Animistic Induction

History

Animistic Induction is the only experience common to every Anima Seeker. The majority of organizations will have their own variation, but even those seekers belonging to a group that doesn't or on their own will be sought ought by one of the more zealous organizations guided through the rite. Though the decentralized and semi-competitive nature of the profession has actually caused less drift than would normally be expected. The core of the tradition which caused it to proliferate so ubiquitously is the utterly necessary arcane ritual to stabilize the soul after bonding to an animus, but the commonalities across all known variations of the induction rite extend significantly beyond this. It seems that most proselytizing of seeker groups have in fact spread their own cultural touches so widely that they've been accepted as part of the baseline, many seekers not even realizing that they aren't a part of the bare necessities.

Execution

The core of the tradition, the necessary magical ritual itself, consists of constructing two arcane diagrams concentrically around the initiate. The inner diagram, usually square or hexagonal in shape, serves to excite both the soul of the seeker and the animus they have bonded with, forcing the conflict between the two to escalate and play out quickly rather than over time. The outer diagram is nearly always a spell circle, and constrains all nonphysical matter, preventing the animus from leaving if it separates from the soul during the conflict. The initiate then must find a way to exercise control over their soul to incorporate the animus fully, resolving the conflict. Most often soul control is achieved through some form of meditation, but seekers vary greatly in how they resolve the conflict with their anima. The two extremes are coexistence of the soul and the animus, both separately bound to the seeker and sharing the adjacent metaphysical space, and complete synthesis of the soul and the animus into a perfect gestalt, becoming an entirely new entity and replacing the soul of the seeker. There are many options between these two and all can be reached through making peace between the soul and the animus, or by the soul conquering the animus and enforcing its will. Theoretically a weak-willed seeker could also surrender their soul the the animus, but this is very rare, and in such cases the containing ritual circle is not removed, forcing the resulting creature to starve to death rather than unleashing it.