I started this trying to write a biography for my Mandalorian character, but then the text escaped me and it became something completely different. As it came out, I didn't really have a place to put it, because it isn't exactly a story, this is the faction's "biography".
Then I remembered that in three days (August 24th) we'll be completing a full year as a faction, so I figured this would make a nice commemorative post to let the community know how the Mandalorians have, in this one year, progressed from an import to a faction that (I like to think) has managed to immerse itself into this server's ongoing story.
Of course, the following text is a "novelized" version of my understanding of our RP so far. Other Mandalorians would differ or add to that, and they should. I'm also very proud to realized that all of this was actually played in game. Enjoy...
Quote:The Mandalorians (Mando'ade in their language, meaning "children of the Mandalore") are a warlike, nomadic group of clan-based people consisting of members from multiple origins. Their culture revolves around that of battle and war being a source of honor and pride in their community.
The origin of the group is controversial. The number of peculiarities surrounding them: an intricate culture not related to anything previously registered or studied; the alien-like language they use; their almost religious dedication to battle; all that have supported speculations of the group and the majority of its members not being natural of the Sirius sector. The group's nomadic way and its strong cultural unity have helped maintain the shroud of mystery around their real background.
The Mandalorians have first surfaced in Bretonia during the Kusari war. The group gained renown in that House through its fighter pilots who were employed by the Bretonian government as mercenaries. At first, the Mandalorian Mercenaries (as at first their pilots, but eventually the whole group begun to be referred to as), were more intensively employed in the Southern and Western systems as a compliment to the internal forces engaged in keeping the Mollies at bay and repelling the eventual Corsair attempts while the bulk of the Queen's forces kept engaged in the war against Kusari.
The group's exploits in battle and its dedication to the Bretonians have granted the Mandalorians notoriety and respect amongst the Bretonian Military. They got bigger contracts with the Queen's forces which ultimately put them in the Kusarian front lines. With the international exposure through the participation in the war, "The Mandalorians" became known not only inside Bretonia, but all around the House territories. As shrewd negotiators, the Mandalorians saw the opportunities all around Sirius and went to pursue them. The Mandalorians reached LSF operatives, and through contracts with the LSF, they started operating in Liberty space as well.
As the group's areas of interest streched, so did its roster. It was an assumed fact that the Mandalorians, with their strange culture, would be a closed and restricted community towards the rest of the Sirius population. However, as new contracts were signed, they sought to incorporate new members to that community. Bretonians, Libertonians and others joined and embraced the group's culture; some even abbandoning their names to rename themselves in the Mandalorian language. As these people were deployed to the field as fully fledged Mandalorian warriors, there was no telling the difference between them and the other Mandalorians in terms of the oddity in the manners they assumed.
When Bretonian John Cabbot made it to Mandalore, supreme leader of the group, it became clear that there was more to the Mandalorians than it was presumed of them. As much as their capacity was recognized, the Mandalorians were taken for a strange cult of oddball mercenaries. John Cabbot's ascension to leader of the Mandalorian people caused a stir in that perception. They started to be seen as a serious and ambitius business organization seeking to find their place in Sirius.
The Mandalorians didn't have any political agenda other than strengthening their people, but they understood that being consistent and reliable would provide them with better business opportunities. John Cabbot's background, a born Bretonian who had been expelled from the Kusari Naval Forces as the war erupted between his homeland and the House he served, ended up setting in stone the stance of the Mandalorians in the Bretonia/Kusari war. This stance would ultimately mean that the Mandalorians would become enemies of the Kusari state.
The hostile stance from the Kusarian government towards the Mandalorians made them visible to the Blood Dragons. The Kusarian group had the ability and the technology to fight the Kusarian government, but didn't have the numbers. The mercenaries then begun to work with the Blood Dragons against the Kusarian government and other threats to their space. The proximity with the Blood Dragons brought them closer to their local allies, the Golden Chrysanthemums.
Word of the Mandalorians' unlawful activities in Kusari granted them wider access to another unlawful group with which they had been flirting for some time, the Outcasts. Both in Bretonian and Dragon spaces, the Mandalorians were working against their enemies' (the Corsairs) interests. In Bretonia the Mandalorians helped the Queen's forces repel Corsair incursions to that territory. In the Dragons' areas of interest, the Mandalorians helped them guarantee their superiority in detriment of the Corsair allies and of the Corsair pirates that operated in the area. Making the best of an already installed situation was only reasonable to the Mandalorians, and as they did manage to get closer to the Outcasts, hurting the Corsairs' interests became even more profitable.
![[Image: singnature02.jpg]](http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee197/tfmachad/singnature02.jpg)