: What hard facts do we have about the Mahir outside of
: that found in the Encyclopedia? And what (semi-good or
: better) theories have been hammered out about them
: here?
There's a bit about Mahir on the Unimplemented Features page in Relics, mostly just that they were intended to have a corporeal form as well as their shadow form, which they could be forced into by one of the Gleaming Wands of Malagigi. Malagigi was an Avatara.
GURPS Myth says that they are tortured souls who died a horrible death and are bound to something, usually a place, associated with that death. Some people here have theorized that they may be the ghosts of Soulblighter's human sacrifices, or perhaps survivors from some previous horrendous battle at Tharsis (which is the only place we ever seen them in-game, besides the hidden ones on Gonen's Bridge, and that's close to Tharsis anyway). Or maybe both - some folks think Soulblighter dips people halfway into the lava there to make Soulless, and their pain-wracked ghosts become Mahir. But that's a whole lot of conjecture there.
