Echo-Statues

Overview

Echo-Statues are travellers who stayed too long in the Apex and were perfected: they stand where they stopped, motionless and smiling, held in a bliss that does not end. They are counted among the plane's Flawless, and they are what every visitor is warned of.

Appearance

An Echo-Statue keeps the shape of the person it was, of any people, in whatever they wore, but perfected: every scar gone, every asymmetry smoothed, the posture exact, the face lifted in a gentle, endless smile. Its surface is smooth as polished marble, in white, pale gold, or silver, with the person's colouring kept only as the faintest tint. The eyes are open and calm. Its clothes and gear are perfected too, every fold exact and still. It does not move or breathe, makes no sound, and is the same mild warmth as everything else on the plane.

Habitat and Range

They stand across the Apex, alone or in small groups, often near the Mirror Gates where travellers arrive, and along the roads travellers took.

Behaviour and Temperament

They do nothing. Whether anything of the person remains aware inside one is not known; those who believe it say the smile is real.

Life Cycle

An Echo-Statue begins as a visitor. Over time the plane removes the visitor's flaws, history, and self, until there is nothing left to change, and then the visitor stops. None is known to have been freed.

Uses and Dangers

Their gear, perfected with them, never fails, and some who come to the Apex come to take it, at the risk of joining them. Their real use is as a warning.

Lore and Belief

Travellers say the Echo-Statues are happy, and argue whether that is a mercy. Some families on Caeldon who lost someone to the Apex are said to believe that their kin stand there still, smiling, and to set a place for them on the day they left.

Where It Appears

• The Apex
• Writers' Guide: The Planes, Glossary