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Regarding the Operation, Maintenance and Construction of Anima Drivers
The Anima Driver is a technology still poorly understood, despite how long it's remained in use. Use of Anima Drivers is a significant part of how the Empire has risen to power, turning individual soldiers rather than large armies or vehicles into the chief powerhouses of the battlefield.
This document is not to be released beyond Animus Industries HQ.
Regarding Anima
An Anima typically appears as a half-black, half-white cube, no larger than your typical gambling die. Created using devices which fewer than ten people understand the construction of, its true nature is a crystallization of a human soul. Very few people have souls capable of producing an Anima; no pattern has as of yet been discovered that would allow us to identify suitable candidates in advance. The subject of Anima transfer does not survive this process.
Once successfully created, an Anima is a remarkable energy source. One can keep its user active in combat for weeks. However, Anima also have limitations. Each one has a unique energy signature, but in broad strokes, the energy released by Anima can be sorted into eight categories:
Any given Anima will express either one or two of these types of energy, and the specific manner in which it behaves is unique. However, without proper equipment, unleashing an Anima's power will result in unpredictable, often-catastrophic results.
Regarding Drivers
A Driver is, simply put, a device designed to channel the energies of an Anima in a controlled way. Because each Anima is unique, Drivers are generally unique as well, and haphazardly switching out one Anima for another will seldom produce results. Each Driver must be custom-made to suit a particular Anima. When completed, an Anima Driver is a weapon without peer. The vast power of the human soul can be tapped with but a thought, the Driver giving it structure and utility. Many take the form of weapons, some are more widely-applicable devices.
If an Anima User is in danger of being captured or compromised, retrieving their Anima Driver should always take priority over retrieving the user.
Regarding Anima Driver Maintenance
While this technology seems at a glance to be a limitless miracle weapon, this is not the case. An Anima has finite energy, and can eventually be expended - generally speaking, the more powerful the Anima, the fewer times it can be used before it's depleted. Fortunately, this energy can be recharged in a few ways:
The other chief concern of extended Anima Driver use is the phenomenon known as Soul Blur. If someone uses an Anima Driver for considerable time, there exists the possibility of the user's soul and the Anima bleeding into each other, resulting in an impaired sense of self and memories from the Anima's human life. In extreme cases this can lead to psychotic breakdown, but in most cases the impact is relatively minimal. Soul Blur is notably required in order to transform an Anima User into an Anima via self-sacrifice; this can also result in a dramatic change in the Driver's abilities as the Anima powering it changes in nature. This may sometimes result in the Driver becoming unusable, but the rate of compatibility between Anima and Driver via this method is much higher than via arbitrarily replacing the Anima in a Driver.
Regarding Anima Driver Usage (Advanced)
While the abilities of Anima Drivers are vast, they are not infinite; therefore, they may sometimes be insufficient. Expert Anima Users may find themselves in need of power even beyond the normal capabilities of an Anima Driver, and in such a case, two primary techniques are available to them.
The first is called Anima Extinguish - the user enters a special state of synchronization with the Anima that causes it to burn not only its remaining energy reserve, but the fundamental framework of the soul trapped within it. This results in an enormous temporary surge of power and occasionally unexpected evolution of the Anima's capabilities, but if it is overused, the Anima will be fully extinguished, leaving it inert and unusable. An extinguished Anima cannot be recharged by any means.
The second is called Anima Memory - similar to Anima Extinguish, this involves a special degree of synchronization between Anima and User, but in this case, rather than burning out the soul for energy, the user fuses their own soul with the Anima. The two souls resonate and become capable of producing vastly greater abilities than the Anima Driver alone, on par with Anima Extinguish. This method can be used more often, but the risks are greater - the energy expended by using this technique drains both the Anima and the Anima User, potentially resulting in extreme fatigue, shortened lifespan, or even death. Also, its viability is highly dependent on the personal compatibility of the Anima and the user. For this reason, it is not broadly recommended.
Regarding Autodrivers
While most Anima Drivers use a dead human's soul, it has recently been discovered that it is occasionally possible for an Anima Driver to be fueled using a still-living human's soul. A device enabling this is called an Anima Autodriver, and must always be custom-tailored to the user from the ground up. The advantages of this are essentially unlimited access to Anima Memory, since the soul of the user and the Anima are in fact the same soul. However, the downside is that if your Anima's energy is fully depleted, you will die. Autodrivers are still extraordinarily rare, since those with the ability to use/become one are few and far between.
Postscript
While this information is generally provided in order to allow Anima Users to familiarize themselves with their weapons and for engineers to study their potential, this may change in the near future. An important shipment of Anima Drivers has gone missing, and may have fallen into terrorist hands. If you encounter any criminal forces using Anima Drivers, hold no force back in dealing with them. Live capture is preferable, when possible, but the most important objective in this situation is to secure the enemy's Anima Driver and return it to the capital.
This document is not to be released beyond Animus Industries HQ.
Regarding Anima
An Anima typically appears as a half-black, half-white cube, no larger than your typical gambling die. Created using devices which fewer than ten people understand the construction of, its true nature is a crystallization of a human soul. Very few people have souls capable of producing an Anima; no pattern has as of yet been discovered that would allow us to identify suitable candidates in advance. The subject of Anima transfer does not survive this process.
Once successfully created, an Anima is a remarkable energy source. One can keep its user active in combat for weeks. However, Anima also have limitations. Each one has a unique energy signature, but in broad strokes, the energy released by Anima can be sorted into eight categories:
- Kinetic: Energy expressed by moving or applying physical force to objects.
- Genesic: Energy expressed by creating or destroying physical matter.
- Caloric: Energy expressed by increasing or decreasing temperature.
- Psychic: Energy expressed by manipulating the mind or creating illusions.
- Luminous: Energy expressed by generating light or darkness.
- Morphic: Energy expressed by changing the properties of objects.
- Biotic: Energy expressed by manipulating the vital energy of living beings.
- Null: Energy expressed by manipulating the concept of nothingness.
Any given Anima will express either one or two of these types of energy, and the specific manner in which it behaves is unique. However, without proper equipment, unleashing an Anima's power will result in unpredictable, often-catastrophic results.
Regarding Drivers
A Driver is, simply put, a device designed to channel the energies of an Anima in a controlled way. Because each Anima is unique, Drivers are generally unique as well, and haphazardly switching out one Anima for another will seldom produce results. Each Driver must be custom-made to suit a particular Anima. When completed, an Anima Driver is a weapon without peer. The vast power of the human soul can be tapped with but a thought, the Driver giving it structure and utility. Many take the form of weapons, some are more widely-applicable devices.
If an Anima User is in danger of being captured or compromised, retrieving their Anima Driver should always take priority over retrieving the user.
Regarding Anima Driver Maintenance
While this technology seems at a glance to be a limitless miracle weapon, this is not the case. An Anima has finite energy, and can eventually be expended - generally speaking, the more powerful the Anima, the fewer times it can be used before it's depleted. Fortunately, this energy can be recharged in a few ways:
- Direct charging with the life force of human souls. No aptitude is required for a soul to be used to recharge an Anima, so this is much more practical than creating new Anima.
- Absorbing energy from other Anima. One Anima can be sacrificed in order to fully recharge another. This is often impractical, but may prove useful when facing enemies of the state using Anima Drivers of their own.
- Sacrifice of the Anima User. This is an extreme solution, and the results can be unpredictable - essentially, the user turns their soul into a new Anima that replaces the old one. Because the basis of the existing Anima is already present, required aptitude is minimal. Not recommended; full citizens are seldom acceptable sacrifices for the creation of Anima while other resources are present. Further notes below.
The other chief concern of extended Anima Driver use is the phenomenon known as Soul Blur. If someone uses an Anima Driver for considerable time, there exists the possibility of the user's soul and the Anima bleeding into each other, resulting in an impaired sense of self and memories from the Anima's human life. In extreme cases this can lead to psychotic breakdown, but in most cases the impact is relatively minimal. Soul Blur is notably required in order to transform an Anima User into an Anima via self-sacrifice; this can also result in a dramatic change in the Driver's abilities as the Anima powering it changes in nature. This may sometimes result in the Driver becoming unusable, but the rate of compatibility between Anima and Driver via this method is much higher than via arbitrarily replacing the Anima in a Driver.
Regarding Anima Driver Usage (Advanced)
While the abilities of Anima Drivers are vast, they are not infinite; therefore, they may sometimes be insufficient. Expert Anima Users may find themselves in need of power even beyond the normal capabilities of an Anima Driver, and in such a case, two primary techniques are available to them.
The first is called Anima Extinguish - the user enters a special state of synchronization with the Anima that causes it to burn not only its remaining energy reserve, but the fundamental framework of the soul trapped within it. This results in an enormous temporary surge of power and occasionally unexpected evolution of the Anima's capabilities, but if it is overused, the Anima will be fully extinguished, leaving it inert and unusable. An extinguished Anima cannot be recharged by any means.
The second is called Anima Memory - similar to Anima Extinguish, this involves a special degree of synchronization between Anima and User, but in this case, rather than burning out the soul for energy, the user fuses their own soul with the Anima. The two souls resonate and become capable of producing vastly greater abilities than the Anima Driver alone, on par with Anima Extinguish. This method can be used more often, but the risks are greater - the energy expended by using this technique drains both the Anima and the Anima User, potentially resulting in extreme fatigue, shortened lifespan, or even death. Also, its viability is highly dependent on the personal compatibility of the Anima and the user. For this reason, it is not broadly recommended.
Regarding Autodrivers
While most Anima Drivers use a dead human's soul, it has recently been discovered that it is occasionally possible for an Anima Driver to be fueled using a still-living human's soul. A device enabling this is called an Anima Autodriver, and must always be custom-tailored to the user from the ground up. The advantages of this are essentially unlimited access to Anima Memory, since the soul of the user and the Anima are in fact the same soul. However, the downside is that if your Anima's energy is fully depleted, you will die. Autodrivers are still extraordinarily rare, since those with the ability to use/become one are few and far between.
Postscript
While this information is generally provided in order to allow Anima Users to familiarize themselves with their weapons and for engineers to study their potential, this may change in the near future. An important shipment of Anima Drivers has gone missing, and may have fallen into terrorist hands. If you encounter any criminal forces using Anima Drivers, hold no force back in dealing with them. Live capture is preferable, when possible, but the most important objective in this situation is to secure the enemy's Anima Driver and return it to the capital.