Mandalorian history lesson

[Marcus Starkiller]

The history of the Mandalorian shock troopers goes back a long way, some say to the dawn of recorded galactic history. Though in modern times the Mandalorians have become a grab-bad of alien races, including humanoids, Togorians, and Kerestians, the Mandalorians were once strictly a gray-skinned warrior race. Xenoanthropologists believe that this original Mandalorian species was descended from the ancient Taung Shadow Warriors of the Dha Werda Verda legend. Particulary complelling are the similarites between the Mandalorian language and the surviving Taung texts.
The Planet Mandalore has figured steadily in Mandalorian history, though whether it was the planet of origin remains disputed; legend has it the world was named after its conqueror Mandalore the First, whose warriors slaughtered the mammoth mythosaurs that dominated the planet. Historically, the Mandalorians often made conquered planets their home, planets such as the great gladiatorial combat world of Kuar during the Great Sith War and the surreal Shogun years before that. This pratice led to the use of the name "Mandalore" as the title signifiying the appointed leader of the Mandalorian Clans. Thus, "home" was acknowledged as wherever the Mandalore deemed to hang his mask. The traditional Mandalorian crest, frequently mistaken for the Bantha skull, bears a striking resemblance to the skull of a male mythosaur. But in truth, the symbol was actually adopted in reverance to a legendary Mandalorian combat-training master.
The Mandalorian shock troopers have undergone many permutations. The oldest documented incarnation is the Mandalorian Crusaders from around 4000-5000 years BBY. Made up of the clans of simianlike humanoids, these nomads roamed space seeking conflict, following a code called the Canons of Honor. The Canons aimed at helping warriors attain personal glory via combat and loyalty to one's clan. Despite this simplistic aim, the Crusaders were scarcely primitive, placing highest priority on plundering cutting edge weaponry at every opportunity.
The label of Mandalorian Crusader is misleading. It's thought that the Crusaders' forefathers were a religious warrior society with sophisticated laws that devolved into the cannons. But following the Mandalorians' epic clashes with the insectoids of Nevoota, war, once a ritual form of worship to Mandalorian gods, became itself devine and reverential. Henceforth, any comapign promising holy carnage was regarded a "crusade."
This mentality led the Crusaders to eradicate entire species like the Fenelar, Tionians, and Kuarans. Thousands of years later, the Ithullans too would suffer the same fate. In fact, the only species to survive a full fledfed Mandalorian onslaught were the neighboring Mandallian Giants. These fierce combatants not only repelled Mandalorian attacks but earned enough respect to later fight beside them.
Unsurprisingly, the Mandalorian Crusaders jumped at the chance to participate in the Great Sith War in about 4000 BBY. Fighting for the Sith, these soldiers of fortune struck at the Republics very heart of Coruscant. However, the Jedi eventually rallied and defeated the Sith and their Mandalorian allies.
But that didn't stop the Mandalorians. On the contrary, the temporary defeat precipitated a frenzied conviction that the "Great Last Battle" was at hand. For 20 years, the Mandalorians zealously invaded small non-Republic worlds on the fringe of Known Space, raiding their resources and building up a powerful army. Anticipating an apocalyptic war, the Neo-Crusaders began accepting members of other species into their midst, treating these "converts" as equals. Together, they unleased a series of jihads known simply as the Mandalorian Wars.
After three long years, the reigning Neo-Crusaders chieftain Mandalore the Ultimate was killed, and the Mandalorians were defeated. Many thought them extinct, and it's largely conceded that the Mandalorian species itself all but vanished from the galaxy then. However, its warrior culture survived.
Following their failed campaign, the Crusaders found a new object of worship-- the almighty credit. Decimated and embittered, the surviving Mandalorian warriors turned ruthlessly mercenary in order to survive. Informally called Mandalorian Mercs, these individuals hired out their lethal talents to the highest bidder without regard to silly notions like justice, morals, and honor.
Some loyal Mandalorian shock troopers, such as Canderous Ordo and Master Jaing, successfully brought some of the clans to heel. Many other Mandalorian Mercs, however, carried on this ruthless agenda for millennia as evidenced by the villainous Ung Kusp as well as the Mandalorian shock trooper participation in the seemingly endless New Sith Wars, lasting from 2000-1000 years ago. But then, a few decades before the outbreak of the Clone Wars, one man changed everything.

[Marcus Starkiller]

Jaster Mereel, a deeply pious human and extraordinary soldier. Immediately noticed a deep seated dissatisfaction in the hearts of many a hard boiled Mandalorian. As a former Journeyman Protector. Mereel brought a strong ethic that extended far beyond the limited Mandalorian ideology of fighting for credits. His prowess in combat earned him the respect of his peers, and when Mereel fought tooth-and-nail to become the reigning Mandalore and unite the disparate clans, his ideals became the foundation of a new creed: the suppercommando Codex.

Not all agreed with Mereel's ideas, however. Many bloodthirsty and amoral Mandalorians resented him, having enjoyed the unaccountability of their mercenary lifestyles. Among them was the soldier Vizsla, who gathered the dissenters into a splinter grounp, the Mandalorian Death Watch. Mereel's supercommandos, in turn, recast themselves as the True Mandalorians, and total war ensued.

The Mandalorian Civil War not only killed Mereel and Vizla, but it also nearly destroyed the Mandalorians. Only a handful of Death Watch survived the superior organization and skill of the True Mandalorians, hiding out in the Outer Rim for decades. The latter, though, were totally wiped out when the Jedi were duped into thinking the True Mandalorians had wrought grave atrocities on the population of Galidraan. Only one True Mandalorian, Jango Fett, survived, and he later became the primary donor for the Republic's clone army.

[Marcus Starkiller]

Jango died as the Clone Wars began, but thanks to one of his clones, the Mandalorian tradition survived, Alpha-02, an aberrent ARC trooper the Kaminoans failed to recondition, became obsessed with rebuilding the Mandalorian supercommandos. Returning to Mandalore, he recruited an army of 200 soldiers from local police units, and another dozen came from the unlikeliest source---former Death Watchmen. Near the Clone Wars' climax, these new Mandalorian Protectors helped Mandalore's government seize the MandalMotor's facilities in the capital of Keldabe for Separatist use. Squads of Mandalorian supercommandos carried out covert missions for the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Following the death of a prominent Separatist commnader, the Mandalorian Protectors armed with a Battle Legionaire droid army executed multiple devastating blitzkriegs on Republic targets, including Kamino and New Bornalex.

[Marcus Starkiller]

By the end of the war, however, only a trio of the 212 shock troopers was thought to have survived: childhood friends Tobbi Dala and Fenn Shysa, and a shell shocked Alpha-02. Dala and Shysa returned to their impoverished homeworld, hoping to live out their lives in peace. However, the Galactic Empire eventually caught up with them. When Dala gave his life to rid Mandalore of Imperials, Shysa realized that the time to revive the Mandalorian supercommandos had come.

Under Shysa as Mandalore, the Protectors flourished. They assisted the Alliance of Free Planets in defending Known Space from the Nagai and Tof invaders, and helped deliver the crusial blow in the New Republic's campaign against Lord Shadowspawn. For decades, however, the Protectors served chiefly as quardians of the Mandalore Sector until the Yuuzhan Vong Invasion. Led now by the former bounty hunter Boba Fett, the Mandalorian Protectors returned conditionally to their mercenary ways for a time before committing themselves unilaterally to defending the galaxy from Vong occupation.

Only time will tell who will reign as Mandalore after Fett is gone and what the future holds for the Mandalorian shock troopers.

[Marcus Starkiller]

Behind the Masks

Mandalore the Idomitable(Sith WAR)

One of the legendary leaders of the original Mandalorian race, Mandalore the Indomitable always knew he was destined to lead the Crusaders. Not a man of profound intelligence, Mandalore's genius came in his extraordinary intuition. Though Mandalore never understood what drove him personally save maybe a desire for immortality, he did understand his warriors' deep desire for bloodletting and how to achieve victory.
Mandalore committed his troops to the forces of darkness during teh great Sith War. At its end, Mandalore the Indomitable finally became immortal when wild beasts on Onderon's Dxun Moon devoured him.



Canderous Ordo:

Canderous Ordo was one of the Mandalorians who survied the fall of the Crusaders. Ordo was recruited or "converted" to Mandalore the Ultimate's cause during the Mandalorian Wars, where he was among those to serve as a battle tactician rather than a foot soldier. After losing the war, Ordo like many other Mandalorian Mercs sold his services to the highest bidder. Though he despised what unethical monsters most Mandalorian shock troopers had become, he saw little use in trying to change them until that glorius day when he would claim the title of Mandalore for himself.


Vizsla:

An egomanica, Vizsla led the uprising against Jaster Mereel's True Mandalorians. Calling his faction the Death Watch, Vizsla said he embodied the goal of his Mandalorian forefathers to conquer the galaxy. In truth, this delusional ambition was proclaimed to to gratify Vizla's own ego and attract a power-base of self-interested sycophants.
While the Death Watch had many skilld fighters, their selfishness made for an undisciplined and unharmonious unit. While Death Watchmen often boozed on Mandallian Narcolethe, only their immorality and the voracious will of thier narcissistic leader made them formidable. Jango Fett ultimately hunted down and killed Vizsla, though several Death Watchmen still exist.




Montross:

A coward and traitor, Montross abandoned Jaster Mereel to enemy fire and death rather than helping his leader survive. However, when Montross tried proclaiming himself Mandalore, Jango Fett and the True Mandalorians opposed him, causing Montross to flee.
Montross turned to bounty hunting, later competing with Jango in the hunt for Dooku's former Padawan, Komari Vosa. The two soldiers had a showdown on one of the Iego's moons, where Jango left Montross for dead.


The Fett Family

Jango Fett and Boba Fett

Jango grew up the son of a Journeyman Protector. But when the Mandalorian Civil War came to Concord Dawn, Jango's entire family was caught in the crossfire. Jaster Mereel and the True Mandalorians rescued Jango from the Death Watch. Jaster eventually became Jango's mentor, training him in combat, demolitions, and other Mandalorian pursuits.
When Mereel was killed, Jango became the leader of the Mandalorian supercommandos until the Jedi massacred them. He them became a bounty hunter, often working with the Clawdite assassin Zam Wesell. Jango also agreed to become primary donor for the clone army provided he received an unaltered clone. He raised this clone, whom he called Boba Fett, as a son until Jango died at the Battle of Geonosis.
With only Jaster Mereel's codex as moral quidance, young Boba underwent a crash-course in bounty hunting with such ruthless mentors as Count Dooku, Aurra Sing, and Jabba the Hutt. It was a merciless beginning to a career that encompassed the crippling of the Bounty Hunter's Guild, a stint as a Journeyman, fighting alongside and against Darth Vader, a lone assault on an Imperial garrison, and escaping the Sarlacc(twice), earning Fett the reputation of best bounty hunter in the galaxy.
But then, the unthinkable happened: The best grew old. Boba's right leg started decomposing and threatened to become cancerous. Still, that didn't stop him from hunting down his oldest adversary, Han Solo, to the planet Jubilar where Fett pinned him under the gun. But Solo got Fett into precisely the same predicament. Fett realized then that, in a radically changing galaxy, only his connection to Solo had remained constant. Perhaps for the first time, the aging hunter saw himself in his prey.
Afterward, Fett decided to give up the hunt. But when he went to see the cloner Taun We for his costly leg replacement, she asked Boba to take one last job: to hunt down the last surviving Mandalorian supercommando responsible for devastating Kamino in the Clone Wars: Fenn Shysa.
After his final hunt, Fett rejoined the Mandalorian Protectors, leading them in the defence of Gyndine, Tholatin, and Mandalore during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion.


Ailyn Vel:

Believed to be the offspring of Boba Fett and another hunter known as Sintas Vel, Ailyn Vel was raised by the latter until Sintas took an assignment to earn pin-money for her daughter's 16th birthday; she never returned. With her mother dead, Ailyn became consumed with hatred for her presumed estranged father.
Vel initially became a hunt-saboteur, hoping to work against Fett. She thought she'd killed him, in fact, when she instead murdered a delirious clone in the Extrictarium Nebula. Taking Alpha-02's suit of Mandalorian armor, along with his Arc trooper hunting kama, Vel began masquerading as Boba Fett just as Jodo Kast had. Falling to the same delusions, she also started believing herself Fett's equal... or better.
A young, bitter, and calculating hunter, Vel adhered strictly to the Bounty Hunter's Creed, welcoming bounties from gangsters like Bwahl the Hutt and illegitimate Diversity Alliance to rogue Imperial Jeng Droga, for whom she hauled in the traitorous darksider Sarcev Quest for execution.
Ailyn eventually tracked Fett down to the dreamscapes of Shogun, where she found evidence of a dead Mandalorian supercommando and Fett's abandoned Slave IV. Assuming Fett dead, she took his KDY AIAT/ i starship and permanently adopted his identity.
Vel disappeared during the Yuuzhan Vong Invasion. Not even Fett knows if she's still alive.

[Marcus Starkiller]

Mandalore the Resurrector( A.K.A Alpha-02, "Spar")

An average of 3.5 in every 100 Kaminoan clones manifest abnormal mental or emontional tendencies. These aberrant clones always undergo careful reconditioning. Always, that is, except in the case of ARC trooper Alpha-02.
Alpha-02, nicknamed Spar, was part of the first "test-class" of 100 ARC troopers created by the Kaminoans for the Republic when Master Sifo-Dyas put in the order for a Clone army. The normal number of aberrant clones appeared and were reconditioned. But one clone, Spar, demonstrated such independence of mind and force of will that the normal reconditioning process did not take.
The Kaminoans realized this far too late but through no fault of their own. For eight and a half years, Alpha-02 looked and acted like his fellow clones, until one day mention of Jango Fett's exploits triggered an odd reaction in Spar- a memory that didn't belong to him. Suddenly, Jango's memories began flooding Spar's mind. Knowing he'd be reconditioned to erase the precious memories that weren't technically his, he made a bold escape from Kamino.
Spar roamed the Outer Rim, where he worked at odd jobs for several years while trying to sort out his own troubled mind. After the outbreak of the Clone Wars, however, and the death of Jango Fett, Spar suddenly realized his purpose. Immediatly, Alpha-02 went to work rebuilding Jango's supercommandos from local police on Mandalore, where rumor spread that the son of Jango Fett, the last True Mandalorian, had survived to lead them. As Mandalore the Resurrector, Spar and his Mandalorian Protectors waged war on the Jedi. For their last mission, Darth Sidious ordered the Mandalorian government to send the supercommandos to capture Senator Padme Amidala on Norval ll. Once there, Republic forces ambushed them.
Following the wars, Alpha-02 disappeared to the Extrictarium Nebula where, unable to reconcile his dual sets of memories, his mind slowly gave way to clone madness. Spar wasn't sure whether or not he was hallucinating when a women named Ailyn Vel accused him of being Boba Fett and shot him dead.

Tobbi Dala and Fenn Shysa:

Tobbi Dala and Fenn Shysa were good and honest men. Boyhood friends born on a small province off the coast of Mandalore's largest continent, these local constables enjoyed throwing back a mug or two of Mandallian Narcolethe after a hard days' work. With their destitute homeworld historically marginalized by the Republic, however, Dala and Shysa didn't hesitate to heed Alpha-02's call for troops to resurrect the Mandalorian supercommandos and join a seemingly just Separatist cause.
But history is harsh arbiter. Though Dala and Shysa were privy to a great duplicity on the part of Darth Sidious, when they returned home from the Clone Wars their own people branded them outlaws and evildoers- a people who'd now legalized slavery to escape Mandalore's legacy of poverty. Cooler minds prevailed, however, and Dalo and Shysa were covertly enlisted to train elite special police units around the planet.
When Dala gave him life ridding Mandalore of slavers, the burden of revitalizing not just the Mandalorian supercommandos but Mandalore itself fell on Shysa. Now a symbol of hope rather than evil, Shysa rallied his people to join the Alliance and oppose the forces of Grand Admiral Miltin Tekel. Under Mandalore Shysa's quidance, the Mandalorian Protectors rose from the ashes once more.
After almost 20 years, an aging Fenn Shysa finally rejoined his childhood chum when, in an unexpected turn of events, Shysa gave his life on the planet Shogun saving Boba Fett from death.
www.joecorroney.com/portfolio/Star_Wars/Star_Wars_Insider_Art/80FennandTobbi.jpg

[Marcus Starkiller]

Alfreda Goot and Feskitt Bobb

Alfreda Goot and Feskitt Bobb were washouts from Dala and Shysa's elite police training program, managing to cobble together suits of supercommando armor and become soldiers-for-hire.
Goot, a Togorian, didn't amount to much more than a low rent merc. She worked only a couple jobs for minor crime lord Slag Flats before trying to make a name for herself collecting the bounty on Han Solo. Good managed to bait the Corellian smuggler to the Dockside Cafe at Mos Eisley, but her mediocre skill proved inadequate to trump the legendary Solo luck.
Feskitt Bobb fared better. A Mandallian Giant, Bobb was an accomplished and ruthless hunter, famous for capturing the notorious serial killer Kardem. Not only did he carry illegal disruptors as apart of his regular arsenal, Bobb had no qualms with using torture methods like the Burning to acquire his quarry.
Bobb also occasionally took special assignments for the Empire. On one such job in the Crystal Forests of Goratak lll, a lucky shot from a Rebel punk abruptly ended Bobb's career.



Jodo Kast:

Jodo Kast was a SpecOps Resistance fighter back when the Rebellion was a local affair. But Kast always valued a solid cred more than intangibles like freedom and justice. During a messay engagement on Goratak lll, Kask took down a manhunter whom he mistook for Boba Fett during the confusion. Only afterward did he realize his error.
That gave Kast an idea. Using the Mandalorian armor he salvaged from the planet Zaadja, Kast deserted the Resistance and used Fett's name as an in to the bounty hunting profession. Immediately he hooked up with two hunters, the graceful Zarbra and the diminutive Puggles Trodd. The trio ran a series of successful hunts before a botched job on Dura-Kahn soured things. With his brilliant track record, Kask grew arrogant. The fact that his bounties were rarely first rate hardly bothered him. Kast ultimately out-smarted himself, though, when the novice hunter allowed Fett to lure him into a trap and kill him.

[Marcus Starkiller]

Mandalorian Shock Trooper Armor:

Shock trooper armor comes in several forms, including the various Crusader armors of the Old Sith Wars and different supercommando armors of the True Mandalorians, Protectors, and Death Watch.
While later supercommando armor bristled with everything from kneepad rocket-dark launchers, wrist lasers and blades, mini-concussion rockets, and flamethrowers, Crusader armor was far sparser. This owed to Crusaders generally concidering hand-to-hand combat the greater honor. Crusader armor,however, did come equipped with Zim Systems rocket jumpers. As such, Crusader armor could be sealed for airless flights through hard vacuum. Later incarnations of Mandalorian armor typically employed jet-propulsion packs instead, like the Mitrinomon Z-6, because they were less cumbersome and came equipped with a standard grappling-missile.
Crusader armor was organic in appearance and could vary considerably from one soldier to the next. However, for thier holy wars on the Republic, Mandalorian armor became more uniform. Still lacking the plethora of weaponry of later shock trooper generations, the bulky armor of the Mandalorian Wars' Neo-Crusader was sleek and seen in a variety of colors. Ironically, this armor later inspired Republic Senate Guard designs.
The Mandalorian Mercs, not especially picky about their appearance, often sported an armor hodge-podge from different eras. However, their pride still ran so deeply that they took to wearing capes or hunting kama. Eventually, this attitude led to increasing uniformity and the familiar supercommando armor of the True Mandalorians and Mandalorian Protectors. True Mandalorians often sported several color combinations, from overall greens and grays to silvers and blues, while out-lining their helmet visors in various shades. Meanwhile, the Protectors added identifying insignia on their breastplates and helmets.
Death Watch armor varies from that of the supercommandos only cosmetically: It is stark black with menacingly chiseled helmets. Supercommando and Death Watch armor both utilize costly miniaturization technology to create the most protective form-fitting covering with minimal mobile hindrance. Death Watchmen were also known to wear the forbidden crushgaunts.

[Marcus Starkiller]

Mandalorian Crushgaunts:

Made with micronized Mandalorian iron, crushgaunts were a trademark of the ethically depraved Mandalorian Mercs. These dangerous combat gloves give wearers the ability to crush and rend objects, including throats, limbs, and skulls, with sickening ease. Crushquant production ceased centuries ago after the Mandalorian government outlawed their use, but they're occasionally obtainable on the Invisible Market. One of Darth Vader's gloves is rumored to be a crushqaunt.


Mythosaur Axe:

Named for an extinct, gargantuan monster of the Mandalorian past, the Mythosaur Axe is a traditional Mandalorian weapon. With overlapping blades of calcified mythosaur bone on either side of the handle, this shell like pattern makes any point on the razor-sharp axe deadly.


Mandalorian Manacles:

Made from nearly impervious Mandalorian Iron, these instruments disigned for binding captives' wrists or ankles wre a popular export from Mandalore in the age before the advent of advanced binders like force shackles, energy links, and laser cuffs. These manacles are still a regular part of the repertoire of the Mandalorian police forces and shock troopers alike.

[Marcus Starkiller]

Mandalorian Iron:

Used in the production of weapons, starships, and even tombs, Mandalorian Iron is all but indestructible. The method by which the Mandalorian blacksmiths give shape to the mineral is closely guarded secret passed on from one generation of metallurgists to the next.

Battle Legionnarie (BL-Series) Droid:

Produced in limited quantities in smoldering Separatist foundries, these warbots lent their lethal ways to the Mandalorian Protectors during the Clone Wars. Highly maneuverable and deceptively strong, the 1000 costly Battle Legionnaires were armed with deadly rectagular Briletto AAP-ll "Blaster Boxes." Serving in a capacity similar to that of the frontline Mandallian Giants in the New Sith Wars, most BL-droids met their demise at the Norval ll conflict.


Wing-Blast Rocket Pack:

Like the Mandalorian Battle Harness, the Wing-Blast rocke pack is deadly. Capable of atmospheric and deep space flight upwards of 500 kph, the experimental rocket pack's wings are lined with mini-concussion missiles within and heavy rotating blasters outside. In a copy of the Mitrinomon Z-6 jetpack's missile, the Wing-Blast also incorporates a proton torpedo cannon.
Seemingly overkill, MandalMotors' General Zenlav allegedly designed the Wing-Blast rocke pack. But when the project called for use of an uptested photonic beam, Zenlav decided to shelve the design. Centuries later, schematics for the rocket pack fell into Boba Fett's possession. Fett fitted it with a proton torpedo to circumvent the photonics problem and used the modified pack to assail the Tulvarees quardians of Fortress Baarlos and collec the bounty on Faarl the Conqueror.

[Marcus Starkiller]

Chariots of War:


MandalMotors:

Reputedly the brainchild of Mandalorian shock trooper General Gustav Zenlav, MandalMotors is famous for its vehicle designs, such as the Shadow V combat airspeeder, the LUX-3 landspeeder, and StarViper-Class attack ship.
MandalMotors was seized by Mandalore's government late in the Clone Wars and used to develop ships exclusively for the Separatists. Later, Imperial Advisers were put on the MandalMotors' executive board where they accumlated great power as Mandalore's people looked to them to rebuild the shattered economy. One Imperial Advisor called the Suprema also supervised Mandalore's slave colony from his City of Bone stronghold(made of mythosaur skeletal remains) until Tobbi Dala and Fenn Shysa destroyed the facility.

Mandalorian Dungeon Ship:

First used during the height of the Mandalorian Wars, Mandalorian Dungeon Ships were nearly 1000 meters in length and equipped with a multitude of holding cells and dropship bays. Prison cells were lined with ultradense alloys to prevent escape. In these roving prisons, POWs were subjected to the regular shock of torture and interrogation techniques, including sleep induction via gasses and deprivation via shocks and sirens; and gravity variance, from weightlessnees to g-force augmentation.


Pursuer Enforcement Ship:

While Jango's Slave 1 was a Kuat Drive Yards model, that wasn't the case with Boba's Slave ll. The Pursuer Enforcement Ship was a heavy patrol vehicle designed for policing Separatist-controlled worlds. Roughly triangular, the ships were also used by Alpha-02's Mandalorian Protectors in their war against the Jedi. The craft is armed with twin blaster cannons,an ion cannon turret, and military grad shield generators. Three independent thrusters also make for superb maneuverability.
Once Imperial Advisors were placed on MandalMotors' executive board, these ships were made available to planetary police galaxy wide.

Mandalorian Drop Ships:

Known offically as Meteor-class Q-carriers, these MandalMotors troop transports deploy from the bellies of Mandalorian Dungeon Ships and zoom toward planetary surfaces at lightening speeds for quick disgorging of soldiers. Modeled on the facial structure of the original Mandalorians, each ship has heavy hull plating and rotating twin blaster cannons on either side of its "snout" to ensure delivery of its troop complement. To some degree modified Kuat Drive Yards AIAT/i starships later replaced the Q-carriers after the Mandalorian Civil War caused production of the drop ships to cease.


Gladiator Assault Fighter:

FreiTek, Inc.'s intimidating Gladiator Assault fighters began seeing regular use among Mandalorians toward the end of Fenn Shysa's reign as Mandalore and into the Yuuzhan Vong War as the shock troopers expanded their area of operations. Resembling a Rattatakian short sword stabbed to the hilt through a circular Tionian escutcheon, these one-man fighters often travel in packs of four accompanied by a Pursuer Enforcement Ship to which they can save their systems for hyperspace jumps. More maneuverable than E-wings and armed with four fire-linked Bovin J-3F laster cannons and an ArMek SW-12c ion cannon at it's blade-like tip, a flight of converging Gladiators is a terrifying sight.


BASILISK WAR DROID:

Looking like a cross between a Karran beetle and a Zalorian rock-lion, the Basilisk War Droids were created by the technologically minded Basiliskans, arrogant reptiloids who poisoned their own planet during the Battle of Basilisk. Afterward, the tech-hungry Mandalorians greedily looted countless war droids.
Loaded with shatter missile launchers, laser cannons, shockwave generating rods, and heavy brawling claws, a Mandalorian on his Basilisk is a formidable foe. The war mounts, operable in atmosphere and deep space come in a variety of specialized forms, including a stealth model and a two seater bomber.

Mandalorian Battle Harness:

Seeing first-use during the New Sith Wars and laster by BL-droids in the Clone Wars, this dreaded monstrosity was designed to turn any loyal Mandalorian into a one-man arsenal. The colossal weapons platform was equipped not only with numerous laser emplacements and an overhead blaster cannon but also with two giant appendages: one a massive clawing arm for crushing enemies and chewing into fortifications, the other an immense trip hammer for pulverizing obstacles.


Lagartoz War Dragons:

The savage Lagartoz War Dragon was imported from chemically poisoned Basilisk to Mandalore just prior to the Mandallian Campaign. With raking claws and a tough hide, the intelligent and easily trained beasts proved devastating in aerial and ground combat. They were also popular as pets.
Many assume the Basilisk War Droid was partly modeled on the ferocious Lagartoz War Dragon. That's not entirely untrue: The War Dragons actually are the Basiliskans-degenerated after millennia to a shadow of their former intellectual glory.


Small Notes and comments:

The Dreadnaught was also a ship designed by the Mandalorians. According to a comic, the design is ancient, and was later modified by Rendili star drive for their fleet use during the Clone Wars. So this could mean that a VERSION of the Dreadnaught could have been used by the Mandalorians during the Mandalorian Wars.

Another ship that surprised me was the Mandalorian Dungeon Ship, which was actually used during the Mandalorian Wars. Which is quite interesting and adds another ship to the Mandalorian Fleet we never saw.

The Dha Werda Verda were an ancient race that conquered Coruscant thousands of years before the Republic was ever formed. This species is the decendant of the Mandalorians. Which is quite interesting, since it would seem that the Mandalorian actually did conquer the heart of the Republic, but before the Republic.