The Great Mandalorian Civil War

"Even the weakest person can stand up to tyranny. The bad guys only win when they fool others into believing that the privileged few somehow hold more power than the wrathful many." - Unknown Mandalorian warrior-poet.

Beginning: 319 ABY End: 700 ABY (approx.) Place: Unaligned space (mostly) Outcome: Mandalorian Defenders victory

1. - Formation of

Manda'toma (the Mandalorian state)

1. - True Mandalorians are exiled

Major battles: TBC COMBATANTS Mandalorian Defenders/Manda'toma True Mandalorians/Mandalorian Exiles TBD

NARRATIVE

The Great Mandalorian Civil War is remembered less as a single continuous conflict and more as a prolonged era of fragmentation, marked by shifting allegiances, regionalised fighting, and the gradual exhaustion of Mandalorian society. Unlike earlier Mandalorian wars, the conflict was not confined to clearly defined territories. Engagements frequently spilled into unaligned systems and, on occasion, into the borders of the newly formed Third Galactic Republic.

Republic policy during this period was largely uncompromising. Any Mandalorian forces encountered within Republic space were typically contained, expelled, or fired upon regardless of factional alignment. Exceptions were made only for individuals or groups who surrendered their arms, renounced clan allegiance, and accepted full Republic jurisdiction. This policy reflected a broader desire to prevent the Civil War from destabilising a galaxy already weakened by successive conflicts and institutional collapse.

Contemporary and later sources also suggest the war may have attracted participants beyond Mandalorian society. It is theorised that some members of the fractured New Jedi Order, particularly long-lived individuals shaped by the Yuuzhan Vong War and the conflicts with Darth Krayt’s Empire, were drawn into the fighting. Whether motivated by ideology, disillusionment, or a search for meaning after decades of war, these figures are believed to have aligned themselves with one faction or the other. Definitive evidence remains scarce, and surviving accounts are contradictory.

The most controversial theory to emerge from post-war historiography concerns the origins of the Mandalorian Defenders themselves. A persistent but unproven claim holds that the Defenders who would go on to form Manda'toma were, in part, Jedi Knights who concluded that the only viable means of ending the New Mandalorian Crusade was to seize control of Mandalorian society and force its permanent settlement. According to this interpretation, Jedi influence guided the creation of a static Mandalorian state, with the Mandalorian Knights acting as both enforcers and ideological custodians.

While no surviving records conclusively support this theory, its endurance reflects the opacity of the period and the destruction of primary sources during the New Galactic Dark Age. What is not disputed is that Force-sensitive warriors came to occupy an unusual and influential role within Manda'toma, particularly through the Mandalorian Knights. Whether this represents deliberate manipulation or coincidental convergence remains a matter of debate, but the legacy of Force involvement in Mandalorian governance continues to shape perceptions of the Civil War’s true resolution.