando'ade: "sons and daughters of Mandalore." The newly branded Mandalorians set to taming their new world, and in the process slaughtered the enormous mythosaurs, leaving only their skeletons behind. Mandalore became the home of fierce clans of masked Taung warriors led by a single warlord who always adopted the name Mand'alor, , a title which meant "sole ruler" in the Mando'a language , after Mandalore the First. But a single new planet was not enough for the Mandalorian Taungs who craved fresh conquests, and though Mandalore remained the center of what was to become Mandalorian space, it was largely abandoned by the time of the Great Sith War in 3996 BBY, as Mandalore the Indomitable led the clans outward as Mandalorian Crusaders to bring new star systems under Mandalorian control. The attacks of the Crusaders only intensified as time passed, and though Mandalore the Indomitable fell in battle while engaging the Republic's military with the Brotherhood of the Sith Mandalore the Ultimate quickly replaced him. The new Mand'alor, believing the fabled "Great Last Battle" to be at hand, turned back to the planet Mandalore at the behest of his advisor, Cassus Fett, for his new army. There on the Mandalorian homeworld existed the unorthodox warrior sect known as the Neo-Crusaders. These warriors deviated from the Crusader norm by wearing identical suits of armor and implementing a more rigid chain of command. Following Fett's advice, Mandalore the Ultimate made the Neo-Crusaders the backbone of his new army, and by the time he had instigated the Mandalorian Wars with the Republic, Neo-Crusaders comprised most of Mandalore's warriors. As the Neo-Crusader army conquered more and more worlds, the planet Mandalore became the center of a Mandalore sector that stretched across the majority of the galaxy's northern quadrant. Mandalore the Ultimate's endeavors were doomed to failure, however, and when the Geh 'Dai Knight Revan slew the Mand'alor in single combat at Malachor V, the Mandalorian Wars were brought to a swift end. With no purpose, many defeated Mandalorians turned to lives as mercenaries, bounty hunters, and even bandits, while others returned home to Mandalore. Thousands of years later, during the period known to history as the Republic Dark Age, an epidemic of the Candorian plague spread across the galaxy. One of many worlds struck by the plague, Mandalore was devastated by the deadly illness. Furthermore, a weakened Mandalore sector had come under attack by raiders from the lawless regions of space that surrounded it to such a degree that Mandalorian vessels were forced to form defensive caravans in order to move about. When the veteran mercenary Aga Awaud returned home to Mandalore 1058 BBY to discover most of his clan had perished to the plague and Mandalorian space was under siege from outlaws, it wasn't long before he took up the then-vacant role of Mand'alor. In a move to stem the chaos before him, Awaud began a movement that came to be known as the Return, calling upon Mandalorians living throughout the galaxy to rally to the defense of Mandalorian space. Awaud's efforts were ultimately successful, allowing Mandalore to not only survive the tumultuous era, but flourish, becoming a regional industrial power and a symbol of much-needed stability in the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories. War and reformations "Mandalore's violent past is behind us." - New Mandalorian Prime Minister Almec. In One Of Mandalore's White-Sand Deserts Sat The New Mandalorian Capital City Of Sundari. In the years following the Galactic Republic's defeat of the Brotherhood of Darkness at Ruusan, and the subsequent Republic reformation that marked the end of the New Sith Wars, the Mandalorians on Mandalore pushed to remake themselves into a more technologically adept and more rigid, militant society. The rise in Mandalore's militancy so soon after the devastating war with the Sith alarmed both the Republic and its Geh 'Dai protectors, and while several clan leaders urged Mandalore to make peace and join with the Republic, they were summarily shouted down. Unwilling to suffer through a second war with the Mandalorians, in 738 BBY the Geh 'Dai led a Republic strike force in a brief and overwhelming conflict known as the Mandalorian Excision that brought devastation to the Mandalore sector, and transformed parts of Mandalore into inhospitable deserts of white sand. Out of this disaster arose a pacifist sect calling themselves the New Mandalorians; the reformist political faction formed from the remnant of the pre-Excision peace movement renounced violence and the warrior codes of Mandalore's past, in what they believed to be an effort to save Mandalore and survive in a hostile galaxy. Instead, the New Mandalorians preached peace, neutrality, and tolerance. They used their talents as builders and inventors to create grand cube cities in Mandalore's desert, forging a new society isolated from Mandalore's warrior clans, on the planet they deemed "New Mandalore." The New Mandalorians' dedication to peace, their love of advanced technology, and the wealth of beskar afforded to them by Sundari's mines, allowed for the pacifist sect to claim ascendancy over the scattered, squabbling warrior clans on Mandalore for centuries, and for the first time in the planet's history Mandalore was welcomed by the Republic, and offered representation in the Galactic Senate. In spite of this, a significant number of Mandalorians continued to live much as they had for generations, continuing their warrior traditions in locations such as Keldabe. These traditional practitioners came to be known as "Old Mandalorians," the Aka'liit, or in some cases, the "Mandalorian Faithful." Among many of the so-called Faithful, the New Mandalorians were, in turn, deemed the Faithless, for turning their backs upon the Mandalorians' cultural heritage. The year 60 BBY saw the ascension of Jaster Mereel to the role of Mand'alor. Born on the planet Concord Dawn, Mereel served as a member of the world's law officers known as the Journeyman Protectors until his strong moral code drove him to kill a corrupt superior officer; Mereel was exiled from Concord Dawn as punishment for his own crime, and joined the Mandalorian culture soon after. Having noticed many Mandalorians' dissatisfaction with the wide-spread savagery that had become prevalent in certain warrior circles, Mereel hoped to hold the Mandalorians to a higher standard of behavior. As Mand'alor, Mereel instituted the Supercommando Codex, a new behavioral guideline influenced by Mereel's own moral ideals, in which Mereel decreed that any Mandalorians who wished to fight would be merely highly-paid soldiers, and should conduct themselves as honorable mercenaries. Mereel was opposed in this effort by a number of amoral Mandalorians who resented Mereel for his attempts to rein in their lifestyles of unaccountability. These malcontents rallied to a barbaric Mandalorian soldier named Tor Vizsla, and therein formed a splinter group known as the Death Watch with Vizsla as their leader, a Secret Mandalore in opposition to Mereel, who pledged to destroy the New Mandalorian regime, and return the Mandalorians to their ancient roots as conquerors and raiders, with the ultimate goal of instigating another war of galactic conquest. Around this time, Chieftain Nam Beroya departed Mandalore with numerous members of Clan Awaud, having grown disillusioned with the divisive politics that were overtaking Mandalore, instead seeking a simpler way of life for him and his clan. Civil war soon broke out between the Death Watch and Mereel's loyal supercommandos, now calling themselves the "True Mandalorians", while the New Mandalorians kept to their ideals of pacifism and non-violence, rejecting both groups and remaining out of the conflict. In spite of its philosophical and ideological importance to the Mandalorian people, the war had was fought between two relatively small factions of soldiers, in what was seen by some as little more than a common power struggle. Mandalore's full-time army was swallowed by the conflict, along with several prominent clans, but it scarcely touched Mandalorians living off-world, even those in the surrounding Mandalore sector. Jaster Mereel was eventually killed by Tor Vizsla on Korda Six, though command of the True Mandalorian army and the role of Mand'alor was taken up by Mereel's surrogate son, Jango Fett. Waged on several non-Mandalorian worlds, the tide of the civil war slipped back and forth in favor of either side until the disastrous battle on the planet Galidraan, where the schemes of the Death Watch allowed for a misled Geh 'Dai strike team to kill the True Mandalorians, all but Jango Fett, who was taken into custody by the Geh 'Dai and delivered to the Governor of Galidraan, who subsequently sold Fett into slavery. Though Fett was able to escape his unjust captivity and take his revenge on Vizsla, his losses and time in captivity made Fett a bitter man, and though he was still Mand'alor, he grew distant from the Mandalorian people. With opposition from the True Mandalorians removed, the Death Watch sought to take advantage of growing hostilities on Mandalore between feuding clans with their loyalties divided. As open war erupted, Death Watch made attempts to garner support from the populace to overthrow the New Mandalorians, but the bloody conflict that became known as the Great Clan Wars harmed their cause as much as any other, and the splinter group suffered notable losses to the fighting. This second civil war divided clans and pitted family members against one another, leading to the death of a great many Mandalorians, and seeing further devastation incurred to Mandalore in addition to the scars of the centuries-old Excision. The Death Watch ultimately failed to unseat the New Mandalorian regime, while the majority of the chieftain warlords responsible for the conflict either joined the New Mandalorians, weary of war, or went into exile on Mandalore's moon, Concordia. Clone Wars Peace under fire "Your peaceful ways have paid off. Mandalore has prospered since the last time I was here." "Not everyone on Mandalore believes that our commitment to peace is a sign of progress." - Geh 'Dai Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and Duchess Satine Kryze, ruler of the New Mandalorian people. As the Clone Wars broke out in 22 BBY at Geonosis, between the Galactic Republic and the droid army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, Jango Fett was killed in battle with Geh 'Dai Master Mace Windu, but not before he was chosen ten years earlier to be the template for the clone troopers of the Republic's Grand Army, secretly grown from his DNA on Kamino by Kaminoan cloners. With Fett gone, Mandalore's role in the war was defined by the New Mandalorian government. By this time, Mandalore and its sector were represented in the Republic senate by Senator Tal Merrik of the neighboring world, Kalevala. Under the leadership of Duchess Satine Kryze, who had been named Mand'alor of the New Mandalorians at the conclusion of the Great Clan Wars in opposition to Jango Fett, whom the New Mandalorians refused to recognize , Mandalore joined the Council of Neutral Systems, a political coalition comprised of close to fifteen hundred star systems with desires to remain neutral in the Clone Wars. Despite the planetary neutrality established by the New Mandalorian government, several Mandalorian mercenaries took work individually and in groups for either side during the conflict. It was at this point in history that the Death Watch made their return to the galaxy at large. Having fractured and gone into hiding under the Mandalorian principle of ba'slan shev'la, or "strategic disappearance," following the death of Tor Vizsla and the end of the Great Clan Wars, Death Watch had begun to reassemble under the command of another member of the Vizsla clan, Pre Vizsla. Acting as governor of Mandalore's moon, Concordia, Vizsla kept up a public persona as the loyal friend and ally of Duchess Kryze. But in secret, Vizsla despised Kryze, and hated both the pacifist New Mandalorians, and their government's power over Mandalore. In the aftermath of Jango Fett's death, Vizsla believed that he was carrying on the role of the traditional Mand'alor, and to that end he began assembling a new Death Watch army at a secret base within the abandoned beskar mines of Concordia. Allying with the Confederacy of Independent Systems and its leader, Count Dooku of Serenno, Vizsla dreamed of destroying the New Mandalorians and conquering Mandalore. He sent a Death Watch operative to attack a Republic cruiser, and disseminated rumors of Mandalore raising an army for the Confederacy, drawing the attention of the Geh 'Dai Council who dispatched Geh 'Dai General Obi-Wan Kenobi to Mandalore. While meeting with Duchess Kryze in Sundari's Peace Park, the park's Memorial Shrine was bombed by a member of the Death Watch, the latest in a series of escalating attacks. Fearing the apparent threat the Death Watch posed to Mandalore and beyond, the Republic senate drafted a resolution to deploy a Republic military force to Mandalore in order to defend against the Death Watch, a resolution championed by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. This was the plan of Count Dooku all along, intending to make the Republic appear as an antagonist invasion force, which would in turn cause the people of Mandalore to rally behind the Death Watch as liberators. In an effort to keep this outcome from occurring and making Mandalore a military target, Duchess Kryze, Senator Tal Merrik, and a retinue of other sympathetic senators traveled aboard Kryze's personal starship to Coruscant, where the New Mandalorian leader intended to plead her position to the Galactic Senate. On route, Senator Merrik was revealed to be a traitor to the New Mandalorian cause and a secret ally of the Death Watch; he attempted to have Kryze murdered, only to be exposed and killed, himself, by one of the Duchess's Geh 'Dai protectors. With Merrik dead, Mandalore was left without a senator, and Kryze took it upon herself to personally speak before the Republic senate. Though manipulation within the Republic government initially turned the vote against Kryze, and the Death Watch continued to make attempts on her life, even on Coruscant, the Duchess was ultimately able to convince the Galactic Senate with the aid of posthumous testimony from the New Mandalorian Deputy Minister, Jerec, that the New Mandalorian government would be able to combat the Death Watch independently and effectively, without the need for Republic intervention. Death Watch was eventually exiled from Mandalore, and forced from the surrounding system. The senate elected to allow Mandalore to uphold its neutrality in the war effort, quashing the hopes of Pre Vizsla and the Death Watch to take control of the planet, but that victory came at a price: Duchess Kryze's actions were negatively perceived by elements of the Republic government, and as a neutral state, Mandalore was viewed as a Republic outsider. Trade routes to Mandalore were closed, leaving the world to its own resources without aid from the interstellar government, and forcing the New Mandalorian people to invest heavily in black market dealings in order to obtain much-needed supplies. This foray into the world of illegal goods had the unintended side effect of rampant greed and corruption spreading through the New Mandalorian government and police force. To help alleviate these tensions, Duchess Kryze invited Senator Padmae Amidala to Mandalore for a diplomatic visit to discuss the crisis. It was during Amidala's stay on Mandalore that the corruption within the New Mandalorian customs department allowed for a large number of New Mandalorian school children to be poisoned by slabin-laced tea that had been imported by smugglers. Kryze and Amidala tracked the Moogan smugglers responsible to a warehouse at the shipping docks of Sundari, and following a brief shootout between the smugglers and several officers of the Mandalorian guard, the operation was dismantled. Kryze later provided the poison antidote to the hospitalized children, and not long after, it came to light that the New Mandalorians' own Prime Minister, Almec, was behind the black market conspiracy. At this revelation, Almec was removed from office and summarily imprisoned. Nevertheless, Mandalore was selected as the location for diplomatic talks between select members of the Republic Senate and the Separatist Parliament. In the Royal Palace of Sundari, parties of diplomats from each government met to discuss peace and an end to the Clone Wars. These peace negotiations soured with the intervention of the young Separatist Senator Lux Bonteri, whose accusation of wrong-doing toward the Confederate leader, Count Dooku, brought the proceedings to a break down. The New Mandalorian coup "Listen, Duchess. Do you hear the people? They cry out for change. Your weak-minded rule of Mandalore is at an end." - Pre Vizsla, speaking to Duchess Satine Kryze . Nearly two years since their last attempt to wrest power from the New Mandalorians, the Death Watch returned to Mandalore at the same time Sundari came under attack by a contingent of criminals known as the Shadow Collective. As the foot soldiers of Black Sun, the Pyke Syndicate, and the Hutt Cartels terrorized Sundari, Death Watch presented themselves to the New Mandalorian people as saviors. In truth, however, Death Watch was in collusion with the Shadow Collective, having struck a deal with the criminal alliance's leaders, the Sith Lord Darth Maul and his apprentice Savage Opress, wherein the outlaws would sow chaos and disorder throughout New Mandalorian territory, only for Death Watch to appear to come to the people's rescue and win public favor. Across Sundari and the New Mandalorian-held cities of Mandalore, Death Watch beat back and arrested the criminal members of the Shadow Collective in staged battles, making a display of the ineffectiveness of Duchess Satine Kryze's leadership, before finally confronting the New Mandalorian leader in her palace throne room. With the will of the people turned to support him, Death Watch leader Pre Vizsla deposed Kryze, imprisoning the duchess and her council of ministers, before finally installing himself as the new Prime Minister and claiming the title of Mand'alor of the New Mandalorians. His goals met, Vizsla turned on his Sith allies, imprisoning both Maul and Opress in the same facility where the New Mandalorian government's officials had been incarcerated. Unbeknownst to Vizsla, Darth Maul had anticipated and planned for such a betrayal, allowing himself to be captured so that he might find a more malleable replacement for Vizsla as puppet ruler of the New Mandalorians. Within the prison, Maul came across the former Prime Minister Almec, who was willing to side with the Sith in order to escape prison and regain his lost standing. Breaking free of their confines, Maul stormed the Royal Palace with his apprentice and Almec in tow, where he challenged Vizsla to single combat for the right to rule. Bound by honor to the ancient warrior codes he sought to reinstate, Vizsla battled Maul in a furious duel through the throne room, finally losing to Maul when the Sith Lord decapitated him. Though Maul had won leadership of Death Watch in accordance with the old ways the group venerated, a unit of soldiers loyal to Vizsla's lieutenant Bo-Katan refused to concede leadership to a non Mandalorian. The breakaway group fled the palace amidst a heated firefight, and moved to rescue the imprisoned Duchess Kryze. While Kryze was apprehended shortly after the Death Watch renegades' escape attempt, she had succeeded in contacting the Geh 'Dai Temple with news of the coup, bringing Geh 'Dai Master Obi-Wan Kenobi to Mandalore on a mission to save Kryze shortly thereafter. Kenobi's rescue attempt fared no better than Bo-Katan and her troops', and Kryze was slain by Maul in order to cause her former lover, Kenobi, anguish. In spite of their inability to rescue the duchess, Bo-Katan and her warriors freed Kenobi from Maul's Death Watch loyalists, and rushed the Geh 'Dai Master out of Sundari and off of Mandalore in the middle of a battle between the two Death Watch factions. Concurrently, the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious arrived on Mandalore, upon having sensed the whereabouts of his one-time apprentice, Darth Maul. In the Sundari palace, Sidious faced off against Maul and Savage Opress in a duel to settle a breach of the Sith Order's Rule of Two, eventually killing Opress and subduing Maul for his own future purposes. The balance of power shifts The New Mandalorians were not the only citizens of Mandalore to fall upon hard times during the Clone Wars. Having been marginalized by the Republic, much of Mandalore had grown impoverished and in need of funds. This was the climate into which stepped Spar, the former Alpha-class ARC trooper who fled Kamino and deserted the Grand Army before the start of the Clone Wars, when he arrived on Mandalore.Encouraged by clan chieftain Fenn Shysa, who spread rumors that Spar was the son and heir of Jango Fett in order to capitalize on Fett's reputation as a Geh 'Dai killer, Spar took up the vacant position of Mand'alor. Determined to rebuild a new army of Mandalorian supercommandos in the image of the fallen True Mandalorians, Spar found many willing recruits among the ranks of the local police, and his growing Mandalorian Protector army even attracted nearly a dozen former members of the Death Watch. Spar and the Protectors won control of Mandalore, and Spar took the sobriquet "Mandalore the Resurrector" as an indication that the traditions of the warrior clans had regained supremacy. The new Mand'alor brought the planet over to the side of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, viewing the Republic as a corrupt oppressor, and seized the production facilities of MandalMotors in Keldabe for the Confederacy's exclusive use. Once Mandalore was on the side of the CIS, the ranks of Spar's Mandalorian Protector army were supplemented by one thousand BL-series Battle Legionnaire droids, partially designed by Fenn Shysa, and supplied by the Confederacy's droid foundries. Setting out from Mandalore, the Mandalorian Protectors entered into the Clone Wars as a Confederate shock force. Confederacy commanders called upon the Protectors to deal with stubborn Republic opposition that their mass-produced battle droids could not overcome; once the Protectors arrived on the battlefield, the enemy was often defeated in under a day. They stormed planets such as New Bornalex, New Holstice, Null, and Zaadja, until finally being assigned to capture Senator Padmae Amidala on Norval II, a task given to them by the shadowy Darth Sidious on behalf of the CIS. Once on Norval II, the Protectors were overwhelmed in a surprise Republic ambush orchestrated by Sidious' alter-ego, Chancellor Palpatine. Nearly all of the Protectors' Battle Legionnaire droids were destroyed and the Mandalorians killed, all except for Fenn Shysa, Tobbi Dala, and Mand'alor Spar himself. After the devastating defeat, the three returned to Mandalore, where a shell-shocked Spar stepped down from being Mand'alor, though Shysa made repeated unsuccessful attempts to get the ex-Mand'alor to resume his post. As the Clone Wars came to an end, the Galactic Republic was transformed into the Galactic Empire, under the newly crowned Emperor Palpatine. Despite Mandalore's role in the Confederacy of Independent Systems late in the war, the fledgling Empire granted the planet amnesty, and even offered Mandalorians paying mercenary work as part of the Geh 'Dai purge Palpatine had initiated. The Imperials were also interested in purchasing land on Mandalore where they could establish a garrison as a base of operations for the surrounding quadrant. The clans met, and finding the Empire's offer to be generous, they agreed to a temporary lease of land near Keldabe. The Imperials moved into what became known as the City of Bone, a failed amusement park designed by an enterprising Mandalorian to look like a giant mythosaur skeleton, in the hopes of attracting adventure tourism to Mandalore. At the same time as the Empire began to move onto Mandalore, Fenn Shysa acquiesced to popular opinion and accepted the position of Mand'alor. During this time, Mandalore became a haven for numerous clone troopers of the former Republic, who had deserted from their positions in the Grand Army for the promise of a life of freedom. This underground movement was centered around Kyrimorut, home of the former Cuy'val Dar clone trainer Kal Skirata and his clan. However, clone deserters were not the only increased presence on Mandalore during this period. In the aftermath of the New Mandalorians' fall and the dissolution of the Shadow Collective, elements of Black Sun moved to fill the void the fleeting criminal contingent had left. The syndicate established a known presence on Mandalore's moon, Concordia, and Tyno Fabris, lieutenant to the Black Sun Vigo Xizor, took up residence in Keldabe, where the Arkanian gangster worked out of an office in the Oyu'baat cantina. Around 18 BBY, the Geh 'Dai Knight Jax Pavan traveled to Mandalore in search of information on the whereabouts of a friend taken by the Empire. He met with Fabris at the Oyu'baat on multiple occasions, eventually acquiring the information he sought after making a deal with Fabris' superior, Vigo Xizor. Imperial occupation "Our homeworld had been overrun by slavers sanctioned by the Empire, an' they'd turned Mandalore into a conscription center fer slaves needed to work the fact'ries, farms an' mines what kept the Imperial war machine runnin'. That's when me an' Tobbi went underground to form an outlaw band. An' we been fightin' to give Mandalore back to the Mandalorians ever since!" - Fenn Shysa . Though the Empire's relationship with Mandalore was cordial at first, offering large sums for mining rights in the beskar-rich Tokursh region of the planet, and brokering starship contracts with MandalMotors , by the start of the Galactic Civil War, the Imperial grip on the Mandalorian homeworld had tightened harshly. Aided by elements of the reborn Death Watch, operating on Mandalore under the leadership of Lorka Gedyc, Imperial advisers were installed on MandalMotors' executive board, accumulating power in the name of the Empire. One such adviser, known as the Suprema, confiscated the traditional armor of Mandalore's citizens, and instituted a massive slaving operation that sent a large portion of Mandalore's population into chains. These slaves were used by the Empire to operate factories contributing to the Imperial war effort, and to aid the Imperials' endeavors to strip-mine Mandalore of valuable beskar ore. The Empire also established an Imperial Academy on Mandalore. It was during this time that the criminal organization run by the crime lord Tyber Zann engaged in a mission to Mandalore, successfully kidnapping the being known as the "Supreme Strategist." His pirates were also responsible for several raids on facilities owned by Mandal Hypernautics, carried out in order to convince the Mandalore-based company to supply his organization with their ships and war machines. Against the Imperial occupation, Mand'alor Fenn Shysa covertly trained a new iteration of the Mandalorian Protectors. Without the widespread availability of Mandalorian armor or weaponry, Shysa instructed his new army in guerrilla tactics as an insurgent force. Shysa and Tobbi Dala, the only other surviving member of the original Mandalorian Protectors beside Spar, led numerous raids on slaver operations, rescuing Mandalorian slaves from their Imperial captors, and disappearing before the Empire could strike back, tactics which made use of the Protector's familiarity with Mandalore's dense jungles. However, the success of the Protectors made Shysa a target for an Imperial bounty, and during the late years of their campaign against the Empire's presence on Mandalore, Dala was captured by the Suprema. When the bounty hunter Dengar came to Mandalore to capture Shysa for the reward on the Mand'alor's head, he was instead taken captive by the Protectors and negotiations were made to exchange him for the release of Dala. Shortly after, Princess Leia Organa of the Rebel Alliance also traveled to Mandalore, hoping to locate Dengar. Organa sought to ascertain from him the whereabouts of his bounty hunter associate, Boba Fett, in order to recover the Alliance officer Fett had taken, Han Solo. Stumbling into the middle of a Protector strike on a slaver convoy, Organa was inadvertently drawn into Mandalore's fight for freedom when she was taken back to the Protector's camp near Keldabe, only to be turned over to the Empire by Dengar after he escaped Protector custody. Disguised as a stormtrooper, Shysa infiltrated the Imperial base at the City of Bone with the intent to free both Princess Organa and his friend, Dala. Once inside, he signaled his Protectors to strike, launching an attack on the Imperial headquarters that culminated with the destruction of the enormous structure. Though Organa was ultimately freed, Dala gave his life to ensure that the slavers were defeated, and the Suprema was killed. Many of the slaves Shysa had freed decided to join the Mandalorian Protectors, and with the armor and weapons he recovered, Shysa had a planetary army numbering several hundred strong. New threats "I hadn't expected Mandalore to be so...unspoiled. Somehow I thought it would be more industrialized. You even have some dwellings set in trees." "We have all kinds of housing. Some locals still prefer trees to ground level." "Who runs your government? Who are the administrators?" "Mandalorians like things informal and friendly." - Yuuzhan Vong advanced scout Nom Anor, speaking with Boba Fett on Mandalore, under the alias of "Udelen" . With the Empire's control over Mandalore broken, Shysa's victory made the Mand'alor a symbol of hope for his home planet. Under Shysa, Mandalore was set on the path to restoration, and the renewed Mandalorian Protector army rose up against Grand Admiral Miltin Takel, the Imperial overseer of the Mandalore sector, swifty ousting Takel and the influence of the Empire from Mandalorian space. When the Nagai attacked Mandalore not long after the death of Emperor Palpatine and the Imperial defeat at the Battle of Endor, Shysa led Mandalore into a coalition with the Alliance of Free Planets, an interim government formed from the Rebellion, while preparing to become a New Republic in the wake of Palpatine's death , and together, drove the Nagai off Mandalore, before aiding the Alliance in their fight against both the Nagai and the Tof. Once peace had been restored, the Mandalorian Protectors began to live up to their name in more literal capacity: patrolling Mandalore's sector of space, if any hostile ship entered Mandalorian territory, the Protectors would board and capture the vessel, taking it back to Mandalore. Almost twenty years after Mandalore freed itself from the grip of the Empire, the world's most beloved leader in recent history, Fenn Shysa, passed away in 21 ABY on the planet Shogun, saving the life of Boba Fett. In accordance with Shysa's final wish, Fett became the next Mand'alor. Fett's new role as the leader of the Mandalorians was soon tested by the appearance of the early Yuuzhan Vong scout, Nom Anor. Anor, under the alias of "Udelen," contacted the Mandalorians seeking to use their mercenary skills in preparation for the larger galactic invasion. When the Yuuzhan Vong finally began their galactic incursion in 25 ABY, and Fett found out the truth of the Vong's plans to invade, conquer, and violently transform the galaxy to fit their own radical religious ideals, he made a deal with Anor to continue their mercenary service so long as Mandalore and its sector were spared. However, knowing the Yuuzhan Vong would break their word and having seen the danger the invaders posed, Fett secretly established a relationship with the Geh 'Dai New Republic Intelligence agent, Kubariet, passing along intelligence that he and other Mandalorians in Vong employ managed to gather, along with assorted bio-samples that had been collected. The Yuuzhan Vong came to discover Fett's duplicity, and in revenge, launched an attack on Mandalore in 29 ABY. Fett and a legion of Mandalore's supercommandos engaged the Vong in a battle to protect Mandalore. Unlike the other planets the invaders had sought to terraform, the Vong intended to destroy the Mandalorian homeworld. Using singularity ordnance, the Vong blew large craters into Mandalore's surface, and destroyed wide tracts of forested landscape, in addition to poisoning once fertile farmland. Close to one and a half million Mandalorians were killed during the attack, but through the use of underground tunnels, Mandalore's rough terrain, and sheer martial ability, the Mandalorians defeated and ultimately repelled the Yuuzhan Vong. Though Mandalore's population had been reduced by nearly a third, the Mandalorians, both living and dead, were remembered as the only people to defeat the Yuuzhan Vong on their own. Having turned openly hostile against Mandalore, Fett led his Mandalorian Protectors against the Yuuzhan Vong in defense of the galaxy, defeating the invaders at Gyndine, and liberating Tholatin from the Vong; during the battle at Caluula Station, the Mandalorian Protectors made the Yuuzhan Vong fear the power of Mandalore. Reconstruction "I'm with the Mand'alor on this. We lost nearly a million and a half people fighting the vongese. That might be small change for Coruscant, but it's a disaster for us. No more, not until we get Manda'yaim in order." - Neth Bralor . After the war with the Yuuzhan Vong came to a close, and the defeated Vong came to live on the sentient planet Zonama Sekot, the battle-devastated planet of Mandalore was one of many planets that did not join the recently formed, multi-governmental political conglomerate, the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. Mandalore was also one of the many worlds that did not receive aid from the new Galactic Alliance, despite its role in assisting the New Republic, and defending several worlds threatened by the Vong invaders. As such, the slow process of revitalizing Mandalore was left to the Mandalorian people alone, a task that spanned close to ten years. By 40 ABY, much of the physical damage that the Yuuzhan Vong had wreaked on Mandalore had healed. The bodies of the dead, Mandalorian and Vong alike, had been buried, and most of the damage to buildings and structures had been repaired. The hundred-meter-tall tower of MandalMotors' headquarters in Keldabe was still adorned with several scars, however, and the majority of the woodland that surrounded Mandalore's capital city remained flattened. Perhaps worst of all the issues plaguing Mandalore on its road to recovery were the food shortages that came as a result of the farmland that had been poisoned by the Vong, and the severely reduced population. These were two issues that were brought before a meeting of Mandalorian clan chieftains at MandalMotors Hall in Keldabe. Presiding over the gathering of clan leaders and corporate executives, Mand'alor Boba Fett agreed to an idea put forth by the Mandalorian soldier Graad to decree a recall of two million Mandalorians living offworld throughout the galaxy to return to Mandalore in order to bolster the population. The Carid clan took up the responsibility of allocating Mandalore's abandoned fallow farmland to any Mandalorian arrivals from offworld who wished to claim ownership. Fett also contributed several million credits to a fund for importing what food and supplies were necessary from offworld until a level of self-sufficiency could again be reached, a fund into which the head of MandalMotors, Jir Yomaget, promised to donate half of the company's profits. Heeding the call of the Mand'alor, Mandalorians from planets all across the galaxy journeyed to Mandalore in droves, reclaiming abandoned farmland and bringing their varied expertise to the Mandalorian homeworld. Two such Mandalorians, one with a background as a geologist and the other as minerals engineer, decided to scan a region of Mandalore that had been significantly damaged by the Yuuzhan Vong while on orbital approach, and upon further inspection, discovered a new lode of beskar iron deep within the planet that the Galactic Empire had missed so many years prior, only to be exposed by the Vong's attack. Located a few hundred kilometers north of the remote town of Enceri, the beskar find wasn't located on land owned by any one Mandalorian, and thus the Mand'alor declared that the fresh ore would be used a resource for all of Mandalore: half would be sold offworld for profit, and half would be kept for domestic armament. The newly discovered beskar enabled the start of a new era of economic resurgence on Mandalore. When news of Mandalore's beskar discovery became publicly known, the Verpine of Roche declared their interest in purchasing an amount of the powerful metal, but also made mention of the Verpine hive's concerns about potential Mandalorian aggression while their representative Sass Sikili was in talks with Boba Fett. Fett was able to quell the Verpine's fears by offering a treaty between Mandalore and Roche, wherein a pact of nonaggression was made, and a mutual aid system was established: Mandalore would provide martial service and beskar iron, in exchange for exclusive Verpine technology, and access to Verpine technical facilities. The Verpine hive accepted, and the resulting alliance only served to strengthen Mandalore's economy. Second Galactic Civil War "Mandalore has no position on the current war, and there'll be no division over it. Anyone who wants to sell their services individually to either side, that's your business. But not in Mandalore's name." - Boba Fett . As Mandalore's economy and infrastructure flourished, the outside galaxy was in the midst of a division that quickly escalated into the Second Galactic Civil War, as the Galactic Alliance faced off against the Corellian-led Confederation. In order to better focus on Mandalore's restoration, Boba Fett declared the planet to be neutral in the conflict, though he also recognized the importance of mercenary work in providing needed credits to some Mandalorian residents, and thus did not interfere with the right of individuals to take up personal contracts. Due to Mandalore's recent treaty with Roche, however, Mandalorians declined work from Verpine disfavored Kem Stor Ai, and punitively bombed several factories on Murkhana after the planet abused and ignored Verpine technological patents. The bombing raid on Murkhana was also a display of Mandalore's new Bes'uliik starfighters, designed and constructed by MandalMotors using the new beskar lodes; several Bes'uliik fighters became part of Mandalore's defense fleet, in addition to more heavily armed and armored Tra'kad-class assault ships. By the Mand'alor's proclamation, Bes'uliik fighters were to be available for sale and export to all interested parties, regardless of side in the current civil war, though he stipulated that Jacen Solo, having recently killed Fett's daughter, Ailyn Vel, would have to come to Mandalore personally to deal for the Republic. The government of Bothawui sent a formal offer to Mandalore to acquire a squadron of Bes'uliik fighters, and offered a larger premium to gain exclusive purchasing rights to the vessel. The Bothans also offered twenty million credits per month for the services of a Mandalorian assault fleet and additional infantry forces. Despite Mandalore's state of planetary neutrality, when Boba Fett was contacted by Imperial Admiral Natasi Daala just prior to the Second Battle of Fondor, Fett agreed to assemble a group of supercommando mercenaries in order to aid Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon. When Pellaeon was killed by the Sith apprentice Tahiri Veila, Fett and his commandos attacked and took control of Pellaeon's flagship, Bloodfin, wounding both Veila and her Sith Lord master, Darth Caedus, formerly Jacen Solo. Though the injured Sith managed to escape, the battle at Fondor was a victory for the Galactic Alliance and Imperial Remnant-comprised "Geh 'Dai Coalition." Soon after, Fett's granddaughter, Mirta Gev was married to her lover Ghes Orade on Mandalore, and a wedding reception was held in Keldabe. The Mandalorians were later called to defend the Verpine asteroid Nickel One against an attack by Imperial Remnant forces loyal to Darth Caedus, as part of Mandalore's treaty with Roche. Fett and his soldiers were on hand during the Geh 'Dai Coalition's assault on Caedus, even participating in killing several Imperial Moffs loyal to the Sith Lord. But in retaliation for the Mandalorians' participation, Caedus sent what ships were left of the Galactic Alliance Fifth Fleet to attack Mandalore, and released a nanovirus across the surface, engineered via blood stolen from Mirta Gev to kill any member of the Fett clan who stepped foot on the world. However, unknown to the Imperials who used a modified version of the Clone Wars-era FG36 virus, much of Mandalore's populace had been inoculated for the base nanovirus years earlier during the reign of Mand'alor Fenn Shysa by the formerly Separatist scientist Ovolot Qail Uthan, a cure which was communicable by both air and touch, and was transmitted from parent to child. Sith-Imperial War "Yaga Auchs is Mandalore now." "Heard that. Keeping everyone on planet, clear of conflicts. Rebuilding." - Tes Vevec and Hondo Karr . By the first year of the Sith–Imperial War, Chernan Ordo had become the new Mand'alor. But while employed by the Galactic Alliance to defend the planet Botajef from the forces of the Fel Empire, Ordo was betrayed by his trusted soldier, Yaga Auchs. Auchs pulled the Mandalorians out of battle, and with all but Hondo Karr, the man who discovered Auchs in the act, unaware of his betrayal, Auchs claimed the title of Mand'alor for himself. With that new authority, he ordered the Mandalorians back to Mandalore, and where they would remain under the premise of rebuilding, just as Boba Fett had done years earlier. Unlike Fett, Auchs' decree came at the order of the master he secretly served, who desired the Mandalorians remain out of the war. Inhabitants "In five millennia, the Mandalorians fought with and against a thousand armies on a thousand worlds. They learned to speak as many languages and absorbed weapons technology and tactics from every war. And yet, despite the overwhelming influence of alien cultures, and the absence of a true homeworld and even species, their own language not only survived but changed little, their way of life and their philosophy remained untouched, and their ideals and sense of family, of identify, of nation, were only strengthened." - Mandalorians: Identity and Language . Since the Taung first arrived from Roon, Mandalore has been dominated by the Mandalorian people. Over time, the planet became the political center of Mandalorian space, and the one true homeworld acknowledged by the often nomadic warriors. However, as the Mandalorians were spread out in communities across the galaxy, many Mandalorians were not born on Mandalore, and had never seen the planet during their lifetime. Though the term "Mandalorian" was originally used by the Taung to describe themselves, by the end of the Great Sith War, the Mandalorians began accepting beings of other races into their fold, viewing those who joined them on equal footing to those who had been born into the culture, and transforming what it meant to be a Mandalorian. Having become a mixed group of beings from numerous worlds and species, those who considered themselves Mandalorian were bound by a single, unifying culture as defined by the Resol'nare. Never a densely populated world, Mandalore maintained a population that hovered around four million individuals throughout much of its history. Due to its sparse population, land outside of what urban zones there were was free for an individual to settle at their choosing, so long as it was not already occupied. Despite the large place mercenary work held in the culture honored by Mandalore's warrior clans, many Mandalorians took up non-martial occupations on Mandalore. Several toiled in workshops and factories, while others tended bars, ran shops, and worked as doctors, veterinarians, and in New Mandalorian society, even formal teachers. As Mandalore was the only known world , in addition to its moon, Concordia, , to possess the element beskar, Mandalorians have mined Mandalore for the nearly indestructible metal for generations, with Mandalorian blacksmiths passing down the closely-guarded secrets of how to manipulate beskar through the ages. Government and economy The ultimate authority on Mandalore, and in the greater Mandalorian culture, rested with the Mand'alor. A position that was non-hereditary, and considered a combination of general, king, and warlord, the word Mand'alor meant "sole ruler," and was the closest to an official head of state the Mandalorian warrior clans traditionally had. Beneath the Mand'alor, were the numerous leaders of the many Mandalorian clans. These clan chieftains functioned as an unofficial senate, and would gather, often alongside the current Mand'alor, to make decisions affecting Mandalore. The New Mandalorians, however, had a different system of government. More centralized and bureaucratic than the loose affiliation of Mandalore's warrior clans, the New Mandalorian government was comprised of a Ruling Council of ministers, led by a Prime Minister. The Prime Minister was also subservient the New Mandalorians' own Mand'alor, chosen in opposition to those who ruled the warrior clans. For much of Mandalore's history, Mandalore's planetary economy has been driven by the MandalMotors company, which based its headquarters in Keldabe, Mandalore's capital city. Famous for its vehicle designs, MandalMotors produced such starships as the StarViper-class attack ship, the Bes'uliik-class starfighter, and the Keldabe-class battleship, in addition to Canderous-class assault tanks and Buirk'alor-class airspeeders, among many other designs. During the New Mandalorians' period of ascendancy on Mandalore, Republic trade routes were established and New Mandalorian society enjoyed food and supplies from Republic benefactors. However, once the New Mandalorian government established Mandalore's neutral role during the Clone Wars, the flow of goods was stemmed as the trade routes were closed. Despite a history of being marginalized, Mandalore managed to carve out a niche in the galactic economy with beskar iron, which was one of the strongest metals known to science, and among the most valuable metals on the galactic market. On the individual level, Mandalorian mercenaries and bounty hunters were one of Mandalore's largest exports, and Mandalorian weaponsmiths, veterinarians, metallurgists and shop keepers could earn a sustainable living via their trade. Concordia Astrographical Information: Regions: Outer Rim Territories. Sector: Mandalore sector. System: Mandalore system. Planet: Mandalore. Grid Square: O-7. Orbital Position: 2. Satellites: 2, Kih Concordia and Di'kutla ("Useless" or 'useless rock'). Rotation Period: 12 days. Orbital Period: 112 standard days. Physical Information: Class: Terrestrial. Atmosphere: Breathable. Climate: Temperate. Primary Terrain: Forests; Mountains. Points Of Interest: Beskar mines. Death Watch hideout. Societal Information: Immigrated Species: All intelligent life. Primary Language: Mando'a; Concordian (dialect); Galactic Basic (uncommon). Government: Clan-appointed governor. Major Cities: Concordia City. Affiliation: Mandalorians; Death Watch. A Verdant Moon Where Dense Forests Grew, Concordia Became An Agricultural Colony After Being Settled By The Mandalorians. Mandalorian Beskar Iron Mines Marred Concordia's Lush Surface. The Vizsla Clan Settlement On Concordia. Concordia "The Concordian moon is a province, with its own governor." - Duchess Satine Kryze. Concordia was one of two moons orbiting the Outer Rim world of Mandalore. A verdant moon possessing dense forests, the Mandalorians originally settled Concordia as an agricultural colony. However, during the time of war, the Mandalorians established a vast number of mining camps on the moon in search of beskar iron, a nearly indestructible metal ore unique to Mandalore and its orbiting satellite. The excessive strip-mining operation almost destroyed Concordia's forests, though by 22 BBY, they were making a recovery. Centuries after the rise of the pacifistic New Mandalorian faction, the violent renegade sect of Mandalorians known as the Death Watch incited numerous Mandalorian clan leaders to war against their peaceful regime in a conflict that became known as the Great Clan Wars. The Death Watch-backed warlords were eventually defeated, reluctantly accepting exile to Concordia, an independent Mandalorian province the rule of which was turned over to Clan Vizsla. By the beginning of the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, Concordia was governed by Pre Vizsla, a public supporter of New Mandalorian leader Duchess Satine Kryze, but secretly the leader of a reborn faction of Death Watch. Vizsla established a Death Watch base in the moon's abandoned mines, where he worked in secret to rebuild the Death Watch. His base was discovered by Geh 'Dai Master Obi-Wan Kenobi during an investigation of the Death Watch's presence in current Mandalorian affairs, and his efforts to turn the New Mandalorians against the Republic were thwarted by the combined actions of Kenobi and Duchess Kryze. With Vizsla's ties to Death Watch were exposed to all, he lost his position as governor of Concordia, and was eventually forced to abandon the Mandalorian moon to join Death Watch in a nomadic existence wandering the galaxy, until he led a coup against the New Mandalorians to take power. Description "I thought Concordia was an agricultural settlement." "Before the end of our wars, they turned it into a mining base. The sheer number of mining facilities here nearly destroyed our forests. They're finally growing back." - Obi-Wan Kenobi and Satine Kryze. Concordia was a terrestrial moon, one of two satellites that orbited the planet Mandalore, the cultural homeworld of the Mandalorian people, located in the Mandalore sector of the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories. One of several habitable locations in the Mandalore system, Concordia was a lush, temperate moon, with chains of mountains dotting its surface. As the system's sun set, Concordia could be seen from the surface of Mandalore as a green sphere in the evening sky.The Mandalorian moon was home to a number of animals, including carnivorous predators who were known to chance attacking sentient prey at night. Individuals who ventured out into the Concordian plains in the dark could ward off the moon's predators with fire. During the period when Mandalore continued to engage in large-scale warfare, Concordia became the target of beskar iron miners, who scoured the moon for the nearly indestructible metal. Unsightly mines marred much of Concordia's surface, almost destroying the moon's forests in the process. Even after the Mandalorians' wars came to an end, it was only around the time of the Clone Wars that the Concordian forests began to make a recovery. The old mines were abandoned to fall into disrepair, a symbol of the mining industry left behind, only be revitalized by the radical Death Watch splinter sect to serve as hidden bases for their operations on Concordia and a place to manufacture armor and munitions in secret. History "Some unrepentant mercenaries and warriors were exiled to the moon Concordia, while others dispersed throughout the galaxy, resuming the Mandalorians' ancient trade as blasters-for-hire." - Vilnau Teupt. The early Mandalorian Taung conquered the uninhabited world that would become Mandalore around 7000 BBY, naming the world for their leader, Mandalore the First. As they set out to capture the surrounding worlds of the Mandalore system, the Mandalorians eventually turned their sights on the lush and forested moon of Concordia. Over time, the verdant moon became an agricultural settlement, inhabited and tended by Mandalorian farmers. During the Galactic War, the Mandalorian soldier Galron made camp on Concordia with his twin daughters Mari and Tayn. Around the fire, they spoke of the famed warrior Shae Vizla and the ancient Mandalore the Conqueror, before the girls drifted off to sleep under their father's watchful eye. Eventually, interest in Concordia turned away from agriculture and in the direction of mining. As the Mandalorians continued to wage war centuries prior to rise of the Galactic Empire, they sought beskar iron ore from beneath the surface of Concordia. The metal was a galactic rarity, found only on Mandalore and its moon, and was prized for its nigh invulnerability, capable of withstanding the blows of a lightsaber. Ugly mines came to scar the surface of Concordia, and the Mandalorians' strip-mining efforts were so extensive that the moon's native forests were nearly destroyed. Following the Mandalorian Excision- a brief but overwhelming conflict between the Mandalorians and the Galactic Republic that transformed portions of Mandalore into barren deserts of white sand- a reformist political faction of Mandalorians was born: the New Mandalorians. The New Mandalorians believed in pacifism, and sought to establish a peaceful society isolated from the traditional warrior clans. Rogue elements within the warrior clans worked to see the New Mandalorians' downfall for centuries, eventually culminating with the foundation of the Death Watch splinter group under Tor Vizsla around 60 BBY. In an attempt to see the New Mandalorians' downfall, Death Watch incited a number of clan chieftains to war against the pacifists, though other clan leaders rose to defend them. In the end, the Great Clan Wars resulted in a defeat for Death Watch, and the beaten but unrepentant clan warlords accepted exile to Concordia. Control of the Mandalorian moon was turned over to Clan Vizsla, to act as a province independent of the New Mandalorian state. By the start of the Clone Wars in 22 BBY, more than a decade after the end of the Great Clan Wars, it was the position of the New Mandalorian government that the warriors that had been exiled to Concordia had died since out. During this time, Concordia was ruled by Governor Pre Vizsla, an outward supporter of the New Mandalorians and friend to their leader, Duchess Satine Kryze. In secret, however, Vizsla was the leader of the Death Watch, rebuilding the sect in the wake of the Great Clan Wars. Vizsla established a base of operations in the abandoned beskar mines of Concordia, using the facilities to manufacture Mandalorian armor and armament, and as a staging ground for his Death Watch forces. Vizsla's plans and the Death Watch's secret base were uncovered by Geh 'Dai Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Duchess Kryze during a visit to Concordia in the early months of the Clone Wars. Discovered, Vizsla fought Kenobi to a draw, and a trio of his Death Watch troops forced the Geh 'Dai Master to retreat with the Duchess back to Mandalore. Even still, Vizsla continued to use Concordia and his base there as a staging ground for a planned Death Watch takeover of Mandalore. There, he amassed an army of soldiers, but before an attack could be made, Count Dooku- Vizsla's ally in the Confederacy of Independent Systems- ordered his men to stand down due to the veto of a Republic defense initiative that would have sent a contingent of clone troopers to Mandalore. Vizsla and Dooku had planned to use the Republic occupation to sway the Mandalorian populace to support Death Watch as would-be liberators against an oppressive offworld force. Without the backing of Mandalore's people, Death Watch did not have the strength to take control of the planet. Death Watch was later driven from Concordia and the surrounding Mandalore system, eventually establishing a camp on the far away world of Carlac. By the Clone Wars' end, Concordia had acquired a reputation for doing business with a number of pirates and smugglers that operated in and around Mandalorian space. Areas of the moon were known to host an ostensible presence of the Black Sun crime syndicate, operating under the oversight of Vigo Xizor's lieutenant, Tyno Fabris. Non-Mandalorian offworlders with business on the Mandalorian homeworld would occasionally make planetfall on Concordia to fulfill their needs, rather than journeying down to the surface of Mandalore itself. Inhabitants "You won't make much progress without me there, especially since you've just been involved with the death of a Concordian." - Satine Kryze. Concordia was first inhabited by members of the Mandalorian culture as an agricultural settlement, becoming a home to a number of Mandalorian farmers. Later, the moon was transformed into a mining base, and Concordia became a haven for beskar miners, operating the numerous mines littered across the moon's surface. The people of Concordia were collectively known as Concordians, and spoke a dialect of Mando'a- the traditional Mandalorian language- also known as Concordian, a dialect shared by the nearby world of Concord Dawn. In the aftermath of the Great Clan Wars, several unrepentant warrior clan chieftains who had sided with Death Watch to dethrone the New Mandalorians went into exile on Concordia upon their defeat. The rule of the Mandalorian moon was entrusted to the members of Clan Vizsla, and by the time of the Clone Wars, Concordia was recognized as an independent province, separate from the New Mandalorian state and ruled by its own governor. Basilisk Astrographical Information: Region: Core Worlds. System: Basilisk system. Grid square: L-9. Satellites: None. Physical Information: Class: Terrestrial. Primary Terrain: Barren. Societal Information: Native Species: Basiliskans. Immigrated Species: Taungs. Primary Languages: Mando'a. Affiliation: Galactic Republic; Mandalorian Crusaders; Galactic Empire; New Republic; UGC. Basilisk Basilisk was a Core world in the Arrowhead of the Slice, near Coruscant. History Basilisk was home to the Basiliskans, an intelligent lizard species. They were the creators of the Basilisk war droids, that were rumored to be modeled after themselves. During their Lagartoz War Dragons and Mandalorian troops during a campaign in the New Sith Wars against one of the Dark Underlord's Sith Generals. The weapon shown appears for be a lance, but in fact is a light blaster auto cannon. war with the Mandalorians around the year 4017 BBY, the Basiliskans chemically poisoned their own planet, in a last effort to defeat their conquerors. Despite receiving Geh 'Dai and Republic reinforcements under Sidrona Diath at the Battle of Basilisk, the Mandalorians conquered the planet and enslaved the remaining Basiliskans. After the war, the Mandalorians found a new use for the Basiliskans. With their tough hides and claws, with which they could be trained, and their intelligence, the Mandalorians used them as weapons for aerial and ground fighting during later wars. Because of this the Basiliskans degenerated and became nothing more than beasts. As such, they were re-named the Lagartoz War Dragons. During the Geh 'Dai Civil War there was another battle over the planet. The planet was once more fought over during the Clone Wars. The New Republic captured the planet at some point after the Battle of Endor. After the annexation of the Rakatan Galaxay, the UGC claimed the entire world as a "Global Reserve," but due to damage to the planet of the million years of wars and abuse the planet simply wasn't recoverable and converted to full time mining and later toxic waste disposal. Samples of what species could be recovered were, eventually transplanted to a reserve declared for the Basiliskan species. Basiliskans Basiliskans were an intelligent lizard species native to the planet Basilisk in the Core Worlds region of the galaxy. They were the creators of the Basilisk war droids, that were rumored to be modeled after themselves. During their war with the Mandalorians, the Basiliskans chemically poisoned their own planet, in a last ditch effort to defeat their conquerors. After the war the Mandalorians found a new use for the Basiliskans. With their tough hides, large claws and intelligence, the Mandalorians used them as mounts for aerial and ground fighting during later wars including the New Sith Wars. Because of this, the Basiliskans degenerated, losing their intelligence and becoming mere beasts. As such, since the Battle of Basilisk in 4017 BBY, they were re-named the Lagartoz War Dragons. After the annexation of the Rakatan Galaxay, the Basiliskans were declared a protected species, the entire herd confiscated (without compensation by the UGC), and transported to a new world to be "rehabilitated" with an intention of returning them to their pre-enslavement state. To date, these efforts have had limited success, though some strides have been made in this direction. Concord Dawn Astrographical Information: Region: Outer Rim Territories. Sector: Mandalore sector. System: Concord Dawn system. Grid Square: O-7. Physical Information: Class: Terrestrial. Atmosphere: Type I (breathable). Primary Terrain: Deserts; Forests; Jungles; Plains. Points Of Interest: Fett homestead; Sintas Vel's homestead; Sintas Vel's safe house. Societal Information: Immigrated Species: Humans; Devaronians. Primary Language: Concordian; Galactic basic. Government: Clans. Demonym: Concordian. Affiliation: Mandalorians; Journeyman Protectors. A City On Concord Dawn. Concord Dawn "On Concord Dawn, cheating is a capital offense." - Hovrak. Concord Dawn was an agricultural frontier world in the Mandalore sector of the Outer Rim Territories. The planet had strong ties to the Mandalorians; its population shared many Mandalorian values, and genetic markers specific to the natives of Concord Dawn were present throughout the Mandalorian populace. Concord Dawn was a flashpoint for the Mandalorian Civil War in 58 BBY, when the Death Watch of Tor Vizsla scattered the True Mandalorians of Mandalore Jaster Mereel, a native of Concord Dawn. Mereel escaped and turned the tables on Vizsla with the help of a native boy, Jango Fett, orphaned by the Death Watch. Jango's son Boba Fett would later settle on Concord Dawn before being exiled for the murder of his superior officer. Law on Concord Dawn, which could be strict in execution and punishment, was maintained by the Journeyman Protectors. Among their numbers were Mereel, Jango Fett's father, Boba Fett, and Cort Davin, one of the Cuy'val Dar trainers of the Grand Army of the Republic. Other members of the law on Concord Dawn included Sheckil, who became a lieutenant in the Galactic Empire, and a Devaronian senior magistrate who in 24 ABY used his position to route Human prisoners to be executed by the anti-Human Diversity Alliance. Members of the Grand Army were even influenced by the traditions of Concord Dawn's Protectors, such as Sergeant Fox, who intended to retire to become a Protector at the end of the Clone Wars. Description "...Concord Dawn, an agricultural world in the Mandalore sector." - Cradossk Concord Dawn was an Outer Rim world in the Mandalore sector, located near the border between the Outer and Mid Rim. Like the rest of its sector, it was frontier country, covered in jungles, forests, deserts and plains. The planet was principally an agricultural world, backwards in development, and its plains were tilled by the planet's farmers to meager effect. The region of Concord Dawn around the Fett family homestead and its nearby village was arid and dusty, though still capable of growing crops. History Mandalorian Conflicts Concord Dawn was conquered by the Mandalorians during their crusades thousands of years before the Mandalorian Civil War. Before becoming Mandalore, Jaster Mereel was a native of Concord Dawn and a Journeyman Protector on that world. Mereel, a man of strict moral codes, killed a superior officer for the man's corruption and was exiled as a result. While Mereel eventually rose to be leader of the Mandalorians, his position on Concord Dawn was taken up by a man named Fett. Over half a century before the Battle of Yavin, the Mandalorian Civil War broke out when the Death Watch, a splinter group of Mandalorians led by Tor Vizsla, launched a coup against Mereel's True Mandalorians. In 58 BBY, the war came to Concord Dawn. The Death Watch triumphed over Mereel's men, and the True Mandalorians were forced to scatter into hiding as Vizsla hunted them down. Mereel fled to the safety of Fett's farm, where his replacement kept the Mandalore and his men fed and hidden. Vizsla and the Death Watch tracked them down anyway, and they took Fett's son Jango hostage as they beat Fett for information on Mereel. An attempt by Fett's wife gave Jango an opportunity to escape, and run directly into Mereel, but Vizsla's men killed the elder Fetts, took their daughter Arla captive, and burned down their fields to kill Mereel. Jango helped the True Mandalorians escape Mereel's trap, and Mereel took Jango with him to go after Vizsla. After leaving the Fett farm, Vizsla moved to the nearest village, intending to pillage it for two days before moving on to the moon of Moonus Mandel. Mereel and his men caught the Death Watch in ambush there, wiping out many of them, though Vizsla escaped. After securing the town, the True Mandalorians pulled off Concord Dawn. Later Events The Sith Lord Count Dooku came to Concord Dawn in 32 BBY in search of information on Jango Fett's past, seeking to learn whether the man was worthy of being the prime clone of the Grand Army of the Republic being cloned on Kamino. Fett was ultimately chosen, and as part of the group responsible for training the army, Fett recruited Cort Davin, an ex-Journeyman Protector from Concord Dawn. Davin's training of clone commander CC-1138, known as Bacara, led the clone to associate with the traditions of the Protectors and learn the Concord Dawn dialect of Mando'a. Others drawn in by the idea of the Protectors and Concord Dawn included CT-0000/1010, or Fox, who sought to become a Protector at the conclusion of the Clone Wars. Another trainer of the Grand Army, Kal Skirata, originally intended to travel to Concord Dawn after the war to locate relatives of the Fetts. In 16 BBY, Jango's son Boba Fett married Sintas Vel and settled on Concord Dawn under the name of Jaster Mereel, taking up the position of Journeyman Protector and raising a daughter, Ailyn.When Fett's superior officer in the Journeyman Protectors, Lenovar, raped Sintas, Fett killed the man for betraying his uniform. Fett was imprisoned and granted the services of the famous Pleader Iving Creel to represent his case. He was unrepentant of the murder, though, and was exiled from Concord Dawn as a result. In 24 ABY, a Devaronian senior magistrate on Concord Dawn sympathized with the anti-Human Diversity Alliance movement and relocated certain Human prisoners to the Alliance's headquarters on Ryloth to be executed. Inhabitants The people of Concord Dawn had close ties to the Mandalorians; a large percentage of Mandalorian genomes had genetic markers indicative of Concord Dawn heritage. However, the natives of Concord Dawn never settled Mandalore. Instead, the people of Concord Dawn were attracted to Mandalorian culture by shared values, such as a strong sense of self-identity and focus on discipline and physical condition. Factors that created a strong sense of loyalty were present in the typical Concord Dawn genome, which the cloners of Kamino used to their advantage by amplifying those traits in Fett's clones. Mando'a was spoken on Concord Dawn, but its own special dialect; among the changes were use of the word tat instead of vod for "brother." The northern region of the planet had a distinctive accent of Basic as well. Order and peace on Concord Dawn were maintained by the Journeyman Protectors. Cases were given to a Pleader, who would give a plea for his client before a sentence, anything up to exile or execution, was decided. The law could be strict; cheating at sabacc, for example, was a capital offense. Laws were heavily enforced on Concord Dawn. Notable natives of Concord Dawn included Jaster Mereel, Mandalore of the Mandalorians; Jango Fett, Mandalore and prime clone of the Grand Army of the Republic; Cort Davin, Journeyman Protector and Cuy'val Dar trainer of the Grand Army; and Imperial Lieutenant Sheckil, a former warrant officer on the world. All inhabitants of Concord Dawn were vaccinated at birth against Karatos Plague, a virus native to the world. Dxunfull Astrographical Information: Region: Inner Rim. Sector: Japrael sector. System: Japrael system. Planet: Onderon. Grid Square: O-9. Rotation Period: 26 standard hours. Orbital Period: 298 local days. Physical Information: Class: Terrestrial. Atmosphere: Type I (breathable) . Climate: Temperate. Gravity: Standard. Primary Terrain: Jungles. Points Of Interest: Tomb of Freedon Nadd; Mandalorian Outpost; CI-004 Research Facility. Flora: Crasna; Fauna; Boma; Cannok; Drexl; Gharzr; Maalraas; Orbalisk; Zakkeg. Societal Information: Immigrated Species: None; formerly: Humans, Taungs. Primary Languages: None; formerly: Mando'a. Government: None. Major Cities: None. Major Imports: None. Major Exports: None. Affiliation: Mandalorians; Darth Revan's Sith Empire; Galactic Republic; Galactic Empire; New Republic; Galactic Federation of Free Alliances; UGC. Dxun "This is where the Mandalorian War started? This doesn't look like much of a battlefield." "Much is buried here, and there is much that should remain buried." - Atton Rand and Kreia. Dxun, also known as the Demon Moon, was the largest of four moons that orbited the Inner Rim world of Onderon. Like its parent planet, it was covered almost entirely by dense jungles that were populated by many species of fierce, predatory animals. Description "Blasted jungle's taking over everything!" - Zuka. Despite being temperate and habitable, the jungles of Dxun posed major challenges for its inhabitants. Due to its constant rains and wet climate, mechanical devices did not last long and required continuous maintenance. Moreover, the jungles were inhabited by many dangerous predators such as bomas, cannoks, drexls, maalraas, skreevs, and zakkegs, forcing the moon's inhabitants to be armed at all times. Though considered a moon of Onderon, Dxun and Onderon were almost sister planets. They were so close to one another that it was only a short shuttle ride between them, and they even shared a bit of the same atmosphere. Every year, during Dxun's summer season, the atmospheres of Onderon and Dxun would connect. This allowed the vicious Drexls to wander and settle on Onderon, thus laying the foundations for the Beast Wars. History Early history "The jungles of Dxun are filled with deadly predators. They will stalk you day and night, and the moment you let your guard down they will strike." - Qordis's Ghost. At the end of the Beast Wars, Geh 'Dai Master Arca Jeth decided to relocate the sarcophagus of Freedon Nadd, the former Dark Lord of the Sith and king of Onderon, from Onderon to Dxun, in an attempt to prevent future Sith from drawing on its power. The plan worked for the most part, though two of history's most pivotal Sith Lords, Exar Kun and Darth Bane, would later manage to enter the tomb of Freedon Nadd on Dxun. At the end of the Great Sith War in 3996 BBY, Mandalore the Indomitable, leader of the Mandalorians, was eaten alive by the vicious beasts of Dxun. Mandalorian Wars "We claimed this moon decades ago when we reforged ourselves after Exar Kun's defeat. Some of us call it home." - A Mandalorian Neo-Crusader, circa 3951 BBY. After assuming the leadership of the Mandalorians, Mandalore the Ultimate made Dxun his stronghold, from which he planned his attack on the Galactic Republic. In 3963 BBY, the Mandalorian Wars expanded into a galaxy-wide conflict when the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders began their invasion of the Republic. From their headquarters on Dxun, Mandalore's forces attacked and took nearby Onderon in mere hours. A battle with the Republic forces took place on the moon, but it was little more that a rear-guard holding action by the Republic. Years later, after the Geh 'Dai Revan and Malak had entered the war and pushed the Mandalorian forces back to their original Dxun staging-grounds, a far more bloody battle was fought. The Republic attempted to capture the Mandalorian headquarters on Dxun. Republic forces managed to defeat the Mandalorians, but the victory came at a heavy cost. The Mandalorian outposts were entrenched and well defended by hidden mines, traps, anti-air turrets, and the ferocious inhabitants of the jungle itself. During the bloody battle, the Republic lost ten soldiers for every Mandalorian killed. The Geh 'Dai Exile, who was in command of the battle, was forced to sacrifice dozens of her soldiers, sending them on a suicidal charge to disable the minefield that was the last obstacle keeping them away from the Mandalorian fortress. After the battle, the Republic military did not bother to demolish many structures that the Mandalorians had built; nor did they uncover the many hidden weapons caches providently left in case the Mandalorians were someday to return. Onderon Civil War In 3956 BBY, Canderous Ordo took the title of Mandalore and gathered a handful of Mandalorians, most of whom were mercenaries at the time, on the Dxun moon, in the rebuilt headquarters of the old Mandalore. There they regrouped, concealing their presence from both the Republic and the native Onderonians, silencing all scouts who came anywhere near their encampment. Canderous hoped that, one day, the Mandalorians of Dxun would regain their former glory. The Geh 'Dai Exile landed in the jungles of Dxun when her ship, the Ebon Hawk, was severely damaged in a space battle over Onderon where Republic forces commanded by Colonel Tobin attacked them unprovoked, almost definitely under General Vaklu's orders. While exploring the jungle, the Exile was attacked by three of the Zhug brothers, who were also stranded by the space battle and looking to collect on her bounty. Later, the Exile was discovered by a group of Mandalorians, who brought her to the new Mandalore. She needed to get to Onderon to search for Geh 'Dai Master Kavar, but Canderous told her that she would need to prove herself first. The Exile performed several tasks for the Mandalorians and proved herself honorable, and Canderous made good on his word, providing a shuttle and accompanying her to the city of Iziz. When the Onderon Civil War erupted, the Mandalorians fought alongside the Geh 'Dai Exile, despite, or perhaps because of her involvement in their defeat at Malachor V. Canderous provided the Exile with a repaired Basilisk war droid Remnants of the Mandalorian Wars. The Death Of Mandalore The Indomitable On Dxun. Dxun Wilderness. (several of its minor systems were malfunctioning) so that she could get into Iziz. Meanwhile, the Mandalorians and a party of the Exile's companions headed into the jungle to fight General Vaklu's Sith allies, who landed on Dxun via a craft of a KT-400 military droid carrier's design. They found the Sith inside and outside the Tomb of Freedon Nadd, where they were conducting a ritual to keep Onderon beasts under the control of Sith beastmasters. The party started at a tunnel where they had to get through a minefield and disable a motion sensing alarm for alerting the Sith of a hostile presence. After, doing that, they disabled a power generator that controlled the droid sentry force of the Tomb and continued to neutralize three Sith troopers and a Sith officer who were guarding a terminal, what looked like a storage shed and the Sith's transport near the Tomb entrance. They then initiated a program via the terminal to order the mechanical sentry force (droids and turrets) to attack all hostiles and friendlies in the area, reducing the amount of the Sith the Exile's party's needed to take care of. The party continued to charge the Tomb entrance, which was heavily guarded by Dark Geh 'Dai Apprentices, Sith troopers and Sith Commandos, all of which were taken out and allowed the Exile's party to proceed into the Tomb itself. After battling Sith Commandos, Sith troopers, Sith officers, Sith Lords, Sith War Droid, Boma beasts, and Dark Geh 'Dai Apprentices to clear the tomb of all enemies, the party opened a locked door via an ancient terminal and met two Dark Geh 'Dai Masters and a Sith Master performing a ritual, which would put the Bomas under control of the Sith force attacking Onderon. They managed to accomplish their task before the Exile's party reached them. Following the confrontation, the Sith Master attempted to corrupt the party's leader to the dark side of the Force but was unsuccessful. The three Sith then went on the offensive; however, they were bested, resulting in their death. The party leader then removed Freedon Nadd's lightsaber from his sarcophagus and met up with Xarga who brought the Exile's party back to the Ebon Hawk and told them of the Exile's successful mission to bring peace to Onderon. Galactic War In the jungles of Dxun, the ruins of several abandoned research stations have been discovered and consequently, the labs were explored. Around 3627 BBY, the Czerka Corporation's CI-004 Research Facility suffered an outbreak of specimens and a strike team was sent to handle the situation. New Sith Wars Millennia later, in 1000 BBY, the Sith Lord Darth Bane began training his new apprentice Darth Zannah on Onderon. Bane left Onderon to find Freedon Nadd's tomb on Dxun after the Seventh Battle of Ruusan. Bane immediately recognized it as a world infused with the dark side. It was here, in the well of darkness near Freedon Nadd's tomb, that Bane acquired orbalisk armor. By the time of Darth Bane, while the tomb and the well ranked as significant dark side sites, the entire moon had become a dark side site. Between the eras of Exar Kun and Darth Bane, Dxun was a common pilgrimage for those attempting to master the dark side of the Force. Gargon. Astrographical Information: Region: Outer Rim Territories. Sector: Mandalore sector. System: Gargon system. Grid Square: O-7. Physical Information: Points Of Interest: Spice vaults of Gargon. Societal Information: Immigrated species: Humans. Primary Language: Galactic Basic Standard. Major Exports: Spice. Affiliation: Mandalorians; Galactic Empire; New Republic. Gargon "Lord Trioculus, are you aware that there are others who claim to be the new ruler of the Empire? I have been to the planet Gargon. There, Grand Admiral Grunger says he is our new leader. And he has a fleet of thirty star destroyers!" - A member of the Royal Guard, to Trioculus after the Battle of Endor. Gargon was a planet in Mandalore sector. History "Oh, come on, Chewie. We've gotten into more heavily guarded places than that-" "Frowh rahgh rahrahraff vrawgh gr." "Well, the spice vaults of Gargon, for one." - Han Solo and Chewbacca. The planet was dominated by gangsters, and much of the galaxy's phobium was mined there. Gargon was a source of raw materials for the construction of the two Death Stars. During the Cold War, a Kubaz information broker auctioned off his secrets for purchase to people that have obtained an invitation. The world was a noted spice production site. Sometime prior to joining the Rebel Alliance, Han Solo and Chewbacca broke into the spice vaults of Gargon and received double payment as a result of the successful theft of spice. Grand Admiral Miltin Takel was from Gargon. Grand Admiral Josef Grunger aided Takel's second in command to patrol Gargon due to reports of albino-skinned marauders around 3 ABY. He betrayed the fellow Grand Admiral and took over the planet following the Battle of Endor. Despite an unsuccessful attempt by Takel to oust him, Grunger continued to use the planet as his headquarters, until he was killed at the Battle of Tralus in 5 ABY. Kalevala Astrographical Information: Region: Outer Rim Territories. Sector: Mandalore sector. System: Mandalore system. Suns: 1, Mandalore. Orbital Position: 4. Moons: 0. Grid Square: O-7. Physical Information: Class: Terrestrial. Primary Terrain: Toxic deserts; Flora; Quench-gourd. Societal Information: Immigrated Species: Humans; Demonym; Kalevalan. Affiliation: New Mandalorians; Galactic Republic. Kalevala Kalevala was a planet located in the Mandalore sector of the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories, where it occupied the fourth orbit of the cognominal Mandalore system. A neighbor of the Mandalorians' traditional homeworld of Mandalore, Kalevala's terrain was primarily comprised of a toxic desertscape. The planet was host to members of the pacifistic New Mandalorian political faction, and even spawned a noble lineage from whence came the Duchess Satine Kryze and Prince Tal Merrik just prior to the Clone Wars. Represented in the Galactic Senate of the Republic by Merrik in the early years of the Clone Wars, and those leading up to the galaxy-spanning conflict, Kalevala was the site of a terrorist bombing by the violent Death Watch group that claimed the life of the New Mandalorian Deputy Minister, Jerec. Description Kalevala occupied the fourth orbit of the Mandalore sector's Mandalore system, making it a neighbor of the planet Tracyn and the traditional Mandalorian homeworld of Mandalore. Circling around the star system's sun, also known as Mandalore, Kalevala was a world blanketed in toxic desert. Following the rise of the New Mandalorian faction circa 738 BBY, Kalevala became home to a number of New Mandalorians, with recognized titles such as duchess and prince. On Kalevala, expensive wine and rich fabrics were produced. Quench-gourds grew on Kalevala, and at least one unique hairstyle evolved on the Outer Rim world. The shipwrights of Kalevala Spaceworks also made the planet their home. "Sadly, Deputy Minister Jerec perished this morning, in a Death Watch bombing on Kalevala. Let us ensure that his death was not in vain." - Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. After the Taung forces of Mandalore the First journeyed from Roon to conquer the planet that became Mandalore, the newly renamed Mandalorians spread out to conquer the planets of the surrounding system, including Kalevala. In the years following the Galactic Republic's defeat of the Brotherhood of Darkness at Ruusan, and the subsequent Republic reformation that marked the end of the New Sith Wars, the Mandalorians on Mandalore began to remake themselves into a more technologically adept and more rigid, militant society. The rise in Mandalore's militancy so soon after the devastating war with the Sith alarmed both the Republic and its Geh 'Dai protectors. Unwilling to suffer through a second Mandalorian War, the Geh 'Dai led a Republic strike force in a brief and targeted conflict with the Mandalorians in 738 BBY that brought devastation to the worlds of the Mandalore sector. Out of this disaster arose a pacifist sect calling themselves the New Mandalorians; the reformist political faction renounced violence and the warrior codes of the Mandalorians' past, instead preaching peace, neutrality, and tolerance. The New Mandalorians formed a new society separate from the Mandalorian warrior clans, in the white-sand deserts of Mandalore. At some point in the galaxy's history, the New Mandalorians also established a presence on the nearby world of Kalevala. In the late years of the Galactic Republic, Kalevala became the birthplace of Satine Kryze and Tal Merrik. Kryze later relocated to Mandalore, and though she had been born into the Mandalorian warrior clans, she chose to dedicate herself to peace and eventually became a duchess and the leader of the New Mandalorian people. Merrik was a prince, who came to represent Kalevala and the surrounding Mandalore system as a senator in the Republic senate. Kalevala's premier starship manufacturer, Kalevala Spaceworks, constructed Kryze's personal transport, the luxurious Coronet starliner. In 22 BBY, the first year of the galaxy-spanning Clone Wars between the Republic and the Separatist Confederacy of Independent Systems, Merrik was killed when it was revealed that he was in league with the Death Watch, a radically violent Mandalorian splinter faction returning to the galactic stage after years in hiding. Soon after, the Death Watch orchestrated a terrorist bombing on Kalevala that resulted in the death of the New Mandalorians' Deputy Minister, Jerec. Kerest Astrographical Information: Region: Western Reaches; Outer Rim Territories. Sector: Sluis sector. System: Kerest system. Suns: 1, Kerest. Grid Square: M-19. Physical Information: Class: Frozen terrestrial. Atmosphere: Breathable. Climate: Frozen; Primary terrain; Icy wastes. Societal Information: Native Species: Kerestian. A Kerestian. Primary Language: Kerestese. Kerest Kerest was a terrestrial Outer Rim world in the midst of a vast ice age throughout the history of the Galactic Republic and Galactic Empire. The homeworld of the Kerestian species, those Kerestians who had not moved offworld devolved into savages in the frozen wastes. History A terrestrial planet located within the Sluis sector of the Outer Rim of the galaxy, Kerest was the homeworld of the Kerestians, a sentient species which established a sophisticated society on the surface of their world. Developing repulsorlift technology and sublight drives to power their starships, the Kerestians colonized the nearby moons of Karoliston and Pharna and dispatched colony ships with colonists placed in suspended animation. Far from the space lanes which cluttered the Sluis sector, the galactic population did not notice when Kerest's star saw a radical reduction in energy and sent Kerest into a perpetual ice age. While most of the native species died out, some colonies of Kerestians survived, though they devolved into a primitive race of barbarians and hunters. Loosing all connections to their former technology-savvy societies, the planet went unnoticed for some time before explorers from the House of Tagge stumbled upon the world. Sending ships down to survey the planet, the spacers noted the violent tendencies of the primitive natives and deemed the harsh environment ill-suited for future colonization. While located in space controlled by the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars, the planet's natives were not known to have become involved in any galactic conflicts. When an ancient Kerestian colony-ship was discovered during the time of the Galactic Empire, the colonists aboard did not demonstrate any of the hostility noted in their counterparts living on their homeworld. Modern day researchers concluded that the it was indeed the shift in planetary temperatures which caused the species to adapt into their present form. The Mandalorians invaded the Kerest system, enslaving the majority of the Kerestian people. They have occupied the system ever since, though the terms of "enslavement" by the Mandalorians has eased to the point that it's in name only, and for their "brutal" condition the Kerestians obtain protection and support- Even a UGC observer noted it's slightly more parasitic by the Kerestians than enslavement, though the Mandalorians seem satisfied at the Kerestian's efforts in the matter. The planet is mostly mined for trade purposes, since the iron ore found here is not nearly good enough for Mandalorian armor. About 10% of the ores are kept for domestic use, mostly in other applications. Kerest Astrographical Information: Region: Deep Core. System: Kuar system. Suns: 1. Orbital Position: 5. Grid Square: K-10. Physical Information: Atmosphere: Breathable. Primary Terrain: Rocky plains. Points Of Interest: Plains of Harkul. Fauna: Combat arachnids. Societal Information: Native Species: Kuarans. Affiliation: Mandalorians. Kuar Kuar was a Deep Core world of flat, rocky, dusty plains. Description Kuar was the fifth planet in the Kuar system, orbiting a single star. The planet lay on the Koros Trunk Line between Empress Teta and Foerost. The native Kuarans built cities, towns and villages throughout the world, almost always underground. Native fauna included combat arachnids, and six-legged yellow reptiles with prehensile tails. History Kuar was conquered in 4002 BBY by the Mandalorians, who wiped out most of the indigenous Kuarans and used the ruined, underground cities as staging grounds for their attack upon the Empress Teta system. To resolve the conflict, Ulic Qel-Droma challenged Mandalore the Indomitable to a duel. On the Plains of Harkul, Qel-Droma defeated the Mandalorian leader, winning his loyalty. The Mandalorians only used the planet briefly after conquering it, and the structures were abandoned for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Kuar served as a major forward staging area for the UGC during their first forays into the Rakatan Galaxy, due its generally abandoned nature and available staging areas (the aforementioned abandoned cities), but was not, contrary to popular misconception, the initial entry point for the UGC; To date, no UGC built starship has entered the Kuar system but rather locally procured starships. Ordo Astrographical Information: Region: Outer Rim Territories. System: Ordo system. Suns: Ordo. Orbital Position: Only. Grid Square: O-7. Trade Routes: Mandalorian Road. Sector: Mandalore sector. Physical Information: Atmosphere: Breathable with filtering masks. Primary Terrain: Deserts; Vegetation near the equator. Points Of Interest: None. Societal Information: Native Species: None. Immigrant Species: All. Primary Languages: Mando'a. Planet Ordo Affiliation: Mandalorians; Clan Ordo. Ordo Ordo was the homeworld of the Mandalorian Clan Ordo, including Canderous Ordo, who became Mandalore in 3954 BBY. Mostly a barren desert planet, Ordo had some vegetation around its equator. Mand'alor promised Dorjander Kace a training center on Ordo, so he could train a group of Geh 'Dai younglings he kidnapped from the Geh 'Dai Enclave on Dantooine. His plan was stopped by Zayne Carrick. Ordo overall offered very little of interest to the galaxy, with some mining and some farming and some manufacturing, but mostly just housing. Due to the dearth of interest, the Mandalorians began using it for basic recruit training. During the negotiations with the UGC to enter into the contract that would eventually join the Mandalorians to the Galactiques, Ordo was the site of critical meetings that allowed the UGC to review the Mandalorian's training regime, which even impressed the T'sentraedi and Clingohn (though it didn't impress the L'egion 'Etrang'ere liaisons quite so much). Ordo's place with the Geh 'Dai is also important, though less so; In addition to a desert training facility, Ordo would play host to the first formal Geh 'Dai-Mandalorian meeting in over a million years that was NOT to establish either a contract or to end a feud between the two, as the UGC forced the two "unruly neighbors" to meet face to face and settle diffrence under their respective agreements with the Galactiques. Ordo was proposed by sides, and was one of three planets specifically named by both (the others being Corsucant which the UGC rejected, and Bespin which the rulers of Cloud City rejected). Dxun's connection to Ordo can't be overstated; The fact that Dxun is a moon of Ordo allows it to support the planet below, the conditions are much more comfortable, and as such most clan Ordo members live there if they can. The UGC has been importing water to Ordo from the Naxian Galaxy to try to develop Ordo's farming and ranching potential, but to very limited effect mostly because the Council doesn't "really" want to develop Ordo, they just want to make it look like they're developing the planet; Clan Ordo doesn't want it developed either, and as such make every excuse possible (the Orods and UGC Ambassadors both know this, but neither wants anyone else aware of the true nature of the deal). Shogun Astrographical Information: Region: Out Rim Territories. System: Shogun. Suns: Shogun. Orbital Position: Only. Grid Square: O-18. Physical Information: Atmosphere: Breathable with filtered respirators. Primary Terrain: Crystalline. Points Of Interest: Shogun City And Aerospace Port. Flora And Fauna: None; Devoid of native life. Societal Information: Native Species: None; Barren of life. Language: Mando'a. Affiliation: Mandalorian (exclusively). Shogun "I put Shysa out of his misery. We were surrounded, he was too badly hurt to escape, and I couldn't leave him to the Sevvets." - Boba Fett, to Goran Beviin. Shogun was a planet conquered by and aligned with the Mandalorians. Description Shogun was a world of surreal, crystalline terrain that formed vistas described as "dreamscapes." Shogun was conquered by one of the ancient Mandalores years before the Great Sith War. According to legend, Mandalore the Indomitable had a vision while on the world, which provided him with a realization of great importance to Mandalorian theology. He returned to Mandalore and told his clansmen of it. New Republic historians connected this vision with the subsequent shift in the Mandalorian religion from worshiping the Destroyer God Kad Ha'rangir, to worshiping war itself. Later, Mandalore the Indomitable's successor, Mandalore the Ultimate, also had a vision on Shogun. This led him to decree that non-Taungs would be admitted to Mandalorian clans if they proved themselves worthy in battle and upheld Mandalorian honor. Shogun has no interest of any sort except as a stop over on the way to somewhere else, since the crystalline nature of the planet makes any activity impossible, and the winds break down the crystals with time, releasing the desiccated crystals into the atmosphere where it becomes dangerous to break in. survival on planet requires the wearing of tight-fitting goggles and rebreathers, or full face masks. The local star is relatively brighter and the crystals hanging in the atmosphere diffuses the light, but makes it relatively brighter; The lack of plant life prevents relieve from that quarter either. "Neo" Mandalorians (Post-UGC Annexation). "You're going to be a FAMILY again, whether you like it or not- Or we will darken the skies of any world you hide on with your ashes. Believe this, we can uphold this boast." - UGC Ambassador Jasine FRHAD (T'sentreadi, Captain, REF Spacy). The UGC's plan for annexation of the Rakatan Galaxy was contingent upon bringing as many factions to the UGC's Clariant as possible, especially any factions that in and of themselves would be strong enough to make a realistic opposition to annexation; Even if the faction's defeat was inevitable (it would be), it would rally others to their banner, meaning the war would last that much longer. The Mandalorians were more than powerful enough to oppose the UGC' s intentions. This, was a problem. To solve the problem, the UGC used a relatively novel concept; they HIRED the Mandalorians as a mercenry army. This was completely in keeping with the Mandalorian ethos, but presented it's own difficulty: The Mandalorians were deeply divided into the five major factions, which hated each other. The UGC had to unite the factions, because to hire them individually meant hiring one after another, or face part of the Mandalorians opposing them and fighting their proxies. Again a novel solution was necessary, and it was more than just "interesting," it was illegal under UGC law. Each of the factions were granted their own 'place' within the Mandalorian society: New Mandalorians; The New Mandalorians would be the "home front," the administrators of Mandalorian civilian life. True Mandalorians; The True Mandalorians would take on the leadership of the militry and administration of religious matters; Mandalorian Protectors; The Mandalorian Protectors would be the militry, both the domestic defense forces and the foreign deployments; Mandalorian Mercenries; "Unaligned" Mandalorians would answer to the Mand'alor through one of the other factions in accordance to their general employment; Death Watch; Kyr'tsad would train new warriors and serve in the irregular operational actions (special forces). Using this model, the UGC was able to mold the Mandalorians back into a coherent people; They would be a family once again, whether they "liked" it or NOT. Mandalorian-UGC Relations The relationship between the Mandalorians and UGC is fairly described as "strained." The Mandalorians don't like the UGC, and the UGC doesn't really 'like' the Mandalorians either, but they are able to work together to reclaim order on the Rakatan Galaxy. The Mandalorians treat the UGC strictly as just another client, nothing more nothing less. As long as they pay on time and in full and do not attempt to double cross them, the Mandalorians will not betray the UGC. The quasi-alliance with the UGC has paid dividends the Mandalorians didn't expect; Reliable intergalactic travel has allowed them to export their services abroad, as far afield as the Drianx Galaxy (well outside the UGC's territory)- there's even a Mandalorian bounty hunter (mercenry) in The Court Of Ba'al (though nobody's exactly sure why). However, the Mandalorians won't hesitate one second to turn on the Galatiques if they feel they need to, even if the "need" was to protect the Rakatan Galaxy. Name: Mandalorian Army Colors: Varies by faction; Yellow for Protectors, Green for True Mandalorians, Black for Death Watch, Blue for the New Mandalorians; Journeymen Protectors use the colors of the locality they are patrolling/protecting. Symbol/Crest/Banner: A stylized Taung Skull Owner: Self Owned Commanding Officer: The Mandalo Tactics: Hunter-based tactics, though professional army tactics are well-drilled. Size and Orientation: Large Mercenary Army (500) Features:
A: Sponsorship:	B: Outfits:	C: Equipment:	D: Vehicles:
None.	Utility Outfits (5).	Electronic Supplies and Good Gear (5); Medical Equipment (10).	Company Fleet of Vehicles (10).
E: Weapons:	F: Communications:	G: Internal Security:	H: Permanent Bases:
Basic Weaponry (5).	Superior Communications (40).	Iron-Clad (20).	Company City (60).
I: Intelligence Resources:	J: Special Budget:	K: General Alignment:	L: Criminal Activity:
Scout Detachment (5); Special Military Operatives (10); Infiltration Network (50).	Small Potatoes (15).	Unprincipled and Scrupulous (6).	Con Man (5); Teams Of Smugglers and Sellers of Contraband (15); Expert Assassin (15); Special Forces (20); Safecracker/Locksmith (25); Expert Forger (10).
M: Reputation/Credentials:	N: Salary:
Famous/Infamous (50).	Good Salary (10).
Personnel:
Corporate Officers:		Command Officers:
There really is only one "corporate officer," the Mand'alor, who then collects to themselves whoever they feel they need.		Each clan has a leader, reffered to as the Clan name, ie the leader of Clan Dune is "The Dune."
Field Officers:		Line Officers:
Each clan has the right to title their various lesser leadership as they see fit (both Field grade and line officers).
Corporate Enlisted (secretaries, etc):		Command Enlisted (Radar/radio specialists, etc):
Each Mand'alor has the right to select whatever advisors, secretaries, ministers, etc. they want.		The clans has the right to set whatever titles they choose; However, most Mandalorians rally around "a" member, usually referred to as a rallymaster, who serves the equivalent of a sergeant in the UGC system.
Senior Line Enlisted:		Junior Line Enlisted (common infantry):
Each clan has the right to set their standards and titles.
Weapons, Equipment, And Resources:
Armor:	Firearms:	Edged Weaps:	Other:
The Mandalorians use a standardized body armor system within the Mandalorian Army; Those operating outside the Mandalore are known to modify their armor to varying degrees.	EE-3 Carbine Rifle; WESTAR-34 Blaster Pistol.	Almost all Mandalorians carry a Darksaber, most carry various clan-identifying edged weapons.	Journeyman Protectors carry various stun weapons and restraints, most carry various other weapons based on clan, faction, or mission.
Transport Vehicles:		Combat Vehicles:
The Mandalorians mostly use the Academy-Class Freighter/ACADEMY-Class Frigate for shipping and combat, sometimes the GR-75 freighter, and the ACCLAMATOR-Class Command Ships to some degree. In the past they've used whatever was available, but with the UGC's backing they were able to unify their platforms. They also use the T-95 X-Wing fighter and T-93 Tactical Bomber, but are trying to develop a new fighter of their own (without UGC assistance nor funding) and the Beskar'gam Ori'ramikad Bes'bavar.
MandalMotors.	MandalMotors.		MandalMotors.
MandalMotors Organizational Information: Founder: Gustav Zenlav. Leaders: Gustav Zenlav; Jir Yomaget. Headquarters: MandalMotors tower, Keldabe, Mandalore. Primary Roles: Starship and speeder manufacturer. Major Products: Aka'jor-Class Shuttle; KELDABE-Class Battleship; KOM'RK-Class fighter/transport; LUX-3 Landspeeder; M3-A Scyk Fighter; Pursuer-Class Enforcement Ship; QV-3 Disruptor. Chronological And Political Information: Affiliation: Mandalorians. MandalMotors was a Mandalorian company located on the Outer Rim world of Mandalore. Founded by the Mandalorian general Gustav Zenlav, MandalMotors grew to be a large corporation, headed by a board of executives under the authority of a single CEO. The company was headquartered in Mandalore's capital city, Keldabe, where its hundred-meter-tall tower adorned with their unmistakable business logo became a well-known landmark around the city. MandalMotors was primarily a manufacturer of starships, although the Mandalorian corporation was also notable for the creation of several speeder models, gunships, and at least one class of ground-based tank. Over time, MandalMotors developed a reputation for its outstanding ship designs and powerful military vessels. A largely neutral company, MandalMotors was a driving force behind the economy of Mandalore, and sold its many products to any interested party willing to pay the necessary credits. Mandalorian police units took to the company's Pursuer-class enforcement ships, while the radical Mandalorian Death Watch group were known to make use of Kom'rk-class fighter/transports. When Mandalore the Resurrector came to power late in the Clone Wars, the Mandalore and his army seized MandalMotors' facilities solely for use by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, with whom he had aligned the Mandalorians against the Galactic Republic in their galaxy-spanning war. Under the Galactic Empire that was born from the Republic, MandalMotors came under the sway of an Imperial Advisor forcefully placed on the company's board, and produced dungeon ships for the galactic regime. After the Empire fell, MandalMotors became an ally of the New Republic, supplying several member worlds with military craft. When a lode of the precious and incredibly resistant iron ore known as beskar was found on Mandalore in the aftermath of the Yuuzhan Vong War, MandalMotors' work with the rare metal became the catalyst that elevated the Mandalorian world into a state of economic resurgence. History General Gustav Zenlav founded MandalMotors several hundred years before the Battle of Yavin. The company created numerous starships including the Pursuer-class enforcement ship, one of which would come into the ownership of the famed bounty hunter Boba Fett and eventually be known as Slave II. They also manufactured the StarViper-class attack platform, one of which would become Prince Xizor's Virago. During the Clone Wars, Mandalore the Resurrector and his new army of Mandalorian Protectors took control of the MandalMotors facilities for use by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, with which Mandalore was then aligned. Under the auspices of the Galactic Empire, MandalMotors was not allowed to do business until an Imperial "advisor" was placed on the company's board of directors, although this did not stop the sale of weapons to Tyber Zann's criminal organization. Following the Battle of Endor, this "advisor" was ousted in favor of support for the New Republic. During the Battle of Mandalore, in the midst of the Yuuzhan Vong War, MandalMotors' hundred-meter tower sustained heavy damage, but remained standing in spite of it. By the time of the Second Galactic Civil War, the company was headed by Jir Yomaget and had donated MandalMotors Hall, a communal building where clan chieftains could gather to discuss Mandalorian politics and matters of importance, occasionally with the Mand'alor, to the community of Keldabe. After the discovery of a new vein of beskar ore outside the settlement of Enceri, production began on two new beskar-reinforced designs, the Bes'uliik-class assault starfighter and the Tra'kad-class assault vessel. With the arrival of the UGC, MandalMotors was thought to be out of business, as the Galactiques had their own technology and hardware and took no interest in Mandalorian hardware; Also, the megaannum of the Forgotten Times had lead MandalMotors to deteriorate to levels that were thought to be unrecoverable. It came as a slight surprise that the UGC dumped billions of credits to tear down and completely rebuild the factories and warehouses MandalMotors needed, and rebuild the freighter fleet needed to support the company, and despite this hasn't demanded any products from MandalMotors- The company pays a fair service to the enormous loans, but otherwise hasn't been used by the UGC to project their power, it's merely being used to rebuild the Mandalorians themselves. The terms of the loan that rebuilt MandalMotors forbids the company from producing armor or personal weapons, and can in fact only produce vehicle-mounted weapons, but it is not against the terms to produce armed vehicles, and the REF has been encourage them to produce more armed ground warfare platfroms, a fact that has alarmed most other factions with the question about why the Mandalorians need "more" armored vehicles in a galaxy that's generally abandoned them, The company has been producing GR-75 Medium Transports, Academy-Class Freighter/ACADEMY-Class Frigates (primarily in the freighter configuration), and ACCLAMATOR-Class Command Ships in conjunction with Geh 'Dia Heavy Industries. MandalMotors is a common retirement option for Mandalorians that are either too old or too injured to continue fighting directly, and for who, ability or temperament makes training future warriors a non-option. Size And Orientation: Super Agency (200) Features:
A: Outfits:	B: Equipment:	C: Weapons:	D: Bionics and Robotics:
None (0)	Cheap Gear (2)	Ammunition (2)	None (0).
E: Vehicles:	F: Communications:	G: Offices, Hideouts and Distribution:	H: Military Power:
Fleet Vehicles (10)	Basic Service (2)	Urban (5)	Major Strike Force (50)
I: Super Powered Agents:	J: Sponsorship:	K: Special Budget:	L: Administrative Control:
Major Force (70)	Government (10)	Nickels and Dimes (5)	Rigid Laws (0)
M: Internal Security:	N: External Infiltration:	O: Intelligence Resources:	P: Agency Credentials:
Lax (5)	None (0)	Good Connections (10)	Known (3)
Q: Salary:
Good (20)