Anima

Moonbeam and friends find Shade unconscious

The Anima are one of the three major races of Grandis, alongside the Flora and the Nova.

History[]

Era of the Ancient Gods[]

During the era of the Ancient Gods, twelve of the most outstanding Anima sages were chosen by the Overseers, who had taken notice of the sages and their strong sense of duty and responsibility to help the world. These twelve Anima became known as the elders of Grandis, who were then tasked by the Overseers to conduct experiments to create beings that could defeat the Ancient Gods and quell the chaos of the world.

These elders, along with many Anima researchers, began experiments in Odium to create Adversaries by fusing them with the Godspheres. To protect Odium from those who were threatened by or coveted the power of the Adversary, the elders called in the four strongest Anima in the world - Ara the Azure Dragon, Shuli the Vermillion Bird, Baekyeon the White Tiger, and Gaon the Black Tortoise - who became known as the Four Symbols.

Over the course of many years, the elders created Adversaries through brutal experiments that stripped away their humanity, leaving them empty shells obsessed only with fulfilling their assigned destiny. This lack of humanity was known as contamination, which slowly began infecting the elders and the researchers.

Kaling, a researcher with a kind heart, underwent the painful experiments, though she was deemed a defective Vessel. However, the contamination began infecting her, leaving her obsessed with fulfilling her responsibility as an Adversary. Because of this, she created four machines that would consume monsters across Grandis in order to gather power, after which she would fuse them with a Vessel to create an extremely powerful Adversary.

However, the contamination eventually stripped her of her humanity and morality, and her monsters - the Four Perils - began terrorizing Grandis. Kaling and her monsters were later sealed away by Tai Yu, another defective Vessel, on the elders' orders. After the end of the war, the elders realized that the contamination was spreading critically into them, and so they decided to sequester themselves away from the world.

Weio, the sheep Anima elder, created the bell mysticant alongside several other elders, which they believed could undo their contamination and wash away the sins that they had committed. Weio left the bell with a sheep Anima village, entrusting them with finding someone who had a pure enough heart to make the bell ring and absolve them of their sins.

The researchers then created the Constables, robotic dolls made in the image of the researchers from before the contamination had touched them. With the Constables maintaining Odium and guarding their research, the elders, the researchers, and the Four Symbols created Shangri-La, the realm of the sages, where they imprisoned themselves in order to stop the contamination from both worsening inside them, as well as to stop it from spreading to the outside world.

Disappearance[]

During the Flora Civil War, the High Flora conducted special rituals on the other races of Grandis in order to transform them into Specters for their army. Many Anima fell victim to the ethnic cleansing campaign of the High Flora, with entire villages being eradicated during the war. By the time that Aboris fell, the Anima were believed to have all but disappeared.

Unknown to many, however, the Anima secluded themselves in the most remote parts of Grandis. Many Anima even began the practice of hiding their animal features in order to prevent themselves from being targeted, similar to members of the Black Nova cult removing their Nova features. There is at least one known instance of an Anima even living in Maple World - Rondo - though it remains unknown when or how he crossed dimensions, or whether he even is indeed an Anima.

During her travels, a wandering poet named Willow encountered a gladiator whom she believed to be an Anima hiding his features.

The Sage's Apprentice[]

During the wars of Grandis, Tai Yu - who had become a legendary sage - discovered that the white tiger Anima village had been attacked, resulting in their extinction, save for an infant child that Tai Yu rescued. He took the child back to his Hermitage in Shangri-La and named him Hoyoung. Many years later, Hoyoung accidentally freed Taotie, one of the Four Perils of Grandis, and unleashed the many fiends that Taotie had consumed over the ages. Hoyoung and Taotie then went on a mission to catch the released fiends and became unlikely friends over time. Hoyoung later joined the Maple Alliance during his quest to catch the fiends and faced Kaling, who had lost her humanity to the contamination and had become an Apostle of Darmoor.

Innocent Earthseer[]

In the secluded Anima village that had been entrusted with the bell mysticant, a young sheep Anima named Lara was able to make the bell glow in her hands. With her strong affinity for the elemental spirits, Lara went on a mission to make the bell ring and became friends with a wolf Anima named Gri on Narin. Together, they were able to face a woman named Hannah, who possessed an evil paintbrush mysticant. Lara was able to make the bell ring, which erased Hannah and the paintbrush, after which Lara went on a journey to learn more about the bell. During her travels, she faced Kaling, who was attempting to collect the mysticants. Lara also joined the Maple Alliance in order to help the people of Maple World while on her quest.

Fox Point Village[]

On Vulpes, the Pointy-Ear Fox Anima lived in seclusion, protected by Sino the Fox God. Under her protection, the fox Anima were given guardian spirits, with which they could hunt and protect themselves. The forgotten hero, Shade, awoke on Vulpes centuries after his battle against the Black Mage and was given the power of the spirits by the Fox God. Later on, an unknown Apostle of Gerand Darmoor attempted to flood the fox Anima, though their plan was foiled by the combined efforts of a traveler, a fox Anima named Maru, and the Fox God herself.

Shangri-La[]

During their journey to restore their broken Seal Stone, the Adversary obtained the World Heart in Odium and traveled to Shangri-La with Tai Yu's help, where they met the elders. Kaling, with the help of several elders who had joined Darmoor, broke into Shangri-La and unleashed the full power of her three Perils in order to take the World Heart. The Adversary defeated Kaling, who was killed when the World Heart drained her powers, after which the elders tasked the Adversary with restoring the World Heart. They also explained that the bell mysticant had failed to cleanse them when Lara had made it ring, though they nevertheless vowed to make amends for the sins that they had committed.

Society and Culture[]

Unlike the Flora and the Nova, the Anima are a disparate people with no capital or large community. The Anima are largely pacifistic and have little to no military strength. As a result, many Anima have been subjugated under the rule of the High Flora. The few Anima settlements that exist in Grandis are largely secluded and remote, though the growing High Flora presence in the galaxy means that these remote settlements are being discovered with increased frequency.

As a persecuted race, the Anima typically experience fear and discrimination, not only from the High Flora, but also from other minor races, due to being uncommon and misunderstood. For this reason, many Anima who choose not to live in an Anima community typically attempt to hide their Anima features with magic or clothing. In some cases, however, hiding one's features is impossible, such as in the case of Farasi, who cannot hide her blue skin like she hides the rest of her aquatic features.

The Anima are the most spiritually attuned of the three major races, with a strong affinity for nature and spirits. Many Anima find themselves under the protection of the spirits, such as Lara and the Pointy-Ear Foxes. During the era of the Ancient Gods, the Anima played a major role in quelling the chaos of the world, as the elders and the researchers had been hand-picked by the Overseers for their strong sense of duty and morality.

Their spirituality and affinity for natural harmony can been in the creation of Shangri-La - a convergence of the four seasons, whose natural energy can counteract the contamination that strips away one's humanity. The bell mysticant created by the elders also holds strong spiritual power, which responds to an exceptionally pure heart. This purity of heart is also what naturally attracts spirits, as seen with Lara and Gri.

Despite being pacifistic, the Anima have the advantages of their animal features giving them heightened senses and instincts, which can give them an edge in battle, as seen with the mysterious Anima gladiator, as well as with Rondo's greater hearing abilities. Additionally, Anima such as Hoyoung and Lara have considerable magical talent and have demonstrated great feats of power.

Despite the Nova being classified as a separate race from the Anima, there have been two known instances of Anima with dragon features - Ara the Azure Dragon and the unknown dragon Anima elder. Ara possesses dragon horns in the Eastern style of real-world dragons, and has no wings or a tail, which appears to be the main difference between Nova and dragon Anima.

Notable Members[]

Lara - Sheep Anima, keeper of the bell mysticant
Hoyoung - White Tiger Anima, sage of Grandis
Kaling - Fox Anima, Former Researcher of Odium, Apostle of Gerand Darmoor.^[1]
Sages of Grandis:
- Elders:
  - Zigang - Rat Anima, elder of Grandis
  - Chouxian - Ox Anima, elder of Grandis
  - Maolang - Rabbit Anima, elder of Grandis
  - Siyu - Snake Anima, elder of Grandis
  - Wushuai - Horse Anima, elder of Grandis
  - Weio - Sheep Anima, elder of Grandis
  - Shensung - Monkey Anima, elder of Grandis
  - Haia - Pig Anima, elder of Grandis
  - Unknown Tiger, Dragon, Rooster, and Dog elders of Grandis
- Researchers:
  - Aroa - Sheep Anima, Researcher of Odium
  - Hanasol - Ox Anima, Researcher of Odium
  - Somiya - Dog Anima, Researcher of Odium
- Four Symbols:
  - Ara - Dragon Anima, Azure Dragon and Symbol of Spring
  - Shuli - Bird Anima, Vermillion Bird and Symbol of Summer
  - Baekyeon - White Tiger Anima, White Tiger and Symbol of Autumn
  - Gaon - Tortoise Anima, Black Tortoise and Symbol of Winter
Moonbeam - Fox Anima, Shade's friend
Maru - Fox Anima, Fox God's friend
Gri - Wolf Anima, Lara's friend
Farasi - Fish Anima, Hoyoung's friend
Romina and Royce - Chameleon Anima, Kain's friends
Rondo - Fox Anima (unconfirmed), Explorer's friend
Dylan and Delilah - Squirrel Anima (unconfirmed)

Trivia[]

Regional Naming Difference:
- GMS: Anima
- KMS: 아니마족 (族-, Anima tribe, Anima jok)
- JMS: アニマ族 (Anima tribe, Anima-zoku)
- CMS: 阿尼玛族 (Ānímǎ zú)
- TMS: 阿尼瑪族 (Ānímǎ zú)

References[]

↑ For unknown reasons, Kaling is said to not be an Anima by Gri, despite having Anima features and the other researchers being Anima as well.

[1] For unknown reasons, Kaling is said to not be an Anima by Gri, despite having Anima features and the other researchers being Anima as well.

[1]