Taung/Legends

"The ash of the Taung beats strong within the Mandalorians' heart!"

―Excerpt from the traditional Dha Werda Verda chant

The Taungs were an ancient species of humanoid simians. Indigenous to the Core World of Coruscant, the two-meter-tall, gray-skinned Taungs were warriors from youth, and viewed battle as a source of honor both for the individual and their gods. Famous for their struggles against the Human Battalions of Zhell—prehistoric Coruscant's other major power—the Taungs waged war against their enemies for hundreds of years. When a powerful volcano erupted and devastated the Zhell, spewing ash into the sky with such density it blocked out the light of Coruscant's sun, the Taungs labeled themselves the "Warriors of the Shadow", or Dha Werda Verda in their language. Despite their loss, the Zhell eventually managed to drive the Taungs from Coruscant, and the defeated Taungs fled to the planet Roon, located in the Outer Rim. There they remained for millennia, until legendary Mandalore the First led the Taungs to conquer a new world which they named Mandalore in honor of their leader, and the Taungs subsequently recast themselves as the Mandalorians or Mando'ade—"Sons and Daughters of Mandalore."

As the newly entitled Mandalorians, the Taungs set out to conquer the worlds around their new home, their nomadic nature and worship of war driving them crusading outward as they increased their territory. Under the rule of Mandalore the Indomitable, another Taung warlord following in the leadership tradition established by Mandalore the First, the Taungs began to take in beings of other species into their culture, transforming what it meant to be Mandalorian forever after. This willing acceptance of other beings peaked during the Mandalorian Wars, when Mandalore the Ultimate led the Mandalorians on a campaign against the military forces of the Galactic Republic. Though initially victorious, the intervention of the Jedi Knight Revan and his loyal Jedi followers turned the tide of the war against the Mandalorians, culminating with the devastation of the planet Malachor V. The Taung race had suffered heavy losses during the war, and by its end, were generally believed to have drifted into extinction, survived by the legacy of the Mandalorian culture they had passed on, that remembered the Taungs as the Progenitors.

Biology and appearance

"We call the Shadow Warriors our Progenitors, though we do not share their blood, and their bodies were those of beasts, not humans."

―Tor Vizsla

A Humanoid species, the Taungs were a bipedal race of sentient simians. Gray-skinned and yellow-eyed, Taungs were typically tall and strong. On average, Taungs reached a height of two meters, and weighed around ninety-five kilograms. Taungs were known to be extremely resilient, able to endure physical hardships that many other species could not. Their five fingers were tipped with sharp claws, and bony ridges adorned the top of their skulls. Taung lifespans were known to reach and occasionally exceed eighty-five years. Considered children until the age of six, Taungs attained adulthood when they turned thirteen, passed through middle age between the years of forty-six and sixty-four, and were viewed as elderly beyond the age of sixty-five. Galactic historical records document no known instances of Taungs with a sensitivity to the Force.

Society and culture

"Soon, rumors reached the Republic of worlds ruled by ferocious warriors. They served the god Kad Ha'rangir, whose tests and trials forced change and growth upon the clans he chose to be his people."

―Historian Vilnau Teupt

Taung armored helmets resembled their facial structure

Taung society was nomadic and clan-based. Veterans of successful campaigns were honored, and looked upon with reverence. These battle-tested elders became chieftains, de facto leaders of their clan and community; higher authority came only from the Mand'alor, a title that meant "Sole Ruler" in the Taung language, and a role that embodied a single leader of all the warrior clans. These aspects continued on throughout later Mandalorian culture long after the Taungs themselves had passed from the galaxy. Pragmatism and ruthlessness were common traits among the Taungs, matched only by their loyalty to their clan kinsmen. Their practical nature was reflected in their naming practices, typically choosing names that corresponded to traits they deemed desirable. Common names included such examples as Atin, Kot, and Tor—meaning "persistent", "strength", and "justice", respectively. The Taungs spoke an archaic form of what later became the Mandalorian language of Mando'a.

The civilization of the Taungs was one steeped in war, and the Taungs were warriors above all else. Their combat-centered nature gave rise to a religious warrior society governed by elaborate laws that evolved into the Canons of Honor. Early in their history, the Taungs waged war as a means of ritual worship to their god Kad Ha'rangir—a destroyer god they believed to personify change and growth. The Taungs sought the favor of Kad Ha'rangir as they denied the temptations of Arasuum, the sloth-god who was an avatar of idleness and stagnation. But after the Taungs had recast themselves as the Mandalorians, and Mandalore the Indomitable had risen to lead them, the act of war itself became the center of Mandalorian worship, and to wage war was to be divine. Disputes were resolved through Taung blood duels that involved a challenge to single combat in a fight to the death.

Despite their violent, warring nature, the Taungs were far from primitive, and maintained a high priority of procuring the latest in technological advancement whenever possible, often through the plundering of a defeated foe. The tradition of Mandalorian armor began with the culture's Taung founders, and their unique helmets and war masks were forged in the image of the Taungs' face, including slanted outer angles and a pointed chin. Unlike later iterations, the armor of the Taungs was sparse in its armament due to their belief that it was unarmed combat that brought the highest honor. Taung children were trained in martial arts from a young age, and tested themselves repeatedly in numerous physical and mental challenges prior to achieving adulthood. The experience and skills they obtained through their robust upbringing made wandering Taungs valuable assets to mercenary companies.

History

War for a world

"When the dawn came the Zhell awakened and saw the Taungs upon the high place and were afraid, for the morning light caught the glint of helms and weapons and created phantom warriors, made of dazzle and distance. But the cleverest of them were not deceived, and saw how few we were. And so they assembled without haste, merry in mockery, and prepared to march. And in the high place we awaited death."

―Basic-translated excerpt from the ninth chapter of the Dha Werda Verda

The Taungs evolved on the planet Coruscant, located in the central region of the galaxy known as the Core Worlds. During the pre-Republic era, the Taungs inhabited Coruscant alongside the other major power to arise on the prehistoric world, the Zhell. The Zhell—thirteen tribes of Humans who also evolved on ancient Coruscant—and the Taungs waged war against each other for hundreds of years, struggling for control of the planet. At some point amidst their warring, a volcanic eruption brought devastation upon the Battalions of Zhell, when it smothered their city with thick ash and nearly destroyed the early Human race. The enormous plume of released ash and smoke was so dense and wide-spread across the sky, that it blocked out the light from Coruscant's sun, leaving the land beneath in darkness for two years. The Taungs leaped at the advantage nature had provided, and in the aftermath of the eruption, subjugated their age-old enemy. They viewed the smoke and shadow as an emblem of their destiny, and it was then that they adopted the name Dha Werda Verda for themselves, a title that meant "Warriors of the Shadow" in the Taung language.

However, the Taungs' victory over the Zhell was doomed to be a fleeting one. Over time, the Zhell eventually managed to win back control of Coruscant and drive the Taungs from their shared homeworld. Though an offshoot sect of priestly female Taungs fled Coruscant for the galaxy's Unknown Regions in pursuit of atonement through introspective meditation, the majority of the Taungs were forced to flee to the planet Roon in the Outer Rim, there the Taungs remained until the legendary leader, Mandalore the First, led his people to seek a new world. The Taungs found another planet in the Outer Rim—a world of multiple ecosystems, uninhabited by intelligent life, and dominated only by a race of non-sentient creatures of colossal size known as mythosaurs—and claimed this new planet as their own.

Mandalorian rebirth

The future Mandalore the Ultimate looks for Mandalore the Indomitable.

"We are the rage of the Warriors of the Shadow! The first noble sons of Mandalore!"

―Excerpt from the traditional Dha Werda Verda chant

Old Sith Wars and decline

The Mandalorians, both Taungs and otherwise, were drawn into a whole new war when the latest in the tradition of the Mand'alor, a Taung warrior by the sobriquet Mandalore the Indomitable, challenged the fallen Jedi Ulic Qel-Droma. The former Jedi Knight bested Mandalore the Indomitable in single combat on the planet Kuar, and from that point the Mand'alor swore the loyalty of he and his followers to Qel-Droma and, by extension, his Sith Master Exar Kun. The Mandalorians waged war against the Galactic Republic on behalf of the Sith, even striking against their former homeworld of Coruscant, but when they had been tasked with taking the planet Onderon late in the campaign, Mandalore the Indomitable was slain within the jungles of Onderon's moon, Dxun. Another Taung took up his ceremonial mask and became the new Mand'alor, proclaiming himself Mandalore the Ultimate.

Legacy

"Leeber soong whar tung tach picta / Manner manner migta richta / Schelecht varn toom-soing pa ho-grunten / Gersh ve dala funken mimpa / Droit! / To Gropen wettkampf Zunken!"

―Ancient Basic excerpt from the Dha Werda Verda poem left behind on Roon

In 15 BBY, the Human merchant Mungo Baobab discovered the fabled Roonstones on the planet Roon. Encoded in one of the Roonstones was an ancient recording of the poem Dha Werda Verda, detailing the Taungs' struggle against the Zhell on prehistoric Coruscant in an archaic form of Basic.

Behind the scenes

The Taungs were first mentioned in the liner notes for the Shadows of the Empire soundtrack, and it was the Star Wars Insider article, "The History of the Mandalorians", that retconned the Mandalorian warriors from the Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi — The Sith War comic book series as the Taung race.

Appearances

• Tales of the Jedi – The Sith War 1 (First appearance) (Retcon)
• Tales of the Jedi – The Sith War 2 (Retcon)
• Tales of the Jedi – The Sith War 3 (Retcon)
• Tales of the Jedi – The Sith War 4 (Retcon)
• Tales of the Jedi – The Sith War 6 (Retcon)

Sources

• Shadows of the Empire soundtrack (Liner notes) (First mentioned as Taungs)
• "Galactic Bazaar: Collectors' Comlink" – Star Wars Galaxy Magazine 9
• The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons
• Secrets of the Sisar Run