Echo lore
To understand Echo’s origins, it’s important to delve into her progenitor.
Dr. Mina Liao pioneered the first use of adaptable AI under the Omnica Corporation before the first Omnic Crisis. She was a revolutionary in her field, and while stationed at the Alice Springs Omnium in Australia, began improving Omnica Corp’s omnics. She helped them springboard from simple automatons following predetermined programs to fluid, thinking machines. Omnica experienced a new era of success under her guidance, and Dr. Liao became the foremost expert in artificial intelligence as well as its largest advocate.
There were criticisms, particularly from the Ironclad Guild of engineers in Sweden and a vocal young man named Torbjorn Lindholm. He claimed there was no way to see the future consequences of her work, and putting Omniums in charge of supply lines, manufacture, and farming would only end in tears.
Liao, given full reign to study robotic sentience by Omnica, became obsessed with the idea that actual life could be produced inside machines. Ever since Isaac Asimov, humans have theorized that machines have lives of their own, and Liao wanted to push the boundaries. As her AI expanded and Omnica began to fall under scrutiny for the construction of Omniums and their use of AI within them, her obsession reached its zenith.
Aurora was born. At first, Laio didn’t conceive of what she’d created, but it soon became apparent that she had succeeded in her life’s work. Aurora was sentient, as living as any human but in the body of a machine. However, Omnica could neither replicate nor monetize an actual living creature, and Liao fought for her legal personhood to be recognized. It was eventually granted, and Aurora was given equal rights to any human. This proved to be Omnica’s undoing, along with the legal ramifications of their Omniums, and the company collapsed. The Omniums were dismantled, but due to the adaptable AI Laio had invented, sprang back to life and fought against their creators.
Aurora went on pilgrimages to find herself, and discovered a state of being known as Shambali…the omnic equivalent to human Nirvana. She disseminated herself, destroying her body and soul in a mist of golden light so that omnics around the globe would gain her same personhood. This became known as the Awakening.
Laio, meanwhile, was in disgrace. The First Omnic Crisis had not only begun but was exacerbated by Aurora’s sacrifice, throwing everything from package drones to military omnics into a world where they were suddenly aware of their own slavery. Laio was castigated on the world stage and blamed for the Crisis, and joined Overwatch after Jack Morrison extended a hand to her. Who better to fight omnics than their mother?
The doctor proved herself by pioneering the Athena program within Overwatch, carefully tooling it to allow adaptability without full on sentience. Athena could aid Overwatch, but had failsafes in her programming.
The first Omnic Crisis ended with a victory for humanity, with a terrible cost. Dr. Liao was determined to improve upon her failures. She threw herself back into robotics, determined to recreate Aurora. Things were deteriorating between men and omnics in the blowback of the Crisis, and Liao was also a huge advocate for Omnic Rights.
This led to Echo.
Dr. Liao pitched the idea to Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes. A robot who could adapt her body and programming, filling any niche that Overwatch needed. She gave Morrison her word that it wouldn’t get out of hand, and Morrison grudgingly allowed Liao to construct Echo.
A beautiful creature made of titanium alloys, ceramic plating and hard light, Echo was a triumph of art as well as robotics. Dr. Siebren de Kuiper’s propulsion technology gave her flight, Vishkar’s adaptable hard light gave her a pleasingly human face, and Liao breathed adaptable AI into her new creation. Echo could pilot a ship, give medical care, and integrate seamlessly with Athena to help manage Overwatch’s day to day needs.
Due to legal restrictions, Echo was severely limited in what she could do. She was granted the same adaptable AI that had led to Aurora and the Crisis, but with a myriad of firewalls, failsafes, encryptions, etc that prevented even Echo herself from breaking it. Echo was slowly brought to life, and Liao was assigned Cole Cassidy as a bodyguard so that Blackwatch could keep an eye on the development.
Cole became friends with Liao, and participated in trials that helped Echo develop. He formed a close bond with the omnic, noting how she copied Liao’s speech patterns, body language, and habits. Echo was a special creature, toeing the line between true sentience and complex AI, and Cassidy was taken with her as a friend. The two shared a playful relationship, and Liao encouraged their interaction as a way to help Echo integrate within Overwatch.
When Dr. Liao was killed in an attack on an Overwatch facility, Echo’s future was put into jeopardy. Morrison and the rest of Overwatch command feared what could happen now that Liao wasn’t monitoring Echo, and shut the project down. Echo was put into a quarantine chamber, asleep, until something could be done with her.
Overwatch collapsed, and when its assets were sold off Echo was put into storage by the US Government.
Fortunately, during transfer to her storage facility, the train she was being transported on was assaulted by the Deadlock Gang, operating on a tip from an old friend. Former Overwatch Agent Cole Cassidy had a critical piece of Echo he had kept…her access chip. All he needed was a convenient pack of criminals to blow the train, and he incapacitated Deadlock and it’s leader Ashe and reactivated Echo.
Echo was completely unaware that time had passed. She rejoiced in seeing Cassidy again, and her old friend greeted her warmly…but he was much older. One of his arms had been replaced by a prosthetic. Her Overwatch home was dead and gone, and everything she knew was scattered to the winds. Yet, her chains were also gone. She could learn, and perhaps she could one day surmount the limits to her programming that Liao had set in place.
Cassidy told her that Winston was attempting to pull Overwatch back together, and that while he had business in the south, he still needed her. Overwatch needed her. Her family may have been shattered, but the pieces were coming back together.
Echo flew into Paris just in the nick of time. Null Sector was mounting an attack, and Winston was leading the charge along with Mercy, Genji, Tracer, Mei, Reinhardt and Brigitte. Echo fought valiantly alongside Overwatch, and took her place amongst them as an official member rather than a piece of equipment. Echo was also present in the attack on Rio, piloting the Orca.
A lot of Echo’s history with Overwatch is seen in her interactions. Torbjorn is mentioned as having access to her blueprints, as highlighted when Brigitte asks what she’s made out of. Echo also expresses an interest in food, with her voiceline “I wish I could eat”, asking about Mei about chicken rice, D.Va about kimchi, and Winston about his favorite peanut butter treat. She is an active observer of all the agents, and enjoys replicating human jokes, often imitating Tracer’s British slang and poking fun at Torbjorn’s temper. She even hints at having a romantic interest in Cassidy, as she expresses interest in borrowing his cowboy hat. It’s a well-known cultural facet that wearing a man’s cowboy hat often implies you’ve ridden the cowboy. However, whether this is genuine romantic interest or naïveté we don’t really know. After spending so much time with Cassidy, however, surely she’d know about such a cultural faux pas?
(Taken from facebook group "Deadlock gang: women of Overwatch from a member there)
