Opting in to all of the above! These sound so fun and I would love to torment Altair with them!
Confidants - Altair doesn't talk about his magic or being a shadow mage who can hear soul songs very much but he has always wanted to talk to someone about it and he has been desperately missing the connection he had with his fellow mages, so he's the perfect victim for this! I'll take note of this going forward.
Echoes - lol oh boy Altair has a lot of fun possibilities for this one. First of all, his magic was created from humanity's imagination and a desire for there to be something after death. Magic on his world is imagination given a physical form so I suspect his echoes might be a bit like a child's because of this. Maybe Katie can see a physical echo of his magic around him? His magic is also connected to death, specifically the fear of being forgotten, however you want to play with that.
As for the obsession and trauma part, he has a lot. The easiest, non triggery obsession would be Altair's connection to souls and ability to hear soul songs. Maybe she can hear a faint hint of the endless symphony in his mind? As the witness to the souls of the dead he can't forget any soul song he hears. They're always at the back of his mind. Regardless of how different the songs are though, the endless symphony of soul songs sounds magically harmonious instead of a chaotic mess like you would expect.
As for the darker aspects;
Connected to his connection to souls, Altair's soul visit's the sea of souls, where souls go after death, whenever he falls asleep at night. It's a dark ocean with an endless of symphony of soul songs and star like lights that represent each soul. It's not a place for the living so Altair is forced to drown and go into a deathless state before he can interact safely interact with the souls underwater. He's terrified of the water because of this and I really like the idea of trickles of water at his feet, if you wanted to hint at the sea of souls specifically, maybe the water could be a bit darker and have tiny flickers of light inside it?
Altair was drugged by his best friend and sold to nobles who wanted him dead. Instead of killing him right away the noble's son who Altair had picked fights with before decided to torture him first as revenge. He put Altair on a wheel of death and threw knives at and into him. It ended up saving his life since his fellow mages had time to find him but he lost the vision in his right eye. His magic makes his eye look normal though and Altair keeps his weakness a secret. This incident shattered Altair's trust in people and his blind right eye is a constant reminder that he can't let anyone get close like that again. He also sometimes has a phantom pain in his eye whenever his fear of betrayal gets bad.
Altair's world was destroyed and his magic is partly to blame so Altair carries the guilt of an entire world on his shoulders. This could be represented by whispers of his native language maybe? The deaths of his mother and sister weigh on him the most. Altair always wears a single crystal earring his sister gave him. It could be fun for the earring to glow and Katie be able to hint at another soul whenever he thinks of his sister.
Lastly Altair was forced to become a serial killer to protect his friends by Eclipse, the magical doppelganger of his friend Sirius.
He's been through a lot orz. Feel free to pick and choose which aspects will be fun for you rather than try to include everything, unless you want to. I'm open to anything. This sounds like such a fun ability and I'm happy to go with whatever flow works best for you.
(cw: multiple deaths, drowning, drugging, torture, past eye trauma, survivor's guilt, murder)
Confidants - Altair doesn't talk about his magic or being a shadow mage who can hear soul songs very much but he has always wanted to talk to someone about it and he has been desperately missing the connection he had with his fellow mages, so he's the perfect victim for this! I'll take note of this going forward.
Echoes - lol oh boy Altair has a lot of fun possibilities for this one. First of all, his magic was created from humanity's imagination and a desire for there to be something after death. Magic on his world is imagination given a physical form so I suspect his echoes might be a bit like a child's because of this. Maybe Katie can see a physical echo of his magic around him? His magic is also connected to death, specifically the fear of being forgotten, however you want to play with that.
As for the obsession and trauma part, he has a lot. The easiest, non triggery obsession would be Altair's connection to souls and ability to hear soul songs. Maybe she can hear a faint hint of the endless symphony in his mind? As the witness to the souls of the dead he can't forget any soul song he hears. They're always at the back of his mind. Regardless of how different the songs are though, the endless symphony of soul songs sounds magically harmonious instead of a chaotic mess like you would expect.
As for the darker aspects;
Connected to his connection to souls, Altair's soul visit's the sea of souls, where souls go after death, whenever he falls asleep at night. It's a dark ocean with an endless of symphony of soul songs and star like lights that represent each soul. It's not a place for the living so Altair is forced to drown and go into a deathless state before he can interact safely interact with the souls underwater. He's terrified of the water because of this and I really like the idea of trickles of water at his feet, if you wanted to hint at the sea of souls specifically, maybe the water could be a bit darker and have tiny flickers of light inside it?
Altair was drugged by his best friend and sold to nobles who wanted him dead. Instead of killing him right away the noble's son who Altair had picked fights with before decided to torture him first as revenge. He put Altair on a wheel of death and threw knives at and into him. It ended up saving his life since his fellow mages had time to find him but he lost the vision in his right eye. His magic makes his eye look normal though and Altair keeps his weakness a secret. This incident shattered Altair's trust in people and his blind right eye is a constant reminder that he can't let anyone get close like that again. He also sometimes has a phantom pain in his eye whenever his fear of betrayal gets bad.
Altair's world was destroyed and his magic is partly to blame so Altair carries the guilt of an entire world on his shoulders. This could be represented by whispers of his native language maybe? The deaths of his mother and sister weigh on him the most. Altair always wears a single crystal earring his sister gave him. It could be fun for the earring to glow and Katie be able to hint at another soul whenever he thinks of his sister.
Lastly Altair was forced to become a serial killer to protect his friends by Eclipse, the magical doppelganger of his friend Sirius.
He's been through a lot orz. Feel free to pick and choose which aspects will be fun for you rather than try to include everything, unless you want to. I'm open to anything. This sounds like such a fun ability and I'm happy to go with whatever flow works best for you.