: The connection is that GURPS' idea of how Mahir are
: created is influenced by Water Sleeps just like so
: much of the myth storyline is influenced by earlier
: black company novels.
Yeah, it's interesting to know; but you can't really use it as hard info on Myth units, especially when that subject is dealt with in Myth texts themselves...
: Speaking of which, I think there is another connection
: between the shadows in Water Sleeps and the Mahir. SB
: never lets Mahir stray far from him, and though he
: could have probably sent some to assassinate high
: ranking generals, mb even Alric himself, he doesnt.
: This implies that he himself fears the Mahir just as
: Longshadow fears the Shadows. Any ideas on this?
Well, according to GURPS you can't really take Mahir anywhere; they're bound to haunt the area near where they died. So you couldn't actually *send* one on an assassination mission, unless the general happened to wander near a place where a Mahir already hangs out.
Also, it doesn't seem like Soulblighter has a whole lot of control over the Mahir. He's obviously able to keep them from attacking his own living units--either by restricting their target choice, or by preventing them from manifesting when his units are nearby--but I doubt he could tell a Mahir to attack a particular enemy. Mahir are free-willed, remember, and don't follow much of an agenda other than attacking any nearby living thing and working toward whatever their particular dying obsessions were. (It'd be interesting to know what those two Mahir on Gonen's Bridge were up to, wandering around like that...are they the ghosts of people who got lost out their and died of exposure?) Soulblighter probably just looks around for local Mahir and keeps them from manifesting if his forces are near, then lets them loose and amps their power if Light forces are near.
: Also, if your souless-mahir connection theory were true,
: wouldn't there be a lot more mahir around? Perhaps
: your right and extra magics are needed to bring the
: mahir to a more physical plane however.
Maybe...or maybe only 1% or something of the souls are made into Mahir (which is still more than are made when humans die ordinarily, of course). Or maybe the theory's just wrong. :-) GURPS did say no *known* conscious effort creates a Mahir, so if Soulblighter learned how to do it as a byproduct of Soulless-creation (which is also an ability unique to him, apparently), he must have been the only guy who knew how.
--SiliconDream
