Animus is used for four main purposes within the game world.

Purchasing of Abilities

Animus is the primary currency used to purchase and learn new Abilities in game. When your character has the potential to purchase and learn a new ability, your Animus will be used to cover the Animus Cost of the Ability. If you have enough Animus to purchase the Ability, your Animus level will be deducted by the Animus Cost of the Ability. More information concerning Abilities can be found on the Ability System page.

Purchasing of Skill Potential

Animus is furthermore used to purchase Skill Potential. Using the Skills menu, a player may expend Animus at a scaling cost to raise their Skill Value by a percentage point. Once purchased, the skill value will raise over time in increments depending on the overall skill value of the player. As a special note, Skill Potential and rate over time skill gain can be overtaken by natural skill gain through use, therefore it is recommended that this method of character progression is reserved for skills that one is not actively training as to avoid wasting Animus.

Rites of Sacrifice

Rites of Sacrifice, or Animus Sacrifices, represent special Abilities a player may partake in that directly utilize Animus to bestow often important and noteworthy effects, both upon your character and the game world. Examples of Sacrifices include using Animus to purchase statistical points (such as Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence), using Animus to expand a player’s Skill Cap, and more. Most all of these mechanics can be accessed through the Character Codex, and are considered out-of-character means of progression.

Calculating the Likelihood of Mortality Gain

Animus is used in a very important manner in determining the likelihood of your player incurring a point of Mortality upon a knock-out. If your character ever possesses less than 5 points of Animus, your chance of incurring a point of Mortality upon being knocked out is slightly increased.

Other Uses

There do exist other uses for Animus, often found by exploring and researching elements of the Old, and through crafting and spellcasting. Some special, rare abilities require the sacrifice of an Animus point to perform awe-inspiring results, while epic and legendary weapons may require the infusion of some of the crafter’s Animus to be created. Animus is also used in Pioneering, by increasing the size of a personal claim area, or maintaining it at that size. (Silver coins can be used as an alternative to Animus for personal claim expansion and maintenance.) The uses for Animus are varied, and can be discovered through research, exploration and experimentation.

As vague and misunderstood the idea of Animus is, one underlying fact is accepted by both the laymen and the zealot; whilst mostly intangible and otherwise immaterial, Animus is in fact a very real thing; whether it be truly the measure of one’s own soul, or simply the ability to concentrate properly. The most important step in the process of understanding how Animus works is through understanding how to measure and recognize its existence.

Infusion

Infusion is the process in which a character develops experience in the game world into Animus. Infusion is a separate value apart from Animus. For every 1000 points of Infusion a character earns, they will be granted a point of Animus. For the vast majority of circumstances in game, Infusion is the primary means of Animus acquisition.

Measuring Animus & Infusion

Your character's Animus and Infusion values can be referenced at any time by browsing the Spirit page of the Character Codex.

Measuring Soul Potential

There is an extent to which how much Animus a character can gain and store for future use. This attribute is defined as Soul Potential. By default, all characters begin their lives in Eden with a Soul Potential of 100. This value can fluctuate depending on various circumstances, such as experiencing Anguish Effects through the Sanity system or by possessing Mortality points. Once your character's Animus has reached its Soul Potential, your character will not be able to gain any more Animus from natural regeneration until they have sacrificed some Animus. Your Soul Potential Value can be referenced using the Spirit page of the Character Codex.

Obtaining Animus

Whilst Animus is, for the large part, a natural phenomenon that regenerates naturally over time, your character may stumble upon special and often secret methods to help stimulate the power of their soul, including both gaining Animus points and regenerating Animus points. There are three main ways to gain Animus in the game world.

Active Infusion

Active Infusion is gained by killing monsters, crafting items, gathering materials, and using the [look command on other players for the first time. Typical monsters will give 20 to 40 Infusion. While crafting simple items will give only a few Infusion, rarer items can give a lot more Infusion. The same applies to gaining Infusion through the use of gathering skills. Active animus is soft-capped at 10 Animus per real-life day. After the soft cap, there are diminishing returns, and by the time you have actively gained around 20 Animus in a given day, the gain rate becomes essentially zero.

Natural Regeneration (Passive Infusion)

One who is in touch with their soul and its Animus is fully aware of the natural “build up” of Animus over time. A by-product of simply surviving the horrors of the Torment, Animus builds slowly over time. If your character's Animus is at or above their Soul Potential, your character will not gain Animus from natural regeneration. Your Infusion Regen attribute, as referenced using the Spirit page of the Codex, will detail how many points of Infusion you will regenerate over time (approximately every hour).

Passive Infusion is gained over time whether the character is logged in the game or logged off. Extra bonus passive Animus is gained while the Character is logged in and while they are in a town or other certain roleplay centers. Bonus passive Animus is also gained if there are more people logged in, so make sure to invite all your friends to play Requiem ;) Depending on all these factors, passive gains can account for around 8 to 13 Animus per real-life day.

Bonuses and debuffs can contribute to the Natural Regeneration of Infusion as well. For example, being present in a Sanctuary area can lend additional bonuses to the hourly regeneration of Infusion. Infusion furthermore can gain out-of-game as well, with a bonus being applied for being online and in-game.

Moriums (Season One Content, Unavailable in Prelude)

In very rare cases, Animus can be transferred from its metaphysical state into a physical object. The exact process of how the power of a soul could be infused into a physical object is a mystery to all but the most powerful magi, yet still, such a thing is possible. Over the course of exploring the world of Eden, your character may at times come across these rare oddities known as Moriums. Upon careful concentration and proper meditation, one can extract the Animus stored within a Morium to add to their own. However, as tantalizing and alluring this idea may be, certain dangers come with the infusing of a fragment of a foreign soul into one's own. Many legends speak of the careless losing their sanity after harnessing the power of a Morium, and many more speak of the taint that can be caused when the Animus of a wicked soul is added to that of a pure one.

Nonetheless, the use of a Morium can infuse one's own Animus if done correctly. To add the Animus stored within a Morium to your character's own Animus stores, simply double click on a Morium item in game, and follow the instructions upon the menu that appears. Upon absorbing the foreign Animus into your own essence, your character has a chance to gain Animus, Sanity and potentially even increase your Animus Regen rate. And, as stressed above, other effects, both positive and negative, may be incurred.

Roleplaying and Community Service

You, as a player, can receive Animus as a reward for your character through exceptional role-playing and service to the community at large. At times, Gamemasters may observe you engaged in exceptional role-playing in game, and reward your character with a point of Animus. Exceptional role-playing stories, efforts to assist with the community, and related tasks can also net your character Animus rewards.

Losing Animus and Infusion

There are a few ways that Animus and Infusion can be lost, stolen, or otherwise hindered. The wise adventurer should be wary of these downfalls, for one without Animus is a ship without a sail.

Losing Consciousness

The exploits of battle can cause one's soul to grow weary and weak. Whenever your character is “knocked out” in game (ie, hit points reduced to zero), your character will lose Infusion.

Sanity (Season One Content, Unavailable in Prelude)

The Torment has bestowed many horrors upon the face of Eden, driving even the zealous to question their faith. Ascended or not, the abominations your character faces while attempting to survive can wreak havoc upon the body, mind and even spirit. Upon the acquisition of certain mental Ailments, your character will experience Anguish, a penalty that can lead to Animus loss.

Attempted and Completed Player Murder

It is believed by some within the lands of Eden that when one strikes down another in gratuitous violence, a portion of the victim’s soul is quite literally consumed by the aggressor, forever creating an irremovable mark. Such a peculiar and disturbing ordeal is not without its consequences, of course.

When a player initiates and successfully completes a perma-death attempt on another character and successfully kills them, they will acquire a small, random amount of their victim’s current Animus total (from one to the total amount of Animus the victim currently has). This is not without its consequences, however, as the infliction of such an act will also result in the acquisition of a Mortality point by the aggressor.