Soul science. That’s basically what it is. If you’ve spent any time in the world of Eora—the setting for Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity and the upcoming Avowed—you know that souls aren't just vague spiritual concepts. They’re tangible. They’re a resource. And the animancy method Avowed explores is where things get messy, fast.
Animancy is the study and manipulation of souls. In the Living Lands, where Avowed takes place, this isn't just some academic pursuit for dusty wizards in high towers. It’s a tool for survival, a weapon of war, and a potential cure for a plague that’s rotting the world from the inside out. But here’s the thing: messing with the fundamental essence of a person usually has consequences. Massive ones.
The Raw Reality of Animancy in the Living Lands
You aren't just casting "Fireball" here. When you look at how the animancy method Avowed functions within the gameplay and lore, it’s deeply tied to the concept of Essence. Souls in this universe go through a cycle of reincarnation called the Wheel. Usually, you die, your soul goes back to the Adra pillars, gets cleaned of its memories, and pops back into a new body. Simple, right?
Animancy breaks that cycle.
By using machines or specific spells, an animancer can reach out and grab a soul before it moves on. They can bind it to an object. They can shove it into a construct. They can even try to stitch a fragmented soul back together. In the Living Lands, you’re seeing this play out in a wild frontier. There’s less oversight than there was in the Dyrwood. No one is there to tell you that experimenting on the "Dreamscourge" plague is a bad idea, even if it means ripping the essence out of a living host to see what makes it tick.
Why Everyone is Scared of Soul Manipulation
Most people in Eora think animancers are playing with fire. Honestly? They’re right.
Look at the history of the Saint’s War or the Hollowborn Crisis. When animancy goes wrong, you don’t just get a fizzled spell. You get "Hollowborn" babies—children born without souls, just empty husks. You get "Awakened" people who are driven insane by the memories of their past lives bleeding into their current ones.
The animancy method Avowed introduces seems to lean heavily into the intersection of the natural world and soul energy. The Living Lands are chaotic. Plants grow to the size of houses. Animals are mutated. This isn't just "nature" doing its thing; it’s a direct result of soul energy—Essence—leaking into the environment through Adra. When you, as the protagonist, use your powers, you’re tapping into that same raw, unfiltered energy. It’s volatile. It’s why your hands glow with that specific, eerie light when you’re pulling a soul out of a rogue Xaurip.
The Problem with Binding
One of the most common applications of this "science" is soul-binding.
Imagine taking the consciousness of a dying soldier and trapping it inside a suit of armor so they can keep fighting. To an animancer, that’s "efficiency." To the soldier, it’s an eternal nightmare of sensory deprivation and unending service. We’ve seen these "Animat" enemies in previous games, and they return here because they work. They don't eat. They don't sleep. They just obey.
But the animancy method Avowed implies something even more personal. You aren't just fighting these things; you are potentially manipulating the essence of your companions or the environment to solve puzzles and win fights. It raises a massive ethical question that Obsidian loves to poke at: Does the end justify the means if the "means" involves shredding the very fabric of someone’s being?
The Dreamscourge and the Animancy Connection
The big hook in Avowed is the Dreamscourge. It’s a soul-plague. It’s turning people into fungal, crystalline monstrosities.
Traditional medicine can't touch this. Alchemy fails. The only thing that can interact with a soul-level disease is animancy. This puts you, the player, in a weird spot. You are an envoy of the Aedyr Empire, sent to investigate, but you’re also someone who can "see" and "touch" souls in a way others can't.
- You might find a victim of the Scourge.
- An animancer suggests "purging" the soul.
- The process might save the body but leave the person a blank slate.
- Or you could try to stabilize the soul, risking the infection spreading to yourself.
This isn't binary stuff. It’s not "good" vs "evil." It’s "how much of your humanity are you willing to trade for a solution?" That is the core of the animancy method Avowed uses to drive its narrative.
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Mechanical Depth: How it Actually Plays
In the game, this manifests through your talent trees and the way you interact with the world. You’ve got your standard combat, sure. But then you have these moments where you reach into the "In-Between."
When you use an animancy-based ability, you’re often manipulating the flow of Essence. This might look like a tether that drains life from an enemy to heal yourself, or a blast that disrupts the soul-structure of a construct, causing it to fall apart into scrap metal. It’s more visceral than the isometric Pillars games. In first-person, seeing the world shift and the "soul-tides" become visible adds a layer of reality to the "science" that we haven't experienced before.
The animancy method Avowed utilizes also affects your gear. We’re talking about soulbound weapons that grow stronger as you feed them experience—or literally feed them souls. It’s a symbiotic relationship, or a parasitic one, depending on how you look at it.
Expert Nuance: The Thaos Factor
We have to talk about Thaos and the Leaden Key. While Avowed is a standalone story, the shadow of the Leaden Key—the secret society dedicated to keeping the "truth" about the gods hidden—hangs over everything. They hate animancy because it risks revealing that the gods aren't what people think they are.
If you start using the animancy method Avowed provides to dig too deep into the history of the Living Lands, you aren't just fighting monsters. You’re fighting a conspiracy that has lasted thousands of years. You are a threat to the status quo just by existing.
Practical Steps for Mastering the Lore and Gameplay
If you want to actually understand what’s happening when you click that "Soul Bolt" button, you need to pay attention to the environment. The Living Lands are a character themselves.
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- Watch the Adra: Whenever you see those glowing green pillars, look at the life around them. Animancy is strongest where the Adra is exposed. Use this to your tactical advantage in combat.
- Read the "Soul Memories": In the world, you’ll find echoes of people who have died. This is animancy in its rawest form—remnant essence caught in the "Vail." These often provide the context needed to solve quests without resorting to violence.
- Balance Your Essence: Don't just spec into pure damage. The most effective animancy method Avowed offers involves crowd control—binding enemies' souls to the ground or to each other.
- Listen to your Companions: Characters like Kai or Giatta have specific views on soul science. Ignoring them isn't just a roleplay choice; it can lock you out of specific ways to upgrade your animancy powers.
The reality is that animancy is the most dangerous tool in Eora. It’s a scalpel that can heal the world or a hammer that can shatter it. In Avowed, you’re the one holding the handle. Don't be surprised when it starts to bite back. The Dreamscourge is just the beginning; the real test is whether you can use the animancy method Avowed presents without losing your own soul in the process.
Stay sharp. The Living Lands don't forgive mistakes, especially when those mistakes involve the very essence of life itself.