@Rhaevnn Xeno: [hider=The Grand Master] [b] The Grand Master [/b]- [i]The Lord of Lies, the Infernal Emperor, the Buyer of Souls, the Foul Merchant, the Ancient One, the Lord of Skull Tower, the Guardian of Hellfire [/i]
 The only being in all of the Planes not created by the Spirits of Union (aside from the Spirits themselves), the nefarious Grand Master is a symbol of lies and deception and the well-mannered evil. Having once been the lord of all demons, the Grand Master is second in power only to Kreshtaat himself and second in evil to no one, reputedly not even Ismyel herself. His allegiance is to himself alone, to rebuild his wicked empire and steal back the domain that Kreshtaat and the Nomad took from him in the Age of Darkness. His followers wear crimson and use sunstone for their decorations. His followers are those that seek the paths of ambition and evil, yet resent Kreshtaat and his goals for some reason or another. Followers of the Grand Master also seem to more frequently sell him their souls, since they have utter faith that he will not betray them. 
 Instead of having traditional Favored Ones such as most other deities, the Grand Master prefers to lend his power to those that would serve him otherwise. He acts as an infernal merchant of power, trading things that mortals have for what they want - most commonly they pay with their souls, although he is also known to bargain for their freedom, making them his servants, their health or he might even merely demand a single favor that always turns out to his advantage. In return, the Grand Master can supposedly offer almost anything - power, the ability to ignore the passage of time (also known as pseudo-immortality), wealth, servants, and just about whatever his customers want. Despite that many are skeptical about him and his reputation as a masterful deceiver, the Grand Master is actually bound by a bond that not even he can break once a contract has been signed between him and his customer, ensuring that he always fulfills his end of the bargain as long as the customer fulfills their end. However, he is known to be cunning and treacherous in designing his contracts, sneaking in loopholes that he can use to his own advantage to cheat his customers, so one should always pay close attention to the details, lest one wants to end up with nothing and the Grand Master with everything. [/hider]

@Jack: From what I talked about with him over Skype, ASTA has opted for the effect of echoing be just physical degradation. (Which wouldn't be all that different from the effects extensive use of magic tends to have on most beings of Reniam. The explanation was a bit different - in his own canon, the body couldn't properly endure the kind of energy coursing through it, and thusly took damage... But the result is somewhat similar in both cases, so just going with the effects of magical exhaustion would be easiest.) 
As for the consuming hearts as a replacement for voice-consumption, then no, it is not supposed to regress the damage the echoing deals to the body; it merely makes the maximal power of the skill grow. I guess the other soul could be sort-of "digested" [i]before[/i] it adds to the echoer's soul? It (or echoing itself) having any kind of effect on the mind - Claw slowly going insane, becoming more good/evil, [i]et cetera [/i]- is something that ASTA definitely wants to avoid.
As another note, he has decided that del-korm as a race do not have afterlives. (I assume their souls simply disperse and become ambient background energy unless they get consumed..)
But ... I guess with this magical part (hopefully) sorted out, he could just go forth and just post the CS?

((On another note, (and leaving aside the fact that the harvester-style heart consumption more specifically also eliminates the souls of beings who would otherwise have afterlives) I'd say that eating the dead is a complete moral gray. The dead being is dead already; no one gets hurt if the remains are eaten. Our aversion of it is mainly cultural.))