Scherzando

"…the burnt away emotions, feelings, memories gather into clumps and form these creatures, these Scherzando, echoes of melodies once played…"

What are they?
Scherzando are shadow-like beasts with bodies made up entirely of hard rhythm, they lack any kind of observable conscious or soul. They take the form of mundane animals and have element/attributes just like resonators and can use spells that resonators of their element/attribute could use.

They are believed to run on pure feral instinct and hunt to eat rhythm. What is known as fact is they target rhythm rich species to feast on them for their rhythm. They can be "killed" by taking enough damage from rhythm-based spell-craft, though they do not leave a body when defeated and simply disintegrate back into the rhythm that formed them.

Another fact is while it's been proven they are not conscious beings and don't have any sort of life functions, they aren't to be treated as dumb beasts. Many scherzando can be easily dispatched, but in large numbers they can work together and execute tactics that would make one think they have foresight and planning abilities. Most maestro and resonator fatalities are the result of such scherzando tactics.

One peculiarity of scherzando is they do not make noise. No vocalizations, cries, or otherwise have been observed from a scherzando. Though even stranger, they are regularly observed making the motions of roars and other such animalistic sounds.

How are they formed?
The process of how scherzando form isn't exactly known. There have been no documented reports of a scherzando forming or being born.  Some theories posit they come into being when rubato crystals are disturbed from their resting places in the crust of Riterra, where other theories state that spent rhythm particles in the air coagulate and become scherzando. The latter theory has gained quite the significant following in recent years as there has been a trend line showing an increase in scherzando attacks and an increase in ambient rhythm levels in the atmosphere thanks to the over-usage of rhythm-based energy production.

The recent Feroce Phenomenon has sparked discussions about the possibility of scherzando coming from deceased resonators, but no solid evidence can be found linking the wild-type scherzando to the Feroce formed ones.

Role in nature
Since the extinction of mundane animals on Riterra, scherzando have replaced the roles mundane animals once filled in the biosphere. Using remote capture technology, scientists have observed scherzando behaving like the mundane animals that once roamed the planet; herbivores eating plants and dispersing their seeds as a result, and even carnivore-shaped scherzando predating herbivorous scherzando. The only time they break this behavioral pattern is when they sense melopomorphic rhythm. In which case they drop the animal act and begin to hunt and use magic against their prey.

How they shaped society
Scherzando attacks on melopomorphic settlements have been commonplace since their first appearance in the early first century Before Resonation. Given the threat scherzando pose to life in general there is always the need for a fighting force ready to take on any stray scherzando that end up too close to towns and villages.

In modern times this has enabled a class of maestros who make a comfortable living moving from town to town participating in raids on scherzando nests. These particular maestros are known as hunters and serve as a protective background to civilized society, protecting their fellow man from these deadly husks of rhythm.

Large Scherzando
Despite lacking a conscious or higher-level functions there are some Scherzando that succeed and continue growing. With time these beasts evolve a sort of animalistic intelligence, eventually hiding themselves away from the hunters that prowl their world. As they grow, they can begin mutating Ossia spells of their element. Notably, this is the only way for Resonators to obtain these spells.

Famiglio Incendio
An advanced spell in the Fire element, this unique spell creates a small rhythm-based familiar of the resonator's species (ex. A fox-resonator would create a mundane fox-shaped familiar.) The summoned beast despite looking like an animal shaped ball of fire is actually solid and can be touched and held without fear of being burnt or otherwise harmed. It also puts out a glow brighter than the basic fire-light utility spell, Fuoco Fatuo, making them a popular choice for scherzando hunts which typically take place at night. It can be said that the "fur" or "feathers" of the summoned familiar vary in quality based on the resonator that summons it - well cared for resonators will in turn summon higher quality summons, with the top tier of summons being indescribably soft.

Biologically, the familiar summoned by this spell is indistinguishable from a scherzando. Particularly sensitive rhythm users may mistake the familiar for a scherzando, though the summon is so weak that most will fail to sense the spell outside of methods which enhance their rhythmical sensitivity (ex. the spell Rilevare l'intenzione would detect a Famiglio Incendio as a "friendly" scherzando).

Where Famiglio Incendio differs from its scherzando cousins is that the summoned familiar doesn't experience hunger, being linked to its caster. Both the resonator and the maestro who cast the spell can command the familiar and no one else. However, the resonator is the one who maintains the link to the familiar, providing a negligible cost of rhythm to maintain the summon. That being said, if one resonator tries to summon large numbers of these, it will very quickly tax their own rhythm.

Like scherzando, Famiglio Incendio will disappear should it take enough damage from rhythm-based spell-craft, but in addition, should their summoner take significant enough damage, this will also disrupt the flow of rhythm to them and begin the dissolution process.

There are many arguments in academia about the actual "will" of this "living spell". One side insists that as rhythm-based life, this spell has a distinction of life similar to that of scherzando, only performing actions based on the perception of the summoning resonator's own subconscious. Any "learning" or even "affection" displayed are purely in the resonator's mind and nothing more than self-gratification on the resonator's part. The other less-cynical side takes the opinion that while yes, the summon is made of a combination of the maestro and resonator's rhythm, that a small portion of the summon is stored within the resonator with the "thoughts" and "memories" being injected into each instance of the spell.

No matter what the truth is, the spell is incredibly popular and its pretty common to find fire resonators with their own familiars out, especially in Nabhon where fire magic is highly practiced.