Echo

Echo is a mythical Seroran familiar which, in its natural state, is a malleable ball of seemingly translucent air. They have the ability to mimic voices, and can over time learn to communicate fluently. They are naturally sentient, and bond only with those loyal to Sedo.

## Abilities

An Echo is a malleable ball of seemingly translucent air that is able to reiterate sounds that it has recently heard and change its color to indicate mood. In the “wild”, they are similar to a very clear cloud, and while they can occasionally make shapes resembling items (ie, maple leaves or windboards) or other creatures (ie, a goat, a bird) this shape-changing seems largely arbitrary and does not seem to be under the Echo's direct control most of the time. They do have control over the color they can transmit throughout their shape as well as the sounds they choose to repeat.
A bonded Echo may remain in this state, or it may choose to adopt a more permanent, animal-like shape. It seems to choose this shape based on what it thinks its new friend might prefer.

An Echo is sentient and when bonded as a familiar can learn to communicate passably. This is a learned skill over many years. Young Echoes often learn a phrase before learning the meaning behind the words and it takes time and a patient teacher to guide them. (Some Serorans with mischievous young children have found that kids that have learned swear words and young Echoes can be a nightmare combination).  Older but not yet proficient Echoes will communicate clumsily, mixing up common grammar rules or borrowing too much or too little speech from recently heard words to get their meaning across. Very old Echoes can be decently clear with their meaning if they have a compliant crowd willing to feed them the words to use.

As an Echo is simply replaying the words or phrases that they have recently heard, tone is a challenging thing for them to relate. For instance, if they need to use the word "Please" to ask for something nicely, but the person that they are borrowing it from shouted in exasperation, their repeat will also come out loudly in that voice in exasperation. They have learned to mitigate this with the colors they play across their bodies. Each Echo will have its own "color language" and often the youngest will try to communicate solely with the shifting hues. When learning to speak, Echoes particularly enjoy crowds or busy areas so that they have a lot of words to potentially borrow.

## History

Echoes are both a new and very old familiar in Serora. While they were present in ancient times before the Gods' War, no modern Seroran equine had encountered an Echo before a group primarily comprised of children and young adults found a very old but still curious one in Alya's Oasis. With this successful reintroduction, Echoes have seemingly determined it is safe to venture among equine society once more.

Determined scholars of history may find a few theories as to why the Echoes became extinct as far as the world knew. The most prevalent theory is that they were often used as spies during the Gods' War, due to their transparent forms, ability to float and repeat sounds back to give the pegasi information. The proponents of this theory note that the Echoes can be hurt and even destroyed by flame or by lightning and purport that the Echoes were hunted thoroughly and determinedly by the kirins to stamp out that advantage.

Whatever happened back in ancient history, it is true that the Echoes are largely cautious of equine horses in general. They will only bond to Serorans and others that have consistently demonstrated loyalty to Sedo or Alya. A kirin especially will find it hard to get an Echo to trust them. In addition, the older ones, perhaps unwilling to set aside whatever hurts have happened in the past, are unwilling to bond at all, leaving only the newer and more inexperienced Echoes to make their way out into the world at equines' sides.

## Creation Rules

### The Echo will always:

* Be a vaguely visible patch of air when not displaying colors
* Have their own "color language" or even a set of favorite colors
* Be approximately three foot by three foot in malleable area
* Bond with only Serorans or those loyal to Sedo or Alya

### Echoes can:

* Repeat others' voices in the same tone and manner of delivery in piecemeal renditions
* Shift colors to indicate their one particular tone for their delivery
* Choose an animal form their partner might enjoy; this can be any animal (including mythical) up to the size of a large dog. Includes "miniatures" of larger animals.

### Echoes can '''not:'''

* Have their own voice
* Be uplifted, as they are already sentient