Mandalorian Crusaders

For the Mandalorian Crusaders, fighting is a means unto itself. There is no greater or more worthy cause than violence for its own sake, and the great, unending war is the most glorious thing that any Mandalorian can partake in. For the Crusaders, conquest is constant and war is eternal; regardless of how it is fought.

Rules of war, treaties and agreements mean little to the Mandalorian Crusaders. Ceasefires are viewed as foolish, and only used as a temporary measure to resupply. For a Crusader, to kill is honourable, to harm is honourable. How it is done matters little, as long as the act of violence itself occurs. A Crusader is destined to die in war, his life simply another weapon he can throw at his enemy before he falls.

In the wider galaxy, Crusaders are feared, and sometimes mistaken as the Mandalorian ‘army’. Their only interaction with Non-Mandalorians is to invade worlds, kill as many as they can find, and conscript any captives who agree to convert in order to save themselves from execution. For this reason, the quality of a Crusader in battle can vary wildly, from conscripted farmers yet to taste real battle, to hardened veterans of many campaigns. This does also make them by far the most numerous, and perhaps the most powerful.

The Crusaders only have three formal ranks - Crusaders, in their blue armour, Rally Masters in Red, and Field Marshals in Gold. Marshals are the leaders and strategists, who draw up battle plans and wide-spread stratagems. In the field, there is little organisation or unit structure. The Crusaders move as a well-trained horde, and are bound to obey any Rally Master who orders them in the field. This has previously caused Rally Masters to kill each other in order to form larger units overall so they may take objectives. This is not considered unusual, though it is not common.

The Crusaders believe that a Mandalorian, either upon birth, or conversion, is already destined for Manda. Their reward there depends upon their glory in life. The battles they won, the achievements they gained, the battles they took part in. Crusaders look forward to death, and believe it is their true existence; it is this fatalistic belief that gives them the reputation of terrifying warrior zealots, even seen as extremists amongst the other Mandalorians.

Their unique beliefs, including that many Mandalorians are ‘reincarnated’ from the Manda into new beings in order that they may gain glory again and again to bring back to the oversoul, are considered vile by many in concept, but the sheer strength of numbers they have makes it difficult for the more zealous critics to do much about it.

With little formal structuring, the Crusaders defer to the Mand’alor and few else; the current in that seat, Mand’alor the Inexorable, is one of their own, and they are fanatically loyal to him more than they have been any other.