Anima

Every living being, from the smallest blade of grass to the largest titan, has an Anima. The Anima maintains the life of a being by gathering and distributing Vis. It is, in effect, the 'living soul' of a being. Many scholars, both religious and scientific, have debated the reason for the existence of an Anima, and none have yet to come to any consensus. Some believe it to be an entirely natural phenomenon, others that is evidence of a god, or gods, and still others that Anima are in fact the truth of existence, and bodies are merely shells.   The Anima is crucial to maintaining life, as the driving force of every living being. They draw in Vis from their surroundings, binding it and directing its use around the body. The experiments of human mage-scientists have shown that Anima exert an attractive force on Vis, to a greater or lesser degree, and that this is the method by which they accumulate Vis. Each Anima has a unique limit on how much Vis it can bind, above which the excess tends to dissipate immediately, once again becoming unbound. This limit increases over a being's lifetime, but the attractive force of the Anima does not appear to do the same. The Anima of sapient beings such as humans and elves tend to exert a stronger force on free Vis, therefore gathering it faster. They also tend to consume it faster, and have a higher limit of bound Vis.   An Anima uses its bound Vis to sustain both itself and the body to which it belongs. Some is consumed to maintain its own function and coherence, some is directed around the body to sustain vital functions, and the rest remains stored in reserve, bound directly to the Anima.   Some creatures have innate magical functions, such as the Silverwind's enhanced strength and speed. In these cases, the creature's Anima directs a portion of Vis to maintaining the magical effect that the creature has evolved. In the case of sapient beings the Anima can willingly direct bound Vis arbitrarily, outside the confines of the body, in order to enact magical effects.  

A Note on Spirits and Wraiths

  Very rarely, an Anima may spontaneously come into being without an associated Materia body. It is unknown why this happens, but it seems to occur more frequently in very Vis dense regions. These Anima are known as Spirits, and are beings of pure energy. Most spirits are unintelligent beings, acting only on instinct and performing minor magical acts, but some become sapient, gaining high intelligence and the ability to perform complex magical acts.   Across history, many mages have attempted to gather more Vis than their Anima can safely bind, in the quest for greater power or immortality. Without exception, this has resulted in the ripping of their Anima from their Materia body, leaving just a Wraith; an unbound Anima, unable to die but unable to live a proper life. Most wraiths go mad, some seek the company of intelligent spirits, and some simply disappear, never to be heard from again.