Editing Setting:Tabula Gloria (section)

==Vashial==
*'''Bane'''
*'''Dolgem'''
====Dreadnought====

The Vashial were a talented people in the ways of magic, but their hubris and reckless spellcasting led to the destruction of their civilization. While other peoples came and went, the Vashial cities were left buried under the sands of the wasteland created by the cataclysm of their own making. 

However, they were not gone. When archaeologists of the Imperial University came to investigate the strange spires jutting from the wastes, they accidentally released the war machines the ancient Vashial used to conquer great swathes of land. These primeval constructs, known now as Vashial Dreadnaughts, are nearly unstoppable engines of destruction, still following directives given by long-dead masters.

====Flesh Mage====

While most of the Shialar have either renounced the ways off their ancestors or simply are too far along to remember such ways, some of the Vashial's ways have managed to continue among some of the more unscrupulous clans, even today. Flesh Magic is among one of the more horrific of their traditions still in practice. What began as the manipulation of life forces for healing purposes became an obsession with some pursuing transformation, extended longevity, among other, more sinister ends.

The basic principle of life-force manipulation remains the same, but in Flesh Magic, said life-force is used to graft foreign body parts unto the magic's target. What many would consider merely an organ transplant can quickly turn into a tale of horror once the flesh mage turns the magical scalpel upon himself. More often than not, those who try this sort of magic upon themselves usually die in varying degrees of painful and horrible ways, but for those who are successful in their craft resemble eldritch evils with a hodgepodge of body parts stitched and grafted unto themselves, making an entirely new creature. Despite the patchwork of organs and the way they look unusable, they all end up serving a purpose, making the mage stronger, faster, more sensitive, more efficient, and so on. Maybe some even have other functions borrowed from other creatures to make them even deadlier than before. Contact with a flesh mage is strictly forbidden under University protocol, the sight of which is to be reported to the College of Battlemages immediately for extermination.

Some odd and humorous examples of botched flesh magic exist though, mainly as children stories. One is of a man who wished to know himself inside and out intimately, who ended up with his head lodged up his bottom. Another is of a man who wished to become a pig, but ended up performing the magic wrong and ended up with a pig's head on his groin.

====Harrukh====

The Shialar, descendants of long-fallen Vashial, have dwelled at the blighted borders of the Wastes for centuries. While mutated monsters and threats from outside nations have always been a problem for them, these resilient people have managed to tame some of the bizarre creatures that have appeared, such as the harrukh. 

Harrukhs are lumbering omnivores with an unusual symbiotic relationship with a plant known simply as a 'harrukh-tree', often seen growing from the creature's back. As the harrukh walks, it dribbles forth a stream of the plant's hard, nutty seeds, helping propagate the plant. Shialar often use the seeds for food as well as the beasts themselves for mounts and beasts of burden. When one of the creatures dies, its body is used for meat, its hide for armour and tent fabric, and the wood from the harrukh-tree for tools and tent frames. 

It would not be incorrect to call the harrukh the lifeline of the modern Shialar.

====Linen-Bound====

Called the Linen-Bound by most, superstitious people believe they are individuals who were sentenced to death by hanging for a crime they were wrongly accused. The linen wrappings that bind their head and the tattered strings criss-crossing their body in angry streaks represent the masks put over the head of those who encounter the noose.

These creatures manifest at exactly one minute to midnight on the day their previous bodies are killed, appearing suddenly in the graveyard their body is interred at. Once manifest, they wander the nearby lands aimlessly, unable to see where they are going. Their movements are sporadic and jerky, as if their muscles have trouble operating, which indeed might be the case.

The townsfolk who bear witness to these creatures have tried countless methods to dispatch them, as the Linen-Bound become a severe issue if more than one exists in the same town, or if they happen to wander too close to another person. If a Linen-Bound ever approaches closer than a meter to another living human, that person will also become Linen-Bound after their death. Strangely these unfortunate people die within hours of their meeting, from completely indeterminate means.

If two or more Linen-Bound exist in the same township, originating from the same graveyard, they will inevitably be drawn to one-another. Upon meeting their counterpart, they will begin writhing against one-another, causing the threads criss-crossing their bodies to tangle. As this happens, their very flesh also seems to meld, until they become a creature that can only be described as hideously terrifying. After the merge has completed, the creature becomes infinitely aware of all it's surroundings, as well as murderously vengeful. It seems to know where all people are, at all times, and will seek any living person nearby with the intent of strangling them to death.

The most unfortunate of these victims are forcefully integrated into the creature, adding yet another set of limbs to the beast, making it far harder to kill. The oldest of these on record is the Ten-Thousand Limbs, which roams a wasteland consisting of some twenty previous towns.

To date, none have succeeded in dissuading it from seeking out other towns. The only way it can be slowed seems to be sacrificing people to allow others to escape.

====Mauler====

The Vashial Wastelands are a dangerous place. Never mind the occasional roving Dreadnaught, the unchecked energies coursing throughout this blighted desert have led to countless aberrant creatures appearing. One of the most common is a creature known as a Mauler. Roughly human-sized, but gangly and with a gaping maw and two long claws, these misshapen creatures are pack hunters, working together in groups of up to ten individuals to take down large creatures. Since the Empire has taken an interest in Vashial ruins, Maulers have become a considerable danger to researchers in the field, though they can be fended off by well-trained soldiers.

*'''Olakhaigur (Babbler Worm)'''
*'''Order of the Grigori'''

====Pale Mother====

From the journals of Arrin Vola, Master of Antiquities
Another of the monstrosities dwelling in the Vashial wastes, Pale Mothers are all the more disturbing for their humanlike forms. The modern descendants of the Vashial people, still dwelling in the borderlands around the wastes, refer to them only in whispers. They claim Pale Mothers are cursed women who are drawn to the wastes where they are mutated by the loose energies into the horrors seen today. 

Solitary creatures, they are dangerous but rarely aggressive, instead calling with wailing cries from their distended maws that echo throughout the rocky canyons of their home. The presence of Pale Mothers have been a severe detriment to morale, especially amongst our Shialar guides, and the guides have blamed a few recent disappearances and the deaths of horses on the creatures.

*'''Progenitor, The'''
*'''Ruby-headed Foxling'''
*'''Shan Hound'''

====Solar Float====

Though the remnants of the fallen Vashial are usually of a bizarre and dangerous nature, the "solar floats" are one of the more agreeable creatures left over from their glory days. Initially developed as a means to carry Vashialian ships through the air, these creatures were one of the magical regime's only creations not entirely dependent on the flow of mana. Instead, it had to be more reliable, especially if it went into lands in which the mana was being consumed by ghost wargs. So instead, these floats were outfitted with organic solar panels which gave it the energy it needed to make longer flights than their mana-based machines.

Upon the fall of the Vashial, the floats were much like abandoned dogs in temperament, scared and increasingly feral. Though they didn't have aggressive tendencies due to the way they were created and raised, they were still capable of thrashing about when spooked, which could cause considerable damage when it ran into something hard enough to rupture. Given all the flammable gases welled up in their ballasts, the floats would explode enough to light up the area even in the darkest of nights.

Nowadays, the floats have been regarded to as guardian creatures by the descendant Shialar people, serving as navigational guides as well as mounts in those lucky enough to ensnare one without accidentally rupturing its ballasts. Though not as important as the hardy and symbiotic harrukhs, the floats have made a place for themselves in the post-Vashial world.

*'''Vashialian Elite Officer, The'''
*'''Vioshru, Elemental of Fire'''