Mandalorian Rank Q/A (Star Wars.com, 2005 (Archived))
Q: One thing I was wondering... how would you say "Sir"? I was thinking adika would work, but that's more of a pet name than a term of respect, right?
A: Yep. If you call your boss adika, you better know him really well...
Mandos have a problem with rank. They have a long list of rank-equivalent words, because they needed them to work in various armies, but a has a Mandalore and... well, that's it. They don't use "sir" easily.
They reckon they're as good as the next man; they're informal and they don't like long chains of command. There is a phrase for sir, but it's the more like the "sir" you use if you're working in a shop or waiting on tables. It's almost cheeky, too.
So a Mando would be inclined to use a descriptive instead - exactly like "Sarge" or "Boss" or “Commander". You see that in the way Darman talks to Etain sometimes. He defines her - and himself - by role. The lads aren't really that deferential to officers.
Q: I think that, in ways, Mando rank seems more functional and less... well, "cultural." It's not there as a status quo so much as as a means of functioning. It's only there 'cause it strengthens them.
A: Exactly. They're not status-conscious in the sense of caring about how many stripes or pips someone has. They just want to get the job done. Ironically, they're more co-operative than the average, because they see the objective and then work out what they have to do to achieve it.
Some people enjoy a process for its own sake (classic bureaucracy) and some see process as the means to an end. Mandos are generally the latter type. And because they are self-selecting and not an ethnic group, they attract and retain people with that mindset, and reinforce it.
From an organisational point of view, they would have to have some sort of command hierarchy - the equivalent of platoon sergeants, commanders and so on. That doesn't mean they have those ranks formalised; it looks much more to me like they'd say, "Oh yeah, Atin's good at the stratgeic stuff - so he's leading us, then."
They need to be able to communicate and deploy. It's not that they don't have any chain of command, just that it's not formal and central to their existence, as it is in most armies. You don't hear Mandos talking about their promotion prospects.
And you don't hear much about Mando secretaries of state, cabinets, treasury ministers, bureaucracies...they just don't take well to big organisational structures. They're nomads.
They're used to fighting in any number of armies. They just slot in where needed without much effort.
Their army - for want of a better word - is what we call in business a "flat pyramid" - a very simple chain of command with a lot of people at the ground level and few on top.
They're so organised and disciplined as individuals that their main need is for communications and definitions of objectives, not control by officers. Their mode of combat is based on small groups (which are the most cohesive) that assemble into larger ones when needed. It's all about function, not status.
This explains why Jango can lay his hands on experienced sergeants for the Cuy'val Dar.
(Sergeants run armies. Many officers spend their whole career thinking that they're in command, and nobody has the heart to tell them otherwise. * ) A sergeant is one of those automatic human pecking orders that emerge - the dominant person in a small group.
The only status thing is Mandalore - and even then the Mandalore is accountable.
Q: Montross, wore silver armor with a blue outline- the same Jango wore later
A: I've never seen armour colour linked to rank. I do explore how Mandos choose armour colour in TZ and elsewhere, but it's more complex than that. Look at the RCs.
Most of them adopted the Mando tradition of individualising armour with paint. That says clearly to me that there was no true uniform and that colour did not indicate rank among Mando'ade.
Kal Skirata's armour is a certain colour for a specific reason that has nothing to do with rank, but about the mission he has set himself in life. (Colours have great significance for Mandos.)
Now, Jaster might well have tried to introduce more formality. It didn't get him very far, great guy though he was. Mandos are very much individual hunters bound by a common culture and who group up for the communal good when needed, but they like to maintain their individual and clan identities.
Anyone who tries to organise them formally might as well try herding cats. It'd be easier.
It's what's kept them alive. Fast, fluid, unpredictable, and unpindownable.
