Revision 1

The Old World

Before the Sundering, the universe existed as a single unified reality called the Old World. It was governed by beings called Sovereigns — ancient rulers who each controlled a pair of opposing philosophical or scientific principles called Aspects. Light and Dark. Love and Hate. Life and Death. Order and Chaos. These paired concepts maintained balance, and the Sovereigns kept them in check.

Everything in the Old World was connected by an invisible energy network called the Nexus. The Nexus was the fundamental thread linking all things — Aspects, Sovereigns, and the fabric of reality itself. It wasn't just a metaphysical concept; it was a tangible force that the Sovereigns could sense and manipulate.

What happened

The Sundering — also referred to as "the Honkai" — was a catastrophe that tore the Nexus apart. The energy network that held the universe together shattered, severing the stable connections between paired Aspects. The world didn't just break; it fragmented into 81 separate dimensional spaces, each one centered around a single, now-unpaired Aspect.

The shattered fragments of the Nexus didn't just disappear. They crystallized into creatures of raw Aspect energy — the beings that would come to be known as Anima. Every Anima in the game is, in a sense, a piece of the old universe given form.

The World-Ender

The cause of the Sundering points to a mysterious entity called the World-Ender, who is likely connected to the "First Novarch." According to surviving records, the World-Ender used an external power to destroy the Old World. The 1st Sovereign, Victus, fought the World-Ender seven times and destroyed them twice, but the entity had achieved immortality through a "Life-Death Contract" with the 5th Sovereign, Amstradath. This contract made the World-Ender impossible to permanently kill.

Aftermath

The destruction of the Nexus had three major consequences:

1. Aspect separation: The paired Aspects split into individual concepts. Light was no longer tethered to Dark; Love existed without its counterpart Hate. Each fragment became a standalone principle

2. Plane formation: The 81 Planes formed around these separated Aspects, each becoming its own dimensional space with its own Novarch

3. Anima creation: The broken pieces of the Nexus became Anima — creatures embodying specific Aspects. Collecting and understanding these creatures is how Animasters engage with what remains of the Old World's energy

What remains unknown

The full circumstances of the Sundering are one of the game's central mysteries. Why did the World-Ender attack? What was the "external power" they used? What happened to the Sovereigns who didn't transition into Novarch roles? The player gradually uncovers these answers while traveling through the Planes and meeting characters who remember — or claim to remember — the Old World.