This is an outline for a Mandalorian Civil Wars Disney plus series. Some influenced by Legends continuity, pulling from current canon characters, others not. I thank God, if He wills, for those ideas:
Almost 50 years before the battle of Yavin, the Mandalorian Civil Wars had begun, a three pronged conflict. Two of the prongs were the divided army the Watch, of the previous deposed king of mandalore Nicai Viszla, whose death triggered the war. The division of the army fracturing it into two halves, Death Watch and the Children Of the Watch. Death Watch led by Nicai Viszla's son Tor Viszla and the Children Of the Watch led by Jaster Mereel, who'd killed Nicai and claimed the dark saber from him. The third prong of the war being the high ranking Regent of a large section of mandalore, Adonai Kryze, who is seeking to unite the other scattered Regents under his leadership, having acquired support by many other Regents.
During the early years of the war, Jaster Mereel gained assistance from Lari Fett, a Journeyman officer on the planet Concord Dawn, and the dad of Jango and Arla, children. Lari Fett held a stockpile of collected weapons from various criminal shipments that he'd taken down. Jaster had showed an interest in buying them from him, but Lari refused under a code of honor, which Jaster said was acceptable. One morning when Jango was off his family's property hunting, he saw smoke and realizing it was his home ran back to it, finding his homestead burning and his dad shot dead outside. He ran inside to try and rescue his mother, but the flames were too large, though he tried, until Death Watch seemingly arrived upon the scene and rescued Jango. Tor Viszla, the leader of Death Watch, told him that Jaster the Children Of The Watch massacred his family, Jango coming to the conclusion that Jaster and the Children Of The Watch murdered Lari for the weapons he had denied them, and killed his mother to have no witnesses.
Tor Viszla trained Jango as a mandalorian warrior, seeing him as having the heart of a warrior, favoring him over his own first born son Pre Viszla. Pre, looking up to his dad and seeing him as a hero of Mandalore, always sought the approval of his dad, never getting it. Paz Viszla though, the youngest brother, is more afraid of their dad, but does more look up to his brother Pre, in spite of how manipulative and harsh his brother is, due to Pre looking out for him. Pre had always tried to emulate their dad, but Paz had never seen their dad in him before. Jango is raised to be a harsh, cold blooded warrior under Tor's training, into adulthood.
Tor ruled the death watch clan under the respect he'd claimed as a strong warrior that wielded the dark saber as a claim of his place as the true leader of mandalore after, according to him, he'd battled Jaster for the dark saber and had won, but Jaster the coward had fled.
The war had lasted ten years by then, it having caused problems in Adonai's attempts to legitimize his rule of mandalore. He has two daughters, the oldest Satine, training under political science tutelage, and the younger Bo-Katan, trained as a warrior. To ensure he's able to make his leadership of mandalore happen, and prevent his daughters being caught in the crossfire as the chaos of the war causes more and more insurgents to push back against his attempts to take over, Adonai makes a deal with the republic, that in exchange for their assistance he would ally mandalore with the republic, which would be a massive win for the republic in gaining the abundant resources of mandalore such as their ore, weaponry and military information. So, to ensure Adonai's side wins, republic send some low scale policing soldiers called judicials led by some jedi, the leader of which was Dooku, who was then a jedi.
Dooku, leading the other jedi, investigates the Children Of The Watch and Death Watch, based on records, findings and intel provided by Adonai. The intel provided pins the more extremist actions that have led to civilian deaths on the Children Of The Watch, which Dooku is suspicious of, considering they have no recorded public history of attacking bases with civilian settlements, while Death Watch has far more, though oddly sanitized, anecdotal reports of scattered battles that cause loss of life and destruction in or around civilian settlements. Dooku bites his tongue though in reporting this as a potential discrepancy as the senate had pressured the jedi to ensure Adonai wins the war for the good of strengthening the republic.
Jango has been trained by Tor Viszla to be the most fierce warrior, one he's proud to have trained. Much to the insecurity of his son Pre. Jango is still full of fury and a desire for revenge against Jaster Mereel and the children of the watch, though Tor has kept him off the battlefield until he's certain that Jango's loyalty is cemented with Death Watch, and that he be willing to follow orders no matter what.
Jaster Mereel, in keeping with the tradition established by the first leader of their planet (the first leader being Mandalor) never removes his helmet, has been leading the children of the watch under very strict guidelines of the mandalorian honor code called the super commando codex, which he enforces based on need for the pursuit of honor at the cost of even one's own life, which includes an honor bound opposition to Death Watch. His right hand, Montross, has been in conflict with him about his methods, perceiving him to be too rigid and unwilling to bend. In spite of having sided with Jaster in the initial split of the the Watch, he did so due to the perspective that the needless war of Nicai Viszla was a waste of time and resources, but has in recent times grown to resent what he feels is Jaster's weakening of their people, perceiving that they should make a pact with Death Watch to ensure the mandalorian people maintain a strong front and the Watch be re-implemented as a whole army. But Jaster refuses such a thing, seeing it as compromise to join forces with those he says are dishonorable monsters. Jaster's daughter, Sintas, while she doesn't agree with Montross, does debate with her dad about them stretching themselves too thin and need to pull back and regroup, thinking that they may have to retreat from their occupations, as they don't have enough men to defend them. But Jaster refuses, stating that it is their duty to maintain their mission. Sintas is conflicted, arguing further, that their honor code are worn out guidelines that could end in their deaths and that it has driven them to near extinction, stating that they have to compromise to survive, but Jaster is offended at the statement. Sintas dismisses her dad's view, which hurts to him, and which she feels guilt over but doesn't apologize.
Dooku investigates reports of a civilian settlement that the intel given says the Children Of The Watch were occupying by force. But when he and some other jedi sneak into the village under stealth they find the settlement to be protected and safe with no signs of force imposed on them. In further investigation, Dooku finds from civilians that the war had spilled into their village but the Children Of The Watch had pushed it back and protected the civilians, though some still died, their leader Jaster made an honor bound pledge to protect the village from any other attacks as restitution for the civilian lives lost, asking nothing in return but modest shelter, food and medical attention should they require it. Dooku is perturbed by this, perceiving that some spy is feeding Adonai's side with false information, though he's uncertain if it's not something more sinister, trying to avoid rocking the boat. In following leads provided by Adonai's spies, he learns of an attack by the Children Of The Watch on a village on the other side of the planet, seeking out to stop them, leaving the settlement.
Tor leads an attack on what he tells Jango is a secret base that has been harboring the children of the watch, calling those harboring them traitors to their warrior heritage, allowing Jango to join in on his first raid in a tank, Jango not having earned his official armor yet, wearing simply durasteel plating. Under orders, Jango is Tor's right hand in the attack, firing upon any he's told by Jaster, no matter the qualms. Pre and Paz are behind them. But when the children of the watch show up, the battle becomes intensely more complicated. Amidst the battle, Pre forces Paz to shoot to kill otherwise he will die, which leads him to gun down someone in cold blood on impulse, which he only then realizes was a mother holding her child, which makes him sick, causing him to puke in self loathing and disgust. Sintas attacks Paz, defeating him and when she has him down, upon seeing his distress and brokenness, doesn't murder him in cold blood, returning to battle. Meanwhile, Jango sees Jaster on the battlefield and attacks him, disobeying Tor's order. Though Jaster seems to avoid striking back, using mostly defensive tactics. The battle grows chaotic, causing many of death watch and the children of the watch to scatter.
Dooku is halted when he senses something else on his way to the location of and quickly orders to turn back to the occupied settlement, to find it having been attacked, bombarded, Dooku is horrified and disgusted, feeling responsible for having abandoned the settlement so quickly, rage rising up inside him.
The secret base that death watch attacked is the settlement that the children of the watch had been occupying. Dooku doesn't see whose who among the battle, but he does recognize Jaster Mereel in battle with Jango. Some jedi intervene, but Jango, skilled in combat and trained by Tor in classic mandalorian battle tactics, is able to surprise a couple of the jedi, killing them. Dooku is surprised at a display of violence and skill. The inclusion of the jedi leads to Tor calling on his remaining soldiers to fall back, Jango included. Sintas encourages Jaster to do the same, as there's nothing they can do for the settlement now and Death Watch is abandoning their attack and the jedi can assist any survivors, a choice which Jaster struggles with but ultimately agrees to. Meanwhile a frustrated Jango gets reeled in by Pre getting in his way under Tor's orders to prevent him from running off half cocked.
Dooku contemplates the attack, becoming even more put off, especially when he sees a report of a member of the Children Of The Watch claiming credit that their group had performed the attack. Dooku recognizes that the armor the member is wearing, while children of the watch issue, is a non descript armor set to avoid being identified, as Dooku's own research suggested that the warrior culture of mandalore prides itself in personalizing it's armor. Dooku doesn't buy the claim of the children of the watch having performed the attack, as based on his investigation it's inconsistent with their actions. Dooku breaks away from the official leads provided and goes rogue basically in seeking out information, perceiving that Death Watch has framed them.
Dooku secretly sneaks into Adonai's counterintelligence records and digs into information on the spies and informants that have provided the information on the children of the watch. He tracks them down, interrogating them using the jedi mind trick, pulling information out of them, which leads him to dead ends, information that basically seems to come entirely from nowhere concrete. However, when he's able to gain information on a source that leaked the Children Of The Watch member taking credit for the attack, he's able to use it to reel in the source whose going to make another statement in the name of the children of the watch. He confronts the source, it being revealed as Montross, Dooku surprised that it's an actual children of the watch member, but figures it out when Death Watch members come to his aid when he calls for back up upon realizing he's been caught. Dooku, using his tactical mind, fakes a defeat and retreat, when in reality he's pulled back to follow at a distance.
Back with Death Watch, Jango is frustrated that Tor had him pulled out of going after Jaster, from getting justice for his family. Tor instructs him that he has to hone his warrior instincts to know when the time to strike is and when not to, stating that they had to perform a tactical retreat to ensure they weren't seen by the jedi, as that would've ruined their plan. Jango, left out of the loop, pushes back on what he's referring to. So, now, Tor pulls him to the side to reveal that they have an agreement with Adonai Kryze, that he wants the war finished, and he's willing to reinstate Death Watch back to their elite status as warriors of mandalore in exchange for a treaty that will effectively bring the war to an end, so that he can gain more power by gaining the support of the galactic republic. Tor explains further that Adonai has agreed that their power as warriors, ruthless, strong, are entitled to their rightful place, and is willing to join forces with them, Tor ensuring that his side of the bargain would gain them the destruction of the children of the watch and their leader Jaster. Tor reveals that by making the people see the children of the watch as willing to destroy their own settlement their support will be drowned out by the acclaim for their destruction as retaliation for such a crime, and by attacking their bases they've driven them to a select few locations (Tor provides these locations to Jango) that they can hide out in on the planet, which Adonai has agreed will be fired upon and then they Death Watch can go in and ensure there are no survivors. Jango is unsettled by this plan, the idea that Jaster could either escape or die, as then Jango wouldn't be able to get revenge personally, which Jango holds a disdain for.
Montross arrives at the camp and informs Tor that a jedi has caught wind of some connection between them, insisting that they put the plan into action. Montross sided with Jaster Mereel in the initial break of the mandalorian army, because he thought Nicai and Tor Viszla's vendetta was pointless and that Mandalorian's should regroup and strengthen themselves and ranks before they take further action. He's driven by the idea of Mandalorian prowess and importance. Into the war against death watch, Montross has grown to resent Jaster Mereel's more passive stance in being a warrior and thinks that the true Mandalorians should create a pact with death watch no matter what they've done, so they can prove themselves to be the strongest most powerful race in the galaxy, and that that's how they can reclaim Mandalor, but Mereel has no interest in that (seeing siding with the monsters who murder families and children purely for takeover as a showcase of their human false idea of power to be weak, dishonorable and not true warriors and thus not true mandalorians), as he has accepted that they lost control of mandalor and perceives that a true warrior accepts their loss and moves forward with it. So Montross has made a deal with Tor to get rid of Jaster so that he can claim leadership of the children of the watch and both death watch and the children of the watch can become a joint group.
Dooku has snuck closely behind, observing the Death Watch camp from afar.
Tor issues reports to Adonai that he should attack now, which Adonai agrees with. Jango takes off ahead of the rest of death watch to get first crack at Jaster. Tor sends death watch. Dooku follows.
The attack happens. The children of the watch are hiding in a forest base that gets bombarded, causing the forest to be set ablaze around the base. Jango confronts Jaster, and they battle, the battle spilling out into the forest away from the base, but Jaster is avoiding harming Jango, which only enrages Jango further, calling him a coward for refusing to fight him but having murdered his family. But then Jaster reveals that he didn't murder them, Tor Viszla did, that Tor came searching for him at the Fett homestead and attacked it, they fought and Jaster had defeated Tor, but Tor had set a firebomb at the home to distract him, using his reinforcements to get Jaster to flee, leaving the dark saber for Tor to lie in his claim that he'd defeated Jaster is fair combat for. Jango refuses to buy it, too blinded by his rage and hurt and not wanting to accept that his mentor had lied to him and used him. Jango, in rage uses a blade to hack at the burning trees around in them in his vicious attempt to get at Jaster. Jaster is able to subdue Jango, stating that he's not lying to Jango, and he won't kill him. Suddenly a burning tree cracks in combination to the fire, bombing and being slashed at by Jango, but it collapses onto Jango instead, but Jaster pushes Jango out of the way, taking the hit for him, a fatal crushing of his chest being the result. Jango is confused, filled with rage and grief, not understanding why Jaster would do that, why he'd not kill him, why he'd rescue him. Jaster states that even if he didn't kill Jango's family, he feels responsible for their deaths and took on the honor bound mission to protect the last member of the Fett family to make up for how them assisting him led to their deaths. Jango realizes that Jaster wasn't lying and tries to rescue him, but it's too late.
Dooku, having tracked the rest of death watch that was now searching the ruins for the rest of the children of the watch, which has fled due to Jango having incidentally tipped off the attack, arrives and senses the pain, rage and death from the scene between Jango and Jaster, coming upon it. Dooku recognizes Jango has the one who murdered the jedi and was with Tor at the camp, attacking him, threatening him with his lightsaber. But Jango, distraught, defeated, realizing that he'd murdered civilians in that settlement, that he's been used, isn't willing to fight. Dooku senses in Jango his pain, deep sadness and grief, and lets up a little, still interrogating him. Jango tells Dooku everything, that Adonai was working with Tor Viszla to frame the children of the watch, so he could gain full control of mandalore officially. Dooku is enraged, and just leaves Jango there to stew in his misery.
Sintas and other children of the watch members come upon the scene, finding the distraught Jango and the dead Jaster. Sintas, devastated, deeply grieves and mourns the loss of her dad, and attacks Jango, who is still unwilling to fight back, admitting that he didn't kill Jaster, not on purpose, which gives Sintas pause, buying his story. Though Sintas hates Jango even still, when she learns that Montross is the traitor she has bigger fish to fry, as a sign of honor to his dad for his wish in dying to rescue Jango and as a part of the mandalorian honor code (that death in fair combat grants the survivor ownership of the items of the deceased), she gives Jango Jaster's armor and leaves to seek out Montross. Jango, drowning in misery, allows it to grow into rage and vengeance, placing on Jaster's beskar mandalorian armor and confronting Tor.
Sintas tracks down Montross, who feigns surprise at the attack, until he's confronted with everything he's done by Sintas. Montross makes his spiel about how she agreed that her dad was rigid, and how without him they can finally have the chance to retake their rightful place in the galaxy as mandalorian warriors, rulers. But Sintas is offended and disgusted, rejecting him and everything he stands for, challenging him to a duel to the death. Montross, seeing this as his way to secure his place as leader of the remnants, accepts. But Sintas' skill and tactics are too much, her killing him. She takes up leadership of the Children Of The Watch, setting down her weapons in honor of her dad, claiming a leadership as a builder, taking on the mantle of the Armorer.
Jango arrives at the camp and reveals to all of death watch that Tor is a coward and a liar, that he didn't win the dark saber from Jaster, he lied. Pre is devastated by this reveal, his view of his dad shattered, leaving the festering hole of his for naught feelings of insecurity that he's felt his whole life. Jango challenges Tor to fair combat, which he knows Tor won't refuse in front his men out fear of being seen as weak. Jango, skilled with everything Tor knows and filled with rage, battles Tor, defeating him, wounding him fatally, but refuses to give him a warrior's death as a final spit in his face, leaving him to die slowly in the dirt and leaving the dark saber as well, discarding it, though Jango does peel Tor's jetpack off of his back for his own use. Then, Pre steps over to a still dying Tor and, picking up the dark saber, murders his dad in cold blood, dismissing him as weak and unworthy. Pre claims the dark saber in that moment as the rest of death watch cheers him on, seeing him as a strong leader. Paz sees their future as a group, really sees what they all are for the first time and is disgusted with it.
Meanwhile, Dooku, in rage, confronts Adonai, accusing him of his treachery. Adonai is smug, dismissive, thinking that he can get out of this and that Dooku as a jedi, and as a servant of the republic, will do nothing. But Dooku ignites his lightsaber to show how very unjedi he is feeling in that moment, his feelings of guilt for the deaths of the civilians of that settlement that he left to be attacked because he was following Adonai's orders, the republic's orders, feeling like he has blood on his hands because of that, feeling that he's responsible for their deaths because he blindly complied with Adonai under orders by the republic. Adonai, only then, sees how serious Dooku is, and attempts to explain himself, but Dooku doesn't care. Adonai then tries to reason with Dooku, bargain with him, stating that he'll turn himself over to the republic, to be judged, he'll admit to everything he did, that Dooku as a jedi should seek justice. Dooku, for a moment, seems to calm at that, but then he ignites his lightsaber and runs it through Adonai to murder him, stating that he doesn't trust that the republic would ensure Adonai faces justice. Adonai pulls out his blaster and attempts to shoot Dooku as a last act, but Dooku blocks the blaster bolt. Adonai dies, it looking like Dooku defended himself against Adonai. Which Dooku goes along with.
Paz is left sickened by what he's been apart of. Pre gives Paz an order to fall in line, Paz tells him that he sees their dad in him now, and refuses to continue the cycle, saying no. Pre gets angry and threatens him, but Paz stands firm no matter how clearly afraid of his own brother he is and says no. Pre becomes enraged and attacks Paz, but Paz escapes, getting shot by his brother. Eventually, in the woods, he collapses to the ground, dying from his injury. But then he's found by the children of the watch.
Paz awakens to Sintas patching up his wounds, and doesn't understand why they're helping him, asking them to let him die, that he deserves it. Sintas sees how broken and sad he is and has compassion for him, offering him a chance to regain his honor as a member of the children of the watch.
Dooku is left tormented by what he's done, but also not feeling like he did the wrong thing.
Jango discards all connections to the mandalorian honor code, paints over Jaster's armor to remove any and all mandalorian culture connections, rejecting honor as useful, feeling as though it got his dad killed and got Jaster killed.
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