Anima

The life-force of every mortal being. Each person is filled with Anima, which consists of ten perfectly formed Anima Shards. The shards are incredibly important to the maintenance of mortal life. Many mortals have lost their shards, although it is incredibly infrequent and very rare. This is known as Shard Decreption.
The shards themselves have their own behaviors, but this article will discuss the overarching histories and discoveries of Anima and its cultural significance in present day.

History

Anima was first recorded in ancient Zestilbron, in the now ruined city of Tenaþo. The evidence was found in an ancient word of mouth poem called beorht fletġefeoht, which translates to light within. The poet wrote of a vision of an internal light inside of the body, something that moved inside of people and drove their actions. The author called this the Aneothoh(Ann-ee-oh-thuh), which translated originally to animation. Modern historians understand that this author was an Anihebrida, the first recorded Anihebrida in mortal history.
During the rest of recorded Ancient histories, more and more Anihebride wrote of their visions and experiences which of course developed into a small but impactful religious movement known as the Animadeus. The exponential growth of Anihebride was the first sign of some lineage based correlation between those who are granted with visual anima abilities.
As time moved closer to the new age, technologies began to develop to allow all mortals the ability to see the Anima. The first of these technologies was a spyglass made of a thin, lime green refracted glass. This glass was found in glowing caves in the Lantron wastes, but the miners who went to collect the glass reported terrifying evils that lurked in the caves. But the stone was collected and named Animineralis. The original spyglass is still kept at the Twilland University archives. Not long after the development of the spyglass, spellcasters and magiologists developed a spell to allows mortals to witness the Anima in a much more accessible fashion. This spell was given the name of Anivisio, and was immediately used in Animology to further develop the knowledge around the Anima. 
The discovery of Anima Shards happened much more recently after the birth of the Donestre. These beastly animals were known to decrept shards from the Anima of mortals and thus the new vocabulary around shards and decreption was inaugurated into Animology. After the Ragdalian Genocide and the following Blood Week many survivors of the various Donestre attacks were left unstable, and some even had fallen into deep insanity. The professors at Twilland studied these affected peoples and found that their Anima had pieces missing, that looked like shards of broken glass. To even more horror of these professors, many of the most affected of this population were lacking Anima altogether. These particular cases were people who had lost all ability to speak, eat or even breathe, but who's bodies were still in tact. They were able to walk around, but their Anima had completely disappeared. These Anima-less peoples were labeled as Inanimatum. No cures have been found for Inanimatum peoples, and many consider that the most moral action to take for them is to end their bodily life. 
This idea of the surviving of the body but not the Anima has created a narrative around Anima that many have not considered. What is the purpose of Anima? Can Inanimatums think or feel to any capacity? Why are Donestre able to steal the souls of mortals and for what purpose.