>>6077308Sure anon, thanks for asking.
>what Argia knew as a kid:Echorists are a strange bunch. They are the most powerful group of people in the Mar da Candéa, and they live in the Isle of the Echorian, which Argia could spot from her home (at about two hundred kilometers from the coast, in our-world measurements). She would know that Echorists are ‘magical’ and that they control some kind of force, but she would not know how or why, just that Echorists are powerful, influential and mercurial people, better left alone by peasants such as she is.
>what Argia knows now:Echorists employ some kind of Kiengir art. They are not aligned with any of the Powers of the world (Madua, Frigéia, the Throne), or at least that’s how it seems to be. They are not to be trusted, because they are allegedly in cahoots with the Stilladìa. Argia would feel a dull sense of shame from having once been subjected to the rule of the Echorian and the Great Families, even if she still loves her homeland.
>What Echorists actually are:A corpse should be left well alone, but sometimes Kiengiri corpses have a different idea. Their souls, mangled and charred by the Epochalypse, wander in the shadows and linger around the Mar da Candéa. Sometimes, they attach themselves to a newborn baby, who over time starts to hear voices and respond to wishes and needs which are not their own. The child may also display strange abilities and skills. It’s the sign of an Echorist in the making, someone a Kiengiri hooked their remnants into, like a larva biting into the roots of a tree. Over time, the Echorian trains these people to control the Echo that’s growing inside them and that is trying desperately to feel alive again. If things go well, the Echorist and their Echo manage to reach a balance - the Echo feeds on their host’s sensations and can feel somewhat alive again, providing them with lost Kiengir magic in exchange. But with every time the Echo reaches out to reality, the balance tips a little bit into its favour, because Kiengir souls are far stronger than human ones.
Over time, almost all Echorists fall to a form of madness that takes over their bodies and minds, turning them into mangled crazy men and women, lost to the sensations of their bodies as the parasitic soul tries to control a puppet that does not answer anymore.
But, hey, it could be worse! They could have been born an Asterite.
To clarify: this form of possession is different from the one pursued by the Seven Sisters (neither Asterites nor Echorists are affiliated with them), but it follows a similar mechanism. Kiengiri souls just down’t want to let go, and since the Epochalypse, can’t pass on.
Hope that helps, anon. Thanks for asking. If you have further questions I will do my best to answer. Also remember the linked pasta at the start of the thread contains further info on major characters and factions (and it’s not like it’s littered with tiny hints about the plot)
