Mandalorian Wars

"The Mandalorian Wars were a series of massacres that masked another war, a war of conversion. Culminating in a final atrocity that no Jedi could walk away from&hellip; save one."

- Kreia, referring to Meetra Surik

The Mandalorian Wars erupted after two decades of relative peace following the Great Sith War. The conflict was set in motion by the ambitious Mandalore the Ultimate, who reconsolidated the Mandalorian clans under the Neo-Crusader banner.

Due to contradictory historical accounts from the period, the exact date of the war's beginning would remain a point of contention among historians. The wars could be said to have begun in the year 3,976 BBY, as it marked the start of Mandalorian aggression along the Outer Rim.

The first skirmishes between the Mandalorian and Republic fleets occurred as early as 3,965 BBY, but many published histories tend to emphasize the time period after the Mandalorians invaded the Galactic Republic proper, circa 3,963 BBY. After the invasion, the Republic Military and a faction of the Jedi Order entered the war. The war concluded in 3,960 BBY with the Republic victory at Malachor V.

Reconstruction
"Exar Kun was defeated, but the war left both the Republic and our own Order severely weakened. For twenty years, we struggled to rebuild, trying to erase the scars of the terrible conflict."

- Dorak

The Mandalorian Wars occurred several decades after the Great Sith War, a conflict fought between the Galactic Republic and the forces of two former Jedi: Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma. Both had fallen to the dark side of the Force and declared themselves to be Sith, and Qel-Droma earned the Mandalorians' loyalty after defeating their leader, Mandalore the Ultimate, in a duel on the planet Kuar. Mandalore's forces served Qel-Droma ably in the Sith War, but in the last days of the conflict, the Mandalorians' attempt to conquering the planet Onderon took a disastrous turn with the arrival of the Republic. Mandalore ordered his Mandalorian Crusaders to retreat to the moon of Dxun in order to lose their pursuers in the moon's fierce jungles, but the warrior's Basilisk war droid was shot down and he was killed by predatory animals. Mandalore's Mask, the symbol of leadership among the Mandalorians, was discovered by a Taung soldier who succeeded the Indomitable as Mandalore, taking the name Mandalore the Ultimate.

In the decades that followed the Sith War, the Republic and the Jedi Order experienced an era of peace and rebuilding known as the Restoration Period. To restore the Republic's economy and infrastructure, a group of politicians decided to guarantee various corporations throughout the galaxy safe passage and trade along the hyperlanes in exchange for commercial investment in the Republic. As a result, the Republic was able to reubild its military and economy, supplying much-needed goods to the rest of the galaxy, and hyperspace explorers resumed exploration of the galaxy to discover new routes. However, while the Republic Navy is bolstered by the influx of commerce and funding, taking the place of corporate defense forces, some groups attempt to manipulate the government for their own profit. The city-world of Taris, an influential trade world in the Northern Dependencies region, was admitted to the Republic in 3,966 BBY after a number of corporations, including Lhosan Industries, bribed Republic Senators into admitting the planet.

The Mandalorians also continued their nomadic existence under Mandalore the Ultimate's leadership, rebuilding their ranks. Less than a decade after the end of the Sith War, Mandalore the Ultimate was approached by the Zeltron scientist Antos Wyrick, who had been Mandalore the Indomitable's own student during the Sith War. Wyrick had acquired a genetic sample from the Arkanian Jedi Master Arca Jeth, Ulic Qel-Droma's teacher, and believed that he could genetically engineer Force-sensitives that could be used as a kind of Mandalorian Jedi. Mandalore agreed to Wyrick's proposal, and the Zeltron started the New Generation Project, which was headquartered on the planet Osadia and sought to produce Force-sensitive children from Arkanian Offshoot parents. However, Wyrick's dealings with the Crucible slaving organization led to the project's destruction, as the Crucible raided the Osadia School around a decade after 3,988 BBY and kidnapped all of Wyrick's students. Wyrick was unable to recover his students after years of searching, and ultimately rejoined the Mandalorian cause as Mandalore's chief scientist, torturing and experimenting on captured Jedi in order to discover the source of their powers. Wyrick became known as "Demagol," a contraction of the Mando'a term demar agol and a name that literally meant "the flesh carver." Another of Mandalore's lieutenants was Cassus Fett, a warrior who became Mandalore's aide-de-camp and top strategist.

Influenced to war
"The Sith took the remains to give to his Master, and in exchange he told Mandalore of a vision his Master had had of the Mandalorians rising up against the Republic. He told him they would conquer world after world, crushing their enemies until the Republic collapsed in on itself. He promised the Mandalorians a glorious victory, and Mandalore believed him."

- Canderous Ordo and Revan, after learning of the manipulation of Mandalore the Ultimate

In 3,978 BBY, Mandalore was approached by a member of the Sith species who introduced himself as an emissary of a powerful Sith Lord, and the emissary enlisted the warrior's help in locating the tomb of his master's rival Dramath the Second on the planet Rekkiad. Upon discovering the tomb, the emissary told Mandalore of a vision that his master had experienced: a vision of the Mandalorians sweeping across the Republic and conquering many worlds before ultimately crushing the Republic in a glorious victory. Unbeknownst to Mandalore, the emissary was a servant of the Sith Emperor of a hidden Empre, and the warrior was being manipulated through the Force by the emissary&mdash;the Emperor sought to use the Mandalorians as a weapon against the Republic and thereby test the Republic's defenses. Completely under the Sith's spell, Mandalore took up the idea of invading the Republic as his own and began to reorganize and marshall the Mandalorian clans in preparation for the forthcoming battles. Mandalore the Ultimate returned to Mandalorian Space, claiming that he had received a new vision of Mandalorian culture on the Mandalorian religious world of Shogun: firstly, the Mandalorians would begin to accept non-Taung warriors who proved themselves in battle and upheld the Mandalorian warrior code. Secondly, the Mandalorians would no longer pillage worlds and then move on to the next target; instead, they would hold their territory and build an industrial society based on the Mandalorian code.

Mandalore's new vision of society was one where warriors would rule and be supported by farmers, artisans, and manufacturers who had accepted the Mandalorian way. As a result of his decision, the ranks of the Mandalorians rapidly swelled with all manner of Humans and aliens, primarily Mandalorian vassals such as Mandallian Giants and Jakelians. This new movement was dubbed the Neo-Crusader movement, and with Cassus Fett's aid, Mandalore the Ultimate pioneered the movement as a successor to the Indomitable's Crusaders. The Neo-Crusader name originated as an extremist cult that called for the reestablishment of the Crusader traditions, and Mandalore adapted their views to suit his own ends&mdash;the Neo-Crusader movement, thought slow to take hold, gradually shaped the Mandalorians into a more disciplined and organized fighting force. Cassus Fett spearheaded the movement in Mandalore's name while also serving his commander as a strategist and aide, and the Mandalorians began constructing new warships at Breshig and Arda-2; these ships were built using war matériel stolen from the shipyards at Foerost and Abhean during the Sith War. As the Neo-Crusaders expanded their domain, they inducted members from varying species such as Hrakians, Togruta, Devaronians, Nalroni, Zygerrians, Drackmarians, and Elomin.

War in the Outer Rim
"We started by conquering worlds just outside the Republic. We did it quietly so the Republic wouldn't really know what was going on until too late. When we finally did hit the Republic worlds, they had no idea we were coming."

- Canderous Ordo

In 3,976 BBY, Mandalore the Ultimate's forces made their first move: a raid on the industrialized planet Althir III in the Outer Rim Territories. A fleet of Neo-Crusader warships stormed the world, though the battle lasted a total of five days as the Althiri managed to hold off the Mandalorians&mdash;a stalemate that was finally broken by the unit of a young warrior named Canderous Ordo, who was tasked with feinting against one of the enemy flanks in order to draw the enemy out of formatiion. However, Ordo saw an opening in the enemy ranks and took the initiative, forcing the Althiri to fend off assaults on two sides and exposing their vulnerable command ships. Ordo's forces quickly eradicated the Althiri fleet, which was ten times the size of their own, and Ordo was rewarded with command over an entire sub-sect of his clan. Althiri became a productive part of Mandalore's war machine, and three years later Mandalore's forces struck at another world&mdash;Cathar, home of the feline Cathar species. The Battle of Cathar was led by Cassus Fett, who directed his forces to herd the defenseless Cathar population into the ocean. There, Fett's forces massacred the Cathar, despite the protests of a single Mandalorian woman who was killed along with the Cathar. Basilisk war droids swept across the planet, killing the remaining population&mdash;only a few hundred survived, with over 90% of the Cathar population dying during the massacre. The Republic learned of the massacre, but chose to suppress news of the battle in order to prevent rioting and panic, and they mobilized the Republic Navy to guard Dxun&mdash;still home to some defiant Mandalorian clans&mdash;and the planet Taris, which sat along the trade route known as the Mandalorian Road and linked the planets Corsin and Mandalore.

Over the next eight years, the Mandalorians also raided worlds such as Corsin and Azure, and Mandalorian warships also expanded their territory into the Tion Hegemony and Hutt Space on the eastern edge of the galaxy. Starting with the capture of the Lianna system, the Mandalorians traveled up the Perlemian Trade Route and took the Makem system and the Quermia systems before heading southeast along the Overic Griplink hyperroute, conquering the Kaelta system and then taking the Florn system. At the same time, another campaign was launched from the Lianna system&mdash;the Mandalorians first took the Jaminere system, then headed south to the Sy Myrth system, and then intruded on Hutt Space by taking the Taskeed system, then the Dennogra system, and then the Dernatine system. The Hutts resorted to hiring mercenary armies to defend their territories, but frequently the Mandalorians simply recruited the mercenaries into their own ranks.

Commander Rohlan Dyre served in the early battles in the Outer Rim, but Dyre began to question Mandalore's goals and reasoning for testing the Republic's defenses. When his questions went unanswered, Dyre responded by refusing to fight the next time he was called upon. Dyre was placed on the front lines anyway, so he escaped during the fighting and went in search of answers on his own, investigating "Doctor Demagol"'s history and talking to people who knew the scientist before he joined the Mando'ade. "Rohlan the Questioner," as he became known, was eventually captured and placed back on the front lines, but he ran away again&mdash;a cycle that continued to repeat over the next few years. By 3,964 BBY, Dyre had been caught and sent back to the front lines six times. In 3,966 BBY, when Taris's resource worlds of Jebble, Vanquo, Tarnith, and Suurja began to be threatened by the Mandalorians, the Republic established the Jebble-Vanquo-Tarnith line: a protective cordon around Taris that linked the planets Jebble, Tarnith, and Vanquo; Admirals Jimas Veltraa and Noma Sommos were among the officers tasked with holding the line.

The False War
"Mandalore spends years picking off unaligned rimworlds&mdash;the Senate sits. Mandalore gets too close to one full of Republic business interests&mdash;and the Senate throws it Republic membership and a security cordon so long it would take five fleets our size to crew it. I'm sure Mandalore did a little dance when he heard the Republic had pledged to defend Taris. They've called these last few months "War." I think you can see it's nothing of the sort!"

- Saul Karath

However, the Mandalorians' progress came to a halt at the end of the year 3,965 BBY&mdash;the Republic Navy's forces around Taris blocked the invaders' attempts to capture more star systems in the Outer Rim, and the Mandalorians went eight months without a victory. Finally, the Mandalorians made progress along the Mandalorian Road and captured the planet Flashpoint, home to the Flashpoint Stellar Research Station, after a brief skirmish with Republic forces. Flashpoint Station was repurposed as a laboratory for Demagol, a place where captured Jedi were to be brought so that the scientist could experiment on them. A few months later, the Mandalorians made an attempt to take the agrarian world of Suurja that sat along the cordon between Tarnith and Jebble, but they were engaged by Republic forces under the command of Captain Saul Karath, and the battle was inconclusive. Over the next six weeks, three further battles were fought at Suurja, but all three of the skirmishes were inconclusive.

Around that time, a charismatic young Jedi began to move through the Jedi Order, calling for Jedi intervention in the conflict with the Mandalorians. He advocated revanchism, or the retaking of territories lost to the Mandalorians, and his views were met with suspicion and hostility by the increasingly conservative Jedi High Council, who remained wary of intervention due to the threat of the dark side. Encouraged by his Jedi Master Kreia, the young Jedi began to openly challenge the Council and gathered a following of like-minded Jedi, including his friend Alek. The movement became known as the Revanchists, and their leader was branded "the Jedi's own crusader" by the Republic media. Defying the Jedi Council's wishes, the "crusader" led Alek and the other Revanchists on a scouting mission to the battlefront, and they stopped on Taris in hopes of recruiting some of the Jedi who were stationed at the planet's Jedi Tower. When the Jedi failed to sway any of the five Jedi Masters there or their Padawans, they departed for the planet Suurja. However, the "crusader" left his followers on Suurja shortly afterward to investigate Mandalorian activity on Onderon and Dxun, and the Revanchists were unprepared for an ambush by Mandalorians led by Commander Dyre. Alek and the other Revanchists were taken to Flashpoint, where Demagol tortured and experimented on them in hopes of determining the source of their powers.

However, everything changed when the galaxy learned of the Padawan Massacre. Four of the five Padawans at the Jedi Tower were slain by their Masters, who were members of a secret Jedi Covenant dedicated to preventing the return of the Sith, and Master Lucien Draay's Padawan Zayne Carrick was blamed for the murders. Carrick and the Snivvian con man Marn Hierogryph evaded the Covenant Jedi and Taris's police officers, and their inability to capture Carrick sparked a public loss of faith in the Jedi Order's ability to police them. The same day as the Revanchists' capture on Suurja, Carrick was captured by a bounty hunter named Valius Ying and brought to the Jedi Tower. The news of Carrick's capture caused planet-wide celebrations on Taris, as companies such as Lhosan Industries had begun to pull out from the planet in light of the Massacre, but when Carrick escaped from the Jedi Tower with the help of his friends aboard the junk hauler The Last Resort, mass panic and rioting broke out over the following days. The police force was overwhelmed, with Constable Noana Sowrs's children being kidnapped in the chaos, and the five Jedi Masters were recalled to the Republic capital of Coruscant.

The Onslaught
"The prologue is over. We're breaking out on the Outer Rim&mdash;and more. The real Mandalorian Wars have begun."

- Rohlan Dyre

Seeing the Jedi's withdrawal as an opportunity to take Taris and being the invasion of the Republic in force, Mandalore the Ultimate ordered his forces to attack the planet Vanquo, thereby ending. At the Battle of Vanquo, Mandalorian forces overwhelmed the Republic Navy's forces and broke the Jebble-Vanquo-Tarnith line, conquering the mining world; at the same time, Mandalorian forces broke through the Republic cordon and headed towards Taris. As the year 3,963 BBY began, Admiral Veltraa withdrew his forces closer towards Taris and reformed the remaining fleets under his command into a new defensive line. Admiral Sommos was gravely injured during the fighting, and she was evacuated to the planet Wayland; however, Admiral Veltraa was killed when his flagship Reliance was destroyed, and the Mandalorians besieged Taris itself. Mandalorian dreadnaughts began to bombard the planet from orbit, beginning weeks of devastation as the Mandalorians began to invade the planet, though they were opposed by Taris's meager planetary defense forces, the Taris Home Guard. A Taris Resistance soon formed from the remnants of the planet's police force, and swoop gangs such as the Hidden Beks fought the Mandalorian invaders as well.

However, the Mandalorians also suffered losses on unexpected fronts&mdash;the "crusader" was ordered to rescue the captured Jedi by the Jedi Council, but the Jedi were were rescued by Zayne Carrick and his friends when Carrick's friend Jarael was captured. In order to rescue Jarael and the other Jedi, Carrick's group tricked the Mandalorians stationed there into believing that the Republic was booby-trapping their ships with explosives and convinced them to flee the station. Demagol was also apparently captured, but unbeknownst to Carrick and the others, the scientist switched armors with Rohlan Dyre&mdash;who had fled the Vanquo battlefront and joined forces with Carrick&mdash;and placed Dyre in a coma. Alek and the Revanchists took "Demagol" back to Coruscant, while "Rohlan Dyre" slipped aboard The Last Resort.

As they besieged Taris, the Mandalorians also invaded the Republic through invasion corridors that ran through three adjacent sectors &mdash;an offensive that became known as "the Onslaught." The Mandalorians headed west along the Outer Rim and took the Zongorlu system before launching several offensives against planets along the Republic's northern rim: Ord Mantell fell to the Mandalorians as they also attacked a number of colonies of the Zabrak species in the region, and they also attacked Ithor, though a Republic counterattack with the support of Zabrak military units repelled the invaders. The Mandalorians then attacked the Zabrak homeworld of Iridonia, which they conquered and occupied for quite some time, recruiting some of the natives into their ranks. Republic and Zabrak forces ultimately liberated the planet, but a Mandalorian presence remained in Iridonian society. A second invasion corridor saw the Mandalorians assault Wayland, bombing the surface and wiping out colonists and factories. The third invasion corridor was aimed Coreward&mdash;the Mandalorians captured Jebble, building a war forge on the ice planet that supplied the Mandalorian offensive and also served as a staging point for a planned attack on the Core World of Alderaan.

The devastation of Serroco
"This&hellip; is a new phase of war. We're going to have change the way we look at things."

- Saul Karath, after Serroco

In light of the Onslaught, the Galactic Senate mobilized the entire Republic Navy to counter the Republic threat. Around the same time, Mandalorian forces struck at Onderon, besieging the walled city of Iziz with basilisk war droids. Onderon and its moon Dxun remained under Mandalorian control for quite some time, serving as a staging point later in the conflict. The remains of the Outer Rim fleets fell back to the Core Worlds, where Captain Karath was promoted to Rear Admiral and a large battle group was gathered at the planet Ralltiir. Given theInexpugnable-class tactical command ship Courageous, Karath was placed in command of Battle Group Serroco and tasked with the defense of the planet Serroco, which was the next world in the path of the Mandalorians' advance from Jebble. Karath's forces set up camps right next to the stone cities of the native Stereb, and the fleet formed up in a defensive formation around the planet. However, Mandalore the Ultimate viewed this tactic as a defense without honor, as it assumed that the Mandalorians would not attack the civilian cities, so he decided to teach the Republic a lesson. Zayne Carrick was on Serroco with Marn Hierogryph while staffing the Quartermaster-class supply carrier Little Bivoli, a ship that was serving the Republic forces as a fringer provisioning ship on Serroco; the day before Mandalore's attack, Carrick experienced a Force vision of the forthcoming assault.

Carrick became determined to warn Admiral Karath and slipped aboard Lieutenant Carth Onasi's ship Deadweight to reach the Courageous, but Karath refused to believe him: Karath had seen Carrick's ship, The Last Resort, fleeing the Battle of Vanquo for Mandalorian Space. Ignoring Carrick's explanation that he had been heading for Flashpoint, Karath ordered Carrick's arrest, though he allowed Onasi to try and contact Alek&mdash;who Carrick knew only as "Squint." However, the Mandalorian fleet arrived at the edge of the Serroco system only minutes after Onasi left the bridge, and Karath ordered his ships to raise their shields when the Mandalorians launched missiles. To Karath's shock, the nuclear warheads swerved around the Republic ships to slam into Serroco's surface, impacting near twenty-seven population centers and wiping away most of the Stereb cities. The devastation caught most of the Republic ships on the surface by surprise, destroying all but eight of them, and Jedi all across the galaxy felt the simultaneous deaths of thousands through the Force. Fortunately for the Stereb, Onasi had been able to call down emergencies to seventeen of the Stereb cities, leading the inhabitants of those settlements to take shelter in the underground catacombs of the planet and thereby survive the nuclear devastation. The Revanchist Jedi Meetra Surik, who was on assignment at Serroco, managed to escape aboard one of the three military vessels that jumped out of the system before the devastation.

The Battle of Serroco saw Karath's forces begin a slow retreat towards the Core as they came under fire from the Mandalorians, and the Admiral of the Fleet announced his intention to lodge an official protest with the Republic over the military's positioning of their forces near the Stereb cities. Karath sought to retreat to Myrkr or rendezvous with the Tremendous battle group near the Ryyk Nebula, but was ultimately forced to fall back towards the banking planet of Telerath. The Courageous was soon boarded by Neo-Crusader Shock Troopers, whose assault drove Admiral Karath, Lieutenant Onasi, and Captain Dallan Morvis to take up defensive positions in the ship's brig. They managed to escape the ship with the help of Carrick, who had created an escape route to the Deadweight in the hangar. According to Mandalore the Ultimate, the Courageous was melted down by the victorious Mandalorians, and Mandalore claimed that his battle-axe was made from the hull of Karath's lost command. Marn Hierogryph and his Trandoshan companion Slyssk barely escaped the bombadment when a panicking Slyssk seized command of a Republic ship that was slow to take off; by doing so, Slyssk and Hierogryph managed to save half a battalion that had been aboard the ship. When they reached Chandrila, the two were approached by the Ministry of Defense, who convinced the pair to become propaganda figures: Captain Benegryph Goodvalor and his trusty Trandoshan sidekick. Not long afterwards, Hierogryph and Slyssk were hired by Jervo Thalien of Lhosan Industries to track down Senator Haydel Goravvus on Taris, which was still undergoing occupation by Cassus Fett's forces.

The First Battle of Omonoth
"You've gone to far, Adasca! You don't have standing to offer a truce!''" "Don't I? I told you, gentlemen, this changes everything. Adascorp was a major corporate player. Now it is a galactic player. We no longer seek contracts. But we may accept allies''."

- Admiral Karath and Lord Adasca

Not long after the bombardment of Serroco, Lord Arkoh Adasca of the Adasca BioMechanical Corporation of Arkania forced the scientist Gorman Vandrayk to complete his work on the weaponization of the enormous space slugs known as exogorths. Believing that possession of the exogorths, which were essentially a galactic plague that could destroy entire planets, made him a galactic power, Adasca arranged for an auction of the exogorths aboard his ship Arkanian Legacy in the Omonoth system. Adasca contacted representatives of the major players in the conflict&mdash;the Revanchist, Mandalore the Ultimate, and Admiral Karath&mdash;and requested their presence at his auction. The Revanchist was unable to attend in person, but after he and several Jedi foresaw that Adasca's offer could change the course of thwar, he sent Alek in his place and instructed his friend to ensure that the danger they posed was eliminated. The planet Telerath was caught up in mass panic upon the news that the Courageous was lost, as Telerath was the next planet in the Mandalorians' path. In the march to Omonoth, the Mandalorians ravaged the planet Nouane and then took Dagary Minor. A Revanchist Jedi named Meetra Surik participated in the fighting at Dagary Minor, as did a soldier named Xaart.

By the time he reached the Omonoth system, Mandalore has used Rohlan Dyre's apparent death on Flashpoint as propaganda, using the Questioner as a martyr to advance the adoption of the Neo-Crusader cause. "Dyre" was the one who contacted Mandalore on Adasca's behalf, as he was accompanying Vandrayk's friend Jarael whom Adasca was holding hostage to motivate Vandrayk, and upon meeting the warrior aboard the Legacy, Mandalore instructed the Questioner to remain "dead" for the cause. Karath offered Adasca a seat on the Senate, but Mandalore countered with the offer of making Adascorp the sole weapons manufacturer of the Mandalorians. However, Adasca quickly became power-hungry and declared himself to be a new galactic power&mdash;but Adasca's auction came crashing down thanks to the efforts of Onasi, Carrick, and Lucien Draay, who had been imprisoned by Adasca with Carrick upon his arrival at the Legacy in order to keep Draay away from Adasca's plans. Donning the set of Neo-Crusader armor that Mandalore had given "Dyre" as a reward for his continued silence, Carrick staged a fight with Onasi, and then he and Draay revealed themselves as Jedi and declared that the entire affair had been a trap for Mandalore. Despite Adasca's protests, Mandalore beleived their claims, and chaos broke out aboard the Legacy between the Mandalorians, Adasca's security forces, and the Republic personnel and Jedi.

Amid the chaos, Carrick was able to inform Vandrayk that Jarael was safe, prompting the inventor to seize control of the exogorths. Vandrayk used the exogorths to attack the Legacy, killing Adasca, before he took the exogorths with him to the Unknown Regions in order to remove their hyperdrive units and eliminate the threat they posed. All of Adasca's "guests" managed to escape the doomed Legacy, and while Carrick was called to Taris to meet with Hierogryph, Admiral Karath returned to Coruscant. Karath promptly resigned his commission over the loss of Battle Group Serroco, but the Admiral of the Fleet refused to accept it and publicly commended Karath's performance; Karath was ultimately given command of the newly-built Swiftsure. On Taris, the Taris Resistance attempted to bomb the Jedi Tower, which Cassus Fett had been using as a command post, but Fett had already abandoned the Tower and attacked the Resistance in the Lower City.

The advance is halted
Already anxious not to repeat the past, the Council's hesitancy only increased when the famed Jedi Master Vandar Tokare was granted a Force premonition that warned of a coming conflict that would cause great destruction throughout the galaxy. Unfortunately, the Jedi Council misinterpreted the vision as a warning against engaging Mandalore the Ultimate in battle, when in fact, the vision warned of the coming Jedi Civil War.

He proposed that his Revanchists should be deputized into the Republic Military as as a Mercy Corps&mdash;inspired by an initiative from the days of the Great Sith War that allowed teams of civilian healers to work within the military. The Jedi Council had not rejected a Jedi's request to join the Mercy Corps in thirty years. Under pressure, the Council grudgingly sanctioned the Revanchists; they gave Revan tentative authority to transform his rogue faction into an official Jedi Expeditionary Task Force under the auspices of the Mercy Corps, and they placed the newly formed Task Force under Revan's direct command. Thus, the Massacre of the Cathar became a rallying cry which gave Revan and his friend Malak the leverage they needed to lead their faction to war.

The tide turns
"Two Jedi Knights, Revan and Malak, defied the Jedi Council. They challenged the Mandalorian fierceness and brutality with a viciousness of their own. Revan's entrance into the conflict marked the true beginning&hellip; and end&hellip; of the war. It was Revan who drove the Mandalorians back into the Unknown Regions."

- Kreia

Revan's keen tactical abilities completely turned the Republic's war effort around, but he did not achieve such success without paying a heavy price. As the war dragged on, Revan began to take certain moral shortcuts&mdash;committing several "unsavory" acts, such as leaving "non-strategic" planets completely undefended in order to accomplish the "greater goal" of speedily winning the war. Revan and Malak adapted to their enemies' merciless tactics by simply co-opting them&mdash;fighting fire with fire. In time, they developed a cold and calculating disposition uncharacteristic of Jedi; they grew to despise weakness and indecisiveness in all its forms. Though Revan's tactics were flawless and Malak's righteous fury was unmatched, the pair slowly began to mirror the callous Mandalorians they were fighting.

Revan and Malak led the Republic to victory after victory. They pushed the Mandalorians back to Taris, off Dxun and Onderon, and back into Mandalorian space. Even Cassus Fett's impressive victory at the Battle of Jaga's Cluster could not turn the momentum back in the Mandalorians' favor. Pursuing the roving Mandalorian fleets, Revan and Malak ventured into the Unknown Regions beyond the Republic's borders. In an effort to draw their enemies out, their forces assaulted the Mandalorian regime on Althir, and in the resulting battle, much of the remaining Mandalorian ground forces were decimated. Yet for all their success, the Republic took enormous casualties while the two young Jedi were in command. Mandalorians would later claim that during the assault on the Mandalorian headquarters on Dxun, as many as ten Republic soldiers died for every Mandalorian slain.

Malachor V
"It was what we had wanted all along, in a way. We wanted to fight the best in a battle that would be remembered for centuries. And we did."

- Canderous Ordo

Early in the war, at some point in the year 3,963 BBY, Revan visited the ancient Sith world of Malachor V while scouting for new outposts along the embattled Outer Rim. Word had reached him that Malachor was anathema to the Mandalorians and he wished to know the reason why. Upon landing on the planet's surface, he was nearly destroyed by the resonance of dark side power and he only managed to survive the encounter through sheer force of will. He fed upon Malachor's dark side power, and in so doing, avoided being utterly consumed by it, yet he did not escape unscathed. The dark side beckoned and Revan fell under its influence. Later, in the year 3,960 BBY, Revan forced a final confrontation with the Mandalorians above Malachor V. He deployed a massive fleet to the planet consisting mostly of those whose loyalties to himself remained in doubt. In utter secrecy, he had prepared a superweapon, known as the "Mass Shadow Generator," which had been designed by the Zabrak engineer Bao-Dur. The weapon was the centerpiece of a trap with which he hoped to bring about a conclusive end to the destructive conflict. Commanding the fleet and overseeing the device's use was a capable and jaded Jedi General named Meetra Surik, who had played a prominent role in the recent, bloody campaign on Dxun. Revan lured the Mandalorians to the planet and a massive fleet battle ensued in orbit.

Revan himself was delayed outside the system by a Mandalorian scouting party. He eventually arrived at Malachor and entered the fray, but he was late and the Mandalorian fleets were far from defeated. In that moment, he drew upon the Sith energies haunting the surface below to augment his power. Soon thereafter, Revan pressed Mandalore into a direct confrontation and the fallen Jedi struck the great Mandalorian leader down in single combat. Meanwhile, more and more of the Jedi fighting in orbit found themselves unable to resist the call of the power emanating from the planet below and were thus drawn to the dark side. With renewed vigor, Revan's forces pressed the attack. They soon achieved a stalemate and then slowly began to push the Mandalorian fleet back towards Malachor V.

Finally, as the fighting grew intense, Revan's Jedi general observed that the Mandalorians had taken the bait and that her trap was set to spring. With a nod of her head, she commanded Bao-Dur to activate the secret weapon. Moments later, she watched in horror as much of the Mandalorian fleet, and a significant number of Republic vessels, were drawn into a vast gravity vortex. In the ensuing cataclysm, the countless ship were pulled from orbit and crushed into Malachor V's crust, and the planet itself was fractured to its very core. The event wreaked havoc on both sides of the battle lines, but the Mandalorians sustained the greatest damage and the highest casualties. In the aftermath of the destruction caused by the Mass Shadow Generator, the Mandalorian survivors transmitted their unconditional surrender.

After winning the war with a sweeping victory at Malachor V, Revan and Malak were hailed as heroes and saviors of the Republic, but at that time, Sith teachings were already circulating throughout the ranks of their command. Not long after the events at Malachor, they led the remainder of their forces into the Unknown Regions under the pretense of tracking down the remnants of the Mandalorian fleet, but they did not return and they sent no word of their whereabouts. In time, the Republic feared that the Revanchist Jedi and their followers were lost in a tragic, unknown disaster in the depths of unexplored space.

Aftermath
"The war we had with the Republic was supposed to be the most glorious battle of our history but&hellip; it was a very costly one. I guess we didn't think of how much we could lose in it."

- Canderous Ordo

The Mandalorians' "Great Last Battle", known as Ani'la Akaan in Mando'a, was devastating for them; it was a loss from which they would never fully recover. The Mass Shadow Generator destroyed almost the entire Mandalorian fleet, and it virtually wiped out the Taung species. After executing Mandalore the Ultimate before the eyes of his people, Revan took possession of the famed helm traditionally worn by the lord of the Mandalorian clans. In so doing, he denied the Mandalorians the ability to choose a new leader. Afterwards, he disarmed and disbanded the clans, allowing them to splinter into disheartened groups which scattered across the Outer Rim. There, devoid of leadership and honor, they degenerated. A few Mandalorian survivors returned to the Mandalore system, but many humbled their pride and became mercenaries for hire. Other groups became outright bandits in a futile effort to relive their glory days.

In 3,959 BBY, one year after their disappearance, the lost heroes Revan and Malak suddenly returned to the Galactic Republic at the head of a massive invasion fleet which consisted of commandeered Republic vessels as well as numerous vessels of unknown design. The armada was crewed by a host of experienced veterans and commanded by defectors such as Admiral Saul Karath, General Derred, and Mon Halan&mdash;some of the finest officers that the Republic had produced during the Mandalorian Wars. Calling themselves Darth Revan and Darth Malak, they declared war on the Republic.

Mandalorians
"We've come so far, so fast, we have problems we've never had. What's the Basic word Cassus Fett used? Ah, yes. Logistics. So many new Recruits. Different species, different armors, different languages&mdash;and not enough time to learn our ways. Cassus first suggested that the similar uniforms [&hellip;] could help get control of a force that has grown beyond control."

- Mandalore the Ultimate



In the aftermath of the Great Sith War, the Mandalorians were left scattered, shamed, and leaderless, but they were not yet defeated. During the quiet years following the war, a new Mandalorian Lord came to power with plans to strike back at the Republic. This Mandalore, known as "the Ultimate," rapidly set about reforging the Mandalorian clans with the goal of creating a fighting force capable of conquering the Republic and defeating its Jedi. Once he had united his dispersed people, Mandalore began to heavily recruit warriors of all races into the Mandalorian clans. Before long, a variety of species, including Humans, Twi'leks, Togorians, and Rodians, gradually became well represented in the Mandalorian ranks. And as a result, the meaning of the term "Mandalorian" gradually began to change. In addition to describing the dwindling Mandalorian species, it also began to describe the inheritors of their legacy; it now referred to a diverse sect of warriors who defined themselves by their devotion to the Mandalorian ideal of earning honor and glory through combat.

Prior to the reign of Mandalore the Ultimate, the Mandalorians were a disorganized, nomadic horde, but the new Lord of the clans enacted regulatory reforms which were aimed at correcting their perceived deficiencies. When a radical fringe movement known as the "Neo-Crusaders" vocally advocated the reestablishment of the ancient Crusader tradition, Mandalore listened. At the urging of Cassus Fett, one of his chief lieutenants, Mandalore plucked the sect from obscurity and used it as a template for an entirely new generation of holy warriors. Under Mandalore's direction, the Neo-Crusaders became a favored elite within Mandalorian society; they were deployed to indoctrinate new recruits, and with time, more and more warriors chose to join their esteemed ranks. In so doing, they took up the standardized Neo-Crusader armor and adopted a more regimented military structure. Thus, Mandalore was able to improve the discipline and cohesion of his warrior clans, and maintain control over his rapidly expanding armed forces.

Galactic Republic
"The Republic is a stagnant beast that had been killing its people for years before the war began."

- Mandalore the Preserver, referring to the Mandalorian Wars

The first skirmishes between the Mandalorian and Republic fleets occurred as early as 3,965 BBY, but many published histories tend to emphasize the time period after the Mandalorians invaded the Galactic Republic proper, circa 3,963 BBY. After the invasion, the Republic Military and a faction of the Jedi Order entered the war. The wars concluded in 3,960 BBY with the Republic victory at Malachor V.

Revanchists
The Revanchists turned the tide of the war. Without the help of Revan and his Jedi followers, the war effort would have been in vain.

Mandalore the Ultimate
"When our leader falls in battle, the most worthy takes his place."

- Mandalore the Preserver Mandalore the Ultimate's unorthodox methods inspired suspicions concerning his identity and motivations. Contemporary observers noted that, for a Mandalorian Lord, his plans were uncharacteristically subtle and calculating. He regrouped the Mandalorian forces into the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders and slowly began to conquer fringe worlds that had been left defenseless in the wake of the Great Sith War. Mandalore took full advantage of the Galactic Republic's halfhearted efforts to oppose his aggression and personally led his forces as they invaded Republic territory. Under his command, the Neo-Crusaders nearly defeated the Republic during the Mandalorian Wars, and it was only through the leadership of the Jedi Knights Revan and Malak that the tide of the war was ultimately turned against Mandalore. Revan killed Mandalore in hand-to-hand combat near the end of the war. Years later, such concerns gained credence when a Mandalorian veteran named Canderous Ordo had a chance encounter with an ailing Taung who claimed to be the true Mandalore. Before dying, he informed Ordo that Mandalore the Ultimate was an usurper who had ties to the Sith.

Cassus Fett
"You listen to Cassus Fett, and your son's sons will have nothing to do&mdash;because you'll have conquered everything!"

- Cassus Fett to Gormer

Cassus Fett was a Mandalorian Field Marshal who lived during the time of the Mandalorian Wars. Fett was an aide-de-camp to Mandalore the Ultimate, leader of the Mandalorians, and he was highly influential in areas throughout Mandalorian society. Fett spearheaded the promotion of the Neo-Crusader movement, a sect of Mandalorian society with a more regimented structure and standardized armor than the hitherto dominant Mandalorian Crusaders. By exerting control over the clans and providing a means of converting conquered cultures into Neo-Crusaders, Fett turned the Mandalorians into a war machine intent on galactic conquest. Fett was presumed dead by the time of the Jedi Civil War.

Revan
"Revan was once a promising Padawan. But ever eager to learn more about the Force, Revan sought knowledge of Sith Magics, foolishly ignoring the dangerous lure of the dark side. When the Mandalorian invasion came, Revan seized the opportunity it represented. Many Jedi flocked to the Outer Rim to follow the charismatic young knight&hellip; and many fell under the sway of the dark side."

- Vrook Lamar

The individual known in the media as "the Jedi's own crusader" and later as "the Revanchist," was an enigmatic Jedi Knight who was well known and respected throughout the Jedi Order. Powerful and charismatic, he anticipated the Mandalorian invasion, and when his warnings were ignored, he led a group of like-minded Jedi followers, known as the Revanchists, to war in an act of rebellion against the cautious Jedi Council. Fighting alongside the Republic Military, he proved himself to be a brilliant military strategist, and he was eventually given direct command over a third of the Republic fleet. Spearheading the Republic's war effort, the Revanchist&mdash;now known simply as Revan&mdash;halted the Mandalorians' invasion and began to push the Neo-Crusaders back out of Republic space.

Revan masterminded the cataclysmic Battle of Malachor V. During that final clash of the war, he slew Mandalore the Ultimate in single combat, and the forces under his command defeated the Neo-Crusaders and forced them to surrender unconditionally. However, the conflict with the Mandalorians had greatly changed Revan. Intrigued by Sith teachings even before the outbreak of open warfare, his privileged position during the war allowed him ample opportunity to experience the dark side and experiment with heretical Sith doctrines. By the year 3,961 BBY, Revan and his friend Malak had begun seeking Star Maps which would eventually lead them to an ancient, dark side-permeated space station known as the Star Forge. During that same fateful year, the two Jedi Knights fully abandoned the teachings of the Jedi. Inspired by Sith teachings they had found on Malachor V, they quietly assumed the role of Dark Lords of the Sith.

As he led the Republic military to victory against the Mandalorian invaders, Revan quietly spread Sith teachings throughout the ranks of his followers and thus corrupted almost all of the Jedi who followed him to war. In 3,959 BBY, a year after the conclusion of the Mandalorian Wars, Revan and his apprentice Darth Malak declared war on the Galactic Republic and brought about a second Sith War which would become known as the Jedi Civil War. Once again, Revan revealed his tactical prowess as he led his nascent Sith Empire to victory after victory against the Republic, but Darth Revan's reign would ultimately be cut short by the ambitions of his apprentice.

Meetra Surik
"You were a General in the Mandalorian Wars, master. I have seen the records of your battles, and I know that your name was one the Mandalorians feared. It is not solely because of your skill in battle, but the fact that you could inspire others, convincing them to fight to the death in situations where other military leaders would be forced to retreat."

- HK-47, to Meetra Surik

The woman who would come to be known as the Exile was a Padawan at the time of the Mandalorian Onslaught. Against the orders of the Jedi High Council, Meetra Surik joined the Revanchist faction and went to war in order to aid the Galactic Republic in its struggle against the invading Mandalorians. Rising to the rank of Jedi Knight during the war, she served with distinction under the command of Revan and Malak. Surik was eventually commissioned as a General in the Republic Military, and by the end of the war, she had become Revan's most trusted military officer besides Malak. She played a vital role in defeating the Mandalorians during the latter stages of the conflict&mdash;especially during the pivotal Second Battle of Dxun and the final battle at Malachor V.

A natural leader, Surik possessed an innate ability to easily form powerful Force bonds with those around her. Although she was largely unaware of her unique talent, it allowed her to greatly influence her comrades. Able to easily impose her will upon those under her command, she was a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. At Malachor V, however, her gift became a liability. When she ordered Bao-Dur to activate the Mass Shadow Generator, thousands of military personnel that she had befriended and led into battle were killed almost instantly. Incapable of enduring the psychic backlash of the deaths caused by the destructive energies that she had unleashed, Surik was only able to survive the ordeal by instinctively severing her own connection to the Force.

Meetra Surik was the only Jedi, out of all those who had served with Revan, to reject the dark side and abandon the Revanchist cause after the war. Stricken with grief yet obstinate, she returned to the Jedi High Council on Coruscant to accept judgment for her actions. Before the Council, she was charged with following Revan to war in an act of rebellion and the Masters informed her that she was to be exiled from the Jedi Order for that crime. Upon hearing her sentence, the Exile defiantly stabbed her lightsaber into the center stone of the Council Chamber. Her sentence was harsh and it was not a judgment that the council could truly enforce, but she chose to accept it nonetheless. Turning her back on the Jedi, she wandered the periphery of known space for almost a decade before returning to the Republic during the Dark Wars, at the height of the First Jedi Purge.

Saul Karath
"Admiral Karath taught me everything I know about being a soldier. He was a legend in the Republic fleet, and a hero to me. Until he betrayed us."

- Carth Onasi

Saul Karath climbed from humble, working-class beginnings on Corellia to become a famed Republic Navy officer. He was forced to work double shifts during his early years in order to help provide for his four siblings, but when the Great Sith War interrupted his life, he fled his troubles by joining the Navy. Although he was officially too young to enter the service, he managed to catch the eye of Fleet Captain Orley Vanicus. Vanicus, a hero of the Sith War, allowed Karath to serve as his steward. Saul Karath thus began a turbulent thirty-year naval career. He gradually rose through the enlisted ranks, trying virtually every duty aboard ship, before joining the officer corps. Having grown into a skilled pilot and tactician, he was given his first command: Reciprocity.

When the Mandalorians' crusade of conquest threatened to engulf Taris in 3,965 BBY, Captain Saul Karath was sent to the Outer Rim Territories to assist Admirals Veltraa and Sumos in their efforts to protect the newly annexed world. Aware that the Republic's defensive line was too weak to withstand a full-scale Mandalorian assault, Karath was not overly surprised when the Mandalorians invaded and rapidly overwhelmed the Republic naval forces in the sector. After successfully extracting his forces from the resulting confrontation, Captain Karath was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral. In the following months, Admiral Karath led the defense of the Republic, taking part in early encounters with the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders at Serrecco and Omonoth.

Admiral Karath played a pivotal role in bringing about the defeat of the Mandalorians. After the war, he was considered a hero of the Republic. In the year following the Battle of Malachor V, however, Karath's loyalty was sorely tested when the Revanchist Jedi that he had served with during the Mandalorian Wars suddenly returned to Republic space as conquering Sith. Foreseeing the destruction of his beloved Navy, Admiral Karath took action to save it; he declared the Republic unworthy of his allegiance and he defected to the Sith. He brought with him a number of military vessels, a large contingent of troops, his flagship Leviathan, and intimate knowledge of the Republic's defense codes and tactics. As he was the first officer of significant rank to defect, his betrayal demoralized many of his peers, and it convinced many to join him in taking up the Sith cause. During the Jedi Civil War, Admiral Karath proved his loyalty to his Sith masters by overseeing the devastating orbital bombardment of key Republic worlds such as Telos IV and Taris.

Behind the scenes
The Mandalorian Wars concept was conceived by BioWare for use as a backstory for events that occur in their video game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The war was fleshed out in the game's sequel, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and by various reference books that were published in the following years. The Knights of the Old Republic comic series takes place during the war, and it describes the conflict with greater detail than any prior source.

Continuity
The date of the war's beginning has been the subject of much debate. Knights of the Old Republic provides two distinct dates for the beginning of the war: 3,976 BBY from the Mandalorian perspective and 3,963 BBY from the perspective of the Republic. The New Essential Chronology, however, places the date at 3,995 BBY. The Knights of the Old Republic comic series complicated matters by adding a period, known as the False War, prior to the Mandalorian invasion of the Republic. As a result, later reference books such as the The Essential Guide to the Force and the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, provide dates that range between 3,966 and 3,964 BBY.

The date that Revan and his followers joined the war has also become something of a moving target. Bastila Shan's dialogue from Knights of the Old Republic, and Malak's biography from the game's website, establish this date to be roughly five years prior to the events of the game&mdash;which would place it at or around 3,961 BBY. The Chronicles of the Old Republic and the Knights of the Old Republic comic series, however, both date the event at 3,963 BBY.