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Ancient Taung-Mandalorians:

Mandalorian Warrior: Attack! No mercy!

source: The Sith War

Tor Vizsla:

"Other disagreements soon followed. Some of the Faithful, the so-called True Mandalorians, wanted to dictate how all of us should earn credits for ourselves and our families, and they sought to supervise our conduct in a hostile galaxy. The wiser among us understood that in times of war it is only the ruthless - those who free themselves of the traps of pity and vacillation - who survive."

source: Death Watch Manifesto

Jango Fett:

Boba: Larbo told me about his people, how he was fighting for their freedom. About his son. Jango: You are right to examine your enemy, to seek out his motives. But what he fights for is not important to you -- sympathizing will only prevent you from completing your mission. Boba: But what if he was right? What if his people did need help? Jango: Your loyalty, your honor -- these are the things that matter. When you accept a mission, when you give your word, it is all that matters. As you grow into a man, you must remember: in battle, there can be no mercy.

source: The Way of the Warrior

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Come in from the cold, Bi-Han

In the past, I was talking about this intro dialogue mainly in regard to Bi-Han’s repeated theme of enslavement and freedom. However Liu Kang’s offer to come in from cold shows an interesting insight into his character. On one hand there is an example of Fire Lord’s kindness and care for rebellious Sub-Zero - which is an important and valid part of their strained relationship. But Liu Kang is asking a cryomancer for whom coldness is a core part of who he is, to step away from the cold. Of course, Bi-Han rejects the invitation with "and again kneel before you?", but his refusal may be as much for political subordination as for suppressing (again?) oneself.

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One of the ironic things I like about Jaster Mereel and Tor Vizsla is how different their respective second-in-commands were and what kind of relationship they had with said men. I am of course talking here about Montross and the unnamed warrior (that for the purpose of this post I will address as Verd, the mando’a for warrior).

As presented in Jango Fett: Open Seasons #2, Montross twice disobeyed Jaster during the mission and specifically under enemy's fire

&

and ultimately abandoned Mereel in dire need, resulting in Jaster's death.

"Verd" on another hand always followed Tor’s decisions, asking how Vizsla wanted to proceed with the turn of events and not questioning his leader.

&

Montross and Jaster’s relationship at some point became strained, in part due to Jango’s presence changing their dynamic. As implied by Montross’ negative comments aimed at teenage Jango. Like how Jaster forgets Fett is not his son which makes Mereel’s mind clouded.

Or how Fett is coward ("Leave it to Jango to find someplace to hide") when in reality Jango chose to fight smart rather than charge directly at the enemy who clearly had superior firepower. Though Jaster saved Montross’ life, there was not much - if any - warmness between those two men. 

In contrast, "Verd" and Tor seemed to work well together. When Vizsla was interrogating Jango’s father, "Verd" held the man in place thus visually assisting and cooperating with Death Watch leader

while Jango was held by some unnamed Mandalorian. Later, when Death Watch entered the small town,

we could see "Verd" sitting on a makeshift chair placed on their command vehicle, while Tor was talking about plans for the next few days (and giving permission to terrorize local people).

Visually again it presents both characters on good terms and at ease in each company.

When True Mandalorians attacked, we have a frame where Tor for a moment is looking at "Verd" rushing into the fight and/or to find cover from air attack.

And even if the frame was just about how those two get separated, Vizsla sparing a glance at his second-in-command contrasts a lot with how Jaster and Mereel interacted for the last time.

Frankly, Tor Vizsla - the mortal enemy - seems to be more respectful of (dead) Jaster than Montross. 

Though the comics, we saw both Tor and Jaster (and Jango) to have and interact with their second-in-commands (on Fett's case - Silas & Myles), but once "Verd" died, there is no one, visually speaking, to replace his place. And yes, Vizsla will interact to some degree with unnamed members of Death Watch, but none of said interactions are even close to what we saw on Concord Dawn. Interestingly, once Jango killed Tor Vizsla, he did not reunite with other Mandalorians thus similar to Tor, didn't have anyone replacing Silas and Myles (arguable, this position was filled by Walon Vau on Kamino).

And finally, we have additional source material. Like guide to Bounty Hunter game stating that Montross frequently was at odds with Jaster Mereel

or Fact Files pointing out that Mereel favored Jango over Montross because the man was downright nasty fellow.

At the same time, Fact Files acknowledged young Fett's part in the battle on Concord Dawn and killing Vizsla's second-in-command

and stated that Tor saw Jango as responsible for Vizsla's defeat at Concord Dawn (even though, as I pointed out in previous post, Vizsla did not care much for Fett until Jango became the leader of True Mandalorians.)

What may imply that death of his men, including "Verd", was treated by Tor as personal matter and we know how far he went with his scheme on Galidraan to destroy Jango and True Mandalorians under Fett's leadership.

To sum it up, I'm very amused by the relationship between Mandalorian leaders and their respective second-in-commands. Because Tor definitely get the better deal than Jaster.

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I played this game years ago and now I found the web archive link, so sharing with everyone who likes spy x thing type of games :)

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Interesting. If I may add my two cents, how about using "bui'tsad" that in original Karen Traviss' dictionary meant family lineage?

Even if author created it originally as term for biological lineage (and apparently in-universe the word was rarely used at all), the "bui" part comes from buir (parent) right? That way we could have the House as the major (parental) "political body" to the lesser clans, epecially if majority of the lesser clans were family (adopted or by blood related) thus being branches of the main House.

Its interesting that Mando'a doesn't have a canon word, but in keeping with how Houses as part of Mandalorian societal structure seem to have a lot of importance but its something that is not ever expanded upon as far as I've found.

Well, there can't be a canon word for a concept that is not mandalorian to begin with. Legends Mandalorian clans were equal, no matter how big or famous they were. Thus I have an alternative idea: the term for House is based on non-Mandalorian word, as

it seems their aristocracy developed in the last millennium (maybe after the Excision?) following the socio-economic-political changes Mandalorian society had to go through

Houses as royal, aristocratic or prominent families are common to social structures of Republic.

(Look, I'm very very bitter and biased against the idea of Houses, and for that alone I would rather Mandalorians use a loan word than accept the idea of aristocracy comes from their own culture & language. So please, feel free to ignore me on that one)

So'liit | House

This came about because I needed a translation for 'House' as in 'political/clan affiliation/allyship/structure' as opposed to 'building, dwelling.' Its interesting that Mando'a doesn't have a canon word, but in keeping with how Houses as part of Mandalorian societal structure seem to have a lot of importance but its something that is not ever expanded upon as far as I've found.

A Mandalorian House consists of a group of allied clans, and here is basically the entire Wookiepedia page on them, you can see what I mean by how little we know but my theories on how Houses could work is another post entirely.

"In the Mandalorian society, a house was a political faction that regrouped several clans. Three of those factions were House Kryze, House Vizsla,[2] and House Kast. The most important houses reported to the Mand'alor.[3]" 'Mandalorian House,' Wookiepedia

I started at a couple of variations of "Ori'Aliit", "big clan" but I wanted something with more linguistic heft, though I do think this has potential as a colloquial term for "extended clan".

Aliit'tom, "Clan alliance", and variations thereof were also something I considered and have not entirely discarded, but I not particularly thrilled with.

What I've landed on is "so'liit." This comes from "solus + aliit" -> "sol'aliit" -> "so'liit", as what I needed was the root of solus, then dropping a few more bits as common in Mando'a to get a result that flows far better aloud.

"Solus" is an fascinating word as it is defined as "united, as one; individual, alone, vulnerable; each" which is certainly a dichotomy. Here this plays on how united clans are stronger together but weaker alone, and on how a House is a whole, individual unit in its own right, when clans under a singe banner cease to be functioning as fully seperate parts only working for themselves, the way individuals work for the good of the clan.

Additionally, a longer phrasing of this used situationally could be, "Aliit be solus aliit'e," "House; Clan of united clans."

Finally, as part of a full, Clan and House introduction, "sol'liit" works quite well, eg: "Ner gai Tarre, Aliit Vizsla, So'liit Vizlsa." "Ner gai Sabine, Aliit Wren, So'liit Vizsla."

I've got a shorter counterpart with "be," "of," attached as a possessive, used in an order of 'of your clan', 'belonging to your clan', as opposed to the clan belonging to you, (as well as the title, "baar'ur," "medic,"): “Ner gai Baar’ur Mij be’Gilmaar.”

I'd very much like to hear people's thoughts on my thoughts here!

If people you to use this in eg, their own fic writing, feel free. Preferably link back to this post (and save yourself reexplaining things).

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Adoption is an important part of Mandalorian culture that allows strangers became part of one's family and mandalorian community as whole with all the equality and love of people that took them in.

But adoption is also one of the worst, if not literally the worst punishment that may happen to clan, the way it happened to clan Cadera:

The Great Hunt–a test of skill, valor and daring–has been a Mandalorian tradition for generations. After the Mandalorian defeat at the Hydian Way, Mandalore organized a Great Hunt to inspire and unite his people. The winner, Artus, challenged Mandalore to a duel and shot him dead. Artus then claimed the title of Mandalore himself, reaffirming the alliance with the Sith Empire. Several Mandalorian clans, led by the renowned warrior Jicoln Cadera, disagreed. Centuries before, Mandalore the Preserver had fought shoulder-to-shoulder with Jedi and led his people to glory; Jicoln and his clans argued that they should ally with the Republic. When Artus refused, Jicoln Cadera led the clans in an uprising against him. The two men fought a bloody campaign, but Artus eventually prevailed. He broke the rebels, seizing their armor and ordering their children adopted into other clans. Jicoln Cadera escaped into exile, leaving Artus unchallenged. (source: Galactic History 93: The Mandalorian Schism)

One of said children was Torian Cadera, the son of rebelious Jicoln.

It is the Mandalorian ideal that a warrior be judged by his or her own actions, not by those of his or her ancestors–but reality rarely lives up to ideals. Torian Cadera has spent his entire short life trying to overcome the stigma of being a traitor’s son–a shame he has seldom been allowed to forget in the company of his peers. But Torian long ago learned to armor himself against contempt, and others’ doubts regarding his loyalty have only driven him to strive harder to prove his worth. Because of this, Torian adheres to the codes and traditions of the Mandalorians with more devotion than many twice his age. Upholding honor and enduring adversity are the cornerstones of his existence. (source: entry Torian Cadera (Bounty Hunter)

And isn't it fascinating how the best mandalorian aspects of their culture can be also the most devastating?

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As (an amateur) stamps collector I present the idea of in-universe postage stamps. Most likely not from the modern in-universe era, but when hyperspace travel and intergalactic shipping were less facilitated by technology and the holonet maybe? Because c’mon, who wouldn’t want to get postcards from different planets your friends and family were visiting on their galactic tour? Or a package from them working in a different solar system. And since  we know galaxy far far away has taxes and interplanetary trade, then I like to think there was time when citizens were buying postage stamps to send their packages and mails to keep in contact with their friends and family back at home, before holonet and comlink became an universal thing. 

And maybe, just maybe the postage stamps are still produced just as something fun to collect and/or tourist attraction?

So here, have some postage stamps with strills (let’s just ignore my crude edit skills lol and yes I’m still here for sphynx cats as inspiration for strills).

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Sinners 2025

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VETTE

Few people have seen as much of the galaxy as Vette and few have had as little control of their destiny. Born a slave on the occupied world of Ryloth, Vette was separated from her family at an early age and sold to a series of minor crime lords. When legendary pirate lord Nok Drayen utterly destroyed her latest owner's holdings, Vette and the other slaves were given their choice of freedom or joining up with Nok. Vette became a pirate, travelling the known worlds and learning to get in and out of places she wasn't allowed.

Years later Nok Drayen mysteriously and suddenly released all of his people from service. Vette was left on Nar Shaddaa where she joined up with other young, idealistic Twi'leks and used her criminal abilities to rob and ruin those who exploited Ryloth's cultural artifacts and people. An unquenchable spark, Vette is older than her years but far from mature, delighting in silly pranks and always ready to laugh at people who think too much of themselves.

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Anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising (1.08.1944)

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Jewl'a Nightbringer

(transcript under cut)

There are a few bounty hunters who keep the worst of the galaxy's scum up at night. Of them, Jewl'a Nightbringer is the only one it is socially acceptable to admit being terrified of. Possessing a mean streak a light-year long and a draconian sense of retribution, Jewl'a ensures that whoever she's after has plenty of time to regret catching her attention.

Jewl'a's origins in the lower levels of Coruscant were acutely violent. Born in the wake of regular food riots and looting, she was the product of poverty and desperation during the Mandalorian blockade of the Hydian trade route. By all accounts, a girl orphaned in her teens should have been easy prey for the rampant criminal element growing in the depths of the city-world, but Jewl’a proved to be a born fighter, pure and simple. Instead of being cowed by the predators, she became one herself and met the gangs and slavers head on with a ruthlessness beyond anyone’s expectations.

Jewl'a spent years stalking the shadows of Coruscant, wreaking vengeance on anyone who'd crossed her, eventually lining her pockets with enough credits to take her hunts beyond the streets of her homeworld and cement her fearsome reputation across the galaxy. Eventually it would be the Mandalorians that catalyzed Jewl'a's rise to galactic infamy. Sponsored for the Great Hunt by an Exchange crime lord who had briefly been on her target list, Jewl'a's triumph in the contest was exceptional primarily for the cruelty of her kills -- there were no live captures. At her victory ceremony, Jewl'a made no attempt to disguise the contempt she harbored for the Mandalorians, choosing to lord her victory over them, in the face of hundreds of challenges for honor duels. The story spread like ignited starship fuel and reinforced the Mandalorians' respect for the new champion and the underworld's fear of her as well.

KEY FACTS

Homeworld: Coruscant

Public Record: Wanted in seven systems Thirty two citations for excessive force License to operate in Republic space: Revoked

Current Location Unknown

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You have a valid point here and I agree we could - and should - have much more diverse, unique aliens in the biological and cultural sense (and it is equally true even in regard to humans). But I would like to point out that Star Wars has in fact many species that do not follow “typical human” gender and sexuality, or don’t even look humanoid to begin with. The problem lies more in fact those species rarely are used in mainstream media like movies, TV or animated series or games so a great chunk of casual fans won’t ever hear about nor see them because mainstream media like the “sexy alien chick" and so  the boobs are added even to species that have no need of them from a biological standpoint. For example, female Falleens are described as “visually almost identical to males” in source material, but their bodies are drawn as typical sexy human female. I also think modern Star Wars especially suffers from this problem; it feels to me Disney isn’t too keen to include gender and sexual "otherness"[1] while a great number of such species comes from older source material, some introduced even before prequels (1999).

Hutts? Each member of their species have both female and male reproductive organs and change their gender at will. They can have a child by sex or get pregnant in asexual way - they are part of Star Wars since Original Trilogy.

Or the the hedonistic and pleasure seeking Zeltrons? Introduced in the original Marvel comics run (1977 - 1986) is always up for good fun and unashamed by their sexual drive

Dani: I'm not ashamed of my feelings for you... Rik Duel: Or any other humanoid male who comes your way… Chihdo: alone or in a group, so long as he’s still breathing.

(Looks like the female Zeltrons talking with C3P0 and R2D2 were interested in sex with droids)

Male Zeltron:Heck, everyone's glad to see the General... I am! Male Zeltron#2:Maybe... but don't go trying to kiss him...

Additionally,

"Zeltron courtesans, known as cafarel, fulfill any physical desire one may have, without limits."

So if you want an alien species where people of different gender and whatever sexuality are accepted and no one is kink-shamed so yeah, Zeltron are your people.

Or the Devaronian species with characteristic gender dimorphism, where "males have completely hairless, red-tinted skin with a pair of dark horns growing from their heads while female are covered with a mat of thick fur ranging in color from white to brown, and they are hornless" among the most important differences.

And yet, the great number of female Devaronians introduced to lore lack the thick fur. Instead they have typical male traits, like red skin, two dark circles above the forehead, where the horns usually were in males or in rarer even full horns - while no one (narrative wise) undermines their womanhood.

(Though looking how hard it is to find typical female Devaronian, this may actually fall into "sexy alien chick" problem. I mean, wookiepedia doesn't even have any proper image added to the species entry).

Going with the source material and entries that have outright explained species' sexuality, gender, reproduction or differences in size (and mind you, there is a great chunk of entries that don't provide such details), here is a list of some aliens that may be an interest to those who want a wider range of biological and psychological variety:

women with no tits bc they lay eggs

Geonosis Queens

Sekct - all female, using parthenogenesis to reproduce (may also fit the category of not telling members of the same species apart?)

A bunch of species where the afab ones are larger, and species where they have "male" voices due to their size.

I have no idea about their voices as the guide did not provided that detailed information, but the Assigned Female at Birth larger than males are seen for example in Trianii species:

Krytollaks

also Raakans (entry below, in the category of different genders)

Unisex species where you just can't fucking tell like with some birds.

Well, not sure all of below fits in 100% to this, but how about:

M'shinni - all female humanoids that reproduce through a form of parthenogenesis & those who belong to the same family are almost identical

Shatras

"There are five distinct races of Shatras, though only the Shatras or those heavily educated in their physiology can distinguish the differences between them."

Dashade have different skin tones but otherwise no visual clues indicating gender:

Physical Description: The Dashade are a hairless reptillian species. Their height, beady, red-orange eyes, and prominent fangs reinforce their fearsome reputation. No visual clues indicate the gender of a Dashade. Their skin tones range from pitch black to dark gray, but green-skinned Dashade are not unheard of.

Species that don't have sex and/or gender at all.

ERGESH - asexual & no concept of gender:

Ergesh reproduce by a special ritual. Two Ergesh each produce a seed which has their respective genetic codes. Both seeds are planted together in a special swamp called the Shoolbloorp, or "Land of Beginnings". In 20 Ergeshui days, a young Ergesh grows up from the ground, self-aware and ready to join society. Being asexual beings, Ergesh have no concept of gender.

PROTEANS - genderless

While Proteans are genderless, they still pair off to reproduce. The two Proteans merge into a single entity that remains immobile for about one standard year. After that year, this ersatz boulder cracks open, revealing the original Protean pair, and a newborn, approximately 25 kilograms in mass.

Filordi - asexual, "reproduce while dying. A week after its "parent" has died, and infant Filordi crawls from the corpse".

Purlas - reproduction through fission:

Purlas reproduce through fission; they simply start retaining food energy to nourish a new Pulra growing within their bodies. They don't consciously decide when to reproduce; natural biochemical fluctuations and subtle changes in the environment dictate population levels.

Species and cultures that have more genders than you can comprehend.

Chalhuddan - 5 genders

Rakaans - unique 5 sexes, transit between them through life, depending on the need + female sex is physically the largest

Xi'Dex - to date cataloged 180 sexes + various ways of reproduction:

and

Xi'Dec in the Galaxy: Xi'Dec are rare in the galaxy, and, due to the diversity of their appearances, are even more rarely identified as such. Occasionally, small (10-20 member) family units will be encountered, but it is not clear whether these groups are touring the galaxy, or searching for new sexes to add to their family unit.

Also, a species with two opposite sexes, but having no traditional reproduction:

Bith

Codru-Ji - adults look like attractive humans with 4 arms, but are actually born as canines

or species in which males are treated as breeding stock at best

Legends Nightsisters of Dathomir saw all males as lesser and some clans attacked other to capture healthy male humans for breeding

Selonians - one fertile female, few fertile males treated at best as prize breeding stock and large number of sterile females

Intersex || hermaphroditic species (including species changing their sex/gender depending on the situation and not understanding how human genders/pronouns work)

(sorry, not sure about the proper terminology, or how outdated is the hermaphroditic term; I'm including it as was used in original text keeping in mind that most of the below entries comes from guides from 1990-2000)

Verpines

Ea

Berrite

Star Wars has also species that won't know their gender until reaching a certain age like Excargan

Garr had a secret too, at least as far as Boba was concerned. Or at least, a mystery. The mystery was whether Garr was a boy or a girl. Boba had gone so long without figuring it out that now he was almost embarrassed to ask. But he knew enough not to let embarrassment hold him back. (That was part of wisdom, too.) “Garr,” he said one day as they were strolling down a long corridor, “do you mind if I ask you a question?” “Not at all,” Garr said. “As long as you don’t mind if I don’t answer.” “Fair enough,” said Boba, recognizing what he’d said when Garr had asked about his mother. “Are you a boy or a girl?” “Like, male or female?” “Yeah, you know.” “I don’t know, actually,” said Garr. “I mean, I know what you mean, but I don’t know yet whether I am male or female. On my planet, it’s not determined until age thirteen.” “Determined?” “Somewhere around our thirteenth birthday, our bodies change, and become one or the other. Until then, it’s sort of, you know, up in the air. ” “Cool,” said Boba. “I was just wondering.”

and shape-shifting species like Clawdite (Zam Wessel) (x)(x).

And let's not forget about Legends Mandalorians, whose language and culture did not care for gender at all. Something that, sadly, Disney decided to change.

I would happily look and add for more examples, but I hit the limit of allowed pictures. The list above is why I don't think Star Wars is boring and unimaginative as a whole, because over the years authors introduced many unique (sometimes fun, sometimes horror) species with a wide range of approaching the subject of gender and sex. And there is still plenty of species that weren't provided full details on anatomy/biology/psychology beyond the basic appearance and typical (stereotype) trait. The problem lies in Star Wars mainstream media that like hot alien chicks with big boobs over literally anything else, especially when said alien is a companion of main male human hero. And let's be real here, this is not a problem unique just to this one franchise.

Could Star Wars do better? Of course! But I will argue about the lack of imagination or attempt at doing something different. Especially as many guides were written with fans of RPG in mind, to supply them with needed data for their own adventures. In the Alien Encounters (1998), authors used few first pages to encourage and help fans - players and gamemasters alike - to create their own unique aliens, including this tip:

The other features of an intelligent species are likewise open to the imagination. […] You can take this opportunity to develop some of the biological and cultural details of the species. How do the aliens reproduce, for example? Are there more (or less) than two sexes?

(Isn't it ironic that almost three decades ago star wars official authors encourage fans to go wild with their ideas and have fun while providing a vast number of different and unique aliens, when in modern times female aliens on screen so often ends as the sexy lady and their alien traits are threw away for them to look as human as possible? Like Ahsoka who get human eyes in TCW or reptile species get boobs to look more pleasing for male viewers? Ironic and pretty sad).

SIDENOTES

[1] I won’t lie, I’m not that much up-to-date with Disney New Canon, so feel free to correct me. Disney introduced (or more like, allowed to introduce?) canonical human non-heterosexual characters like Doctor Aphra, Sana Starros and Magna Tolvan and even transgender clone trooper (though the way Sister was used/introduced in book was pretty disappointing, if you ask me) but I don’t remember any of their original alien species that were presented as differing from human gender/sex. Also, Disney introduced Omega, a female clone that in The Bad Batch is said to be a genetic pure copy of Jango Fett, that does not look like him at all with blond hair and lighter skin and being of different gender. So yeah, it doesn’t feel like Disney want dig too much into nuances of gender and sexuality.

[2] The majority of information come from Alien Encounters (1998), Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races (1989 || second edition 1994), Galaxy Guide Aliens - Enemies and Allies (1995), Boba Fett: Crossfire (2002), The Essential Guide to Alien Species (2001), Star Wars Leia, Princess of Alderaan manga (2021), Galaxy at War (2009)

Star Wars really is so boring and not imaginative at all when it comes to gender and sexuality.

Walk with me for a sec: women with no tits bc they lay eggs. A bunch of species where the afab ones are larger, and species where they have "male" voices due to their size. Unisex species where you just can't fucking tell like with some birds. Species that don't have sex and/or gender at all. Species and cultures that have more genders than you can comprehend. You could transition and nobody would gaf because some species do that naturally, anyway. Homosexuality is uncontroversial since a human man sleeping with a human man is hardly weird when he could just as well be sleeping with a Wookiee instead. Or a Twi'lek. Or a Trandoshan.

The "rules" we're familiar with should become near obsolete in a multi-species universe if you think about it. There is SO MUCH and we're barely scratching the surface here!!

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Mummified bodies and their tattoos from the Pazyryk-5 (first photo), Pazyryk-2 (second photo, a), Ak-Alakha (second photo, b) i Vierh-Kaldhin (second photo, c) barrows - Scythian culture

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