Taung

Early years

The Taung, later known as the first Mandalorians, was a humanoid, grey-skinned, race that dominated the planet Coruscant for centuries before the appearance of humans on the planet. The taung was a strong warrior species during their lifetime, taking it to such an edge to even be able to form an empire in which every one of its citizens was to be raised as a warrior, which drives us to the Mandalorians and their cultural beliefs.

History

The Taung and the thirteen native human nations, better known as Zhell's Batallions ended up fighting for the control of Coruscant. Even after being almost exterminated by a huge volcanic explosion, the Zhell won the battle and expelled the Taung from Coruscant. Due to the dark years made by the volcanic explosions, the Taung called themselves the Warriors of the Shadow (Dha Werda Verda).

The Taung first settled in Roon, where they remained for millennia until the Taung, under the leadership of the legendary "Mandalore the First", conquered another planet, which was renamed in honor of their leader, "Mandalore". It was then that the specie took his same name, becoming the Mandalorians (Or Mando'ade in their language).

Over time, the Mandalorian specie extinguished. In a similar way that the specie Sith gave birth to the Sith Order, the name "Mandalorian" ended up becoming associated with an organization of warrior factions composed of multiple species. Said factions stayed loyal to the Mandalorian principles, independently of its origin species, the "Taung". These Mandalorians, overall composed of humans, maintained in high esteem the legacy of the Taung.

The Taung were able to create an Empire and challenge the Old Republic multiple times, achieving great victories and handing out fear to those that heard that the "Mandalorians" were approaching, but subsequently failing in each attempt to recover their lost home planet, Coruscant.

Taung Heights, a Coruscant district, might be named like that in honor of the Taung species.

Culture and Beliefs

The Taung believed in their early ages in the art of war, keeping it as a divine practice, a good Taung warrior was to be remembered as a Taung that fulfilled his lifetime desire and was a Honorable Taung in front of the eyes of those that heard of his battle deeds.

The Taung, after being expelled from Coruscant, created a faction called the "Mandalorians" in honor of their leader, the "Mandalore". In the "Mandalorian" early ages, only the Taung were able to advance to Mandalore by wearing the mask of a dead Mandalore, but following the race's extinguished, the Mandalorians became a warrior faction composed of multiple races rather than one race, and the Mandalore title became available to every sentient from the Mandalorian race that wore the mask of a dead Mandalore for themselves.

Famous Taungs

Mandalore the First: Mandalore the First was the leader of the Taung species when they colonized the Mandalore planet, which was named like that in honor of their leader. Mandalore and his warriors killed the planet's native mythosaurs and arose cities constructed with the Mythosaur's huge bones. It's unknown if "Mandalore" was used as a name or a title back then.

Mandalore the Indomitable: The first known person to use Mandalore as a title, Mandalore the Indomitable took its organization of Mandalorian crusaders into a battle against the Krath, about 4.000 BBY. After losing a duel against Ulic Qel-Droma, the Mandalore was forced to be loyal to a Sith apprentice for the rest of his life. After the Great Sith War started. Mandalore and his warrior took part in many battles in the name of the Sith, reaching to attack Coruscant at one point.

The Mandalore saw his defeat in the battle of Onderon around 3.996 BBY. Surrounded, with no exit between the Onderonian forces and the Republican forces, Mandalore ordered his crusaders to retreat back to Dxun, an Onderon's moon. Unluckily for the Mandalore, his basilisk war droid was shot down, and he crashed in Dxun's forest, where the native animals killed him immediately. A particular Mandalorian found his corpse then looted his mask and wore it, to proclaim himself the new Mandalore.

Mandalore the Ultimate: The last taung known to claim the title of Mandalore, he reformed the Mandalorian forces by the name of "Neo-Crusaders" and started to slowly conquer isolated planets that were defenseless after the Great Sith War. Mandalore took advantage of the fact that the Galactic Republic didn't want to make an intervention fearing another war between the Republic and the Mandalorians and personally directed his forces while they were invading Republican territory. Under his leadership, the neo-crusaders almost made it to defeat the Republic during the Mandalorian Wars and it was just thanks to the leadership of the Jedi Knight Revan and Malak that the course of the war turned to the Republican side. He died in hand-to-hand combat with Revan near the end of the war, shattering the Mandalorians and marking a harsh defeat in Mandalorian history. After that, Revan took the Mandalore's mask and shattered it to pieces, in order to maintain the Mandalorians separated to prevent another upcoming war against them.