A LONG TIME AGO...

"A LONG TIME AGO..." was an article authored by Eschul Shaywa and published in the periodical Imperial Center Today in 2 ABY. It focused on the paucity of available historical information on the Taungs and the Zhell, two groups whose 200,000-year-old conflict was depicted in the ancient epic poem Dha Werda Verda despite their importance in the culture of the planet Coruscant. Shaywa opened the article by briefly recapping the poem's composition and plot, followed by historian Mesh Burzon's commentary on the connection between the Dha Werda Verda and the contemporary Mandalorian warrior culture. Military history scholar Hu Jibwe also drew attention to the related Mandalorian war chant "Rage of the Shadow Warriors."
At that point, Shaywa's article refocused on the academics' struggles to ascertain the historicity of the events of the Dha Werda Verda. Both Hu and the scholar Arhul Manaxa offered comments about the disagreements on various aspects of those events, such as their exact location, date, and whether they had even happened at all. "A LONG TIME AGO..." concluded with a personal story by Shaywa in which they questioned the Imperial Center Guard trainer Swart Swifto about the deliberations of scholars regarding both the poem and the Taungs and the Zhell, to which Swifto replied that, instead of historical details, it was the metaphorical bond between all combatants that was important.
==Description==
===Introductory recap===
"A LONG TIME AGO..." was the title of an article authored by the Imperial Center Today contributor Eschul Shaywa. As encapsulated in its lead sentence, the article focused on the difficulties of ascertaining the historicity of the 200,000-year-old conflict depicted in the ancient epic poem Dha Werda Verda between the Taung species and the Zhell culture—related to that of Humans—despite the prominent role both groups had in the culture of the inhabitants of the planet Coruscant.
The article began by noting that the names of the Taungs and the Zhell were an important cultural element even in contemporary times on Coruscant. In contrast, concrete historical facts about the two groups continued to elude researchers despite their efforts to combine knowledge gained from both folklore and archaeological excavations. "A LONG TIME AGO..." then went on to briefly outline the compositional form of the Dha Werda Verda and its plot. The poem portrayed the war between the Taungs and the Zhell, including the catastrophic near-extinction of the latter faction and the subsequent Taung assumption of the name "Dha Werda Verda," which translated as "Warriors of the Shadow" or alternately as "Shadow Warriors" or "Dark Warriors."
===Mandalorian sidenotes===
"A LONG TIME AGO..." highlighted the extent to which the Dha Werda Verda and its narrative had been ingrained into Coruscanti culture, but the article also juxtaposed it with a comment by the University of Byblos historian Mesh Burzon, who characterized the city-world's veneration of the poem "odd." According to Burzon, the Coruscanti—primarily Humans by compositionThe Essential Atlas—held in high esteem a poem composed by a non-Human species in celebration of the near-eradication of humanity's ancestors.
Burzon then also noted a further fact that they considered ironical. The Taungs, after having settled the planetThe Essential Guide to Planets and Moons Roon, eventually moved on to the world Mandalore, in the process giving rise to the Taung-led Mandalorian warrior culture. During his 3996 BBYThe New Essential Chronology–3960 BBY reign, the Mandalorian leader Mandalore the Ultimate opened the Mandalorian ranks up to Humans and members of other species, and he also ultimately became the last Taung to lead the Mandalorians, which subsequently became a predominantly Human culture.
"A LONG TIME AGO..." contained more commentary, that of Salmagodro Grand Academy military history scholar Hu Jibwe, on the relation between the Mandalorians and the Dha Werda Verda and its contents. Hu noted the existence of the Mandalorian war chant "Rage of the Shadow Warriors," which was also known popularly as "Dha Werda Verda" and the lyrics of which were provided in the article. The scholar also pointed out that "Rage" was much more recent than the poem Dha Werda Verda and expressed his belief that the chant had originated during the time of Mandalore the Ultimate.
===Scholarly uncertainties===
At that point, Shaywa's article returned its focus on the scarcity of available historical information on the Taungs and the Zhell. Arhul Manaxa, scholar emeritus at the University of Rudrig, explained that the amount of time since the supposed events of the Dha Werda Verda, as well as the fact that any archaeological evidence present on Coruscant would have been buried under kilometers-deep layers of urban terrain, led to a lack of consensus among academics regarding the location of the Zhell's near-destruction, the date of that event, and even whether it had, in fact, occurred at all. Furthermore, Manaxa noted that the Taungs' supposed possession of hyperspace travel technology 200,000 years prior resulted in speculation among scholars regarding whether it had been the Taungs or the Zhell who had initiated their conflict, whether the war had in fact taken place much later, and whether indeed it had even happened in the first place.
Hu also added that the popular conception of the Taungs and the Zhell utilizing relatively primitive weaponry was likely anachronistic, instead arguing that the two cultures would instead have relied on such combat technology as aircraft and nuclear weapons. Despite that, Hu expressed to Shaywa his opinion that that fact did not take away from the literary significance of the Dha Werda Verda, highlighting the poem's evocative character names and imagery.
Shaywa concluded "A LONG TIME AGO..." by relaying a personal encounter they thought would complement the views of academics expressed earlier in the article. The Imperial Center Today contributor had recently attended a "Rage of the Shadow Warriors" performance alongside the veteran Imperial Center Guard Swart Swifto. Shaywa had inquired as to Swifto's opinion on the contemporary academic thinking on the Zhell–Taung conflict and the Dha Werda Verda, to which the veteran trainer simply responded that the historical details behind the narrative of the poem were irrelevant and that, in that context, it was instead the metaphorical bond shared by combatants of all times that was important.
==History==
"A LONG TIME AGO..." was published in 2 ABY in Imperial Center Today, a periodical that catered to readers on the planet that by that time was known as the Imperial Center, and was subsequently reprinted.
==Behind the scenes==
"A LONG TIME AGO..." was originally meant to be introduced in the 2012 reference book The Essential Guide to Warfare by Jason Fry and Paul R. Urquhart. Fry thought the section that would have served as an in-universe representation of the article was "fun" and enjoyed the connections it made between the ancient events depicted in the poem Dha Werda Verda and the later cultures of the Mandalorians and the Galactic Empire.
However, ultimately the section was deemed to be potentially redundant to other material in The Essential Guide to Warfare, and given the already excessive word count of the book's manuscript that Fry had submitted, it was decided that cutting the section before the book's release was "logical." It was later released in 2013 as part of Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare Author's Cut, a series of articles published on the StarWars.com Blog by Fry and Del Rey editor Erich Schoeneweiss containing various cut content from the book.
==Sources==
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==Notes and references==
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