Glossary

Plain-English definitions of the game’s terms. Chinese terms are the stable anchor while the English localization settles.

Anidex: Your in-game creature index, listing every Anima you have encountered or bonded, with research tasks per creature. (Our My Collection tracker mirrors it.)
Anima因缘精灵: The collectible creatures the game is named after. Lore-wise they are fragments of the world's severed bonds, reborn as creatures after the Sundering.
Animaster因缘师: A playable human character who bonds with Anima. You bring three into a battle; one leads.
Apex Club: A feature seen but locked in the 2025 beta, tied to the story and a currency sink. Details unknown.
Aspect元理: A creature's 'element' (Light, Dark, War, Love, Memory, Satiation, and so on). Stacking matching Aspects on your board unlocks team buffs at set breakpoints.
Aspect Gems: The premium store currency seen in the closed beta (which had a store, not a live gacha). A 5★ Anima cost 800 of them.
Bond Encounter: Catching a wild Anima in the open world. You fight it, then bond with it (Pokémon-style). Mainly how lower-rarity Anima are obtained.
Chromatic Anima: A special colour variant of an Anima (shiny-style). The 2026 'Vulberry's Tale' video shows a 'Chromatic Anima Have Appeared!' alert as a creature's look changes. How they're obtained is unconfirmed.
Committee for a Joyful Iia幸福伊亚委员会: Iia's municipal governing body, which keeps order in the town.
Evolution: An Anima changing form and stats, tied to duplicates and a deepening bond. Only one full chain is confirmed so far (Inkifoal to Inkicorn to Atragacus).
Iia伊亚: The seaside border town in the Reality Plane where the game begins (also romanized Iya).
Kardia: The active leader of your three characters in a battle. The Kardia grants the team an exclusive effect (a Law / Exclusive Principle) and can be moved and controlled during the fight. (Some sources use Kardia for any playable character, to confirm at the beta.)
Exclusive Principle法则: The exclusive team-wide buff your active leader Animaster provides. Players from other HoYo games may know this as a Law.
Lusciell: The third-largest continent of the Reality Plane (Material Lip), where the town of Iia sits. Its common currency is Sciellings.
Nexus (bond)因缘: The web of bonds that once connected all things, especially pairs of opposing Aspects (Love & Hate, Light & Dark, and so on).
Nexus Association因缘会: A public-welfare body in Iia whose Bond Hall acts as a shelter for Anima. It is the story's entry point.
Nexus Battle: The game's name for a combat encounter, where your Anima auto-fight on the hex board. Confirmed on-screen in the 2026 Evolution Test gameplay footage ('This is Nexus Battle!').
Nexus Bond Test: The game's FIRST closed test (alpha), recruited from 29 Aug 2025. Most of our provisional 2025 data traces to it. A smaller, earlier test than the 2026 'Evolution Test'. (Confirmed on-screen in the Aug-2025 'Side by Side' teasers.)
Nexus Hextech: In-battle augments: at set rounds you pick 1 of 3 effects that last the match, and some can fake a synergy. ('Nexus Hextech' is a community name; official name unconfirmed.)
Novarch僭主: A New-World ruler after the Sundering, each holding a single Aspect and one of the 81 Planes, so there are 81 Novarchs. Some are former Sovereigns.
Omnileech: A combat keyword that heals the attacker for a share of the damage they deal (life-steal across damage types). Granted by the Explorer trait at high stacks.
Phoenixbreaker破凰僭主: An alliance of Novarchs (Parayaya, Amorphiron and Blade) united by their hunt for the World-Ender. Parayaya joined to avenge its betrayal. They are the three who pursue the protagonist as the story opens.
Plane位面: A higher-dimensional world. The setting is a multiverse of 81 Planes, each with its own ruler.
Plane of Illusion: The Illusion side of the Reality/Illusion Aspect pair. It is also the prison where the protagonist was confined for around 200 years before the story begins.
Protagonist (the Traveler): Your customizable main character, male or female. The 2025 beta says you carry the Aspect of Change (which lets you reshape your appearance) and you allocate Strength / Charisma / Intelligence that unlock dialogue choices. Not a gacha character.
Reality Plane现实位面: The Plane where the game begins (properly named Material Lip), home to the continent Lusciell and the town of Iia. Its Novarch is elected from the rulers of its nine continents on rotating five-year terms. Bai Mei currently holds the seat.
Sciellings: The common (soft) currency, spent in Lusciell. Seen in 2025-beta quest rewards alongside Aspect Gems.
Sovereign真王: An Old-World ruler who governed a pair of opposing Aspects and held them in balance. Roughly 39 existed.
Synergy & breakpoint: A team buff that switches on once you have enough Anima sharing an Aspect or Trait. The required counts (e.g. 2 / 4 / 6 / 8) are its breakpoints.
Offer Relic护符: An equipment effect an Animaster grants to your Anima. All three of your characters contribute Offer Relics.
The Amphitheater: The competition arena tied to Sir Champion, the Novarch of Competition, where Animasters fight bond duels.
The Sundering崩坏 (Honkai): The cataclysm 214 years ago (also called the Great Shattering) that tore the Nexus apart, scattered bond-fragments into Anima, and split the world into 81 Planes. It is the franchise's 'Honkai' catastrophe.
Trait特性: A creature's combat role (Striker, Blaster, Protector, Cherubim, and so on). A second, separate synergy axis from Aspects.
True Nexus Syndicate: A powerful organization with a landmark HQ in Iia. Olympia is the acting director of its Iia branch.
World-Ender毁世之人: The figure blamed for triggering the Sundering by breaking the Nexus 214 years ago. Known under several names: Fenix, Pey Ramumula, Padmasha, Lirta. Lore ties it to the Aspect of Change (granted by the Sovereign Bashirdo) and to being sealed inside the Plane of Illusion by Kumyo Kyo at Darsea's request. Many Sovereigns' and Novarchs' stories revolve around it. (Beta lore, unconfirmed.)
Kafka: The missing 11th Sovereign, of Strength & Weakness, said to rival Amstradath in power. Her faction collapsed after the Sundering and she vanished; Blade (now Novarch of Strength) searches for her. Shares a name with Honkai: Star Rail's Kafka; lore-only here.
Bashirdo: The 7th Sovereign, of Change & Stasis. He went missing after the Sundering; his Aspects passed to Amorphiron (Change) and Roslin Greenleaf (Stasis).
Darsea: Sovereign of Memory & Oblivion and younger sister of Kumyo Kyo. At her request, Kumyo Kyo sealed the World-Ender in the Plane of Illusion. She died after the Sundering; her death is said to have given rise to the memory-loss disease Obliviosis.
Lucian Valentine: The 'Masked Hero', Sovereign of Courage & Cowardice, later Novarch of Courage. Before the Sundering he gravely wounded Armand, which let Victus seal the Aspect of Light. (Beta text confusingly numbers both him and Vowbinder Crone the '12th'.)
Roslin Greenleaf: The 15th Novarch, of Stasis, who lives symbiotically with a great tree and rules the Plane of Stasis, Amber Rapids. She inherited the Stasis Aspect after Bashirdo vanished.
Vowbinder Crone: The 12th Sovereign of Beauty & Ugliness, 'a kind-hearted yet hideous witch.' Went missing after the Sundering.
Jude: A Novarch of Chaos, ruler of the Plane of Limbo.
Malheur: A Novarch of Misfortune; their Plane is not yet known.
Qing Gang: A missing Sovereign of Good & Evil.
Lestrange: A missing Sovereign of Joy & Sorrow.
Big Boss Daddy: A Sovereign of Profit & Loss; current status unknown.
Fleming Collective: The third major faction in Iia, a multiplanar finance and commerce organization from the Plane of Prosperity, Aurumidas. Its members are 'Flemingites' and its landmark is Fleming Tower, the tallest building in the New Quarter.
Material Lip: The proper name of the Reality Plane, where the game begins. It holds the continents Lusciell (home of Iia) and Fuyu, and uniquely elects its Novarch from the rulers of its nine continents on rotating five-year terms.
Fuyu: A continent in the Reality Plane (Material Lip); home of Bai Mei, the current Novarch of Reality.
Old World: The era before the Sundering, when nothing existed in isolation, Aspects were paired, and Sovereigns ruled.
New World: The era after the Sundering, with 81 independent Planes, each ruled by a Novarch who holds a single Aspect.
Semiplane: A small, temporary Plane spun up from both fighters' Anima Aspect energy when a Nexus Battle begins; it dissipates when the battle ends.
Aspect Fracture: An 'Aspect Sundering Fracture', damage left across the world by the Sundering, cleared using Anima of a specific Aspect.
Obliviosis: A memory-loss disease that emerged after the Sovereign Darsea died. Otto researches a cure for it. (Also spelled Oblivios / obliviasis.)
Aurumidas: The Plane of Prosperity, the origin of the Fleming Collective.
Murkmarches: Armand's pitch-black fortress in the Plane of Dark, where he imprisons the Light Novarch Prabhas, whose radiance is the only light in the chamber.
The Grand Championship: A competition hosted by Sir Champion in the Plane of Competition, with a grand finale every four years.
Eidos: A battle assist: a friend's Anima can come to your aid mid-fight in the form of an Eidos. (Official, from the Evolution Test Preview, Jul 2026.)
Star Anima: In the Apex Club, the one Anima you designate as your Star Anima — doing so unlocks more of its potential, letting you upgrade its skill for greater power in battle. (Official, from the Evolution Test Preview, Jul 2026.)
Evolution Challenge: Challenges you complete to deepen your bond with an Anima and raise its level, unlocking all-new evolved forms. (Official, from the Evolution Test Preview, Jul 2026.)
Animaire: An in-world premium fashion house that dresses Anima in cosmetic outfits — hats, cloaks, scarves and more — debuting seasonal collections at Fashion Week with Lumehart as brand ambassador. Flavor for the game's Anima wardrobe/cosmetics. (Official, from the “Animaire Craft Collection” post, Jul 2026.)