The Guild of Animists concentrates on handling of souls - their own, and
those of animals. The cornerstone of animism is the belief in souls in every
living thing, natural formation, stone, house, you name it. While these other
souls are no lesser than the animal souls, gathering them is hard, and often
not very rewarding - souls of stones tend to be dull companions. Some souls
are evil, some are good and most are neutral or a little bit of both. Since a
true animist won't take a soul with force, unlike certain chaos-guilds, the
souls they handle tend to be good.
Animal souls play an important role in the daily business of a member of the
guild of animists. This is because with help of some magic, you can ride the
animal soul into the never-ending combat against evil. Of course, you have to
purify the soul first, but that is out of the scope of this introduction. The
soul must not be totally opposed to riding, though, so only certain animals'
souls can be harnessed and ridden. It takes a lot of power and experience to
ride a griffon's soul, for example, but it is doable. Animists share some of
the Liberators' antipathy of slaving, so the souls serve only for limited
time, and then they go free.
Animists also harness the power of their own soul - they can even separate
the soul, which then can assault the evil enemies of the animist. This is the
second major power given to the members of the guild. This ghostly version of
yourself can be a devastating companion in battle, but beware - getting it
killed is very hazardous to your bodily health.
To join, you must be good, and to gain full benefits, a true Liberator.
Templars gain access to most mount-related stuff, and Monks to
soul-separating.
