File Recovered: 07-93x—[Resonant_Foundation_Core_001]
Status: Restricted Access. Echo Clearance Required. Loading transcript…
I. What Is a Resonant?
After the Corefall—when the planetary circuits broke and silence devoured the sky—fragments of the old world remained. They weren't weapons. Not exactly. Not machines, not spirits, not alive, but not entirely dead either.
They were called Echo Fragments.
To bond with one is to become something other. Something that remembers the shape of humanity, but hums with the voice of something deeper.
Those who fuse with Echo Fragments are called Resonants.
They aren't chosen.
They're just the ones who survive the first contact.
II. Echo Fragments – Broken Memory, Broken Power
Each Echo Fragment is a remnant—data, soulprint, weapon schematic, environmental impulse—anything the Core once held. When bonded to a human nervous system, it embeds itself like a parasite, merging instinct with information.
There are three primary types:
Core Echoes – Raw fragments from the planetary AIs that governed life pre-Corefall. Rare. Often damaged.
Combat Echoes – Left behind when powerful Strays die. Contain movement systems, combat instincts, or unique attacks.
Environmental Echoes – Absorb traits from terrain, ruins, or fallen cities. Often passive. Sometimes unpredictable.
Every Echo comes with a price. Absorbing one is like adding a new organ your body doesn't understand. The more you collect, the harder it becomes to stay yourself.
III. Echo Bonding and Drift
Upon first contact, a Resonant undergoes Initialization. This fuses the Echo into their neural lattice and implants an invisible subsystem—The Flow Anchor—that lets the human mind interpret inhuman data.
However, each bond introduces instability.
This is called Echo Drift.
It can cause:
Memory bleed (loss of personal identity)
Emotional distortion (foreign instincts overriding natural ones)
Physical mutation (limb variance, aura distortion, Stray traits)
Once Drift reaches a critical threshold, a Resonant detaches—becoming a Stray.
Some Strays still remember who they were.
That's the cruelest part.
IV. Combat System – Flow Sequences and Modular Resonance
A Resonant's strength isn't measured in levels or ranks. It's in Flow—the seamless integration of Echo skills, instincts, and weapons into one personalized combat rhythm.
This is called a Flow Sequence.
Each Resonant gradually assembles their Flow from:
Movement Echoes – Blink, phase, propulsion, wall-run, null-gravity slides
Weapon Synergy – Echo-forged weapon channels: railgun, blade, spear, gauntlets
Signature Skills – High-output Echo attacks like:
Trace Burst (projected afterimage clone)
Ash Vortex (consumes localized oxygen in a swirl of heat and smoke)
Crush Pulse (collapses Echo signatures within a radius)
The strongest Resonants don't use more Echoes.
They flow better.
V. Echo Classes – The 5 Framework Paths
As Resonants grow, they subconsciously align with one of five Echo Frameworks, shaping their growth and behavior:
Breaker – Focused on disruption, force, and shockwave-based combat
Nullwalker – Movement, phase-displacement, teleportation
Overcode – Hacking, system corruption, anti-tech warfare
Specter – Invisibility, shadow-based misdirection, ghost-step techniques
Weaver – Constructs, trap Echoes, and battlefield control
These aren't official classes.
They're patterns.
Most Resonants don't know what they are until it's too late.
VI. Echo-Null – The Forbidden Variant
Riven Kael's bond is not a standard Echo.
It is a Null-Class Core AI Fragment—designated Echo-Null—that was erased from all known records. It doesn't follow Framework logic. It doesn't follow Drift protocols. It doesn't just evolve.
It adapts.
Echo-Null grants Riven access to corrupted Echo slots, unregistered Flow algorithms, and experimental weapon fusions. But it also speaks. It dreams. It remembers things he doesn't.
No one knows what happens when Echo-Null reaches full synchronization.
Maybe nothing.
Maybe everything.
VII. Risk and Evolution
Power in the Resonant Framework is never free.
The more Echoes you bond, the less you remain.
Some hide it well. Others burn out in weeks.
Only one thing is certain:
To grow stronger is to stand closer to collapse.
To Echo is to vanish slowly into something that remembers you.
System Notice
[End of Transcript – Resonant Framework File #001]
Clearance Trace: UNKNOWN
Echo Signature: Corrupted
File Burn Scheduled In: 13 Hours