The New Mandalorian War

The New Mandalorian War (718-722 ABY), known by some as The Wytheryn Disaster, was the name given to a major conflict fought between the Republic and the Mandalorian clans. The conflict was relatively shortlived, but impacted the entire galaxy and set its path for years to come.

Preluded by the Quest for the Darksaber, conflict seemed rather insignificant before the Mandalorian clans united behind their newly chosen Mandalore. Officially starting during the Siege of Terrelia, the war started with rather insignificant skirmishes, yet was quickly sped up by an incredible series of consecutive ''planetary takeovers. ''Though the Republic was slow to respond, their incredible ability to produce spacecraft and prepare armies  soon outpaced the recruiting of the Mandalorians. Finding themselves supported by the Sith forces, the Mandalorians managed to reach and conquer Coruscant during the first clash for Coruscant. The Mandalorian forces were eventually halted and defeaten during the Battle of Ilum. The Republic could not yet claim victory, however, as Coruscant was then assaulted and conquered by Winston "Wytheryn" Delacroix, whom had received reinforcements after he managed to seize control of the Republic naval forces during the Battle of Ilum. The Republic, scavenging whatever forces they could, eventually responded to a call to battle originating from Coruscant a year later. Finding that the mindcontrol over their own forces was broken, the Republic destroyed whatever Mandalorian and Sith forces remained above Coruscant, marking the end of the war after the second Clash over Coruscant.

The war would be followed by the Search for the Exillus treasure, which was promised to allow the Republic to recover from economic damages.

Skirmishes in the Mandalore system (715-716 ABY)
The Mandalorian clans, disgruntled after having acted as mercenaries for generations, were moved to inter-cultural skirmishes. Clan Varad, originating from the planet of Mandalore, felt the need to unite the clans behind their banner. When negotiations failed, however, they relied on their past as warriors and forcefully conquered other clans. After the fall of Akaan, Tracyn and Warda, clan Varad had "united" enough clans behind their banner to coerce the rest of the Mandalore system to cooperate. The Mandalorians finally drew Republic attention when they invaded the Meerian and Ojostor sectors, carving a way to the Hydian Way. This is as far as the united clans wished to go, however, as Diablo Varad, heir of the Varad clan, had not proven himself to be a worthy leader: his people needed either the Darksaber or the Mask of Mandalore to rally behind, but he had possessed neither.

Republic State of Emergency (716 ABY)
With the Senate weak and unstable, Coruscant's criminal underworld decided to rise up and infiltrate the Senate District. A group of pirates, mercaries and thugs set off a bomb in the Senate Dome and exterminated most of the Senate and their Jedi protectors. With the ruling body of the Republic gone, the Republic was doomed to fall. After the bombing, mutliple cells of mercaries all activated on the ecomenopolis and spread chaos on Coruscant. Republic forces, finding themselves supported by the guerilla faction EXALT and their commander Cade "Corde" Tennant, eventually overcame the uprising when aid of the Jedi Order arrived. The bomber and presumed leader of the attackers, Allen Sempus (later discovered to be Allen Exillus), was cornered by the Jedi Order but managed to escape after causing a significant distraction. The Republic and the Jedi, busy restoring order on Coruscant, had little time to respond to "insignificant Mandalorian threats".

BlasTech infiltration of Terrelia (716 ABY)
Immediately after the declaration of a state of emergency, the company BlasTech, led by Nadruk Xionz (later discovered to be Kardun Zxion), quickly took control of Terrelia. Their methods so subtle, that the true inner workings of this first takeover were never truly discovered. The citizens of Terrelia were forced to work for BlasTech, creating a vast amount of weaponry for the invasion of the core worlds. "Recruiting" from Terrelia and several nearby words, BlasTech managed to create a sizable army in relatively little time.

The Quest for the Darksaber - I (717 ABY)
Through unknown means, Allen had become aware of the Mandalorians' quest for the Darksaber. Cade, managing to track Allen down on Nar Shaddaa, created an unlikely alliance between the duo, vowing to work together to prevent the Mandalorians from obtaining the relic.

EXALT tracked Allen to Dromund Kaas, but found that several others had caught up on a rumor aswell. Though Cade and Allen were first to arrive on the scene, they were quickly caught up on by Diablo Varad and Kardun. The three parties had only one common interest: the Darksaber, thus there was little to discuss. As Allen engaged Kardun, Cade kept Diablo out of the fight, eventually forcing the Mandalore to surrender. Kardun, being beaten by Allen, was forced into slavery to Diablo. Allen, thinking he had found the Darksaber, found that he had activated a trap which set the burial tomb on fire. When the parties fled the scene, they soon found little left of the tomb.

Battle of Terrelia (718 ABY)
With the Republic having somewhat recovered of the bombing and the following chaos, they could finally put their attention elsewhere and became suspicious of BlasTech's takeover of Terrelia and sped-up production. Though the Republic was unaware of this, clan Varad had ordered Kardun to provide him with an armada. Thus, when the Republic decided to construct a blockade around Terrelia, they quickly found themselves ambushed by not only BlasTech, but also Mandalorian forces. The battle began when BlasTech forces succesfully broke through the blockade. Just before a Republic station was destroyed, a message was sent to Republic high command. The Republic naval forces, led by Jedi General Alak Wasi, above Terrelia quickly found themselves outnumbered by BlasTech forces and their Mandalorian reinforcements, even though they had received some reinforcements themselves. Alak called his forces to turtle back around the last remaining Republic station, leading an admirable defense and decreasing Mandalorian forces significantly. This all changed when Diablo himself eventually appeared at the battle, which prompted EXALT to decloak their flagship and obliterate the command structure of the Mandalorians. With their flagship destroyed, Mandalorian forces were forced to retreat or fight to death. With a steady flow of Republic reinforcements arriving, all the Mandalorian forces left behind were captured or destroyed.

Republic blockade of the Mandalorian Sector
While the Republic was securing Terrelia and trying to block the Mandalorians from their accespoint to the Hydian Way, the Quest for the Darksaber continued on New Alderaan. Allen, having received information about an Exillus vault, called EXALT over to aid with the recovery of the Darksaber. Diablo had received information through other means, yet found himself forced to tag along with the EXALT forces after being severely outnumbered by scavengers trying to gain acces to the vault.

Showdown with Nenxus
As the party arrived at the vault, a large battle broke out between Cade, Jedi Knight Eron Tarimo, Jedi Master Kane Varron, Allen and a large group of heavily-armed scavengers. The scavengers put up an admirable fight against the Force-sensitives and most of the party eventually had to escape deeper into the vault as Eron stayed behind to take on and delay as many scavengers as he could. Upon entering the deeper part of the vault, Diablo scurried off the find the Darksaber, while Kane and Allen discussed their past differences. Cade, seemingly absent, was busy studying the walls, apparently aware of a "wall of energy" that prevented the party from exiting the vault. Upon realising this, Cade prepared for battle, but found that it would dawn upon the party sooner than expected, as a figure called Nenxus appeared and tried to kill Allen. Nenxus ultimately failed, but ended up mortally wounding him. Kane and Cade, rushing to defend Allen, found themselves at even ground with Nenxus in a short, yet fierce battle. The fight had shaken the foundations of the vault and the floor collapsed underneath their feet as a result. With the floor collapsing, a massive hole leading down several kilometres was created. Kane caught Cade and Allen mid-fall, and the Jedi duo worked to land as smoothly as possible. The landing and incredible amount of energy used to make this landing possible knocked Kane out, which resulted in Cade having to defend both Kane and Allen. Cade, already exhausted, found that none of his attacks were effective against Nenxus and decided to stick to desperate measures: bashing Nenxus, opening himself to his attacks, then using Nenxus' own blade to stab both himself and Nenxus. Wounded and trying to heal, Cade found that Nenxus rose to his feet seemingly unharmed. Using his energy to enlarge Nenxus' wounds rather than healing himself, Nenxus vanished as Cade caved in to pressure. Considering himself victorious, Cade was once again shocked when Nenxus appeared out of thin air. With Cade surrendering, Allen rose to his feet, dashing to prevent Nenxus from striking a final blow. Using the first sword he had found, Allen hit and killed Nenxus, causing him to vanish out of existence and seemingly "enter" the sword. Upon the death of Nenxus, the vault started to collapse. When Diablo, now in possession of the darksaber, used his jetpack to escape, Kane used the Force to leap to him and clung to him. With the duo escaping, Cade and Allen were left in the vault for several days as the Republic carried out a rescue operation led by Alak.

Stalemate (719-720 ABY)
After the Battle of Terrelia, the Republic sped up production of spacecraft and training of troops immensely. Alak took it upon himself to barricade the Mandalorians from access to the Hydian way, ensuring that a strike at Coruscant could not be made. The Mandalorians tried to escape their controlled sectors, even going as far as to travel through realspace for months in order to arrive at different hyperlanes and strike from surprising angles. What resulted was a back-and-forth between Mandalorian and Republic forces: a planet would one day be controlled by the Mandalorians, only for the Republic to respond a day later and secure their territory. With Alak's leadership, the Republic managed to hold their lines and even managed to push into Mandalorian territory on several occasions. It was also Alak who noticed that the Mandalorian forces had somehow escaped his awareness, using the Celanon Spur to travel to the Namadii Corridor and presumably travel past Ilum to enter Unknown Regions of space, only to strike at Coruscant from an unexpected angle. Placing his bets, Alak took a sizable task force to Ilum in order to prevent the Mandalorians from succesfully executing these plans.

Naval battle
The Republic surprised the Mandalorian forces, utilizing new-found carriers to support their forces while performing a pincer maneuvre to ensure that no Mandalorian craft could escape. While initially succesful, the plan backfired when the Mandalore realised that the Republic had left their flagship undefended. Though the Republic caught on to this plan early on, they could not close their trap in time in order to prevent the loss of their flagship. Jedi General Alak Wasi was forced to abandon his ship, only leaving after he had saved as many of his crew as possible. While other Republic craft were pulling security for LAATs and escape pods, the Republic lost several more craft.

When the battle seemed to had turned for the worst, three EXALT spacecraft appeared out of hyperspace mid-battle, only for one of them to ram three Mandalorian vessels, one of them Diablo's flagship. With Cade now seizing command of the Republic fleet, a more direct approach was taken: all Republic forces were to perform a head-on charge at the Mandalorian forces and overwhelm them with sheer numbers alone. Though a valiant effort was made by the Mandalorians, the Republic naval forces quickly obliterated any Mandalorian forces still willing to put up a fight. In desperation, Diablo ordered all Mandalorian forces to land on Ilum and prepare for a battle on the surface. Cade, realising that it was mostly Republic naval crew that was forced to evacuate to Ilum, went to aid Alak in a last stand on the surface, ordering EXALT to retreat from the battle.

With all commanding officers, admirals and generals out of the fight, both naval fleets were disarray. The Republic forces carried out their orders while the Mandalorian forces were heading for the surface. Yet, at one particular moment, everything just stopped: Winston had arrived in a Sith meditation sphere, seizing control over all the minds of the remaining naval Forces, and ordered them to immediately set out for Coruscant. With all Republic reinforcements and support seemingly vanishing, there was little hope for whatever forces were left on the surface of Ilum.

Skirmish on the Surface
Only 24,000 Republic soldiers, most of them naval crew, had been forced to evacuate to the surface, while at least 100,000 Mandalorian warriors were present at the surface. Under Alak's command, most Republic forces had gathered and entrenched near an improvised landing site, hoping for a fast extraction. The Mandalorians took little time to prepare and quickly set out to seek their revenge, aiming to eliminate all Republic forces still left on the surface. While on their way to the Republic forces, the Mandalorians found themselves ambushed several times by EXALT operatives and Republic survivors working under Cade's and Lukas Vion's command. With the Mandalorian and EXALT forces racing to reach the Republic evacuation site first, it seemed rather hopeless for the Republic: their forces constantly under siege, yet still holding as if by some miracle.

During one of the skirmishes, Cade and Lukas ran into Allen and his apprentice "Lithium". The Jedi duo found themselves at loss when suddenly faced by two Sith warriors, causing them to have a temporary setback. The Sith duo mostly zoned and struck Lukas, knowing that Cade would have to divert his attention from eliminating them to defending his Jedi ally. A series of short, yet rapid engagements followed: while Allen distracted Cade, Lithium would strike at Lukas, only for Allen to then follow up on Lithium's initial strike. Showing remarkable control over the situation, Cade managed to keep Lukas unharmed until Lukas eventually caved in to exhaustion. Knowing that this battle was futile to continue, Cade seperated the two parties by splitting the ground and vanishing into thin air with Lukas. It was not much later that a Republic striketeam discovered Allen and Lithium recovering from their wounds. Exhausted, the duo was unable to stand up and fight, resulting in their capture.



After finally regrouping with Alak, Cade took command over the Republic forces while Alak opted to perform a flanking maneuvre targeted directly at the Mandalore. Initially succesful, Alak eventually found himself surrounded by Mandalorian forces and challenged the Mandalore to a duel. At this time, the Republic forces were holding out but taking severe losses. Cade ordered EXALT to evacuate the Republic forces, while he himself stayed behind with his EXALT striketeam to ensure the safe return of Alak and his troops. When the Republic forces refused to evacuate, wishing to aid their Jedi General, many more Republic forces were lost until Cade forcefully sent his men off the battlefield, stating that ["if they would not evacuate, he would kill them himself"]. Though Alak's troops were executed, both Cade and Alak had made it off Ilum through unknown means. The Republic proceeded to claim that the Battle of Ilum had been a "heroic defeat", noting that the naval battle was won and that a significantly larger amount of Mandalorians were lost during the surface battle.

Sith Captives on Coruscant
The Republic forces had captured Allen and Lithium during the Battle of Ilum, opting to hide them from whatever Sith forces remained in a max-security prison on Coruscant. Allen and Lithium were frequently questioned by Jedi Masters Kane, Alak and Cade, yet there appeared to be little progress. While Lithium seemed woefully uninformed in general, Allen spoke fearfull of a being named "Wytheryn", especially to Cade. Eventually refusing to be questioned by anyone else than Cade, Allen appeared to be more talkative, yet Cade often stated that he had not succesfully gotten any relevant information from Allen.

When a Force Storm conjured by Wytheryn arrived at Coruscant, the Sith duo seemed to escape with relative ease: recordings show that the duo had their weapons and that guards seemed not to react to the duo's escape at all. Though it has not been confirmed, it is presumed that Cade aided with the escape of the Sith duo, hoping that Wytheryn would retreat from Coruscant after having caused minimal damage.

The Wytheryn Disaster - Part I
It would not be, however, as Wytheryn continued to torment large parts of the ecomenopolis with his Force Storms. The Jedi, led by Cade and Alak, responded to the threat, with Cade opting to evacuate and incredibly large portion of Coruscant while Alak went to confront Wytheryn. With the help of the Republic, BlasTech, EXALT and the Jedi, large sections of Coruscant were evacuated to prevent as many civilian casualties as possible. At one moment during the evacuation, Eron Tarimo took control of the operation to ensure that Cade could aid Alak in the process of stopping Wytheryn.

Alak had certainly found Wytheryn, yet found himself completely outmatched by the self-proclaimed Lord of the Sith. Calling for Cade's help, he provided a mental beacon for Cade to lock on to. Instantly appearing at the battle, Cade distracted Wytheryn while Alak tried to make sure that Allen and Lithium would soon be brought to Wytheryn. Though unconfirmed, it is rumored that Cade distracted Wytheryn for an incredibly lengty period of time by explaining the game "Pazaak" to him. Alak, however, had a situation at his hands: Allen and Lithium refused to cooperate, not wishing to return to Wytheryn's side. They engaged the already exhausted Alak in a two-versus-one battle that raged from their prison, through the streets of Coruscant, to eventually end up in a spaceport. Alak stood his ground, but was eventually overpowered by the Sith duo and was forced on a constant retreat. As if by some miracle, Alak survived the encounter with severe damage to his armour, as well as mental and physical exhaustion that would result in him undergoing bacta therapy for a few days. Both Cade and Alak were evacuated by their newfound ally Kardun Zxion, having seen the error of his ways.

Coruscant was now under control of Wytheryn, using the mind-controlled fleet to create a seemingly impenetrable blockade around the planet. For an entire year, Wytheryn would reside on Coruscant, spreading chaos through the ecumenopolis. The Republic, BlasTech and the Jedi Order vowed to work together to rebuild their forces, hoping to one day strike back at the seemingly all-powerful Wytheryn.

Prelude
After the evacuation of Coruscant, the Jedi Order on Telos IV prepared to strike Coruscant with a single goal in mind: to eliminate Wytheryn at all costs. Their preparation was halted by Cade, however, as he ordered them to wait until he was done investigating where Wytheryn had come from.

Cade, tipped off by Allen, went on to travel to Hapes. It was here that he discovered most of Wytheryn's support network and most of his apprentices. Either saving or eliminating them, Cade ensured that no Sith would follow in Wytheryn's footsteps. Wytheryn, utterly unaware, remained on Coruscant while Cade hunted the followers and artifacts of Wytheryn, until he deemed himself ready to perform an all-out attack at Wytheryn himself.

The Wytheryn Disaster - II
All hell broke loose in 722 ABY, when a lone Hapan shuttle made a suicide run to try and break the blockade. This shuttle, piloted by Cade, caused some mental feedback on the mind-controlled troops and allowed for the now free forces to engage in battle with their former comrades. As soon as the battle broke loose, a message was sent on all Republic frequencies, calling for aid. The Republic, EXALT and BlasTech all jumped into the fray, trying to disable their mind-controlled allies rather than destroying them.

Cade, forced to crash after his shuttle was severely damaged, found that his message had received the Jedi Order aswell: Alak Wasi, Vitas Tarimo, Lukas Vion, Eron Tarimo and Kardun Zxion had all arrived to help him take on Wytheryn. Eron and Lukas split from the group to ensure that Allen could not interfere, while the rest of the party set out to challenge Wytheryn personally. Upon meeting Wytheryn, few words were shared. The battle was of to a fierce start, everyone trying to make sure they got their licks in. Wytheryn's defense proved strong, however, and few hits were scored. When Wytheryn used Hatred to provide himself with some space, Cade was seperated from the group and opted to prepare himself for a critical moment that he foresaw in the future. As Wytheryn tired and got wounded, his ferocity merely increased: completely giving in to the dark side, he proved superior to the band of heroes trying to strike down this heinous evil.

Eron and Lukas, at the same time, were engaged with Allen on the roof of a Coruscanti skyscraper. Eron severely outmatched Allen and tried to redeem the ex-Jedi, but found that all his attempts at communication were shot down with trick attacks. Lukas, trying to keep up with the fighting pair, was forced to defend himself from Allen's overwhelming attacks. It was when Lukas' defense failed that Eron had to shield his Padawan, allowing himself to be impaled by Allen's lightsaber and tumbling down the entirety of the Coruscanti skyscraper. Allen, now without a weapon, fled the scene while Lukas travelled down the skyscraper in the hopes of finding his master still alive.

He would find Cade, however, and the duo strengthened their mental fortitude, knowing that this was not yet the time to mourn over a lost friend and master. Almost focussed, the duo was prepared to jump back into the fray when Wytheryn started to rely on Sith magic. The party was unprepared for this, and several combatants were severely wounded by Wytheryn's use of the Force. Cade, forced to act before he was truly ready, moved in to defend the fallen heroes and held his ground for some time, yet even his strength appeared to fail when a Force clash was fought between the two. Cade, utilizing a Force Light powerful enough to be considered a Wall of Light, found himself overpowered by Wytheryn's command over the dark side of the Force. Just when all appeared lost, Alak rose up next to Cade and supported him in his struggle. When most of the party followed suite, Cade became One with the Force and used the borrowed power of his allies to severely wound and sever Wytheryn. Wytheryn laid on the ground, broken, defeaten and severed. Alak dashed forward with the hopes of decapitating Wytheryn, but just before he managed to do so, Cade killed Wytheryn with a precise stab to the heart, sparing him by granting him a "merciful death."

With the death of Wytheryn came the end of his mind-control over Republic forces, marking the end of the New Mandalorian War.

Mandalorian retreat
Some Republic citizens still wonder why the war ended when it did, claiming that the Mandalorians were still capable of fighting on after the Battle of Ilum. Though this was correct, they also seem to suffer a severe lack of knowledge regarding the Mandalorian culture: the Darksaber had been lost and Diablo Varad had been murdered shortly after the Battle of Ilum. To top that, the Mandalorians had also waged an initially succesful war against the Republic (the Mandalorian War), which was toppled by the Revanchists. Having not forgotten their past, it can be assumed that Mandalorian morale started to drop as soon as the Jedi intervened. It must also be noted that many Mandalorian forces were corrupted by Winston Delacroix. The warriors, unable to combat the Force, might have called their quits after the Battle of Ilum because of this.

Leaderless, broken and once again scattered, little remained of the Mandalorians. Though some clans returned to the Mandalore system with the hopes of once again reuniting, their efforts proved to be in vain. Both the Republic and the Jedi Order have been monitoring the Mandalorians since this war, aswell as vaulting their artifacts. It can be assumed that EXALT was also quite busy monitoring any new threats after this war.

Republic recovery
For the Republic, the war was not as devastating as many considered it to be. Most of the damage was suffered by the citizens of Coruscant, their planet once again nearly destroyed by powers far beyond their control. Had it not been for the aid of the Jedi Order and EXALT, the city of Coruscant could have been destroyed completely.

Though the Republic suffered plenty casualties during the war, most of the "casualties" were material: spacecraft, tanks et cetera. This appeared to cause a problem, however, as the Republic was already economically weak due to having increased production at such an incredible rate. For the Republic, then, the war was on of economic attrition. It was often argued that the Republic would have lost this war if it had gone on any longer than it did.

Vanishing of EXALT
EXALT, though prominently present during the war, vanished completely after the war, along with their commander. Many assumptions regarding their disappearance were made, but none of them truly seemed to hit the mark. Some conspiracy theorists called EXALT "a divine intervention", making reference to the word 'exalted'. Perhaps the most plausible theory is that the organisation went on to search and destroy any traces of the Sith that were created by Wytheryn.

With the vanishing of EXALT also came the corruption of any and all files concerning their existence. Even the files of their high-ranking officers were removed. As a result, there are no logs on Cade "Corde" Tennant, Eron Tarimo, Lukas Vion or any other details regarding the organisation. It is presumed that EXALT has plenty insiders within the Republic and, as a result of this presumption, are still around to make sure they are properly forgotten.