Those Death Watch vandals never saw it coming. Can you imagine—twenty men dead on their end without a single blaster fire, as if the shadow itself had eaten 'em alive! That's witchcraft! No wonder they call themselves the Shadow Mandalorians.
—A witness, describing The Shadow Mandalorians' anti-Death Watch operation
The Shadow Mandalorians, also known as Mando Werda in Mando'a, were a small coalition of Mandalorian mercenaries and Aka'liit clans—Clan Ordo, Clan Skirata, Clan Fett, Clan Kryze, Clan Eldar, and House Vizsla. Led by two Mandalorian comrades, Pre Mando and Rage Ordo, the coalition operated independently during the Clone Wars, though its members' rights to mercenary work for intergalactic governments were not banned. The group's neutrality was broken in 19 BBY when its clans were enslaved by the newly formed Galactic Empire that forced the Mandalorians to participate in the Great Jedi Purge under the Imperial insignia.
In 16 BBY, The Shadow Mandalorians aligned with Fenn Shysa's Mandalorian Protectors on the planet Mandalore that had been occupied by the sinister Imperial Commander Suprema and Grand Admiral Miltin Takel. The Mandalorian army liberated their homeworld and ousted the entire Imperial fleet from the Mandalore Space in 4 ABY. As a unit within the army of the Mandalorian Protectors, the Shadow Mandalorians were responsible for securing the northern region of the Mandalore Sector and safeguarding the citizens of Sundari on planet Mandalore after the fall of the Empire.
After the devastating Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy that had left Mandalore severely crippled and nearly destroyed, Aadila Ordo assumed the command of the Shadow Mandalorians, ensuring its wellbeing. In the following years, the unit continued its combat-security operations within the sector on behalf of Clan Ordo and, primarily, the Mandalorian Protectors army. When called upon by the reigning Mand'alor, the Shadow Mandalorians always rallied to his cause.
Organization and Founding[]
- "Cuy'val Dar was dismissed. Most of us have returned to Mandalore. Others have tried to stick together in coalitions. There was Mando Werda—they called themselves the descendants of the legendary Dha Werda Verda. Sometime later, they headquartered on Dxun. Haran knows how they've lived in the jungles amongst the predators, but, surprisingly, that was the very thing that had been protecting them from the regular Death Watch raids: the osik Kyr'tsad couldn't even make it to the Werda's campsite—they were torn to bits by those jungle beasts. It seemed that the dini'la Werdas were able to somehow communicate with the jungles and its inhabitants. Witchcraft!"
- —Unidentified Mandalorian, about The Shadow Mandalorians
Originally, the Shadow Mandalorians was a pseudonym of a small mercenary group operating within the Outer Rim Territories. Founded by the Trandoshan hunter, ex-Herald of Scorekeeper Pre Mando, previously known as Vrohssk, in 32 BBY the squad consisted of Mandalorian bounty hunters and Aka'liit representatives, among whom was Rage Ordo, the veteran of the Mandalorian Civil War. The origins of the group's pseudonym stemmed from an ancient Mandalorian war chant, Dha Werda Verda, "Warriors of the Shadow" in Mando'a. Being the Shadow Warriors in a literal way, the squad undertook complex bounty hunting contracts that involved hostage rescue, medical supply runs, assassination, negotiation, and demolition. The brotherhood was fragmented in 30 BBY following Ordo's disappearance to the waterworld of Kamino where he was hired to take part in a top-secret program for a total period of eight standard years.
During the Clone Wars, the once existing minor brotherhood was expanded into a proper Mandalorian tribe. Henceforth the Shadow Mandalorians were considered an independent community of various Mandalorian clans working toward rebuilding the true Mandalorian society based mainly on the concept of the Supercommando Codex. Their ideology was the very reason that put them in conflict with the True Mandalorians' long-standing adversary, the Death Watch. The Shadow Mandalorians opposed the Death Watch and assisted the Onderonian government in ousting the Death Watch raiders from Onderon in 21 BBY. They also participated in evicting the Death Watch occupants from the Ming Po town on the planet Carlac and the mining facilities on the moon Concordia in 20 BBY. Unlike Mandalore the Resurrector, Pre Mando and Rage Ordo did not lead the Shadow Mandalorians into an alliance with neither the Galactic Republic nor the Confederacy of Independent Systems amid the Clone Wars, however, respecting the individual rights and freedom of their tribesmen, they did not attempt to ban the Shadow Mandalorians' rights to mercenary work for either side as long as the job's describtion did not go against the guidelines of the honorable Supercommando Codex. The coalition's well-being was generally sponsored by Ordo, who had invested at least forty percent of his income from the Cuy'val Dar contract in the Shadow Mandalorians' operation.
History[]
Shadow Mandalorians riding the Dxunian reptavian warbeasts, Drexls
To avoid the pressure from the pacifistic New Mandalorians, Rage Ordo and Pre Mando headquartered the tribe in Japrael system on Dxun far from the political outrage. On Dxun, the Shadow Mandalorians built a well-fortified stronghold to secure the perimeter from the deadly Dxunian predators and other uninvited visitors, including the Death Watch. In time, the Mandalorians tamed the local reptavian winged creatures, Drexls, and were able to train them as mounts, following in the footsteps of the ancient Onderonian Beast Riders. The Shadow Mandalorians mastered the ability to communicate with the Dxunian wildlife, and used its valuable resources to protect their stronghold from the Death Watch raids. With Drexls securing the skies of Dxun, and Gharzrs and Zakkegs safeguarding the jungle, the Death Watch raiders could barely penetrate the perimeter of the Shadow Mandalorians' stronghold.
As the newly formed Galactic Empire rose to power, many independent governments were dominated by its political regime. The pressure in the galaxy escalated as the Core worlds fell under the Imperial sphere of influence. Their dreadful conquest was then directed at occupying the Mid Rim Territories, prompting the Shadow Mandalorians to flee their headquarters on Dxun. The coalition headed to the tropical planet Rishi in the Outer Rim Territories that was considered an outlaw's heaven, where they have been ambushed by the Imperial 501-st stormtrooper legion. Though the Mandalorians—severely outnumbered—showed significant resistance to the stormtroopers, they had eventually admitted defeat, surrendering to the Imperial Military in the ensuing skirmish. To avoid the enslavement, the Mandalorians had no choice but to volunteer to join the ranks of the Imperial Military as an experimental unit of the Imperial Super Commandos—a division of elite Imperial-Mandalorian vanguards and highly proficient Jedi Hunters. However, unbeknowst to the Imperials, this volunteering was a spontanous undercover plan that would soon turn into an entire two-years operation directed at gathering military schematics and future Imperial projects—an intel that years later will be extremely valuable for the revolutionaries fighting against the Empire.
Nevertheless, aware of Rage Ordo's plan, the majority of the Shadow Mandalorians questioned their unwilling cooperation with the Empire, deeming Ordo responsible for their fate. However, after a number of successful joint operations with the authoritative Sith Inquisitor Cordelia Faline, the Shadow Mandalorians' attitude changed as their prestige within the Imperial Military had grown immensely, allowing them to uncover crucial components of the Imperial slaving and military operations on Mandalore: the locations and the maps of the Imperial headquarters and the hideouts, the routes of the Imperial slaving convoys across Keldabe and its outskirts, the schematics of the Imperial energy link master controls, the list of the Imperial military equipment dispatched for the occupation. Years later, these valuable details would help Fenn Shysa and the Mandalorian Protectors oust the Empire from the Mandalore sector.
The Shadow Mandalorians as Imperial Supercommandos on Ord Mantell
Taking full advantage of the prestige and trust he had acquired while serving alongside Cordelia Faline, Ordo shot the latter while she had been engaged in a duel with Jedi Knight Vilem Raiden on Ord Mantell during their joint military operation against the Mantellian resistance. With Raiden's help, the Shadow Mandalorians were able to escape Ord Mantell, following Rage's instructions and heading to Mandalore to reinforce Fenn Shysa's Mandalorian Protectors with a handful of valuable Imperial intel and some manpower. Ordo, however, had to stay back and return to the Empire—a sacrifice that was indeed necessary as Rage was close as never before to securing the most elite title in the Galactic Empire that would help him run undercover operations inside the Imperial world for the Mandalorians. Henceforth, the Shadow Mandalorians operated as a sub-division within Fenn Shysa's Mandalorian Protectors—a Mandalorian army fighting against the Imperial occupiers at the city of Keldabe.