Zhell – Taung War A war took place on Notron , the homeworld of both the Taung and the Zhell species . It was famously recorded in the ancient epic poem " Dha Werda Verda " . Prelude . Thousands of years before the rise of the Galactic Republic , the planet Notron was inhabited by two species : the Taung s and the Zhell , the ancestors of the modern Humans . The Zhell organized themselves into the thirteen Battalions of Zhell , also known as the Nations of Zhell , and eventually came into conflict with their Taung neighbors . The war . According to the account of " Dha Werda Verda " , the two armies skirmished for centuries . Eventually , the Taungs led by a General nicknamed the Doom of Ulmarah successfully took Great Zhell , the Zhell capital , but with heavy losses , the Doom among them . The Zhell besieged the city and the Taungs , now led by Rexutu the Unconquerable , resolved to make their last stand there . With the Taung defeat apparently imminent , a volcanic eruption brought devastation upon the Battalions of Zhell , which it smothered their army with thick ash and nearly destroyed their race . The enormous plume of ash and smoke was so dense and widespread across the sky that it blocked out the light from the sun , leaving the land beneath in darkness for two years . The Taung immediately took the advantage that nature had provided , and in the aftermath of the eruption , subjugated their age - old enemy . The Taung 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 Notron and drive the Taung from their shared homeworld . Aftermath . The defeated Taungs fled to Roon , where they left behind a number of artifacts that were found by future archaeologists , as well as the text of " Dha Werda Verda " written in Roonstone s . The Taungs then began a nomadic existence , roaming through the Outer Rim until they settled Mandalore , becoming the Mandalorians . Disagreement raged among academics as to the historicity of " Dha Werda Verda ' s " account . Arhul Manaxa of the University of Rudrig noted in 2 ABY that no known species , not even the Columi , possessed hyperspace travel two hundred thousand years before the Battle of Yavin , and so questioned how the Taungs could have fled Coruscant to a planet on the other side of the galaxy . He speculated that the war may have taken place later than the traditional dates suggested while the galaxy ' s eldest species were exploring the Core Worlds . Additionally , " Dha Werda Verda " , and historical re - enactments , depicted the Taungs and Zhell as using swords , spears and axe s , of the sorts found in Taung burial sites on Roon . However , military historian Hu Jibwe of Salmagodro Grand Academy noted that these finds from Roon were ceremonial weapons , and pointed out that no hyperdrive - capable society still used such melee weapons , even suggesting that the poem may have been the corruption of a battle fought by much more advanced parties equipped with aircraft and nuclear weapons .